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.

College Hoops Monday

Championship Week really begins in earnest today as the countdown really heats up to Selection Sunday.

Sunday Major Conference Recap
Perry Stevenson had 18 and 10 as Kentucky dealt a huge blow to Florida's at large chances, defeating the Gators 75-70 at Rupp Arena to basically lock up a tourney bid. The Wildcats finished 12-4 in SEC play. Ohio State may have played their way into the field of 65 for now after a huge 63-54 home win over Michigan State. David Butler scored 20 for the Buckeyes. Pitt knocked DePaul out of the Big East tournament, as the Panthers took it by 19 led by 22 and 14 from DeJuan Blair. VaTech needs to now do major ACC damage after a 70-69 loss at Clemson that makes the Tigers a little more comfortable this week. Indiana's seed could hurt a bit after an OT loss at Penn State. Seton Hall now needs a miracle after a home loss to rival Rutgers. Tennessee kept its number one seed hopes intact with a win over South Carolina. Bubble teams relax, Drake got an automatic bid in the MVC. Will VCU go into the tournament as an at large? Right now Joe Lunardi has them as one of the last four out, but you never know as the week progresses. Purdue bested Michigan with a late run to avoid a badly timed loss. Texas captured the top seed in the Big 12 tournament with a win over OK State. UConn finished off a surprisingly successful regular season with a 45 point smothering of Cincinnati. Kent State kept their at large hopes alive with a win at 21 win Akron. Maryland suffered a setback in Charlottesville after a bad 15 point loss at Virginia. Gonzaga fans can rest easy after they survived Santa Clara, but San Diego may be the 3rd team in the WCC after a double OT thriller win over Saint Mary's.

Conference Tournaments Yesterday

From Binghamton, the America East has reached the final. Top seed UMBC beat Vermont and will play 2nd seeded Hartford in the ship, as Hartford bested Boston University. Richmond was upset city in the CAA semifinals. The 5th seed William & Mary shocked VCU 56-54 and will play the 3rd seeded George Mason, the Patriots knocked off 2nd seeded UNC-Wilmington. The top 2 seeds have advanced to the final in Albany for the MAAC title. Top seed Siena were 2 points better than 4th seeded Loyola, and the 2nd seed Rider survived 6th seeded Marist 76-71. In St Louis, top seeded Drake got off to a 40-19 lead and cruised to the MVC crown, 79-49 over 2nd seeded Illinois State. Road teams ruled the day in the NEC semifinals. Mount St Mary's looked impressive in their 83-65 rout of top seed Robert Morris. 2nd seeded Wagner lost to 3rd seed Sacred Heart for the 3/4 final match. Favorites took the games in the Patriot League as top seed American beat 5th seed Army 72-60. 3rd seed Colgate were 14 points better than 7th seeded Bucknell 54-40. In Charleston in the SoConn tournament, top seed Davidson advanced easily by 30 over UNC Greensboro. They'll play 7th seeded Elon who beat the College of Charleston. In Tulsa, 3rd seed Oakland and 5th seeded IPFW advanced to the Summit semis. The top 4 seeds advanced in the Sun Belt quarterfinals from Mobile as South Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Western Kentucky, and Middle Tennessee all advanced. Gonzaga advanced to the WCC final with a hard fought win over Santa Clara, but the 3rd seeded home team San Diego upset 2nd seed St Mary's in 2OT to advance to the final. Will the WCC be a 3 bid league this year?

Conference Tournaments Tonight
The CAA will crown its champion this evening from Richmond as the 3rd seed George Mason faces the 5th seeded William & Mary Tribe. The game will be at 7pm on ESPN. Will VCU get an at large bid after their conference loss? If they don't there's a nice, warm spot in the NIT just for them. At that same time on ESPN2, the MAAC has its title game from Albany as Siena battles Rider in a 1-2 battle for the bid. Right after the MAAC game on ESPN2, top seed Davidson takes on the 7 seed Elon from Charleston in the SoConn title match. A Davidson loss may mean one less spot for the bubble teams. Summit semis go down in Tulsa as top seeded Oral Roberts plays the 5th seed IPFW, and IUPUI battles Oakland in the 2/3 game. Sun Belt semis are also this evening in Mobile as South Alabama takes on Middle Tennessee in the 1/4 matchup, and Arkansas-Little Rock plays Western Kentucky in the 2/3 game. Huge WCC title match from San Diego's Jenny Craig Pavillion (The Slim Gym) after the CAA crowns a champion on ESPN. Top seed Gonzaga will try to take the title, but the hometown San Diego Terreros stand in their path. The bubblers should root for the Zags.