Monday, February 28, 2011

Today's Recap

I was right and wrong about K-State. Right in that they're peaking, wrong in that they don't win on the road. Counting Texas out as a contender, a top team, whatever else, is wrong at this point. That being said, Doug Gottlieb arguing why Texas should be #1 (in the nation, not a #1 seed), is even wrong-er. They're just not playing well.

Speaking of not playing well, we have Villanova. Here's a team, that if not assigned "lock" status 3 months ago by Lunardi, would actually be looking pretty bad, on all accounts. They've lost 5 of 7. The only two teams they've beaten are Seton Hall and DePaul (in OT). They're 21-9, and 9-8 in the Big East. They go to Pitt this weekend. 21-10 and 9-9 in a major conference gets you in. That isn't debatable. They also have wins over UCLA, Temple, Cinci, Lville, Maryland, Cuse, WV. But, the way theyre playing, I would be pretty upset if they end up wiht a 5-6 seed. Illogically, they're still ranked #19 in the nation.


Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Preview

ATLANTIC SUN (ranked 20th by kenpom)

March 3-5

Hosted by: Mercer University, located in Macon, Georgia. The building is Mercer’s home court, the University Center, which holds 3200 people.

Sponsored by: General Shale Brick. Who else? The full name is: “Atlantic Sun 2011 Championship, brought to you by General Shale Brick: Building the American Dream.” American Shale Brick is entering their sixth season as sponsor, and is “one of the leading exterior building materials manufacturers in the United State,” offering “more than 250 types of brick in a full range of colors and textures as well as special shapes and details.” Hopefully those are the only bricks we see in Macon this week!!!!!!! LOL.

Tickets: $75 for adults. $50 for seniors. $20 Youth. $50 Students (12-22 with valid college id). What the hell? No grad students allowed?

The Bracket:

Another tournament in which the quarterfinals are split up. I don’t get these. Must be that they’re in cahoots with the establishments in Macon, Georgia in an attempt to get more tourists and visitors in for more days, and pump $$$$$ into the local economy, most notably, General Shale Brick.

Wednesday March 2: #1 Belmont v. #8 Kennesaw State

#2 East Tennesse State v #7 Campbell

Thursday March 3: #3 Jacksonville v. #6 North Florida

#4 Lipscomb v. #5 Mercer

Friday March 4: Semis

Saturday March 5: Finals.

The Favorite: Belmont. Far and away. I spent time talking about Belmont in my inaugural post of teams that are “underrated.” So, I will not reiterate those things now. The question, however, is what happens should Belmont lose? Would they make the tournament? I would put them in if I were on the committee. I’m not, however, and I would guess that they would not get in. Belmont played Kennesaw State yesterday, and won 88-41, so they should win again. However, they will then play Lipscomb or Mercer. Mercer is playing on home court, and Lipscomb is the only A-Sun team to take down Belmont this year. Potential pitfalls?

The argument of whether Belmont should get in relates back to my earlier point about looking at an entire resume. For arguments sake, lets look at Lunardi. He currently has Belmont as a #13 (moving down after winning by 47). Say they are on the level of Michigan, Baylor, and Richmond. Should any of those teams lose in their conference tourney (they almost all assuredly will), they will likely not fall out. If Michigan loses to Michigan State or Illinois, they will not fall out, but Belmont would. Now, I am not arguing that a loss to Mercer would be on par with a loss to Michigan State. What I am arguing is that it shouldn’t matter. If the teams are good enough and have shown enough to get into the tournament at this point, there shouldn’t be much jostling around. They’ve all played close to 30 games. They have 2-4 left. That is such a small percentage of their entire workload. There should NOT be radical changes in who is in and out based on the final week.

Trivia: If Belmont wins the title, they will be winners of 30 games, the most in A-Sun history.

The all time single season scorer in A-Sun history is Sam Mitchell, from Mercer University in the 1984-1985 season (hes 5th all time). A few interesting facts about Mitchell: a) he was on the inaugural 1989 Timberwolves team, b) he was involved in a trade with Pooh Richardson, c) he was head coach of the Raptors for a brief stint after Kevin O’ Neill was fired, d) he is now an assistant with the Nets.

Other Conferences and Things to Note

I know you're all at home, whining, "H, wheres my Great West preview," "H, what are the odds Utah gets the 5 seed in the MWC tourney instead of New Mexico," "H, break up the 5 way tie for 7th in the Big East." Well, this post is to briefly let you know what I will and wont be doing in the next week.

I WILL be doing tournament previews for every single conference. So, just like you see below, I will have an entry for every tournament as soon as the fields are set for each tournament.

I WONT be figuring out the odds of each team getting each seed in the tournament. There's two games left, figure it out you yourself you lazy bums. In reality though, I probably would have done this if I didn't have a film to edit by Thursday. But, such is life.

I WILL point out games of particular interest/importance in relation to the conference seedings as I see fit. I won't waste your time and say the obvious like: "UNC is hosting Duke Saturday night, and the winner will win the ACC," because you all know that. Maybe the game between USC and Washington State, in Pullman, Thursday night is important. Why? Because right now, USC is in 4th, Wazzu in 6th. Assuming USC loses to Washington, this game means everything. A win clinches no worse than a tie for fourth in the Pac10, and a loss could drop them to 6th. This is important because 4th place guarantees they play Cal or Wazzu again in the first round, and if they were to finish in 6th, they would have to possibly play Washington again in the first round. If the Pac10 has any dreams of getting four teams into the tournament, it is going to be the team that finishes in 4/5, and wins that first round game. So, that all being said, the USC Wazzu game is pretty important. I WILL notify you of games such as this.

I WILL do the A-Sun preview tonight, as soon as the Gulf Coast takes on the SC-Upstate.

Again, the Ivy League does not have a tournament. Harvard hosts Princeton Saturday night. Right now, it is extremely possible that Harvard will win out, and Princeton will win 2/3. If this were to occur, the two would be tied. I don't know what the tiebreaker is. I went to the website to find out, but couldnt. However, I did get another piece of information. The scrolling banner at the top of the Ivy League website read: "Breaking News: The Ivy League celebrates Black History Month." Really? This is breaking news? Had they not before? Are they just starting to celebrate today, the final day of February?

Rest assured, I WILL do a Great West preview. Why do I make note of this? Because the Great West just came into existence last year. As a rule, their conference champion does not automatically qualify for the Big Dance until 2020 (mark your calenders). But, the champion does go to the CBI tournament. So, I wouldnt want to deprive you of any information that could be valuable to you as you fill out your CBI bracket.

The Problem With College Basketball (one of them).

I love college basketball. It is my third favorite sport behind the College Football and the NFL, and is close to passing the NFL (especially if it doesn't exist next year). Whatever the fourth place sport is, it isn't close to college basketball. That being said, I don't love it unconditionally. In fact, this time of the year is the one time of the year that really makes me hate college basketball.

You're probably saying: "now? In March? I could see you hating it in November, dawg, when the shit doesn't matter, but March is the best month for College Basketball!" Well, yes and no. Once the ball is tipped on the Thursday morning of the first round of the tournament, college basketball is great. It takes over the sports universe for 2.5 weeks. Theres no football to compete with. The NBA and NHL playoffs are still on the horizon. Baseball's opening day occurs concurrently, but does not interfere much with the popularity of the Final Four. Even Wrestlemania saves its date for a Sunday night, making sure not to interfere with any elite eight games.

