NCAA Pick Logic, Day 1

Notable Picks and Lessons for Pun City's Future Picks:

5 West Virginia vs. 12 Clemson:

Pick: Clemson

Logic: No one really knew what advantage or disadvantage the 12s would have coming off of a Dayton opening round game on Tuesday. This blog's opinion was that it would help Clemson, having played recently, as opposed to West Virginia, who had been eliminated in their first Big East Tournament game. Pun City knew ahead of time that West Virginia is a tough team, but figured that Clemson would be in more of a "game mode" than the Mountaineers, who had played one game in 2 weeks.

Result: West Virginia

Hindsight: Early returns are that the Tuesday opening round game seems to be a disadvantage even for the 12s. Also, it seems like Bob Huggins doesn't have any issues getting his team ready to play first round games. The lesson would be to keep an eye on the other Dayton at-large team (VCU) to see if any team can compete given the short turnaround. Another lesson is that Pun City should probably overlook any anti-West Virginia bias it harbors (at least while picking), and that bias is sizeable.

4 Kentucky vs. 13 Princeton

Pick: Kentucky

Logic: While Princeton came out of a very tough Ivy League, it was unlikely that they'd have the firepower to keep up with Kentucky, who generally smokes their first round opponent, even though Pun City doesn't really think Kentucky is too great this year with the number of freshmen they use.

Result: Kentucky on a last-second shot.

Hindsight: Princeton was underrated, for sure. Without any "name" players, they still were pretty cohesive. While a Princeton pick would have been wrong, it probably would have felt reasonable. Pun City is fairly convinced it had Kentucky rated about right though. We'll have to see in further rounds, but this blog feels like it had this reasonably well-picked, despite not having seen Princeton this year.

6 Cincinnati vs. 11 Missouri

Pick: Cincinnati

Logic: Having seen Missouri only a couple times, and not having been too impressed with them (not to mention they barely made the tournament), Pun City was not ready to jump on their bandwagon. Cincinnati had looked strong in the late season (and Pun City had personally witnessed this with a road win at Marquette as well as a Big East Tournament win), and this blog was fairly confident in their abilities. Missouri's style, while difficult to prepare for, at least had 4 days to get prepared for, instead of 2 in the next round. Added in with Mick Cronin coaching UC, and his experience coaching a good Murray State team through OVC battles, this blog was fairly confident in the pick.

Result: Cincinnati, pulling away late.

Hindsight: This was pegged just about perfectly. We'll see how Cincinnati does in future rounds, but as of now it seems like Pun City had them rated well, and this blog definitely thinks it had Missouri figured out accurately.

7 Temple vs. 10 Penn State

Pick: Temple

Logic: 7-10s are critical in Pun City's pool, as all games are 1 point throughout the tournament. Going 0 for 4 on 7-10s will kill your chances. Fortunately for Pun City, this blog had seen multiple games of each of these schools. Temple looked very strong in the Atlantic 10, only losing consistently to Xavier. Fran Dunphy was very overdue for a win in the tournament, and this was most likely his highest seeded team. Penn State had to make a late run to get in to the tournament, but they were solid. This blog thought that Penn State never really seemed as dominant as Temple had, plus a slight coaching edge was held by Dunphy over Penn State's Ed DeChellis.

Result: Temple on a last-second shot.

Hindsight: Whew. Penn State really had a great shot at this one. Although they generally played from behind most of the game, and only tied it late, Penn State definitely could have pulled this out. To some extent, Pun City was lucky with this one, since it ended up being pretty close. That said, Temple's worst-case scenario was going to overtime if they missed the last shot. This blog would like to think that the "overdue Dunphy" factor is what ultimately won this game for Temple, and that was a huge factor in Pun City's pick, so this blog probably had that about right. The lesson is to keep watching the A-10, and Big Ten teams even if they look like marginal qualifiers.

7 UCLA vs. 10 Michigan State

Pick: UCLA

Logic: Michigan State had looked pretty bad for most of the year. They had been buoyed by a brutal schedule, which kept their RPI up, and a really weak bubble, which essentially locked anyone in that had an RPI above 30. UCLA competed strongly in the Pac-10 all year, and although Pun City didn't really get to see much Pac-10 this year, this blog did know it was a pretty tough conference, so this blog didn't fear calling their number in this game.

Result: UCLA, after just about giving away the game late.

Hindsight: Man, this felt pretty lucky in hindsight. Michigan State was down huge early, but had a +23 run in the second half to cut it to 3 right at the end of the game. Pun City only realized after the game was on TV that UCLA had a fat center, which is generally a big red flag for this blog. That said, this would have been another brutal loss to take, especially if both Princeton and MSU had been chosen.

5 Vanderbilt vs. 12 Richmond

Pick: Vanderbilt

Logic: Vanderbilt had just lost last year to Murray State in the first round. One would think that they'd have learned from that and wouldn't let it happen again. Pun City had seen Richmond about 3-4 times this year on TV, and never did they appear very good. They weren't especially great in the Atlantic 10, falling to 4th for most of the year, before winning the conference tournament to get in to the field. This blog assumed that they were out of wins, and Vanderbilt would be prepared and more talented.

Result: Richmond

Hindsight: Both had pretty equal talent. It's possible that Vanderbilt had not seen the Princeton offense earlier in the year. This actually overlaps well with Kentucky struggling against Princeton. The lesson is that southern teams don't run the Princeton offense much, so they probably will be unprepared to face it come tournament time. Kevin Stallings is such a good coach, this blog is perplexed that he hasn't gotten them to figure it out yet. Maybe Chris Mooney is just that much better of a coach.

8 Butler vs. 9 Old Dominion

Pick: Butler

Logic: Butler was probably one of the top 10 best-known teams for this blog going in. Old Dominion wasn't especially well known, having only seen them win an early season tournament in the Virgin Islands (on TV). Pun City also knew Old Dominion won the CAA tournament, but they hadn't won the regular season, so this blog wasn't overly impressed with them. Butler on the other hand, Pun City had pegged. They struggled early, then collapsed in the middle of the Horizon League conference season, then made a late run. Pun City knew that the Horizon League tournament win in Milwaukee would have been huge, that's a tough place to play with the fired up crowd, which it would have been for the final. That win signalled to Pun City that Butler was firing on all cylinders, so they'd be a tough out in the NCAAs.

Result: Butler, on a last-second shot.

Hindsight: This was classic "high knowledge vs. low knowledge". This blog had high knowledge of Butler and thought they were good, so Pun City picked them. ODU definitely had way better athletes, but that probably happens with about 2/3rds of Butler's opponents. The last-second shot is a little deceptive, since BU goes to OT at worst in that scenario. But, ODU led for a good portion of this game, so they were no slouch. If there's any way to watch more CAA hoops during the year, do it.

