I get a lot of flack from my girlfriend over the fact that I don’t put nearly enough coverage of the women’s game on this site. Truth is, ACL injury jokes just aren’t that funny anymore.

Anyway, it’s pretty ridiculous that Pat Summitt is now two titles away from tying John Wooden for the most all time in the game of college basketball. Women’s basketball, in order to bring in eyes, needs to have two or three powerhouses. Tennessee has obliged many times over now.

Eight titles. Just wow. I hope they get 10.

And Candace Parker, you were a joy to watch. Perhaps I’ll catch the occasional WNBA All-Star game whenever a timely flu hits me.

Yes, UMass and Ohio State will battle it out tonight at Madison Square Garden for the right be predicatbly joked about as the 66th-best team in the country.

It’s believed that M’Men coach Travis Ford could accept the coaching job at LSU (seems like an OK fit, nothing great), so this could be his last game with the school. I’m going to have to root for UMass because I shilled for the A-10 all year, my Final Four pick of Xavier didn’t quite get their and UMass probably deserved to be in The Dance, so a win could give them some closure.

Also, Ohio State’s becoming renowned for getting beat in title games, so let’s just put a little more gasoline on that fire.

7 o’clock on The Juggernaut. The Office doesn’t start until next week (which is amazing timing), so wet your NCAA appetite with this, I guess. Plus, Raftery’s on the call, so there’s that.

Oh, whoops. Opening round game.

This thing is a travesty. Either Coppin State or Mount Saint Mary’s will be denied the glitz and glamor of getting their doors blown out by North Carolina, and isn’t that part of the charm of this thing? We like to see the 16s play tough, but it’s also refreshing to see the expected routing in Round 1. The only justice in this year’s game is the fact that Coppin State is 16-20 and doesn’t really belong with the rest of the crowd anyway.

I could continue to bash the NCAA on why this thing is a joke, but I’ll save that for next year. You know why it’s a joke, too.

So yeah: It’s on ESPN tonight at 7 :30 p.m. ET and “Lavinburger” (as Brian from Awful Announcing calls them) will be on the telecast. One more night with Erin Andrews? I guess we’re all okay with that. It’s now possible that both teams will be, too.

The pick: Mount Saint Mary’s.

Two schools are playing in conference tournament title games this afternoon, which always makes Selection Sunday that much more appealing. Normally, you’ve got four title games with schools already guaranteed bids and maybe only some mild seeding on the line. Not so today.

Today, we hope that Illinois can beat Wisconsin (definitely possible) and give us a reason to bump out a bubble team that shouldn’t be there anyway. Hey: It’s the car-crash factor. Why would you not want to see a below-.500 team from a MAJOR conference in The Dance?

As for Georgia, they should have a tougher time because of the two games played yesterday. However, Arkansas is anything but a lock. Before we get to Billy Packer bitching to Tom O’Connor around 6:30, we’ve got two great reasons to root for underdogs.

And I’m saying that Illinois and Georgia, if they win, should be 15 seeds . Wait, no. Have them duke it out in the play-in game! How. Amazing.

America East championship:

No. 1 Maryland-Balitmore County 82, No. 2 Hartford 65. Unleash the hounds Retrievers!

Atlantic 10 championship:

No. 2 Temple 69, No. 5 Saint Joseph’s 64. It’s going to feel weird to not see Don Chaney on the sidelines for the Owls. Good job for Temple, who played well inside that chaotic A-10 this year. It’s nice to see them get the auto-bid.

Atlantic Coast semifinals:

No. 1 North Carolina 68, No. 4 Virginia Tech 66. No, Seth Greenberg, we are not “certifiably insane.” You are. Your team ain’t in. (And if they are, THAT when their should be an investigation.) Is Carolina prime for the picking against Clemson? You’d assume UNC is good for a 1 seed win or lose, so how much will they really give?

No. 3 Clemson 78, No. 2 Duke 74. A shame for Vitale, who would’ve loved to see one more light blue-dark blue game, but now Clemson could put themsleves into a 4 seed, maybe, if they get the ACC win. I think they’re more of a 5, but I wouldn’t say a word if they got the 4.

Conference USA championship:

No. 1 Memphis 77, No. 7 Tulsa 51. Regardless of UNC’s result, I think Memphis should be the No. 1 overall team. I will be rooting for them to reach the Final Four this year, despite the Joey Dorsey factor.

Big XII semifinals:

No. 1 Texas 77, No. 4 Oklahoma 49. Longhorns looked so good I couldn’t even watch.

