CBB Week 18

Dude…

We have finally hit the end of the road. All that is left is the conference tournaments and the inevitable NCAA Tournament madness. A few teams have already punched their ticket to the big dance. Stetson, Drake, Longwood, Morehead State, Samford, James Madison, South Dakota State, Charleston, Oakland, Wagner, and St. Mary’s. More teams with Auto qualify for the tournament by winning in the conference tournament. Other teams will be entered due to committee voting. March Madness is at its peak these next few weeks. Thankfully, The Dudes  have the predictions for the main conference tournaments this week!!

PC’s CBB Corner:

Big 12 Tournament Champion: Houston- The Big 12 has been one of the most competitive conferences this entire year. 4 new teams entered the mayhem this year, with 4 new teams to come over next year. One of those new teams, Houston, won the outright Big 12 championship. Houston, being the champion, is the obvious favorite to win the tournament. They are a projected to be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Jamal Shead is a 1st team All American this season and has carried his team to a prolific defensive squad that has shut down most of their opponents this season. The 2 seed in the Big 12 belongs to Iowa State. This is another defensive focused team that has continued to shine under TJ Otzelberger. Other notable teams who could win the tournament is Baylor. Ja’Kobe Walter and RayJ Dennis are an offensive powerhouse when they are hot. Texas Tech is a threat as well. We can’t forget about BYU and Dallin Hall who can really light it up from the 3 point line. Now it comes down to who gets hot at the right time. I could see BYU really catching fire. I understand they are a 5 seed, however, they get hot, there isn’t a team that can compete with their shooting. With that being said, I am going to pick the Houston Cougars. I believe this is the only team that can beat any team that catches fire. They can stop anyone. They held 6 opponents under 60 points, including the crappy Kansas Jayhawks and beat them by 30 points in the final game of the season. Sampson and the crew are rolling, I believe BYU and Baylor will catch fire, maybe enough for Baylor to make the championship game. However, the Houston Cougars have the ability to extinguish any fire.

Big 10 Tournament Champion: Northwestern- If you watch our podcast, this hot take isn’t a typo. I legit think that Northwestern could win this tournament. Let’s look over the teams with seeds that are higher than theirs. Purdue is a no-doubt #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Zach Edey and company should be a juggernaut of a team, with a revenge tour already programmed for next week. The second seed is Illinois led by Terrence Shannon Jr. They’ve been an extremely hot team all season, only to be overwhelmed by Purdue’s prowess. Nebraska is the three seed. The Cornhuskers are good, but lack that powerhouse player that puts you over the top. Now, Northwestern is the fourth seed. They do have star power in the name of Boo Buie. Northwestern played Purdue twice this year. One time beating them, and the second time taking them into overtime at Purdue. Northwestern has the Boilermakers number, and I believe the guard play will let down Matt Painter once again. Now, Northwestern is in the final which will probably be Illinois. Now, if Boo Buie is on one like he has been the entire season, he could help push the Wildcats to a championship. I think Buie is going to go off this tournament and in the NCAA Tournament as well. He is going to carry this team to the promised land.

SEC Tournament champion: Kentucky-  The SEC tournament may be the other tournament where a ton of madness happens. The SEC is loaded with talent (except for Mizzou who lost every single SEC game this season). The thing about the SEC is any team can get hot. The 1 seed in Tennessee has Dalton Knecht who is an All American. They have a great supporting cast in Vescovi and Zigler. Their defense is also solid as well. The 2 seed is Kentucky, who has an electrifying back court in Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard, and Rob Dillingham. This offense has scored over 100 points in more than 6 games. The 3rd seed is Alabama, who showed great promise through the middle of the year, but have skidded hard as of late. Auburn is the 4 and may be a dark horse for Bruce Pearl, they couldn’t beat Tennessee down the stretch, but all it takes is one bad shooting night. 5 is South Carolina which has been a delightful surprise this year. The 6 seed is hot Florida, with another terrific back court. The list continues to go and there are some teams that could make a run. It just depends on which one. Personally, I think Kentucky is coming together at the right time. They’ve beaten opponents by a wide margin this year and took care of business of the 1 seed Tennessee in Knoxville a few days ago. I think Rob and Reed will cement themselves into the conversation of being a top 5 pick in this year's draft. They will have all the momentum in the world if they win this tournament. I believe they can get it done against tough competition.

Big East Tournament Champion: UCONN- I’m not sure if you can pick any other team than the Huskies. They’ve just been way better than most of the teams in the Big East. Donovan Clingan is almost a lock first round draft pick. Newton and Cassel make up the deadly shooting backcourt. Karaban gives them a significant boost on the wing. There isn’t a weakness in Dan Hurley’s team. Now, that doesn’t mean somebody couldn’t play better than UCONN on a particular night. There’s Creighton, who has Baylor Scheierman, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Steven Ashworth who could carry the Bluejays to a Big East tournament championship. Marquette wil be a threat if Tyler Kolek can become healthy. Kolek and Ighodaro could run the two man game to a title as well. Those three are the only teams I see having a legit shot at winning the tournament. However, UCONN has proven over and over again why they are the better team. Since they’ve proven themselves and I have faith that Hurley will figure it out if the game plan goes south, I am picking UCONN as the winner of this year’s tournament.

ACC Tournament champion: North Carolina- Now the main man from way out west p4 wouldn’t agree, but I think North Carolina will win the ACC Tournament. RJ Davis is lighting it up and is an All American this year. Armando Bacot has been explosive this second half of the season. Cormac Ryan has really come along to be that third guy on this team. The other teams competing for the championship are Duke and Clemson. Duke has Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach, However, it seems like they’ve lacked that third guy to get them over North Carolina. Duke lost to North Carolina twice this year. Including a win in Cameron Indoor in the final regular season game. Clemson has been a surprise team this year. PJ Hall and Joseph Girard III have been awesome. Ian Schieffelin has been a great asset to this team, but probably needs another year of development. North Carolina has been on a tear this year. I feel like there isn’t a team in the ACC that can stop this train from entering the NCAA Tournament as the ACC Champs and a potential one seed.

Other notable tournaments and their predicted winners- I didn’t mention the PAC-12 or Mountain West. I believe that Arizona will win the Pac-12 tournament, but it will be very sloppy. The Mountain West may be the most fun tournament to watch this year. An abundance of teams could win this tournament. I believe in Danny Sprinkle and what he has cooking at Utah State to come out of the tournament with a victory. I wanted to mention Indiana State as well. I hope the committee puts them in. I believe they can win multiple games in the tournament due to Avila, Isaiah Swope, and Jayson Kent who can bomb it from the three point line. They had an off shooting half against Drake. However, I believe they would give almost anyone fits in the Tournament.

This has been the CBB Corner for the 2023-2024 season!! We will be back once the tournament drops for our predictions!!!