Stephen Coulter is the RTC correspondent for Conference USA. With the C-USA tournament set to tip on Wednesday, RTC has you covered on the regular season wrapup and postseason preview.

Postseason Preview

• Who’s Hot: UAB – The Blazers are red hot heading into the postseason and they match up favorably against all the teams in their part of the bracket. If they play Memphis in the semi-finals, which they may not considering Southern Miss is the No. 5, UAB has an advantage in the backcourt with Aaron Johnson. The point guard has proven to be the top passer in the conference, and that has to make any team comfortable heading into the postseason.
• Memphis Skids Into No. 4 Seed – The Tigers can’t be a team anyone wants to play due to their previous success and overall young talent, however the team enters the postseason as one of the colder teams and despite a first-round bye will be challenged in every contest.
• Tulsa Nabs No. 2 Seed. Tulsa doesn’t have big bodies, which could prove to be a problem when they host either SMU or Rice at 8 p.m. on Thursday night. The Golden Hurricane is playing its best basketball of the season, but that could abruptly end.

Predictions:

First Round:

• UCF 82, ECU 72
• Southern Miss. 73, Tulane 51
• Marshall 88, Houston 69
• Rice 77, SMU 73 (OT)

Second Round:

• UAB 83, UCF 77
• Memphis 75, Southern Miss. 71
• UTEP 90, Marshall 81
• Tulsa 73, Rice 62

Semifinals:

• UAB 76, Memphis 71
• UTEP 73, Tulsa 62

Final:

• UTEP 75, UAB 69

NCAA Tournament Outlook:

Although many have UTEP out of the Dance right now, a C-USA championship game run would give them 25 wins, including victories over Michigan and Memphis. Their losses hurt, but they should be credited for playing BYU, even if not well. They lost in triple OT to conference-winner UAB and came within one at Tulsa, the No. 2 team in conference (1-1 on the season).

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Minnesota (#10, East, Greensboro pod)

vs. Texas (#7)
Thur. 3/19 at 7:10 pm
Vegas Line:  +4

General Profile
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Conference: Big Ten, at large
Coach: Orlando “Tubby” Smith, hired 2007. Record at Minnesota = 42-24.
08-09 Record: 22-10 (9-9)
Last 12 Games: 5-7
Best Win: vs Louisville, 70-64, 12/20/08
Worst Loss: at Northwestern, 65-74, on 1/18/09.
Off. Efficiency Rating: 106.5 (88th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 90.6 (20th)

Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Lawrence Westbrook (6’0″ junior guard), 12.4 ppg.
Unsung Hero: Ralph Sampson III (6’11” freshman center), leads team with 4.4 rpg and second in blocks at 1.5/game.
Potential NBA Draft Pick: Sampson has some teams interested.
Key Injuries: No significant injuries.
Depth: 40.7% mins. (13th nationally)
Achilles Heel: Guarding the three. Opponents shoot 32.7%, 236th in the nation in that category.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: …their defense can frustrate. They’re 20th nationally in Defensive Efficiency and 4th nationally in blocks.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: …their interior defense breaks down. Despite being poor in defensing the three, they’re in the top 30 as far as guarding shots inside the arc.
Last Year Invited: 2005
Streak: One year.
Best NCAA Finish: 1997 Final Four.
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): n/a

Other
Distance to First Round Site: 1143 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: A notable alumni list too long to list, but it includes 18 Nobel prize winners.  Bob Dylan went here but dropped out.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Yanni is an alumnus.
Prediction: Minnesota doesn’t wow you with statistics but with Smith at the helm you know at the very least they’ll give Texas a ballgame, and maybe win it outright. Minnesota will be a popular 1st round upset pick, but they have to find a way to corral Pittman. If they can…who knows, after that.
Major RTC stories: Big 10 Wrapup and Tourney Preview

Preview written by: John Stevens, Rush The Court.

Ohio State (#7, Midwest, Dayton pod)

vs. Siena (#9)
Mar. 19 @ 9:40pm

Vegas Line: Ohio St. -3

Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv).  If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.

General Profile

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Conference: Big Ten
Coach: Thad Matta, hired 2004.  Record at OSU = 127-45.

08-09 Record: 22-10 (10-8)

Last 12 Games: 7-5

Best Win: vs Michigan State 82-70, on 3/14/09

Worst Loss: at Northwestern, 69-72, on 2/18/09.

