Everyone has a favorite season or holiday. Kids dream of Christmas and all the toys that it may bring. Others enjoy the warmth of family gathered around a turkey for Thanksgiving, but for a great deal of people their favorite holiday is March Madness.
Fine, it is not an official holiday but it might as well be in my opinion. The appetizer to the Final Four is all the conference tournaments that have kicked off this week. Granted the Big 10 decided to play a week earlier just so they could play in the bright lights and big city of New York.
Conference USA is set to kick off Wednesday night from Frisco, Texas.The clear favorite in the tournament is regular season champs, Middle Tennessee.
Outside of a throw away game against Marshall to end the season the Blue Raiders are on a roll. They have climbed into the top 25 and dominated the conference. Seniors Nick King and Giddy Potts lead an experienced team who thrive on big moments and watching opponents crumble under real game pressure.
The Blue Raiders should march to the title game with little opposition on their side of the bracket.
The fun is going to occur on the bottom of the bracket with a bevy of teams who can get hot and earn the right to challenge MTSU in the championship game. Old Dominion will hold the two seed after WKU laid a proverbal egg in the season finale at UAB.
Speaking of UAB, the Blazers set with the six seed and are hoping to advance over Florida Atlantic to take on WKU in the quarterfinals. The Blazers are capable of putting together a hot streak and knocking off a couple higher seeds.
Old Dominion is the wildcard in the lower half of the bracket. They lost both games decidedly to WKU and pulled out a close win over the Blazers at home. ODU has the talent to compete with MTSU should they advance to Saturday’s final.
With all that said, Western Kentucky should handle business in their draw and get a date with Middle Tennessee on Saturday. The Blue Raiders are fringe at-large contenders and will want to win the tournament to ensure a tournament birth.
WKU will have to win out if they want to see the field of 64. C-USA would benefit if WKU won and MTSU was able to land an at large bid.
PREDICTION:
Look for some close games and tempers to flare with so much on the line. In the end, the Blue Raiders of MTSU will hold true to seed and win the crown. The Hilltoppers won't go down without a fight in the finale, but just will not have enough to dethrone the defending champs.
Semifinals: MTSU 80 vs Marshal 68, WKU 75 vs ODU 66
Finals: MTSU 77 vs WKU 69.
Tournament MVP: Giddy Potts
