State of the NCAA Bball Playoff Season

I took a week off from the baseball previews (new one will be posted Wednesday night, I promise) to focus on one of the biggest sporting events of the year...March Madness (well, before the Madness). Selection Sunday is 5 days away and now we gotta focus on conference tournaments. Right now, 8 teams have a ticket to the big dance and 60 are left to follow. I'm not gonna discuss the mid-major conferences, but instead here are my thoughts of what needs to happen in the big-6 tournaments...

BIG EAST
Proven the best conference in recent seasons and continues to be so. 11 out of 16 teams are expected to make the big dance, however it's based on performance this week where they will sit. UConn & Villanova make 1st Round appearances later today in New York, facing DePaul & USF respectively. They will easily move on to face tougher opponents. With the way all of these teams have been playing, there could be dramatic implications come the Quarterfinal & Semifinal rounds. St. John's has proven to be a "big" team they way they have played all season, defeating Duke, Villanova, Pittsburgh & Notre Dame. I'm impressed w/ what Steve Lavin has done to the Red Storm this year, which is a complete turnaround from recent years. For the tournament, I'm taking Pittsburgh to defeat St. John's. Ben Wanamaker and the Panthers will prevail in what could be a very good game come Saturday night. Look for teams like Marquette, Georgetown, UConn, Syracuse and others to have a strong performance this week.

ACC
Duke looked like to be the front-runner all season until tough losses against Virginia Tech & North Carolina just this past Saturday and find themselves a 2-seed in this week's tournament. Kyle Singler needs to step up and return to his 2009-10 form and actually help this team win, which he couldn't do against UNC Saturday night, struggling in the paint. The Tar Heels have come a long way since their trobuled-NIT defeat last year to what could possibly a Final Four team this season, and they showed it in recent weeks. VA Tech needs to have a good performance to lock themselves in the Big Dance, just like Clemson & Florida State. This is a different conference because of rare competition in what we seen in recent years. I'm taking Duke to rebound after Saturday night's loss to win the ACC tournament.

BIG TEN
I am one person who truly believes that Ohio State will win the NCAA Division I tournament. I have said it back in November and I stick by my statement. Every player has contributed to the Buckeyes team including Jared Sullinger & Aaron Kraft. I've watched almost all of their games and they are a solid team. They had 2 tough losses all season against Wisconsin & Purdue and personally I think they will win the Big-Ten tourney and go all the way. This conference isn't as strong last season but it's got its moments. Purdue didn't have Robbie Hummel this year as he tore his ACL prior to the start of the season, but managed to have a terrific season, excepting losing 5 out of 6 on the road including Iowa. E'Tuwan Moore has helped this Boilermakers team out to the point where he is the key player on this team. Michigan State has had a rough year and right now are borderline of making the big dance and are 9-9 in conference play, and having tough non-conference losses to Connecticut, Duke, Syracuse & Texas which could hurt their chances. I say that only 4 teams will make the Big Dance.

BIG-12
Kansas & Texas have proven to be tough competitors all season and both have played very well throughout conference play. Now, I see both these teams meeting up in the finals of the Big-12 tournament. The Morris brothers have done very well contributing to this Jayhawks team in which their only losses have come to Texas & K-State. Tristan Thompson & Cory Joseph has helped the Longhorns to where they stand now, except a brutal loss to Colorado will find them at a 2 or 3 seed in the tourney. The Kansas State Wildcasts, led by Jacob Pullen & Curtis Kelly can prove to be a tough competitor this week, with tough conference losses against Colorado, OK State, and Missouri if they want to make a run to help their seeding in the tourney. It goes the same for Missouri, in which 7 out of their 8 conference losses happened on the road. If they can prove to play in neutral sides, they will lock in the tourney at a decent-seed. I'm taking Kansas to win the Big-12 tournament.

PAC-10
The weakest of the 6 big conferences is the Pac-10, and I'll admit I haven't watched much of their games. My homework this week is to watch a decent amount of the Pac-10 tournament to study this conference. From what I know, Arizona, UCLA & Washington have done a good job all season and each of these teams will win the Pac-10 tourney in Los Angeles. Arizona has a good track record in history and I think that coach Sean Miller will help this team out get back on the right track and back into the big dance. I will take Arizona to win the Pac-10 tournament.

SEC
The SEC is probably the 4th best conference in the league, better than ACC & Pac-10 as way as numbers goes. Florida had a great season, only losing to South Carolina, Kentucky & Mississippi State in conference games, while also losing to Ohio State, UCF & Jacksonville out-of-conference. Their RPI and strength of schedule will help them be a 4 or 5 seed come the tourney, regardless on how they do at the Georgia Dome this week. Kentucky is also a good team, not as good as last season though, as the Wildcats have struggled to win on the road, but getting a key win against Tennessee Sunday helps their chances. Brandon Knight & Terrence Jones have done a great job filling John Wall's shoes and making this team impressive all season long and I have this school walking away with the trophy come Sunday. Look for Vanderbilt, Mississippi State & Alabama to make the SEC tournament interesting all this week.


For more of my thoughts, check out my twitter feed at www.twitter.com/mikegradzki or on Facebook with my observations on all the tourneys this week.