Congratulations to the seven teams that have already received autobids to the Big Dance. This preview will focus on the remaining twenty-six conferences that will be crowning a tournament champion this week. We have a lot to get to, so I won't dilly dally, but first I wanted to give an update to our This B1G Week readers on the final records for game predictions.
Grant's Previous Week Pick Record: 6-8
Grant's Total Pick Record: 195-81
Troy's Previous Week Pick Record: 9-5
Troy's Total Pick Record: 201-75
Autobids
Conference Profiles
The following teams have already received automatic bids for the NCAA Tournaments: Liberty (Atlantic Sun), Winthrop (Big South), Yale (Ivy League), Bradley (Missouri Valley), Utah State (Mountain West), Belmont (Ohio Valley), and East Tennessee State (Southern).
Conference Profiles
Times Listed are in EST
Atlantic Coast
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 8:30 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/10-14
- Tournament Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
- Thoughts: In what is the ACC's worst year in a long time, there are three strong options to win the conference tournament. Florida State, Louisville, and Duke are all very safely into the NCAA Tournament and safe bets to win the ACC tournament. On the bubble side of things, the defending champs Virginia should be in as long as they avoid a bad loss. The only other team with any sort of a claim of an at large bid is NC State, but they'd probably need to go deep into their conference tournament to make it in.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Virginia Cavaliers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Florida State Seminoles
Atlantic 10
- Championship Info: Sunday 3/15 @ 1 PM - CBS
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-15
- Tournament Location: Brooklyn, New York
- Thoughts: The A10 features maybe the most fun player to watch in the country with Obi Toppin of Dayton. Toppin's Flyers dominated the conference all year and will be the heavy favorites to win the tournament. Rhode Island and Richmond want to have a strong showing to try at an at large bid.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Dayton Flyers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Dayton Flyers
American
- Championship Info: Sunday 3/15 @ 3:15 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/12-15
- Tournament Location: Fort Worth, Texas
- Thoughts: The American finished with a very surprising three-team tie for the regular-season crown. Houston and Cincinnati aren't entirely unexpected, but no one saw the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes doing what they did. This will be an interesting tournament, as pretty much everyone with a chance to win it, except Houston, is on the bubble. Cincinnati and Wichita State need strong showings to go dancing, while Memphis and Tulsa probably are far enough out where they need to win the whole thing to get in.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Cincinnati Bearcats
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Houston Cougars
American East
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 11 AM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/7, 3/10, 3/14
- Tournament Location: Campus Sites
- Thoughts: We had previewed this conference before their opening round in Vol. 1. Nothing much has changed, Vermont is still the clear favorite (hopefully I didn't jinx the Catamounts).
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Vermont Catamounts
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Vermont Catamounts
Big East
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 6:30 PM - FS1
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: New York City, New York
- Thoughts: This conference is a seven-team race to win the tournament. It may seem odd to have 70% of the league having a chance, but it's true. Anyone besides Georgetown, St. John's, and DePaul have a strong case to win this tournament. Sure, the trio of Seton Hall, Villanova, and Creighton are favorites, but it wouldn't be wise to count out the rest of the league.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Villanova Wildcats
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Creighton Blue Jays
Big Sky
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 8 PM - ESPN U
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: Boise, Idaho
- Thoughts: The Big Sky has a trio of teams that will be the favorites to win the crown in Boise. Those teams (Eastern Washington, Montana, and Northern Colorado) will be where the expected winners will come from. Eastern Washington ended up as the regular-season champion, so they will be the slight favorite here.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Northern Colorado Bears
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Eastern Washington Eagles
Big Ten
- Championship Info: Sunday 3/15 @ 3:30 PM - CBS
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-15
- Tournament Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Thoughts: As you probably know from our season-long coverage in This B1G Week, the Big Ten has been insane this season. As you can tell from the way the season ended, anything can happen. Wisconsin overcame an at times rough nonconference season to win a share of the regular-season title. Add on to that there being strong possibilities that double-digit teams make the big dance. This tournament will be very hard to pick a winner for, but we're going to do it anyway.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Michigan State Spartans
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Michigan State Spartans
Big 12
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 6 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: Kansas City, Kansas no no wait so sorry so sorry, Kansas City, Missouri
- Thoughts: There are two teams here that I think everyone wants to see play in the title game. Kansas and Baylor are both vying for number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament and split the regular-season series in highly competitive games. There are a couple of teams that are trying to pick up some wins to cement their at large bid, but no one seems to have the firepower to knockoff the top two teams.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Kansas Jayhawks
Big West
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 11:30 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/12-14
- Tournament Location: Anaheim, California
- Thoughts: This one seems to be one of the easier ones to pick a winner for. UC Irvine has been the class of the conference all year, winning the league by several games. I don't want to jinx the Anteaters by not mentioning anyone else, so UC Santa Barbara has a cool mascot name (the Gauchos) and is the hometown of a blog favorite show (Psych). Note that the Big West reseeds teams after the first round.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: UC Irvine Anteaters
- Troy's Predicted Winner: UC Irvine Anteaters
Colonial
- Championship Info: Tuesday 3/10 @ 7 PM - CBS Sports
- Tournament Dates: 3/7-10
- Tournament Location: Washington D.C.
