Call me a purist - but I like a certain order to the conference tournament schedule in the first couple of weeks of March. Unfortunately, the Southland Conference holds their conference tournament as if they were an actual major conference - and it's just not right.
Normally, the small conferences have their tournaments in in the last week of February and the first days of March. For instance, the Atlantic Sun conference - whose champion last year was Belmont - holds their conferece tournament March 4-7th.
That makes sense. Their championship is picked up by ESPN and they get some marquee coverage while other bigger conferences are winding down their season.
The WCC also goes this route, holding their conference tournament March 6-9th - playing their championship game on a Monday night when the bigger conferences have a few days off before their conference tournaments.
The Southland conference goes another route. They hold their tournament March 11th-15th. The same days as the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, SEC, Big East... you get the picture.
Do they really think they are up with these other conferences? I mean - their top team last year was Austin Peay! This isn't top competition - this is a sub-par division 1 conference that should be playing their championship game on a random Tuesday in early March!
Not only do they compete with the SEC championship (and ESPN - for some reason - abliges and airs the game) but they also must create a headache for the committee. Granted, it probably just mean shuffling a couple of 15 and 16 seeds around, but it's a late decision the committee shouldn't have to waste time making.
The Southland conference pisses me off - and I will refuse to pick them to win a game in the Tournament.
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