NCAA basketball: Predicting who wins every major conference tournament

MADISON, WISCONSIN - MARCH 06: Johnny Davis #1 of the Wisconsin Badgers reacts after hitting the first shot of the game during the first half of the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Kohl Center on March 06, 2022 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

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MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 6: Jalen Duren #2 of the Memphis Tigers looks on against the Houston Cougars during a game on March 6, 2022, at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis defeated Houston 75-61. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images) /

Championship Week is here and here are some predictions on who will conference tournaments in the Power 5 and a few other key leagues.

The college basketball regular season has come to an end and Championship Week has officially arrived. 29 more automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament will be earned over the course of the next seven days while the Selection Committee will be watching the action closely as they look to determine the 36 at-large bids to March Madness.

There are a lot of conference tournaments already in progress or set to begin so this exercise will focus on projecting winners from the leagues most likely to send at-large teams into the field: the Power 5 schools, the Big East, the Atlantic 10, the American, and the Mountain West. There is some bid thief potential in a few of these tournaments as well but we’ll kick things off in the AAC.

AAC Conference Tournament predictions

Dates: March 10-13
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Venue: Dickie’s Arena
TV: ESPNU (1st Round and QF), ESPN2 (QF and SF), ESPN (Final)
Top Seed: Houston
Bracket

The intrigue out of the American comes from the fact that Houston has looked vulnerable since losing Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark to season-ending injuries. The Cougars got blown out by Memphis on Sunday as the Tigers completed a sweep of the season series and there is a great chance that Houston gets picked off in Fort Worth.

There shouldn’t be any issues for Houston to reach the final as their toughest opponent would be either Tulane or Temple in the semifinals. The real intrigue comes on the other half of the draw where SMU and Memphis could face off in the semifinals.

Both teams are right around the cutline, with Memphis safer than SMU thanks to a better overall resume even though the Mustangs swept the Tigers during the regular season. SMU probably needs to win that game to punch their own ticket to the tournament but it is extremely difficult to beat an opponent three times in one season.

Whoever wins that game likely will knock out Houston and claim the American’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. With how hot the Tigers have been, Memphis is the pick here.

Prediction: Memphis