Conference Tournaments Starting March 12th

We have EIGHT Conference Tournaments beginning today. We're finally getting to the big boys as the Big East and Pac 10 Tourneys get underway.....Conferences that used to be good but are now wishy-washy like the Atlantic 10 and Conference USA get started.....and one of the best Conference Tournaments in all the land gets going in the MAC (Mid-American Conference). The MAC Tourney is always crazy as the #1 seed has not won the tournament championship in something like 10 years (anyone want to find that fact for me? it would be appreciated). Eight is a lot of Conference capsules so let's get to it. As always, my predicted champion is in bold.

• Big East Conference - Louisville - The Big East always puts on a show during their yearly Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden, and this year should be no different. There are probably 5 or 6 teams that could legitimately win this Championship. I'm going with the #2 seed Louisville because I like their half of the bracket and I like how they match-up (potentially) with Georgetown or Connecticut in the championship game. There are a ton of "what-ifs?" going on in this tournament. Syracuse could realistically defeat #1 Georgetown in the quarterfinals, that is, if they defeat Villanova in the first round, which I don't believe is going to happen. Notre Dame has one of their best teams in years and could make a run to the championship game, that is, if they don't lose to Marquette in the quarterfinals, which I think will happen. Connecticut has a team that could put it all together and win the conference title, the problem is that they have one of the worst draws in this tournament. Pittsburgh is the 7th seed here, and as much as I want to hope and believe that they could do some damage in this tournament...I don't believe they will because they will face Louisville in the quarterfinals, the one team I didn't want them to face. I would have preferred Georgetown, UCONN, or Notre Dame as better match-ups for Pitt. But like this entire season for the Pittsburgh Panthers, it just wasn't meant to be. Quick Big East Awards Update: Notre Dame and Pitt were well represented this year as Luke Harangody won Player of the Year as a sophomore and Mike Brey won coach of the year for the second consecutive year to represent Notre Dame. DeJuan Blair shared Big East Rookie of the Year honors, Sam Young won Most Improved Player, and senior Ronald Ramon shared the Sportsmanship award, all representing the Pitt Panthers. This should be a really fun tournament. The Big East has 7 teams in the RPI top 35. Seriously...5 different teams could win this Tournament. I'm going with Louisville. No matter who wins this thing, look for the Big East to be well represented in the Sweet Sixteen in a few weeks. Notable seeds: #1 Georgetown, #2 Louisville, #3 Notre Dame, #4 UCONN, #5 West Virginia, #6 Marquette (great sleeper here), #7 Pittsburgh, #8 Villanova (props to Matt G.), #9 Syracuse, #12 Providence

• Atlantic 10 Conference - UMASS - I don't have the time I'd like to put into these, so now we're going to blaze through them like Ricky Williams in South Beach. Everything tells me that I should take Xavier here, but I'm not going to do it. This league is jinxed. Remember a few years back when Saint Joseph's went undefeated until they lost in the Atlantic 10 championship game? Well that's kind of the gut feeling I have going on here. Xavier is by far the best team in this Conference, but the A-10 is filled with so many bubble teams that this tourney is going to be like a rugby scrum. This league just makes no sense. Read this article about how this league is predictably unpredictable. Let me put it this way, I wouldn't be completely shocked if the #8 seed Dayton won it all...or if the #11 seed Rhode Island made a run to the semifinals. I like some combination of UMASS, St. Joe's, Dayton, and/or Xavier. I'm going with UMASS because I like their bottom half of the draw...the top half is going to be a bloodbath. Notable seeds: #1 Xavier, #2 Temple, #3 UMASS, #5 Saint Joseph's, #8 Dayton, #10 Duquesne, #11 Rhode Island

• PAC 10 Conference - Stanford - My gut tells me that there is no way that anyone in this conference wins this tournament except for UCLA. And this is exactly why I'm going with Stanford. March is indeed, madness. I fully expect UCLA to do well in the NCAA Tournament, most likely making an appearance in the final four. Conversely...I don't like Stanford at all in the NCAA Tournament and expect them to lose before the sweet sixteen unless they get an unbelievable draw. Stanford got hosed by the Pac 10 refs in their last game against UCLA. Stanford has a lot more to play for than UCLA as the Bruins already have a #1 seed pretty much sewn-up. I think Stanford will want to prove something in this tournament while UCLA will pretty much be using it as a tune-up. I also like Stanford because they should have a cake-walk to the finals with games against Arizona and either Washington State or Oregon. This should be a really good Conference Tournament to watch for those of us with nothing else to do. A lot of good teams, good coaches, and good players are now in this Conference...kind of the natural ebb and flow of college basketball. Jerryd Bayless of Arizona is an outstanding freshman. Catch OJ Mayo in a USC game before he hops to the NBA. And again, Kevin Love is one of the most versatile big men I've ever witnessed in college hoops, he delivers the best big-man break out pass I've ever seen. By the way...Oregon State went 0-16 in league play this year, that is an absolute embarrassment for a team playing in a major conference. Everyone associated with that program should be ashamed. I don't care if their mascot is the Beavers, it's still pathetic. UCLA will do great in the Big Dance, but I like Stanford to win the PAC 10 title. Notable seeds: #1 UCLA, #2 Stanford, #3 Washington State, #4 USC, #5 Arizona State, #6 Oregon, #7 Arizona

