The first thing that jumped out at me as I looked over this bracket; hands down Maryland has an easier path to the final game than Duke does. It’s rare when it works out that the #2 seed has the easier path in comparison to the #1 seed, but I really think that to be the case here.

Boston College is one of the most unpredictable team I have seen this season. If Duke isn’t careful they could get a game from them. They best show up on Friday if they want to continue on. Beyond that, Virginia Tech might be a tougher draw as the 4 seed as opposed to Florida State which has the 3 seed.

In the end I have Duke making through, and thus it will be #1 Vs. #2 for the title. This time I don’t see the Maryland fans ending up on the court.

ACC Predictions [PDF Format]

There are some very big stories and surprises as you look at the country conference-by-conference. That is something I have harped on all season.

The Big 12 has risen into the stratosphere that the Big East formally shared with the falling ACC.

On the other side, the Pac-10 had the bottom fall out of their league before league play even started. Now that conference play is well underway, I would think we’d have a better idea of what is actually going on in the Pac-10. Nope. As of today no team has less than 3 losses AND no team has less than 3 wins. It is a clusterfuck of sorts.

After the jump I have compiled an analysis of teams that should already be in and teams that have a great shot of working their way in. This is broken out by conference. I have done each of the 6 BCS conferences and the undisputed top 2 mid-major conferences.

Big 12

Teams That Should Be In: Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, Missouri, Baylor
On the verge: Texas A&M, Oklahoma State

Big East

Teams That Should Be In: Syracuse, Villanova, Georgetown, West Virginia, Pittsburgh
On the verge: Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, Uconn

As it has been all year; the Big 12 and Big East are the cream of the crop. Between the two conferences there is no way they don’t get 14 teams out of the field of 64. I’d say there is a real chance that the conferences could get a collective 15 teams.

Southeastern Conference

Teams That Should Be In: Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee
On the verge: Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Mississippi State

Atlantic Coast Conference

Teams That Should Be In: Duke, Georgia Tech, Florida State
On the verge: Wake Forest, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia Tech

The ACC could get more teams in then the SEC. These two conferences are still up in the air. They are probably both at the 5 team mark at this point.

Atlantic 10

Teams That Should Be In: Temple, Xavier, Charlotte, URI
On the verge: Richmond, Dayton

The resurgence of the Atlantic 10 conference. Welcome back to relevancy. For a fan of the conference, or a team in the conference, we have seen this bubbling up for a few years. Some people believe the A10 might be a 5 bid conference depending on how things shake out during February. It could happen. The A10 tournament will be another intriguing one. It takes place in Atlantic City and might actually have some people turning out this year.

Big Ten

Teams That Should Be In: Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin
On the verge: Ohio State, Minnesota, Northwestern

The Big Ten has some powerhouses at the top, but not nearly the depth of their other BCS contemporaries.

Mountain West

Teams That Should Be In: New Mexico, BYU, UNLV
On the verge: San Diego State

UNLV is on the bubble right now. If they win the games they should then I believe they should be in.

You might be wondering… didn’t I miss a BCS conference?! I did. The lowly Pac-10…

Pacific-10

Teams That Should Be In: None
On the verge: California, Arizona

That’s right. You can make an argument for California or Arizona but neither has made a definitive statement that locks them in to the field. The Pac-10 tourney is going to be one of those deals that could potentially break the dreams of a Cinderella. If I recall, the Pac-10 tourney is one of the last tournaments to finish too. That is going to make for some good TV if a random Pac-10 team makes the tourney final.

Small Potatoes; Mid-Major Conference Look-in

Again we are talking about the non BCS conferences of Conference USA, Mountain West, Missouri Valley and Atlantic 10. When last we blogged together, I stated that I thought the Mountain West might be the most likely of the four best mid-majors to fall after a nice start. It looks like the conference is holding up just fine. New Mexico is in the top 15 in the last poll, UNLV is in the top 20 and BYU is also receiving some votes.

In actuality it has been the Missouri Valley Conference that has dropped over the last month. At the moment Memphis and Tulsa are still holding Conference USA up above the others. However, the Atlantic 10 has shown some good depth.

Temple, Xavier,Richmond,Rhode Island, Dayton and Charlotte round out the top of the A10 thus far. Richmond just beat #13 Florida, Temple beat #3 Villanova and Xavier beat #19 Cincinnati. In addition, this past week UMass also upset Memphis. URI has beaten Providence and Boston College. And, Charlotte has a win over Louisville.

