Conference Tournament Predictions 2015: March 12 Starts

March 12, 2015 - by Aaron Barzilai

No automatic bids are up for grabs tonight or Friday, but the last five conference tournaments begin today. Below you will find our 2015 conference tournament projections for the American, WAC, Big Sky, Big West, and Sun Belt tournaments.

All projections were generated before the first games tipped.

American Athletic Conference Tournament Predictions 2015

Our 2015 AAC conference tournament bracket prediction gives #1 seed SMU a strong chance to win. After SMU’s 34% odds, we have #6 seed UConn as their biggest threat with a 24% chance to win. UConn could benefit a bit from playing in Hartford, though, and not being on SMU’s side of the bracket.

Our SMU bracketology projection indicates that they are likely to be either a #5 or #6 seed in the 2015 NCAA tourney.

Western Athletic Conference Tournament Predictions 2015

Our 2015 WAC conference tournament bracket prediction has #1 seed New Mexico State as an overwhelming favorite to earn the conference’s lone bid to the Big Dance. They have a 70% chance to win with #3 seed Seattle their most threatening competitor at 11%.

The tournament is only seven teams, since Grand Canyon is not yet eligible for an NCAA berth yet as part of their transition to Division I. As a result, New Mexico State has a first round bye in the conference tournament.

Our New Mexico State bracketology projection indicates that they are probably a #16 seed if they make the 2015 NCAA tourney.

Big Sky Conference Tournament Predictions 2015

NOTE: Our Big Sky tournament projections have a bug regarding how they assign home court advantage for Montana, and Eastern Washington’s odds to win are higher than they should be. We’re not going to change the numbers since the tournament has already started, but will correct the bug for next year.

Our 2015 Big Sky conference tournament bracket prediction sees #2 seed Eastern Washington (who beat Indiana in November in Bloomington) as a strong favorite to win the tournament, despite the fact it is being hosted by #1 seed Montana.

Our Eastern Washington bracketology projection indicates that they are most likely to be a #14 seed if they earn the conference’s automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament, partly thanks to the victory over Indiana.

Big West Conference Tournament Predictions 2015

Our 2015 Big West conference tournament bracket prediction shows that this should be a very exciting tournament. #2 seed UCSB is the co-favorite, but only has a 24% chance to win along with #3 seed UC Irvine.

#1 seed UC Davis is just behind them with an 18% chance, followed by #4 Long Beach State’s 14% odds.

Our UCSB bracketology projection indicates that they are most likely to be a #13 seed if they do make the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

Sun Belt Conference Tournament Predictions 2015

Our 2015 Sun Belt conference tournament bracket prediction gives #1 seed Georgia State a 56% chance to win their conference tournament. The team is led by Coach Ron Hunter’s son R.J. Hunter, who should be a late first round draft pick in the NBA Draft this summer.

R.J. is looking to make his first NCAA tournament appearance as the team dominated the conference’s regular season, but lost to Louisiana-Lafayette 82-81 in overtime in last year’s conference tournament final.

Our Georgia State bracketology projection indicates that they are most likely to be a #13 seed if they do make the 2015 NCAA Tournament.