Where and when: Wednesday through Saturday, Las Vegas

Last year: Colorado did the four-games-in-four-days trip through the bracket, beating Oregon by a point and Arizona by two points. As an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament they beat UNLV, while Cal (the only other Pac 12 team dancing) lost as a 12-seed.

This year: UCLA watched Oregon lose their final two games, and the Bruins skated through with their first regular season title since 2008.

The Mountain West tournament kicks off tonight with Wyoming and Nevada battling for the right to play New Mexico tomorrow. The Mountain West has been one of the best leagues to watch this season. The top 5 teams all had 20 wins and conference records over .500. The tournament is in Vegas, which should give UNLV a slight advantage, but the field should be wide open. Don't let the odd setup of a 9 team tournament taking 5 days to complete bother you. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. 

The Big East tournament starts tonight with a couple of battles of league minnows, but the day 1 games should not take away from what should be a loaded tournament. A lot of people are mourning the final Big East tournament as we know it, so I won't do that here. The Big East tournament has provided fantastic basketball over the years and this one should be no different. The quarterfinals on Thursday should feature some dynamite matchups. The weekend games are normally played at a very high level. The Big East tournament has been one of the standout conference tournaments since it's inception. It's going out the same way. 

Here is the 2013 Big East tournament bracket. 

Before we delve into the teams, let's take a look at the conference leaders. Stats are conference games only. Connecticut players are excluded since UConn is not taking part in the tournament. 

When and Where: Thursday - Sunday, Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

Last year: Florida State advanced through the tourney by beating Miami, Duke and North Carolina. They got no favors from the bracket as they won their first ever ACC Title. The ACC is unique in that they do not honor an official regular season champion, having ended that practice in 1961. Fans still get jazzed (and rightfully so) and schools hang banners, but to win the ACC you have win the ACCT.

This year: The media pegged NC State as the preseason favorite, but they finished with the No. 5 seed. Instead, Miami got on an early roll and won their first 13 ACC games. They stumbled a bit down the stretch (2-3) but still finished a game ahead of Duke.

The favorite: With Ryan Kelly Duke is 18-0. Without Kelly they're 9-4. Unfortunately for the rest of the ACC, Kelly is back and helped Duke to a home win over Miami and then curb stomps of Wake Forest and North Carolina. In those games he made 9-14 3s (64%).

Duke's one weakness is their defense, which is "only" the 24th best nationally. But from 2007-2011 they were top 10, and that's where Coach K expects to be. Last year they were awful on defense, and this year they've struggled at times, especially when Kelly was out. The primary problem is that they are giving opponents too many possessions. They're pedestrian at forcing turnovers (122nd) and aren't a very good defensive rebounding team (229th).

Duke has won 10 of the past 14 ACC Tournaments.

When and Where: Wednesday - Saturday, Sprint Center, Kansas City

Last year: Missouri made a run through the Big 12 tournament in their final year in the league, beating Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor en route to a #2 seed before losing to Norfolk State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
This year: For the ninth straight year Kansas won at least a share of the Big 12 title, finishing 14-4 in league play. There are two extra games in the conference season now, but it is just the third time in the streak in which the Jayhawks lost four or more conference games. This year they are joined at the top by Kansas State, who won the league title in Bruce Weber's first year, much like Illinois in Weber's first year.

The favorite: Kansas outscored the Big 12 by .14 points per trip, and led the nation in both two point defense and eFG allowed. They were up and down offensively, finishing with the 3rd best eFG in the league but they were 7th in turnovers, which is a big problem going forward. Still, the Jayhawks are ranked 8 spots higher in KenPom than Oklahoma State, and more than 20 spots higher than any other Big 12 team, making them a fairly sizable favorite….if they show up.

