The dance card for the 2016 NCAA basketball tournament is almost completely filled, but there are still a few more tickets to hand out. The final five conference tourney championship games are on the docket for Sunday, including a couple after which only the winner will earn an invite. For the rest of the contests, these outcomes could have implications on NCAA tournament seeding, possibly including a No. 1 seed. We've made predictions for each of these conference title tilts, and as each goes final, we'll update the slides with recaps of the results. Check back throughout the day to see how Sunday's last games went down. Predictions made by Brian J. Pedersen. No. 5 Connecticut vs. No. 6 Memphis, 3:15 p.m. ET (ESPN) The only game that could have a major impact on the NCAA tournament field will be played in Orlando, Florida, where teams that finished in the bottom half of the league during the regular season play for an automatic bid. But while the Connecticut Huskies (23-10) should be safely in the tourney regardless of how this game goes, the Memphis Tigers (19-14) have to win to get in—and quite possibly, to save Tigers head coach Josh Pastner's job. Memphis has made it here by dominating the third-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the 10th-seeded Tulane Green Wave, winning by 22 and 20 points, respectively. Its current three-game win streak is its longest since a five-game streak in November and December. The Huskies have also won three in a row, though they needed four overtimes to outlast the fourth-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the quarterfinals before beating the regular-season champion Temple Owls by 15 in the semifinals Saturday. Prediction: Connecticut 76, Memphis 63 No. 2 VCU vs. No. 4 Saint Joseph's, 12:30 p.m. ET (CBS) The VCU Rams (24-9) are looking for their second consecutive Atlantic 10 tournament title—with a different head coach this time—but to accomplish that feat, the Rams will have to beat the team they lost to in the 2014 conference championship game. The Saint Joseph's Hawks (26-7) have already knocked off one of the three teams that tied for the league regular-season title, and a second such triumph would send the Hawks into the NCAA tourney with major momentum. Saint Joseph's reached the final by edging the Dayton Flyers 82-79 in Saturday's semifinals, in which senior forward Isaiah Miles posted 26 points and nine rebounds. Miles went for 31 and nine against VCU on Jan. 5, but the Hawks lost by three at home. The Rams have handily beaten their two tourney foes. VCU won by 15 over the Massachusetts Minutemen and then downed the Davidson Wildcats by 22 in the semifinals. Prediction: VCU 79, Saint Joseph's 74 No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 4 Purdue, 3 p.m. ET (CBS) A No. 1 seed in the Big Dance could be on the line for the Michigan State Spartans (28-5) as they try to win their second Big Ten tournament title in the last three seasons, while the Purdue Boilermakers (26-7) will play their first conference tourney final since they last won it in 2009. If it's anything like these teams' last meeting, this should be a heck of a contest. The Boilermakers pulled out an 82-81 overtime home win against the Spartans on Feb. 9, with Rapheal Davis hitting one of two free throws with 4.6 seconds left and A.J. Hammons pulling down an offensive rebound on the missed foul shot. Purdue led by 18 in the second half, only to see Michigan State rally to lead by four with less than two minutes left. The Spartans have won eight in a row since falling to the Boilermakers, including a three-point win over the Maryland Terrapins in Saturday's semifinals. Purdue has won five straight, and it beat the Illinois Fighting Illini by 31 and the Michigan Wolverines by 17 to reach the championship game. Prediction: Michigan State 71, Purdue 68 No. 1 Texas A&M vs. No. 2 Kentucky, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN) The last time the Texas A&M Aggies (26-7) and Kentucky Wildcats (25-8) met, we got overtime, which ended with a controversial late technical foul and a putback at the buzzer. What do these teams that tied for the SEC regular-season title have in store for the second time around? The Aggies claimed a 79-77 home win Feb. 20, with Tyler Davis scoring as time expired. That came after the Wildcats' Isaac Humphries was T'ed up with nine seconds left for slamming the ball on the court after being fouled, and it enabled Texas A&M to take a one-point lead. The Aggies have won eight consecutive games since losing five of six, and they put an end to the LSU Tigers' NCAA tournament hopes in dominant fashion with a 71-38 win in Saturday's semifinals. Kentucky, the defending SEC tourney champ, has won four straight after losing two of three, and it rallied to beat the Georgia Bulldogs 93-80 in the other semifinal. Prediction: Kentucky 67, Texas A&M 62 No. 1 Arkansas-Little Rock vs. No. 2 Louisiana-Monroe, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN2) The only non-power conference to hold its final Sunday, the Sun Belt could send another bracket-buster to the NCAA tournament. Last year, the league's automatic qualifier, the Georgia State Panthers, upset the third-seeded Baylor Bears in a game that was just as famous for Panthers head coach Ron Hunter falling off a stool[1] in celebration as for the result. The Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans (28-4) are tied with the Kansas Jayhawks for fewest losses in the country, though one of those setbacks came Feb. 11 at the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (20-12), who recorded the second victory in what is now a 10-game win streak—the third-longest active streak in the country. The Trojans last made the NCAA tourney in 2011, when they lost in overtime to the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs in the First Four. The Warhawks haven't gone dancing since 1996, when they lost to the second-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the round of 64. Prediction: Arkansas-Little Rock 67, Louisiana-Monroe 60
UConn's Rodney Purvis
St. Joseph's DeAndre' Bembry
Purdue's A.J. Hammons
Kentucky and Texas A&M played a classic in February.
Arkansas-Little Rock's Chris Beard, left, and Josh Hagins
References
- ^ falling off a stool (www.youtube.com)
