NCAA College Basketball playoffs are now in full swing as conference playoffs are well under way.
 
The conference tournaments will culminate into what is known in America as March Madness: the 65 team National Championship basketball tournament for collegiate athletes.  March Madness is so popular with the American and Canadian public, that even the daytime soaps, ever so cherished by housewives, are put on hiatus for a couple days, just to cover the tournament's first round games.  Justifiably, I might add: March Madness is single elimination, a format that can be so heartbreaking for fans and players alike that one has to wonder if 'weepy' melodramas can actually hold their own. 
 
While many of the teams that stumble in their conference playoffs may still qualify, on the basis of strong regular season results, for March Madness, for most teams an automatic berth into the National Championship tournament is at stake.
 
There are three conference tournaments, all of which begin this week and will be concluded on or by Sunday, that a sports bettor should be paying close attention to in order to make educated picks for the subsequent March Madness tournament.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has the top team in the nation with the North Carolina Tar Heels, though they could be challenged by the Blue Devils of Duke. 

In the Big 12 tournament one should watch Oklahoma, as well as the Kansas Jayhawks, the latter being the defending National Champions.  In these two tournaments a sports bettor will want to make sure the top teams from the conference are still playing at a high level: a bad loss to a much weaker team will often be insightful for how they will do in the National Championship tournament.
 
But the conference tournament that is of utmost importance is the Big East tournament.  Only in this conference, does one find a concentration of talented teams, such that several could plausibly survive to the later rounds of the March Madness national tournament.  The Pittsburgh Panthers are the best team in the conference (ranked second in the nation) and they should win the Big East tournament, but they are barely better than the University of Connecticut or the Louisville Cardinals.  Throw a highly ranked Villanova Wildcat squad into the gauntlet and one thing becomes clear: if Pittsburgh, Connecticut, or Louisville survive this conference, then that team should be a major threat to win the National Championship.
 
The 'bracket' or draw for the National Championship tournament will be announced on Sunday, March 15th, when all conference tournaments are completed. 

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