College Hoops Wednesday

The conference tournaments really heat up today as the major conferences get into it. I'll go over last night's and today's action and go over the super important bubble games to happen today.

Last Night

Three more automatic bids were given out as Butler won the Horizon League by beating Cleveland State by 15 in what's a huge sigh of relief for the bubble teams. Oral Roberts won their 3rd straight Summit title 71-64 over IUPUI. Western Kentucky wins their first Sun Belt crown in 5 years with a 10 point win over Middle Tennessee. Coppin State and South Carolina State won first round MEAC matches, and San Jose State took the WAC play-in game. In the Big Sky semis from Portland, Northern Arizona bested Weber State and Portland State took care of Idaho State.

Conference Tournaments Today
-The A-10 Tournament starts today at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, and the first round stakes are high. Dayton needs a win over Saint Louis in the 8/9 game to advance. St Joe's plays Fordham, and the Hawks could use a win, LaSalle battles Duquesne, and Charlotte will play desperate Rhode Island.
-The Big East tournament from Madison Square Garden begins with an elimination match between Syracuse and Villanova at noon. West Virginia plays Providence, Pitt plays Cincinnati, and West Virginia battles Seton Hall. All games are on ESPN.
-The Big Sky title game goes down in Portland as the top 2 seeds will play for the title. Northern Arizona and Portland State both moved on for the right to be a 16 seed and possibly play in the opening round game.
-The Big West tournament begins in Anaheim with two matchups. UC Irvine takes on Long Beach State in the 5/8 game, and 6th seeded Cal Poly plays the 7 seed UC Riverside.
-C-USA holds its first round today from the FedEx Forum in Memphis. 5th seeded Southern Miss plays Rice, 6th seed UTEP plays SMU, 7th seeded Tulsa will play East Carolina, and Marshall plays Tulane in the 8/9 game.
-The higher seeds host first round matches from the MAC. 5th seeded Miami battles Buffalo, the 6th seed Central Michigan plays Northern Illinois, the 7 seed Eastern Michigan battles Ball State, and Toledo hosts Bowling Green in the 8/9 game.
-MEAC quarters go down today from Raleigh, except the first game is still a first round match between 6th seeded Florida A&M and Maryland-Eastern Shore. The quarterfinal matches today includes top seed Morgan State and 8th seed South Carolina State, and the 2nd seed Hampton takes on Coppin State.
-The Mountain West tourney begins today from the Thomas & Mack Center in Vegas as Wyoming plays Colorado State in the play-in game.
-At 7pm on ESPN2, the NEC championship game will pit the 3rd seed Sacred Heart against the 4th seed Mount Saint Mary's.
-Big game for Arizona as the Pac 10 tournament has first round games from the Staples Center. The Wildcats should beat Oregon State, and Washington will play Cal in the 8/9 game.
-SWAC quarterfinals begin from Birmingham as top seed Alabama State plays Texas Southern and the 2nd seed Mississippi Valley State battles Grambling State.
-WAC quarters are today from Las Cruces. Top seeded Utah State will play the 8 seed San Jose State. 2nd seeded Nevada plays Fresno State, 3rd seeded New Mexico State plays Idaho, and Boise State plays Hawaii in the 4/5 game. The top 4 teams have at large aspirations.

Wednesday's Bubble Brigade (the games involving teams fighting for a bid)
At noon on ESPN, Villanova and Syracuse will battle in an elimination game. The winner will play Georgetown and have a great opportunity to securing a tournament berth. The A-10 has Dayton needing a win over Saint Louis to stay alive. A Flyers win gives them a crack at top seed Xavier. St Joe's needs to stay alive today with a win over Fordham. At 2:30 on ESPN, West Virginia can truely secure a bid if they beat Providence, but they're pretty much in anyway. An Arizona win over Oregon State will probably get the Wildcats in, given their top ranked SOS.