Conference Tournaments Starting March 6th

Two more Conference Tournaments begin tonight with battles in the Missouri Valley and the Northeast. This makes 8 conference tournaments that have tipped-off through today. That's 8 of 30 for me to research, predict, and follow. I already feel like I've written a thesis or something, and I'm not even a third of the way through these things. No wonder more people don't do this. I should have my own column on CBS sports or ESPN or something. What kind of wacko actually fills out a bracket for EACH of the thirty Conference Tournaments?!?!? Me...that's who. These two conferences are near and dear to my heart, so there wasn't that much work to do. Games start in a half hour, gotta get this thing posted. My predicted champions, as always, are in bold.

• Northeast Conference - Robert Morris - For the first time since I can remember, my alma mater has a great shot to make it to the NCAA Tournament. Robert Morris is lead by senior and NEC player of the year, Tony Lee. Lee is the only player in NEC history to amass at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists, and 250 steals. Impressive stuff for a guy that didn't really have a defined position on the court when he came into the program at 6 feet, 205 pounds. Robert Morris head coach, Mike Rice, also picked up some hardware this week, oaring NEC coach of the year honors. This team not only won their regular season title, they have a quality win AT Boston Colege, 57-51. A great year for this program is only going to get better after winning the NEC Tournament and earning their first trip to the Big Dance since 1992. RMU (25-6, 16-2) even earned a single point in the AP poll this week! I couldn't be prouder for the Colonials right now. Notable seeds: #1 Robert Morris, #2 Wagner, #3 Sacred Heart (the team with the best chance to bring RMU down), #5 Quinnipiac, #6 Central Connecticut State.

• Missouri Valley Conference - Drake - Hopefully you've already read my Bracket Busters run-down on this team so I don't have gush any more about them. The Missouri Valley Conference (or 'The Valley' for those in the know) is really really good. This league includes notable basketball programs like Bradley, Creighton, Indiana State, Missouri State, Illinois State, and Drake. The Valley has a conference RPI of #8, that's better than Conference USA right now. Over the past ten years or so, this conference tournament has been one of the most exciting and most competitive. And almost every year there seems to be a debate as to how many teams from The Valley (sounds like a teen-soap-drama) should make it into the NCAA Tournament. I think they are destined for two teams this year, with Drake getting the automatic birth after they win it all on Sunday, March 9th. Notable seeds: #1 Drake, #2 Illinois State, #3 Southern Illinois, #4 Creighton, #5 Bradley, #6 Northern Iowa.