But for right now, people and the media are starting to get into March Madness. The only problem is that stations (ESPN and CBS), overbill certain games, make other games "do or dies," and drastically affect the the perception, and perhaps ultimately the participation of teams in the tournament. Let them hype a game, thats fine. But when games turn into promotions for one teams, and smear campaigns for another, thats another. These networks make the games out to be an all-or-nothing, do-or-die situation for certain teams, which ignores the 30 other games and 3 months these teams have put into the season.

The Problem: College Basketball has become too much of a knee-jerk industry. It has turned into a "what have you done for me lately" campaign for teams to get into the tournament. With that, it has become too political.

I can give two good examples of this off the top of my head, but there are probably hundreds more, and you will see/hear more and more as the next two weeks unfold. Saturday night, Virginia Tech hosted Duke. VT was thought to be a bubble team. Pundits and 'experts' said that if VT won, they would be in, if they lost, they would have a LOT of work to do.

Stop for a minute and think about that.

Does it seem fair, that a team, in order to qualify for a tournament with 68 teams, has to beat the #1 team?

And this is in no way a campaign for VT. I don't particularly care for them, but I also wrote in this blog that I thought they should be in no matter what. The idea that VT had to win that game in order to get into the tournament is stupid. Why would they bill the game as such though? It couldn't be because it was on primetime on Saturday night on ESPN, could it?

What people don't realize, and this will come as a shock to many, is that this game was probably not even VT's best win. If we go by a strictly spread standpoint, as I like to do, the Hokies were 4 point underdogs in this game. Not a large margin at all. So they won, and they beat the #1 team, and it was a nice win and all that. To me, winning @ Maryland on January 20th, when the Hokies were 5.5 point underdogs, is just as significant, (if not more) than their win over Duke. Was it met with as much fanfare? Did the highlights of that game lead off sportscenter? This brings me to another point, but something that will wait for another day. PLaying at home and playing on the road is night and day. Case in point: its harder to win at Maryland than it is to beat Duke at home. People also need to remember, just as there are no true home games in the tournament, there are no true road games. Texas will not have to play at Colorado or at Nebraska.

Another example of this is the game between Illinois and Purdue. The game tomorrow night. A game that hasn't even happened yet. Yesterday, during the end of the Purdue MSU game, announcer Dan Dakich said "Illinois is a bubble team, and must win that game." His counterpart, Dave O' Brien said "If they win, they figure to be a lock, otherwise, theyre in trouble." So again, preaching an all-or-nothing mentality. And again, the game is on ESPN.

Here's the truth. Illinois is going to be around a 10 point underdog in that game. Here's another truth. Purdue hasn't lost at home all year. Here's another truth. Purdue beat Ohio State at home, the #1 team in the nation. So...........why would Illinois HAVE to win at Purdue? As of now, Illinois is in the tournament. In fact, at no point during the year has Lunardi or Jerry Palm of CBS-Sportsline ever had Illinois OUT of the tournament. They've always been in. But now, all of a sudden, they have to go on the road, and do something fifteen other teams couldn't do, including Ohio State and Wisconsin, and that is, beat Purdue, all because ESPN said so. This shit is sickening.

And hey, maybe Illinois doesn't deserve to be in. I for one would put Illinois in. If you had an argument against them being in the tournament, though, I would listen. I could see one arguing against Illinois. But I wouldn't hinge their entire probability and chances of getting into the tournament on one game against Purdue. But, that is what college basketball is all about this time of the year. It's a shame. If this same exact game took place one month ago, nobody would care. ESPN would be talking about the NFL playoffs, Brett Favre's chances of retiring, and whatever else they talk about in January. The game would occupy 30 seconds of air time on sportscenter. Now, because there's nothing else on, it has become one of the marquee games of the week, and they're basing an entire teams' season on the outcome. It isn't fair to ANY of the teams they do this to.

Simulations

Kenpom has begun on the conference tournament extravaganza as well. This morning, he posted the probabilities of each team winning from the Big South and the Horizon league (the two tourneys that start tomorrow). I'm happy to say that his simulations match-up with my predictions. He uses a log5 simulation which could be explained better by him, at his website.

http://basketballprospectus.com/unfiltered/

Sunday Recap

I'm officially beat. I was hoping to get all the conferences done, but I had to actually do other stuff today (what a rip off), so I only got through all the tournaments that are already set. A couple of things to note:

The other tournaments that are not set, I will do this same thing with them once they are ready.

The Atlantic Sun Conference has only one game left, tomorrow between South Carolina Upstate and Florida Gulf Coast. The former has secured last place, but what the Gulf Coast does has drastic effects on the seedings. So, stay tuned.

The Ivy League doesn't have a tournament. I'll keep you informed on what is going on in that league as I see fit. Right now, there are only two teams that can win it, Harvard and Princeton. Harvard hosts Princeton on Saturday. They are one back of Princeton, and lost to them already.

Impressed list of the day:

Purdue - Extremely legitimate contender for the final four. They have winners and senior leaders on their team that take over and refuse to lose certain games. Exactly what you want in March.

Washington State: In honor of this year's academy awards, I give them the "Just When I thought I was out, they pull me back in" award (hey, 67% of the movies in Godfather III's trilogy were good). I have a Washington State to win the title at 90-1 bet. I went from considering them out for good. So much so, that I forgot they were even playing Washington tonight. This Apple Cup rivalry had me so excited a month ago that I rushed home from work on a Sunday night, and intently watched Wazzu take down Wash in Pullman. Now, a month later, I was disinterested. So, they go and beat Washington in Seattle, giving Washington their first home loss, and sweeping the season series in the process. Wazzu is now an interesting team. Theyre 18-10. They host USC and UCLA to close the season. They're 8-8 in the Pac10. They can of course finish anywhere from 10-8 to 8-10, and anywhere from 4th to 7th. They have lost three times at home, so it isnt out of the realm of reasoning that UCLA or USC win up in Pullman. Despite this, they should be favored in both games. If a team goes 20-10, 10-8, in the Pac10, and has 2 wins over Washington, a win over UCLA, and perhpas most importantly, a win over Gonzaga, they have to be in, right? The win over Gonzaga theoretically puts them ahead of the Bulldogs, but losses to KState and Butler theoretically put them behind those teams. What if the Cougars played Cal in the first round of the Pac10 tourney, and won that game? Could have a team sneaking in here folks. Am I dreaming? Like I said, Just when I thought i was out, Klay Thompson and head coach Ken Bone pull me back in.




Horizon League Tournament Preview

HORIZON LEAGUE TOURNAMENT (ranked 11th by kenpom).

March 1-8

Hosted By: Higher Seeds in first Round, #1 Seed for next two (UW-Milwaukee), higher seed for championship (I’ll explain more later).

Sponsored by: Horizon League: Raise Your Sights. Wikipedia says its sponsored by Speedway, but the website says nothing. If they are sponsored, they’re not doing a very good job promoting speedway. Maybe theyre not though. I’m starting to think that maybe these tournaments that switch venues don’t have sponsors. Could I be right?

Tickets: Case-by-case throughout. I can’t even focus on this, cause shit is about to get messed up.

The Bracket:

Double Bye. You think that’s bad? Consider this. Two teams get a double bye. No one else gets any byes. This is not seen in any other tournament ever. So every team will play two games before Butler or Milwaukee play one. Very strange. Then factor in that the four quarterfinals will be at different sites, then all the teams will travel to Milwaukee, and then the championship could be somewhere else. Ugh.

