Postseason Tournament Picks Part IV
Big East
Regular Season Champ- Louisville
Predicted Tournament Champ- Pitt
Louisville won the Big East by a game over UConn and Pitt but only played the Huskies and Panthers one time each going 1-1 (beating Pitt and losing to UConn) while Pitt played UConn twice and beat them both times. Pitt seems to always play well in New York and a Pitt-Louisville final would be a lot of fun as would Pitt-Villanova or numerous other potential championship games. Louisville, Pitt, and UConn seem to be a step above the rest of the Big East teams with Villanova a potential sleeper team to win it all if the fourth-place team and a current three-seed can be considered a sleeper that is. Almost all the games in the tournament will have significance with teams playing for NCAA tournament seeding and Georgetown, Providence, Notre Dame, and Cincy trying to play their way into the field
C-USA
Regular Season Champ- Memphis
Predicted Tournament Champ- Memphis
Memphis hasn’t lost a conference game in three years spanning about 60 games. They won’t lose here especially if they want to have a couple of statement games highlighting their candidacy as a one-seed.
WAC
Regular Season Champ- Utah St.
Predicted Tournament Champ- Utah St.
Utah St. won the conference by three games but ended the year in a mini-slide losing their last three road games (two conference games) including one by 13 at Nevada where this tournament is being played. Utah St.’s best and quite possibly only hope to get an at-large would be losing a close one to Nevada in the tournament final. That would give them 28 D1 victories against just five losses but depending on what other bubble teams do it may not be enough. That being said Utah St. knows it shouldn’t leave their tournament hopes up to the committee and they won’t.
MAC
Regular Season Champ- Bowling Green
Predicted Tournament Champ- Buffalo
Easily the widest open of any conference tournament. 5 teams finished within a game of each other in the regular season and all of them were in the same division. Kent St. was my preseason pick and they could certainly win it but Buffalo and Miami OH have looked the best throughout the season. Bowling Green was the regular season champ and Akron might be the tough luck champs of the year. They only lost one conference game by double digits and only four of their 12 losses have come by more than ten points. They lost by four points five times this year! However, the pick is Buffalo because it appears they have the easiest round to the championship game. They have a bye then will likely play Kent St. who they split with in two close games but I like their chances to win the rubber match then they will play a team from the horrible West division to get to the championship.
MEAC
Regular Season Champ- Morgan St.
Predicted Tournament Champ- Morgan St.
Morgan St. dominated the MEAC winning the regular season championship by three games. Upsets in other conference tournaments mean the Golden Bears could still get a 15 seed with the auto bid. Hampton appears to be the only team standing in their way since they lost to them twice but they would have to win twice just to get the right to play them for a third time.
Regular Season Champ- Louisville
Predicted Tournament Champ- Pitt
Louisville won the Big East by a game over UConn and Pitt but only played the Huskies and Panthers one time each going 1-1 (beating Pitt and losing to UConn) while Pitt played UConn twice and beat them both times. Pitt seems to always play well in New York and a Pitt-Louisville final would be a lot of fun as would Pitt-Villanova or numerous other potential championship games. Louisville, Pitt, and UConn seem to be a step above the rest of the Big East teams with Villanova a potential sleeper team to win it all if the fourth-place team and a current three-seed can be considered a sleeper that is. Almost all the games in the tournament will have significance with teams playing for NCAA tournament seeding and Georgetown, Providence, Notre Dame, and Cincy trying to play their way into the field
C-USA
Regular Season Champ- Memphis
Predicted Tournament Champ- Memphis
Memphis hasn’t lost a conference game in three years spanning about 60 games. They won’t lose here especially if they want to have a couple of statement games highlighting their candidacy as a one-seed.
WAC
Regular Season Champ- Utah St.
Predicted Tournament Champ- Utah St.
Utah St. won the conference by three games but ended the year in a mini-slide losing their last three road games (two conference games) including one by 13 at Nevada where this tournament is being played. Utah St.’s best and quite possibly only hope to get an at-large would be losing a close one to Nevada in the tournament final. That would give them 28 D1 victories against just five losses but depending on what other bubble teams do it may not be enough. That being said Utah St. knows it shouldn’t leave their tournament hopes up to the committee and they won’t.
MAC
Regular Season Champ- Bowling Green
Predicted Tournament Champ- Buffalo
Easily the widest open of any conference tournament. 5 teams finished within a game of each other in the regular season and all of them were in the same division. Kent St. was my preseason pick and they could certainly win it but Buffalo and Miami OH have looked the best throughout the season. Bowling Green was the regular season champ and Akron might be the tough luck champs of the year. They only lost one conference game by double digits and only four of their 12 losses have come by more than ten points. They lost by four points five times this year! However, the pick is Buffalo because it appears they have the easiest round to the championship game. They have a bye then will likely play Kent St. who they split with in two close games but I like their chances to win the rubber match then they will play a team from the horrible West division to get to the championship.
MEAC
Regular Season Champ- Morgan St.
Predicted Tournament Champ- Morgan St.
Morgan St. dominated the MEAC winning the regular season championship by three games. Upsets in other conference tournaments mean the Golden Bears could still get a 15 seed with the auto bid. Hampton appears to be the only team standing in their way since they lost to them twice but they would have to win twice just to get the right to play them for a third time.
posted by Andrew at 3:51 AM
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