A Six-Pack of Conference Tournament Banter

The final weekend of the regular season means one thing: post-season tournaments. Huh? You heard it right the first time. The big-daddy conferences are settling the score after a year of mostly memorable battles. While several key conferences have been decided (Colonial, MVC, Horizon, Big South, West Coast, etc.), we have plenty still to go. While the A-10 and Conference USA offer up snorers for the most part, here are the Big-6 BCS-laden tournaments and some insights to each to take a peak at before the viewing begins today on Wednesday.

Here’s the briefest of looks from a ramblin’ man’s perspective.

...in alphabetical order...

1) Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC]
Favorite: North Carolina
Hottest: Maryland
StrugaLING: Duke
Hot/Cold: Virginia & Virginia Tech
Overrated: Boston College
Bubble: Clemson & Florida State
Look Out For: Georgia Tech
Player to Watch: Sean Singletary [UVA's 1st of two superstars the other being JR Reynolds, has to make key shots for UVA to avoid a costly slip-up for seeding.]

2) Big East Conference [Big East]
Favorite: Georgetown
Hottest: Louisville
StrugaLING: Connecticut
Hot/Cold: Marquette
Overrated: Notre Dame
Bubble: Syracuse, West Virginia, & DePaul
Look Out For: Villanova
Player to Watch: Roy Hibbert [Georgetown's big-man needs to impose himself more with physical matchups awaiting him with Villanova/ND/Syracuse looming.]

3) Big Ten Conference [Big 10]
Favorite: Wisconsin
Hottest: Ohio State
StrugaLING: Everyone outside Ohio State & Wisconsin honestly
Hot/Cold: Michigan State
Overrated: Indiana
Bubble: Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, & Michigan
Look Out For: Michigan State
Player to Watch: Mike Conley Jr. [Ohio State point guard may be their key player in their attempt to lock up a #1 seed and continue the momentum off of their win at home against Wisconsin.]

4) Big Twelve Conference [Big 12]
Favorite: Kansas
Hottest: Kansas
StrugaLING: Oklahoma State
Hot/Cold: Texas Tech
Overrated: Kansas State
Bubble: Kansas State
Look Out For: Texas & Texas A&M
Player to Watch: Acie Law [Texas A&M’s big-time performer is as clutch as college basketball has seen in recent memory.]

5) Pacific Ten Conference [Pac-10]
Favorite: UCLA
Hottest: Washington
StrugaLING: Arizona
Hot/Cold: Oregon
Overrated: USC
Bubble: Stanford
Look Out For: Oregon/Arizona winner
Player to Watch: Darren Collison [UCLA’s point guard has rebounded from minor injuries for the most part, leading the team whom many consider to be the team-to-beat heading into March Madness.]

6) Southeastern Conference [SEC]
Favorite: Florida
Hottest: Vanderbilt
StrugaLING: SEC West
Hot/Cold: Tennessee
Overrated: Kentucky
Look Out For: Arkansas
Player to Watch: Ronald Steele [Alabama’s best all-around talent is currently injured and many wonder if he will miss out on the postseason altogether this season.]

One way or another, we’re primed for some amazing games. Especially since Saturday Night in Madison Square is always one of my favorite games of the year. Remember these? 1996: Allen Iverson v. Ray Allen, GMac’s run in 2006, Pitt/UCONN 1 (2002), 2 (2003...ok, not so great), and 3 (2004), and plenty more amazing memories have spoiled viewers of the Big East Tournament finale on Saturday nights on ESPN.

Fortunately, there’s enough to go around for everyone.
Even us VCU fans...

NCAA Tournament Projections – Version 7.1

(Editor’s Note: In order to adjust for personal bias, I have not allowed myself to project a team over another in a one-bid unless they are within one game of first place. Additionally, these projections are based on results ending on Thursday night.)

We are now nine days away from Selection Sunday, and half of the top eight teams have lost already this week. The biggest shake-up at the top was North Carolina’s removal from the land of the #1 seeds. At their expense, Wisconsin nipped Kansas for the final 1-seed. Meanwhile, Texas A&M’s overtime loss to Texas gave us enough to alter the projected winner of the Big 12. In short, A&M (AKA Acie Law IV university) didn’t show their normal defensive vigor, and that’s a very bad sign moving forward.