4 Louisville vs. 13 Morehead State

Pick: Morehead State

Logic: Morehead State had Kenneth Faried, one of the top 5 or 6 players in the NCAA, and a hugely underrated player. This blog knew he would create huge issues for Louisville, a somewhat undersized team that certainly wouldn't have anyone to contain him. Also, the Ohio Valley Conference had been murder all year, so it wasn't like Morehead State hadn't seen a string of tough games before (Austin Peay and Murray State both provided ample competition for them this year). Even though Morehead hadn't won the conference regular season, they were able to get out of the OVC tournament with a bid. Louisville, while good, was in somewhat of a rebuilding year, that just happened to turn in to a great season. That said, they were young, and relied on two backcourt players to get the bulk of their offense going. They also were down huge to Marquette at home before making an epic comeback to win late, but this if anything turned Pun City off to them, because why are you down that far to Marquette in the first place? Probably the hugest reason this blog picked MSU though, was that both of these schools were from the same state. Any time you see a mid-major playing a high-major from the same state on a neutral court, you know the small school won't be intimidated. This is really their chance, so they'll be salivating. Furthermore, because they're from the same region, all of these guys have been playing their opponents in AAU through middle school and high school. Completely not intimidated.

Result: Morehead State on a last-second shot.

Hindsight: This pick was right, but the logic was bad. Louisville's Preston Knowles was injured in the second half, and missed most of it. Without that, Pun City doubts Morehead State wins. Additionally, this is not at all a misleading last-second shot, because if MSU misses that shot, they lose the game. This blog also came to find out that MSU's head coach Donnie Tyndall went to share notes with Louisville's Rick Pitino in the offseason, so the two programs had pretty good knowledge of each other. Pun City never knows what to make of that situation, it seems like the teacher and the student each win about half of the time. MSU definitely was not intimidated though, they salivated and won this one, so this blog was happy with the result.

5 Kansas State vs. 12 Utah State

Pick: Utah State

Logic: Kansas State started off the season very poorly. They also had dismissed a couple players in mid-year, at which point the team played very well. Utah State had a mystique about it. Stew Morrill won't go to early-season tournaments, or play anyone that doesn't give him a home-and-home, so their strength of schedule is always garbage. The underground opinion was that if Utah State had gotten the chance to play any of these major schools at home (or neutral court), USU would have won. Pun City hadn't actually seen USU play at all. While it did think that KSU was playing very well late, this blog wasn't overly impressed with Frank Martin's coaching, plus it's not often that player dismissals bode well for future results.

Result: Kansas State, near blowout.

Hindsight: Middle-Knowledge vs. Low-Knowledge, and Pun City picked the Low-Knowledge, despite thinking that KSU was playing well. This probably would have been tough either way. USU's going to win one of these eventually, especially with the number of seniors they always seem to have. Ideally in the future this blog would want to at least see a team once if picking them over a team that this blog has been impressed with. Really not a great pick, this blog feels lazy looking back at it.

6 St. John's vs. 11 Gonzaga

Pick: St. John's

Logic: St. John's has a great coaching staff, and two great players, so this blog figured they'd be in good shape playing Gonzaga, who hadn't impressed most of the year, although they played strongly late in the WCC and in the conference tournament. This blog hadn't seen as much Gonzaga as usual though. The Red Storm's DJ Kennedy had gotten injured in the Big East Tournament, but his prognosis wasn't illuminated to this blog until Tuesday night before the NCAA tournament. At this point, Pun City was too lazy to change 6 brackets to take St. John's out. Another factor was that Purdue had lost Hummel late last year, and they still played strongly in the NCAAs, so this blog was wary of switching out in case SJU would use that as inspiration. Also, SJU had a bunch of seniors that hadn't played in the tournament before, so this blog thought they'd be fired up.

Result: Gonzaga in a blowout.

Hindsight: Do what you can to make the switch. SJU's experience was primarily losing experience for the first 3 years. All the coaching in the world couldn't help them in this tournament, and the injury occurred too late for the team to adjust to their new roles. Gonzaga looked extremely strong, and apparently they had been that good late in the regular season and in the WCC tourney. Another tipoff should have been that SJU didn't do particularly great in the Big East Tournament, essentially home games for them, where they barely beat Rutgers.

That's all this blog's got for now. But Future Pun City: Keep these in mind.

2011 Big East Tournament Trip - Day 1

This is somewhat of a shot in the dark. Obviously Pun City didn't publicize this trip too well, no preview or really a whole lot of lead time informing Pun City's friends either. But yes, this blog did go to a tournament this year, and it was the Big East, and it was awesome.


Monday, March 7th, flying from Milwaukee to Baltimore, then a 2.5 hour layover, then in to LaGuardia. At that point, this blog needed to take a bus across town to a hostel that this blog had reserved in advance.


Relatively uneventful day, with the exception of being this blog's first venture to a hostel. Pun City chose the hostel for several reasons. First off, you can't beat the cost. It was roughly $50.00 a night, which in New York is about rock bottom. This blog had reserved a 4-6 guy room (they require the same-gender room assignments), and for the first 4 nights, there were 6 bunks in the room. It's possible one of those remained unoccupied, or at least didn't have anyone there simultaneously to Pun City, but the room was pretty well-occupied.


This blog's roommates were from New Zealand, Japan, Spain, and France. This blog only talked to the New Zealander, which was somewhat surprising since you don't usually end up in the room at the same time while awake, much less while everyone else was awake. The other countries were derived from hearing introductions while trying to sleep.


Another sleep deterrant was that the room light was on when this blog got back for the night. Pun City at first assumed it was locked in that position for certain hours, but this was proven incorrect later in the trip. Each bed had an individual night light, so those really should have been used when moving about the room at night, not the overhead room light. (Eventually I think a few roommates caught the drift).

Upon further review, there was another event this evening. Pun City had asked the hostel security/concierge where the nearest sports bar was. The guy directed me to Amsterdam 106, a bar without signage on the corner of, you guessed it, Amsterdam and 106th. They have about 5 screens, but all 5 of them were tuned in to the Knicks game at the time. Pun City, not knowing any other venue, just went with it, figuring it could get those switched shortly. After walking in and seeing practically every seat filled, this blog asked a waitress if there was anywhere it could sit. She said yes, right on this barstool that already had a jacket on it.

Pun City was a little wary of the arrangement, but hey, she said it was alright. (It turned out that the jacket was the bar owners'). The waitress took this blog's order, and this blog then focused on getting the game switched over. The frazzled, weary bartender set Pun City up with a soda, and this blog asked her if she could switch one of the channels over to a college game. She said, "You'll have to wait for Paul, he knows how to do it. He's a regular, the remote is here, but it switches all the channels unless you do it right, and he's the only one that knows." Well, Paul ended up venturing in, and he obliged with the switch. One important part of the switch was that Pun City knew the DirecTV channel for ESPN, which this blog hadn't known until very recently, so that was a huge boost. Iona vs. Saint Peter's, the Metro Atlantic championship game, was on, and this blog was pleased to be able to watch it.

Paul asked this blog, "Is that THE Iona?" This question, in just about any other city, would seem very unusual, but Pun City remembered where this blog was sitting, and said, "Yeah, it is." Paul said, "How about that! I'm a Gael. I went to their middle school and high school." That was kinda cool. Shortly thereafter, Paul left. This was important, because Pun City thinks that he was the owner, or at least knew the owner enough to have some sway.

