This upcoming week in college basketball is conference tournament week for many of the NCAA Division I conferences.

The ACC postseason picture got a little clearer last night with Maryland upsetting North Carolina State. Maryland will need to win at least one game in the ACC tourney to get to the “Big Dance.” There are five teams that are already shoe-ins for the NCAA tournament: Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, N.C. State, and Georgia Tech. Look for one of the usual suspects (Duke, North Carolina, or Wake) to come out the victor in this tournament.

In the Atlantic 10, undefeated St. Joseph is a lock for the conference champ. Dayton should be the only team following them to the “Dance.”

In the Big East, defending National Champion Syracuse was on the bubble until the overtime victory over Pittsburgh Saturday. The six teams going to the “Dance” from the Big East are Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, Connecticut, and Boston College. In an upset, look for Providence to take the Big East crown.

The Big 12 conference has four teams already dancing and is hoping to get two more. The four teams right now are Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech. It would not be surprising to find Missouri dancing with them. Oklahoma State will more than likely win this tourney.

The Big 10 will have a record low of three teams in the “Dance”, Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin. The only way it will have more is if a surprise team wins the tourney, but don’t look for that to happen. Illinois will win the tournament. Conference USA could possibly have six teams in the tournament, that is if DePaul can win a game or two in the tourney. The five other teams dancing are Cincinnati, Charlotte, Louisville, Memphis, and Alabama-Birmingham. Cincinnati has the edge with home court advantage, so look for them to pull this one out.

Stanford and Arizona will be the only two teams representing the Pac-10 in the “Dance.” Stanford will also go into the dance undefeated by winning this tournament.

SEC basketball is always unpredictable, especially come conference tournament time. They are already represented by seven teams, but don’t be surprised to see an upset give the SEC an eighth bid. The main suspect looking for the upset is Georgia. They were on the NCAA bubble all year and were considered knocked off after their loss to Florida, but hold three wins over Top 25 teams.

Even with all of that motivation for the Georgia, look for Mississippi State to win the tournament, beating Florida in the finals.

Next week will be an exciting week of college basketball. Many teams’ championship dreams will go away, while others’ continue. At the end of the week, only 65 teams will be dancing.