The Pomeroy rankings do have Conference USA and the Mountain West just above the Atlantic 10. However, top to bottom the A10 is definitely deeper than C-USA. The A10 should be able to give the Mountain West a run as well.

C’mon man; The Nation’s Most Disappointing Conference

I can’t pick on the Pac-10 again. During this past month the SEC has had some ups and downs. We all knew Kentucky had one of the most talented teams in the nation. The question was how quickly could they mesh and play well. To date they haven’t lost a game–that’s how quickly.

Beyond that there have been some disappointments.

Tennessee doesn’t yet have a quality win. They lost earlier in the season to Purdue and just this past week were blown out in Cali by USC. Florida went on a two game losing streak; ‘Cuse and Richmond. No other team has really proven that they are a legit contender. In fact South Carolina just lost to Wofford this past weekend while Mississippi and Mississippi St and Vandy have yet to impress.

Who-dat; The Nation’s Best Conferences

Alright so who is at the top? Last time I said it was obviously the Big 12, Big East and ACC at the top. That is still the case but there have been some interesting developments.

The ACC has really come on a bit. Florida State couldn’t beat Ohio State earleir this month but did get wins over Auburn and Georgia Tech on the road. Wake Forest beat Gonzaga early in December. Boston College has some bad losses but they did beat Providence, Michigan and Miami. Duke has beaten Uconn, St. John’s, and Gonzaga. UNC has lost some big games to very good teams. They do hold that early December win against Michigan St.

The Big 12 has Kansas and Texas at the top. Potentially the best two teams in the nation. Texas beat UNC this past weekend while Kansas beat up on Michigan. Beyond those two teams there have been some surprise standouts. Texas Tech is 9-1 after falling to the Shockers of Wichita St.  They hold wins over Washington and TCU. Baylor is also 9-1 and beat Xavier and Arisona State. Oklahoma St. is  9-1 after a one point win at Stanford. Oklahoma is 8-3 and beat Arizona, Arkansas and Utah. Texas A&M are 9-2 and their only losses are two ranked teams in West Virginia and New Mexico. Lastly, Kansas State is 10-1 and just this month hold wins against Washington State, Xavier, UNLV and Alabama. This is the best conference in the country at the moment.

That leaves the Big East which is battling the ACC for the number two spot after the Big 12.

That being said, it is hard to bet against the Big East when you look at that conference up and down. At the top you have Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova, Connecticut and Georgetown. In the second tier you go to Cincinnati and Louisville. Definitely a conferce that can give the Big 12 a run for tops in the nation. There have just been less high profile wins this month. That coupled with some high profile losses has to give the edge to the Big 12.

ACC officials said Monday that the championship will be moved from Myrtle Beach to Durham, N.C., in 2011 and ’13 and in Greensboro in 2012.

The 2010 tourney was originally scheduled to take place in another racial hotbed—Boston—at historic Fenway Park. The ACC decided to bring the event closer to where most of the teams are actually located to lower travel costs during these economic times.

The ACC baseball tourney in Boston? There would have been exactly 37 people there from Massachusetts and 12 – 14 would have been from host school Boston College.

Seriously, it just doesn’t make sense to have the tourney in Boston. There are no teams close to Fenway besides Boston College, the second closest being Maryland. I guess this explains why the idea was nixed so quickly.

Also, I can guarantee there would have been less African American’s at Fenway then would have been at Myrtle Beach. There would definitely have been less Confederate flags at the same time. I guess it’s kind of a coin flip.

ACC moves tourneys over Confederate flag dispute [Fox Sports via AP]
ACC ignores NCAA Confederate flag ban [Si.com]

I’ve had the pleasure to speak with Charles a couple of time at local mixed martial arts events. By all accounts he was a great person and truly one of the most important people to the evolution of MMA and the UFC.Pour one out for Mask this weekend.

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If tonight’s games are half as good as last night’s were I think my head might explode.

Maryland already helped me to victory on my first March Madness bet of 2009. Tonight they take on Wake Forest. I’ve been thinking, since I looked at that bracket, that the winner of this game wins that whole tourney.

Tonight’s potential bets:

UAB (-1) over Tulsa
BC (+10.5) over Duke
LSU over Kentucky
South Carolina (-2) over Southern Miss.

I haven’t yet decided what I am pulling the trigger on. So many games so little time…