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Not interested in these Conference Tournaments? 3 teams to root for and why.

Championship week is finally upon us and that means that the teams on the bubble are all a twitter (and no I'm not talking about politicians) I've always been one who roots for my conference when not playing against non Big Ten opponents. To that end I also want as many Big Ten teams as possible to get into the Big Dance. As you may or may not have already heard, there is an extreme bottle neck in the middle of the B10 right now, with 3 teams at 10 and 8 in conference, and 2 more even at 9 and 9. To go with the top 3 in the conference, that makes 8 Big Ten fans out there, here are some teams to root for in the next few days.

Star-divide

1. Depaul. The absolute definition of a bad loss. In the regular season they beat nobody, nada no one in the Big East, and were at one point nearly even doubled up by conference champ Louisville. For a bubble team with a questionable tournament resume to take a loss to Depaul is like having your bank take on toxic sub prime mortgage debt. Long story short, its bad news. Depaul has already delivered a haymaker, by beating Cincinatti (you know the guys who's coach put down every midmajor in the nation by saying they should get a bid instead). Next up is a team that according to Joe Lunardi is teetering on the edge of making the dance, Providence. A deep run with some big name wins could possibly earn the Friars a bid. A loss to the Blue Demons would put a stop to that. In fact, if Depaul were to make it all the way to the champ game and lose, taking down a few Big East giants along the way, it would be just fine with me.

 

2. Georgia. In much the same way as Depaul, Georgia is a loss that a team with Tourney aspirations cannot afford.  If the Bulldogs somehow manage to take down Miss State they would then face South Carolina  who according to Lunardi is among the last 4 in of the at large bids, one of only 3 (!) he has the SEC slated to recieve.  With a Georgia win here and provided they don't do what they did last year again, there could only be 2 teams from the ESSS EEE SEEE dancing on sunday.

 

3.The Washington Huskies. No not exactly the same sort of team like before, but I for one will be rooting for Wash because of the teams it could face, a bubbling Arizona team, a middle of the pack ASU team (currently listed as a  6 but could move into one of the 5 or 4's that the Illini are hoping for) and Cal, for the same reason. Or even perhaps beating UCLA who currently occupies a coveted 4 seed (once again Lunardi's prediction.) Sure its rooting for chalk, but for more nuanced reasons.

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Excellent breakdown

I know ih ave three primary interests and these situations help all of them:
1. Getting my wife’s Hurricanes into the tournament
2. Helping Big Ten teams
3. Getting more deserving mid-majors in because they appreciate dancing more than some sub-.500 major conference team getting in. (and yes, this is counter to point #1)

A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance

Hammer & Rails

by BoilerTMill on Mar 11, 2009 9:16 AM CDT reply actions  

This is the week every year where I go temporarily insane . . .

I live for a week like this. Bunches of tournaments with small schools I don’t see often (if at all) getting their shot to get to the Big Dance.

As a matter of principle, I root for either schools in Illinois (SIU, ISU, WIU, EIU and on and on and on) and schools that I was accepted to when I applied for admission in high school (that would include the SLU’s and Valpo’s of the world). If the two mix, the draw goes to the Illinois school.

I LOVE championship week. I’M CLINICALLY INSANE!!!!!

"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields

by Donut King on Mar 11, 2009 11:59 AM CDT reply actions  

barring a freak run by Depaul, or a good run by NU

It looks like Illini will be the only representatives from the Land of Lincoln

Hailtotheorange.com

by Joe Kutsunis on Mar 11, 2009 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions  

That's what it looks like to me as well.

DePaul lost today.

I will say that Illinois State has a chance to make it after their MVC run, and the fact that they have an ULTRA-IMPRESSIVE guard in Osiris Eldridge . . . but it’s pretty much a far reach.

And then there’s Northwestern . . . they’ve NEVER made the dance, and I don’t think they’ll make it this year either. Must’ve made them sick to their stomachs to see North Dakota St. make it in their FIRST YEAR OF FULL-FLEDGED D-1! Heh. Wow.

"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields

by Donut King on Mar 11, 2009 2:42 PM CDT up reply actions  

OT: are you the same donut king that comments on the Dugout?

But Frank Thomas was always his own guy, he always lived by some sort of code that wasn’t especially clear to anyone but him.

by U-God on Mar 11, 2009 7:38 PM CDT up reply actions  

That would be me, yeah.

The Dugout is fuggin’ hilarious.

"The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive." -- W.C. Fields

by Donut King on Mar 11, 2009 9:09 PM CDT up reply actions  

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