Off. Efficiency Rating: 114.0 (26th)

Def. Efficiency Rating:  95.9 (72nd)

Nuts n Bolts

Star Player(s): Evan Turner (6’7″ sophomore forward); 17.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.8 spg.
Unsung Hero: William Buford (6’5″ freshman forward); 11.3 ppg, shooting 45.2% FG and 89.6% FT.
Potential NBA Draft Pick: 7’0″ freshman center B.J. Mullens is currently projected as the 12th overall pick in the 2009 mock NBA draft at www.nbadraft.net.
Key Injuries: Would-be star player David Lighty (6’7″ junior F) injured his left 5th metatarsal against Jacksonville on 12/17/08 and was slated to miss 6-12 weeks.  No recent mention of possible return.
Depth:  26.6% mins (271st nationally)
Achilles Heel: The boards.  The Buckeyes pull down 28.2 rebounds/game, which is 301st nationally.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: …they shoot well, and the Buckeyes know how to do that.  9th nationally in FG% (48.9), and 7th nationally on shots inside the arc (54.5%).
Will Make an Early Exit if…: …they don’t take advantage of limited possessions; OSU only gets an average of 63.1 chances per game, which is 315th nationally.

NCAA History

Last Year Invited: 2007
Streak: 1
Best NCAA Finish: 1960 National Champions.
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): -0.12 wins per appearance

Other

Six Degrees to Detroit: Freshman guard Anthony Crater is from Flint.  And the Buckeyes know the state of Michigan well, let’s just say.

Distance to First Round Site: 71 miles

School’s Claim to Fame: Largest single-campus university in the nation.  Oh, and they kind of like football.

School Wishes It Could Forget: Recent football shortcomings, along with that loss to Florida in the 2007 tournament final after the Gators had also beaten them for the football title earlier that year.

Prediction: Another Big Ten team that doesn’t jump off the page, and Siena would be a typical team that could surprise the Buckeyes if it were not for the fact that this will basically be a home game for OSU, playing in Dayton and all.  They’ll have the best chance to knock off a 1-seed if they get to play Louisville in Dayton in the 2nd round.

Major RTC stories: Big 10 Wrapup and Tourney Preview

Preview written by: John Stevens, Rush The Court.

Western Kentucky University (#12, South, Portland pod)

vs. Illinois (#5)
Thur. 3/19 at about 9:50 pm
Vegas Line:  +4.5

General Profile
Location: Bowling Green, Kentucky
Conference:  Sun Belt, automatic bid
Coach: Ken McDonald, hired as head coach 2008. Record at WKU = 24-8.
08-09 Record: 24-8 (15-3)
Last 12 Games: 11-1, won 7.
Best Win: vs Louisville, 68-54, 11/30/08
Worst Loss: at Denver, 74-78, on 1/24/09.
Off. Efficiency Rating: 108.6 (68th)
Def. Efficiency Rating: 101.3 (168th)

Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): A.J. Slaughter (6’3″ junior guard), 15.8 ppg.
Unsung Hero: Sergio Kerusch (6’3″ senior guard), 11.2 ppg/7.4 rpg.
Potential NBA Draft Pick: None.
Key Injuries: No significant injuries.
Depth: 25.3% (295th nationally)
Achilles Heel: Guarding the three. Opponents shoot 34.9%, 206th in the nation in that category.
Will Make a Deep Run if…: …they get Slaughter lots of touches, and if they continue hitting the offensive glass hard, something they’ve done well all year.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: …they think just because they pulled off an upset last year, it will automatically happen this year.
Last Year Invited: 2008
Streak: Two years.
BestNCAA Finish: 1971 Final Four. Defeated Kansas in consolation game.
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): +0.08

Other
Distance to First Round Site: 2326 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Darrin Horn (South Carolina head coach), Clem Haskins are both alums, as is the PGA’s Kenny Perry. And everyone loves Big Red, the seemingly amorphous Hilltopper mascot.
School Wishes It Could Forget: Last year’s Sweet 16 loss. The ‘Toppers had their chances against UCLA.
Prediction: Not a team to take lightly. Wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one semi-upset win, since they are indeed peaking at the right time.
Major RTC stories: Sun Belt Conference Tourney Wrapup

Preview written by: John Stevens, Rush The Court.

Wisconsin (#12, East Region, Boise pod)
Vs. Florida State (#5)
About 9:55 PM ET, Boise, ID
Vegas Line: Wisconsin +3

General Profile
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Conference: Big Ten, At-Large
Coach: Bo Ryan, 192-70 at Wisconsin
08-09 Record: 19-11 (10-8)
Last 10 Games: 7-3
Best Win: 63-50, Illinois, 2/5/09
Worst Loss: 73-69 (OT), @Iowa, 1/21
Off. Efficiency Rating: 114.1, 24th in nation
Def. Efficiency Rating: 94.5, 60th in nation

Nuts ‘n Bolts
Star Player(s): Marcus Landry, 12.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 50% FG
Unsung Hero: Joe Krabbenhoft, 8.6 RPG, 6.8 RPG, 49% FG, 85% FT
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): None
Key Injuries: None
Depth: 26.2% (282nd in the nation); percentage of minutes played by reserves
Achilles Heel: 245th in nation at forcing turnovers
Will Make a Deep Run if…: Trevon Hughes provides consistent outside shooting and leadership from the point guard position and the Badgers begin to play the type of lockdown defense that they’ve been known to employ in recent seasons.
Will Make an Early Exit if…: They can’t handle Florida State’s superb athleticism and get into a running game with the Seminoles. Wisconsin absolutely must control tempo.

NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2008, Sweet 16 loss to Davidson
Streak: 10 consecutive NCAA bids
Best NCAA Finish: 2000, Final Four (1941 National Champions going way back)
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): RTC will provide

Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: The Badgers ended their strong 2007-08 campaign in the Motor City last season. After defeating Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State as a 3-seed, Stephen Curry and the Cinderella Davidson Wildcats downed the Badgers at Ford Field.
Distance to First Round Site: 1,655 miles from Madison to Boise
School’s Claim to Fame: Wisconsin’s miraculous run as a #8 seed to the Final Four in 2000 was the only year in NCAA history that two #8 seeds would reach such heights. The Badgers, along with North Carolina, both reached the national semifinals in Indianapolis before losing to Michigan State and Florida, respectively.
School Wishes It Could Forget: The last time Wisconsin finished in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten was the 2005-06 season. The Badgers promptly flamed out as a #9 seed in the first round against Arizona, giving up 94 points in the contest. They hope this season (10-8 in the Big 10, quite similar) won’t end as pathetically.
Prediction: Wisconsin would have much rather faced a 5-seed like Utah instead of the streaking and superbly athletic Florida State Seminoles. Without the services of Michael Flowers, none of their guards can contain Toney Douglas and I expect an early and, frankly, ugly first-round defeat for Bo Ryan.
Major RTC stories: Big 10 Wrapup and Tourney Preview

Preview written by Zach Hayes, Rush the Court’s bracketologist

Josh & Mike from Big Ten Geeks are the RTC correspondents for the Big Ten Conference.

The Season That Was
Politicians often talk about “Two Americas” – there’s the super-rich, lighting Cuban cigars with $100 bills, and then there’s the rest of us. Well, this year, there were “Three Big Tens.” First, there was Michigan State, who won the conference title in a walk by four games. That’s the largest margin in a very long time (over 10 years). And just like this little credit crisis hasn’t forced Warren Buffett to fly coach [Ed. Note: Having read about Warren, he might fly coach anyways.], Raymar Morgan‘s long bout with pneumonia didn’t slow down the Spartans one bit. We predicted Michigan State to win, we just didn’t know it would be this easy.

Then there’s the middle, which was filled with parity. Second place through ninth place was separated by 3 games. Call it the Big Ten’s middle class. Purdue didn’t develop into the team everyone thought they would. Sure, Robbie Hummel‘s extended absence hurt, but it was really the big steps back taken by E’Twuan Moore and Keaton Grant that made the biggest difference. Illinois actually overachieved this season, after last year’s debacle. The truth is that the Illini weren’t that bad last year, but suffered a lot of close losses. A big turnaround was to be expected. But to go from 16 wins to 23 (and counting) without adding a single player of significance was beyond optimistic. That’s exactly what Bruce Weber‘s team did though. Wisconsin will see their streak of 30-win seasons come to an end this year, and despite what you might read or hear about this team, it was the defense that let them down. In fact, the Badgers sported the league’s best offense on a per possession basis. But without twin towers Brian Butch and Greg Steimsma, opponents shot much better from inside the arc.

Penn State continued its happy-go-lucky ways, going 10-8 in conference play despite being outscored (handily) by its opponents. But good for the Nittany Lions, it’s wins that punch Dance tickets, not scoring margins. Ohio State might have had the most talent in the league, but finished right in the middle of the pack. We said that before the season started that Ohio State would be hard-pressed to improve on last year’s performance. We were right – Thad Matta is finding out that landing All American Recruits isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Speaking of attrition, Northwestern had virtually none, and that went a long, long way into fueling their best post-war season. The Wildcats will come up short for landing an NCAA Tourney bid unless they win the conference tournament, but that shouldn’t diminish the job Bill Carmody‘s done. Another turnaround was present in Ann Arbor, where John Beilein has Michigan on the brink of their first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 10 years. The Wolverines have looked like giant killers that took down Duke, UCLA, and nearly UConn; but this is also the same team that was outscored by opponents in conference play. They need to find that early-season magic for the stretch run. Minnesota has been somewhat of an oddball team as well this year in that this is the worst field goal shooting team in the conference, but they’re also tied for the best free throw shooting team in the conference. Clearly they have the talent to score more, but it just hasn’t happened.

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Memphis passed its last regular season road test and now only has a few games to go to return to the “promised land” that they’ve never really left.

