While the Colorado St. Rams and Colorado Buffaloes still have a full week of games left before their conference tournament, the low-and mid-major leagues are officially kicking off March Madness today as the Horizon and Big South leagues begin conference tournament play to determine who gets their leagues only bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Cleveland State Vikings, who are led by Bob Cousy award finalist Norris Cole, had a shot at stealing an at-large berth if they did not win their conference tournament, but they have fallen off by going 6-4 in their last 10 games and will need to win the Horizon league tournament to go to the NCAA tournament.
The Horizon or Big South leagues will not steal a potential at-large bid with an upset happening in the tournament, but the Rams and Buffs will need to hope that they each can take care of their own business while hoping that leagues like the WAC, Conference USA, WCC and others go as planned to keep as many at-large spots available.
For a detailed look of schedules and some very good analysis of the upcoming conference tournaments go check out SB Nation's Card Chronicle.
The Big 12 tournament begins play on March 9 and continues through March 12 at Kansas City, Mo., as the Mountain West tournament will be held on campus at UNLV running from March 8 through March 12.