- Thoughts: Listen it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to Hofstra vs Northeastern to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference, please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Hofstra Pride
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Hofstra Pride
Conference USA
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 8:30 PM - CBS Sports
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: Frisco, Texas
- Thoughts: This one is another three-team race between North Texas, Western Kentucky, and Louisiana Tech. North Texas ended up winning the regular season, and given that the conference tournament is conveniently located about half a hour away from their campus, they are the favorite. But La Tech and the Hilltoppers will give them a good fight.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: North Texas Mean Green
Horizon
- Championship Info: Tuesday 3/10 @ 7 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/3, 3/5, 3/9-10
- Tournament Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Thoughts: Listen, it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to Illinois Chicago vs Northern Kentucky to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Northern Kentucky Norse
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Northern Kentucky Norse
Ivy League
- Championship Info: See Thoughts Section
- Tournament Dates: See Thoughts Section
- Tournament Location: See Thoughts Section
- Thoughts: The Ivy League announced on Tuesday that it is canceling its conference tournament due to concerns about the coronavirus meaning that the Yale Bulldogs will be receiving the conference's autobid. Wash your hands folks and if you're feeling sick just stay in and watch basketball instead of going out.
Metro-Atlantic
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 4 PM - ESPN U
- Tournament Dates: 3/10-14
- Tournament Location: Atlantic City, New Jersey
- Thoughts: This is the MAAC, please don't confuse it with the MAC or the MEAC. The Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference is a league with a lot of parity. At the beginning of February, KenPom had projections of the last-place team in the MAAC only four games behind first place. Things didn't shake out that way, but I believe that this may be the conference that has the weirdest conference tournament.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Siena Saints
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Saint Peter's Peacocks
Mid-American
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 7:30 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/9, 3/12-14
- Tournament Location: Campus Sites (Opening Round) & Cleveland, Ohio
- Thoughts: This is the MAC, please don't confuse it with the MAAC or the MEAC. Who is ready for some MACtion? Akron may have ended up winning the league by two games, but going into the conference tournament, there are a decent amount of teams that can win this thing. Chief of which are Bowling Green and Ball State.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Akron Zips
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Akron Zips
Mid-Eastern
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 1 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/10-14
- Tournament Location: Norfolk, Virginia
- Thoughts: This is the MEAC, please don't confuse it with the MAC or the MAAC. There are three teams that seem to be the favorites in this league. North Carolina Central, North Carolina A&T, and Norfolk State finished top three in the league during the regular season and are the expected winners.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Norfolk State Spartans
- Troy's Predicted Winner: North Carolina A&T Aggies
Northeast
- Championship Info: Tuesday 3/10 @ 7 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/4, 3/7, 3/10
- Tournament Location: Campus Sites
- Thoughts: Listen, it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to St. Francis (PA) @ Robert Morris. to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
- Troy's Predicted Winner: St. Francis (PA) Red Flash
PAC 12
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 10:30 PM - FS1
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
- Thoughts: I feel like over the course of this season I would look at the PAC 12's standings about once a week, and every time, someone different would be at the top. It is truly a perplexing conference. There are teams in the league that in early January none of us thought would be in the discussion for a NCAA bid, but now UCLA has a real chance to make the Big Dance. It also features an Arizona team that seems to have somehow gamed the NET rankings to an extreme level.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Oregon Ducks
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Oregon Ducks
Patriot
- Championship Info: Wednesday 3/11 @ 7:30 PM - CBS Sports
- Tournament Dates: 3/3, 3/5, 3/8, 3/11
- Tournament Location: Campus Sites
- Thoughts: Listen, it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to Boston U @ Colgate to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Colgate Raiders
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Colgate Raiders
Southeastern
