Conference Tournaments Starting March 13th

The last of the Conference Tournaments got underway on Thursday with battles in the ACC, Big 12, SEC, Big 10, and (not to be outdone by the big boys) the Southland Conference. In less than 72 hours, all of the Conference Tournament Champions will be crowned and the brackets will be set for the Big Dance. This has almost been too much fun. I took a beating in my Conference Tournament brackets today, but it doesn't matter, this has been a ridiculously enjoyable (and slightly pathetic) process. Let's get through these last five Conference Tournaments. As always, my predicted champion is in bold.

• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) - North Carolina - With all of the college basketball I've watched over the past few weeks, I have YET to catch an ACC game. This is a little sad, as the ACC is one of the better leagues in the country and has two of the nation's best teams fighting for league supremacy. If UNC and Duke met for a third time this year in the ACC championship game on Sunday, I'll be sure not to miss it. Everyone knows about UNC's national player of the year candidate, Tyler Hansbrough. What everyone might not know is that sophomore guard Ty Lawson is the player that can make this Tar Heel team nearly unstoppable. Lawson has the ability to control the flow of any game. His skills allow UNC to play a more up-tempo, run-and-gun style of play (when they so choose), along with executing their half-court sets. There might not be a quicker point guard in all of college basketball. The one major worry for UNC is the ankle injury that Lawson sustained this season. If this injury lingers in any way, or negatively impacts Lawson's speed and cutting ability, it could be of major concern for Tar Heel Nation. The ACC is ranked #1 in all the land with regard to conference RPI. There are some good teams here but it really comes down to UNC and Duke. I thought about picking Duke here for a brief moment, but I think I still have visions of them losing to VCU in the first round of the tournament last year. Duke is very good and very young. They will have their moments of glory in the future. I just think that this is UNC's year to shine. Even though I don't completely trust Roy Williams, I still like this Tar Heel team. Again...Liz, if you can convince me otherwise about Coach Williams, please do. Notable seeds: #1 North Carolina, #2 Duke, #3 Clemson, #4 Virginia Tech, #5 Miami, #6 Maryland, #9 Florida State

• Big 12 Conference - Texas - I wasn't sure who to go with here as there have been times where I really like what I've seen with Texas and Kansas. Guards D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams of Texas are outstanding. I'll say it over and over and over. One of the keys a team MUST have to succeed in March is great (not good) guard play. Texas has this. But wait! Kansas has amazing guards as well with Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush. This Kansas team might just be the deepest and most talented team in the nation. But talent alone does not bring a program a national champion. This leads me to my biggest concern for both of these teams come the NCAA Tournament. I wouldn't trust either of these coaches to win a big game for a middle school basketball team, let alone a top-10, division one basketball program. Bill Self of Kansas and Rick Barnes of Texas scare me. Barnes has an amazing ability to continuously over-think and coach his team right out of a game. Self hasn't done squat with a ton of talent in his time with the Jayhawks. I'm stumped. If talent alone won championships, I'd name Kansas as my predicted national champion right now in a bracket that hasn't even been determined yet. So what I'm left to do is some old fashioned reverse psychology. I'd like to think that this is the year that Kansas puts it all together, that Bill Self doesn't do anything too stupid or irrational, and the Jayhawks finally deliver in the Final Four. Because this is what I think, I HAVE to go with the Texas Longhorns in this Big 12 tournament! Texas will defeat Kansas in the championship game and this will give Self and the Jayhawks the kick in the ass they need to realize that they actually have to work hard and play all 40 minutes of every game in the NCAA Tournament. Please, oh please, be so. Michael Beasley is the reason you should watch any Kansas State game you come across. Beasley is running neck-and-neck with Tyler Hansbrough for player of the year honors and helped Kansas State defeat in-state "rival" Kansas for the first time at home in 24 years. Notable seeds: #1 Texas, #2 Kansas, #3 Kansas State, #4 Oklahoma, #5 Baylor, #6 Texas A & M, #12 Colorado

• Southeastern Conference (SEC) - Tennessee - This wasn't a difficult choice to make. Bruce Pearl's Volunteers are the most talented and most athletic team in this conference. Vanderbilt has some skills (and a very cool home court), but nobody in this league should give Tennessee much of a problem. Two-time defending champs, Florida are in a rebuilding year with a bunch of young talent. Kentucky somehow went 12-4 in conference play and have crept themselves back into (probably) getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. LSU now sucks. I like Tennessee running away. The thing I'm most intrigued about with the SEC tournament is to see what color suit Bruce Pearl will be wearing during the games and in the highlights. Or if he'll be wearing a suit at all. Notable seeds: #e1 Tennessee, #w1 Mississippi State, #e2 Kentucky, #w2 Arkansas, #e3 Vanderbilt, #w3 Ole Miss, #e4 Florida, #w5 Alabama