This blog's foreign waitress, who had a light grasp of the English language, was discussing something with the bartender soon after Paul left. It turned out that the short-order cook had cooked this blog's burger well done, and not medium as ordered. This blog wasn't too worried about it, but yes, would have preferred a medium, so this blog asked to have it redone. Well, apparently the order had either been entered incorrectly by the waitress, or put in the wrong order by the bartender, or just messed up inexplicably by the cook. Well, the cook seemed pissed when he noticed the issue. So much to the point that he stormed out of the building, seemingly for good. This pissed off the bartender to no end, as she was arguably the next in line to cook. Pun City didn't really mind waiting, since the hostel didn't have any TVs, so this blog figured that it would wait around and see what happened. After about 15 minutes, the cook walked back in and prepared the burger correctly. After some broken English apologies from the waitress, and an apology that doubled as a diatribe against the cook from the bartender, this blog got its food, assuring everyone that it really was no big deal.

The bartender ended up giving this blog the meal for free, and this blog believes that she did so at her own expense, forgoing her one free meal from the restaurant for the night. This blog had said they didn't have to do it, so Pun City gave a tip roughly the same as the cost of the burger and was on its way. After that, some sleep and preparation for a full slate of 4 games the next day.

Ford Field's Football Format: Forgettable

Good evening. Pun City's working on some exciting (well, to this blog anyway) research for The Rule. More to come on that. Let's just say of the 478 games this blog has looked at, only 18 had the rule broken. That's over 96% successful as yet. Still a good number of games to look at (over 5,000 were played this year), but a good start.

For now, even though this was the last trip Pun City took, this blog figured it'd be cool to share a letter it wrote to the NCAA, commenting on their choice of Ford Field as a venue for the NCAA Tournament, in particular with the "full stadium" layout.

To Whom It May Concern:

This blog recently attended the Men's basketball championships at Ford Field in Detroit (Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games). Having attended hundreds of live sporting events in this blog's life, Pun City can honestly say they were the worst seats this blog has ever had at any event. Pun City was in section 340, row 12. From this view, Pun City could not see the nets. Players were mostly indistinguishable in warmups, and uniform numbers were the only way of separating players once the game began. Referee's whistles and sometimes pep bands were not very audible, if at all. While $53.00 for 3 games seemed like a good deal on the surface, it somehow managed to be a poor value in the end, due to the poor game experience the seat location provides.

Beyond this, vast expanses of unused space on the lower levels existed. This seemed like an unnecessary waste of potential seating space, and seating space with a good view of the action at that.

Ushers repeatedly checked patrons’ tickets when entering my section. This struck Pun City as absurd given that no one would intentionally "sneak into" this lousy section. This blog understands the need to check tickets in most sections (primarily the lower level), but game personnel should be advised to employ common sense with some of the peripheral (read: worst) sections.

Multiple times there were game stoppages due to incorrect scoreboard readings (This blog believes both were around the 10:37 mark in the 2nd half of the Davidson-Kansas game). The problems were dealt with relatively quickly but this blog can't help but speculate these issues were caused by having the court configured as it was. (In the middle of a large space, possibly far from the power sources traditionally used at the facility, then raised up 3 feet above ground level).

The court configuration being above ground level struck Pun City as odd and unnecessarily dangerous, as more than one player had to jump off the high platform while chasing a loose ball. This blog's understanding is that the court was raised to improve sightlines, which is a good idea, but Pun City doesn't think that player safety should be compromised for this reason. On a personal note, from section 340, another 3 feet further from the action would not have made a difference. Having the coach on the same level as the players, as would be the case at all other Div. I venues except Minnesota and Vanderbilt, probably would have proven to be a more comfortable setup for the players and coaches also.

As per usual, event shirts were overpriced ($25.00 for a t-shirt), but in this blog's opinion there weren't even any good designs this year for the "all logo" varieties. Each shirt showed the Final Four logo and had some type of San Antonio theme. Pun City understands that the Final Four is often the event most people associate with NCAA basketball, however in this blog's opinion the regionals should have their own identity and not have to include Final Four images to hold up. At the very least, this blog would like the option of a more "generic" shirt that does not mention Final Four, much less has San Antonio imagery rammed down your throat when you're in Detroit, a city with its own unique identity. Pun City knows the teams are not decided until very close to the game date, but the site is chosen well in advance and there is such a large scale of shirts being made that this blog doesn't believe splitting into 4 different "backgrounds" on the shirt is too much to ask for each regional site to have its own graphic identity. Everyone knows the goal is the Final Four, if we want a Final Four shirt we can get that separately. (Or continue producing regional shirts with Final Four logos on them, but give the option of an event-specific shirt also, I would imagine the Detroit shirt would sell better than the San Antonio one).

That said, the individual team shirts (i.e. "Davidson Sweet 16") were well-designed and if this blog were in the market for one of those, it would not have had an objection purchasing one.

Pun City would highly recommend not using a configuration where the entire football stadium is used in the future. This blog's experiences at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis have been much more positive than the Detroit "full stadium" setup. As this blog is sure you are aware, the RCA Dome used bleachers and a divider to maximize one half of the football stadium instead of miscasting an entire football stadium as a basketball venue. Final Four patrons should not be subjected to such poor sightlines next year, especially since this blog believes they will undoubtedly pay more than Pun City did for my seats this year.

Another suggestion this blog would have is to show more consistent updates of other games being played. This is not a problem unique to Ford Field. At every National Championship event Pun City has attended (5 to date), fans are only able to see score updates when there is a break in the action. This blog believes that in venues like Ford Field and the RCA Dome, this is due to the lack of “auxiliary scoreboards” given the football configuration. In cases like these, Pun City would recommend specifying requirement of applicant stadiums with more flexible scoreboards (where they would be able to show necessary game information plus out-of-town scores), or using some of the back rows of seating to house temporary out-of-town scoreboards. Stadiums like the Bradley Center and the Palace at Auburn Hills either choose not to show out-of-town scores or are instructed not to, and Pun City feels this is a mistake. While the focus of event attendees is on the game in front of them, this blog would think almost everyone there wants to know what is going on in other games, and not just twice a half. While Pun City doesn’t know that this is an official policy, if it is, this blog has a hard time understanding the logic behind it.

Currently the only halftime entertainment at NCAA championship games is that provided by the cheerleaders, spirit squads, and bands of each school. This is good entertainment but Pun City believes there should also be some sort of promotional contest as well. The intermission gets to be pretty long and there is a lot of unused time where patrons have nothing to turn their attention to.

The security entering the venue was well-organized and this blog did feel safe at the venue, which was no small task given the neighborhood where the event was held. Concessions were bland and overpriced, but Pun City doesn’t think this was anything different than one could expect at any other venue (although the US Cellular Arena – a host for previous women’s championship events, and Kohl Center – host for previous men’s events have very good concessions). Elevator operators and workers at the fan assistance center were very nice. Pun City thought the facility did a nice job of getting all of their advertisements covered up for the game so that the NCAA and the game were showcased.

This blog will continue attending NCAA championship events but it looks forward to much better experiences in the future, and this blog would hope that you decide against continuing to use the “full football stadium” layouts. Feel free to contact Pun City if you have any questions.

