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You want to win your office NCAA Tournament Pool? You need to put in some work and it starts now. Selection Sunday 5 days away and if you wait till the field of 68 is announced you will be too late. Start watching now, this is prime research time.
Way back in 1999 I was watching a couple mid-major conference tournament games and I thought to my self, "You know that Gonzaga team is pretty good. They could really make an NCAA Tournament run." It was at that moment I was all set to pick them to win a game or two, maybe even three and impress all my friends with my basketball acumen. Then they were paired to face the Gophers in round one and I couldn't pick against my Gophers. I learned a valuable lesson after Gonzaga went on run and very nearly knocked of Khalid El-Amin's UConn Huskies to get to the Final Four. The lesson learned was not to pick with my head instead of my heart...NO! The lesson learned was that there is value in watching many mid-major conference tournament games this week. Pay attention.
So here is your Championship Week Guide (this was exhausting, if times or channels or something was missed please let me know and we'll fix ASAP).
Tickets Punched at time of Posting
| Conference | Auto-Bid |
| Atlantic Sun | North Florida |
| Big South | Coastal Carolina |
| Colonial | Northeastern |
| Missouri Valley | Northern Iowa |
| Ohio Valley | Belmont |
| Southern | Wofford |
| MAAC | Manhattan |
TUESDAY GAMES
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| 6:00 | ESPN | Horizon | (1) Valparasio vs. (2) Green Bay | Championship | Yes |
| 6:00 | ESPN2 | Northeast | (1) St. Francis BRK vs. (2) Robert Morris | Championship | No |
| 8:00 | ESPN | West Coast | (1) Gonzaga vs. (2) BYU | Championship | Yes |
| 8:00 | ESPN2 | Summit | (1) South Dakota St. vs. (2) North Dakota St. | Championship | Yes |
Horizon
Top Seed: Valparaiso
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 13
Championship Game: 6:00 on ESPN
Valpo vs. the second seeded Green Bay Phoenix. They split the regular season and looking at the numbers, these teams are very evenly matched. Worth watching part of this game
Northeast
Top Seed: St. Francis Brooklyn
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 16
Championship Game: 6:00 on ESPN2
Skip this one. You can't watch them all unless you are single a basketball junkie in need of serious help.
Summit League
Top Seed: South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 14
Championship Game: 8:00 CST on ESPN2
Jackrabbits will be facing North Dakota State (2 seed) after the two teams split in the regular season and tied for first place each with a 12-4 record. Should be a good game between a couple rivals. I like SDSU as a team that could surprise. They are balanced inside and out with a number over good shooters.
West Coast
Top Seed: Gonzaga
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 2
Championship Game: 8:00 on ESPN
Gonzaga is going to be a very high seed and they are facing a BYU team who probably just played themselves into the Tournament by getting to the WCC Title game. So this is a great preview game to get a good feel for both of these teams. These teams also split in the regular season winning on the other team's home floor.
The Bulldogs are battle tested and have a very talented team. You are not watching them to see if they win their first round game, you are looking to see if this is a Final Four team or not.
BYU is an offensive team. They have shooters all over the floor and are led by Tyler Haws and his 22 points per game. Likely an 11 or 12 seed and a very strong upset candidate.
WEDNESDAY GAMES
Today is when most of the BCS conference tournaments begin with games being played all day long. 30+ games to be played on Wednesday and from what I can ascertain only one championship game. If you need to take a break, this is the day to do it. No championship games and mostly all first round matchups for all other conferences.
The table below highlights just a few that are maybe worth watching.
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| 11:00 | ESPN | ACC | (8) Clemson vs. (9) Florida St. | 1st | up to you |
| 3:30 | BTN | Big Ten | (11) Minnesota vs. (14) Rutgers | 1st | um… |
| 6:30 | CBS Network | Patriot | (4) Lafayette vs. (6) American | Championship | NO!! |
| 8:30 | ESPNU | Big 12 | (7) Texas vs. (10) Texas Tech | 1st | Yes |
Patriot
Top Seed: Bucknell (lost, (4) Lafayette is top remaining seed)
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 16
Championship Game: 6:30 on CBS Network
Don't bother, too many other good games on.