• Big Ten Conference - Wisconsin - Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I was visiting friends at Notre Dame last year during Conference Tournament week and watched some games in the student union while my friend was proctoring a class (or something to that effect), and the game being "played" on the flat-screen television in front of me was Michigan vs. Minnesota. Oh my good lord!!! What the hell happened to this conference over the last 10 years??? It's actually a little sad if you think about it, kind of like a heart-throb actor or sex-symbol model still going through the motions in their late 50's. It saddens one's soul to see something that was once so relevant and magnificent become so pathetic and decrepit. Bo Ryan and his Wisconsin squad still win a bunch of games each year with second-rate talent running a boring system. Tom Izzo and Michigan State seem to be there year after year, but they are also playing slow-down basketball that makes one want to throw a phone at the television. Michigan State scored 36 points earlier this season against Iowa. 36 points!!! Now I love my Hawkeyes, but when a so-called "good team" can only muster up 36 points against a bad Iowa team, then something has gone terribly wrong. The only two teams that offer a glimmer of good-basketball hope in this conference are Indiana and Purdue. Indiana could have been a very good team but Kelvin Sampson had to go and break NCAA rules and the Hoosiers have not been the same since. Super-freshman Eric Gordon and senior D.J. White have enough talent to make watching an Indiana game relatively painless. Purdue's success this season is a great story as nothing was expected from them and they are being led by a bunch of freshman and sophomores. Purdue also won both games against Wisconsin during the regular season. But at the end of the day, I see Bo Ryan and his boring Badgers taking the Big Ten crown. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Notable seeds: #1 Wisconsin, #2 Purdue, #3 Indiana, #4 Michigan State, #5 Ohio State, #6 Minnesota, #8 Iowa

• Southland Conference - Stephen F. Austin - This is the 30th and final Conference Tournament bracket for me to fill out and break down!!! It feels like graduation! The only thing I know about this Conference is that Northwestern State made it to the NCAA Tournament a few years ago and upset Iowa in the first round. Absolutely broke my heart. I believe Iowa was a #3 seed that year. Otherwise, I am totally useless with regard to this conference and filled out my picks control-bracket style (taking the higher seed in every game). Notable seeds: #1 Stephen F. Austin, #2 Lamar, #3 Sam Houston State, #4 Southeastern La., #5 Northwestern State

Yes...I did in fact go with all #1 seeds today. I'm a little troubled by that, but the only two picks I really wavered on were not going with Duke and Kansas. Besides, I'm getting slaughtered in picking Conference Tournament champions and maybe by going with the favorites, I'll be able to get that winning percentage to creep up a little higher.

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

Conference Tournaments Starting March 11th

We have two Conference Tournaments beginning on Tuesday before a DELUGE of Tournaments get going on Wednesday. Some of the major Conferences begin their tourneys on Wednesday so I'm keeping this entry quick and brief (make your own joke), as I need to begin some serious research regarding the major conferences. As always, my predicted champion is in bold.

• Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) - Morgan State - We've come to another conference where I couldn't name more than two teams off the top of my head. I mean, I know these schools exists...I just didn't know they were all grouped together in this quaint conference. Although this may be a competitive conference, it's not exactly a good one. The MEAC ranks 30 of 32 in conference RPI, only ahead of the Southwestern Conference and the NCAA Independents (gulp). But luckily, to fill space, I have a personal story related to this conference and the NCAA Tournament. I was lucky enough to be in attendance, with my friends Phil, Matt, and Kevin, when #15 Coppin State upset #2 South Carolina in the 1997 tournament. At the time, this was the third occasion when a #15 seed defeated a #2 seed. To add to the fun of that historic upset, Coppin State, led by coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell (above) narrowly missed advancing to the sweet-sixteen two days later...losing to Texas by a point. I remember at the time I was fiercely rooting against Coppin State because they were messing up my brackets. But looking back, I was able to see something very rare and relatively historic (on a college basketball level that is). Louisville was in this group of games also, and I was able to make off with the 2-foot by 4-foot banner that simply says 'Louisville', which marked where the Louisville fan section was located. I loved swiping stuff like that. That is my MEAC related story. I can always say that I was at that game. Notable seeds: #1 Morgan State, #2 Hampton (who also won a Tournament game as a #15 seed, defeating Iowa State in 2001), #3 Norfolk State, #5 North Carolina A & T, #7 Coppin State

