Southland Conference The Favorite
Abilene Christian (13-2, 21-4): Joe Golding has steadily been molding the ACU Wildcats into one of the conference’s best teams over his 10 years, but this may just be his best work.
The Wildcats have built an impressive resume at 13-2 in conference, and their two non-conference losses were competitive ones to now-ranked Texas Tech and Arkansas. Most of his wins this season have been convincing, and save for a loss to Central Arkansas, the Wildcats were potentially a decent win away from having a real case at an at large bid.
Currently at 97 in KenPom, they are nearly 80 spots higher than the next-highest Southland member (Sam Houston State). Their success starts on the defensive end; the Wildcats are ranked 37th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. Golding preaches an aggressive defensive strategy and it shows in the statistics. They force the most turnovers in the conference (and 11th highest in the nation) at 20.6 per game, and rank