Atlantic 10 (3 pointer)

1st Round: #8 La Salle over #9 Saint Louis, #5 St. Joe’s over #12 Charlotte, #6 Richmond over #11 St. Bonaventure’s, #7 Duquesne over #10 UMass

2nd Round: #1 Xavier over La Salle, #4 Temple over St. Joe’s, #3 Dayton over Richmond, #2 Rhode Island over Duquesne

Semi’s: Xavier over Temple, Rhode Island over Dayton

Champion: Xavier

Thoughts: One team I actually really like for no reason is Duquesne, but I think Rhode Island should show some balls and make it to the finals and get an at-large. Xavier is the class of this league for sure, although they’ve had several flubs this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if they lose early. 

Conference USA (3 pointer)

1st Round: #8 Tulane over #9 East Carolina, #5 Houston over #12 SMU, #6 Central Florida over #11 Southern Miss, #7 Marshall over #10 Rice

2nd Round: #1 Memphis over Tulane, #4 UTEP over Houston, #3 UAB over So. Miss, #2 Tulsa over Marshall

Semi’s: Memphis over UTEP, UAB over Tulsa

Champion: Memphis

Thoughts: I’m with Pat and John Chaney, John Calipari is an asshole and should show some goddamn self-respect and get in a real conference. 

Big XII (3  pointer)

1st Round: #9 Baylor over #8 Nebraska, #5 Texas over #12 Colorado, #11 Texas Tech over #6 Texas A&M, #7 Oklahoma St. over #10 Iowa St. 

2nd Round: #1 Kansas over Baylor, Texas over #4 Kansas St., #3 Missouri over Texas Tech, #2 Oklahoma over Oklahoma St. 

Semi’s: Kansas over Texas, Oklahoma over Missouri

Champion: Oklahoma

Thoughts: Agree with Pat in that I don’t like the teams in this conference come Big Dance time, but I think Oklahoma will show up to grab the fourth #1 seed. 

Big West (2 pointer)

1st Round: #8 UC-Davis over #5 UC-Irvine, #7 Cal St. Fullerton over #6 UC-Riverside

2nd Round: #3 Pacific over UC-Davis, Cal St. Fullerton over #4 Santa Barbara

Semi’s: Pacific over #2 Long Beach State, #1 Cal St. Northridge over Fullerton

Champion: Pacific

Thoughts: This is a weird conference in that there are double byes for the top two seeds, and it’s a re-seed in both the second and third rounds. I like Pacific here, they’ve showed up in a couple solid non-conference matchups, including a win at Nevada, and also closed the season with a win over Northridge. 

SWAC (1 pointer)

1st Round: #1 Alabama State over #8 Alabama A&M, #4 Arkansas Pine Bluff over #5 Southern, #6 Mississippi Valley St.  over #3 Prairie View A&M, #2 Jackson St. over #7 Texas Southern

Semi’s: Alabama St. over Pine Bluff, Jackson St. over Mississippi Valley St. 

Champion: Alabama St. 

Thoughts: This is literally the worst conference in college basketball. 

Mountain West (3 pointer)

1st Round: #8 Colorado St. over #9 Air Force

2nd Round: #1 BYU over Colorado St., #5 UNLV over #4 San Diego St., #3 New Mexico over #6 Wyoming, #2 Utah over #7 TCU

Semi’s: UNLV over BYU, New Mexico over Utah

Champion: UNLV

Thoughts: This is a really good conference, and should be a competitive tournament. I like San Diego State back to the Brandon Heath days, but the tourney is being played on UNLV’s home floor, so I’m giving them the edge to go all the way. BYU and Utah are just playing for seeding, and if everything breaks right, the MWC should get more bids than the SEC. 

Pac-10 (3 pointer)

1st Round: #9 Stanford over #8 Oregon St., #7 Washington St. over #10 Oregon

2nd Round: #1 Washington over Stanford, #5 Arizona over #4 Arizona St., #6 USC over #3 California, #2 UCLA over Washington St. 

Semi’s: Arizona over Washington, UCLA over USC

Champion: UCLA

Thoughts: I really like Cal as a potential Sweet 16 team if they get the right draw, but I’m picking them to get upset here. I’ve been getting burned on Arizona all year, and I’ve always thought Chase Budinger was one of the most overrated players in the country, but I really like Jordan Hill and even though they haven’t proved themselves in most of their opportunities this year, I think they’ll get to the finals. I don’t really like any of these teams in the big dance, and experience is overrated, but UCLA should prove to be the best team here.