Best week of college hoops

It’s that time of the year. Most of the country (especially me) is unaware of what has been taking place for the most part in college basketball over the past four months. But this week gives us our opportunity to prepare for the tournament.

Every year I pledge to start watching college basketball sooner so I’ll be prepared for my bracket, but this year was no different than the last. Outside of watching SEC basketball, which was pretty much garbage besides Kentucky, I have no idea what other teams look like. 

But during conference tournament week every team will be on display and this is the chance to see them all and get a feel for them before the tournament starts. Almost every bracket in America will be filled out based on how this week plays itself out. 

Some people will choose Duke to win it all because they’ll lose in the semi-finals and be able to prepare for the tournament. People love a team that loses right before the tournament. It’s hard to win that many games in a row and the odds say it’s best to not be on a 30 game winning streak coming into the tournament. 

But this week will be filled with constant hoops action, which is almost certain to give us buzzer beaters and all kinds of basketball drama. 

I’ll never forget watching UCONN and Pitt last year in the Big East Tournament. I was a big Pitt fan and thought they had a chance to go all the way. Then Kemba Walker hit one of the most beautiful clutch last second shots I’ve ever seen. After that game it was all UCONN as they rode that win to the championship. 

This week I’ll be tuning in to watch as much basketball as possible trying to see who that team will be this year. It’s also fun to watch the small conference tournaments and try to figure out which team will have a run like Butler or pull a first round upset. 

While it is good for teams that have gone on long winning streaks all year like Kentucky and Syracuse to lose, it’s also good to watch out for that team that is finally getting hot at the end of the season. 

Maybe a team hasn’t been healthy all year but now is back to full strength for the conference tournament. Seeing a team like Tennessee make an impressive run in the regular season lately gives me hope for them; especially if they can make it to the SEC Tournament finals. 

Teams like that make it exciting to watch because it’s nice to see teams come out of nowhere to win their conference. And while the top teams are setting up for an NCAA Championship, lesser schools are able to sneak up on them and win a conference crown. 

This week is guaranteed to be one of the best weeks for college basketball and it will set us up for what is undoubtedly the greatest month of basketball. 

You can follow Jake on Twitter at: @j8a1k0e or on his MLB Braves blog at: http://bravesandmore.mlblogs.com