We at Rush the Court are pleased and honored to introduce you to our stable of world-class hoopologists, who will be serving you up tasty weekly servings of creamy nougat involving each of the 31 Division I conferences.  Each of our correspondents endured a vetting and due diligence process that would make Sarah Palin blush, and as a result, we’re here to offer you some of the most knowledgeable minds in the blogosphere for each of these conferences.  You’ve met each of these writers before with our 2008-09 Season Primers, but you’ll be seeing them a lot more often beginning this weekend, so let’s get comfortable with their names and schedules for the rest of the season.

Sundays through Thursdays will be high-major days at RTC. The thirteen leagues that typically send multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament will be covered by our correspondents during the bulk of the week.  Each league will have a new post on its scheduled day throughout the season.  Let’s meet them.

Sundays Beginning 11.23.08

• Missouri Valley – Patrick Marshall (Bluejay Basketball)
• Conference USA – Allen R
• Colonial – Ryan Kish (George Mason Basketball)

Mondays Beginning 11.24.08

• ACC – Zach Smith (Old Gold & Blog and DeaconsIllustrated)
• Big 12 – Patrick Marshall (Bluejay Basketball)

Tuesdays Beginning 11.25.08

• Big Ten – Josh & Mike (Big Ten Geeks)
• SEC – Kurt (SEC Hoops: The Good, The Bad, The Dirty)

Wednesdays Beginning 11.26.08

• Big East – Rob Dauster (Ballin is a Habit)
• Atlantic 10 – College Chalk Talk

Thursdays Beginning 11.27.08

• Pac-10 – RTC
• WAC – Kevin McCarthy (Parsing The WAC) and Sam Wasson (bleedCrimson.net)
• West Coast – Michael Chin
• Mountain West – Jordan Freemeyer

Fridays will be mid-major day at RTC.  There are eighteen D1 leagues that we qualify as typical one-bid leagues (the ‘mid-majors’).  These correspondents will report on their leagues every two weeks, resulting in an alternate-Friday schedule for each league, half of the group each week.  Let’s meet these bloggers as well.

Every Other Friday Beginning 11.21.08

• SWAC – JC  (HBCUSportsBlog)
• Horizon – Damon Lewis (Horizon League Network)
• Ivy – David Zeitlin
• Big West – Ryan ZumMallen (LBPOSTSports)
• MAAC – Ray Floriani (College Chalk Talk)
• MAC – Greg Miller (WPSD Local 6)
• Southern – Andrew Baker (Mid Major Review)
• Summitt – Ryan Pravato (collegefastbreak.com)
• Sun Belt – Rick Henderson (The Owl’s Nest)

Every other Friday Beginning 11.28.08

• MEAC – JC  (HBCUSportsBlog)
• Northeast – Ray Floriani (College Chalk Talk)
• Atlantic Sun – Andrew Baker (Mid Major Review)
• Patriot –  Marty Leon
• Ohio Valley – Ron Harris
• Southland  – RTC
• Big South – Mark Bryant  (Big South SHOUT)
• Big Sky – Jordan Freemeyer
• America East – Corey Johns

Ed. Note – this is a sticky.  The new posts are immediately below this one.

Wanted: great writers or bloggers who are intimately knowledgeable with the hoops ins and outs of a conference of their choice.

                            Even Dick is On Board With RTC

Yes, we at RTC are looking to expand our breadth and reach.  With the season fast approaching (only 58 days until Midnight Madness), we are looking to broaden our exposure for the 2008-09 season by facilitating a mutually beneficial relationship with a conference correspondent from each of the 31 D1 leagues (we’d even consider an Independent correspondent if one exists…). 

If you already have a conference blog, great!  We’ll cross-post content that you may have already been doing anyway (in some capacity).  If you’re simply an interested writer looking to create a name for yourself as an expert in a conference, also great!  We’re interested in everyone. 

Depending on the conference the correspondent is covering, we envision a maximum of 2 posts/week that will summarize for our readers what they may have missed while they were keeping an eye on the team(s) or conference(s) they like best.  For the little guys, this is an opportunity to sell the readership of a national blog of the merits of your league and the teams/players to watch throughout the season.  For the money leagues, this is a chance to focus on details that only conference fans are knowledgeable about (i.e., rumors about playing time, local rivalry trash-talk, etc.). 

If you know of someone who would make a great conference correspondent, send us his name/blog/contact info. at rushthecourtATyahooDOTcom or leave the information in the comment section below.  If you are someone with those characteristics, do likewise.

We look forward to hearing from you.   

Update (9/11/08) :  the revised list of needed conferences is here.