Conference Tourney Roundup - Thursday

Let's take a look at the Conference Tournies going on.

Atlantic-10
Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, as George Washington got beat pretty soundly by Temple today. This will probably drop the Colonials down to a 5 or 6 seed, depending on the committee's thoughts on the availability of Pops. Elsewhere, all of the higher seeds lost today, as Fordham beat La Salle, St. Joe's throttled St. Louis, and Xavier beat Charlotte.

ACC
The big news here was that Wake Forest finally got their stuff together to beat Florida St., which should significantly worry the Noles. This loss places them squarely on the bubble, especially with George Washington going down. If Maryland can beat BC tomorrow, they may have a glimmer of hope to get in the Big Dance.

Big East
Well as I mentioned earlier, Gerry McNamara's been incredible. Georgetown also got a nice win over a solid Marquette team, as they really bottled up Dominic James. West Virginia looked really awful once Gansey went out of the game, which still makes me believe he is the most important player on the team, not Pittsnogle. Villanova/Pittsburgh could be a decent game tomorrow, because of the contrasting styles, but I think Nova will eventually win the game fairly easily, as it will be Pitt's third game in three days, and they have a short bench.

I also want to take this to say that Bill Raftery is probably my favorite announcer. "A little kiss!" Good stuff from Bill.

Big 12
Well, a really dull day, but that was expected. Only one game really had any implications, and that was the 5/12 game between Colorado and Baylor, won by Colorado. Texas Tech tries to get to .500 (I wouldn't have believed that at the start of the year!), but they have to go through Texas. Not likely, although Jarrious Jackson (not the football player) is really good.

Big Ten
Pretty dull here as well, although Minnesota beating Michigan is big. The Wolverines have not been good lately, and this loss could knock them right out of the tourney. Keep an eye out for that. A couple of really nice games later, as Michigan St. takes on Illinois, and Wisconsin meets up with Indiana. All of the bids here are settled unless Minnesota or Penn St. wins the tourney, so that takes away some intrigue, but it should be good basketball nonetheless.

Pac-10
Big NCAA Tourney implications here. Leon Powe put up 22 points and 20 rebounds today for Cal in a win over USC. I think they should probably be safe now, but a win would really help. And they caught a break, as Oregon shocked Washington 84-73 in the nightcap. Oregon's got the talent to make a run, which should make teams like Florida St. or teams from the MVC nervous, because if they find a way to win two more games, that will knock someone else out. In the top part of the bracket, UCLA walked right through Oregon St., and Arizona ended Stanford's hopes, even without Hassan Adams.

SEC
Much like the Big 12, nothing too exciting here, as expected. Kentucky and Arkansas secured their bids with wins, over Ole Miss and Georgia respectively. 4 nice games in round 2, with 6 of the teams basically having bids locked up, and South Carolina and Vandy looking for late-season miracles.

And that's your Thursday. By the way, if you haven't signed up at all for March Madness on Demand, you should take a look at that. If nothing else, you can watch some footage of old tourney finishes, which are all really good.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!