Tuesday March 1: #3 Cleveland State v #10 UIC (1)

#6 Wright State v. #7 Green Bay (2)

#4 Valpariaso v. #9 Youngstown State (3)

#5 Detroit v. #8 Loyola (4).

Friday March 4: (1) vs (2) This will be (5)

(3) vs (4) This will be (6)

Saturday March 5: #2 Butler v Winner of (5)

#1 Milwaukee v Winner of (6)

Tuesday March 8: Finals

The favorite: The reason I was so hesitant to even suggest that Milwaukee will be hosting the finals, is because they are very surprisingly the #1 seed. Kenpom has them ranked as the sixth best team in the conference, and only one spot (nationally) ahead of Detroit. They tied with Butler and Cleveland State for first place, and had the worst overall record by far (18-12, against Butlers 21-9 and Cle States 24-7). So they won this how? They were 2-2 against Butler and Cle State. Cle State was 1-3. Butler was 1-2. There you have it. Yet, Milwaukee did go 13-5. They did win nine of their final ten. They did win at Cleveland State. So I will give them some credit. However, they played Valpo at home two weeks ago and won by three. This could be their first opponent, and they may fall.

The favorites figure to be Cle State and Butler, who will then possibly face off in the semi-finals. As Norris Cole has played better for Cle State, they have played worse. They’ve lost 4 of their last 7. Butler has won 7 in a row. I’m leaning slightly to picking Butler to repeat as champions. This is a tough call though. As much as I talked poorly about Milwaukee, consider this. They need to win one game, at home, to reach the finals. Then, if there, they would most likely play Butler or Cle State. They beat Butler at hom by 24 in January. They won at Cle State last week (but lost to them at home by 23 in December, go figure). All in all, Ill go with Butler.

Trivia: The website for this tournament sucks. But, the biggest image of the front page is “Take the Horizon League Bracket Challenge! Enter Now” Nice. Good to see that the Horizon league is promoting pools and gambling on things I wouldn’t even consider. Oscars, yeah, you can do that. WGC? Yeah. Horizon conference tournament? I wouldn’t have thought of that. Especially when the format is so dumb. But, after looking at the matchups, and as I described above, you could probably have a pool with a lot of different variations. That being said, every person would automatically get 2 out of 4 final four teams right, so that’s kinda dumb.

The Horizon league got two bids two years ago: both Butler and Cle State got in. I think this is a one bid league this year. Especially since only one of Cle State and Butler will even make the finals of the tournament.

West Coast Conference Tournament Preview

WEST COAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

March 4-7

Hosted by: The Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada

Sponsored by: Zappos.com! The whole title? Zappos.Com West Coast Conference Championship: Advance to the Dance. Say that 5 times fast.

Tickets: Three tiers. $500, $225, $135. WHAT A RIPOFF. Not to mention you’ll have to travel to Las Vegas, since no one actually lives there. Then, you’ll have to most likely stay at the Orleans, since its miles away from the rest of the casinos. Then, you’ll probably lose a couple grand at the blackjack table. And finally, you’ll probably eat the gumbo at Big Al’s Crabshack at least 3 times a day for 3 days, (oh wait, that’s just me). As a sidenote, I actually like the Orleans. They got an okay sportsbook. They have a nice poker room. They got the aforementioned Big Al’s Crabshack. I played in the Orleans Open poker tournament in 2008, (I believe), and it was located in the big ballroom upstairs. I sat 10 feet away from T.J. Cloutier, and was eliminated sitting next to Tommy Vu (please look him up on youtube and watch his cheesy infomercials from the 1980s if you haven’t had the privilege already). So, yeah.

The Bracket:

NOOOOOOOOOOOO! It’s back! The Double Bye! And in an eight team tournament! WHY?!?!?!?! Does St. Mary’s or Gonzaga really need help beating San Diego or Loyola? Wait, check that, St. Mary’s lost to San Diego last week. Nevermind, bring on the double bye!

Friday March 4: #5 Portland v. #8 Loyola Marymount (1)

#6 Pepperdine v. #7 San Diego (2)

Saturday March 5: #4 Santa Clara v. Winner of (1) This is game (3)

#3 San Francisco v. Winner of (2) This is game (4)

Sunday March 6: #1 St. Marys vs Winner of (3)

#2 Gonzaga vs Winner of (4)

Monday March 7: Finals

The Favorite: Gonzaga. They’re playing better right now. They looked dead a few times throughout the year, especially after losing at home to St. Marys, but when you look at their resume overall, it isn’t THAT bad. That being said, I don’t think they belong in if they don’t win the tournament (although I wouldn’t be surprised if they got in). The problem is if theyre competing against teams such as Illinois, Memphis, Wazzu, or Kansas State – they lost to ALL of those teams. Doesn’t help. St. Marys has really played poorly lately. You can forgive the loss to Utah State, maybe to Gonzaga, but losing to San Diego is inexcusable.

Wait a minute, San Diego didn’t finish in last? How was this possible? How is Loyola that bad? Speaking of Loyola, I just finished watching “The Guru of Go,” 30 for 30 for the first time. Simply put, its pretty awful. It broke a lot of rules about documentaries. For one, the director let himself be heard (which I know Michael Moore breaks in all of his films, but is really against the rules). Second, it had two subjects, which wouldn’t be awful, but they were pretty disparate. Hank Gathers and Westhead. Is it about Westhead and his system, or about Gathers? You could say, well, Gathers played for Westhead…..but that really is about it. If it was more than that, he didn’t do a good job showing that. It ended up being about nothing. It contained stupid title cards, which occurred much too frequently. Despite all being Shakespeare quotes, they were all corny. Finally, and worst of all, the documentary taught me NOTHING. I wasn’t a Loyola Marymount historian or a Hank Gathers biographer, but I knew everything they talked about already. You watch a documentary to learn about something. This didn’t teach me anything. If you wanted me to sum it up, I could sum up an hour in two minutes: Westhead ran this fast paced offense, they scored tons of points, he won the NBA title with the Lakers, he went to Loyola, they recruited Gathers, he was awesome, they were a great team, Gathers died on the court, they lost to UNLV in the Elite Eight. The End. Good documentaries, and films for that matter, you can explain what its about in 30 seconds, but you can’t retell the whole story. So in the example of Hoop Dreams, the best documentary ever, I can say: “its about two kids from Chicago who want to play in the NBA, and go to St. Joes high school, Isiah Thomas’ alma mater.” That took 10 seconds. But what is it about and what makes it so much more? Well, you have to watch it, but I could talk about it and the themes involved for hours.

Trivia: San Diego is the only team not named Gonzaga or St. Marys to win the tournament since 1998. San Diego did it in 2003 and 2008. In 2008, San Diego went on to upset UConn, but in 2003, they lost to Stanford. Whenever I meet anyone who went to San Diego, I bring up the 2008 game vs Connecticut. This usually results in them wondering how I knew that happened, what is wrong with me, and then not talking to me anymore, (to be fair, this only happened like 3 times). Don’t expect St Marys or Gonzaga to not win it this year. Once they’re in, don’t expect them to do as much damage in the tourney as they both have in the past.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Preview

COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (ranked 13th by kenpom)

March 4-7

Hosted by: The Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia

Sponsored by: Virginia 529 College Savings Plan. WTF? Turns out they also sponsor some nationwide NASCAR race. “They” are a “affordable, flexible, tax-advantage college savings” program that helps Virginia residents achieve their dreams. The 529 comes from the proposition or whatever in which the bill passed in the Virginia Legislature. You can’t make this shit up. And now you understand why I’ve been including sponsors in the previews.

