It's Championship Week!!!

The best month in sports began Saturday with the tipoff of Championship Week.  4 automatic bids have already been given out for the NCAA tournament and 27 more lie ahead.  Congratulations to UNC-Asheville, Belmont, Morehead St., and Indiana St. for punching their tickets to the dance.  Belmont is a solid and experienced team, they could give someone problems in the 1st round.  And try to catch some of the Morehead St. game when the time comes.  Kenneth Faried is a beast.  Very fun to watch.  He broke Tim Duncan's rebound record.
Big week for Notre Dame as they beat a slumping Villanova team and won at UConn.  Notre Dame is red hot and it's not out of the question that they get a 1 seed depending on how the conference tournaments play out.  UConn also lost to West Virginia who beat Louisville at home in one of the crazier endings you will see.  The hit two 3's in the final seconds to tie it.  Then Louisville missed a 3 and fouled West Virginia as they tried a 75 foot heave right before the buzzer.  Very bone headed play by Preston Knowles.  Louisville did blow out Providence earlier in the week.  The Cards still get a double bye in the Big East tournament along with Pitt, who is the regular season champ after knocking off Villanova and S. Florida, Syracuse, and Notre Dame.  Cincinnati earned a bye after getting hot down the stretch winning at Marquette and beating Georgetown for the second time in as many weeks.  Georgetown will still get a bye despite playing terribly since the injury to Chris Wright.  The Hoyas seed is very much up in the air.  West Virginia and St. John's also receive byes.  Remember, the Big East Tourney is played in the Garden, so the Red Storm will have a home court advantage.  UConn and Villanova will have to play the first day and so will Marquette.  Marquette really missed an opportunity to seal an at-large bid this week with a loss at home to St. John's and a road loss to Seton Hall.  They need to win a game or two to feel safe.
North Carolina beat Duke to clinch the regular season ACC championship.  Just when it looked like Duke would get a 1 seed, and they still good, they go to Chapel Hill and get beat.  It's not out of the question that the Tar Heels jump to a 2 seed depending on what happens in the ACC tournament.  Boston College may have locked up an at-large bid by blowing out Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and beating Wake Forest.  Speaking of the Hokies, they didn't disappoint us did they.  We talked about it last week after they beat Duke.  Can they validate that win and beat Boston College.  Well, not only did they lose, but were blown out at home.  And then followed it up with a loss at fellow bubble team Clemson.  They better do some damage in the ACC tourney or Seth Greenberg will be coaching for a NIT championship again.  Clemson also played Duke well earlier in the week, but fell short.  They have a shot at an at-large if they can win a game or two in the ACC tourney.  And Florida St. missed an opportunity for a big win as Harrison Barnes knocked win a game winner at the buzzer for the Tar Heels.  I still think the Seminoles will get in as they beat NC St. today.
Kansas St. is finally playing like the team people expected them to be coming into the season.  After all the turmoil during the season they finally have gotten it together and will be in the NCAA tourney.  They won at Texas Monday night.  Texas was able to rebound and get a win at Baylor.  Baylor really needed that win to say in the conversation for an at-large bid.  Baylor also lost to Oklahoma St.  Kansas beat Texas A&M and won at Missouri to clinch the Big 12 championship and probably a number 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.  Texas A&M and Missouri are in the NCAA tourney though.  Colorado followed up their big win with a loss at Iowas St. and then a win against Nebraska.  Both teams need to do some damage in the Big 12 tourney to have hopes at an at-large.
Alabama had 2 big opportunities this week to boost their bad rpi and get top 50 wins.  But they were blown out at Florida and they did beat Georgia.  Alabama real be a real interesting team to watch come Selection Sunday.  Florida also went to Vandy and won to wrap up the SEC regular season championship.  Georgia beat LSU and despite the loss to Bama I think they're still in, but they should win a game or two in the SEC tourney to be safe.  Vandy also loss at Kentucky in a very good game so they're seed as slipped down to around a 6 right now.  With Kentucky's win against Vandy and at Tennessee they get the 2 seed in the East and the first round bye.  They are playing pretty good right now and finally won the road.  Tennessee should still be in right now, but they could have used a home win against Kentucky to seal the deal.  I wouldn't want to lose in the 1st round of the SEC tourney if I were them.  I will mention that Mississippi St. is playing well right now and they could be a dangerous team in the SEC tourney.  Lots of talent just too many distractions throughout the year, but they could make a run.
