More Conference Tournaments - 3/5

If you pay attention to my fantasy college hoops team and/or the comments when I sometimes write them, you know that I'm in a huge battle for the the world championship of fantasy college hoops and I needed Draymond Green to score 33 points last night to even the score with my opponent with ten games to go each.  Well, he picked up exactly 33 (14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal), so we are tied with exactly ten games left to go.  Barn freaking burner here folks.  Saturday is going to be a huge day.  Eight of my ten remaining games are Saturday, but he has only five of his dudes going, so I need to have a huge, huge Saturday.  Root for me folks.  You owe me that much. 

In real basketball news, Seton Hall kept their dream alive with a win over Rutgers on the road, while Dayton couldn't do the same thing despite leading Richmond the whole game until there were five minutes left.  The Hall still has work to do, while Dayton can now kick back and wait to see if they get a a one or a two seed in the NIT.  Ole Miss also kept the dream alive, and with a quickly weakening bubble they are looking better by the day, as is Washington who knocked off Oregon on the road and is starting to look like they will give the Pac-10 two teams instead of just one.

In conference tournament news, Drake began their March towards a MVC tournament crown and surprise NCAA bid by knocking off Southern Illinois, and today will probably beat Northern Iowa and put them back on the bubble.  And speaking of conference tournaments, these tournaments kick-off either today or this weekend:

COLONIAL: Similar to the Missouri Valley, the Colonial was the mid-major darling not long ago, highlighted by George Mason's improbable Final Four run, but has fallen off a bit.  Also similar to the Missouri Valley the CAA has just one team in play for an at-large - Old Dominion.  
FAVORITE: Old Dominion.  The Monarchs are a legitimate threat thanks to their stingy defense (21st in D-efficiency), deliberate pace (299th in tempo), and balanced attack (six guys average between 7 and 15 ppg).  They have already beaten Georgetown and Charlotte this year and hung right with Richmond and Missouri.
SLEEPER: William & Mary.  There are a lot of good, not great, teams to choose from here, and VCU is probably better overall, but W&M is the type of team that is extremely dangerous if they get hot.  The rely on the three a ton (5th most reliant on it in the NCAA) and if they get hot they can put teams down in a hurry, just ask Wake and Richmond who they beat this year.
W's PICK: Old Dominion.  They are the best team, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them, W&M, VCU, or George Mason win this.  The one upper division team you don't have to worry about is Northeastern - they're terrible.

MID-ATLANTIC:  The real MAAC hasn't been as fun since Luis Flores graduated, but they do always seem to have one pretty good team whether it's been Manhattan, Niagara, or Siena over the past years.  This year it is Siena once again, but this time the Saints haven't done enough for at-large consideration and will need to win the tournament if they're going to notch a first-round upset for the third season in a row.
FAVORITE: Siena.  The Saints ran through the conference at 17-1 and with four scorers averaging 14-16 points per game to go with national assist leader Ronald Moore (7.7pg), this team is legit.
SLEEPER:  Fairfield.  The Stags weren't the team to give Siena their only MAAC loss (that was Niagara), but they were the only team to lose by less than 10 in both meetings with the Saints.  That's pretty much the only positive I can find. 
W's PICK: Siena.  If they had shown they can beat a good team this year, I'd be thinking Sweet 16 for these guys.  As it stands they were 0-4 this year against the RPI Top 50, which is why they need to win this thing to get to the dance as well as a pretty good reason to doubt them.

WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Blah blah blah Gonzaga blah blah blah.
FAVORITE: Gonzaga.  Again.  I loved their team last year and thought they had enough juice to knock out North Carolina, which they clearly didn't.  I don't like them as much this year, but this is still a Sweet 16 type team.
SLEEPER:  St. Marys.  I don't know how much of a sleeper they are since I think everyone who falls college hoops to this level of detail is aware that they have been the Saliere to Gonzaga's Mozart for like fifty years.  Of course, this year Gonzaga beat them in both matchups by an average of 15, so I don't know if they're really a threat.
W's PICK:  Gonzaga.  Outside of St. Mary's there isn't anyone else here who can even challenge them, and I don't think the Gaels pose much of a challenge.  More like a puff of wind, really.

SUN BELT:  Remember when South Alabama and Western Kentucky were both awesome?  Well Courtney Lee and Taco Hawk have both graduated, so you can forget all about it.
FAVORITE:  Troy.  The Trojans grabbed the number one seed despite a tie atop the conference standings with North Texas and Middle Tennessee.  I also don't know jack crap about them.  They did beat Auburn earlier and their leading scorer, Brandon Hazzard, has a pretty cool name.
SLEEPER:  Western Kentucky.  It's not like the fell completely off the face of the earth, finishing fourth behind those other three clowns, and A.J. Slaughter is still here and was part of the Hilltopper teams that won three NCAA Tournament games the past two years.  And his name is even cooler than Hazzard.
W's PICK:  Western Kentucky.  It just won't quite feel like an NCAA Tournament without the Hilltoppers.  Plus they beat Vanderbilt earlier this year, so why not?

