Updated Championship Week Predictions

Well, the Hoosiers avenged that mid-season loss to Illinois with a commanding victory, with Victor Oladipo providing the exclamation mark.  To quote Clark Kellogg, Oladipo is "like a baby's bottom, smooth and sometimes explosive."  Up tomorrow in the semis are the Badgers, who have beaten the Hoosiers eleven straight times.  It would seem to me that it is time for their uppance to come.

Two AP Top 5 teams went down.  Big East 1-seed and #5 Georgetown lost to Syracuse, as at least one person writing this sentence predicted.  ACC 2-seed and #2 Duke was taken down by Maryland, probably costing the Blue Devils a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Fear the Turtle.

I was also happy to see Kentucky get rolled by Vanderbilt.  Do the right thing, NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, and send Calipari to the NIT.

Tomorrow, there are 13 NCAA Tournament bids up for grabs, with games spanning 12+ hours.

America East (11:30 a.m.; ESPN2) - (4) Albany at (2) Vermont

Conference USA (11:30 a.m.; CBS) - (1) Memphis vs. (2) Southern Mississippi

SWAC (4:30 p.m.; ESPN2) - (1) Southern vs. (4) Prairie View A&M

MEAC (5:00 p.m.; ESPNU) - (5) Morgan State. vs. (7) North Carolina A&T

Big 12 (6 p.m.; ESPN) - (1) Kansas vs. (2) Kansas State

Mountain West (6 p.m.; CBS Sports) - (1) New Mexico vs. (2) Colorado State or (3) UNLV

MAC (6:30 p.m.; ESPN2) - (1) Akron vs. (2) Ohio

Big East (8:30 p.m.; ESPN) - (2) Louisville vs. (5) Syracuse

Southland (8:30 p.m.; ESPN2) - (1) Stephen F. Austin vs. (2) Northwestern State

Big Sky (9 p.m.; ESPNU) - (1) Montana vs. (2) Weber State

Big West (10:30 p.m.; ESPN2) - (4) UC Irvine vs. (2) Pacific or (3) Cal Poly

Pac-12 (11 p.m.; ESPN) - (3) Oregon or (10) Utah vs. (1) UCLA.  Winner:  UCLA

WAC (11 p.m.; ESNPU) - (4) UT Arlington or (9) UTSA vs. (3) New Mexico State

This will probably be my last update before Selection Sunday, as I will likely be in no condition tomorrow to compose sentences or track anything.  Perhaps I will be able to string something together Sunday morning.

Here is who has already clinched an automatic berth, as well as my predictions for the remaining conference tournaments.  (Note:  The Great West Conference holds a tournament, but does not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, so I am not including it here.)

Already clinched automatic berths (I added in parentheses the number of NCAA tournament appearances, including the bid just clinched):

Atlantic Sun:  Florida Gulf Coast (1)

Big South:  Liberty (3)

Colonial:  James Madison (5)

Horizon:  Valparaiso (8)

Ivy League:  Harvard (3)

MAAC:  Iona (10)

MVC:  Creighton (18)

NEC:  LIU-Brooklyn (6)

OVC:  Belmont (6)

Patriot:  Bucknell (6)

Southern:  Davidson

Summit:  South Dakota State (2)

Sun Belt:  Western Kentucky (23)

West Coast:  Gonzaga (16)

Remaining Tournaments (all times are Eastern):

ACC (March 14-17; Greensboro)

3/16 - Semifinals

1 p.m. (ESPN) (1) Miami vs. (5) NC State.  Winner:  Miami

3 p.m. (ESPN) (7) Maryland vs. (3) North Carolina.  Winner:  North Carolina

3/17 - Finals

1 p.m. (ESPN) (1) Miami vs. (3) North Carolina.  Winner:  Miami

America East (March 9-10, 16; Albany, then the highest remaining seed hosts final)

Finals – 3/16

11:30 a.m. (ESPN2) (4) Albany at (2) Vermont.  Winner:  Vermont

Atlantic 10 (March 14-17; Brooklyn)

