The next round of tourneys start today, including the Big East, and with the slew of 3-point conferences opening up soon, the picks get more important. A standings update will follow this post, but I’ve got a sizable lead over Pat that is by no means insurmountable with the vast majority of points still up for grabs.

MEAC (1-point)

1st round: #9 North Carolina A&T over #8 Howard, #11 Coppin St. over #6 Maryland Eastern Shore, #7 Bethune Cookman over #10 Florida A&M

Quarters: #1 Morgan St. over NC A&T, #5 Hampton over #4 Norfolk St., #3 South Carolina St. over Coppin St., #2 Delaware St. over Bethune Cookman

Semis: Morgan St. over Hampton, Del St. over SCST

Champion: Morgan St.

Tourney’s taking place at the Joel again, what’s the over/under on Wake students that attend? 9.5?

Atlantic 10 (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 St. Bonaventure over #9 Duquesne, #5 Rhode Island over #12 St. Joe’s, #6 Charlotte over #11 UMASS, #7 Dayton over #10 George Washington

Quarters: #1 Temple over St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island over #4 Saint Louis, #3 Richmond over Charlotte, Dayton over #2 Xavier

Semis: Rhode Island over Temple, Richmond over Dayton

Champion: Richmond

Taking a risk here that neither of the two favorite wins the tournament. A-10 is a pretty packed conference and I just get the feeling that the teams with something to play for (Rhode Island, Dayton) will pull a couple upsets.

Big East (3-pointer)

1st round: #9 South Florida over #16 DePaul, #12 UConn over #13 St. John’s, #10 Seton Hall over #15 Providence, #11 Cincinnati over #14 Rutgers

2nd round: #8 Georgetown over South Florida, UConn over #5 Marquette, Seton Hall over #7 Notre Dame, #6 Louisville over Cincinnati

Quarters: #1 Syracuse over Georgetown, #4 Villanova over UConn, #2 Pittsburgh over Seton Hall, #3 West Virginia over Louisville

Semis: Syracuse over Villanova, West Virginia over Pittsburgh

Champion: West Virginia

Wide open tourney of course, and even though I really don’t like Jim Calhoun I think he’ll get his two wins.