The 31 Conferences Continued: the Last Half a Few Days Later

    More teams will have played and lost. I got to the Metro Atlantic, or some such league, when I more or less learned I had homework to do, which consumed me off-hours, in some ways.

    Like college basketball, but I happen to like this.

    So, where were we? Yes, the 31 conferences and how many are left of each undefeated! YES!

    And I am happy to announce it is the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The MAAC. Not the MAC. That will come shortly.

    There are 13 teams, and only the Siena Saints are 3-0 and undefeated. How 'bout 'dem Saints, woot woot?

    How many more conferences/leagues to go? About 14. Let's see how many undefeateds are still among them: maybe 12? Remember, there are a total of 364 D-1 teams total.

    The real MAC. Mid-American Conference, one of the original "super (i.e. high number) conferences. Now down to 12. And, there are none left with no defeats! I think I saw a good portion of one-loss Eastern Michigan go down last night. It was really the only thing on, maybe. EMU: 3-1. Many more losses to come, me thinks.

    There are eight in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The MEAC? It is a HBCU league, speaking of acronyms. Historically black college or university. Sorry, my friends: they have all lost! At least one. But I think some will have some winning seasons. We hold out for these perennial underdogs. At least I do. I visited a HBCU campus this past summer. It was cool. Virginia State.

    There are a dozen (as in 12) in the Missouri Valley Conference. Wait for it;

    And the Drake Bulldogs are without a loss! Yet... They are a fabulous, tremendous Two and Oh! (2-0). They should lose this weekend. Or at least this month, and/or soon.

    Eleven (a poor baker's dozen) remaining in the Mountain West. Conference. Meaning, records aside, this conference is imploding due to the Big Ten's savagery of the West Coast schools, and the Big-12 and ACC finishing the job minus Oregon State and Washington State. So, they will continue to exist by sacking the MWC. Thus is the way of things.

    The MWC this year, kind of its last as such, as FIVE whopping teams left among those without a loss. Way to go, Mountain West folks! Here's cheering for ya. BYU and Utah and TCU were MWC, once upon a shadow.

    The Northeast Conference has nine teams (paging Mercyhurst!), and nary among them have maintained a perfect margin. Sorry, Charlie. Get used to the L column.

    The Ohio Valley Conference has eleven. Oh, that poor, poor baker. Conference numbers are odd, a lot, literally, because of all the shifting, scrapping, and scraping. And pandering and money making. This is capitalism. Profiting greatly when elite while the poor boys and girls sweat and work... Russian authors, anyone? Oh, yeah. All of the eleven have suffered a loss thus far, a week and half plus into the '24-'25 season.

        Ten, an even steven, in the Patriot League. And all have gone down in a game. As of November 15, halfway through this somewhat rainier month. Most of the U.S. is having a drought time, by the way, due to pressures in the north, it seems. Look it up.

        The powerful and mighty and rich and decadent SEC. The Southeastern Conference. There are 16 of them now, after pillaging the guts out of the heartland and Bible country and ending up with Texas and Oklahoma. Now we got super conferences, for sure. It was the idea of the WAC in the 1990s, but they got weaker back then. Now we got fan bases, TV rights, and passion and champions. Hopefully they stay at 16. Big Ten has 18, don't ya know (in my worst Minnesotah accent.

    Undefeateds? A word I have now coined to the chagrin of this spell-check? Drum roll...

    11 left! Yowza. Some think Alabama is the best. We shall see. I have my doubts... But I would welcome them over UConn, or Duke, or UNC. Or Kentucky, despite me liking Mark Pope at the helm. Awkward for me. More on that later.

    Who next? Almost done? I forgot the numbering thing like I did in the last post.

        Ten in the Southern Conference. One remains with no loss! The Paladins. What is one of those? Who do they belong to? Furman. Where is that? At the top of the Southern Conference, that is where!

    12, a real dozen, in the Southland Conference. All defeated. Sorry, Incarnate Word et al. We still have the Big Guy, upstairs, with a name like that.

    I peeked. About four to go. This is fun, but a chore. Such is blogging and life.

    I could be doing something else. Reading a book, one I checked out in May 115 pages to go. Or watching a show. Well, I am, because my son is watching his newest binge show, non-stop. Season 4... The Mentalist, oy ve.

    Another twelve in the Southwestern Conference. Another league of HBCUs. And the losers or winners overall is:   The Alabama A & M Bulldogs! Well, the Bulldogs be winnin'!

    Nine in the current Summit League. No one left, but all will fight to the hilt. Meaning, losing builds character. We are building towards March. 2025.

    14 in the Sun Belt Conference. All have lost at least one. Most are where it is warmer and sunnier. Not as much James Madison, but they have moved up from D-1AA, or the FCS. The smaller guys.

    Two to go? Lessee...

        

    11 in the WAC. Western Athletic Conference. The aforementioned OSU and WSU, as in the Beavers and Cougars, are with them now! Huh. Okay, new to me. But that is good to know. Who has not lost as of this Friday night, as I type? Five! Gonzaga, (rated 4th in the nation, killing Baylor), Oregon State, St. Mary's, Washington State, and the SAN FRANCISCO DONS!

    And finally, last but not least, the whoops... I mixed up the West Coast Conference with the above. Scratch the one up there, with Gonzaga et al, and put the WAC down here. Okay? WCC has SF and WSU and OSU... You can do the math.

    The WAC, which used to be BYU and Utah as I grew up, has nine.

    And one team, the Thunderous Southern Utah Thunderbirds, are undefeated and 3-0!

    Amazing. And there you have it, 31 conferences representing all 364 teams.

    And only X have survived thus far. Got it? 

    And by February of 2025 it will likely be zero. Except and unless for IU or BYU, by chance.

    But not likely at all. We shall see and reap.

    Cheers, college basketball fans. May we see our teams and schools triumph!

    It's only a game, after all.