In the ACC, Maryland completed its season sweep of Duke, and now occupy the final 3-seed – a far-cry from being 3-6 in conference and allegations that Gary Williams had forgotten how to coach. Staying in the ACC, Georgia Tech moved one major step closer to safety, as they defeated North Carolina on Thursday night. Despite being the outright regular season leader, UVa lacks the quality road/neutral court wins to garner a higher seed. The ‘Hoos have a lot to gain next weekend in Tampa.

Although I highly doubt that this will hold, Appalachian St. is the final team in the field. Why? Their resume is better than the other teams. The team currently in the field that has to impress me to stay in is Illinois. The majority of their conference wins are against the bottom three teams (Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State), who are just awful. Their measurables (RPI, SOS) are what keeps them in, but something just doesn’t add up about this team except for their solid team defense.

Picking up steam in the national press is recognition of a possible second bid for the Colonial Athletic Association. This is not news to PHSports, as we have projected two bids for the conference since February 12. Narcissism aside, if VCU and Drexel meet in the semifinals, many in the know are now considering this game on Sunday to be worth an at-large bid.

For your information, the teams in bold represent automatic bids and the parentheses surrounding the regions indicate the overall seed of the top team in that region. As always, if you have any comments or questions, drop a line in the comment box.

Seed	East (4)	South (3)	Midwest (2)	West (1)
1	Wisconsin	Florida	Ohio St.	UCLA
2	Kansas	North Carolina	Texas A&M	Georgetown
3	Maryland	Memphis	Pittsburgh	Southern Illinois
4	Oregon	Washington St.	Virginia Tech	Vanderbilt
5	UNLV	Duke	Tennessee	Virginia
6	Nevada	Kentucky	Arizona	Texas
7	Louisville	Marquette	BYU	Indiana
8	Boston College	Michigan St.	Stanford	Texas Tech
9	Xavier	Notre Dame	Butler	Villanova
10	USC	Creighton	Georgia Tech	Air Force
11	Missouri St.	Illinois	Old Dominion	Winthrop
12	Syracuse	Drexel	Appalachian St.	Gonzaga
13	Georgia	Holy Cross	Akron	Davidson
14	Pennsylvania	Vermont	Oral Roberts	Long Beach St.
15	Sam Houston St.	Marist	E. Tennessee St.	Western Kentucky
16	Weber St.	Jackson St./Central Connecticut St.	Austin Peay	Delaware St.

Seedings
1s: UCLA, Ohio St., Florida, Wisconsin
2s: Kansas, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Georgetown
3s: Southern Illinois, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Maryland
4s: Oregon, Virginia Tech, Washington St., Vanderbilt
5s: Virginia, Tennessee, Duke, UNLV
6s: Nevada, Kentucky, Texas, Arizona
7s: Marquette, BYU, Indiana, Louisville
8s: Boston College, Stanford, Michigan St., Texas Tech
9s: USC, Georgia Tech, Villanova, Butler (USC and Georgia Tech were placed on the 10^th seed line due to conflict)
10s: Notre Dame, Xavier, Creighton, Air Force (Notre Dame and Xavier are placed on the 9^th seed line)
11s: Winthrop, Syracuse, Old Dominion, Missouri St. (Syracuse was placed on the 12^th seed line due to conflict)
12s: Illinois, Drexel, Gonzaga, Georgia (Illinois was placed on the 11^th seed line and Georgia was placed on the 13^th seed line due to conflicts)
13s: Appalachian St., Davidson, Holy Cross, Akron (Appalachian St. was placed on the 12^th line due to Georgia’s conflict)
14s: Penn, Oral Roberts, Long Beach St., Vermont
15s: Western Kentucky, Marist, Sam Houston St., E. Tennessee St.
16s: Austin Peay, Weber St., Delaware St., Central Connecticut St., Jackson St.

In: Appalachian St.
Out: Kansas St.

Last Four In: Illinois, Drexel, Georgia, Appalachian St.
Last Four Out: Alabama, Purdue, Oklahoma St. UMass
Next Four Out: Bradley, VCU, Utah St., Florida St.

Summary
ACC: 7
Big East: 7
PAC-10: 6
Big Ten: 5
SEC: 5
Big 12: 4
Missouri Valley: 3
Mountain West: 3
Colonial: 2
Southern: 2