Ohio St. got their revenge in a big way today against Wisconsin.  They went 14-15 from 3 point range and blew out the Badgers.  The Buckeyes are the 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and likely 1 seed in the NCAA.  If it ended today they would be my number 1 overall seed.  Purdue beat Illinois and looked to be cruising along for a 2 seed or maybe even a 1, but then they visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  And you just don't walk in there and get a W.  The Hawkeyes pulled off the upset, but I think Purdue is still a likely 2 seed.  Illinois had a chance to beat Purdue, but fell apart in the final few minutes.  They beat Indiana, but are still very much on the bubble.  They probably get in with a win or certainly 2 wins in the Big 10 tournament.  Michigan St. lost at Michigan and beat Iowa.  The Spartans are still in right now I think, but they should get at least 1 win in the Big 10 tourney to seal the deal.  Michigan has played their way onto the bubble and could very well get in depending on how they play in the Big 10 tourney.  And yes I will even mention Penn St. that's how weak the bubble field is this year.  The Nittany Lions actually have some quality wins and depending on how well they do in the Big 10 tournament they could even sneak in.  They certainly didn't look good at home against the Buckeyes though.  Of course, Wisconsin didn't either even though it was on the road.
Arizona swept the Oregon schools and won the Pac-10 regular season.  Washington got a big win over UCLA, but followed it up with a home loss to USC.  UCLA won at Washington St. in overtime.  Arizona, Washington, and UCLA are all in and that looks to be it for the Pac-10.
What a week for BYU.  They get the sweep against San Diego St. and look like they're on their way to a 1 seed then their starting big man, Brandon Davies, has sex with his girlfriend and gets kicked off the team.  Very bad timing.  They lost to New Mexico, but did beat Wyoming and will have the number 1 seed in the Mountain West tournament.  But the 1 seed in the NCAA tournament looks to be out the window.  It will be interesting to see how they play without Davies.  The Aztecs won both of their games and look to be on a collision course to play the Cougars for a 3rd time in the Mountain West title game.  The tourney is played in Vegas and UNLV has a chance to sneak in and win the tourney.  All 3 of those teams are in the NCAA tourney.
Temple, Xavier, and Richmond all won their games this week.  Xavier dominated the A10 losing only once.  Temple only lost twice and they have a solid resume.  Both teams will be in the NCAA tourney.  Richmond probably needs to win a couple games in the A10 tourney to play their way into an at-large bid.
George Mason was upset today by VCU in the Colonial semis.  VCU will play Old Dominion for the auto bid tomorrow night.  I think George Mason and ODU are at-large bid locks so the bubble teams need to root for ODU so VCU won't steal a bid.  VCU is a solid team and it should be a good game.  Utah St. continues to dominate the WAC.  St. Mary's will play the winner of San Francisco/Gonzaga for the WCC championship.  It will be a close call for St. Mary's/Gonzaga (if Gonzaga beats USF) loser for an at-large bid.  UAB won the Conference USA regular season, but they're resume isn't great and they were swept by Memphis.  Don't see anyone getting an at-large here.
Team A 20-10 (12-4) rpi 80 sos 125 top 50 record 3-3 key wins:  Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia bad losses:  Iowa, St. Peter's, Providence, Arkansas
Team B 16-13 (9-9) rpi 46 sos 9 top 50 record 3-9 key wins:  Washington, Wisconsin, Illinois bad loss:  Iowa
Team C 25-8 (15-3) rpi 37 sos 126 top 50 record 0-1 key wins:  None bad losses:  No. Iowa, Evansville
Team D 26-6 (16-2) rpi 23 sos 92 top 50 record 2-1 key wins:  Harvard, Old Dominion bad losses:  NC St., Wofford
Be sure to check in next week.  I will post our brackets before the Selection Show.  See if we follow up last year's 65 for 65 with a 68 for 68.









Team A Alabama  Team B Michigan St.  Team C Missouri St.  Team D George Mason