SEMO

Our game prediction guru Greg Mengelt has been on fire this year. He'll be picking almost conference tournament game over the next 2 weeks.

 

The biggest development on Wednesday night were the wins picked up by Cincinnati, Colorado State and USF, as all three strengthened their arguments for an NCAA tournament bid.

A week after being outclassed at home by first-place Saint Mary's there was no ignoring the importance of BYU's game against Gonzaga, especially if the Cougars were to remain alive in the race for second place in the WCC. Dave Rose's team responded as good teams should, taking control of the game with an 11-4 run to close out the first half on their way to an 83-73 victory. The frontcourt matchup proved to be the difference as BYU's duo of Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies outplayed Elias Harris and Robert Sacre, with Hartsock's 24 points and 14 rebounds leading the way. 

While they're likely a long shot to get back into contention for the WCC regular season title, Dave Rose's BYU (18-6, 6-3) need to make sure they at the very least finish no worse than fourth in the conference. With the setup for the WCC Tournament being what it is the top two seeds receive byes to the semifinals while the third and fourth seeds get a bye to the quarterfinals.

It wasn't that long ago that many left the Pittsburgh Panthers for dead, as they were in the midst of what would eventually become an eight-game losing streak. A key factor in the struggles that Jamie Dixon's team experienced was the absence of point guard Tray Woodall, who was out with abdominal and groin injuries. Woodall's back now and he looks to be healthy as well, as he led Pittsburgh to a 72-66 win over rival West Virginia in Morgantown with 24 points, four rebounds and three assists on the night.

With the final month of regular season play just two days away, the focus turns to the resumes that teams have put together in hopes of being one of the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament. While Frank Haith's Missouri (19-2, 6-2) has no such concerns at this point the team they visit on Monday night isn't in the same position. Rick Barnes' young Texas (13-8, 3-5) need to improve their resume and soon if they're to return to the NCAA Tournament.

After going over the teams expected to win their regular season titles, we move on to talking about the top freshmen in each conference. Will all automatically take over and become the stars of their respective teams and leagues? It's tough to say at this point in the season, but that doesn't mean that we can't discuss it. Below are the picks for final 16 conferences, and Part One can be found here.

MAC: Kris Brewer (Kent State)

In the latest installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Carl Ritter, who to this day remains the all-time leading scorer in Southeast Missouri history. Ritter, who also sits atop the record books in career free throw percentage, helped lead SEMO to the 1961 Division II Tournament finals.

Jon Teitel: In 1957 your Advance High School team had a one-point loss to Pembroke Country Day in the Class M state title game.