Conference Tournaments Starting March 7th

Five...count 'em FIVE Conference Tournaments begin on Friday. Thankfully, I'm here to guide you through them all. I'm very glad that these things are spaced out nicely over a couple of weeks, because doing 12 capsules in a day would drive me insane. By the way, the Stanford at UCLA game earlier tonight was a decent one. UCLA won in overtime after trailing for practically all of regulation. I didn't trust this Stanford team at all before this game, and after watching them tonight, I don't think I trust UCLA now either. I'm tired of the Lopez twins. I will say that UCLA's Kevin Love might just be the best outlet passing center ever. Without further adieu, let's crank these out. As always, my predicted champion is in bold.

• West Coast Conference - Gonzaga - Like it or not, we're just not going to escape Gonzaga and the month of March going hand-in-hand for awhile. I thought that this might be a down year for the Zags and that Saint Mary's would step things up and assert themselves in the WCC. But as the season went on, Gonzaga only got better and better. They went 24-6 overall and 13-1 in the WCC, their only conference loss coming at Saint Mary's in overtime. The Zags have a pretty good resume, with wins over UConn, St. Joe's, Virginia Tech, and Saint Mary's. Mark Few is an outstanding coach, constantly re-stocking this small Jesuit university in Spokane year after year. On a personal note, I'm very sad to see one of my favorite players in all of college basketball, David Pendergraft, come to the end of his career. It seems like I've watched this hustling red-head in late night ESPN2 games for the past 8 years. Quality basketball player right there. Can you believe that it's almost been ten years since Gonzaga's coming out party? They made a surprise run to the elite 8 in 1999 and have been on every college hoops fan's radar ever since. Saint Mary's could make a run here, but they are destined to play a much improved San Diego squad in the semi-finals. Watch out for that San Diego team too, as they are hosting this WCC Tournament. Notable seeds: #1 Gonzaga, #2 Saint Mary's, #3 San Diego, #4 Santa Clara, #6 Pepperdine

• Southern Conference - Davidson - Everyone's favorite first round upset pick won't have much of a chance to do any 'upsetting' unless they win the Southern Conference Tournament. Most people remember Davidson from last year's tournament and their valiant first round effort against Maryland. Stephen Curry (pronounced STEFF-in), is, of course, Del Curry's son and the star of this team. I've already spoken about Davidson earlier so I'll keep this short. Besides, if you google 'Stephen Curry' or 'Davidson basketball', you'll probably find out what you want to know. This is Davidson's Tournament to lose. I believe that they were the first team to go 20-0 during conference play in the HISTORY of NCAA basketball, so that's a pretty big accomplishment. I hope Davidson makes it. The Big Dance will be more interesting with them in it. They just have to go out and earn it. This conference used to belong to John Kresse and his College of Charleston squad, but not any more. Notable seeds: #1 Davidson, #2 Chattanooga, #3 Georgia Southern, #6 College of Charleston, #7 Elon

• America East Conference - UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) - I have to pick this team as I already hyped them up in a Bracket Busters column. Please don't ask me anything about this league because I know next to nothing about it. Some troublesome NCAA teams from the past are in this Conference, such as Albany and Vermont. UMBC is by far the best team in this tournament, having won the regular season Conference title by three games. Since Hartford no longer has their beloved Whalers to root for, it should be noted that the University of Hartford is the number two seed in this Tournament. I really need this pick so that I can look good after all five of my Bracket Buster choices make the Big Dance. Phil...check out UMBC's head coach...I think you'll be on my side with this pick now. Notable seeds: #1 UMBC, #2 Hartford, #3 Albany, #4 Vermont, #7 New Hampshire, #8 Stony Brook (classic name right there)

• MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) - Rider - This Conference Tournament is usually crazy and unpredictable as hell. Siena is the #1 seed, but lost to the #4 seed, Loyola of Maryland, twice. Niagra becomes interesting as the #3 seed in this tournament because they have the leading scorer in the country with Charron Fisher (27.8 points per game). But I'm going with the Rider Broncos here for four reasons: 1) I like their name, Rider. 2) They won at Siena, beat Penn State (always good), and defeated Rutgers (something Pitt couldn't do). 3) I heard people hype Rider a little bit on ESPN's college game night as well as on a college basketball podcast. 4) I'm tired of picking #1 seeds to win these Conference Tournaments. So there. Notable seeds: #1 Siena, #2 Rider, #3 Niagra, #4 Loyola of Maryland, #6 Marist

• Colonial Athletic Association - VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) - What we have here is a group of teams so pompous, they refuse to call themselves a Conference or a League. Uh huh, because an association sounds so much better. Sounds more like a group of concerned, white, elderly adults that want to make sure that no more 'darkies' move into the neighborhood. (Can you tell that I don't have anything to say about this tournament yet?) I'm going with VCU here for two simple reasons: 1) VCU needs to win this tournament because if they don't, the bubble picture is going to get screwed up very quickly. I don't care what you hear on television or on the radio or on any website or on some other blog...this is NOT a two bid league! Umm, sorry, this is not a two bid association. Right, right...the second reason: 2) VCU has an RPI of 44. That's pretty damn good. Better than teams like Kansas State, Oregon, and Ohio State. If they do get into the Big Dance, VCU is a great potential first-round upset pick. Sadly, I don't have enough confidence in them to feature them in Bracket Busters. Seriously though, VCU is a good team. They won a tough conference by three games and had good non-conference wins including Akron (during Bracket Busters week), Houston, and AT Maryland. Good enough for me. Not too bad of a job filling space for an 'association' (conference) that I didn't have much to say about. You're welcome. Notable seeds: #1 VCU, #2 UNC Wilmington, #3 George Mason (not going to happen again folks, sorry), #4 Old Dominion, #7 Delaware, #10 Drexel