Thank you for your time,

Pun City

Collude For The Underdog!

Some college hoops notes:

• The 3/11 idea of heading to Northern Arizona is looking bleak. Pun City needs Portland State to go 0-4 in conference to close out their Big Sky season, in addition to Northern Arizona going 3-0 to finish it off. PSU plays 4-8 Northern Colorado tonight in the first of these 7 games. The Flagstaff idea could hit the deck tonight, gametime is 8:05 CST.
• The 3/11 idea of heading to Los Angeles is looking solid. A friend of the blog is around then and will be able to host. A possible return trip to Pepperdine and/or Cal State Fullerton may be on the horizon, as this blog was unable to get to their bookstores previously. Long Beach State is just a cool campus, so that might get added on also.
• Pun City wishes UWM would be able to make the NCAA tournament, but that scenario would appear unlikely at this juncture. The Panthers almost certainly would need to get a win in Hinkle Fieldhouse against Butler, which seems unlikely at best.
• One thing that Pun City has given some thought to recently is conferences sending a maximum number of teams to the NCAA tournament. Some say the Pac 10 could send 8, some say the Big East could send 8, you get the idea. Someone's bubble always gets burst though, when an unexpected team wins the automatic bid. This raises an interesting question: If Pun City were the conference commissioner for a conference like the Horizon League, would there be incentive to have your likely at-large bid team lose in the conference final? For instance, if UWM (with no at-large hopes this season) were facing Butler (very close to an at-large lock) in the final, would there be good reason to collude for a UWM victory, thus sending both to the NCAA tournament?

According to CNN Money, the NCAA distributes TV revenue to each conference based on the number of games teams from their conference have played in the tournament over the last 6 years. Having 2 teams in the tournament instead of 1 obviously produces more opening round games for a conference. The question to ask would be, would a team like Butler be significantly less likely to win their first round game if their seed suffered due to the loss?

Hypothetically, if a loss in the Horizon League title game would only drop Butler from a 5 to a 7 seed, and the Horizon would pick up UWM's opening game, would their expected number of games go up?

Well, yes. From 2002-2006, 5-seeds have a 10-6 record in first round games. 7 seeds have a 10-6 record also. So in either case, there's a 5/8 chance of 2 games for the at-large team in this hypothetical. Adding 1 game from the automatic bid and you have 2.63 as your expected value of games in the first 2 rounds. This is in opposition to the 1.63 if UWM loses.

The 3rd round is where the stats come back. 5 seeds are 10-4 in the 2nd round against either 4 seeds or 13 seeds (between 2002 and 2006). Conversely, 7 seeds are 6-9. So the expected value of the 3rd round would be 0.71 for 5 seeds that make it there (0.44 combining odds from 1st and 2nd round). Expected 3rd round value for 7 seeds that make it would be 0.4, with a combined odds of 0.25.

4th through 6th rounds of the NCAA tournament provide expected values of 0.125 for 7s and 0.21 for 5s.

Overall expected value for 5 seeds is 1.285 rounds, overall expected value for 7 seeds is 1.0 rounds. Over 6 years, allowing the "at-large" (Butler) team to win the game is going to net an extra 1.71 games for that team. Over one year, allowing the "auto bid" team (UWM) to win is going to net 1 sure extra game for the conference and 0.285 less games for the at-large. A net of +0.715 games every year, plus any bonus games the "auto-bid" team would pick up (13 seeds expect 0.224 extra games, essentially giving the conference 0.937 extra games every year).

So, Pun City isn't one to encourage collusion, but Conference USA, The Horizon League, the Missouri Valley Conference and maybe even the West Coast Conference would probably average about an extra 0.937 games' worth of revenue each year if they allowed a low-rated team to defeat their likely at-large team in the conference championship game each year.

Based on the CNN Money report, one game's worth of revenue translates to $6.25 million. Collusion has its benefits.

Marquette's Ticket Office: Wait Some More!

ESPN's Joe Lunardi has his Bracketology out, and one fun activity Pun City always likes to do is see what apparel this blog has that would be relevant with each of the projected seeds. Here's this week's sample:

1 Seeds:
Memphis - Hat, conference shirt, tiger paw
Tennessee - Nothing
Kansas - NCAA tournament shirt
North Carolina - Shirt, hat, wristbands

2:
Washington State - Shirt, hat, conference shirt
UCLA - 2 Hats, conference shirt
Georgetown - Hat, conference shirt
Duke - Hat, jersey, shooting shirt, wristbands

3:
Indiana - Jersey, conference shirt, warmup pants
Michigan State - Hat, conference shirt
Texas - NCAA tournament shirt
Wisconsin - 20 shirts, 14 hats, jersey, warmup pants, wristbands, shorts, sportcoat, conference shirt, NCAA tournament shirt

4:
Pittsburgh - NCAA tournament shirt, conference shirt
Marquette - 12 shirts, 8 hats, conference shirt
Stanford - Conference shirt
Drake - Conference shirt

5:
Vanderbilt - Nothing
Butler - Conference shirt
Mississippi - Nothing
Dayton - Jersey, hat, conference shirt

6:
Xavier - Hat, conference shirt
St. Mary's - Nothing
Gonzaga - Hat
Baylor - Nothing

7:
Notre Dame - 2 shirts, 1 hat, conference shirt
Kansas State - Nothing
Clemson - Nothing
West Virginia - NCAA tournament shirt

8:
Texas A&M - Nothing
Arizona - Hat, conference shirt
Villanova - Conference shirt
Arizona State - Conference shirt

9:
Oregon - Conference shirt
Purdue - Shirt
Rhode Island - Conference shirt
Massachusetts - Conference shirt

10:
Boston College - NCAA tournament shirt
Providence - Conference shirt
Illinois State - Conference shirt
Mississippi State - Nothing

11:
Ohio State - Shirt, jersey, hat, shorts, conference shirt
Miami - Wristbands
Cleveland State - Conference shirt
South Alabama - Conference shirt

12:
Akron - Nothing (Although, Pun City has tickets for their Bracket Buster game 2/23, so this may change)
San Diego State - Nothing
Connecticut - Conference shirt
Louisville - Hat, conference shirt

13:
Davidson - Nothing
Virginia Commonwealth - Shirt, conference shirt
Oral Roberts - Conference shirt
Siena - Nothing

14:
Stephen F. Austin - Nothing
Cal State Northridge - Hat, conference shirt
Utah State - Conference shirt
UNC Asheville - Nothing

15:
Austin Peay - Hat, conference shirt
Northern Arizona - Nothing
Cornell - Nothing
Hampton - Conference shirt

16:
Lafayette - Nothing
Quinnipiac - Nothing
Jacksonville - Conference shirt
Binghamton - Nothing
Southern - Nothing

So far, 44 of 65 teams covered. Assuming that the above listing is the exact field that ends up happening, there is still a chance Pun City's apparel options would be a better fit come tournament time. As noted above, there's a good chance Pun City would pick up some Akron swag in February. Additionally, Pun City's March road trip will either be to New York for the Big East tournament or out west for the West Coast Conference and Mountain West Conference tournaments.

