Time to skip work and watch basketball: Conference Tournament Previews, Open Thread

Yesterday was a warmup. Today, the real degeneracy beings.

I’ve been clogging the OTE streams as of late with my insistence that you watch things like the banger of a Missouri Valley championship between Northern Iowa and Bradley, or take in the NCAA Tournament darlings-to-be the Wofford Terriers from the Southern Conference. You never know, after all, if one of your clubs will find themselves on the wrong side of a 5-12 upset; wouldn’t you like to be better-acquainted with the team that’s going to knock you out of the Dance? (Well, Maryland? Would you?)

We’ve had your Big Ten Tournament coverage, along with betting advice and a tournament pick’em that you should definitely go do.

But now? The ACC Tournament tips off in moments, and it’s time to enjoy the vast panoply of bad basketball that Championship Week has to offer:

• The ACC is...on, I guess: Look. I’m not going to tell you that your life is going to be changed by watching Wake Forest-Miami or Notre Dame-Georgia Tech. But this is, really, your warmup. Tomorrow, at 10:30am CT, Sacramento State and Northern Arizona begin the Big Sky Tournament from Boise, ID. That’s right—they tip off at 9:30am Mountain Time. You need to get used to pretending to do work ahead of the NCAA Tournament, and the early round-ACC Tournament is the perfect basketball-like substance to get you there.
• Midwest > East: Look at that 6pm lineup. There could be some fun on CBSSN in Northeastern-Hofstra, as those are two good offenses...but there’s no tempo, and the Colonial really doesn’t do it for me. No, I’ll check back in with the Northern Kentucky Norse, who blew a 61-50 lead last night in the Horizon League Tournament semis to FOTP Greg Kampe and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, then league POTY Drew McDonald did this:

• Oh yeah, the Norse play Wright State at 6pm on ESPN in the last Horizon League championship from the Little Caesar’s Arena. I, for one, will be tuning in.
• Boycott the WCC: You heard me. I have no time for Gonzaga’s bad-schedule schtick. They are 16-0 in the West Coast Conference this year and have won all their games by at least 10 points. Oh, and this is only their second game, since the whole thing is rigged. Fuck off, Zags.
• SUMMIT LEAGUE: Look, the basketball you will see in the Summit League Tournament will not be the prettiest. In dispatching fellow Never Made the Tourney Club member Purdue-Fort Wayne last night, neither the ‘Dons nor the Omaha Mavericks scored for the last three and a half minutes. You read that right. But given the choice between watching Omaha try to pop their NCAA Tournament cherry against the North Dakota State Bye-zun or the sham that is the WCC? Sign me up for some red-hot action from the Sioux Falls Denny Sanford Premier Center Pentagon.

Here’s your open thread for the day. Don’t burn the place down, and check out our excellent Big Ten Tournament coverage if this bores you.