Conference Tournaments

VCU jumped out to a big lead in the first half, holding on to beat Drexel for the CAA title.

There was no doubt that a lot was on the line in the CAA tournament final between two-seed VCU and top-seed Drexel, and that goes beyond the title that was at stake. A win would wrap up an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, which in turn would remove the need to worry about whether or not their gaudy win total would be enough to sway the selection committee.

WCC: #1 Saint Mary's vs. #2 Gonzaga, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN)

One of the dangers of conference tournaments at the mid-major level is that the top seed, regardless of the margin by which they won the regular season title, are just 40 minutes away from seeing their dream of going to the NCAA tournament vanish. While there's still a chance as the Field of 68 won't be announced for another six days Iona and Middle Tennessee no longer have control of their own fate, and that has to be a concern for both fan bases along with the players and coaches.

Week One Conference Tournament Schedules

ACC (March 8-11 in Atlanta)
Regular season champion: North Carolina
.pdf bracket

#2  VCU (26-6) vs. # 3 George Mason (24-8)

 

By: Robert Canady

 

Missouri Valley - Title Game
#4 Illinois State vs. #2 Creighton, 2:00 p.m. (CBS)

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