On-Court Obsession: More Choices

The Big 12 and the Pac-10 get their conference tournaments underway. For the Big 12, you will need a handy -- if slightly confusing -- chart (PDF) to find what channel is showing first round action. The Pac-10 only has one game since USC is in self-imposed punishment for past wrongs.

I would include Conference USA, but while they get their tournament started today, none of the games are televised. For media purposes, nothing happens in C-USA until Thursday.

The Big East has second round action that will end up dominating much of the TV time. While today starts the shift away from the one-bid conference tournaments to the major conference fun, there's one more one-bid conference championship.


12 PM ET

Big East second round, USF-Georgetown, ESPN: USF stunned Georgetown in Washington D.C. right after it appeared the Hoyas had put things together with a stretch that had them winning three of four including at Pitt and a routing of Duke. Georgetown has been unpredictable in performance and effort in seemingly every game since the end of January. USF is a bubble team still trying to get on the right side of things. With a non-con completely devoid of any quality wins, .500 in the Big East is not enough. They need this game just to have a chance.

Other option around this time:

Big 12 first round, Texas Tech-Colorado, ESPN FullCourt/360, Big 12 Network (12:30 PM ET)

2 PM ET

Big East second round, St. John's-Marquette, ESPN: Every game could be St. John's Norm Roberts final game as head coach. The two team played a fantastic double-overtime game in late-February that Marquette got in the final seconds from a Jimmy Butler jumper. Marquette is in the NCAA Tournament, but would like to improve its seeding.

3 PM ET

Big 12 first round, Nebraska-Missouri, ESPN FullCourt/360, Big 12 Network: Mizzou is another team firmly in the NCAA Tournament, but they could be seeing their seed slide. The loss of forward Justin Safford has impacted their experience and frontcourt depth. Losing at K-State and to Kansas was not exactly a shock even if Safford had been healthy, but being taken to OT at Iowa State was noticeable. The good news is their first game is against last place Nebraska.

7 PM ET

NEC Championship, Robert Morris-Quinnipiac, ESPN2: The two top teams of the NEC face off. Not so coincidentally they also feature two of the best young coaches. Mike Rice for Robert Morris has been a top assistant for St. Joe's Phil Martelli and Pitt's Jamie Dixon. The Fordham alum is becoming a hot commodity. Meanwhile Tom Moore of Quinnipiac was an ace recruiter and top assistant for more than a decade at UConn for Jim Calhoun. Given the questions swirling at UConn with his former boss, a lot of UConn fans will be watching with some interest. The game will be on Quinnipiac's homecourt, and the school is pushing a "Gold Rush" for their national TV close-up.

Big 12 first round, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, ESPN FullCourt/360, Big 12 Network: Between injuries, chemistry issues and general underachievement, it has been a very disappointing year for Oklahoma. A bad enough year that the NIT is out of the picture and even the CBI seems like a stretch. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, has had a surprisingly strong season that puts them in the NCAA Tournament. A chance for the in-state rivals to meet in an opening round game is something of a treat.

Big East second round, Seton Hall-Notre Dame, ESPN: The punditocracy and bracketoligists all have Notre Dame on the right side of the bubble and Seton Hall on the wrong side. It's all very close. Notre Dame is 10-8 in the conference, an RPI of 57 and a Pomeroy Rating of 47. Seton Hall comes in at 9-9 in the Big East, RPI of 54 and Pomeroy of 57. Seton Hall needs this win to have a chance at making the NCAA, while ND probably wants this win to make sure they are not sweating on Sunday. Seton Hall beat ND in their last meeting -- which was also the game where Luke Harangody injured his knee -- just to add to the interest in the game.

9 PM ET

Big East second round, Cincinnati-Louisville, ESPN: Classic C-USA battle. The teacher-pupil (Pitino-Cronin) dynamic. Fanbases that can't stand each other. So many good things off the court. It's a shame that Cinci has been just plain bad. The Bearcats struggled to a one-point win against a poor Rutgers team. Before that they had lost five of their last six games. Louisville should roll, but their last game in New York City saw them pounded by St. John's. So, well, there's that.

9:30 PM ET

Big 12 first round, Iowa State-Texas, ESPN FullCourt/360, Big 12 Network: Given just how poorly Texas has played for large stretches in the Big 12, no game should be assumed a gimmee for the Longhorns. Iowa State may be near the bottom of the conference, but they ended the season by upsetting K-State and only lost by seven at Texas earlier in the season. There might be a dim sense of hope in Ames.

11 PM ET

Pac-10 first round, Washington State-Oregon, FoxSports regional networks: The Pac-10 only offers one game for the start of the conference tournament. Earlier reports said Oregon coach Ernie Kent had been told he would be fired as soon as the season ended. New reports say Kent has told his players the same thing. So there is a train wreck quality to this, to see how Oregon comes out and plays. How Kent looks on the sideline. Otherwise, well, these are the worst teams in a bad Pac-10, so watching might or might not contain elements of basketball.