by Tommy Gimler
I think I tweaked an oblique and jammed my thumb on the remote watching college hoops last night.
Western Carolina hit a couple of horse shots to eliminate a 12-point deficit they faced at the 2:30 mark, and Gonzaga hit a ridiculous three to send their game against St. Mary’s into overtime. Yup. I injured myself not watching Duke/UNC but Davidson, Western Carolina, St. Mary’s, and Gonzaga.
While none of these teams will make a serious push for a national championship, they will provide you with some of the best basketball you’ll see all week. While for some teams this week will merely determine what seed they get when the field of 68 is announced this Sunday night, for others, it’s win or go home. Or even worse: play in the NIT.
Do yourself a favor, and start watching college hoops before you fill out your bracket. The effort these kids put forth when their tournament lives are in peril is second to none. Obviously, the Big East, Big 12, and ACC tournaments are can’t miss television, but here are a few other tournaments that will provide another great excuse to ignore your fat wife for two more hours:
The Atlanic 10 Conference Tournament – Tuesday to Saturday
Four or five teams have a legitimate shot at winning this puppy. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has Xavier as the last team to get in the big dance (they started the season ranked 14th in the AP Poll). They need to win at least two games to stay there, and it might not happen. They’ll face Dayton Thursday, and Dayton smoked them by fifteen in Dayton earlier this year and took the Musketeers to overtime at their place. Temple is in no matter what and Saint Louis should get in with just one win. The battle of the Saints (Joseph’s vs. Bonaventure) on February 29th went to double overtime. Expect the same when they meet Thursday. Both will have to win the A10 tourney if they want to play next week.
Mountain West Conference Tournament – Thursday to Saturday
Lunardi currently has four teams being called on Selection Sunday: San Diego State, New Mexico, UNLV, and Colorado State. How even are these four teams? Every team split the two games against each other during the regular season. Colorado State might be the only team that has to win more than one game to secure a spot in the big dance. They’ll face the #1 seed San Diego State on Friday. They destroyed the Aztecs by 17 on their home court and lost by eight on theirs. The tourney is being held in Las Vegas, so don’t be surprised if UNLV get the automatic bid.
Then again, it’s always the hot broad in accounting or the fine art major in creative that wins your bracket pool in the end so maybe you should just watch porn or The Bachelor instead…