• Western Athletic Conference - Utah State - This entire conference comes down to Utah State and Nevada. I literally deliberated for 10 minutes and flipped a coin in an attempt to decide who I thought would win the conference title. Utah State and Nevada had identical conference records at 12-4, split their season series with each team winning at home, and both teams have an RPI in the 70's. I really don't know who to pick. Thankfully, I only have 13 more of these capsules to do. In the end...I'm going with the #1 seed Utah State. Not because I necessarily like Utah State, I'm actually kind of going against Nevada here. Nevada has had the WAC spotlight on them long enough, they screwed up in the Conference Tournament last year and cost a deserving team a bubble spot, and I really got tired of hearing how good Nick Fazekas was over the last couple NCAA Tournaments. Turns out Fazekas is pretty good, he made the NBA's Developmental League's All-Star Game, but didn't play. Let's talk a little about Utah State University, which is located in Logan, Utah. I will give Utah State a little credit...they have Jaycee Carroll, WAC Player of the Year and leads the nation in three-point shooting at 50.2 percent. Pretty darn good. Notable seeds: #1 Utah State, #2 Nevada, #3 New Mexico State, #4 Boise State, #5 Hawai'i

Conference Tournaments Starting March 8th

We only have two Conference Tournaments starting today Ladies and Gents (the Summit League and the Big Sky Conference), so let's get through these so I can get to bed. Before I get into the capsules, I just wanted to note that with these two Tournaments, we are officially half way through the Conference Championships. These are #14 and #15. Half-way done. Only fifteen more to go. Things should get more and more exciting as the tournaments that have already begun move into their semifinal and championship games...not to mention that we have all of the major conferences starting their Conference Tourneys next week. I'm not wearing down at all...I'm just getting started. As always, my predicted champion is in bold.

• Big Sky Conference - Portland State - This Conference Tournament is fascinating! Well...maybe fascinating is a strong word, but the structure of the Tournament is so unique, I literally triple-checked things to make sure I was seeing the entire bracket. The Big Sky consists of 9 teams, but only 6 (count 'em 6!) make the Conference Tournament. That's a total of just 5 games for the entire tournament. Northern Arizona would be a nice pick here as the #2 seed as they have lost in the title game three of the past four years. Not to mention the fact that Northern Arizona is where Ben Howland coached before he came to Pitt and put the Panther's program back on the map. But I'm going with the #1 seed, Portland State, here for a few simple reasons: they're on the verge of their first Big Sky title and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament, they won this Conference by three games, they beat Northern Arizona twice, they have an RPI of 96...50 points higher than the next team in this Conference (Northern Arizona), and lastly, they are simply the strongest basketball team here. Notable seeds: #1 Portland State, #2 Northern Arizona, #3 Weber State (always seem to be in or around the NCAA Tourney), #5 Montana

• Summit League - IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) - Yes...you're correct in what you just read. IUPUI is quite possibly the longest named institution in the history of mankind. You gotta figure though, graduating from that University (or is it two Universities?) has to take up a shit-load of space on your resume. Just so my many fans know, I did not take the easy (and very very fun) road here by picking Oral Roberts. I went with who I thought would win this tournament. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to work Oral into this blog as much as possible, and maybe many will be pleased with Oral by the end of this tournament...who knows, but I'm sticking with this IUPUI pick. Oral does hold the top seed for the fourth year in a row. (I love this blog, if only for the fact that I could type the last sentence and have it be dirty and true at the same time) Oral is also the two-time defending champion. But again, I'm taking IUPUI. They were the pre-season pick to win this conference, and I've kept hearing good things about them on College Game Night and on podcasts all season. IUPUI went 24-6 this season, has an RPI of 74, defeated UMASS (a bubble team), and split the season series with Oral...their loss by a single point on the road. I just think that Oral's time on top is done. Notable seeds: #1 Oral Robers (this was to much fun, we might just have to fit them back into the blog somehow, even if they lose), #2 IUPUI, #3 Oakland (the one that's in Michigan people), #5 IPFW (get this...and make sure you have 5 minutes to get through it.....Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne...it exists), #6 Western Illinois (my dad's alma mater)

By the way, I'm being a good boy here and avoiding all of the scandal and controversy that has surrounded Richard Roberts and Oral Roberts University. You can find all of that juicy stuff on the web if you care at all. Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all.

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

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.

Conference Tournaments Starting March 5th

Three more Conference Tournaments start on Wednesday, so I gotta get these picks in the books before the games actually start. Here is a quick look at the Atlantic Sun, the Patriot League, and the Sun Belt along with my picks for each Conference Tournament Champion.

• Atlantic Sun Conference - Belmont - Holy crap we're already getting obscure. When filling out 30 different Conference Tournament brackets, I guess this is bound to happen. I have very little knowledge about this league. I know Belmont made the Big Dance each of the last two years and they are the #1 seed in the Conference this year, so it seemed like the best pick to me. Gardner-Webb is also in this Conference. Their claim to fame being that they defeated Kentucky earlier this year, but could only muster up a record good enough for 6th place in the Atlantic Sun. Sorry to say that the winner of this league is mostly likely going to be a #16 seed in the NCAA Tournament...a whipping boy for a really good team. Notable seeds: #1 Belmont, #2 Jacksonville, #5 Lipscomb, #6 Gardner-Webb (forever living on in Billy Gillispie's nightmares).

