Change the batteries in the remote. Fluff the recliner. It’s conference tournament week and that means seven days – and nights – of games that will decide the fate of bubble teams and the seeding of those who don’t have to worry.
The first category of games are the championships of the one-bid conferences. These have the capability of making a neutral viewer feel elation and despair over the same game. Most of the title tilts this weekend lived up to that with Belmont’s win over Murray State in the Ohio Valley Conference the best example.
Then comes the games of the bubble teams of the bigger conferences. So many times you hear the talk of a team that may be in seventh or eighth place needing to win at least a certain number of games. Usually the first game such a team plays is against an opponent from the same part of the standings and that means the RPI computer yawns at the result. Those teams need to beat a team with a better RPI to improve their chances of securing a spot on the at-large list.
An example is Connecticut in this week’s American Athletic Conference tournament. The sixth-seeded Huskies, the defending national champions who need a lot to happen to get even a chance to repeat, open play Thursday against 11th-seeded South Florida. UConn, which had an RPI around 70, wouldn’t get much help from beating a team whose RPI is in triple digits.
But Friday’s quarterfinals would mean a matchup with third-seeded Cincinnati, a team with an RPI in the high 40s, and that would be a boost to the Huskies’ resume. One advantage they have going in is that the tournament is being played in Hartford, a quick ride away from campus.