If this blog heads west, there is a 99% chance it would pick up at least a conference shirt from each tournament. This would bring relevance to the San Diego State entry. Additionally, it would cover for any other bids the MWC or WCC picked up. (St. Mary's would be accounted for from the WCC as well).

Incidentally, Pun City actually has a shirt depicting all Big East teams already, so a New York trip would not help the cause of adding relevance to extra tournament teams. It would still be a sweet trip though.

On the trip note, this blog knows a few of you are out there wondering where Pun City will be going. It's still up in the air unfortunately, but could be resolved as early as tomorrow.

The Marquette ticket office just received the number of tickets they have been allotted from the Big East for the tournament, and tomorrow they hope to determine which applicants receive their tickets. Pun City would put its chances at around 50-50 right now. The unfortunate part of this situation is that this blog has repeatedly had its hopes driven upward only to find out another delay was going on.

The MU ticket office first stated that they would know in November who would be receiving tickets. This changed to December, then January. At the start of January, they said "a couple weeks, maybe 3." It has indeed become 3 weeks, and last week one representative told Pun City that it would be determined by Wednesday, and another said it would be determined on Monday. Well, obviously Monday was wrong. Today's rep said they were "hoping to get that figured out tomorrow," so that doesn't even guarantee a Wednesday answer. This blog is hoping that a response is delivered by Friday at the latest, this is beyond ridiculous as far as having to plan a trip on short notice. Luckily some of the tournament days coincided, but the disparate locales make for no other consolidation of trip resources (rental car, hotel, flight) being possible. It's a tough situation, there's a good chance Pun City won't order Big East tickets for a while now, so hopefully this blog wins this year and is able to check the Big East off of the list.

Pun City Reserves The Conference Room

Had a chance to cruise NCAA Basketball sites this weekend, found some interesting links.

This isn't really a link, but Pun City might be "breaking" the story that the West Coast Conference is holding their Conference tournament in San Diego for 2008. This will be at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego. This was confirmed with a representative from the WCC office over the phone last week.

BYU was one of the first schools in the country to release its non-conference schedule Here.

The Atlantic Sun announced Lipscomb will host the next two Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball championships here. Lipscomb is in Nashville, also home to Belmont, which hosted the 2004 and 2005 tournaments. Additionally, the A-Sun announced they would have streamed broadcast of their athletic contests available online, though it's unclear if it will be set up where the games are free like the Horizon League, or must be subscribed to for a price, like the Missouri Valley and SoCon.

Binghamton was announced as the host of the 2008 America East Men's Basketball tournament, at least until the title game, when it will go to the highest seed's home court (which could potentially still be Binghamton, Pun City supposes).

At this point this blog is strongly considering heading to a West Coast Conference - Mountain West Conference (with possible Big West or Pac-10 sidetrip) swing. The main problems with this trip would be the dearth of WCC tickets available to the general (read: non-10-year-season-ticket-holding) fans; and the potential expense of staying in San Diego and Las Vegas. WCC tickets would almost certainly need to be scalped, but this blog has seen a number of those games broadcast the last few years, and the only games that actually sell out would be those involving Gonzaga. It would be a mildly risky gambit going down there without tickets in hand, but this blog can't imagine missing too many games considering that there's a lot of "empty-seat supply" available down there.

A bonus would be that the Los Angeles (or Anaheim) side trip would be a fairly cheap side trip thanks to this blog's access to possibly free lodging for the evening. Pac-10 seats might not be too cheap though, which is why this blog might be apt to go back to the Big West instead (as you may know, this blog has been to both the Big West and Pac-10 previously, so no additional conference would be added on that particular "bonus" swing).

Other bonuses would include this blog's first trip to San Diego and Las Vegas, as well as the relative ease of getting good Mountain West seats (a very good value as far as conference tournaments are concerned). Beyond this, California is good for an In-N-Out Burger stop or three, plus Jack-In-The-Box.

In a total non-sequitor, here's a picture of Dirk Nowitzki playing tennis:

On a non-conference note, this blog found the following link to an outstanding Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana commercial from a few years back. Try and name the product it's advertising before the screen tells you, Boy Howdy it's a tough one.

Also of note, for those of you that enjoyed Phonograph - Pun City plans to have Phonograph creator AJ "Ronk" Romens stop by for a "guest blog" within the next few weeks. Possibly as early as next week. Pun City is handing over full editorial control to Ronk for whenever he stops in, so you never know what we might get from that, although one would guess whatever he comes up with should appeal to the audience (almost certainly more than this blog normally does, anyway).

Pouring a Forty For This Blog's Homie, Paris Hilton

First off, as has been this blog's recent trend, Pun City is going to regurgitate another website's recommendation and give this link to an extremely hilarious video clip:

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Paris%20Hilton%20Jake/video/x27niv_paris-hilton-jake-byrd?from=rss

Now that the link-o-the-week is out of the way, this blog can move back to the trip recap.

Previously, on Pun City....

...and Scene.

Trip Recap #9 - March 9th, 8th day of the trip. The night before, this blog had gotten back to the hotel and inserted the room's keycard into the door. (Yes, the room had keycards, this blog was as stunned as anyone, but hold that thought...). Inconveniently enough though, for the second night in a row, the keycard didn't work. Also, the backup keycard did not work.

After last night's card not working, and several minutes of being accused of rubbing the magnetic strip against my credit card's magnetic strip, the hotel had courteously provided two non-working keycards as a sign of good faith. This time, armed with both keycards as proof of the recurring, inexcuseable problem, this blog marched into the nice moron's, er, hotel manager's office. The following is an approximate transcript of the conversation:

Pun City: "Hey, the keycard didn't work again. Actually, neither of them did."

Moron: "Did you rub them against each other?"

PC: (Shaking head, lifting hands skyward, and using 'Goddammit, we've been through this before, and why would anyone do that anyway?' face) - "No."

M: "Did you have them next to a credit card?"

PC: (Visibly incensed): "Ugh! No!"

M: "Oh, well, it's too cold for them to work, here's a new one."

AAAAAAHHHHH! Why would you even accuse the customer of doing something ridiculous like that if you were just going to use the cold excuse anyway? You had the cold excuse built in, this blog probably would have just let it go! Fricking Jaghole!

Customer's always right, eh?

Not at Absecon's Rodeway Inn. This blog would like to clarify so that Pun City is not involuntarily libeling the other Rodeway Inn in Absecon, which this blog briefly stopped at thinking it was this blog's lodging. The one at 200 E White Horse Pike, which is technically in Galloway, is the problem one. There are a couple others on E White Horse Pike that this blog can't vouch for. The one this blog briefly stopped at gave good directions to the lousy one.

This blog does seem to recall the wake-up call actually happening at the requested time this day, so that was a surprisingly good start. That gave Pun City some time to head over to Hamilton Mall. This was a solid mall. Lots of sports offerings in the mall, this blog was pleasantly surprised by a store called "Fadz" in the mall. This blog is equally surprised by how little information there is about the retail outlet online. If you can find something, let Pun City know, because this blog came up empty.