Tickets: $80 for all the games. Great deal. Especially since there are six sessions.

The Bracket:

Friday March 4: #8 UNC-Wilmington v. #9 Georgia State (1)

#5 Drexel v. #12 Towson (2)

#7 Delaware v. #10 Northeastern (3)

#6 James Madison v. #11 William & Mary (4)

Saturday March 5: #1 George Mason v. Winner of (1)

#4 Virginia Commonwealth v. Winner of (2)

#2 Old Dominion v. Winner of (3)

#3 Hofstra v. Winner of (4)

Sunday March 6: Semis

Monday March 7: Finals

The Favorite: First off, this is the first conference that is guaranteed to get two bids, unless something totally catastrophic happens. George Mason has looked like the favorite, and has appeared in the National Rankings. They have won a nation’s best 15 in a row. However, they have shown they are human. Their last two losses are to Old Dominion and Hofstra. Luckily, those teams are on the other side of the bracket. While VCU may seem like the tougher draw, (and they may be), George Mason played VCU once, on the road, and won by 20 (2 weeks ago). VCU was in a position in which they were competing for the CAA championship, before losing 4 of their last 5. All things considered, Mason looks like a safe prediction.

Trivia: As I mentioned, this is the first conference that figures to get 2 teams in. I don’t need to tell you the history this conference has had in the big dance. Mason’s final four run in 06, VCU’s win over Duke in 07, Old Dominion’s win over ND last year. This year, Mason figures to be ranked higher than they were in 06, and won’t be sneaking up on anybody.

The CAA has actually been a nice pipeline for some coaches into major schools. Looking at just past champions alone, and their coaches: Oliver Purnell and ODU in 1992, Lefty Driesell and James Madison in 1994 (end of the line), Jeff Capel Jr. and ODU in 1995 and 1997, John Beilein and Richmond in 1998, Jerry Wainwright and UNC-Wilmington in 2000 and 2002, Jeff Caple III at VCU in 2004, Anthony Grant at VCU in 2007. Mercy! Jim Larranaga is still at George Mason, and was so in 1999 when the Patriots won the tournament. Will he ever move on? What about Blaine Taylor at ODU? Is he next?

A look at the CAA tournament MVP’s gives you a few familiar names. Most notably, Navy was once in the CAA, and some guy named David Robinson led them to three straight championships in 85-87. Overall, a look at their media guide/records section on the CAA website is full of good information.

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Preview

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE (ranked 14th by kenpom)

March 3-6

Hosted by: The Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri

Sponsored by: State Farm. Tournament is also known as “Arch Madness.”

Tickets: $125 for ‘em all.

The Bracket:

Thursday March 3: #7 Drake v. #10 Bradley (1)

#8 Southern Illinois v. #9 Illinois State (2)

Friday March 4: #1 Missouri State v. Winner of (2)

#4 Creighton v. #5 Northern Iowas

#2 Wichita State v. Winner of (1)

#3 Indiana State v. #6 Evansville

Saturday March 5: Semis

Sunday March 6: Finals

The Favorite: Missouri State. This was a tough one. Missouri State is coming off their big win over Wichita in Springfield, Missouri, and their first regular season MVC title. They’ve beaten Wichita twice. More importantly, they’re playing better as of right now. It really is a coin flip though. The question that remains is, if both teams advance to the finals, will both get in? I said yesterday that I would be surprised, and I’m sticking with that for now.

Trivia: This has turned into a good tournament. More importantly, the teams that have represented the MVC have done very well in recent years. N. Iowa scored a big upset last year over Kansas. In 2006, the Valley had two teams in the sweet sixteen! Bradley beat Kansas and Pittsburgh before losing to Memphis, while Wichita State beat Seton Hall and Tennessee before losing to other Cinderella George Mason. Southern Illinois advanced to the sweet sixteen in 2007, before falling to Kansas by 3.

According to the website, the MVC is the second longest running conference tournament at a neutral site. I think the longest running is ACC, which has been played in 500000 different sites, but all neutral, and dates back to 1954 (the Valley to 1977).

The one seed has won three straight MVC tournaments.

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament Preview

METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (ranked 15th by kenpom)

March 4-7

Hosted by: Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut

Sponsored by: Spark Energy (some gas company).

Tickets: $99 for general admission. $400 for courtside. Other discounts for veterans, children, and elderly.

The Bracket:

Friday March 4: #7 Siena v. #10 Manhattan (1)

#8 Niagara v. #9 Marist (2)

Saturday March 5: #4 St. Peter’s v. #5 Loyola

#1 Fairfield v. Winner of (2)

#2 Iona v. Winner of (1)

#3 Rider v. #6 Canisius

Sunday March 6: Semis

Monday March 7: Finals (ESPNU)

The Favorite: Very tough to call. Slight edge to the Iona Gaels. This championship game is worth watching, should it be Fairfield and Iona once again. The two split their regular season matchups. Iona had a few hiccups during January which cost them the regular season championship, but have won six in a row, including the victory over Fairfield today. Whichever team gets in will be tough out for a 4 seed.

Trivia: While a MAAC team has won in the first round several times, none have advanced to the sweet 16. This is the 30th year of the MAAC championship. To celebrate, the MAAC website has put together: “30 Moments From 30 Years Presented in 30 Days.” It’s okay, and incomplete as of now. The most memorable moment, for me at least, is Manhattan’s win over Florida in the first round in 2004.

Summit League Tournament Preview

SUMMIT LEAGUE (ranked 19th by kenpom)

March 5-8

Hosted by: Sioux Falls Arena in, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Sponsored by: Our second subtitle! “The Summit League at the Falls.” Not as exciting as the OVC tournament. But, go to the website. The place looks really nice. I think this thing is actually sponsored by the Sioux Falls Sports Authority.

Tickets: $99 for all 14 games. Good deal. Take everyone to Mount Rushmore inbetween.

The Bracket:

As was the case with the Northeast Conference, only 8 of the 10 teams are invited to Sioux Falls. Unfortuntaely, Western Illinois and Centenary will not be joining the rest of the teams. Quick sidenote: Centenary avoided infamy by beating Western Illinois on Thursday. Prior to that, they were 0-28. They finished 1-29. Kenpom has them ranked as the third worst team in the nation, ahead of Chicago State and Southern (not to be confused with the conference. Southern is, ironically, in the Southwestern Athletic Conference).

Saturday March 5: #1 Oakland v. #8 Southern Utah

#2 Oral Roberts v. #7 North Dakota State

Sunday March 6: #3 IUPUI v. #6 Missouri – Kansas City

#4 IP-Fort Wayne v. South Dakota State

Monday March 7: Semis

Tuesday March 8: Finals (ESPN2)

Why they split up the quarterfinals into two days? I have no idea.

The Favorite: Oakland. They ran threw the Summit League, losing only once @ IUPUI (that’s Indianapolis University – Purdue University in Indianapolis. The abbreviation is pronounced oo-e-poo-e). Oakland is battle tested, however, as they played West Virginia, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State in the non conference. Pretty brutal. They didn’t beat any of them, but lost to MSU by 1, and Illinois by 11. They did, however, beat Tennessee. A first round upset isn’t out of the question.

