The Madness has already began with many conference tournaments underway and rest to start in the next few days. As much as we love to watch these exciting tournaments we really love to add to it by adding to your bank role before the big dance starts.
Last in a series of article by sports handicapper Craig Trapp where he brought you his predictions for top teams in all the major conferences. Today he will look at the mid major at large selections candidates and predict seeding’s and also how they might do in the NCAA Tournament. As always many mid major teams find themselves on the bubble and will find themselves fighting for a spot against the BCS conferences.
Not a banner year for the BIG TEN Conference and with less than two weeks left several teams have work left to do. Can’t remember a year when the Big Ten had so few Nationally ranked teams. Also most years this conference has a minimum of seven locks to get in to March Madness but this year there are only three teams that are an absolute lock.
Even though this conference is the weakest in recent memory they could change many people’s minds with a couple large upsets come the NCAA Tournament. Currently there is only one team that is a lock for the NCAA Tournament.
The ACC has had a ton of upsets this year and there are two schools of thought about the strength of the ACC this year. Either you think this conference is so good that anyone can win on any given day or it’s a conference that is overrated and not near as strong as the rankings. Let’s predict who is in the big dance as of right now and predict how they will perform.
Right now the PAC 10 has a solid 5 teams in the big dance and no bubble teams. Any other team that wants to make the big dance from the PAC 10 will have to win the PAC 10 tournament. The bottom teams in this conference have been competitive but not good enough to get on the bubble.
The Big East has been given the best conference tag by almost every expert in college basketball. Today Craig handicaps the Bubble teams from the Big East. Most NCAA Hoops experts see eight safe teams for the NCAA tournament: UCONN, Pittsburgh, Villanova, Marquette, Louisville, West Virginia, Syracuse.
There is nothing worse for a College Basketball coach than missing out on March Madness. Several big name programs have found themselves on the bubble of being home come March Madness. With less than 4 games left for much teams they still have opportunities to get themselves in. A late season winning streak could help any of the teams on the bubble prove there worth to the selection committee.
Projecting the NCAA Tournament is not easy and is ever changing right up to selection Sunday. The BIG 12 has had a very disappointing year after having a very good year last year. Currently Craig has only four teams that are a lock for the NCAA tournament. There are four other BIG 12 teams that are on the NCAA bubble and need a string of wins to find themselves in the dance.
March Madness is a great time to root for the underdog teams and the long shot to win it all. Craig is throwing out the 5 favorites and is only looking at the teams that are 15-1 or higher.
Bracketbuster game of the weekend is still Butler @ Davidson: When the BracketBusters pairings came out on Feb. 2, Butler and Davidson were a combined 36-4 and easy choices for the top slot in the weekend’s made-for-TV matchups.
Tonight’s BIG MONDAY college basketball match up might be the game of the year in the Big East. If Louisville can beat there 2nd #1 team in the country in less than two weeks it will put them at 9-0 in the BIG EAST and in first place. Both teams come into tonight’s ESPN game riding winning streaks of 9 straight wins.
