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Here is my Field of 68, through games of February 10, broken down by conference.  Note that the winner of the conference is the team that I feel is the best team in the conference, which may at times not be the first place team.

America East (1): Vermont
ACC (5): Miami, North Carolina State, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia
Atlantic Sun (1): Florida Gulf Coast
Atlantic Ten (5): Butler, Virginia Commonwealth, La Salle, Saint Louis, Temple
Big East (7): Syracuse, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame
Big Sky (1): Montana
Big South (1): UNC-Asheville
Big Ten (7): Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois
Big Twelve (5): Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State
Big West (1): Long Beach State
Colonial (1): Northeastern
Conference USA (1): Memphis
Horizon (1): Valparaiso
Ivy (1): Harvard
Metro Atlantic (1): Loyola
MAC (1): Akron
MEAC (1): North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley (3): Creighton, Wichita State, Indiana State
Mountain West (5): New Mexico, UNLV, Colorado State, San Diego State, Boise State
Northeast (1): Robert Morris
Ohio Valley (1): Belmont
Pac 12 (4): Oregon, Arizona, UCLA, Colorado
Patriot (1): Bucknell
SEC (4): Florida, Ole Miss, Missouri, Kentucky
Southern (1): Davidson
Southland (1): Stephen F Austin
SWAC (1): Southern
Summit (1): South Dakota State
Sun Belt (1): Middle Tennessee
West Coast (2): Gonzaga, St. Mary’s
WAC (1): Louisiana Tech

Last four in: North Carolina, North Carolina St, St Mary’s, Temple
First four out: Iowa, Baylor, Villanova, Arizona State
Others considered: Maryland, UMass, Charlotte, Xavier, Air Force, Wyoming, Stanford, California, North Dakota State

A few notes about this week’s field:

This week’s field was surprisingly easier than last week.  That being said, one of the biggest moves I saw was in the ACC, where Virginia now looks like the third best team in the conference, and both UNC and NC State are moving squarely onto the bubble.  The A-10 also saw the schizophrenic Temple team slide back into the field — but I just don’t trust this team to keep winning games.

In the Big Ten, Illinois made a huge move with their two marquee wins over Indiana and Minnesota, while Iowa slid back out of the field.  The Missouri Valley saw both Creighton and Wichita State losing games, with the Shockers suddenly looking more like a bubble team than a protected seed.

The Pac 12 continues to exceed my expectations for the league.  Colorado had another road win Sunday night to squarely put them in the field.  Cal is also suddenly on my radar after a huge win at Arizona — though it remains to be seen if they can stay there.

Also out west, Air Force went 0-2 on the week to drop almost off the board entirely.  BYU did the same and in fact is completely off my board at the moment.  On the other hand, I am starting to take a closer look at North Dakota State and South Dakota State.  If one of these two wins out to the Summit championship and loses to the other there, I definitely think the committee will give the loser a serious look.

Finally, here is my S-Curve of these 68 teams:

1. Indiana
2. Duke
3. Michigan
4. Miami
5. Florida
6. Gonzaga
7. Syracuse
8. Michigan State
9. Arizona
10. Kansas State
11. Ohio State
12. Kansas
13. Louisville
14. Butler
15. Notre Dame
16. Wisconsin
17. Oklahoma State
18. New Mexico
19. Pittsburgh
20. Colorado State
21. VCU
22. Georgetown
23. Marquette
24. Creighton
25. Oklahoma
26. Oregon
27. Memphis
28. Cincinnati
29. San Diego State
30. Missouri
31. Belmont
32. Minnesota
33. Akron
34. St. Louis
35. Illinois
36. Virginia
37. Wichita State
38. UNLV
39. UCLA
40. Kentucky
41. Boise State
42. La Salle
43. Ole Miss
44. Colorado
45. Indiana State
46. Iowa State
47. North Carolina
48. N C State
49. St. Mary’s
50. South Dakota St
51. Temple
52. Middle Tennessee
53. Stephen F Austin
54. Louisiana Tech
55. Valparaiso
56. Bucknell
57. Montana
58. Harvard
59. Northeastern
60. Davidson
61. Florida Gulf Coast
62. Long Beach State
63. Loyola
64. Robert Morris
65. Vermont
66. UNC-Asheville
67. North Carolina Central
68. Southern

For today’s SCGD, we head back east, into the shadow of Niagara Falls, for an important battle at the top of the Metro Atlantic between Canisius and Niagara (2:00 PM Eastern).  The Golden Griffins of Canisius enter the game at 8-5 in conference, two games behind league leader Niagara’s 10-3.  However, they can trim that lead to one game and create a logjam (with both Loyola and Iona also in the mix) at the top of the standings with a win today.

In terms of RPI numbers, this game is pretty even.  Canisius enters ranked 124 while Niagara is at 128.  Their KenPom ratings are close as well, with Canisius at 125 and Niagara at 138.  Canisius’ numbers are boosted by a good road win at Temple.  Niagara, on the other hand, did not do much out of conference.  They did start MAAC play at 10-1 though before dropping their last two games.  That makes today’s contest even more important for the Purple Eagles to play well.

Due to their proximity, this is one of the top rivalries in the MAAC.  However, it has been dominated by the Purple Eagles in recent years.  Niagara has won 18 of the last 21 meetings between the two teams, including a win at Canisius earlier this season.  However, Canisius head coach Jim Baron is 13-2 all time in his career against Niagara.  Niagara is led by Antoine Mason who is averaging 18.9 points per game, good for 30th in the nation.  Canisius is led in part by Isaac Sosa who shoots over 42% from three point land.

