Most of us here could name about half the teams which are already "in" the NCAA Tournament, albeit none are yet official. But this weekend we'll know for sure, as a number of conference tourneys (and one actual conference race!) will be decided. Aside from most of these . . . hey, how do you expect me to pick games when I don't know who's playing yet? . . . we will have:
Louisville vs. West Virginia = I'm gonna do what I did earlier, and give the Mountaineers a decent shot at winning this one in Morgantown.
Kansas vs. Missouri = But the way Missou's been playing, I can't give them much of a chance.
Virginia Tech vs. Clemson = These two are "bubbly" at the moment, though I'd put them both in. Yet the win would be huge for whoever wants it more.
Indiana vs. Illinois = And the Hoosiers are out, and maybe the Illini are too. But if they want any shot at all, they HAVE to win this.
Maryland vs. Virginia = And the Terps probably need this, plus a win or two in the ACC Tourney. That starts tomorrow, or ends there.
Georgetown vs Cincinnati = These two have been so consistently inconsistent that it's impossible to call.
Arizona vs. Oregon = The 'Cats got the Pac-10 lead last night, and I don't see the Ducks taking it away from them.
Michigan vs. Michigan State = Will either of these two get at-large bids? Will both? This game may not decide it one way or the other, but it is key for both.
Arkansas vs. Mississippi = You could say about the same thing for these two here.
Villanova vs. Pitt = And you can pencil both these in right now. Still, both have shown some weakness of late, and so both need to turn some things around.
UCLA vs. Washington State = Can the Bruins rebound to clinch 2nd place in league play, or will the Cougars get "high" for this one to act as spoilers?
Florida vs. Vanderbilt = These may be the 2 best teams, at least on a night-to-night basis, in the SEC this year. This should be fun.
Princeton vs. Harvard = And this just might give us our first "official" entrant into the tournament, if it truly does decide the Ivy as I'm assuming it shall.
UAB vs. East Carolina = Can the Blazers take the surging Pirates at home, and take the CUSA here? I'd give them odds.
Texas vs. Baylor = One of these collapsed early, and the other has done so lately. I figure one of them will win this game, and the other one will lose.
San Diego State vs. Colorado State = The Aztecs proved beyond a shadow of a doubt against BYU that they can be beaten, and badly. I don't believe CS can dish out such a spanking, but they can give them some game.
USC vs. Washington = I'm not sure the Trojans can get themselves an at-large, no matter what they do, but a win here would certainly improve their odds.
And then of course, we have
THE GAME!!!
Duke vs. North Carolina = The Blue Devils have a 1-seed within reach, if not yet within grasp, and are unlikely to drop to less than a 2 no matter what transpires. The Heels have a chance of moving up as high as a 3-seed if they win and take the ACC regular season, and have a decent showing in the tourney (say, make it to the finals), and may even get a 2-seed if they win it all plus get a little help elsewhere. But all that aside, who cares? It's Duke/Carolina, in primetime bay-bee! What else do you need?
Sunday gives us a few to decompress from that, with:
Kentucky vs. Tennessee = On the one hand, it is in Knoxville, and the Wildcats have struggled outside of Rupp. On the other hand, the Vols have gone back and forth between contenders and pretenders all year long. You want a pick here? I say they both lose.
Boston College vs. Wake Forest = We held our wake for the Deacons long ago, but BC still is in the mix for an at-large. If the guys in Chestnut Hill have half the brains as their neighbors in Cambridge, they will show up and crush the Deacs.
Minnesota vs. Penn State = We may have close to the same situation here for the Gophers, though PSU should not be as easy an out. In fact, this might be a pretty decent game, start to finish.
Wisconsin vs. Ohio State = And though these two have no worries about their dancecards being punched, they do have pride . . . and revenge . . . in mind if nothing else. Well, the outright Big Ten lead may hang in the balance, if Purdue can somehow manage to beat Iowa
, but what does that matter? This should be a real topper for the regular season, not only in this conference but in men's basketball in toto.
As I'm not supposed to be here tomorrow, I will be back Monday to see what went down. Until then, enjoy. Screw Drew.