The Jayhawks need Ben McLemore to continue his aggressive play, but the keys going forward will be the play of Elijah Johnson and the number of shot attempts they can give to Travis Releford, who is second in the nation in true shooting percentage, and Jeff Withey. Johnson has played extremely well lately, with the much publicized 39 point outburst against Iowa State but also dishing 31 assists while turning it over just 12 times from the Iowa State game on. He struggled in their loss to Baylor, going just 3-13 from the floor, and how he shoots and how little he turns it over will be huge keys this weekend. Withey, meanwhile, is known mostly for being perhaps the best defender in the country, but he has improved both his shooting (58% eFG) and rebounding (21.1% def. rebounding rate) as well

When and where: Wednesday to Saturday at the 17,839-seat BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Last year: The CUSA Tournament has become a broken record. Last season top-seeded Memphis cruised to double-digit wins in all three of its games to garner their sixth tournament crown in the last seven seasons. But the Tigers didn't have to go up against the two-seed, Southern Mississippi, which bowed out in the semifinals thanks to No. 6 Marshall.

This year: Whereas last season's tournament was held in Memphis' frontyard, at the FedEx Forum IN Memphis where the Tigers play their home games, the CUSA Tournament this year has been moved to more neutral grounds. Google Maps tells me that the BOK Center is about a 10-minute drive from No. 5 Tulsa's campus, but at least the Golden Hurricanes aren't the wild favorites (as Memphis was) going in.

You'll notice also that Central Florida, despite a 9-7 conference record isn't listed in the bracket. They were banned from all postseason play by the NCAA.

I love Dick Vitale. First he's one of my favorite announcers because he's so wildlly enthusiastic about a sport I love. Second, his work on the V Foundation should be a model for every successful person who has the public's attention. Third, Dickie V don't care what you think - he'll act the fool at any time and any place and he packs more fun into his days than any of us.

I love the guy. So I named this Cup after him. In his honor it's named mostly after point No. 3 - his ability to poke fun at himself. So the Cup goes to whichever national writer or site most inaccurately predicts the top 25 in the pre-season.

So now, just when I think I can't be impressed any more by Mr. Vitale (dude is constantly tweeting pictures of himself with his arm wrapped about some hot young thing), Dickie V goes and takes over the Vitale Cup standings, with only one week to go!

Clearly, I'm an amateur.

When and Where: Thursday - Saturday, Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, MT

Last year: Montana won their quarterfinal and semifinal games by a combined 14 points, then throttled second seeded Weber State by 19 in the championship game. They grabbed a 13 seed in the NCAA tournament, losing 73-49 to Wisconsin in the round of 64.
This year: Returning nearly everyone from last year's team, the Grizzlies continued their dominance of the league, only losing at Weber State to finish off their second straight one loss conference season. They have been beset by injuries this year, with all but three players missing at least one game, but still managed to win the league despite finishing second in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

The favorite: Odddly enough, second place Weber State is the highest rated team in KenPom by nearly 50 spots, and they led the league in offense (by a hair) and defense (by a lot).

Still, the favorite has to be Montana. They have lost two games in the league in the last two seasons, and by virtue of being the top seed they get to host the tournament in Missoula, where they haven't lost to a Big Sky team since 2010. Will Cherry, who broke his foot twice this year, has returned, giving the Grizzlies Senior leadership and a steady ballhandler. Cherry has an assist rate of 27% while turning it over on fewer than 20% of his possessions. Montana also benefits from tremendous three point shooting. They're 18th nationally at 38.6% and they have five players shooting 40% or better.

When and Where: Monday - Saturday, Scope Arena, Norfolk, VA

Last year: Norfolk State, the No. 2 seed, managed to get through the tournament playing nothing higher than the No. 4 seed. Then they went on to beat Missouri in one of the more memorable NCAA Tournament 1st round games.

This year: Despite graduating four of their top five players (in terms of minutes) they managed to finish the season with 15-straight wins, and went undefeated to win their first MEAC regular season title since joining in 1997. Due to quirky scheduling in the 13-team league, they never played the second place team NC Central.

The favorite: Yes, NC Central, finished a game back of Norfolk State, but the two didn't play. The Eagles are rated No. 153 at Pomeroy, while the Norfolk State Spartans are No. 220.