• Patriot League - Navy - Sadly, Holy Cross isn't going to represent the Patriot League this year, much to the chagrin of Bill Simmons and my friend Chaz. American is the #1 seed, but I like Navy based on the fact that they defeated American both times during the regular season, and the fact that a podcast I listened to liked this Navy team. I'm not hard to sway sometimes. The Champion of this league is most likely a 15 seed, possibly a 16 seed depending on how wacky the league tournament goes. Hmm...I just checked and the Patriot League is 16 out of 31 in Conference RPI, how the hell is that possible? Regardless, the winner is still destined for a 15 seed. Navy hasn't been to the Big Dance in a decade, they're due. Notable seeds: #1 American, #2 Navy, #3 Colgate, #7 Bucknell, #8 Holy Cross.

• Sun Belt Conference - South Alabama - Finally! A team that I know a little about, like a LOT, and have great confidence in. I'm not going to say much here because South Alabama may just end up being featured in an upcoming Bracket Busters column. They are the #1 seed and beat their main competition, #3 Western Kentucky, both times during the regular season. South Alabama is 25-5 (16-2) and has an RPI of 29!!! I LOVE this team. Even if Western Kentucky or someone else somehow manages to win this Conference Tournament, South Alabama is a totally deserving at-large team. I'll gush more about this team later. If South Alabama wins they could get as high as a 7 or 8 seed. If anyone else wins they could fall in the 10-13 seed range. But remember that you heard about South Alabama from me first. Notable seeds: #1 South Alabama, #2 Arkansas Little-Rock, #3 Western Kentucky, #6 North Texas.

(p.s. send this blog to anyone who might be interested in college basketball, i really want 20 people reading this, but if not, i'll be content with phil and annie)

Conference Tournaments Begin

I don't have time for a full entry, but I need to post these things before the first Conference Tournaments get underway tonight. Yes, I am going to print out brackets for ALL Conference Tournaments (both a predictions bracket and a results bracket), which is probably going to get confusing very fast. For those of you scoring at home (or even if you're alone) that's 30 conference tournaments to keep track of, 30 brackets to fill out, 30 automatic births into the Big Dance. (The Ivy League has no Conference Tournament. And Cornell makes the field of 65 thanks to their regular season chapmpionship) I could probably only name 20 of these Conferences right now, but that is why I'm diving head first into all this lunacy. Less than 2 weeks until selection Sunday. The Cinderella stories don't start in the NCAA Tournament, they start in these little, under-publicized Conference Tournaments. Let's tip things off. Three Conference Tournaments begin tonight - the Horizon League, the Ohio Valley, & the Big South. My predictions are as follows:

• Horizon League - BUTLER - You only need to look back at my last post to know who I'm picking to win this league. They are clearly the best team here. The interesting thing about the Horizon League Tournament is it's structure. The #3-10 seeds play games today on the higher seeds home court. (Let's get something straight right now, when talking college hoops, 'higher seed' means closer to #1) The winners of those four games will play in the quarterfinals Friday in Indianapolis. The winners of those two games then play the #1 and #2 seeds Saturday in Indianapolis. My point is that the top two teams in the league get a bye until the semifinals! I find that awesome. The championship game is then hosted by the highest remaining seed. Talk about home court advantage. I like this structure, it really rewards regular season play and regular season dominance. #3 Wright State plays #10 Detroit tonight Phil, how great would it be if that "strong" Detroit team knocked off one of your picks. Notable seeds: #1 Butler, #2 Cleveland State, #3 Wright State, #6 Valparaiso.

• Big South - Winthrop - I know nothing about this league except the fact that Winthrop was good enough last year to upset Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Winthrop also lost to Davidson during Bracket Busters week and I don't know if that's good or bad for their resume. Winthrop is only the #2 seed in this tournament, playing second fiddle to #1 UNC Asheville. I should probably be taking UNC Asheville to win it all here due to the fact that I went to Asheville a year and a half ago for a wedding and had a fantastic time, but my gut says Winthrop. Some great names for colleges are involved with this tournament, such as High Point, Coastal Carolina, & Radford. The championship game is played at 11:30 am this Saturday on ESPN2, for those who wanted to know. Notable seeds: #1 UNC Asheville, #2 Winthrop, #3 High Point, #5 VMI (my sleeper in my predictions bracket).

• Ohio Valley - Austin Peay - If I knew nothing about the Big South, I REALLY know nothing about the Ohio Valley Conference. It seems like 23 of the teams in this conference are from Tennessee. Murray State was really the only team that jumped out at me as having made any noise in the NCAA Tournament before. When in doubt, go with the favorite. Notable seeds: #1 Austin Peay, #2 Murray State, #3 Morehead State, #5 Samford.