March 6, 2009 preview

* More BS baseball – if this isn’t your thing, then don’t pay attention for about another month. The WBC continues on with more Pool A play. If you’re at all curious when the US will play, it’s Saturday at 2pm ET against Team Canada. Am I going to watch it? In all honesty, probably not. At the end of the day, it’s still just an exhibition. MLB really wants this thing to take off (the no-more-Olympics thing probably has something to do with it) but I’m not sure it ever will, and if it does, it will take a long time.

* We get to see just how finished Notre Dame is if they make like the Hoyas and lose to St. John’s. I’m not sure if there’s a more underachieving/disappointing team in a major conference than them this season. In fact, there really isn’t. You want the proof? Here are the preseason AP rankings: [1. North Carolina, 2. Connecticut, 3. Louisville, 4. UCLA, 5. Pittsburgh, 6. Michigan State, 7. Texas, 8. Duke, 9. Notre Dame, 10. Gonzaga.] 6 of those teams are still in the top 10. 8 are still ranked. 9 are probably going to be dancing next week; the only one that probably won’t? Notre Dame. From preseason #9 to the NIT says it all about their season.

* Cornell can officially become the first team to punch their ticket to the dance if they beat Penn at home. A few teams losing can also do it, but let’s not get all bent out of shape trying to figure out how an Ivy League team can seal an autobid.

* 5 new conference tournaments get shaking: the Southern Conference, Colonial, America East, MAAC, and the WCC. 4 other conferences resume play: the OVC (Semifinals), Horizon (Quarters), Atlantic Sun (Semifinals), and MVC (Quarters). With 9 conferences now taking place on this day, the madness may finally be starting to get turned up. Can we see some real upsets?