Trivia: We don’t have to look hard to find the memorable moments that the Summit league has produced. Their website offers a “Memorable Moments” slideshow. Several upsets: Cleveland State over Indiana in 1986, Missouri State over Clemson in 1987, Northern Iowa over Missouri in 1990, Green Bay over California in 1994, Valpo over Mississippi in 1997, and Oral Roberts over Kansas in the regular season in 2006. Wow! What a history. Only problem is that only one of those teams still plays in the Summit. That’s Oral Roberts. Many of the teams relocated to the Horizon in the mid 90s, and others to the Valley and others to the OVC. You need to be a rocket scientist to understand the history of all this, but you can look at it here: if you want. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summit_League

No current teams have won a game in the tournament, as a team in the Summit, if that makes sense. Oral Roberts lost to Kansas in 1974 in the Elite Eight 93-90 in OT. This has been dubbed “the most important basketball game ever played in Tulsa.” That must be some list.

Southern Conference Tournament Preview

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE (ranked 21 by kenpom)

March 4-7

Hosted by: McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Sponsored by: Don’t see one. A) I’m starting to think Im missing the sponsors. B) Maybe college athletics isn’t as corrupt as I thought. C) I’m sure I’m just missing them. As soon as I know of the sponsors from these conferences I’m missing, Ill let you know.

Tickets: $75 for all the games. $38 if you’re a student. Pretty good deal.

The Bracket:

Southern works the same way as the SEC tournament does. Two divisions of six. Top two in each get a bye. The third in the north plays six in south, vice versa. They want it to set up so that then first in north plays fourth in south. If this doesn’t make sense, hopefully what is below does:

Friday March 4: 4S. Davidson v. 5N UNC-Greensboro (1)

3N Appalachian State v 6S Georgia Southern (2)

3S Furman v. 6N Samford (3)

4N Elon v. 5S The Citadel (4)

Saturday March 5: 1N Western Carolina v. Winner of (1)

2S Wofford v. Winner of (2)

2N Chattanooga v. Winner of (3)

1S College of Charleston v. Winner of (4)

Sunday March 6: Semis

Monday March 7: Finals (ESPN2)

The Favorite: College of Charleston

Trivia: This conference has also had a successful NCAA history. We are all familiar with Davidson’s run in 2008. Last year, Wofford gave Wisconsin all they could handle. In 1996, #16 Western Carolina lost to #1 Purdue, 73-71. What we’re all thinking about, however, is 1989. Then, #16 Eastern Tennessee State lost to #1 Oklahoma 72-71. This is, of course, the slimmest margin in which a #16 seed has lost to a #1 seed (there is one other instance of this: #1 Georgetown beat #16 Princeton 50-49, and this also occurred in 1989). Oklahoma lost in the sweet sixteen that year, and Georgetown in the elite eight. Most important to the history of the conference, however, is that Owens went to, and played for Tenn-Chattanooga (oh by the way, they went to three straight NCAA tournaments in this time span).

The conference figures to place another team in the tournament capable of upsetting a higher ranked team. Charleston played a difficult non conference schedule. They lost to Maryland by 1, lost to UNC by 5, and lost to Clemson by 7. They beat Coastal Carolina and Tennessee. They were on cruise control throughout the conference, including two wins over the second best team, Wofford, before losing their last two games. This is a 13/14 seed I would not want to play.

Wofford, should they win the tournament, can provide trouble as well. They beat George Mason, and lost to Minnesota, Clemson, Georgetown, and Xavier (in 3 OTs). Any team that either Charleston or Wofford plays in the first round is on the level of competition that they have already faced this year, and have beaten.

Ohio Valley Conference Preview

OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE (ranked 22nd by kenpom)

March 2-5

Hosted by: Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sponsored by: Don’t see one. But, this tournament comes with a subtitle. Go to the official website and you’ll see this isn’t just the OVC tournament. No, this is: “Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship: Music City Madness.” I’m pumped.

Tickets: I can’t find ticket prices. However, you can volunteer to work the tournament. This requires registering with the Nashville Sports Council, something that isn’t on my list of things to do.

The Bracket:

If you thought that the Big East was the only tournament that used a double bye format, you were wrong. The OVC does the same thing. Surely, the OVC has an exorbitant amount of teams like the Big East does, right? Well, no. They have 8. Yet, they still decided to have their tournament decided as a double bye. Ok………………. Lemme see if I can explain this.

Wednesday March 2: #5 Tennessee State v #8 UT-Martin (1)

#6 Eastern Kentucky v #7 Southeast Missouri (2)

Thursday March 3: #4 Tennessee Tech v Winner of (1) - This is (3)

#3 Austin Peay v Winner of (2) - This is (4)

Friday March 4: #1 Murray State v Winner of (3)

#2 Morehead State v Winnder of (4)

Saturday March 5: Finals (ESPN2)

The favorite: There are three quality teams in the OVC, and they are the top 3 seeds. Since Murray and Morehead are already in the final four, and Murray gets to play one of the weaker teams to make the finals, I’ll go with them. Austin Peay and Morehead should put up a fight though.

Trivia: This conference has a history of pulling considerable upsets in March Madness. Last year, Murray State beat #4 Vanderbilt. The Racers almost upset #3 UNC in 2006. In 1990, Murray State became the only #16 seed to force overtime against a #1, (Michigan State.) The Racers lost by four, and MSU lost to #4 Georgia Tech in the Sweet 16.

The most notable upset took place in 1987 though. #3 Illinois played #14 Austin Peay. Commentator Dick Vitale promised that if Illinois lost, he would stand on his head. AP won 68-67, and Vitale tried to stand on his head or something.

The whole website has dedicated itself to country music. MCA recording artist Mallary Hope will sing the Anthem before the Semifinals, and Columbia Nashville recording artist Joanna Smith will sing before the final. Also, “The Music City Mingle” is taking place at the Doubletree hotel, less than two blocks from the stadium. Seems like a good time.

Patriot League Preview

PATRIOT LEAGUE (ranked 24th by kenpom)

March 2-11

Hosted by: Every game will take place at the higher seed’s gymnasium.

Sponsored by: America? I don’t know, they don’t have any sponsors listed on their page. Just a bunch of red, white, and blue designs.

Tickets: Tickets are sold on case by case basis.

The Bracket:

Wednesday March 2: #1 Bucknell v. #8 Army

#4 Lehigh v. #5 Navy

#2 American v. #7 Colgate

#3 Holy Cross v. #6 Lafayette

Sunday March 6: Semis

Friday March 11: Finals (ESPN2)

The Favorite: Bucknell. But, their only conference loss came @ Army, their first round opponent. Still, they figure to win, and could be a tough out for a first round team, just as they were in 2005 when they beat #3 Kansas.

Trivia: The most accomplished player in Patriot League history has to be Adonal Foyle from Colgate. As a rookie in 1995, he led Colgate to a regular season and tournament championship. He did the next year as well, earning honorable mention for All American. Both years, they were a #16 seed, but kept the game close against heavily favored teams.

In addition to Bucknell’s aforementioned win over Kansas, the Bison won in the first round the following year. They beat #8 Arkansas 59-55, before losing to #1 Memphis in the second round. Other than the Bison’s two wins in consecutive years, the Patriot League has never won a game in the NCAA tournament.

Also, the Patriot League has just launched: the Patriot League Store. Championship gear available now, individual team gear coming in late March.

Northeast Conference Preview

NORTHEAST CONFERENCE (ranked 25th by kenpom)

March 3-9

Hosted by: Every game will take place at the higher seeded team’s gymnasium.

Sponsored by: Ruby Tuesday. I won’t go into how I had 2-3 horrible dates when I was 16 at Ruby Tuesday’s.

Tickets: As was the case with the Big South, the venues are constantly changing, so there is no tournament pass. They would need to be bought on a case by case basis.

