Conference Tournaments Starting on March 12th

The final four conference tournaments began yesterday. I'm honestly too exhausted from Robert Morris and 6 overtime games right now to give my usual 75%. Filling out 30 brackets was as daunting and draining this year as it was last year. But I do feel a sense of accomplishment. As I said last season, nobody else in the country is filling out 30 freaking conference tournament brackets. You're truly getting something unique here. There is something endearing about analyzing the potential of schools like Elon, Drake, The Citadel, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and Rider. I've loved every second of it. Here are the winners, notable seeds, and props for the last four conference tournaments. As always, my predicted champions are in bold.

• Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) - North Carolina - I'm already regretting this pick, not because I don't like UNC, but because I didn't know Mega-Star Ty Lawson would be sitting out the ACC Tournament. Not to mention that North Carolina has nothing to gain from winning this tournament and may benefit from the Pitt route of laying down and focusing on the Big Dance (I'm still trying to convince myself that the Panther's Big East Tourney loss is inconsequential). A third UNC vs. Duke match-up would be nice, but a meeting in the NCAA Tournament would be much nicer. (The following is for you Matt) Pay attention to Greivis Vazquez of Maryland, he's the player who had a triple-double in Maryland's upset of UNC earlier this season. He's stated his intention to play in the NBA next year as Coach Gary Williams loses yet another star. Georgia Tech is a great first-round sleeper pick against Clemson as their basically playing on their home floor. Notable Seeds: #1 North Carolina (props to Liz), #2 Wake Forest, #3 Duke (props to Brian W.), #4 Florida State, #6 Boston College, #7 Maryland, #12 Georgia Tech

• Big 10 Conference - Michigan State - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Seriously...this conference tournament is disgusting. Need I bring up Penn St. 38, Illinois 33 again? This league used to provide some really good college basketball. Now they bore people to death. I can't believe the Big 10 might seriously get 8 teams in the dance. Don't get me wrong, there are some worthy candidates here...but not 8. Iowa is in year 2 of a 5 year rebuilding plan. Give them time. Notable Seeds: #1 Michigan State, #2 Illinois, #3 Purdue, #4 Wisconsin, #5 Ohio State, #6 Penn State (props to Fleck, A.J., Bob, Ben S., Bradford, & Pat), #7 Michigan, #10 Iowa

• Southeastern Conference (SEC) - South Carolina - Here's another league that was really down this year. Florida fell hard and fast after their back-to-back championships. The Gators get to play on what amounts to their home floor here. I really thought the South Carolina Gamecocks had the best chance of anyone to win this tournament, but they lost earlier today to Mississippi State. So nuts to that. The most intrigue left is whether or not Bruce Pearl will break out the orange creamsicle suit at some point. One can hope. Notable Seeds: #1w LSU, #1e Tennessee, #2w Auburn, #2e South Carolina, #3w Mississippi State, #3e Florida, #4e Kentucky

• Southland Conference - Stephen F. Austin - I chose Stephen F. Austin last year as the #1 seed to win this conference. They failed me. I'm picking them again in the hopes of redemption for both them and me. This is the 30th and FINAL conference tournament bracket that I had to fill out. It feels like graduation. I'm finally done. Let's PLEASE move on. Notable seeds: #1 Stephen F. Austin, #2 Nicholls State, #3 Sam Houston State, #4 Texas A&M Corpus Christi, #6 UT San Antonio, #7 Texas State

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