Tournament Pot Party

AAC-

It’s a league. It’s actually worse in KenPom than the Valley. Woof. Anyway, they’re playing this in Birmingham. It’s a 1-bid league. USF won the regular season title and are 52 in KenPom. T-2 was Tulsa and Wichita State. Tulsa is 58 and the Shockers are 88 in KenPom.

South Florida is the pick. They lost 3 league games by a combined 5 points and 2 of them in overtime. They roll in on a 9-game win streak as well.

A-10

I think this is a 2-bid league. SLU and VCU are the 2-bids as they shared the regular season title. If that’s the case, this is a bid thief league.

It’s pretty well-balanced in the middle and one of them could certainly win this. In fact, I’ll pick Dayton to thieve a bid just to make it interesting on Sunday.

Big East

3-bid league. Could be a bid thief league, though. Pretty muddled from 4-11 and I’m not sure how you can have a lot of faith in the top-3.

I’ll pick UConn to win it but won’t be surprised if something dumb happens here.

Big West

Playing this in Henderson, NV. As always, this is a solid mid-major who can send a team to the dance and make someone sweat. UC-Irvine won the league and is 106 in KenPom.

UC-San Diego is 113, Hawaii is 115 and UC-Santa Barbara is 126 in KenPom. They all own wins over Irvine. Irvine has the 5th best effective fg% defense in the nation. Kyle Evans is a great shot blocker. UCSB is 21st in 3-point shooting nationally. I say it’s one of these 2 but I’ll take Irvine cuz I have to make a pick.

MEAC

Play-in league. Howard won the league and is 202 in KenPom. No one else is top-300. It’s Howard and head coach Kenny Blakeney who fits the March Duke motif.

Mountain West

Kind of a bittersweet week in Vegas for the Mountain West. The Frankenstein Pac-12 pilfers a chunk of this league beginning next year. It’ll be ok, but adding UTEP, Northern Illinois and North Dakota State doesn’t really move the needle. NDSU will be fine but doesn’t cover the losses.

Focusing on this season, Utah State won the regular season title and are 35th in KenPom. They should be a lock. San Diego State and New Mexico are bubbly and need a big week. I think both are out barring a deep run.

This is thievery territory. Utah State is the best team but not a lock. I’ll pick New Mexico to steal a bid here.

SEC

Auburn is somehow on the bubble and need a big week. Need Mississippi State to treat them like Kristi Noem treats dogs. Think that covers the bubble here.

The pick is Florida. Every other team is squarely meh.

WAC

7 lousy teams in this league!  Well, not lousy teams, but only 7 lousy teams! Utah Valley won the league and is 90th in KenPom. Cal Baptist finished 2nd and is 112th in KenPom.

Utah Valley is the pick because no one wants to be around baptists.