Let
the Madness Begin!!
Finally….”The Chuck” has come back to his
basketball blog…and not a moment too soon…..it is March after all.
We are at the final weekend of the regular season
for most NCAA teams with conference tournaments going into full drive next
week. But before next week, my focus will be on the rematch between North
Carolina and Duke Saturday night!! Most of my Facebook friends who follow the
Devils from Durham have been quite delighted that my background at: www.facebook.com/ChuckDownUnder
has been the Duke logo since February 8. Well Dookies….let’s see if any of you
will take up the challenge of using the UNC logo as yours after we #OccupyCameron
on Saturday!!
Ok…now looking through the conferences here are my
observations:
Currently
Stony Brook, Vermont and Boston University are battling for the conference
regular season crown. Only the tourney winner will go dancing from this
conference.
There
are three locks…Duke, North Carolina and Florida State from the ACC for NCAA
action. Duke and Carolina are expected to go deep … hmm…will we finally see
Duke vs. Carolina in the Big Dance?
Virginia
will need a quality win or two in the ACC tourney to go dancing. The story is
similar for NC State and Miami, Fla. With both needing a run in the ACC
tourney.
Belmont
looks to be head and shoulders above the rest of the conference but will still
need to sweep through the tournament.
Temple
is pretty much a lock with St. Louis nearly there. One, possibly two more bids
will go to teams from the group of St. Bonaventure, Xavier, St. Joe’s, UMass,
LaSalle and Dayton.
Syracuse,
Marquette, Notre Dame and Georgetown have pretty much punched their tickets to
the dance. Louisville is just about there with S. Florida, Cincy, Seton Hall
and possibly UConn or West Virginia advancing.
Expect
Montana or Weber St. to advance.
UNC-Asheville
will face surprise finalist VMI for the NCAA bid in the championship game.
Michigan
State has battled to the top of the conference and there are some who will say
they are a #1 seed. To that I remind them of losses to both Duke and North
Carolina!!
Ohio
State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana should be in with Purdue needing at
least two more wins to get a look. Northwestern….I’m rooting for you to make a
run in the conference tourney to finally get that bid!!
The
Big 12 will get at least five bids with either Kansas State or Texas joining
Kansas, Missouri, Baylor and Iowa State.
Pending
tournament performance, both teams could go dancing.
Long
Beach St. has stormed through conference play without a loss and has played
enough quality competition outside of the league to gain a bid.
Though
the conference will only get 1-2 bids, they deserve more. Drexel, VCU, George
Mason and Old Dominion are the challengers for the title and all are capable of
another NCAA run from the conference.
Memphis
and Southern Miss look to be the cream of the crop…probably only one team from
this conference will go dancing.
Butler
is making a late season run and advanced to the conference semi-finals against
regular season leaders Valparaiso. The conference tourney winner will have to
only NCAA bid.
Harvard
and Penn look to be headed for a playoff for the NCAA bid.
Iona
is the favourite for conference crown and NCAA bid.
The
MAC has had a down year, expect only the tourney winner to go dancing and Akron
goes in as the favourite.
Conference’s
only bid will most likely go to Savannah State, Norfolk State or Delaware
State.
Wichita
State and Creighton both deserve a dance card!!
Three
bids should go to this conference….UNLV, New Mexico and San Diego State.
Colorado State could sneak in with an upset in the conference tourney.
Northeast
Conference: http://www.northeastconference.org/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=mensbasketball
Wagner,
Long Island and Robert Morris are still kicking in the conference tourney with
one of them likely to go dancing….I’ll say Wagner.
Murray
State has won the conference tournament and will be dangerous in the NCAA’s.
The
conference has had a quiet year and may get lucky with three bids. Figure them
to go to Washington, Cal, Arizona or Oregon.
Lehigh,
Bucknell or American should go dancing after the conference tournament.
Conference
should get six bids with Kentucky as a possible overall #1 Seed for the NCAA
tourney. The question is can Kentucky avoid the upset on the big stage??
Expect
Florida, Vandy, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi State to join the Wildcats
in the Big Dance.
Southern
Conference: http://www.soconsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=4000&SPID=1798&SPSID=22064
Conference
tournament is underway with the always dangerous Davidson squad as favourites.
Texas-Arlington
is the favourite to win the conference tournament.
Miss
Valley State has run through the regular season impressively and will be
tourney favourites.
Summit:
http://www.thesummitleague.org
Oral
Roberts is the favourite to advance here.
Middle
Tennessee State goes into the conference tourney as the favourite to go
dancing.
West
Coast Conference:
The
conference has three worthy teams, St. Mary’s, Gonzaga and BYU….will they get
the three bids?? Stay tuned….
Nevada
looks solid for the NCAA’s. New Mexico State will need a run to get to the
bubble.
That will do it for now….back with a look at the
Aussie seasons and some NBA stuff in a few days.
