With that said, here is a list of the some of the best mid-major conference tournaments to keep an eye on this week.....
Big South
Championship Date: March 3rd
Championship Site: Winthrop, SC
Championship Game: Withrnop vs. VMI
Why You Should Watch - Best Mid-Major vs. nation's highest scoring team? Not a bad way to kick off Championship Week.
Southern Conference
Championship Date: March 3rd
Championship Site: Charleston
The Favorite: Davidson
Contenders: Appalachian State
Sleeper: College of Charleston
Why You Should Watch - Davidson and Appalachian State are two of the best mid-majors in the land and both have a legit shot at an at-large even if they lose.
Colonial
Championship Date: March 5th
Championship Site: Richmond, VA
The Favorite: Old Dominion, VCU
Contenders: Hofstra, Drexel
Sleeper: George Mason
Why You Should Watch - From the conference that brought you George Mason's Final Four run comes four teams with Tournament aspirations: ODU, VCU, Drexel and Hofstra. Look for three CAA teams in the tournament this year.
Missouri Valley
Championship Date: March 4th
Championship Site: St. Louis
The Favorite: Southern Illinois
Contenders: Creighton, Missouri State
Sleeper: Wichita State
Why You Should Watch - The poster child for mid-major conferences, The Valley always seems to produce one of the most exciting conferencee tournaments every year. This year's edition of "Arch Madness" should be no exception.
West Coast
Championship Date: March 5th
Championship Site: Portland, OR
The Favorite: Gonzaga
Contenders: Santa Clara
Sleeper: Loyola Marymount
Why You Should Watch - For the first time in many years, Gonazga is not the heavy favorite and have not already assured a tournament birth. The Zags might need to win this to play on. And everyone in the WCC wants to the be the team to finally dethrone the Zags, the west coast version of Duke.
Horizon
Championship Date: March 6th
Championship Site: Highest Seed
The Favorite: Butler
Contender: Wright State
Sleeper: Loyola
Why You Should Watch - Butler may get all of the media attention but Wright State and Loyola are just as good and both already own wins over the Bulldogs this season. I smell an upset of Butler in this one.
Patriot League
Championship Date: March 9th
Championship Site: Higher Seed
The Favorite: Holy Cross
Contenders: Bucknell
Sleeper: Army
Why You Should Watch - Holy Cross and Bucknell have been on a collision course for this game all season. Both teams went 13-1 in league play, each team beating the other on their home court. This is quickly becoming one of the better rivalries in mid-major basketball, with this possibly the third consecutive year these two teams will play in the Patriot League Championship.
Atlantic 10
Championship Date: March 10th
Championship Site: Atlantic City
The Favorite: Xavier
Contender: UMass
Sleeper: Everyone else
Why You Should Watch - While not quite mid-major, this league might be a one bid league. And this tournament might be the most wide open this year. After Xavier, there are seven or eight teams of equal talent that could make a run at the title. I'm telling you, this might be the most exciting tournament all week. Seriously.
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10 comments:
Lots of great action here. Here's what I'm most looking forward to:
A possible Davidson/Appalaction St. battle in the SoCon. That'd just be a fantastic game.
In the CAA, four teams with a shot at an at-large berth, but no spots are really locked up yet. I think the CAA might only get 2, which makes this Tourney excellent. Hopefully the top 4 seeds advance to the semis.
Also, will VMI's uptempo style cause problems for Winthrop?
Lots of great action!
Great stuff. Thanks for the guide! When it comes to these conferences, I really need it.
I'm really hoping and praying that Duquesne can make a run through the A-10 tournament. They totally changed their style halfway through the season and suddenly started winning games. They're like VMI-Lite.
I'm pulling for the Dukes too...I'm also pulling for Temple just to see Anthony Ivory and his 380 pound frame in the Big Dance
the vmi/winthrop game will be an especially interesting one. the whole regular season, vmi played an uptempo trapping full-court defense and relied on turnovers and quick threes to win. they blew out the teams in the big south worse than them and got blown out by the teams better than them.
but all of a sudden, in the first two games of the tournament, vmi switched to an extremely packed-in 2-3 halfcourt defense and dared teams to outshoot them. it's like an entirely different team. neither coastal carolina or high point was able to do this, but i think winthrop will. with winthrop's martin, bradshaw, and jenkins, all great shooters, vmi is going to have to shoot the lights out on winthrop's home court (something nobody has been able to do this year) to win.
No love for the MAAC? Outrageous.
CoC knocked off App. State in OT tonight to probably end App. State's tourney hopes. I think they needed to at least make the conference finals to get into the dance. This is really unfortunate as I was looking forward to seeing them play again (only seen Wich St. game). Davidson should get in with the auto bid now. Great guide tho Marco I just wish I could watch VMI-Winthrop but work calls. Let's hope App. State manages to sneak in but I just don't see it as the majors continue to bounce off the bubble ('Cuse, 'Nova, G-Tech will beat BC).
Hey Juice, could you give us some sort of 'best shot' betting guide throughout the madness?
Like a most likely to win tonight/this week etc.
That would be much apprecited.
BD - I'm so pissed about App St, they were my bandwagon mid-major team for the tournameent. No chance for an at-large now
Snachez - Once the brackets come out next Monday, the breakdown will begin.
Frankie Lampard - VMI-Winthrop might be my favorite game of championship week already....and thanks for the tibit about VMI switching up it's style, I did not know that
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