In a final non-basketball note, this blog inadvertantly used a full-service gas station. This blog didn't even know it was full-service until some dude came out of a booth and asked how much this site wanted in the tank. Since this blog would have preferred to pump its own gas, and the guy didn't speak too much English or do anything notable, this blog didn't dole out a tip.

The games of the day were Xavier vs. Rhode Island; and Saint Louis vs. George Washington. GWU slashed SLU, and Rhode Island beat the #1-seeded Musketeers. During the Xavier game, this blog struck up a conversation with a guy sitting in a nearby group. He was wearing an Illinois shirt and somewhat rooting for Xavier. He was there with Xavier fans but not really a Xavier fan himself. He asked what Pun City was doing there after this blog told him that it was a Wisconsin fan. This blog told him that it was just travelling alone and that every year Pun City just packs up and heads to a bunch of conference tournaments. After digesting that for a minute, the Illini fan smiled and said, "That's every guy's dream!" He then proceeded to tell everyone in his group what Pun City was there for, and it was some pretty good vindication for this blog's odyssey.

Some band notes:

Xavier's band played Jet's "Cold Hard Bitch," Europe's "Final Countdown," Smashmouth's "I'm A Believer," the theme from Blues Brothers, and Low Rider.

GWU's band played Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Journey's "More Than A Feeling," and a medley of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Smoke On The Water".

The SLU-GWU game ended up being Brad Soderberg's last game as coach of the Billikens. This blog sort of wishes it had seen Rick Majerus coach them, but this blog imagines it will probably get to see him coach live sometime soon given Majerus's affinity for the Milwaukee area and the number of teams in the area.

Next Trip Recap should be a good one. The Rodeway Inn manager's piece-de-resistance, the Atlantic 10 final of Rhode Island vs. George Washington, a drive back to Richmond to catch a flight, a stop at Maryland's Comcast Center, Selection Sunday madness, two flights and 3 airports. Two days, one game, and a whole lot of other stuff going on. Don't miss it, this blog plans on Next Tuesday. Hopefully a post in between there on other stuff.

Mid-Continent Conference is The Summit League

Some huge news this week, The Mid-Continent Conference has announced that they will be re-naming themselves The Summit League as of June 1st.

This coincides with the addition of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State (and the loss of Valparaiso to the Horizon League).

What this blog thought was really amazing though, was this information released on the conference's website. Let's break it down:

• The Summit League provides a mental image to reach for the top

Pun City: Well, yeah, this blog supposes. It also provides a mental image of a mountain. And Summit Credit Union.

• Aspirations of greatness

PC: True. They really want to be great again, especially since their last winner in the NCAAs (Valparaiso in 1998) just bailed for the Horizon League.

• Summit is a word that describes looking up, moving up, striving to go up, and reaching for the top.

PC: Uh, not sure on that one. This doesn't really mention those. Summit actually seems to describe the literal top of something, such as a mountain. It's more of a noun.

• Reach the Summit in academics and athletics.

PC: Sir, yes sir!

• Quick and easy to say.

PC: Yeah, I guess the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference didn't really factor this in during their decision-making process.

• Provides a sense of movement forward.

PC: Alright, seriously, could they get any more "markety?" Couldn't they just combine the last few statements into something like "Focus Groups Love It!" or "Buzzwords!"

• Visionary and contemporary.

PC: In Pun City's estimation, The Summit League begins as the 4th-best "League" in the NCAA. (Behind the Horizon, Patriot, and Ivy. There are no others). This is actually fairly visionary since the Mid-Con used to be the 19th-best "Conference" (out of 27).

• Summit is what lies ahead. It embodies vision and purpose and represents the possibility of creation, innovation and opportunity.

PC: I really can't imagine anyone writing that other than this woman:

• Embraces the potential of a vibrant future.

PC: But, the Mid-Con's old sunrise logo was already vibrant though!

• Positive direction, conveys momentum.

PC: This blog would have preferred "The Inertia League" for this point.

• On first reference, refer to it as The Summit League. Future references may be shortened to The Summit.

PC: If this blog is going to talk about The Summit, it's going to call The Summit League whatever it wants.

• Do not refer to the league as TSL or SL.

PC: This blog wasn't really thinking about that, but now that you mention it...

• A student-athlete who is voted to the conference's first team is referred to as first-team All-Summit (or an All-Summit League selection).

PC: Really a lot of housekeeping you have to take care of when you make it a "League" instead of a "Conference."

• Do not refer to a student-athlete as a member of the All-"The" Summit team or first-team All-"The" Summit.

PC: This blog isn't sure who its picks for All-TSL are going to be, but this blog's sure that the All-SL team is going to have the same members.

• It is acceptable to refer to a student-athlete as an all-league or all-conference selection.

PC: This blog doesn't know about that, they don't sound too enthused.

So basically the Mid-Con hired a consultant and they told them that losing Valparaiso and Chicago State in the last 2 years and replacing them with some Independents didn't look great. Changing the logo will definitely go along with the whole "fresh start" theme and all, and the Mid-Con's logo was pretty old school. (Although charmingly so, in this blog's opinion).

Pun City does like the new name and logo though. The key points with the logo are that they didn't choose trendy colors that would look tired in a couple years, and the logo is basic enough that anyone could draw it. (This blog is a fan of basic logos, when kids can draw a logo it makes it more fun for everyone).

The change presents an interesting quandry for this blog though. Since this blog has already been to the Mid-Con tournament in 2005 when Chicago State and Valpo were still around, it technically could make a case that it needs to add The Summit League back onto its conference tournament checklist, especially with the new name and all.

This blog isn't really going to sweat it though. The Big XII, Missouri Valley, and Conference USA each have tournaments near The Summit League's Tulsa venue, and Tulsa's within feasible driving distance from Pun City's home office, so this blog will probably get there even without making it a priority. Given the cool logo, this blog will want to get there eventually anyway. But since the Mid-Con explicitly became the Summit League, this blog considers them the same conference. Still 16 tournaments to go. Any thoughts? Leave a comment.

The Coolest Value Matrix This Side of a Toyota Plant

This blog recently created a "value matrix" of potential conference trips for next year. It is Pun City's hope to reel of a number of trip recaps in the near future so that the whole trip from last year is laid out and we can jump to new topics, including next year's potential trip. However, right now, a brief intermission where we jump ahead.

So here's the rankings for the remaining 16 conferences this blog hasn't been to as yet. Points were given for the following categories: Quality of basketball; Ticket Cost/Availability; Proximity/Accessibility to other conference tournaments; Ancillary Costs; Weather; "Planability," based on when the site of the game is set; and any potential bonuses. 5 points in a category was the highest grade, 1 was the lowest.

16. Big East - This blog was surprised by where the Big East finished. However, the proof is in the pudding. They do get high marks for quality of play and planability, both are 5s since the Big East is perennially one of the top 4 conferences in the country and they play their tournament in Madison Square Garden every year. The problem is low marks in every other category. As a season ticket holder for a Big East school last year, Pun City wasn't even given an order form for Big East Tourney tickets. Ebay shows tickets usually in the $1000.00 range for all session passes. Ticket score: 1. New York is probably one of the most expensive cities in the country, primarily for hotels and transportation. Ancillary Cost score: 1. While proximate to other tournaments, given the costs mentioned earlier, along with the difficulty of driving in New York, it would not be smart to miss Big East games for lesser conferences. This aside from the fact that no nearby tournaments are being played immediately before the Big East tournament puts the Proximity score at 1. This blog didn't want to have weather be a major factor in outcomes, so it bottomed weather scores out at 2. New York in March is probably similar to Atlantic City in March, which had a snowstorm while Pun City visited this year. Big East weather score: 2. Total score: 15.

