North Carolina Central was one of three conference unbeatens this season, finishing league play at 16-0. But no team in the country can match Central’s overall winning streak against conference foes, which is an incredible 34 dating back to last year’s season-opening loss to Florida A&M. The Eagles come into the tourney with eight consecutive double-digit wins, but they’re not an overwhelming favorite. For one thing, that season-ending streak is deceptive because they played lowly Florida A&M, Bethune-Cookman, and North Carolina A&T twice. In fact, they avoided any of the other top six teams in the league during that stretch.

In total, it appears the Eagles had the easiest possible conference schedule, playing the other top six seeds—Norfolk State, UMES, Delaware State, Howard, and Hampton—just once each. NCCU is clearly the best team in the league, but their dominance is a bit exaggerated by the schedule. Furthermore, the tournament is played in the backyard of second-seeded Norfolk State. So be on guard for an upset in the world’s largest reinforced thin-shell concrete dome.

I’m still pulling for UMES, who posted its first winning season since 1994 and its most victories in a season (18) since 1974. Mike Myers is a bad individual.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

All-kenpom.com: Jordan Parks, N.C. Central (kPOY); Mike Myers, UMES; Nimrod Hilliard, N.C. Central; Jeff Short, Norfolk State; Amere May, Delaware State.

March 9-14 at Norfolk, Va.

                   Qtrs Semis Final Champ
 1 N.C. Central     100  91.5  73.4  50.3
 2 Norfolk St.      100  90.1  56.9  23.8
 3 UMES             100  70.0  32.2  14.5
 4 Howard           100  55.9  13.9   4.8
 5 Delaware St.    80.3  40.2  10.0   3.5
 6 Hampton         77.3  27.0   8.8   2.4
 9 Coppin St.      57.9   5.5   1.7   0.3
10 N. Carolina A&T 52.0   5.4   0.9   0.1
 8 Bethune Cookman 42.1   3.0   0.7   0.1
 7 S. Carolina St. 48.0   4.6   0.8   0.08
11 Morgan St.      22.7   3.1   0.4   0.05
12 Savannah St.    19.7   3.9   0.3   0.04