Open Thread: Conference Tournament Saturday

No, the Longhorns are not still alive; however, there is still lots of great basketball. Use this as your open thread.

ACC Semifinals (Greensboro, NC)
No. 1 Duke vs. No. 12 Miami 12:30 pm ESPN UPDATE: Duke advances 77-74.
No. 7 Georgia Tech vs. No. 11 NC State 2:30 pm ESPN
With who is left, Duke is the clear favorite and should secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with an ACC tournament title.

Big 10 Semifinals (Indianapolis)
No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Illinois 12:40 pm CBS UPDATE: Ohio State takes advantage of horrible use of timeouts by Bruce Weber to advance, 88-81, in double OT.
No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 6 Minnesota 3 pm CBS
Two bubble teams, Illinois and Minnesota, are still alive. I think Illinois has done enough already but Minnesota probably needs another win to earn a berth.

SEC Semifinals (Nashville)
No.1E Kentucky vs. No. 3E Tennessee 12 pm ABC UPDATE: Kentucky rolls 74-45.
No. 2E Vanderbilt vs. No. 1W Mississippi State 2 pm ABC
Florida didn't help themselves yesterday but should still be in the field of 65. Another win by Miss State will greatly improve their chances. I have Miss State as the first team out right now.

Big 12 Finals (Kansas City)
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 2 Kansas State 5 pm ESPN
Title means little for NCAA seeding, in my opinion. Kansas is a No. 1 seed win or lose and will be in the Houston or St. Louis Regionals. Kansas State is a No. 2 seed win or lose.

Big East Finals (New York City)
No. 5 Georgetown vs. No. 3 West Virginia 8 pm ESPN
Thankfully the Luke Harangody love fest is over. Bipolar Georgetown has been playing great basketball in NYC. If they play the same way in the NCAA tournament, a run to the Final Four is not out of the question. Or they could lose in the first round depending on which G'town team shows up. Everytime I watch West Virginia I imagine what Texas would have been like had Devin Ebanks come to Austin. Both teams are safely in the NCAA tournament--West Virginia is a solid No. 2 win or lose; Georgetown is in the 3-4 range.

Pac 10 Finals (Los Angeles)
No. 1 California vs. No. 3 Washington 5 pm CBS
I now have Washington in the tournament as one of the last four in. The Huskies can revmove all doubt by securing the automatic berth. Cal is now safely in as well.

Mountain West Finals (Las Vegas)
No. 4 San Diego State vs. No. 3 UNLV 6 pm Versus
No team may have helped themselves yesterday as much as San Diego State did. SDSU knocked off New Mexico and now projects safely in the NCAA tournament. The Mountain West will get four NCAA bids--these two plus BYU and New Mexico. Solid year.

Conference USA Finals (Tulsa)
No. 1 UTEP vs. No. 7 Houston 10:30 am CBS UPDATE: Houston wins 81-73. Tom Penders is back in the Dance. Unreal.
Tom Penders' club is playing for an unlikely NCAA berth. If UTEP wins, then Conference USA is a one-bid league, as Memphis and UAB killed their chances with early tournament losses this week.

Big West Finals (Anaheim)
No. 1 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 3 Long Beach State 7 pm ESPN2
Winner is in, loser heads to the NIT.

Atlantic 10 Semifinals (Atlantic City)
No. 1 Temple vs. No. 5 Rhode Island 1 pm UPDATE: Temple wins 57-44, probably ends URI's at-large chances.
No. 2 Xavier vs. No. 3 Richmond 2:30 pm
I think these are your four NCAA tournament teams, with Rhode Island being one of the last four in. URI may need to win this game though depending on how Mississippi State, Utah State, and Houston fair.

WAC Finals (Reno)
No. 1 Utah State vs. No. 3 New Mexico State 9 pm ESPN2
The Utah State Aggies are probably in win or lose but Selection Sunday would be a lot less stressful if they take care of business tonight.