The Bracket:

There are two things about the NEC tournament that makes it different. For one, they reseed after the first round; just like the NHL playoffs. Two, only the top 8 teams out of 12 make it. Way to promote brotherhood, unity, friendship, etc. It reminds me of the Bishop in “Caddyshack;” – “Oh, Fairleigh Dickinson, I’m sorry, I’m afraid you can’t come.” After my initial shock and outrage, I realized: “who cares?” Do I really need to see Monmouth play another game? To quote the judge in the same film: “the world needs ditch diggers too.”

Thursday March 3: #1 Long Island v. #8 St. Francis

#2 Quinnipiac v. #7 Mt. St. Marys

#3 Robert Morris v. #6 Wagner

#4 Central Connecticut State v. #5 St. Francis

As I mentioned, the teams will then be reseeded so the best team plays the worst, and the other two play. The Semis are on Sunday, March 6, and the finals are on Wednesday March 9.

The Favorite: Long Island has won 10 in a row, and 18 of 19. Their only loss at home was to favored Iona. But, as the NEC tournament website says: “This year's playoffs could hold some surprises as the four lower seeded teams each posted victories over their higher seeded quarterfinal opponents during the regular season.” Very true. Long Island’s last loss was to St. Francis. Robert Morris played the toughest non-conference schedule, and has the experience. Despite all this, I’ll take the Islanders (they’re actually the Blackbirds) and their home court.

Trivia: Fairleigh Dickinson, Monmouth, Sacred Heart, and Bryant were the teams not invited to the NEC tournament.

Sun Belt Tournament Preview

SUN BELT CONFERENCE (ranked 26th by kenpom)

March 5-8

You Are Looking Live!: At the Summit Arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Our first real neutral site arena.

Sponsored by: Geico, Side-Out Foundation, Golden Flake, Clubglove USA, Wilson. Did not make any of these up. Golden Flake apparently makes potato chips?

Tickets: You get a tournament pass to all the Men’s and Women’s games for $128.

The Bracket:

Sun Belt works the same way as the Big12 tournament. They have 12 teams, 2 divisions, but they rank the teams 1-12. Top 4 get a bye.

Saturday March 5: #5 Denver v. #12 Louisiana Monroe (1)

#6 v. #11 Florida International (2)

#7 (3)

#8 (4)

Sunday March 6: #4 Middle Tennessee v. Winner of (1)

#1 Florida Atlantic v. Winner of (4)

#2 Arkansas State v. Winner of (3)

#3 Louisiana Lafayette v. Winner of (2)

Monday March 7: SemiFinals

Tuesday March 8: Finals (ESPN).

The favorite: I’m going to switch it up for the first time, and say Arkansas State is the favorite. They’ve won 3 in a row and 10 of 14. They’re also playing closest to home. The tournament is really up for grabs though.

Trivia: The website for the Sun Belt has an extreme close up of, you guessed it, the sun. It hurts to look at. Do they know that this isn’t what the sun belt refers to? Are the under the assumption that their conference somehow represents a belt of asteroids or some crap rotating around the sun?

Semifinals can be seen on the Sun Belt Network; for those of you who knew that even existed, let alone have it.

Big South Preview

BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE (ranked 27th by kenpom)

March 1-5

Hosted by higher seeds in the quarterfinals. Final Four at #1 Seed Coastal Carolina. FYI, this is in Conway, South Carolina. Championship at higher seed.

Sponsored by Advance Auto Parts

Tickets: No idea. The website gives phone numbers to four schools: Coastal Carolina, Liberty, UNC-Asheville, VMI (i.e. the top four teams and home teams). None of the phone numbers work.

The Bracket:

Tuesday March 1: #1 Coastal Carolina v #8 Gardner-Webb

#2 Liberty v #7 High Point

#3 UNC-Asheville v #6 Charleston Southern

#4 VMI v Winthrop

Thursday March 3: Semis

Saturday March 5: Finals

The Favorite: Coastal Carolina, although the Chanticleers have slipped up recently. They’ve gone 2-2 in their last four, after winning 21 straight. The losses were both at home, and against their first round opponent, Gardner-Webb, and UNC-Asheville.

Trivia: The slogan for the tournament is: “Big South Tournament, building leaders through athletics.” Really? I’m not one to argue against the important role sports play in development, maturity, etc, but way to ignore academics altogether.

Winthrop has won 10 of the 25 tournaments. Coastal Carolina has not won since 1993.

America East Preview

America East

Ive been told by a few people to make my blog posts shorter. I’ve been told that this is supposed to be a blog with quick, one story bursts, and not a drawn out essay of every single thing I thought of throughout the day. Seems like a good idea. While I will still have big posts, I’ll try and shorten it up. It IS a good idea, however, to introduce a shorter blog concept in regards to my conference tournament previews. For one, you could now easily scroll and find your Big Sky conference tournament preview, instead of searching through a large mass of text. More importantly, there will be so much information posted in the next 24-72 hours that I would probably blow up blogger’s mainframe systems or whatever. So lets start.

I am going to start with the conferences that as of the end of tonight, Sunday, February 27, are completed. I will give all important information regarding the tournament, and maybe throw in fun trivia facts from years past. I will also go in reverse order according to KenPom’s conference rankings. That means I’m starting with the worst conference that is already done with all their games. That means you’re up America East (yes—‘America’ East, not American East like a normal person would say).

AMERICA EAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT (25th ranked by kenpom)

March 3-13

Hosted by the University of Hartford, Finals will relocate to home gym of highest seeded team. Also, championship game will take place the next weekend.

Sponsored by Newman’s Own. (This should be its own trivia. The tournament is being held at the 6th place team in the conference, and is sponsored by salad dressing).

Ticket Prices: $300 for VIP Session – Includes all you can eat food and drink throughout the tournament. This is actually an awesome idea, and I would go if I lived in Hartford.

$75 for non-VIP section, i.e, does not include the $225 dollars you spend on nachos, hot dogs and soft pretzels in four days. To give this point legitimacy, I will keep receipts on all food I purchase at Staples during the Pac-10 tourney and see how it compares.

The Bracket:

Thursday March 3rd: #8 Binghamton v. #9 MD. Baltimore County (1)

Friday March 4th: #1 Vermont v. Winner of (1)

#2 Boston v. #7 New Hampshire

#3 Maine v. #6 Hartford

#4 Albany v. #5 Stony Brook

The Favorite: Vermont, although the Cattamounts lost today to 5th seeded Stony Brook. Hartford did beat Maine at home earlier in February. They also beat Boston at home. Possible sleeper.

Trivia: Malik Rose figures to be one of the most accomplished players in America East History. He led his Drexel Dragons to three straight championships in 1994-1996, winning MVP honors all three times. After two straight first round losses, #12 Drexel beat #5 Memphis in the first round of the 1996 tournament. The only problem with all this? Drexel isn’t in the America East anymore……

More contemporarily, #14 Vermont upset #3 Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 tournament. Don’t expect any similar upsets this year out of the conference.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saturday Recap

Random thoughts about today’s action:

I didn’t include Kansas State in underrated/overrated, because I think they are appropriately rated. However, they are peaking at the right time. They have won 6/7, and in that stretch, they destroyed #1 Kansas, went on the road to win at Nebraska (Neb had only one home loss, to Kansas, at that point), and destroyed Mizzou. Peaking at the right time, but still suspect on the road.

