The Last Spec Shet before the big dance...

KJ's 2006 NCAA Bid Spec Sheet
Picks as of 3/7

The reason that this will be the last spec sheet before the tourney is that your humble scribe is headed to New York to view the Big East tourney and cheer my beloved Bearcats on what I hope is a deep tourney run. I would like to hope that their streak of winning their conference tourneys in their first year will continue, but I'm a realist hoping for wins on Wednesday and thursday and an honeoaboe semi showing. I will try to post on the accuracy of my picks next week.

Atlantic Coast
Locks:Duke, Bost College, UNC, NC State
Work to Do Florida State
Win it to get in it Field
KJ Sez: Maryland keeps talking like they need to win one and get in...they are dead wrong. Beating weak sister Ga. Tech will get them no notice, however beating BC who would be the Terps ACC quarterfinal opponent would, in addition to getting them to twenty wins, stay tuned. Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament: Mar 9-12 Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, NC

Atlantic 10
LockGeorge Washington
Win it to Get in itCharlotte
Bandit Sez: Is there any realistic bids other than GW coming from here??? Not really.
Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament: Mar 8-11 US Bank Arena, Cincinnati

Big East In- W. Va, UConn, Pitt, Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown, Cincy
Work To Do Seton Hall, Syracuse
Key Game: Syracuse vs Cincinnati 12 Noon (ESPN)
KJ Sez: If Syracuse loses they host an NIT game, if Cincy loses they may sweat but they should go. Big East Conference Tournament: Mar 8-11 Madison Square Garden, New York

Big 10
In Illinois Michigan Wisconsin, Iowa , Michigan State, Ohio State,
Work To Do-Indiana, Michigan
Key Game: Michigan vs Minnesota 2p-Thurs
KJ Sez: Not so fast Hoosier and Wolverine fans, get wins in your first round games. Indiana despite the #4 seeding needs to beat Wisconsin and Michigan needs to beat Minnesota (not an easy task) and hang tough with Iowa to breathe easy
Big Ten Conference Tournament: Mar 9-12 Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

Big 12
Locks Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas , Texas A&M
Work To Do Colorado
Win It to get in Nebraska
Key Game: Colorado vs Baylor- 3p Thurs
KJ Sez: If the Buffs lose to lowly Baylor their NCAA tourney hopes are done, Nebraska sits in the same boat playing a Missouri team that they just lost to.
Big 12 Conference Tournament: Mar 9-12 American Airlines Center, Dallas

C-USA
In Memphis, UAB
Win it to Get In it UTEP
KJ Sez:UTEP's road to the tourney starts with beating the winner of the Tulsa/Southern Miss. Any slipups from here on out, sends the Miners to NIT land.
Key Game: UTEP vs Tulsa Southern Miss winner 3:30-Thursday
Conference USA Tournament: Mar 8-11 FedEx Forum, Memphis.

Colonial
Clinched Bid UNC Wilmington
Hoping for the Best George Mason, Hofstra
KJ Sez: The dumbest thing that Tony Skinn of George Mason did was throw that punch to the lower digital anatomy of Loren Stokes of Hofstra. Not only did it get him suspended for the Patriots next game, it may cost them a tourney invite. Hofstra made a late charge but their poor early performance in the CAA finals may give the selection committee an excuse to give this multi-bid deserving conference a single bid. The Seahawks are going the Pride and Colonials have to wait and see.
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Winner: UNC-Wilmington

Mountain West
Lock San Diego State,
Work To Do Air Force
Win It to Get In it BYU
KJSez: SDSU is safe unless they lose the tourney opener. Air Force and BYU may be playing an elimination game Friday night. BYU may just need to run the table.
Mountain West Conference Tournament: Mar 7, 9-11 Pepsi Center; Denver

Mid-American
Locks-Akron, Kent St
Work To Do-Miami, Northern Illinois
KJ Sez: Akron and Kent are on opposite sides of the MAC Bracket and may face off in the title game, Miami's best chance to get a serious look is to ruin that equasion and upset Kent in the MAC semis. NIU is guaranteed nothing unless they get to the MAC title game themselves
Mid American Conference Tournament: Mar 9-11 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland

Missouri Valley
Clinched Bid Southern Illnois
Locks- Wichita State, Northern Iowa, Bradley
Hoping for the Best Missouri St, Creighton
KJ Sez: Salute the Salukis! They held off a game Bradley squad to earn a Tournament bid and will rest easy. The Braves have forced their way into the picture with an impressive run to the MVC title game. The Shockers and Panthers have impressive resumes and should be in. On the other hand, Missouri Stare put themselves in deep trouble as did Creighton with their first round losses. The winner and three at larges get in.
Missouri Valley Conference Winner: Southern Illinois

Pac-10
In UCLA, Cal, Washington, Arizona
Work To Do Stanford
Win It To Get In It-USC
KJ Sez:Hassan Adams' suspension from the Pac-10 tourney gives the Cardinal hope, they have a better chance of beating Arizona without their leading scorer. That in itself might get them into the tourney
Key Game: Arizona vs Stanford- 3p Thurs
Pacific 10 Conference Tournament: Mar 8-11, Staples Center; Los Angeles

Patriot
Lock Bucknell
Win It To Get In It Holy Cross
Hoping for the Best Lehigh
KJ Sez: Holy Cross has four days to figure how to beat the rampaging Bison on their home court. If they can they will get a bid. Bucknell will go regardless. Lehigh's loss leaves them the odd man out
Patriot League Tournament Final: Mar 10th-4:30p Holy Cross at Bucknell- Sojka Pavillion; Lewisburg, PA

SEC
Locks-Tennessee, Florida, LSU, 'Bama, Arkansas, UK
Win It To Get In It Field
Key Game: UK vs Ole Miss 3:15-Thurs
KJ Sez: As long as UK doesn't lose to Ole Miss in the SEC quarters they are safe. Southeastern Conference Tournament: Mar 9-12 Gaylord Events Center; Nashville

WAC
LockNevada
Win It To Get In It Field
KJ Sez: Nevada is the only true lock here. The WAC tourney is on their floor and the tourney bid is theirs to lose
Western Athletic Conference Tournament: Mar 9,10 &12 Lawler Events Center, Reno, NV

West Coast
Clinched Bid Gonzaga
KJ Sez:Gonzaga survived a major scare as a nothing to lose Loyola Marymount team came missed layup from stunning the Bulldogs and stealing the auto bid and with it an at large bid for another bubble team. Some pundits think that Gonzaga should be punished for playing close games in their conference tourney, especially since it was on their home court. I think that Gonzaga is still a #2 seed
West Coast Conference Winner: Gonzaga

Automatic Bids Clinched: Penn (Ivy) Winthrop (Big South), Belmont (Atlantic Sun), Southern Illnois (Missouri Valley) , Murray State (Ohio Valley) and Davidson (Southern Conference), Iona (MAAC), UNC-Wilmington (Colonial), Gonzaga (West Coast) 1 bid conferences (tourney winners): Tourney winners of the following will get the auto bid with no other expected at-large bid from the conference: Amer. East, Atlantic Sun (Belmont), Big Sky, Big South (Winthrop), Big West, Horizon, Ivy (Penn), MAAC (Iona), MEAC, Mid-Continent, Northeast, Ohio Valley (Murray State), Southern (Davidson), Southland, Sun Belt, SWAC, This list is under the provision that no are wild card/cinderellas in their respective tourneys. That won’t happen right?