14T. Big Sky - Quality of play - 3. Montana did get an NCAA win in 2006 so not a bad deal there. Big Sky teams can consistently keep up with the major conferences if not come out with too many wins. Ticket availability: 5. This blog is sure that tickets wouldn't be a problem, primarily since the tournament location isn't announced until late February. The Big Sky's Proximity score comes in at a 2. While Sacramento State and Northern Arizona, if hosting tournament games, would be close to a couple other tournaments, the other 7 schools are too far to get to from any other conference. Planability is a 1 for the Big Sky. 9 schools canvassing practically one-third the area of the contiguous United States does not make flying into a "central location" viable. Also, the tournament sites aren't announced until late February, making travel arrangements for the early March trip nightmarish. Given this planability, this blog had to dock points for Ancillary Costs, which came in at a 2. Depending on the tourney site, weather could be great or lousy and anywhere in between. Weather points a 3. 1 bonus point was awarded since this blog has never visited the Pacific Northwest, and there's a good chance the Big Sky site would be there. Total points: 17.

14T. Northeast - Quality of play: 2. This conference sucks. As a result, ticket availability is undoubtedly easy, 5. A lot of potential sites close to other conferences' set and potential locations, although given the unpredictable sites, this blog doesn't think it would be too easy to lock in a route. Proximity's a 3. Northeastern US strikes this blog as being expensive, so Other Costs come in at a 3. Another late-determined site, although at least within reasonable driving distance, so Planability is a 2. Weather similar to Big East, another 2. Total points: 17.

13. Patriot - Carbon copy of NEC, but slightly better quality of play (3). Total points: 18.

11T. America East - Bonus for having a set site (Boston), 5 points on Planability. Proximity (4) good because Boston not the rental car black hole that NY is. Other costs 3, Weather 2, Ticket availability 5, and bonus points because this blog knows a friend in Massachusetts and might be able to hang out (maybe). Total points 22.

11T. Big South - Quality 3, Tickets 5, Proximity 3, Other Costs 4, Weather 5, Planability 2. Site undetermined until final standings. Total points: 22.

9T. Atlantic Coast - Great quality (5), Tickets very cost-prohibitive (i.e. at least $1000.00), (1). Fairly proximate to some other conferences (4). Other costs average (3), Weather (5), Planability (5). Like the Big East, but much improved since the trip can be combined with other tournaments (beforehand), and no New York expenses involved. Total points: 23.

9T. Southern - Quality (3), Tickets (5), Proximity (3), Other costs (4), Weather (5), Planability (2). Bonus of 1 given some new locations this blog could visit. Total points: 23.

6T. SWAC - Quality (2), Ticket (5), Proximity (2), since nothing's really close to Birmingham. Other Costs (5), Weather (5), Planability (5). Total Points: 24.

6T. Metro Atlantic - Quality (3), Ticket (5), Planability (4) - since the tournament has started in one location, then moved to higher seeds' home locations in the past. Last year it was all in Bridgeport, CT, so that score could improve if repeated. Other costs (4) given the possibility of having to drive elsewhere. Bonus of 2 since this blog has friends near Connecticut and prior site Vestal, NY. Total points: 24.

6T. SEC - Quality (5), Ticket (2), tickets could be expensive but there's a chance they're available to the public if it's in a big facility. Proximity a (4) since some stops possible before it, Other Costs (3), Weather and Planability both (5)s. Total points: 24.

5. Big XII - Quality (5), Tickets (2), this blog isn't too hopeful on a ticket in a 17000-seat arena, but maybe it's easier than Pun City thinks. Proximity a (4) since Mid-Con and Missouri Valley in the vicinity. Other costs a (4), Kansas City's affordable. Weather (4), Planability (5) and a bonus given that this blog hasn't been to Kansas City and could potentially tour Kaufman Stadium.

3T. MAC - Quality (4), Tickets (5), Proximity (2), it's unlikely that anything's within striking distance of Cleveland. Maybe some Horizon League options or Patriot League are possible. Other costs (5), Weather (2), Planability (5), 3 bonus points given this blog knows Michigan and Columbus residents, so visits from or to them might be possible. Total points: 26.

3T. Southland - Quality (3), Tickets (5), Proximity (2), probably only Birmingham even within striking distance, also possible Sun Belt destinations. Other costs (5), Weather (5), Planability (5), and a bonus point for a possible Houston Rockets game plus the conference logo being cool.

2. West Coast - Quality (4), Tickets (3?) - this blog doesn't know what their deal is. Theoretically, having spoken to a conference official last year, the conference is going to be in a larger venue this season. Their website says that they'll be in Southern California, which isn't too specific. This blog is hoping that it's the Staples Center or some huge spot where they couldn't possibly sell it out, even with all the Gonzaga fans. However, this blog is also ready for a giant letdown since the last 2 years when the tournament was in Spokane and Portland, there were no tickets available to the general public. This despite the arenas being virtually empty every non-Gonzaga game, much to this blog's chagrin. Pun City is keeping an eye on the situation and hopes to see a huge venue with tons of extra tickets available. Proximity a (5), Other Costs a (3) since LA is expensive but flights there aren't. Weather (5), Planability (5) for now since this blog assumes they'll have a specific site chosen before the season begins. That could fall. Given a couple friends in LA, this blog is awarding 3 bonus points to the WCC. Total points: 28.

And, #1 is....

Mountain West - Mountain West? Actually yeah. Quality (4), Tickets (5), has to be one of the easiest tickets in the country. This blog was able to find 3rd-row seats as late as December last year. Proximity (5), can get to some L.A. tournaments and possibly the Big Sky if it's in Northern Arizona or Sacramento. Even the WAC isn't out of the question in Las Cruces, NM. Other costs (3), Weather (5), Planability (5), and 3 bonus for being close enough for LA friends to visit and being in Las Vegas where this blog hasn't yet been. Could be pretty cool. This blog is thinking the ideal trip would be WCC and MWC, but we'll see what happens with the WCC location and ticket availability.

NCAA's Dark Horses Euthanized

Yes it is Tuesday and this blog forgot to post.

Resultantly, this blog is going to post some teams that have been eliminated from the NCAAs.

Ivy League: (No conference tournament, out of contention for regular season crown):
Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton

Horizon League: (Conference tournament began tonight, these teams lost):
Cleveland State, Detroit, and alas, UW-Milwaukee. It truly was a rebuilding year for the Panthers.

