Championship Week Predictions and Such

Midwestern Eavesdropping will be postponed until next week. To prevent this in the future, submit more eavesdroppings.

With the vaunted Championship Week (even though it's really two weeks) upon us, I feel that it's time for me to make some conference tournament predictions:

ACC (Tampa, March 8-11): North Carolina
America East (Boston (with championship at highest remaining seed) March 2-4, 10): Vermont (Albany)
Atlantic Sun (Johnson City, TN March 1-3): Belmont
Atlantic 10 (Atlantic City, N.J. March 7-10): UMass (George Washington)
Big East (New York March 7-10): Georgetown
Big Sky (Campus sites (higher seeds) March 3, 6-7): Northern Arizona (Weber State)
Big South (Campus sites (higher seeds) Feb. 27-March 3): Winthrop
Big Ten (Chicago March 8-11): Wisconsin
Big 12 (Oklahoma City March 8-11): Texas
Big West (Anaheim, March 7-10): Long Beach State
Colonial (Richmond, Va. March 2-5): Hofstra (Virginia Commonwealth)
Conference USA (Memphis March 7-10): Memphis
Horizon (Campus sites (higher seeds) Feb. 27, March 2-3, 6): Butler (Wright State)
MAAC (Bridgeport, Conn. March 2-5): Marist (Niagara)
MAC (Cleveland March 7-10): Akron (Miami, OH)
MEAC (Raleigh, N.C. March 6-10): Florida A&M (because everyone's gonna pick Delaware State)
Mid Continent (Tulsa, Okla. March 3-6): Oral Roberts
Missouri Valley (St. Louis March 1-4): Southern Illinois (Creighton)
Mountain West (Las Vegas March 6-10): Air Force (UNLV)
Northeast (Campus sites (higher seeds) March 1, 4, 7): Central Connecticut State
Ohio Valley (Nashville Feb. 27, March 2-3): Austin Peay (Eastern Kentucky)
Pac-10 (LA March 7-10): Washington State (Oregon)
Patriot (Campus sites (higher seeds) Feb. 28, March 4, 9): Holy Cross
SEC (Atlanta March 8-11): Florida (by the way, the fact that a .500 record is going to win the SEC West just proves how unbelievably weak the SEC is)
Southern (Charleston, S.C. Feb. 28, March 1-3): Davidson
Southland (Houston March 8-11): Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Sun Belt (Lafayette, La. Feb. 28, March 4-6): Western Kentucky (Middle Tennessee State)
SWAC (Birmingham, Al. March 7-10): Jackson State
WAC (Las Cruces, N.M. March 6-10): New Mexico State
West Coast (Portland, Ore. March 2-5): Santa Clara (Gonzaga)

I think I'm beginning to come down with a case of the Madness. Dare I say the only cure is college basketball every day and night for the next 10 days.

Speaking of college basketball, I thought the following quotes were pretty funny. They come from Northwestern guard Tim Doyle, who played his last home game last night against IU. I can't tell if he's funny or just completely smug and cocky. The first is from before yesterday's game with the Daily Northwestern: "In three weeks, no one's going to care that I suited up for Northwestern or that I had 26 against Purdue or 15 against Oden. My next step is going to be putting on a suit and tie and going into an office and I'm just going to be a tall guy in an office … (So) I'm going to appreciate this last moment stepping on Welsh-Ryan. . . . I go into every game knowing I'm going to play 39 minutes. And I know this is it. I mean, the next time I'm playing organized basketball I'm going to have a t-shirt (with) a bar name on it. I think I'm just appreciating the moment right now."

In the recap of the game in today's Tribune, Doyle said, "Twenty years from now, I'll sit back and say, 'It would have been a nice win.' When I'm living in Winnetka in a big house and have kids and making a lot of money—there's a bigger picture than the game." For those of you who don't know, Winnetka is the prototypical obscenely wealthy suburb, home to massive houses, CEOs, New Trier High School (probably one of the top 5 public high schools in the US), and a certain air of snobbery. The fact that he said Winnetka is very different than if he would have said Evanston, Naperville, St. Charles, or even Lake Forest. Oh, and the fact that he said "big house" and "making a lot of money" was a nice touch. He might as well have said, "and fucking your wife because I am infinitely better than you in every possible way." Well done, Mr. Doyle.