3/16 - Semifinals

1:30 p.m. (CBS Sports) (1) St. Louis vs. (5) Butler.  Winner:  Butler

4 p.m. (CBS Sports) (2) VCU vs. (6) UMass.  Winner:  VCU

3/17 - Finals

1 p.m. (CBS) (2) VCU vs. (5) Butler.  Winner:  Butler

Big 12 (March 13-16; Kansas City)

3/16 - Finals

6 p.m. (ESPN) (1) Kansas vs. (2) Kansas State.  Winner:  Kansas

Big East (March 12-16; New York)

3/16 - Finals

8:30 p.m. (ESPN) (2) Louisville vs. (5) Syracuse.  Winner:  Louisville

Big Sky (March 14-16; Missoula, MT)

3/16 - Finals

9 p.m. (ESPNU) (1) Montana vs. (2) Weber State.  Winner:  Montana

Big Ten (March 14-17; Chicago)

3/16 - Semifinals

1:40 p.m. (CBS) (1) Indiana vs. (4) Wisconsin.  Winner:  Indiana

4 p.m. (CBS) (2) Ohio State vs. (3) Michigan State.  Winner:  Michigan State

3/17 - Finals

3:30 p.m. (CBS) (1) Indiana vs. (3) Michigan State.  Winner:  Indiana

Big West (March 14-16; Anaheim)

3/15 - Semifinals

11:59 p.m. (ESPNU) (2) Pacific vs. (3) Cal Poly.  Winner:  Cal Poly

3/16 – Finals

10:30 p.m. (ESPN2) (4) UC Irvine vs. (3) Cal Poly.  Winner:  Cal Poly

Conference USA (March 13-16; Tulsa)

3/16 – Finals

11:30 a.m. (CBS) (1) Memphis vs. (2) Southern Mississippi.  Winner:  Memphis

MAC (March 11, 13-16; first round at campus sites of higher seed; remaining rounds in Cleveland)

3/16 – Finals

6:30 p.m. (ESPN2) (1) Akron vs. (2) Ohio.  Winner:  Ohio

MEAC (March 11-16; Norfolk, VA)

3/16 - Final

5:00 p.m. (ESPNU) (5) Morgan State. vs. (7) North Carolina A&T.  Winner:  Morgan State

Mountain West (March 12-16; Las Vegas)

3/15 – Semifinals

9 p.m. (CBS Sports) (2) Colorado State vs. (3) UNLV.  Winner:  Colorado State

3/16 - Finals

6 p.m. (CBS Sports) (1) New Mexico vs. (2) Colorado State.  Winner:  New Mexico

Pac-12 (March 13-16; Las Vegas)

3/15 - Semifinals

11:30 p.m. (ESPN) (10) Utah vs. (3) Oregon.  Winner:  Oregon

3/16 - Finals

11 p.m. (ESPN) (3) Oregon vs. (1) UCLA.  Winner:  UCLA

SEC (March 13-17; Nashville)

3/16 - Semifinals

1 p.m. (ABC) (1) Florida vs. (4) Alabama.  Winner:  Florida

3:30 p.m. (ABC) (10) Vanderbilt vs. (3) Mississippi.  Winner:  Mississippi

3/17 - Finals

1 p.m. (ABC) (1) Florida vs. (3) Mississippi.  Winner:  Florida

Southland (March 13-16; Katy, TX)

3/16 – Finals

8:30 p.m. (ESPN2) (1) Stephen F. Austin vs. (2) Northwestern State.  Winner:  Stephen F. Austin

SWAC (March 13-16; Garland, TX)

3/16 - Finals

4:30 p.m. (ESPN2) (1) Southern vs. (4) Prairie View A&M.  Winner:  Southern

WAC (March 12, 14-16; Las Vegas)

3/15 – Semifinals

11:30 p.m. (9) UTSA vs. (4) UT Arlington.  Winner:  UT Arlington

3/16 – Finals

11 p.m. (ESPNU) (4) UT Arlington vs. (3) New Mexico State.  Winner:  New Mexico State