Looking Ahead To The Conference Tournaments

I realized that I haven't given people the heads up that the conference tournament schedules are on ESPN here. The first conference tournament game will be played on Tuesday, March 3rd, when both the Big South, Ohio Valley and Horizon tournaments will start.

Of course, unless you are a fan of the Big South, Horizon or OVC, or you're a bracketologist, you don't really care about the early games in those conference tournaments. You want to know when games that will have bubble implications will begin. You might also be wondering when the big boy conferences play. So I did a bit of research today to put together this nice little timeline for Championship Week 2009:


Tuesday, March 3rd: First conference tournaments begin. The Big South, Ohio Valley and Horizon opening rounds take place.

Friday, March 6th: All Missouri Valley bubble teams begin play.

Saturday, March 7th: Butler will play their first game in the Horizon tournament. Siena will play their first game in the MAAC tournament. The top four teams in the CAA will begin play, which will presumably include all of their bubble teams. Davidson will play their first SoCon tournament game. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's will play their first WCC tournament games.

Sunday, March 8th: Missouri Valley title game.

Monday, March 9th: CAA, MAAC, SoCon and WCC championship games.

Tuesday, March 10th: Big East tournament begins. Horizon League title game.

Wednesday, March 11th: A-10, Big 12, C-USA, Mountain West and Pac-10 tournaments begin.

Thursday, March 12th: ACC, Big Ten and SEC tournaments begin. In addition, Utah State will be playing its first WAC tournament game.

Saturday, March 14th: A-10, Big 12, Big East, C-USA, Mountain West, Pac-10 and WAC tournament title games.

Selection Sunday, March 15th: ACC, Big Ten and SEC championship games.