THURSDAY GAMES
Much like Wednesday this is a day full of early round games before we start to widdle things down considerably.
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| 11:30 | ESPN2 | Big 12 | (4) Baylor vs. (5) West Virginia | 2nd | Yes |
| 1:00 | ESPN | ACC | (4) Louisville vs. likely North Carolina | 2nd | Yes |
| 8:00 | CBS Network | Mountain West | (2) San Diego St. vs. UNLV/Nevada | 2nd | Yes/No |
| 8:00 | ESPN2 | Big Ten | (6) Ohio State vs. Minnesota/Rutgers | 2nd | Yes/No |
no championship games to be played on Thursday. I suggest you casually watch a few of the games above.
FRIDAY GAMES
Hard to say who will be playing on Friday but you have potential for a number of very good games. Potentially Richmond vs. VCU will be a good afternoon game if you get the NBC Sports Network. A handful of conferences are playing semi-final games worth watching. Conference USA and the Mountain West are both good ones to watch. I would keep a very close eye on Louisiana Tech, UTEP, Old Dominion, Boise St and San Diego St.
The Big 12, Pac 12 and ACC will also be playing their semi-final games, certainly most of those games will be worth watching as well.
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| 2:00 | CBS Network | Conf-USA | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 4:30 | CBS Network | Conf-USA | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 6:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | Big 12 | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 6:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | ACC | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 8:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | Big 12 | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 8:00 | ESPN/ESPN2 | ACC | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 8:00 | Pac 12 Network | Pac 12 | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 8:00 | CBS Network | MWC | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 10:00 | ESPN | Pac 12 | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 10:30 | CBS Network | MWC | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
Also no championship games schedule for today.
SATURDAY GAMES
Now we get into the meat of things. Lots of conference championships and the Big Ten semi-finals. This is a BIG day.
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| 10:00 | ESPN2 | America East | (1) Albany vs. (3) Stony Brook | Championship | No |
| noon | ESPN2 | MEAC | TBD | Championship | No |
| noon | CBS | Big Ten | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 1:30 | Fox Sports 1 | Conf-USA | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 2:00 | CBS | MWC | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 2:30 | CBS | Big Ten | TBD | Semi-Finals | Yes |
| 4:30 | ESPNU | SWAC | TBD | Championship | No |
| 5:00 | ESPN | Big 12 | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 5:30 | ESPN2 | MAC | TBD | Championship | maybe |
| 6:00 | ESPNU | Big Sky | TBD | Championship | maybe |
| 7:00 | Fox Sports 1 | Big East | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 7:30 | ESPN | ACC | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 8:30 | ESPN2 | Southland | TBD | Championship | maybe |
| 10:00 | ESPN | Pac12 | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 10:00 | ESPNU | WAC | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 10:30 | ESPN2 | Big West | TBD | Championship | maybe |
America East
Top Seed: Albany
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 15
Championship Game: 10:00 AM ESPN2
Albany might be a team worth keeping an eye on should they finish off the America East Tourney. A freshman from Minneapolis, Wheeler Baker gets nearly 15 minutes per game. It will be the only game on Saturday morning so might as well check them out.
MEAC
Top Seed: North Carolina Central
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 15
Championship Game: noon ESPN2
NCC is the favorite with Norfolk St as the 2-seed, actual teams are TBD.
Conference USA
Top Seed: Louisiana Tech
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 12-13
Championship Game: 1:30 Fox Sports 1
This is an interesting conference with a few teams that could not only earn the auto-bid but could be a dangerous first round opponent.
Louisiana Tech is the top seed but UTEP is the second seed and Old Dominion might be the best team in the conference. These teams I would make a point to watch.
Mountain West
Top Seed: Boise State
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 7-10
Championship Game: 2:00 CBS
Another conference with a few quality teams and in this case you'll likely see more than one get into the NCAAs. San Diego State and Boise State are both having very good years, both should make the Dance. The Aztecs have a KenPom ranking of 29 and are one of the best defensive teams in the west.
Boise is more of an offensive minded team, led by Derrick Marks and his 19.6 ppg, and the Broncos actually swept SDSU in the regular season.
