For the first time in school history, the University of South Florida had its best season taking home its first American Athletic Conference Championship. The Bulls are the number one seed and take the court at Dickies Arena on Friday afternoon against the winner of the East Carolina-Tulsa game.
The American is likely to be maybe a two-bid league with Florida Atlantic being the favorite heading into the tournament. USF enters the tournament winning 20 of their last 22 games and they have wins over FAU, Charlotte, Memphis, and SMU all of which must be considered legitimate threats to win the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Most people who follow college basketball say that USF must at least make the conference final to have a chance and hope a few other teams around the country bomb out. But the Bulls head to Ft. Worth to win the AAC automatic bid taking the guesswork out of the equation.
Meanwhile, the Florida Gators are considered a favorite to head to the NCAA tournament not a lock but very close.
SEC TOURNAMENT
While the Big 12 has rightfully earned a reputation as the nation’s toughest league, the SEC has not been far behind this season, and that could be reflected in the NCAA tourney. Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida are dreaming about The Dance, heading to Nashville, while Mississippi State (19-12), Ole Miss (20-11) and Texas A&M (18-13) could give the league up to nine bids.
ACC TOURNAMENT
There are a slew of teams in the ACC that are in the same bucket — Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Clemson and Syracuse — in that they should feel good about their NCAA chances but would feel a whole lot better with a win or two in Washington, D.C.
Virginia Tech is the team that is in desperation mode. The Hokies (18-13) play Florida State in a second-round game Wednesday and probably need to make a run to the championship game to have any chance of stealing at at-large berth.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
There are few hotter teams in the nation than St. John’s, that bunch that coach Rick Pitino bemoaned not-too-long ago. The Red Storm (19-12) have won five straight to climb onto the NCAA bubble heading into a brutally tough Big East tourney as the No. 5 seed, which means a second-round game against fourth-seeded Seton Hall — another bubble team — on Thursday.
Along with St. John’s and Seton Hall (20-11), No. 7 seed Providence (19-12) will be trying to work its way into the field this week.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT
Purdue and Illinois know they’re going to the dance. Everyone else? Starting with third-seeded Nebraska, there are eight teams with at least 18 regular-season wins, and each of them can earn an NCAA berth this week in Minneapolis.
Northwestern and Michigan State, along with the Huskers, should feel good about their chances already. But their hopes could get a little dicey if conference rivals such as Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State and Minnesota can string together some wins.
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
Utah (18-13) put its at-large NCAA hopes in peril with a pair of losses last week, dropping the Utes to the No. 6 seed and a first-round game against Arizona State in the final Pac-12 Tournament as it has been known. One more slip-up could be all Oregon (20-11) or Colorado (22-9) need to feel much more comfortable about its own NCAA Tournament aspirations.
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
The Mountain West quietly has been one of the deepest conference in the nation, and San Diego State, Utah State, Nevada and Boise State have the quality wins and advanced metrics to merit at-large bids already. Colorado State and New Mexico could give the conference six spots in the field of 68, likely more than the Pac-12 or the ACC.
Other teams that could merit at-large bids if they fail to win their league tourneys include McNeese State (28-3) out of the Southland; Princeton (24-3) from the Ivy League; and Grand Canyon from the WAC.
James Madison (30-3) did all the bubble teams a favor by winning the Sun Belt tourney title Monday night.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
