Conference Tournament Predictions 2012

• American East- Stony Brook
• Atlantic 10-
• ACC-
• Atlantic Sun- Belmont
• Big 12-
• Big East-
• Big Sky-
• Big South- UNC Asheville
• Big 10-
• Big West-
• Colonial- Virginia Commonwealth
• Conference USA-
• Horizon-Butler
• Ivy-Harvard (not really a tourny yo)
• MAAC- Iona
• Mid American-
• MEAC-
• Missouri Valley- Wichita State
• Mountain West-
• Northeast- Long Island
• Ohio Valley- Murray State
• Pac12- 
• Patriot- Lehigh
• SEC-
• Southern- Davidson
• Southland-
• SWAC-
• Summit-
• Sun Belt-
• West Coast- Gonzaga
• WAC-

Conference Championships

The first basketball conference tournament of 2012 kicks off today in the Big South Conference so as a result I am going to give you my picks for the first few picks...I will have an updated list as more conferences begin their tournaments.

Big South- UNC-Asheville wins over Coastal Carolina

• UNCA will get to play at home throughout their games and with the 8th highest point total per game on their side, I feel that they will repeat as conference champions.

Horizon-Butler over Cleveland State

• The tournament is kinda set up donkey, so Butler would have to win 2 games in order to get a chance at playing Valporaiso who has a double bye. 
• I don't actually know of Cleveland State will be playing in the championship game here, but also having a double bye I went with the safe pick and took them, I could see Youngstown or Detroit beating them in the semis though.
• I've learned my lesson and am finally going to pick Butler to do well in a tournament as I feel they will bring out their NCAA tourny play early in order to get themselves into the field in March.

Atlantic Sun- Belmont over Mercer

• I sure do like me the Murder Bears and almost always take them to win the Atlantic Sun especially when they get to play on their home floor.  
• But, the fact that Mercer couldn't pull off the upset on their home floor with Belmont not having all of their starters playing recently (including leading scorer Kerron Johnson) I feel that the Bruins will be too much for the bears, in a game that would be unbearable to miss. 

Patriot League- Lehigh over Bucknell

• C.J. McCollum

Got distracted by ponies

Saint Marys @ Murray State

• Murray State suffered their first loss of the season 9 days ago to Tennessee State (the second place team in the ohio valley).  They still come in with a 25-1 record with wins of Southern Mississippi and Memphis
• Saint Marys has lost 2 of its last 3 (Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount) and instead of locking up the West Coast are now only a half game up on Gonzaga in the conference.  This game is much needed in terms of seeding in the tournament if they were to end up not winning their conference.
• Murray State hasn't really played anypony this season other than Southern Mississippi (won in double overtime) and Memphis (won by 4) so Saint Mary's will be their toughest test yet.  
• I believe that Murray State is way overrated due to their easy schedule, but this game will allow them to either prove me wrong or right in that feeling.  I think Saint Mary's takes this one either easily if Dellavedova plays or in a much closer game if he is unable to go.

Long Beach State @ Creighton

• I've got 10,000,000 to 1 on Long Beach State to win the National Championship this year, and they are rolling in the Big West at 12-0 in the conference.  They played non-conference games against Kansas, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Xavier, Kansas State, Louisville, and San Diego State so are battle tested making close games in all of them cept Louisville and KState (beat Pitt and Xavier).
• Creighton has lost 3 of their last 4, but put up wins against San Diego State and Northwestern out of conference and are lead by player of the year nominee Doug McDermott.  McDermott had been struggling in the losses that Creighton went through recently but made up for it by going 7-7 from the field in their last game @ Southern Illinois.
• This should be a great game and in my opinion is the best game out of the bracketbutster games.  This is the game that I'm waiting to watch as I could see either one of these teams making a run come March.
• I am going to have to go with the team I picked early in the year in Long Beach State, but I expect this to be a really good close game that will come down to the wire.

Bracket Busters Predictions

Alright everypony its that time of the year again MID-MAJOR ROMP FEST or watever they wanna call it...

