I am not sure how conscious I will be in the morning, so might as well get the viewing guide done over the last 4 minutes of the Utah State game.
To be fair, almost everything is a big game on Friday. SEC and Big 10 are still in their quarterfinals, but the other major conferences are to their semi-finals, so all the games should be pretty good.
The top 4 teams in the ACC will battle on Friday – UNC will try to take advantage of Flagg’s injury as they take on their rivals #1 Duke at 7 pm. Then, #10 Clemson will play #13 Louisville in the 9:30 pm semi-final with a chance to improve their seeding.
The Big East also has their top 4 teams battling as #25 Marquette will try to upset regular season champion #6 St. John’s at 6:30 pm. Then at 9 pm, defending national champions Connecticut will play Creighton – should be a great night of basketball at Madison Square Garden.
The seeds held form in the Big 12 as well. #2 Houston will defend their regular season championship against #17 BYU at 7 pm, followed by #9 Texas Tech taking on Arizona. The games should be great, even if it is being played on the ridiculous court they created in Kansas City.
The Big 10 tournament should be some great matchups. #7 Michigan State kicks things off in Indianapolis at Noon against #23 Oregon. Then, #18 Wisconsin will play UCLA (the only non-ranked team left). And then in the evening games, we will have #11 Maryland against #24 Illinois and #20 Purdue vs. #22 Michigan. I have to say, it is pretty amazing that in these four power conferences, how the top teams keep advancing.
The SEC tournament will continue to be wild as their top 4 seeds will enter the chaos. Their lineup is #3 Auburn vs Ole Miss, #8 Tennessee vs Texas, #4 Florida vs #21 Missouri, and #5 Alabama vs #15 Kentucky – if these games are anywhere close to as good as the ones today, it should be an incredible day of basketball in Nashville.
The mid-majors also have some key games. VCU kicks off their Atlantic 10 tournament in a tough quarterfinal against St. Bonaventure at 11:30 am. #16 Memphis also has a somewhat difficult opener in the American quarterfinals against Wichita State. UC San Diego plays in the Big West semi-finals vs. Santa Barbara. And then of course, there is the Mountain West. They don’t start until 9:30 pm, but they have two great games in Las Vegas as New Mexico plays Boise State, and Utah State plays Colorado State.
So – as I said – you can’t miss no matter what conference tournament you decide to watch. All the games should be awesome!