No. 2 Kansas 77, No. 6 Texas A&M 71. Good showing by A&M, but this was destined to be a UT-KU final. I notice there’s the usual push for Kansas as the team-we-shouldn’t-forget-about this time of year.

Big East championship:

No. 7 Pittsburgh 74, No. 1 Georgetown 65. How about Pittsburgh. They were a 7 seed in the Big East tourney, but they’ll probably be a 5 in the actual Tournament. That’s what a nice run’ll do for ya. It’s Georgetown’s first loss in the Big East tournament as a 1 seed.

Big Ten semifinals:

No. 1 Wisconsin 65, No. 4 Michigan State 63. MSU has been up and down all year. They’ll beat someone by 30, then not crack 50 the next game. They had the Badgers on the ropes and led the entire game, until they needed to put them away. Wisconsin should be a 2 regardless of what happens tomorrow against…

–UPSET–No. 10 Illinois 54, No. 6 Minnesota 50. … Bleepin’ Illinois. Will Leitch can’t stand himself right now. You had to believe Minnesota had all the karma going with them after the transgressions against Indiana.

Big West championship:

No. 3 Cal State Fullerton 81, No. 5 UC Irvine 66. Only the second Tournament in the past 30 years for the Titans. (They last made it in 1978.) Always a fun Tournament when a Cal State school makes it.

Mid-American championship:

No. 1 Kent State 74, No. 3 Akron 55. Have to think that Kent State is going to win at least one game in The Tournament. They are the “dangerous” mid-major that’s not named Xavier (not a mid), Butler or Drake.

Mid-Eastern Athletic championship:

–UPSET–No. 7 Coppin State 62, No. 1 Morgan State 60. For those who hate conference tournaments due to the fact that they don’t give small schools their proper recognition and chance at a Tournament win … I give you 16-20, 264th-in-the-RPI Coppin State!

Mountain West championship:

No. 2 UNLV 76, No. 1 Brigham Young 71. A little surprising how easily UNLV ran away with this one.

Pacific-10 championship:

No. 1 UCLA 67, No. 2 Stanford 64. It’s always good when Gus Johnson is calling a game featuring one or two West coast teams.

Southeastern semifinals and quarterfinal:

–UPSET–No. 6 (E) Georgia 60, No. 2 (E) Kentucky 56 (OT). Now everyone is questioning Kentucky’s claim to The Tournament. But wait … didn’t all of those other schools that were below UK before the conference tourneys started lose as well? I’m not thinking Kentucky can even win a game in The Dance, but I can’t see them being left out. It could be a Syracuse situation though.

–UPSET–No. 2 (W) Arkansas 92, No. 1 (E) Tennessee 91. With the way Tennessee plays, I don’t think this hurts them. Sure this will cost them a 1, but maybe they make the Elite 8 anyway. Saving themselves a game of running up and down the floor will be good.

–UPSET–No. 6 (E) Georgia 64, No. 1 (W) Mississippi State 60. An incredible win given the circumstance … or did we overblow the difficulty of playing two games in one day?

Southwestern Athletic championship:

No. 2 Mississippi Valley State 59, No. 4 Jackson State 58. A close one that no one saw. First berth since ‘96 for the Delta Devils. That is the coolest name of this year’s Tournament.

Western Athletic championship:

No. 4 Boise State 107, No. 3 New Mexico State 102. First trip in 14 years for the Broncos. Game of the night, for sure. I didn’t want it to end! Give me five OTs! Well, even if N.M. State made it this year, we wouldn’t have had Reggie Theus’ hotness (uh, not my words) to patrol the sidelines. I see Boise State as a 14, but it is the WAC, so they could be rewarded with something better.

Coppin State (who is FREAKING 16-20) will be playing in Tuesday’s play-in game against a yet-to-be-named opponent. The Eagles upset the top-seeded Morgan State Golden Bears in the MEAC final to earn their first berth since 1997, when they got their only Tournament win in school history as a 15 seed against No. 2 South Carolina. The Eagles are the first 20-loss team to make The Dance, and the I think the fourth sub. 500 team to ever qualify.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s ready to play Arkansas right now and run it past midnight because they’ve won three games in two overtimes by a combined 10 points. (The took out Miss. State 63-60.) What a story that’s developing there. I’m openly rooting for Georgia and Illinois to really screw this whole thing up. Can we give both schools 15 seeds if they do it?

Boise State-New Mexico State are going to triple OT on New Mexico State’s home floor in what has been the biggest white-knuckler of the day.

I may not sleep tonight.

