Official Championship Week Thread

[CatMission]

A look ahead to Wednesday's keys for us

A UConn upset of Syracuse would be huge for us and put the Cuse squarely on the bubble (where I think they belong anyway)

Also Providence upsetting WVU would probably knock them out of contention.

That said, those underdogs better not make a run and play their way in like Syracuse last year.

[catsfan20012002]

Wright State 60
Butler 55
FINAL

[catsfan20012002]

Today we've got the start of the Big East Tournament and the Northeast Conference and Big Sky Conference Championship Game.

In the Big East - 

Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette and PROBABLY Syracuse seem to be good to go. The teams to watch are West Virginia and DePaul. Today you'll want to watch the West Virginia vs. Providence and DePaul vs Villanova games with great interest. I say:

Go Providence and Go Villanova

In the Northeast Conference you'll want to cheer for Central Connecticut State and in the Big Sky Conference you'll want to cheer for Weber State.

[chum1]

Saul, why didn't you use the word "official" in your thread title (you know, the good thread about this stuff)?

[catsfan20012002]

Villanova 75
DePaul 67
FINAL

I think this is another great thing

[catsfan20012002]

Syracuse 78
Connecticut 65
FINAL

This does two things:

1. It probably puts Syracuse in even though I think they already were and
2. It makes sure that Connecticut doesn't make a magical run this weekend and regulates them to the NIT

[catsfan20012002]

Tonight's games of note (teams we want to win in bold):

West Virginia vs. Providence
Northern Arizona vs. Weber State
Sacred Heart vs. Central Connecticut State

[ksu_FAN]

catsfan, just a hint.  Before posting "games of note" in the future, please glance at the RPI.  Games between low-major teams both ranked outside the top 60 or so (RPI) really are irrelevant when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.  It would be nice for Providence to beat WV, but those other 4 teams are fighting to be the next two 14-16 seeds from 1 team leagues.

[catsfan20012002]

Better to be safe then sorry

[chum1]

I think Sacred Heart probably would get in ahead of us.

[catsfan20012002]

Today we've got the start of the Big East Tournament and the Northeast Conference and Big Sky Conference Championship Game.

In the Big East - 

Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette and PROBABLY Syracuse seem to be good to go. The teams to watch are West Virginia and DePaul. Today you'll want to watch the West Virginia vs. Providence and DePaul vs Villanova games with great interest. I say:

Go Providence and Go Villanova

In the Northeast Conference you'll want to cheer for Central Connecticut State and in the Big Sky Conference you'll want to cheer for Weber State.

Central Connecticut State won the NEC which is a good thing and the Big Sky game is just about to start. West Virginia winning isn't the end of the world. What we need to hope for is a Louisville win tomorrow. Villanova winning is a GREAT thing.

[catsfan20012002]

Championship Week begins in full today. Today we've got action in the WAC, SWAC, Southland, SEC, Pac 10, Mountain West, MAC, Conference USA, Big West, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, A 10, America East and ACC Conferences. The following are the teams whose names you're going to want to listen for over the next few days:

WAC - Nevada but watch what New Mexico State and Fresno State do
SWAC - Mississippi Valley State
Southland - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SEC - Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are locks. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Miss St. and Georgia need big runs in the Conference Tournament to have a shot
Pac 10 - UCLA, Arizona, USC, Washington State and Oregon are in. The bubble team is Stanford
Mountain West - BYU and Air Force are the only sure thing. San Diego State is another possibility
MAC and Conference USA - Toledo and MAYBE Akron in the MAC and probably just Memphis in C-USA
Big West - Long Beach State
Big 10 - Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana are locks. Watch Michigan State, Michigan and especially Purdue and Illinois
Big East - We've discussed this at length. Things seem to be going as planned there
Big 12 - The thing to watch is if Texas Tech beats Colorado, the winner of TTU-KSU should be in
A 10 - Xavier and UMass are hopefully it for them
America East - It's Vermont and Albany for that league's bid
ACC - North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Maryland, Duke seem to be locked in while Georgia Tech and the winner of Clemson-Florida State will probably get in too.

[catsfan20012002]

Championship Week begins in full today. Today we've got action in the WAC, SWAC, Southland, SEC, Pac 10, Mountain West, MAC, Conference USA, Big West, Big 10, Big East, Big 12, A 10, America East and ACC Conferences. The following are the teams whose names you're going to want to listen for over the next few days:

WAC - Nevada but watch what New Mexico State and Fresno State do
SWAC - Mississippi Valley State
Southland - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SEC - Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are locks. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Miss St. and Georgia need big runs in the Conference Tournament to have a shot
Pac 10 - UCLA, Arizona, USC, Washington State and Oregon are in. The bubble team is Stanford
Mountain West - BYU and Air Force are the only sure thing. San Diego State is another possibility
MAC and Conference USA - Toledo and MAYBE Akron in the MAC and probably just Memphis in C-USA
Big West - Long Beach State
Big 10 - Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana are locks. Watch Michigan State, Michigan and especially Purdue and Illinois
Big East - We've discussed this at length. Things seem to be going as planned there
Big 12 - The thing to watch is if Texas Tech beats Colorado, the winner of TTU-KSU should be in
A 10 - Xavier and UMass are hopefully it for them
America East - It's Vermont and Albany for that league's bid
ACC - North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Maryland, Duke seem to be locked in while Georgia Tech and the winner of Clemson-Florida State will probably get in too.