Georgetown is done. What a terrible ten days for them. After winning eight games in a row, they have dropped three out of four. Losing a few games, finishing closer to the middle of the pack in the Big East, and dropping from a 3 to 5/6 seed is one thing, but losing Chris Wright is another. Coach JTIII said through a statement that there is no timetable to Wright’s return, but they are optimistic that Wright will be ready for the first tournament game. Why is this so important? Well, have you seen Georgetown play? Wright was injured early in the second half of the game vs Cincinatti, and went on to score only 20 points that half (46 overall!). Today, they scored 51. Not gonna cut it.

Syracuse on the other hand, is also peaking. I feel as if they could be the second or third best team in the Big East, although that may not come as a surprise to many people. Kenpom has them as the second best team in the BigEast, so I’m not saying anything revolutionary. Luke Winn’s latest power rankings shows that Syracuse is the only team in the Big East that plays better on the road. That’s impressive, and a very important thing to keep in mind as all the NCAA games are at neutral sites.

To the refs and announcers and TV stations,

The game is about the players, not you. Therefore, don’t switch things up just because you see fit, and ruin the game in the process. We saw this Wednesday night with Tim Floyd getting ejected. His foot was one foot over the line, and an officiating crew who was never before seen, T’d him up. He went on to get another T, ejected, and finally escorted off the court by a police officer (who had no business stepping in).

As far as TV stations – I’ve seen this more and more these past couple of weeks. A few weeks ago, Wisconsin hosted Ohio State. Instead of sending the traditional Big10 crew, they sent Dick Vitale, who couldn’t name three people on Wisconsin. It also took him less than five minutes to compare something that was going on to Duke.

Today, BYU and SDSU got upgraded from the CBS College channel to regular CBS. They sent Lundquist and Kellog, who haven’t called a Mountain West game ALL year. Hmmmmm, I wonder who they’ll talk about the whole game? Instead of focusing on the other things BYU does well that don’t involve the words Jimmer and Fredette, they focused solely on him. Worst of all, they introduced Steve Kerr to the announce booth, who has called ZERO college games all year. The funniest part of this all is how CBS didn’t try to mask why they were introducing him. Lundquist didn’t say “Steve Kerr is a three time champion and a great announcer,” he just said “he [Kerr] is so much a part of Turner broadcasting, and of course we’re beginning a collaborative effort with Turner.” Ummmmm…..okay? Then, the first thing they show during a broadcast of a game between SDSU and BYU in 2011? They show Steve Kerr highlights from 1988 Arizona. This is what I mean by making it about them. This isn’t about how CBS/Turner can make the most money, or how Kerr can inflate his ego, its about SDSU, Jimmer Fredette, and some other people on BYU who apparently don’t do anything. If I wanted to watch Kerr, I would go get the 1990s Chicago Bulls box set I have and watch game 6 of the 97 Finals on repeat.

Oh wait, what am I saying? It’s the NCAA……..its all about money and nothing about the players. Forget I said anything.

On this game though; if people thought that BYU played 1 on 5 basketball, they learned differently today. Fredette didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but the rest of the team did. They rebound well because, despite being undersized, they spread the floor well with their offense. Today, they shot incredibly well. They positioned themselves well for a #1 seed, and a #2 at worse, but there is still a long way to go. They have close to a 90% chance of winning their final two games, but then must travel to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas for the MWC tournament (this is UNLV’s home floor….). BYU should be rooting for UNLV to finish in third, so that they only have to play one of SDSU/UNLV. Colorado State’s loss to Air Force today helps this cause, as the Rams now figure to be assured of a 4th place finish, (their bubble chances took a huge hit today though, so look for them to be desparate in the tournament. Also, follow CSU’s coach, Tim Miles on twitter at “CoachMiles,”….. I do).

Four people scored double digits for the cougars today. Most impressive was Hartsock, who did it on 6/7 shooting. He’s put up double digits in three straight games now. Jackson Emery has put up double digits in seven straight games! The team seems to be getting better and better. Many will say that they don’t play a tough enough schedule. Truth is, they have 9 wins over top-50 RPI teams, the most in the nation. They’ve beaten SDSU twice (the Aztecs’ only losses), UNLV twice, UTEP, Arizona, St. Marys, and Utah State. So if you’re ever at a party, or otherwise overhear someone say BYU doesn’t play anyone, kindly enlighten them.

What is their weakness then? Well, they’re not particularly big. They’re a little too reliant on the three, despite shooting them well. They did give up a large number of offensive rebounds to SDSU today, who in turn failed to convert. Of course I would be concerned if BYU played any of the Big10’s top three teams, Kansas, or Texas. These matchups most likely would not occur until the elite eight, however. Who could scare BYU early on? Someone who rebounds well. A look at their “close wins:” BYU beat St Marys by 1, and Utah State by 6. Quickly looking at those teams, Utah State is the second best team at limiting Offensive Rebounds in the nation, and St. Marys is 10th. So, I would be worried if BYU matched up with Utah State again (and as I mentioned yesterday, Utah State is dangerous). Other teams that are up there? The aforementioned Wisconsin (17th), Old Dominion (22nd), Temple (23rd). So if I were a #2 BYU, I would not want to see ODU or Temple, or even Xavier in the second round. I’d much rather see Illinois or Tennessee. (Remember this is just one component…..if BYU comes out and shoots 5/25 from 3PT, they most likely wont beat many teams).

Quick Note: Despite the final score, SDSU did not play poorly, and should not be overlooked come tournament time. They rebounded pretty well, and showed they can play very physically. They didn’t shoot particularly well, and BYU hit 14 three’s. Tough to win.

Bobby Knight asserted that the Big East tournament is more difficult to win than the NCAA tournament. I’m still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor from hearing that comment. A) its not true. B) its so untrue its idiotic C) a once respected (for his knowledge at least), all time leading winner said it. How could someone say this with a straight face? Do I even have to go into it? Fine, I will.

Say you are Pittsburgh, the #1 seed in the Big East, and a potential #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. You get TWO byes in the Big East tournament. Say at worst, you play #8, #4, and #2 to win the title. This would be the hardest possible path. You would play three games in three days. Right now, those teams would be Cincinatti, St. Johns, and Notre Dame. Certainly not easy, but do you think that winning those three games is the equivalent of winning the championship? For example, in Lunardi’s latest bracket, those teams would be 7, 6, and 3 seeds, respectively. So this wouldn’t even be the equivalent of a road tough enough to reach the final four, let alone the title. The fact that you have to win 6 games, even if the first is a gimmie, instead of 3 or 4 (if you only get one bye), is obvious enough that this is a really, really, really, really, really, idiotic statement. I could give examples of other teams paths to winning the Big East title compared to winning the national title, but if you don’t get it by now, you never will.

Pretty awful week for Arizona. They followed up their great win against Washington with a 0-2 performance in Los Angeles this week. Rest assured, Cats fans. Arizona gets to go home and host the Oregon schools. They figure to win both, and therefore win the championship, approximately 80% of the time (this isn’t even counting the chance that Washington loses a game). More on this later though.

Rick Stansbury looks like someone that shows up on your doorstep and tries to sell you volcano insurance.

Tennessee continues to mystify me. After beating Vanderbilt on the road this week, after Vanderbilt refused to make a free throw, I took a deep sigh, and was resigned to the fact that the Volunteers would be in the tournament. They follow that up with a poor performance today, and a loss to Mississippi State. Not good.

