With less than a month to go until conference tournament action, I decided to take a quick glance at what we are to expect in the first two weeks of March. Ina, Doogan, Stri, Jay, Waters, and Alexi (and anyone else interested) better start thinking about how you’re going to knock off the defending Conference Tourney Challenge champion this year. It won’t be easy…
If the seasons ended today, here would be the matchups for the Big 7 conferences:
ACC:
With four teams in the top 10, the ACC may be a bit top-heavy this year. Though, as of now, Wake Forest is the 5-seed–which forces them to play an opening round game. BC is the surprise #4 right now, but expect the Big 4 (UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Wake) to get the byes. Potential sleepers in this tournament include an athletic and gritty Va Tech team and a Miami team that, right now, is #8, but has the talent to maybe give this conference a “Big 5” instead of the Big 4. Don’t believe me? Check out what they did to Wake Forest last night.
#8 Miami vs #9 Maryland
winner vs #1 UNC
#5 Wake Forest vs #12 Virginia
winner vs #4 Boston College
#6 Virginia Tech vs #11 Georgia Tech
winner vs #3 Clemson
#7 Florida St. vs #10 N.C. State
winner vs #2 Duke
ATLANTIC 10:
Probably the best two teams in this conference–Xavier and Temple–face off tonight on ESPN. A Temple win could open up this conference. Xavier is the clear favorite to win this thing, but I’m sure that they are hoping to see teams like St. Joe’s, Rhode Island and UMass on the other side of the bracket. Also, the interesting matchup, as it stands now (which I’m sure will change) is the first-round matchup between St. Louis and UMass–two dangerous teams if allowed to play their styles.
#8 LaSalle vs #9 Richmond
winner vs #1 Xavier
#5 Duquesne vs #12 Charlotte
winner vs #4 Temple
#6 Rhode Island vs #11 St. Bonaventure
winner vs #3 St. Joe’s
#7 St. Louis vs #10 UMass
winner vs #2 Dayton
OUT: Fordham, George Washington
BIG EAST:
The best conference I have ever seen has expanded their conference tournament this year, for the first time, to include all 16 teams. The tournament will start on Tuesday and finish Saturday night at The Garden. Therefore, the regular season has become ultra-important because it will take a near miracle for a team to win five games in five consecutive nights against this type of competition. Therefore, to win this tournament, a team probably has to finish in the top 8, to avoid playing on Tuesday. Also, there is a pretty big advantage to finishing in the top 4, also, since those teams will get two byes, and not have to play until Thursday, in the quarterfinals. Right now, it looks dangerous for teams like West Virginia, Georgetown and Notre Dame–all very talented teams that currently find themselves in jeopardy of playing on Tuesday.
#9 West Virginia vs #16 DePaul
winner vs #8 Cincinnati
winner vs #1 Marquette
#12 Notre Dame vs #13 Seton Hall
winner vs #5 Villanova
winner vs #4 Pittsburgh
#11 St. John’s vs #14 S. Florida
winner vs #6 Syracuse
winner vs #3 Louisville
#10 Georgetown vs #15 Rutgers
winner vs #7 Providence
winner vs #2 UConn
BIG XII:
This league is even more of a top-heavy league because the bottom is pretty bad. In fact, if the season ended today, the Big XII may only be looking at three bids (Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas). Missouri, right now, is in place for the 4th bye in this tournament and, even more importantly, will avoid having to face one of those three teams until the semis, at the earliest.
#8 Texas A&M vs #9 Baylor
winner vs #1 Oklahoma
#5 Kansas St vs #12 Colorado
winner vs #4 Texas
#6 Nebraska vs #11 Texas Tech
winner vs #3 Missouri
#7 Oklahoma St. vs #10 Iowa St.
winner vs #2 Kansas
BIG TEN:
This conference has been MUCH better than expected. The top six are all very solid teams that should vie for tournament position. The biggest surprises this year have been Penn St. and Northwestern. Normally, the two doormats of this league, they have both played themselves into NCAA consideration (Northwestern is the only team in one of the top 6 conferences to never make the NCAA tournament). Penn St. is probably even going to get a bye in the first round of the tournament this year. Illinois has also been a big surprise this year, as they have cracked the national rankings. The biggest disappointments this year are the two set to match up in the 8-9 game. Michigan got off to a fast start, but has stalled in conference play, and Wisconsin almost never finds themselves in 9th place in the Big Ten–at least under Bo Ryan.
#8 Michigan vs #9 Wisconsin
winner vs #1 Michigan St.
#4 Purdue vs #5 Minnesota
#6 Ohio St vs #11 Indiana
winner vs #3 Penn St.
#7 Northwestern vs #10 Iowa
winner vs #2 Illinois
PAC 10:
Not quite the Pac-10 of last year, but still quite the difficult conference. The down years of Stanford and Oregon are pretty bad, but Arizona St. and Cal have been very good. This tournament should be pretty competitive–as always–starting in the quarterfinals. With no truly dominant team, there may be some “madness” in the Staples Center. The big surprise has been the Washington Huskies, so we’ll see how they hold up down the stretch.
#8 Oregon St. vs #9 Stanford
winner vs #1 UCLA
#4 Arizona St. vs #5 California
#3 USC vs #6 Arizona
#7 Washington St. vs #10 Oregon
winner vs Washington
SEC:
Talk about a down year? Let’s talk SEC. I heard one analyst say that he didn’t think any SEC team would crack the TOP EIGHT in the Big East. I’m not saying I agree, but I’m also not saying that I disagree. Tennessee is struggling, Kentucky and Arkansas are young, and Alabama and Vandy have been flat-out disappointing. The two Mississippi schools and South Carolina have been playing pretty well, as well as the division leaders, Florida and LSU. This tournament should be interesting, though, because as of now, there are no ranked teams. Let me say that again, THERE ARE NO RANKED TEAMS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE.
#4W Alabama vs #5E Vanderbilt
winner vs #1E Florida
#3E S.Carolina vs #6W Arkansas
winner vs #2W Mississippi St.
#3W Ole Miss vs #6E Georgia
winner vs #2E Tennessee
#4E Kentucky vs #5W Auburn
winner vs #1W LSU