UCLA proved too strong (for 40 minutes) against Stanford, beating the Tree 67-64 and locking up the 1 seed in the West. If the game had been 50 minutes, who knows. Stanford just barely missed a 40-footer at the buzzer to send it to OT. It was a nice game, and I’m glad I got a nice tune-up for the Gus Johnson Experience in a few days.

Down in Georgia, they’ve had some really nice games—if only more than media and family members could see it in person. Arkansas beat Tennessee on a jumper with five second from the Tall White Dude You Might Recognize (Steven Hill), taking the 1 seed away from Tennessee and giving it to the winner of the Texas-Kansas game tomorrow afternoon. The sidebar? It was Hill’s only basket of the game! The final score was 92-91, Hogs. Drama.

Clemson takes out Duke, 78-74. Not including upcoming title games, how are they a 2 seed over Wisconsin, Georgetown, Kansas or Texas?

And the Owls are dancing again for the first time in seven years (wow, has it really been that long?), after outlasting St. Joe’s, 69-64. That takes away a spot from someone—I’m eliminating Arizona, but I think it bumps out UMass on the committee’s board—making the field that much more interesting.

We’ve got a good one brewing right now in the Mountain West final between BYU and UNLV. Big East is upcoming (and I haven’t forgotten about the other small conferences battling it out!) I’m here all night, so check back in.

Memphis and Maryland-Baltimore County have punched their tickets. The Tigers kicked around Tulsa, winning 77-51. The Tigers have to be the overall No. 1 now. Even if Tennessee wins the SEC tournament, I think Memphis should take the top seed.

And the Retrievers (good boys! good boys!) handled Hartford, winning 82-65. These two could be pit against each other in the first round, which would not be a close game, but UMBC is more of a 15, in my mind.

Just a quick update. I’ll be here all day.

Like a small town high school game!

It’s going to be odd down in Atlanta today. All of those fans that bought tickets to the SEC tournament? Well, no more hoop for them. After the frightening happenings in the Georgia Dome last night, the SEC has decided to play the remaining four games of the tournament on the campus of Georgia Tech. They’re letting the only necessary people in: television crews; credentialed media personnel; players’ familes; … and bands and cheerleaders.

Yeah … how odd is that going to be? I understand the band; even they can get some energy going and serve a purpose amidst the circumstances. But conjure up that image in your mind of cheerleaders doing their thing in front of practically no one. What’s the point? I think that’s damn hilarious. Just don’t try and get any chants going.

So here’s what’s happening today:

• Kentucky and Georgia will play today at noon in the SEC quarterfinal game.
• Tennessee and Arkansas will play their semifinal game at 6 p.m.
• Kentucky-UGA winner will play Tenn-Ark Miss. State around 8:30 p.m.
• Winner of that game will play Tenn-Ark winner tomorrow.

So how about that? Two games in one day, just like you used to run it on the playground (when you’d run yourself ragged playing six games in four hours). I’m not sure how much of an effect it’s going to have on the winning team, but when they lose tonight, it’ll certainly be discussed. I actually think it will HELP Kentucky, because how could the committee not have any sympathy over their scenario?

Storm Forces SEC Tournament Move, Unusual Twinbill {ESPN.com}

I’ll give you the full rundown. I bet you can’t handle this. The final, non-Greg Gumble-dominated weekend is here! (Actually, scratch that.)

Patriot League championship:

No. 1 American 52, No. 3 Colgate 46. American Eagles are enjoying their first Dance. I may just don the customary polo to put in an extra rooting interest for them to get an upset.

Atlantic 10 semifinals:

–UPSET–No. 4 Saint Joseph’s 61, No. 1 Xavier 53. I’m surprised that Xavier didn’t come to play here, and the Muskies are a 3/4, but the story is, of course, the Hawks, who are definitely in now. You have to put them in, but if they get the auto bid, how funny that would be.

No. 2 Temple 60, No. 6 Charlotte 45. Now Temple is in a weird spot … they would’ve been much better suited to lose to Xavier than St. Joe’s.

Atlantic Coast quarterfinals:

No. 1 North Carolina 82, No. 9 Florida State 70. Heels on pace for the 1 seed.

No. 4 Virginia Tech 63, No. 5 Miami 49. A little startling to see a team like the Hokies play so well after so many also-rans underachieved in their conference tourneys.

No. 2 Duke 82, No. 7 Georgia Tech 70. Sure, let’s do UNC-Duke one more time.

No. 3 Clemson 82, No. 11 Boston College 48. I guess this really speaks to Maryland’s loss to B.C. from Thursday night.

