And the winner is...

Twelve more teams punched their tickets and earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament yesterday by winning their conference championships.

American East - Vermont

Big 12 - Kansas

Big East - West Virginia

Big West - UC Santa Barbara

Conference USA - Houston

Mid-American - Ohio

MEAC - Morgan State

Mountain West - San Diego State

PAC-10 - Washington

Southland - Sam Houston State

SWAC - Arkansas-Pine Bluff

WAC - New Mexice State

There are several conference championships that will be played out today. Those teams will earn automatic bids to the NCAA tourney.

ACC - Duke vs. Georgia Tech

Atlantic 10 - Temple vs. Richmond

Big Ten - Ohio State vs. Minnesota

SEC - UK vs. Mississippi State

Best of luck to all these teams. I will be cheering on two in particular. Good luck to Tubby Smith and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. They have made an improbable run in the Big Ten Conference and win or lose today, I think they have certainly made a case for a bid in the NCAA Tourney.

Finally, best of luck to UK in the SEC Championship game today. They play a very feisty team in Mississippi State whose NCAA Tourney hopes rest on whether or not they can pull out a win today vs. UK and complete a run of the table in the SEC tourney this week.

More later!

- b