• Conference USA - Memphis - What else is there to say here? Memphis went 16-0 in league play this year and won Conference USA by four games. They have an RPI of 3 and the next closest team in this league is UAB at 50. This is a joke. I don't know if Conference USA will catch up to Memphis in the next five years, because I don't see Memphis really falling back down to them much anytime soon. Nothing else too interesting is going on in this tournament. The only team with a chance to hang with Memphis for a half is UAB...and they might lose in the semifinals to Houston or UTEP. Did I mention yet that the Memphis Tigers are coached by John Calipari? Calipari grew up in Moon Township (suburb of Pittsburgh for those who don't know), is a Clarion University of Pennsylvania alumni, and was an assistant coach for Pitt in the 1980's. There John...I've given Coach Calipari and Clarion University some props. Notable seeds: #1 Memphis (that's it)

• Mountain West Conference - BYU (Brigham Young University) - Remember the good old days of the mid-to-late-90's when this Conference was actually pretty good? Back in the days of Keith Van Horne, Rick Majerus, and teams being frightened of playing at New Mexico's "The Pit". The Mountain West has a conference RPI of 9, which is actually ahead of Conference USA and the Horizon League. But this Mormon-heavy, mountain west time zone isn't quite what it used to be. BYU (RPI of 21) pretty much dominated league play here so I'm going with them as champions. BYU has also won 13 of thier last 14 games. UNLV or New Mexico could challenge BYU here, but those teams lose too many random games. Too inconsistent. My final Bracket Buster team is coming out of this conference, but I haven't decided if it will be BYU or UNLV yet. I promise that I'll have that column done before the brackets come out on Sunday. I'm still hoping that all 5 of my Bracket Busters make the tournament. Notable seeds: #1 BYU, #2 UNLV, #3 New Mexico, #4 San Diego State, #5 Air Force, #6 Utah

• Mid-American Conference - Kent State - In what is usually one of the most exciting and unpredictable conference tournaments in all the land, I'm going with the #1 seed because choosing anyone else would simply be a crapshoot. I'd like to make it to one of these tournament sessions as the games are being played two hours away in Cleveland. If you were thinking about starting a blog/column for the 2009 NCAA Tournament and wanted to start calling your own Bracket Busters/Cinderella teams...I'd go with Bowling Green University (here the #9 seed). BGSU have battled injuries all year, they're young, and they're going to be very VERY good next year. This Conference never makes sense, so I'm not going to attempt to make sense of it. The MAC has not had an at-large NCAA bid since 1999. If Kent State doesn't win this tournament, they could very well be a two-bid league for the first time since the Clinton era. Being the best team doesn't mean you'll win your conference tournament. But Kent State is the best team here and I picked them as one of my Bracket Busters. I gotta be consistent and stick with them here. Notable seeds: #1 Kent State, #2 Western Michigan, #3 Akron (nice sleeper pick), #4 Ohio, #5 Miami OH, #6 Central Michigan, #8 Toledo (Pompous Assholes!), #9 Bowling Green

• Big West Conference - UC Santa Barbara - We're finally back to a league I know nothing about. It seems like all of the schools are located within 40 miles of each other in Southern California. With the three-hour commute to get anywhere in so-cal, it's probably about the same travel time for league play as all of the Big Ten Schools. The best thing about this Conference is the mascots, including: The Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara, The Matadors of Cal State Northridge, & The Anteaters of UC Irvine (my personal favorite). (The mascot of UC Santa Cruz is the Banana Slugs, which will live on forever on baseball caps worn by frat boys and drunken freshman all over this wonderful country) I need to get to Southern California some day, seems like a nice place to visit, not to live. Notable seeds: #1 UC Santa Barbara, #2 Cal State Northridge, #3 Cal State Fullerton, #4 Pacific, #5 UC Irvine

• Southwestern Athletic Conference - Alabama State - I'm mad at this conference because they are the only athletic conference I've come across so far that didn't have an available conference tournament bracket in pdf format for me to print out at my convenience. My lord people in the SWAC, get your fucking act together!!! I had to go out and make-up my own bracket for your stupid conference tournament! Seriously...someone in your communications or marketing department couldn't take 30 minutes out of their hectic day to put together a conference tournament bracket!?! You're on my shit-list SWAC. You better make it up to me somehow. That somehow would be having Alabama State win your conference tournament so my picks look good. Nothing else to say about this conference. Did you know that Jerry Rice went to Mississippi Valley State? If you didn't, I don't know why you're reading this blog unless you're a very devoted friend or family member...so I thank you for that. Notable seeds: #1 Alabama State, #2 Mississippi Valley State, #3 Alabama A & M, #4 Jackson State, #5 Southern U, #6 Arkansas Pine-Bluff