Update:

Winners -

Nevada
Arkansas
Toledo
Michigan
Michigan State
Xavier
Florida State

Losers -

Alabama
Clemson

Yet to play -

Fresno State
New Mexico State
Georgia
Stanford 
San Diego State 
Akron 
Memphis 
Massachusetts 
Georgia Tech

Also.....Texas Tech beat Colorado setting up the match up the Cats were looking for. Seriously.....Things couldn't be going better this week.

[catsfan20012002]

Things are starting to go bad in a hurry:

UCLA, Duke, Maryland and Air Force lost. Michigan winning hurts too. On the good side Alabama and West Virginia lost.

[sys]

Things are starting to go bad in a hurry:

UCLA, Duke, Maryland and Air Force lost. Michigan winning hurts too. On the good side Alabama and West Virginia lost.

cal winning is good.  af losing is good.  ucla, duke, and maryland losing is not relevant.

illinois winning sucked.  if stanford goes on to beat usc (up 10 now) that will really suck.  most games have gone our way.  a few of the more important ones haven´t.

[catsfan20012002]

After yesterday's games:

ACC - North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Duke are all locks. Florida State beat a bubble team and had another lose. Clemson is out and Georgia Tech will probably get in.

Big East - Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette and Villanova are all locks. The questions are whether or not West Virginia and/or Syracuse get in. I say Syracuse is in while West Virginia is out.

Big 10 - Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue are the teams to watch. Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana are locks.

Big XII - Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas are locked in. The biggest question of the day is what happens with Texas Tech and Kansas State. The winner should be in but the loser will probably be sweating on Sunday although I have a feeling they're both going to get in.

Pac 10 - UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona and USC appear to be headed to the Dance. The biggest question mark is what happens to Stanford. The Cardinal lost yesterday so that has to be a very good thing. Cal winning the conference tournament (even though it won't happen) would be interesting. It would kill someone's bubble chances but it would make the Cats loss to them look better.

SEC - Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are Dance bound. Alabama losing probably ends it for them. Arkansas and Georgia are still alive but probably need two more wins each so you'll want to be for Vanderbilt and Florida today.

In the rest of the conferences I think Missouri State will be out, Xavier needs another win and we need to hope for a Nevada win and for New Mexico State to lose at some point. 

[catsfan20012002]

I forgot to mention that today is the Patriot League Championship Game between Holy Cross and Bucknell where Holy Cross is the favorite. One thing I can tell you for sure is that ku doesn't want to see the winner in their NCAA Tournament Region.

[catsfan20012002]

After yesterday's games:

ACC - North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Duke are all locks. Florida State beat a bubble team and had another lose. Clemson is out and Georgia Tech will probably get in.

Big East - Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette and Villanova are all locks. The questions are whether or not West Virginia and/or Syracuse get in. I say Syracuse is in while West Virginia is out.

Big 10 - Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois and Purdue are the teams to watch. Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana are locks.

Big XII - Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas are locked in. The biggest question of the day is what happens with Texas Tech and Kansas State. The winner should be in but the loser will probably be sweating on Sunday although I have a feeling they're both going to get in.

Pac 10 - UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona and USC appear to be headed to the Dance. The biggest question mark is what happens to Stanford. The Cardinal lost yesterday so that has to be a very good thing. Cal winning the conference tournament (even though it won't happen) would be interesting. It would kill someone's bubble chances but it would make the Cats loss to them look better.

SEC - Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are Dance bound. Alabama losing probably ends it for them. Arkansas and Georgia are still alive but probably need two more wins each so you'll want to be for Vanderbilt and Florida today.

In the rest of the conferences I think Missouri State will be out, Xavier needs another win and we need to hope for a Nevada win and for New Mexico State to lose at some point. 

Worst case scenarios that are still possible (things we DON'T want to happen):

ACC - NC State beating Virginia Tech
Big 10 - Ohio State or Wisconsin losing
Big XII - Oklahoma State winning the tournament
SEC - Anybody but Florida winning the tournament




 

[catsfan20012002]

It would also be bad if Memphis, Vermont, Florida A&M, Jackson State or Cal Poly wins although it would be the worst if Memphis lost. It's already bad that Nevada lost.