Conference Tournament Saturday

More great basketball on tap. Fans can look forward to championship games in Conference USA, Big East, Atlantic-10, and Pac 10 and semifinal games in the Big 10, SEC, ACC, and Big XII.  It’s hard to imagine any more craziness than we saw in Atlanta off the court and in Indianapolis on the court but who knows...

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Conference USA Tournament
Memphis vs. Tulsa 10:35 am CBS Memphis wins 77-51.

• The Golden Hurricane will cause a bubble team to cry if they can pull off the upset. Memphis is probably a #1 seed win or lose.

Big 10 Tournament
Wisconsin vs. Michigan State 12:40 CBS Wisconsin wins 65-63.
Illinois vs. Minnesota 3:05 CBS Illinois wins 54-50.

• I will admit that I have a strong anti-Big 10 bias. The games are slow, ugly, and low scoring. I just can’t take it. How do you score 51 points and win by 17? That is insane. Anyway, the winner of the first semi will be in good shape to claim the title on Sunday as their opponent will be playing their fourth game in four days. Also, neither Illinois nor Minnesota is any good.

ACC Tournament
North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech 12:30 ESPN North Carolina wins 68-66.
Clemson vs. Duke 3:30 ESPN Clemson wins 78-74.

• The top four seeds remain in Charlotte. Virginia Tech can stamp their ticket to the Dance with an upset win over Carolina, while the other three are safely in. I’ll be rooting hard for a Carolina/Duke rematch. If it occurs, the winner should be the #1 seed in the East in the Charlotte region.

Big XII Tournament
Texas vs. Oklahoma 1 pm ESPN2 & ESPN+ Texas wins 77-49.
Kansas vs. Texas A&M 3:20 ESPN2 & ESPN+ Kansas wins 77-71.

• Not surprisingly, three of the four semifinalists are from the South. Blake Griffin played just 15 minutes and scored just four points on Friday. For the Sooners to pull off the upset, they are going to need a lot more from him. Kansas didn’t play well in the first half against Nebraska but found their groove in the second. If their roll continues into today, the second semi could get ugly.

SEC Tournament
(Quarterfinals) Kentucky vs. Georgia 11 am Georgia wins 60-56 in OT.
Tennessee vs. Arkansas 5 pm Arkansas wins 92-91.
Georgia vs. Mississippi State 7:30 pm Georgia wins 64-60.

• With some Atlantic-10 teams coming on strong, Kentucky may still need to win this morning’s game to feel secure. What a tough spot for both Kentucky and Georgia. We’ve talked about the difficulties of playing three games in three days or even four games in four days, but, until now, didn’t even think about the challenge of playing two games in one day. Also, Arkansas is now safely in thanks to their win over Vanderbilt on Friday.

Pac 10 Tournament
UCLA vs. Stanford 5 pm CBS UCLA wins 67-64.

• A re-match from just a week ago in which Stanford got robbed. The Cardinal would definitely move into the discussion of a #2 seed with a victory. Meanwhile, the Bruins can lock up the #1 seed in the West with another conference tourney title.

Atlantic-10 Tournament
St. Joe’s vs. Temple 5 pm Temple wins 69-64.

• The winner is obviously in the tournament, but the loser will remain a bubble team. If Temple wins, I think St. Joe’s has a better shot of landing an at-large bid than the Owls would if they were to lose.

Big East Tournament
Georgetown vs. Pittsburgh 8 pm ESPN Pittsburgh wins 74-65.

• Add these teams to a list of teams I don’t want the Longhorns to face. Both are physically intimidating, strong on defense, and playing as well as anyone in the country. This could be the best game of the day.

Updated Bracketology from Joe Lunardi is up. He still has six teams from the Big XII: Texas (2), Kansas (2), OU (7), Texas A&M (8), Kansas St (9), and Baylor (11).

--AW--