SUMMIT LEAGUE:  Thankfully all those white little weiners from North Dakota State graduated so we don't have to hear about them as a sleeper and read 8 billion stories and be told we should root for them since they reside next door to Minnesota.  The downside of course, is that I know almost nothing about the Summit League.
FAVORITE: Oakland.  About the only thing I do know is that Oakland is good, and they have a pretty good player and probable future NBAer in junior center Keith Benson who is averaging a double/double this season.  Although I really don't like how this Oakland is in Michigan.  Too confusing.
SLEEPER: IUPUI.  The second place team and only Summit team to beat Oakland this year. 
W's PICK:  South Dakota State.  They finished fourth, hung with Oakland in both games, and the tournament is in South Dakota this year.  The main reason to expect them to win, however, is because the media in Minnesota would pick up on it and beat it to death, thus killing my soul once again.

SOUTHERN:  Davidson has fallen back into obscurity now that your favorite overrated player has graduated, but there's still a little intrigue here - just no at-large possibility or supremely overrated guard. 
FAVORITE:  Wofford.  Not just because they have Minnesota boy and better brother Noah Dahlman.  They are actually a pretty decent team who went 13-3 in the SoCon and beat both Georgia and South Carolina, and held their own against Michigan State and Pitt.
SLEEPER:  College of Charleston.  They snagged the headlines with their win over North Carolina, although that's looking less impressive by the day, and finished just a game back of Wofford.  Plus they still have Bobby Cremins as coach so you can never count them out.
W's PICK:  Wofford.  They are battle tested after taking on some pretty good teams outside of conference play, they've won ten straight, and actually have an RPI just one spot behind your beloved Gophers.  Kill me.

MID-AMERICAN:  Doesn't it seem like the MAC should be better?  I remember Kent State was pretty good a few years back, and Akron was a good team for the last few years, but when is the last time the MAC snagged an at-large bid?
FAVORITE: Kent State/Akron.  Whichever team gets the number one seed would be the favorite since it's up for grabs.  That's because these two teams play tonight and are tied atop the standings.  The top seeds don't play until next Thursday, even though the opening rounds get going on Sunday.
SLEEPER:  Western Michigan.  The loser of tonight's game would be your most likely winner if it's not the favorite, but I'm going to give the Sleeper nod to WMU.  They have David Kool, who not only has an awesome name but has also led the MAC in scoring for each of the past two years and was 4th the year before that.  Sure, they were just 8-8 and they lost to both Akron and Kent State, but they hung tough in both those games, and they're just such a Kool team.
W's PICK:  Akron.  No matter what happens tonight, I'm picking the Zips.  They got hosed big-time back in the Dru Joyce III/Romeo Travis days when they should have snagged at least one at-large bid, and then finally made it last season only to lose to Gonzaga.  Four starters are back from that team, and I have a good feeling about this team.  Because I know so much about them.  Not making that up at all.

BIG SKY:  I've always been a fan of the Big Sky, mainly because most of Mama W's family went to that school (as did she for a semester) and because I've been to a game at their arena.  I also like this group because of Northern Colorado, because it's fun to say NoCo and also because one time in Chicago me, Bogart, Snake, and Dawger met some guy who played safety for them and he told us about how Colt Brennan shredded them for like 600 yards.  Cool story, brah.
FAVORITE:   Weber State.  For what seems like the 20th year in a row the Wildcats won the regular season crown, which means if they lose in this tournament they get an auto-bid in the NIT, setting up a potential Minnesota vs. Weber State matchup.  WORLD'S ARE COLLIDING!!
SLEEPER: NoCo.  And not just for the reasons laid out above.  The Bears finished one game behind Weber, beat them once, and also took out some mid-tier teams in San Jose State and TCU, and lost to Oklahoma by just one.
W's PICK:  Weber.  They are actually a pretty decent team who knocked off Utah and has an RPI in the top 100.  Good a reason as any, I suppose.


In site news, I am starting a new job on Monday.  What that means is that I have to give this laptop back and the end of the day, and I won't be getting my new one until Tuesday when I'm in California, so I won't be posting again until probably Tuesday evening.  That also means you won't get a game recap from me for the Iowa/Gopher game.  But you probably wouldn't get one anyway because I can't really come up with a reason to watch it.  And if you really want a preview here it is:

These teams both suck.  Prediction:  Gophers 33, Iowa 14.