Sunday Musings: The Conference Edition

One month to Selection Sunday, let's see what happening in conference play.

The American Athletic Conference:
Cincinnati had a terrible home loss to Tulane yesterday as I documented in disgust. Tulsa has lost its last two while SMU has taken over the top spot as we expected. The pleasant surprise is Temple who looks to be getting back to the dance. Memphis and UConn continue to disappoint with UConn almost certainly needing to win the conference tourney to defend its title.

A-10:
VCU righted the ship yesterday with a win over George Washington. GW is trending the wrong way while Rhode Island & UMass join Dayton & VCU at the top of the league. Still, this could be a two-bid league this year.

ACC:
Virginia continues to win ugly and have lost Justin Anderson for the remainder of the regular season. Louisville and UNC at times look like threats to make a run in March and then lose at home to NC State and give up 89 points to Pitt. Pitt has a chance to stake a claim to a tourney team with a game at Virginia on Monday. NC State has a win at Louisville and a win over Duke but at 6-7 in league, they have zero room for error. Duke is humming along, beating Syracuse at the Carrier dome on Saturday night.

Big XII:
I love the Big 12 has 10 teams and plays the round robin format. The only drawback is, I wonder if it hurts how teams get seeded in the tournament. It'c cliche to call it a grind to go through this league but it really is. Even 9th-place TCU is a tough out. the frogs finally bit some one yesterday, knocking off the red-hot Oklahoma State Cowboys. Should be a 6-bid league minimum, with 7 possible if Texas rights the ship. Keep an eye on West Virginia. They don't have a great win out of league and a tough finishing kick to the schedule. They should be comfortably in but they don't want to end the season losing 5 straight and it's possible.

Big East:
Villanova may have locked up the regular season title yesterday with their win at Butler. Butler lost Andrew Charbascz for possibly the rest of the regular season, so the fight fr 2nd just got more interesting. Providence and Georgetown are both 1/2 game behind them. St. John's and Xavier look to be playing for the 5th and possibly last spot in the dance out of the Big East. Both are at .500 with St. John's trending in the right direction. Xavier continues to be plagued by poor defense. Holding Marquette to 44 points isn't a great accomplishment. Seton Hall's promising season has faltered. They have likely played themselves out.

Big Ten:
It's Wisconsin and everyone else. Dan Dakich called Michigan State the best team in the league. I assume he meant the best team not Bucky, at least I hope. The Spartans have really good numbers but are capable of playing bad basketball for too many stretches. I think Ohio State is the 2nd best team but they're looking up at Purdue and Maryland along with Sparty. Maryland has a chance to make a statement playing Wisconsin at home later this month. They should win their other games so they're the favorite to finish 2nd. The rest of the league is probably fighting for 3 spots. Iowa has the best resume, Purdue has the best record in league but losses to North Florida and Gardner-Webb. Minnesota is higher in KenPom than Illinois or Indiana but are only 5-7 in conference. Beat Indiana at Indiana tonight and they're in the mix. I don't see a surefire team that's guaranteed a spot in the 2nd weekend of the tourney after UW.

Mountain West:
Boise State was making a run and then had a bad loss to Fresno State yesterday. San Diego State handled Colorado State an Wyoming ended a two-game skid. The Cowboys are without Larry Nance, Jr who is out with mono. I think SDSU is the only lock. They should get two but I think that's it.

Pac-12:
Arizona and Utah and a shoulder shrug. UCLA is surging and Oregon is in the discussion along with Stanford. I do enjoy Bill Walton calling it the "League of Champions" repeatedly during broadcasts. Wayne Tinkle has done a great job at Oregon State this year. He's a rising star in the profession. Onthe other spectrum is Washington and Lorenzo Romar. He lost his best player, kicking Robert Upshaw off the team but his recent seasons haven't inspired confidence.

SEC:
Kentucky and others. Florida has its worst record at this point in the season since Billy Donovan's 1st season. It should be said about Florida, they are the unluckiest team in the nation this year. They're 33rd in KenPom but the close losses have to be wearing on them. Arkansas won at Ole Miss yesterday and solidified themselves as the 2nd best team in the league. Despite the loss, Ole Miss is in position to make it back to the tourney. LSU played Kentucky tough the other night but lost a week earlier at home against Auburn, so who knows about them. Georgia also lost at home to Auburn hurting their chances. What does that say? Auburn is going to be a real good team sooner than later.