Madness Set To Begin

With the college basketball season regular season over and the conference tournaments starting up bubbles will burst and team’s seeds will rise and fall. Right now Syracuse (despite yesterday’s loss), Kansas, Kentucky and Duke seem poised for number 1 seeds. Don’t count out WVU or Villanova if one of them win the Big East Tournament or if Ohio State or Purdue win the Big Ten and Duke loses the ACC. Also If Kentucky were to lose in the first round of the SEC Tournament the could also be vulnerable.

Two other teams to watch out for are Pittsburgh and Maryland. Maryland just beat Duke and has a share of the ACC Title, it they can win the ACC Tournament as well, knocking off Duke again they will move their way up into a 3 seed and with a little luck possibly even a 2 seed. The Terps aren’t the most talented team, but they play with a lot of heart and Gary Williams gets the most out of his players. Pittsburgh wasn’t even on the Tournament radar when the season started. They were picked in the preseason to finish 9th in the Big East (likely out of the NCAA’s), but despite losing all their top players from last season and the low ranking the Panthers came out and finished 2nd in the conference. Now the Panthers are looking like a solid 3 seed, if they advance to the finals of the Big East Tournament they should move up to a 2 seed. If the Panthers win the Big East Tournament, and in doing so beat Syracuse and West Virginia (again) it would be tough to say they don’t deserve a number 1 seed (though its a huge long shot). Pitt does its best work in the Big East Tournament and it would not be a surprise to see them do it again this year.

So what other teams are likely to make big moves with success in their conference tournaments? And who are some teams that deserve top 4 seeds and ones that don’t?