As the Northeast begins to dig out of the effects of Nemo, the SCGD is going to remain out west, though no longer on the Hawaiin Islands or in California.  Instead, tonight we head to Missoula, Montana for a Big Sky matchup between the University of North Dakota and the Montana Grizzlies (9:00 PM Eastern).

Montana is one of only a handful of teams that remain undefeated in conference play, sitting at 13-0 in the Big Sky and 16-4 overall.  Their RPI is 116 and their KenPom is 148, making an at-large bid unlikely, even if they win out to the Big sky championship game.  They did pick up a game against a solid Davidson team in the BracketBusters, but even a win there won’t be enough to make up for their very weak strength of schedule (307).  However, if Montana does find itself needing an at-large bid, it is noteworthy to consider the fact that their star player, Will Cherry, missed all four losses due to injury.  On top of that, center Eric Hutchinson was also out for the losses to BYU and San Francisco.

Montana enters tonight’s game looking for their 25th consecutive Big Sky conference victory, an almost amazing feat.  In fact, a win tonight will set the all time record for consecutive league wins, which Montana currently shares with the 1968 through 1970 Weber State teams that won 24 in a row.  Montana also has a 13 game winning streak at the moment, second in the nation to Akron’s 14.

As for the University of North Dakota, they enter the game at 7-6 in conference and 10-12 overall.  It has been a rough season so far for UND, but they seem positioned at least to finish in the top 7 in the conference, which will get them a bid into the Big Sky tournament (the bottom 4 teams in the league standings will not qualify).  Of note about North Dakota is the fact that they are the only team in Division I without a nickname.  The school had a protracted battle with the NCAA in an attempt to keep their Fighting Sioux name.  This included the North Dakota state legislature stepping in and passing a law requiring the university to keep the moniker.  However, it was then put to a statewide vote which overwhelmingly supported changing the name.  As part of the final deal, the school is not allowed to choose a new nickname until 2015.  Therefore, for the time being at least, they are simply known as the “University of North Dakota”.

We have confirmed the following postponements of Saturday Feb. 9 games due to the Nemo Blizzard in the Northeast:

Manhattan-Fairfield: 7:00 Monday

Quinnipiac-Central Conn State: 3:30 PM Sunday  UPDATE: Postponed again, now scheduled for Monday night at 7:30 PM

Monmouth-Fairleigh Dickinson: 2:30 PM Sunday

Harvard-Columbia: 2:00 PM Sunday

Stony Brook-Hartford: 2:00 PM Sunday

Dartmouth-Cornell: 12:00 PM Sunday

Sacred Heart-Bryant: 4:00 PM Sunday  UPDATE: Postponed again, now scheduled for Monday night at 7:00 PM

St. Bonaventure-Rhode Island: pushed back to 7:00 PM Saturday night

St Joe’s-UMass is on as scheduled, however if the travel ban is not lifted refunds will be given to ticket holders.  For those that do make it — a free cup of hot chocolate or coffee!  UPDATE: Game time moved to 7:00 PM.

Lehigh-Holy Cross: no decision yet, but moving to Saturday night or Sunday afternoon may still happen.  UPDATE: The game will be played Saturday night at 7:00 PM.

Bucknell -Army is on as scheduled for now

No word on the Georgetown-Rutgers, Yale-Princeton, or Rider-Iona games yet.

Albany-Maine is also still on, but three feet of snow is no big deal in Maine anyhow.

60s Hippie Night obviously worked in Hawai’i last night as the Rainbow Warriors blew out Long Beach State.  Pacific also fell, however, allowing the 49ers to maintain sole possession of the top spot in the Big West.  Tonight offers a very small selection of games, none of which are battles between the top teams in any of the small or mid-level conferences.  Therefore, the SCGD has decided to stay out west for a WAC battle as San Jose State hosts Utah State (10:00 PM Eastern).

While Louisiana Tech is currently rolling through the WAC, and Denver and New Mexico State are in second and third places, Utah State is solidly in fourth position with a 7-4 conference record and 16-5 overall.  The Aggies actually began the season 14-1, with the only loss being to St. Mary’s, but then dropped four straight in conference play before finally turning things around their last two games.  Their non-conference schedule was lacking in quality wins, meaning that despite their record, their only NCAA hopes will come in the WAC tournament.  San Jose State, on the other hand, is struggling through a 9-13 season that sees them at 3-8 in conference.  They have had some ugly losses, including New Orleans, James Madison and Idaho.

While this game may not mean too much in terms of the WAC standings this season, the focus on this game tonight allows us to return our attention to the future of these teams and the WAC.  Utah State and San Jose State are both in their final season in the WAC, having received invites to join many of their former conference mates in the Mountain West starting next season.  Utah State almost missed out on this chance as they initially had declined an invite from the Mountain West believing that an oral pact between all WAC members to stick together would hold.  Fresno State and Nevada then promptly broke that agreement and the entire conference began to fall apart.  Luckily for the Aggies, the Mountain West gave them a second chance and they jumped on it.

As for the WAC itself, only three of its current members (Seattle, Idaho, and New Mexico State) will return next season.  Even worse, Idaho is only around for one more year before they head off to the Big Sky.  The WAC is set to welcome six new members, however.  Utah Valley, Texas-Pan American and Chicago State will be joining from the Great West, Cal State-Bakersfield will come from the independents, and Grand Canyon is moving up from Division II.  The final new member was just announced yesterday, as Missouri-Kansas City has chosen to move over from the Summit League.  This last decision was somewhat curious as UMKC will probably have even more traveling to do in the reformed WAC than it did in the Summit.  Also, Denver has chosen to leave the WAC for the Summit, as on paper it appears the quality of the Summit League will be higher than the WAC after this season.  However, assuming noone else defects, this addition also guarantees that the WAC will not lose its automatic bid.