I am actually kind of excited to watch UNLV and SDSU in an early round game.
SWAC
Top Seed: Texas Southern
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 16
Championship Game: 4:30 ESPNU
Not a particularly intriguing. The Tigers couldn't get past 50 points against Baylor or Florida. They played a rather difficult schedule early and managed to beat Kansas State.
MAC
Top Seed: Central Michigan
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 13
Championship Game: 5:30 ESPN2
Not necessarily a strong year for the MAC. Central Michigan managed to secure the top seed over Buffalo based on head-to-head. And Toledo is a team worth watching to win this thing too.
Big Sky
Top Seed: Montana
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 14
Championship Game: 6:00 ESPNU
Montana, the 1-seed and Eastern Washington the higher KenPom team by a long shot are the expected teams to be playing here. The EMU Eagles are a scoring team, with a very high eFG% and low turnovers.
Southland
Top Seed: Stephen F Austin
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 12
Championship Game: 8:30 ESPN2
The Lumberjacks are a legit threat to be a 12/5 upset team with a talented inside/out combo. Sam Houston St, the 2-seed is an excellent defensive team who could easily steal the league's single bid.
WAC
Top Seed: New Mexico State
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 15
Championship Game: 10:00 ESPNU
New Mexico State won the conference with a 13-1 record and finished with a 5-game lead, it would be pretty shocking to see them not earn the tourney title.
Big West
Top Seed: UC Davis
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 13
Championship Game: 10:30 ESPN2
The top-seeded Aggies are led by a 20 point scorer and as a team they lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage. The Anteaters (UC Irvine) and the Gauchos (UC Santa Barbara) are the other top seeds who could make a run and steal the bid.
But the Aggies with their shooting will certainly be a team to watch as an upset caliber team.
Big 12
Top Seed: Kansas
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 2
Championship Game: 5:00 ESPN
not much to say about these major conference championship games. Could be any one of several teams and will be worth watching more for entertainment value than trying to shore up your bracket. These teams could all advance.
Big East
Top Seed: Villanova
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 1
Championship Game: 10:30 ESPN2ACC
Nova is legit and always dangerous in the tourney with their scoring guards.
Pac 12
Top Seed: Arizona
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 2
Championship Game: 10:00 ESPN
Arizona was a 1-seed for much of the year and a very talented team.
ACC
Top Seed: Virginia
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 1
Championship Game: 7:30 AM ESPN
Duke and Virginia are both Final Four caliber teams, we'd be lucky to see them face off in this game.
SUNDAY GAMES
We finally round out Championship week with a few more champions crowned.
| Time | Channel | Conference | Teams | Round | Watch |
| noon | ESPN2 | Sun Belt | TBD | Championship | no |
| noon | ESPN | SEC | Kentucky (right?) vs. TBD | Championship | Yes |
| noon | CBS | A10 | TBD | Championship | Yes |
| 2:30 | CBS | Big Ten | TBD | Championship | Yes |
The Big Ten gets the last word in before the brackets are announced.
Sun Belt
Top Seed: Georgia State
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 14
Championship Game: noon ESPN2
If this is a good game it might be more enjoyable than watching Kentucky cruise in the SEC. The Panthers are a decent and balanced team. A low seed that doesn't have me too excited but that's why we have to watch.
SEC
Top Seed: Kentucky
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 1
Championship Game: noon ESPN
Um, in case you haven't heard, Kentucky is kinda good this year.
Atlantic-10
Top Seed: Davidson
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 10
Championship Game: noon CBS
Now this could be an interesting game. Davidson is the top seed and KenPom ranks them 25th in the country. Their seed will likely be lower than this ranking should they get in. But don't count out Dayton or Richmond or Rhode Island even VCU at the 5-seed. This tournament, throughout the week should be full of good games and may get more than one team into the Tournament.
Big Ten
Top Seed: Wisconsin
Projected NCAA Tourney Seed: 14
Championship Game: 2:30 CBS
Whoever is left is playing for a seed (or to get in if we are lucky!)
There you have it. I think I got it all covered (but the Ivy League but screw them). Enjoy the next couple weeks!!