Northern Iowa @ Virginia Commonwealth

• VCU had won 11 straight until their recent 2 point loss at George Mason
• Northern Iowa has pulled off wins over @Iowa State and vs Creighton
• VCU has much more riding on this game as they still have a shot at an at large bid and after their loss to George Mason fall one game back in the conference to both George Mason and Drexel.
• VCU gets the win at home

Valparaiso @ Loyola Marymount

• Valpo is on top of the Horizon League right now, having won 9 of their last 11 games
• LMU is sitting in 4th in the West Coast behind Saint Marys, Gonzaga, and BYU...but are coming off of a 15 point victory @St. Marys and have shown they can win by winning @BYU and against SLU
• Ryan Broekhoff for Valpo is going to decide this game...he likes to shoot the three and will make it if he has a good game I could see Valpo pulling off the upset here.
• Valpo upsets Loyola Marymount at home strengthening the resume for a team that could be replacing Bulter as the Horizon league representative in the tourny this year

Drexel @ Cleveland State

• Drexel hasn't lost since January 2nd, winning 14 games in a row
• Cleveland State was sitting at top of the Horizon until their recent 3 game losing streak.  
• Cleveland State really needs this game to turn things around in the Horizon before the conference tournament, but hosting the red-hot dragons could end up being a much more difficult task than they were hoping for
• Drexel continues their hot streak and wins

Nevada @ Iona

• Nevada is top in the WAC and should end up winning that conference tournament unless New Mexico State decides to get in their way.  Have won 19 of their past 20 games.
• Iona leads the nation in assists per game, is 2nd in points per game, and 6th in field goal percentage...so basically they have an efficient offense.
•  Nevada should not be overlooked as you have to be at least decent to win 19 of 20 games.
• Iona though should be able to win this one and show off how they could be dangerous in the tournament come March.

I will add on the other games later (Old Dominion @ Missouri State, Saint Marys @ Murray State, UT-Arlington @ Weber State, Long Beach State @ Creighton)

March Madness (February 12th)

 

Team/Status/Projected Seed

• Duke-IN-1 seed 
• North Carolina-IN- 2 seed
• Florida State-IN-6 seed
• Virginia-IN-6 seed
• North Carolina State-Bubble/IN-13 seed
• Miami(FL)-Bubble/IN-11 seed

• Ohio State-IN-2 seed
• Michigan State-IN-2 seed
• Wisconsin-IN-4 seed
• Michigan-IN-5 seed
• Indiana-IN-4 seed
• Purdue-Bubble/IN-8 seed
• Illinois-Bubble/IN-10 seed
• Minnesota-Bubble/IN-12 seed
• Northwestern-Bubble/OUT 

• Missouri-IN-1 seed
• Kansas-IN-2 seed
• Baylor-IN-3 seed
• Texas-Bubble/IN-8 seed
• Kansas State-Bubble/IN-10 seed
• Iowa State-Bubble/IN-9 seed

 

• Syracuse-IN-1 seed
• Georgetown-IN-3 seed
• Marquette-IN-3 seed
• Louisville-IN-5 seed
• Notre Dame-IN-6 seed
• West Virginia-Bubble/IN-7 seed
• Uconn-Bubble/IN-12 seed
• Cincinnati-Bubble/IN-12 seed
• Seton Hall-Bubble/OUT
• South Florida-Bubble/OUT

• Kentucky-IN-1 seed
• Florida-IN-4 seed
• Mississippi State-IN-6 seed
• Vanderbilt-IN-7 seed
• Alabama-Bubble/IN-9 seed
• Arkansas-Bubble/OUT
• Ole Miss-Bubble/OUT 

• UNLV-IN-3 seed
• San Diego State-IN-4 seed
• Saint Marys-IN-5 seed
• Gonzaga-IN-5 seed
• Cal-IN-8 seed
• Nevada-IN-13 seed
• New Mexico-Bubble/IN-10 seed
• Arizona-Bubble/IN-12 seed
• BYU-Bubble/IN-12 seed
• New Mexico State-Bubble/OUT
• Washington-Bubble/OUT
• Stanford-Bubble/OUT
• Oregon-Bubble/OUT
• Wyoming-Bubble/OUT

 

• Murray State-IN-7 seed
• Creighton-IN-7 seed
• Wichita State-IN-12 seed
• Memphis-IN-9 seed
• SLU-Bubble/IN-9 seed
• Drexel-Bubble/IN-11 seed
• Virginia Commonwealth-IN-11 seed
• Southern Miss-IN-10 seed
• Temple-IN-8 seed
• Middle Tennessee-IN-13 seed
• Harvard-IN-11 seed
• Xavier-Bubble/OUT
• UMass-Bubble/OUT
• UCF-Bubble/OUT
• Cleveland State-Bubble/OUT
• Missouri State-Bubble/OUT

 
 Last Four IN-

• UConn
• Minnesota
• Cincinnati
• Arizona

  

First Four OUT- 

• Xavier
• Seton Hall
• Washington
• Northwestern