How accurate are preseason polls?

[wkuhillhound]

Sometime in October or November there were magazines predicting the outcomes for all conferences. Now that the majority of the conference's regular season is over, its time to compare. Some conference were close and some were WAAAAAY off. I bought three magazines, Sporting News, Athlon Sports, and Lindy's. All three magazines predicted the outcomes for all conference including independents. Which one of the three magazines was the most accurate? I will do a few conferences each day since there are so many of them. Here are the results: *I used the standings from the sportsline.com website. If the are any inaccuracies let me know. Bolded teams means they predicted correctly.

**America East actual standings
Vermont
Binghamton
Boston U
Stony Brook
New Hampshire
UMBC
Albany
Maine
Hartford

Sporting News
Vermont
Boston U
Hartford
UMBC
Albany
Binghamton
Stony Brook
Maine
New Hampshire

Lindy's
Boston U
Vermont
UMBC
Hartford
Binghamton
Albany
New Hampshire
Maine
Stony Brook

Sporting News wins the America East. (this can change depending on my researching on Athlon.)

**forgot about Athlon's prediction for this conference.

Atlantic Sun actual standings
Jacksonville
East Tennessee State
Belmont
Lipscomb
Mercer
Campbell
Stetson
^USC Upstate
^Florida Gulf Coast
^North Florida
^Kennesaw State
^didn't qualify for the Atlantic Sun tournament.

Lindy's
Belmont
Jacksonville
East Tennessee State
Stetson
Lipscomb
Campbell
Mercer

Athlon
Belmont
Jacksonville
East Tennessee State
Stetson
Lipscomb
Mercer
Campbell

Sporting News
Jacksonville
Belmont
East Tennessee State
Stetson
Mercer
Lipscomb
Campbell

Sporting News wins Atlantic Sun

Big Sky actual standings
Weber State
Portland State
Montana
Idaho State
Northern Colorado
Montana State
Eastern Washington
Northern Arizona
Sacramento State

Sporting News
Portland State
Idaho State
Montana
Weber State
Northern Arizona
Northern Colorado
Eastern Washington
Montana State
Sacramento State

Athlon Sports
Portland State
Montana
Northern Arizona
Idaho State
Weber State
Northern Colorado
Eastern Washington
Montana State
Sacramento State

Lindy's
Portland State
Idaho State
Weber State
Northern Arizona
Montana
Northern Colorado
Eastern Washington
Montana State
Sacramento State

Athlon Sports and Sporting News tie Big Sky

Big South actual standings
Radford
VMI
Liberty
UNC Asheville
Gardner-Webb
^Presbyterian
Winthrop
Coastal Carolina
Charleston Southern
High Point
^does not qualify for conference tournament

Lindy's
VMI
Radford
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
Coastal Carolina
Winthrop
Liberty
UNC Asheville
High Point

Athlon Sports
Winthrop
Gardner-Webb
Radford
High Point
Liberty
Charleston Southern
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
VMI

Sporting News
Radford
Gardner-Webb
High Point
Winthrop
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Charleston Southern
VMI
Liberty

Lindy's and Sporting News ties Big South

[wkuhillhound]

CAA-Actual standings
VCU
George Mason
Old Dominion
Northeastern
Hofstra
Drexel
James Madison
Georgia State
Delaware
William & Mary
Towson
UNC Wilmington

Sporting News
VCU
George Mason
Old Dominion
UNC Wilmington
Delaware
Northeastern
William & Mary
James Madison
Hofstra
Drexel
Towson
Georgia State

Athlon Sports
VCU
Old Dominion
Northeastern
George Mason
Delaware
Hofstra
Georgia State
UNC Wilmington
James Madison
William & Mary
Drexel
Towson

Sporting News wins CAA (with the Lindy's still undecided it may change.)

Horizon League actual standings
Butler
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Cleveland State
Wright State
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Youngstown State
Illinois-Chicago
Loyola (IL)
Valparaiso
Detroit

Lindy's
Wright State
Cleveland State
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Butler
Valparaiso
Illinois-Chicago
Loyola (IL)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Detroit
Youngstown State

Athlon Sports
Cleveland State
Wright State
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Butler
Illinois-Chicago
Valparaiso
Loyola (IL)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Youngstown State
Detroit

Sporting News
Cleveland State
Wright State
Valparaiso
Illinois-Chicago
Wisconsin-Green Bay
Butler
Loyola (IL)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Detroit
Youngstown State

Athlon Sports win Horizon League

[clenz]

UNI was picked to finish 6th in the preseason poll and won the conference.

Last year Drake was picked to finish last in the MVC and won both the regular season and conference titles

[UNHWildCats]

Big South actual standings
Radford
VMI
Liberty
UNC Asheville
Gardner-Webb
^Presbyterian
Winthrop
Coastal Carolina
Charleston Southern
High Point
^does not qualify for conference tournament

Lindy's
VMI
Radford
Charleston Southern
Gardner-Webb
Coastal Carolina
Winthrop
Liberty
UNC Asheville
High Point

Athlon Sports
Winthrop
Gardner-Webb
Radford
High Point
Liberty
Charleston Southern
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
VMI

Sporting News
Radford
Gardner-Webb
High Point
Winthrop
UNC Asheville
Coastal Carolina
Charleston Southern
VMI
Liberty

Lindy's and Sporting News ties Big South
gotta give sports news a win here, they correctly picked the champ while lindys only picked the last place team :p

[Bill Hanson]

polls are useless until about the 4th or 5th week of the season.