Big South: (Conference tournament began tonight, these teams lost):
Radford, Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern, Liberty

Independents: (Technically could receive at-large bids, but this is so unlikely this blog is ruling that out):
Utah Valley State, North Dakota State, Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, Texas-Pan American, New Jersey Tech, Savannah State, South Dakota State, Chicago State, UC-Davis, Winston-Salem State, Longwood

Ohio Valley: (Conference tournament began tonight, these teams lost):
Southeast Missouri State, Morehead State, Tennessee State, Murray State

(These teams hadn't qualified for the OVC tournament):
Jacksonville State, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee-Martin

Big East: (These teams will not qualify for the conference tournament):
South Florida, Cincinnati, Rutgers

This applies to Pun City in that Ivy pick Cornell is out, and Big South backup Coastal Carolina is out. Surprisingly enough, that's the only casualties through Day 1 of Championship Week-plus.

The Most Auto-Bids This Side of eBay

Trying something new here: Xtreme white! Pun City's going to predict the automatic bid from each conference. This blog realizes it's at a great advantage picking this late in the season, but there's 31 conferences and that's tough enough even if you know the finalists in each tournament.

As a reminder, all automatic bids are determined by the conference tournament winners, with the exception of the Ivy League, which does not hold a conference tournament. Those crazy Ivies send their regular season champion to the NCAAs.

This blog tries to keep track of as many conferences as possible, but it doesn't quite keep track of all of them. For this reason, you can count on the shorter explanations being conferences this blog isn't too huge of an expert on. Here we go with part one, 15 random conferences:

Big Ten: This blog thinks that Wisconsin will win the Big Ten tournament. Bo Ryan isn't a huge fan of the tournament, but the Badgers seem to always end up in the final when they're about to get rooked out of a good seed. This blog wouldn't be surprised if they won the tournament but somehow ended up with a 2 seed, accompanied by some weak explanation from the committee that only infuriates Badger fans more. Then again, maybe Wisconsin just tanks an early round game to rest up for the NCAAs and Indiana storms through the tournament because they need it the most. Pick: Wisconsin Backup: Indiana

Mid Continent Oral Roberts is the pick. This tournament almost isn't fair. It's at the supposedly "Neutral" court at Union High School in Tulsa, which just so happens to be about 5 miles from.....Oral Roberts' campus. While not technically a home court advantage, all of the home fans will be out for their games, and last year's tournament finalist, Chicago State, has left the conference. All this, and ORU's top scorers Caleb Green and Ken Tutt are back. Pick: Oral Roberts Backup: Valparaiso I guess?

Mid American: This blog's going with Ohio. No great reason behind this, mainly being a "homer." This blog is going to watch a game at Ohio on February 24th, so it would be cool to say it saw another tournament team in person. Realistically, this blog isn't thinking the Bobcats can make it, especially after getting pummeled by Akron tonight. Akron on the other hand.... Pick: Ohio Backup: Akron

Conference USA: Memphis. This conference has really fallen off, it's basically Memphis and everyone else. Pundits were right when they predicted that Memphis in the 2000s would become very similar to UNLV in the 1990s, a team that dominated the WAC with no strong opposition. Hopefully Memphis isn't going to get wrung up on major recruiting violations 5 years down the road though. Oh, and did Pun City mention that this tournament is on Memphis's home floor? Well it is, so that's not going to hurt. Pick: Memphis Backup: If this blog were lazy, it would pick UAB. Because it is a sucker for an awesome school fight song, it's going with Central Florida.

Horizon League: Wright State. Everyone else is going to pick Butler here. This blog thinks that Butler very strongly parallels 2004's Pacific team. This was a very fundamentally sound team that scored major upsets with somewhat of a star (Christian Maraker) and a lot of good role players. Butler is a very fundamentally sound team that scored major upsets with a more convincing star (AJ Graves), and a lot of good role players. Pacific rolled through the Big West regular season, ensuring themselves an at-large bid, then lost in the tournament final to Utah State. Butler has already ensured themselves an at-large bid, and based on Wright State having beaten Butler already, this blog is convinced they can repeat the feat and get the Horizon League 2 bids. Pick: Wright State Backup: Butler (This blog wants to say UWM, but they're a year away and this blog can't see them winning 3-4 games in a row on the road).

Ivy League: Cornell. Simply because of the following sentence: Mark Vershaw is an assistant coach there. This blog can smell what the Big Red are cooking. Plus, they're tied with Yale for the lead and hold the tie-breaker. This would be stunning as Pennsylvania and Princeton have won something like the last 10 auto bids out of the Ivy. Pick: Cornell Backup: Pennsylvania

West Coast: Santa Clara. This blog is really convinced that Gonzaga is not going to be able to recover from their psychedelic trip. This was somewhat evident last night as Santa Clara snapped the Bulldogs' 50-game home winning streak. While the tournament will take place in Portland this year, which might lend it to being swarmed by Gonzaga fans, this blog doesn't think it's going to be able to string together 3 wins in a tournament it typically struggles in even when Gonzaga's a powerhouse. Santa Clara is trying to win a tournament for their retiring coach, Dick Davey. This sounds like a pretty cool Tom-Brennan-at-Vermont-esque storyline heading into the NCAAs. Pick: Santa Clara Backup: Oof, Gonzaga? Nah....San Francisco.

Missouri Valley: Missouri State has a veteran team that seems a bit inconsistent. That said, they're playing the tournament in their home state and will more than likely need a few conference tourney wins to ensure a spot in the NCAAs. After getting completely robbed last year with the #21 RPI in the nation apparently not being good enough for an at-large bid, this team doesn't want to give the committee a choice. Recent MVC tournaments have had a track record of teams rising to the occasion to qualify automatically. This blog thinks Missouri State will continue the trend. Pick: Missouri State Backup: Defending champ and top-25 Southern Illinois.

Big South: Winthrop. This blog doesn't know, they always win this thing. Backup: Coastal Carolina maybe? That'd be cool if Coastal coach Buzz Peterson faced his successor Bruce Pearl in the NCAAs.

America East: Vermont. See Winthrop. They always win this conference. Except last year. Backup: Albany.

Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. A pretty good team, plus each year everyone's bracket needs that one team that is too long to fit on the bracket and screws up the font. This is that team. Backup: Sam Houston State

Big East: Marquette seems to be the flavor-of-the-week for pundits choosing a "wild card" Final Four team. This blog can envision a conference title adding fuel to their fire going into Selection Sunday, stirring up a frenzy for these experts. This blog can also see MU's lack of size making them a beatable mark for an early, undersized NCAA opponent. So why don't we pencil them in as Big East conference champs, and this blog will put Louisville in as the backup as a reward for cleaning Pitt's clock last night. (And they brought back Derrick Caracter who seems to be a spark for them).

Mid-Eastern Athletic: Delaware State, they've played everyone who's anyone in the non-conference schedule, then run through the MEAC with an 11-2 record to date. This blog thinks they're ready to dole out some Bluntt-force trauma to MEAC tournament opponents in Raleigh.

Atlantic Sun: Belmont, mainly because they're the home team and have a very experienced coach. Backup: Campbell, because they're the Camels. They should be able to smoke someone.

Big West: Cal-State Fullerton. Long Beach State probably should win, but this blog is guessing that eligibility issues will become too great of a distraction for the 49ers. The Titans have had a pretty strong year, and Pacific is way down. Backup's still Long Beach State though.