Round One Conference Report Cards

Round One has come and gone (someone tell Vandy the Tourney started!?!), and it is time to give the conferences their first quarter grades

Big East: A

Perhaps no conference asserted itself like the Big East in Round One. Yes, the UCONN loss wasn't a good one. But, it is just one loss and an overtime buzzer-beater at that. Villanova capped off a wild day in Tampa, making it 4 for 4 for double-digit seeds. Louisville, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Pitt all won easily and convincingly. Marquette and West Virginia were impressive in evenly matched power-conference tilts (defeating Kentucky and Arizona respectively)

With a legit possibility for 5 or more teams to advance past the first weekend, the Big East justified it's record-tying 8 bids.

Big 12: A

Texas and Kansas were gimmes, but Kansas St, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma were all very impressive and solid wins. The only blemish was Baylor's lackluster performance, but the Maniac gives the conference a pass on that one, if Baylor was seeded appropriately (as a #2 Seed... in the NIT!!) it would have been a perfect opening round for the Big 12

Big Ten: B-

Michigan St and Purdue looked sharp, Wisconsin won in a relatively easy tilt. Indiana laid a big fat stink bomb against a mediocre Arkansas club. With only 4 teams in the Dance, at least 2 need to win this weekend to salvage the tourney for the Big 10.

Pac 10: C+

I know, I know, UCLA and Stanford could be in the Final Four. BUT, Arizona, Oregon and USC all looked pathetic coming out of what was alleged to be the "deepest and most balanced" league in the nation. With losses to similarly middling teams from the Big 12, Big East; it is tough for the Pac 10 to make that claim today.

SEC: C-

Georgia actually GETS points for the loss, they had X on the ropes for 32 minutes. Kentucky did nothing to embarrass themselves either, losing a reasonable game to a better Marquette squad, and Arkansas represented well. However the Vandy loss remains the most inexplicable no-show of the tourney. Losing by 20 to Sienna is flat-out inexcusable for a team with that much talent. Add in the Mississippi St. loss and a lackluster effort by Tennessee (watch out for Butler taking them OUT tomorrow) and it is a disappointing show for a "down" SEC.

ACC: C

North Carolina had a bye, and so did Duke... oh wait, Duke needed a bucket with 12 seconds to go to preserve a win over BELMONT. Is anyone really convinced the Charmin-soft Dookies get by West Virginia this afternoon? Miami looked good, but stands little chance against a much better Texas squad and Clemson looked offensively inept losing a 16 point lead to Villanova. Any lingering doubts as to whether the RPI had a clue after ranking the ACC as the NUMBER ONE conference in the nation have been squarely put to bed!

Atlantic 10: D

Xavier won in a game that took more effort than a traditional 3-14 match-up. Temple and St. Joe's had their doors blown off by good, not great, teams in Michigan St and Oklahoma. For a league that was flirting with 5 bids to the dance as recently as four weeks ago, an extremely underwhelming effort to gain national respect.