Big XII quarterfinals:

–UPSET–No. 6 Texas A&M 63, No. 3 Kansas State 60. I’m going to use more than just a few words here. Good for A&M, who really lost their identity down the stretch of the season, but this win could really help them next week. I think this is a sign of things to come for the Aggies. As for K-State, all I asked for was ONE more win to lock up a spot in The Tournament. As good as Beasley is, does K-State deserve to get in?? I’m going to dig up their stats from last season and compare them to this year’s. (Last year had only a slightly firmer bubble.)

No. 1 Texas 66, No. 9 Oklahoma State 59. If the Longhorns win this, they should get a 1 seed.

No. 4 Oklahoma 54, No. 12 Colorado 49. Give it up to Colorado, who beat Baylor then had a pretty good contest against the Sooners.

No. 2 Kansas 64, No. 7 Nebraska 54. The Huskers’ pesky season comes to an end.

Big East semifinals:

No. 1 Georgetown 72, No. 5 West Virginia 55. Wow. A lot of people (me included) didn’t like Georgetown for a good portion of this year, but we all may have to rethink this. The Hoyas look damn good (almost as smooth as last year).

No. 7 Pittsburgh 68, No. 6 Marquette 61. Pitt perfectly fits the cliché of peaking at the right time. They look really good as well. It’s got the makings of another Saturday night Big East classic tonight.

Big Ten quarterfinals:

–UPSET–No. 10 Illinois 74, No. 2 Purdue 67 (OT). Weird. Think it’ll drop Purdue to a 5? I doubt it.

–UPSET–No. 6 Minnesota 59, No. 3 Indiana 58. Damn. Will the Hoosiers fall to a 7? If I had to seed them, I’d have them as a 6 (even a 5 wouldn’t totally shock me), but they seem as ripe as anyone to be picked off in Round One. This game had the best second-best ending of the conference tournaments so far. I’ll have the insane video up on the site.

No. 1 Wisconsin 51, No. 9 Michigan 34. Okay, remember when it was commonplace to see Michigan in your bracket? They just can’t get back above sea level. You keep thinking it’ll come one of these years, but it never does.

No. 4 Michigan State 67, No. 5 Ohio State 60. Gottlieb thinks they’re done. I … just don’t know. It was a tough task to ask them to beat Michigan State again, but then again, why should we not expect good play from these teams? Why can’t it be not enough that they didn’t get one more good win?

Conference USA semifinals:

No. 1 Memphis 69, No. 5 Southern Miss 53. I said it yesterday: Memphis won’t win a C-USA tournament game by less than 15 points. One more to go!

No. 7 Tulsa 64, No. 6 Texas-El Paso 62 (OT). But how great would a Tulsa upset this afternoon at 1:30 be? I’m rooting for it.

Mid-American semifinals:

No. 1 Kent State 49, No. 5 Miami 47. Ooh, hoo-hoo … so close! If Kent State wins today, they should be rewarded with a 7.

No. 3 Akron 73, No. 2 Western Michigan 62. Akron gets their chance to bump a bubble team out and take down Kent State (very possible).

Mountain West semifinals:

No. 2 UNLV 61, No. 6 Utah 55. Everyone can agree: Vegas is a lock.

No. 1 Brigham Young 63, No. 4 San Diego State 54. Last year’s MWC title game repeats itself

Pacific-10 semifinals:

No. 1 UCLA 57, No. Southern California 54. A very fun game to watch, USC will probably get a 6 seed, but they will be very dangerous. Expect plenty of poolers to take the Trojans to upset the 3 seed in their region.

No. 2 Stanford 75, No. Washington State 68. Yes, I stayed up even for the last tournament game last night. This was a pretty good one, with Stanford trying their best to keep Wazzu at arm’s lenght. Brook Lopez is getting scarier by the game.

Southeastern quarterfinals:

No. 1 (E) Tennessee 89, No. 5 (E) South Carolina 87. Vols escape. Dave Odom has coached his last college game.

No. 2 (W) Arkansas 81, No. 3 (E) Vanderbilt 75. Hmm … Vandy has ended their season with three losses in their last five games. Remember that.

No. 1 (W) Mississippi State 69, No. 5 (W) Alabama 67. The Crimson Tide had the mo’ heading into overtime after Mykal Riley hit a dramatic 3 to put it into overtime. Then the weather became a factor, the teams sat in their locker rooms for an hour, and Mississippi State came out as the better team.

No. 6 (E) Georgia vs. No. 2 (E) Kentucky. Postponed due to the tornadoes in the Atlanta area.