Conference Tournaments Starting on March 11th

(Blake Griffin wants YOU to pick Oklahoma in your bracket)

Let me say it right now...you might be reading the worst post of this year's blog. I'm going to crank this one out with little to no research so I can start writing the epic post about Robert Morris' victory in the NEC Championship game. The Colonials are going to the Big Dance! But before we get there...7 more conference tournaments began on Wednesday. As always, my predicted champions are in bold.

• Big 12 Conference - Kansas - The Big 12 is a quality power conference, especially at the top. Three teams (Oklahoma, Kansas, & Missouri) are ranked in the top 11 with regard to RPI. Coach Bill Self and his Kansas squad won last year's national championship (you should know this). Oklahoma sports the likely National Player of the Year winner in Blake Griffin (you should probably know this). Iowa State is my aunt's current employer (you probably don't know this). I'm going with Kansas here because they have an easier draw than Oklahoma and Missouri. Also, the Jayhawks defeated Oklahoma on the road a couple weeks ago. Notable Seeds: #1 Kansas, #2 Oklahoma, #3 Missouri, #4 Kansas State, #5 Texas, #7 Oklahoma State, #9 Baylor, #11 Texas Tech

• PAC 10 - Arizona State - The Pac-10 is down this season. They only have one team among the top 25 in RPI (Washington). The Huskies are the easy choice, especially with UCLA being very underwhelming this season. Arizona has been on a nice roll of late, increasing their chances to make their 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament. I'm going against the grain and picking Arizona State. The Sun Devils were thrashing PAC 10 competition before a road trip where they lost to both Washington schools in overtime. ASU swept UCLA and Arizona this season. I like this team as the #4 seed. ALSO...you should know that Oregon State's head coach, Craig Robinson, is President Barack Obama's brother-in-law. Notable Seeds: #1 Washington, #2 UCLA, #3 California, #4 Arizona State, #5 Arizona, #6 USC, #8 Oregon State

• Atlantic 10 Conference - Xavier - I'm copping out and taking the one-seed here. I feel a little bad about it, but oh well. I just don't trust Dayton under any circumstance and Rhode Island is getting WAY too much "sleeper-in-the-conference-tournament" talk. When a non-front running team is getting a lot of hype...never EVER take them in a bet of any kind! I beseech you! Things Xavier has going for them: 1) I liked the name of the school since I was a kid, as any name with an "X" was instantly cool. 2) Xavier is a solid Jesuit institution. 3) As I learned in last year's blog...Xavier is the favorite team of Liz's grandmother, Nonnie. Notable Seeds: #1 Xavier, #2 Rhode Island, #3 Dayton, #4 Temple, #5 St. Joseph's, #7 Duquesne, #9 Saint Louis

• Conference USA - Memphis - It would truly be fascinating to see how Memphis would do in a conference other than this one. Memphis head coach John Calipari deserves some props here because he is a native of Western PA and is a graduate of Clarion University. This endears Coach Calipari to John and Jill...who are also proud Clarion University alumni. I'm not writing about anything else. Memphis isn't going to lose by 10 during this entire tournament. Notable seeds: #1 Memphis (that's it)

• Mountain West Conference - Utah - One wouldn't know it from living in the Midwest or the East, but this is a quality conference full of good teams. Four schools could legitimately win this tournament. San Diego State, the poster-boy for "bubble" teams right now, could win the automatic bid...or lose by 10 in the first round to UNLV. The Mountain West is that deep. My champion is Utah because they have a RPI that's off the charts and they've beaten every quality team in the conference at least once. Notable seeds: #1 BYU, #2 Utah, #3 New Mexico, #4 San Diego State, #5 UNLV, #9 Air Force

• Big West Conference - Long Beach State - I know nothing about this conference except that Pacific beat Pitt in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. This is known as the "modern-dark" era for Panther fans. Instead of breaking down the conference, I'm going to list every school along with their (VERY) amusing nicknames. Notable Seeds: #1 Cal. State Northridge Matadors, #2 Long Beach State 49ers, #3 Pacific Tigers, #4 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, #5 UC Irvine Anteaters (props to Alex), #6 UC Riverside Highlanders, #7 Cal State Fullerton Titans, #8 UC Davis Aggies

• Southwestern Athletic Conference - Alabama State - Low on info here. Alabama State and Jackson State are the two best teams and should make for a good conference championship game. I'm a big fan of Lewis Jackson, head coach of the Alabama State Tigers. The SWAC has the lowest RPI of any conference. The conference winner will probably be relegated to the "play-in" game again...which will cause me to go off on the hypocrisy and idiocy of the NCAA with regard to this "play-in" game. Give the kids a chance to travel to a regional site and play with the big boys! Notable Seeds: #1 Alabama State, #2 Jackson State, #3 Prarie View A&M, #4 Arkansas Pine-Bluff, #5 Southern, #6 Mississippi Valley State

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