- Championship Info: Sunday 3/15 @ 1 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-15
- Tournament Location: Nashville, Tennessee
- Thoughts: I'm not entirely sure what to think of the SEC. They most certainly are down this year, there's a decent chance they only get three or four teams into the national tournament. The top three of Kentucky, Auburn, and LSU are probably safe, but I'm less sure about anyone else in the league. Also, I want to note that after defeating Kentucky in their second game of the year, Evansville went 7 and 22, losing every single conference game. Sorry, my anti-Wildcat bias may be showing here.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Auburn Tigers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Auburn Tigers
Southland
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 9:30 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/11-14
- Tournament Location: Katy, Texas
- Thoughts: While I wouldn't count out Abilene Christian and Nicholls, Stephen F. Austin is a heavy favorite to win this tournament. Not many teams will want to draw the Lumberjacks in the NCAA Tournament after they ended with only 3 losses in the regular season and beat Duke at Duke. Plus, two of their losses came to teams that are very much in the bubble or the tournament, and the third loss came by a single point.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
Southwestern
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 6 PM - ESPN U
- Tournament Dates: 3/10, 3/13-14
- Tournament Location: Birmingham, Alabama
- Thoughts: Will the SWAC tournament be wack? It just may be. 60% of the league was separated by just three games. Prairie View was the regular-season champions, so they end up being the default favorite. Also, just so we're clear, this league is known as the Southwestern Western Athletic Conference despite the furthest west teams being in East Texas.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Prairie View A&M Panthers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Prairie View A&M Panthers
Summit
- Championship Info: Tuesday 3/10 @ 9 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/7-10
- Tournament Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Thoughts: Listen, it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to North Dakota and North Dakota State to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: North Dakota State Bison
- Troy's Predicted Winner: North Dakota State Bison
Sun Belt
- Championship Info: Sunday 3/15 @ 2 PM - ESPN 2
- Tournament Dates: 3/7, 3/9, 3/11, 3/14-15
- Tournament Location: Campus Sites and New Orleans, Louisiana (Semis & Finals)
- Thoughts: Arkansas Little Rock is the favorite in this league, but this league is closer than their final standings may suggest. It also seems relevant to point out that while the top two teams (Little Rock and South Alabama) got byes to the semi-finals, they had a pretty long layoff between their last game and their first of the conference tournament.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Georgia State Panthers
- Troy's Predicted Winner: South Alabama Jaguars
Western
- Championship Info: Saturday 3/14 @ 10 PM - ESPN U
- Tournament Dates: 3/12-14
- Tournament Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
- Thoughts: It would be hard to honestly say there is more than one contender in this tournament. New Mexico State went undefeated in the regular season and it seems like they'll win the rest of the games needed to go dancing. If anyone else wins the league, it will certainly be an upset.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: New Mexico State Aggies
- Troy's Predicted Winner: New Mexico State Aggies
West Coast
- Championship Info: Tuesday 3/10 @ 9 PM - ESPN
- Tournament Dates: 3/5-7, 3/9-10
- Tournament Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
- Thoughts: Listen, it may seem a little cheap for us to pick who wins the title once we know the two teams in the finals, but we didn't make the schedule. This comes down to Gonzaga vs Saint Mary's to secure their bid in the Big Dance. For more in-depth thoughts on this conference please see Vol. 1.
- Grant's Predicted Winners: Gonzaga Bulldogs
- Troy's Predicted Winner: Gonzaga Bulldogs
Championship Game Schedule
Tuesday 3/10
- Colonial - 7 PM - CBS Sports
- Horizon - 7 PM - ESPN
- Northeast - 7 PM - ESPN 2
- Summit - 9 PM - ESPN 2
- West Coast - 9 PM - ESPN
Wednesday 3/11
- Patriot - 7 PM - CBS Sports
Saturday 3/14
- American East - 11 AM - ESPN 2
- Mid-Eastern - 1 PM - ESPN 2
- Metro Atlantic - 4 - ESPN U
- Big 12 - 6 PM - ESPN
- Southwestern - 6 PM - ESPN U
- Big East - 6:30 PM - FS1
- MAC - 7:30 PM - ESPN 2
- Big Sky - 8 PM - ESPN U
- Atlantic Coast - 8:30 PM - ESPN
- Conference USA - 8:30 PM - CBS Sports
- Southland - 9:30 PM - ESPN 2
- Western - 10 PM - ESPN U
- PAC 12 - 10:30 PM - FS1
- Big West - 11:30 PM - ESPN 2
Sunday 3/15
- Atlantic 10 - 1 PM - CBS
- Southeastern - 1 PM - ESPN
- Sun Belt - 2 PM - ESPN 2
- American - 3:15 PM - ESPN
- Big Ten - 3:30 PM - CBS
To stay up to date on the newest Head in the Game articles (and general sports commentary), follow @headingameblog on Twitter. You can also find us on Twitter @T_RoyStory (Troy) and @G_Tingley (Grant)
