MAC (2-pointer)

1st Round: #9 Ohio over #8 W. Michigan, #5 Akron over #12 Toledo, #6 Kent St. over #11 Northern Illinois, #7 Central Michigan over #10 Eastern Michigan

2nd Round: Ohio over #1 Bowling Green, #4 Miami (OH) over Akron, Kent St. over #3 Buffalo, #2 Ball St. over C. Michigan

Semi’s: Miami over Ohio, Kent St. over Ball St. 

Champion: Miami (OH)

Thoughts: Weird conference like the Southern in that literally all 6 teams in one division are probably better than the best team (Ball St.) in the other division. Even though they don’t split the seeds up by division, they do give the 2 seed to Ball St., and thanks to several ties atop the good division, this tournament is set up so that what are ostensibly the 4 best teams play another one of the best teams in the Quarters. Akron and Miami (OH) have the best profiles, and they’ll face off, while Buffalo and Kent St. square off for the right to beat Ball St. or someone even shittier. Because of that, this bracket could really blow up in my face, but I’m going with Wally World over Antonio Gates. 

WAC (2 pointer)

1st Round: #8 Hawaii over #9 Fresno  St.

2nd Round: #1 Utah St. over Hawaii, #5 New Mexico St over #4 Boise St., #3 Idaho over #6 Louisiana Tech, #2 Nevada over #7 San Jose St. 

Semi’s: Utah St. over New Mexico St., Nevada over Idaho

Champion: Nevada

Thoughts: Utah St. is the best team in this division, and they’re hoping to have to avoid waiting on the bubble, especially after losing 3 of their last 6. But their resume is really quite barren, their only good win is probably over Utah, and they don’t seem to me like an at-large worth team. I’d take both Creighton and St. Mary’s over them pretty quickly. That being said, they’ll probably win the tournament, but I’m going with the other good team in the league, playing on its home floor. 

MEAC (1 pointer)

1st Round: #8 Florida A&M over #9 Howard, #6 Bethune-Cookman over #11 Maryland-Eastern Shore, #7 Hampton over Delaware St. 

2nd Round: #1 Morgan St. over Florida A&M, #4 North Carolina A&T over Coppin St., Bethune-Cookman over #3 Norfolk St., #2 South Carolina St. over Hampton

Semi’s: Morgan St. over NC  A&T, South Carolina St. over Bethune-Cookman

Champion: Morgan St. 

Thoughts: Well, Pat it looks like we graduate a year too early because we’re missing out on one of your dreams in life. The MEAC tournament is being held in the mecca of fat, untalented, attention whores dancing like a fucking imbecile and embarrassing everyone in attendance – the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And none other than Pat’s beloved Del. St. is playing in the opener tonight at 6:30. Life is cruel buddy, I’m sorry we missed it by a year. 

Big East (3-pointer)

1st Round: #9 Cincinnati over #16 DePaul, #12 Georgetown over #13 St. John’s, #11 Seton Hall over #14 South Florida, #10 Notre Dame over #15 Rutgers

2nd Round: Cincinnati over #8 Providence, #5 Marquette over Georgetown, #6 Syracuse over Seton Hall, Notre Dame over #7 West Virginia

3rd Round: #1 Louisville over Cincinnati, #4 Villanova over Marquette, #3 Connecticut over Syracuse, #2 Pittsburgh over Notre Dame

Semi’s: Villanova over Louisville, Connecticut over Pittsburgh

Champion: Connectictut

Thoughts: Totally agree with Pat about the overrated Big East. If a third of the teams blow, it’s not an all-time great conference. I think the ACC is a far superior conference this year top to bottom – NC State would wipe the floor with Seton Hall (sorry D’Amato), and until the late-season collapses of Miami, Va Tech, and Maryland, the league had an outside chance of getting 9 of 12 teams in. Anyway, the Big East does always have perhaps the best conference tournament, which also has a lot to do with it being played in MSG. I think Pitt is very clearly the class of this league, but I think it serves them best not to win the conference tournament. UConn will be more desperate and they always play well in the Garden, so they’re my pick here even though they’d probably be the #1 seed I’d like to see in Wake’s section of the bracket come Selection Sunday.