Conference Tournaments

A few conferences have completed their tournaments, and the Ivy league still has 1 regular season game to go (although the conference winner/NCAA representative Cornell has been determined). But the "big boys" (BCS conferences, if you will) have their tournaments starting this week.

This year, the entire NCAA basketball field seems weaker than in most years. A bit watered down. I think that means that a lot more "upsets" will happen in the NCAA tournament than in the past few years.

Here's my predictions about the conference tournament winners:
ACC - The tourney's in Greensboro, so you almost have to go with Duke. Maryland just beat Duke last week, though. But I still have to go with Duke - they are playing for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Big East - This is a great conference, but it is wide open. The teams who get 2 byes - Syracuse, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Villanova - have the best chance of winning. But I can see Louisville or Georgetown pulling through. If I have to pick, I would say that the winner of the Louisville/West Virginia game in the quarterfinals (Louisville is #6 and needs to beat either Rutgers or Cincinnati first to then play #3 West Virginia) will win it all - I'm going with West Virginia.
Big Ten - Purdue, Ohio State, and Michigan State all tied for first. Purdue and Michigan State would have to play each other in the semifinals, where Ohio State (the #1 seed) gets the winner of the Illinois (#5) and Wisconsin (#4) game. So I see the path for Ohio State being a bit easier, and I pick them to win.
Big 12 - I'd be shocked if Kansas doesn't win this. Although, they have a #1 seed wrapped up already for the NCAA tournament, so there's not much incentive for them to win this (beyond pride). Even though the Big 12 might be the best conference this year (they're #1 in the Holthe RPI), Kansas is still the class of the league.
Pac-10 - This league is so down this year that maybe only 1 team gets into the NCAA tournament. California is the #1 seed, and they might get to the championship game, but I don't see them winning it. I pick #2 Arizona State as the champion.
SEC - The SEC east has the top 4 teams, but the way the bracket is set up, Tennessee (#3 in the east) and Florida (#4 in the east) don't get byes, but Mississippi State (#1 in the west) and Mississippi (#2 in the west) do get byes. It wouldn't surprise me if Tennessee beat Ole Miss and Florida beat Mississippi State and we had all the semifinalists from the SEC east. I'm going to pick Vanderbilt to win this tournament, though.

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