CanadianChris

New Mexico pulled off the upset of the day, winning the Mountain West championship with a 60-56 win over #15 Utah. There are now three projected open bids available to the bubble teams. UTEP cinched a bid with a 91-78 win over Boise State to win the WAC championship.

You guys sound like you're not very surprised at this.

Chandler Bing Jeremy Goodwin Dan Rydell Dan Fielding John Hemingway Radar O'Reilly "Coach" Ernie Pantusso Theo Huxtable Dwayne Wayne

Ohio defeated Buffalo 80-79 in OT to win the MAC championship.

Wow, what a day of basketball...and I didn't even get to see it all. Conference USA championship, both Big 10 semifinals, both ACC semifinals, the Pac-10 championship, and now the Big East championship.

Speaking of Washington, George Washington has just won the Atlantic 10 championship over St. Joseph's.

That would be a great game, but I doubt both of these teams are going to make it to the Final Four. At least 1 team from the Big XII is making it to the Final Four. Probably, but they both have to make the Final Four (at least) to meet again. Arizona's probably out as a 1 seed...Washington has just won its first ever Pac 10 championship.

They performed well in the regular season. The season is more important than the conference tourney. No, the conference tourney does matter. If a team wins it, they get an automatic bid. So the conference tourney means something for some teams, but not others? That doesn't make any sense. They look at your season as a whole when considering seeding. Conference tournaments can only impact that if you get a lot of high-profile wins or one truly horrendous loss. NC State isn't near a bad enough team to impact Wake a whole lot. What about those teams that did well in the season, Arizona, but weren't as good as UNC/WF. Then they do well in their conference tourney, which UNC/WF didn't. They then should get the #1 seed, not WF. It is just the way I look at it. The committee doesn't look at just one weekend. Simple as that. All winning a conference tournament does is get you a few more good wins which might elevate you past another team. But the mere fact that you won your conference tournament doesn't put you ahead of better teams.

That would be a great game, but I doubt both of these teams are going to make it to the Final Four.

They performed well in the regular season. The season is more important than the conference tourney. No, the conference tourney does matter. If a team wins it, they get an automatic bid. So the conference tourney means something for some teams, but not others? That doesn't make any sense. They look at your season as a whole when considering seeding. Conference tournaments can only impact that if you get a lot of high-profile wins or one truly horrendous loss. NC State isn't near a bad enough team to impact Wake a whole lot.

UNC had their #1 seed sewn up long before they even got to Charlotte. Wake is another story, but I think the committee will discount the loss to NC State because they didn't have Paul. EDIT: UConn wouldn't have gotten a 1 seed no matter what they did. If they got a 2, it would have been the lowest 2 in the bracket.

Oklahoma can kiss their 2 seed goodbye if they don't make a run against Tech here.

Incidentally, while that was going on, Vermont cruised to their third straight America East championship.

Raptors lose to the worst team in the league, proving there's still plenty of crap before hitting the bottom of the barrel.

Can't imagine why anyone would think Jeff was gay.

Here are the likely bubble candidates as of right now, all competing for four spots: Buffalo DePaul George Washington Holy Cross Maryland Miami (OH) New Mexico Northern Iowa Notre Dame Ohio Saint Joseph's UAB UTEP Wichita State Keep in mind, either Buffalo or Ohio will get in as the MAC representative, and either St. Joe's or GW will come out of the Atlantic 10. Who gets in, and why?

This loss in and of itself shouldn't knock them down. They're either a 3 or a strong 4.

YES!!!!!! Syracuse gets a rare win over UConn, and will play West Virginia for their first Big East title in 13 years tomorrow night.

Dunno if it's the same thing, but the scene from "Rounders" where Mike and Worm are talking about going to Atlantic City pumps me up every time I see it: "Know what cheers me up when I'm feeling shitty?" "No, what?" "Rolled-up aces over kings. Check-raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off them. Stacks and towers of checks I can barely see over. Playing all-night, high-limit hold 'em at the Taj...where the sand turns to gold..." "Fuck it, let's go." "Don't tease me." "Let's play some fucking cards."

Denis "One N" Leary. Easy one.

Pacific and Utah both took big early leads, and both had to hang on late...both, though, are through to their respective conference finals. Bubble teams breathe a sigh of relief.

I'm sure useless moron Scott Keith doesn't really care, since he just got married. Congratulations to useless moron Scott Keith's wife.

Notes from the evening session: - Iowa upset MSU and likely earned their way into the dance. - WVU upset Villanova and became the first 8 seed ever to make the Big East finals. - NC State crushed Wake Forest and are a lock for the NCAAs. Wake is now slightly questionable for a #1 seed. - Illinois coach Bruce Weber's mother passed away today. Unknown whether Weber will coach the rest of the Big 10 tournament.

Hey, someone thought glowing pucks was the answer, once.

Holy Cross made a late run, but Bucknell held on to win the Patriot League championship, 61-57. Bucknell could be dangerous for a 3 or 4 seed somewhere, given they went into Pitt and got a win back in December.