Mr. Bubble

OK, we admit we have failed. We have a limited staff in a small office, and we just cannot keep up with all of the conference tournament scores coming in from the Left Coast. So, our promise to you is that we will tell you tomorrow (during the day, when there are no games being played) who will win their respective conference tourneys and why. We'll also tell you who shouldn't win their tourneys but just might. Tune in.

We have been pouring over stats for most of the evening, so we wanted to give you an update on who is on the bubble. Because anyone can win a conference tournament (yes, even UC Riverside), we're going to focus on the conferences that already have a tourney champ. Fair enough? OK, let's go.

Colonial

Drexel: wins against Vermont and Syracuse are good, but most likely they will not be Dancing.

Horizon

Butler: let's face it--they have been ranked in the top-25 most of the season, and if you go by their RPI they are in. However, we strenuously object to Butler getting an invite to the Dance, but their early-season wins against top-ranked teams will get them in.

Missouri Valley

Southern Illinois: not on the bubble. They are in. The Hound Dogs should be packing their bags for a date with either a number 1 or number 2 seed in the East or West bracket.

Missouri State: they beat Wisconsin early in the season, but they are on the low side of the bubble. Probably not going to Dance.

Southern

Appalachian State: we'll go ahead and put them back on "bubble-watch." The Southern Conference is a high mid-major, and the Mountaineers have beaten Virginia, Vandy, Davidson, and Wichita State. They are probably either the last team in to Dance or the first team out of the Dance.

Oh, and what about Duke?

First, we'd love to see Gerald Henderson, Ron Artest, and Kobe Bryant attend some anger-management classes together.

So why will the Blue Satans get a high seed (probably in the South or East brackets) despite the fact that they are about as good as Weak Forest? Here are our top-10 reasons why Duke will grab a number 4 or 5 seed in the Dance this year:

10. Jon Sheyer looks mean when he screams. And he screams a lot. Scary.

9. Josh McRoberts cares so much about winning that he cries when his team loses.

8. Wojo scowls a lot and looks like he knows what he is doing.

7. People still think that J.J. Redick still plays for Duke. (NOTE: Redick had this to say about Gerald Henderson's foul on Tyler Hansbrough: "Carolina was trying to run up the score" and "if his [Hansbrough's] nose didn't start bleeding it wouldn't be a big deal.").

6. Billy Packer loves Dook.

5. Dick Vitale (the new Hooters spokesmodel) loves Dook.

4. Duke runs a "classy" program.

3. Any Duke game in the Big Dance will fill the seats. Filling the seats=big money. The NCAA gods love money.

2. Henderson was just going for the ball.

1. Coach Cry will have several commercials airing during the NCAA Tournament.

Hasta. We're signing off so we can crunch some more stats.

Bitte neigen Sie Ihren Kellner.