TBI's Conference Calling 2014-15 College Basketball Conference Previews (Part 2)

Back for more, eh? Expecting that the new guy over at BT Powerhouse, SB Nation's finest stop for all your Big Ten basketball needs, will mindlessly anoint his favorite conference as America's best?

If you expect that a guy who's glossed himself The Professor for the better part of a decade will do anything mindlessly, you obviously haven't passed through here much.

So let's check out Part 2 of TBI's conference rankings and see if the Big Ten does, in fact, reign supreme once more. (BTW, this is also post No. 100 in the sporadic history of this slightly-above-mediocre college basketball repository. So, yay me, I guess.)

Conference Calling's 2013-14 College Basketball Previews: #24 Horizon

If you're an Ohio-hating political junkie who thinks the Buckeye State has way too much electoral power, you won't care for the balance of power in the Horizon League.

The potential exists for Ohio-based schools Wright State, Cleveland State and Youngstown State to sweep the podium positions in the Horizon this season, thanks to multiple all-conference losses by Detroit and Valparaiso.

The most dangerous threats to the looming Ohio hegemony may come from the north, as Green Bay and Oakland return the conference's most dangerous individual talents. But do UWGB's Alec Brown and Oakland's Travis Bader have enough support?

Read on and we'll discuss.

(All statistics and rankings per StatSheet.com unless otherwise noted.)

Missouri Valley Adds Loyola (Chicago) to Replace Creighton

According to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, the Missouri Valley Conference has responded to its first membership change in almost two decades.

After Creighton's announcement that it would leave for the new-look Big East, the MVC was down to nine members from the optimum 10 that it rode with since Tulsa left in 1996. The Valley will not, however, play a game as a nine-school league with the addition of Loyola University of Chicago, late of the Horizon League.

Conference Calling: Players to Watch for Championship Week (Part I)

Conference tournaments begin in the next few hours, with the Big South tipping off near Myrtle Beach and the Horizon League playing its openers tonight.

It's about to get real, kids.

In honor of those events starting, let's examine each league and find one player who can determine his team's fate as relates to an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. We'll hit the first 10 today, the next 10 on Thursday and finish up on Saturday, by which point most brackets should be close to set.

Tournaments will be presented in the order they begin after the jump.

Conference Calling's 31 in 31 Series: 2012-13 Horizon League Preview

The Conference Calling 31 in 31 preview series will examine each of the NCAA Division I auto-bid conferences (so no Great West or independents), one per day, leading up to college basketball's opening day on November 9. 

=======

The Horizon League doesn't have Butler to kick it around anymore.

A string of five straight regular-season titles, outright or shared, was snapped when the Bulldogs struggled through last season. Still, the Atlantic 10 wanted the cachet of bringing in a two-time NCAA runner-up and Butler was interested in being part of a league that can rate more than one tournament bid. So, a quickie marriage was consummated in a hurry and the rest of the HL threw a wild celebration.

Now, the reality of a new lower profile sets in. Some casual fans have heard of Ray McCallum of Detroit, but it takes the truly hardcore to discuss the merits of Ryan Broekhoff, Alec Brown and Kendrick Perry.

Can any of those stars topple McCallum and his coach/father Ray Sr., or are the McCallums headed back to March Madness as repeat champions?

Read on after the jump.