Jimmy Dykes actually posed the following statement during that game today: “I’m not sure which team this game is bigger for; Tennessee trying to get into the tournament, and Miss State is trying to get the #2 spot in the SEC West.” I hope he wasn’t being serious. Id imagine that making the tournament is more important than getting one bye in the SEC tournament. IF Mississippi State earned the ‘coveted’ #2 SEC West spot, they would get a BYE. They would then play, as it stood today, the winner of Kentucky and Auburn, (gonna take the cats in that one). So is this even an award? If they finished 3rd in the West, they would play South Carolina. If they won, they would play Vanderbilt. First of all, I would rather play Vanderbilt than Kentucky. Second of all, if you were Mississippi State, and were 15-13, wouldn’t you rather get one win, and one loss, ie go 1-1, than 0-1? Third of all, why am I talking about Mississippi State? They lost to Auburn and LSU. How is it even possible that they could finish 2nd in any division?

TEAMS THAT HELPED THEMSELVES THE MOST TODAY:

Virginia Tech – Start with the obvious. I thought VA Tech was a tournament team all along, but this probably cemented it. Their best wins before this had been to Maryland (x2), FSU, and Penn State, so adding Duke was what they needed. They host BC and go to Clemson. This is really setting up to be pandoras box opening for the ACC. VT will lose to one of those teams, and then that team will get in, and all of a sudden youll have five/six teams in from a terrible ACC league. Oh, by the way, Vitale said VT is in, so it’s a lock, I don’t even know why I’m writing this. Also, the audio problems that ESPN was experiencing throughout the final 8 minutes achieved the impossible: they somehow made Vitale more annoying.

Colorado, although it may not be enough. The Buffs could win out, and get another win in the Big12 tournament, and all of a sudden they have 21 wins, including one over Texas, and two over KSU. Long way to go, but this certainly helps.

Michigan - Michigan might have actually been on the inside looking out if not for Wisconsin’s banked three this week. The wolverines are 18-12. They host MSU in their final game for a chance to go 19-12, and 9-9 in the big10. They split with Minnesota, beat MSU in East Lansing, and beat Clemson and Oakland. Therefore, they don’t have the best wins ever, and would therefore maybe need a win or two in the Big10 tournament, but they’re right there.

This got me looking at the Big10 standings. Theres the possibility that there’s a 4 way tie for fourth. Okay. Let’s say Michigan plays Illinois, in the 4vs5, and MSU and Penn State finish 6th and 7th. Now, lets say that Michigan loses to Illinois, and MSU beats Iowa. How is it really fair that Michigan beats MSU twice, finishes higher than MSU, and gets a mythical bye, only to play a harder team, where MSU is rewarded with getting to play Iowa? This is the case for any team between 5 and 6. This is the same argument I made with the SEC. If I were a bubble team, I’d rather be 1-1 than 0-1. Wouldn’t you?

Kansas State – See above. I will add this – the Wildcats are rather poor on the road. This could certainly be a problem come tournament(s) time.

Baylor – I suppose. In that they beat a ranked team (how A&M is ranked I don’t know), and stopped their bleeding. Baylor had lost 3 of 4, their lone win against Wayland Baptist (????????). This win helps, but they’ll still probably need to win a couple in the Big12 tournament. Or, beat Texas the final game of the year. Their best wins are Texas A&M (x2). Other than that? Nebraska. Other than that? Colorado. Other than that? Don’t ask.

That’s about it.

THE TEAMS THAT ARE SAYING “I HOPE NO ONE WATCHED THE GAMES OR LOOKED AT THE SCORES TODAY”

As this season has progressed, it seems that every day, this category is full. Today is no exception. Once again, there are many more teams that hurt themselves than do anything good. They call this a “soft bubble” (I think – I honestly don’t even know what this means. Is this a reference to the stock market?)

Arizona – See Above

VCU – The Rams fell to 12-6 in the CAA, and finished in 4th place. They await the winner of the Drexel v. Towson game in the CAA tournament. Then, if they win, most likely George Mason. They would need to beat Drexel (who they lost to earlier this week), and George Mason, advancing to the finals, to think about making the big dance. Their early win over UCLA is looking better and better, but losing to Georgia State and South Florida negates that.

Wichita State – This league is destined to be a one bid league. Wichita was getting blown out for a majority of the game, and rallied, just to fall short, giving Mizzou State the regular season MVC championship. This was a great game, and great story involving coach Cuonzo Martin (a fourteen year cancer survivor). Despite Mizzou State’s win, and Wichita’s loss, I feel that the only bid will go to the eventual champion. Therefore, Wichita losing isn’t the end of the world, but I just wanted to talk about this game some more. Added bonus – Martin’s high school team, East St. Louis in Illinois, won 2 state titles, and featured LaPhonso Ellis as well.

Nebraska – Done. 6-8 in Big12 wont cut it.

Memphis – Talked about them last night, don’t want to anymore.

Alabama – This team already had a lot of questions. Was their 11-3 record in the SEC legit? Could they battle consistently with the “monsters” of the SEC east? This loss hurts considering that the Tide still have to go to Florida and host UGA, so a split would be nice. They’ve already locked up the SEC West title (if they make a T-shirt for this, Im buying it), and will play most likely either Tennessee or UGA in their first SEC tournament game. They’ve beaten Kentucky, they’ve beaten Tennessee. They’re sitting on 19 wins……..gonna be close.

Minnesota - Their home court advantage did not exist this year. This team blew a big lead to Virginia at home, and added home losses to Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio State. Traditionally, they would have won 3 of those 4 games. If that were the case, they would have 20 wins instead of 17. The fact that they have won ONE game in their last EIGHT is bad enough, and even worse when you consider that win was against Iowa. Their non-conference wins against WV and UNC can’t help them now. They need to win the Big10 tourney.

Harvard – Bad enough to lose to your rival. Even worse to fall to second place in your conference. Even worst-er-est when you consider they don’t have a conference tournament to make up for it. Harvard was in control of the Ivy league until slipping up in New Haven today. For those of you wondering – Yale plays their home games in “Lee Amphitheater,” which holds 2,532 people. Princeton now holds the lead, and has three road games to close. Harvard is one game back, but has already beaten Princeton. They close with two home games, including their finale against Princeton next Saturday. All eyes will be on Lavietes Pavillion, which, somehow, holds less people than Yale’s stadium.

Tennessee – See Above

Colorado State – See Above

Conference USA – Look at the standings in this clusterfrick. UAB is in first place at 10-4. Then, there’s a four way tie for 2nd, and a two way tie for sixth. I really hope no more than one team makes this tournament. Five teams have more than twenty wins, (UAB, Memphis, UTEP, S. Miss, and Marshall), but two of those teams lost today.

As a final note. Tomorrow night I will be posting a massive, robust, badass Conference tournament preview blog. It will be epic. There are 32 conferences. Fourteen will be done after tomorrow. Eighteen will be done after next weekend. I will present the final standings for the 14 conferences that are done, give you the bracket setup of the conference, the matchups, and everything else you need to know about the conference tournaments, (except for the Ivy, since they’re so smart they don’t have a tournament).

More importantly, I will run the data and figure out the odds of each team getting each seed for the other eighteen conferences! Like I said, it’s gonna be a big blog. I hope you enjoy it. It will be my best effort to compile all the conference tournament information one could possibly need into one website.

Wait a minute…….does this mean I need to figure out the Conference USA standings? Shit. What did I get myself into? I hope you all appreciate what I’m doing for you.

Make sure to follow me on twitter as well at (@? Don t even know how this works), but my name is bigh1313. I tweet at least a few times a day on the weekends, and are usually better, knee-jerk reactions to what I see on tv.