While the Tigers’ dominance over the rest of CUSA is nearly unparalleled in the history of modern college basketball, it doesn’t mean that every other team is chopped liver. Basically anything can happen in a tournament setting and the Tigers have endured a few close calls this year.

So here are the teams as they are seeded and some pertinent info:

#1: Memphis Tigers

Coach: John Calipari

Record: 28-3 overall (16-0 in CUSA)

Players to Watch: G Tyreke Evans, F Robert Dozier, F Shawn Taggart, G Antonio Anderson

Season Highlights: In a year that many thought would be fraught with ‘rebuilding’ and the like, the Tigers continue to look dominant. The arrival of the latest one-year wonder: Tyreke Evans, has allowed the blue and gray not miss a beat from last year’s final four squad. But the veteran leadership of guys like Antonio Anderson, Doneal Mack, Shawn Taggart and Robert Dozier has been a huge factor too. They suffered early-season setbacks against Xavier and Syracuse, but they’re currently riding 20+ game winning streak. There have been a few close calls and at the end of the day they’re still undefeated against the rest of the conference.

They Will Win If: They simply show up and play their game. I don’t want to imply that the Tigers will simply cream whomever they play, because they could well lose. But they’re playing an extremely favorable draw on their home court. This is a recipe for success and it also doesn’t hurt that they’ve won over 50 games in a row against CUSA teams.

First Game: vs. the winner of #8 Tulane/#9 East Carolina; Thursday at 8:30 pm.

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Ryan ZumMallen of LBSportsPost is the RTC correspondent for the Big West and SEC Conferences.

A lot of people have written off the SEC as an also-ran.  It’s lacked a Top 20 presence most of the season and doesn’t figure to make a lot of noise in The Dance.  LSU, South Carolina and Tennessee are looking like the only teams that have earned themselves a Tournament spot – save, of course, a surprising SEC Tournament champion.  But in a conference boasting the likes of Jodie Meeks, Nick Calathes, Ole Miss’ Terrico White and others, it’s entirely plausible that a middle of the pack squad could pull a Chattanooga and punch themselves a Tourney ticket.

LSU was clearly the best team in the conference this season, posting the best margins of points (+10.1) and rebounds (+5.7) per game.  But the Tigers are not without their faults.  Their three SEC losses were to Alabama, Vanderbilt and Auburn – who boast a combined 25-23 conference record.  Not exactly quality losses, and LSU will need to be wary carrying a two-game losing streak into the conference tournament; lest we forget that many teams need an SEC title more than the #16 Tigers do.

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Kevin McCarthy of Parsing the WAC and Sam Wasson of bleedCrimson.net are the RTC correspondents for the WAC.

A WACky regular season came to an end on Saturday night and after the dust settled the seedings were finally set. Heading into last week’s games just two of the nine seeds were cemented in place, the 1-seed (Utah State) and the 9-seed (Fresno State). The final seeds look like this 1) Utah State, 2) Nevada, 3) Idaho, 4) Boise State, 5) New Mexico State, 6) Louisiana Tech, 7) San Jose State, 8) Hawai’i, 9) Fresno State.

Tuesday night sees the two last place teams battle it out for the honor of facing top seed Utah State on Thursday in the quarterfinals.On Thursday the remaining eight teams will be whittled down to four.

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Rob Dauster of Ballin is a Habit is the RTC correspondent for the Big East Conference.  He will be live-blogging all the action from his executive suite at MSG this week. 

Schedule:

Tuesday, March 10th / First Round
– Game 1: #9 Cincinnati vs. #16 DePaul
– Game 2: #12 Georgetown vs. #13 St. John’s
– Game 3: #10 Notre Dame vs. #15 Rutgers
– Game 4: #11 Seton Hall vs. #14 South Florida

Wednesday, March 11th / Second Round
– Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. #8 Providence
– Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. #5 Marquette
– Game 7: Game 3 Winner vs. #7 West Virginia
– Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. #6 Syracuse

Thursday, March 12th / Quarters
– Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. #1 Louisville
– Game 10: Game 6 Winner vs. #4 Villanova
– Game 11: Game 7 Winner vs. #2 Pitt
– Game 12: Game 8 Winner vs. #3 UConn

Friday, March 13th / Semis
– Game 13: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
– Game 14: Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner

Saturday, March 14th / Finals
– Game 15: Game 13 Winner vs. Game 14 Winner

It is only fitting that the biggest conference in college basketball have the biggest tournament. For the first time, the Big East is inviting all 16 teams to MSG for a five day extravaganza. The BET is always full of exciting moments – from Ray Allen vs. Allen Iverson in 1996 to Taliek Brown’s banked in 30 footer in 2002 to Gerry McNamara’s superhuman performance in 2006. With the number of good teams and absurdly high number of talented players, this year’s edition of the BET should not disappoint.

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