Some notes and observations from Wednesday conference tourney play.

1. Conference bloat is in effect today.  The Big East, Big 12, and Atlantic 10 have a combined 12 games being played.  In those three conferences, the only game between teams that met twice in the regular season is Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M.

2. They may have started 0-4, including losses to Howard, Nevada, and Montana State, but Oregon State now has 8 outright upset wins this season, including 4 as a double digit dog.  They only have 3 losses all year where they covered the spread. They closed the season with conference road losses by 10, 25, and 16.  They’re not a “sticky” team that hangs around.  They tend to either win or get waxed.

3. Marshall’s a better team than Rice and dominated them at home a week ago today.   Rice shot 26-49 (53%) from the field, including 6-10 from the arc.  But despite the hot shooting Marshall won 76-62, showing how thoroughly the Thundering Herd were dominated in every other phase of the game.  But it’s tough to lay big points with Marshall, as other than that game Marshall was 1-6-1 to the pointspread as a favorite, making those who laid points with them against Vegas and online sportsbooks frequently unhappy.

4. In other “who cares?” Conference USA action (answer: those who bet on the games) Southern Miss takes on Central Florida.  We spoke of USM’s underachievement a few days ago, and a key to their problems is their poor 3-point shooting.  Most teams that are stridently half-court oriented shoot a lot of 3’s to make up for the fast-break opportunities they aren’t getting.  But the Golden Eagles shoot less than 30% from outside the arc, so while they average 55 shot attempts per game, only 11 of them are from outside the arc.  And shooting a ton of 2’s with a slow pace is not a recipe for success.

5.  Montana State stunned #1 seed Weber State on their home court, and now take on the Portland State Vikings for the Big Sky title and automatic berth.  MSU lead scorer Will Bynum (not to be confused with that Will Bynum) leads a remarkably balanced attack, averaging only 10.8 points per game, with other Bobcats scoring10.6, 10.1, 9.4, 7.8, 5.4, and 5.3.  We won’t be betting on this game, and are torn as fans, having friends who were athletes at both Portland State and Montana State.  But only one of them ever offered a shirt supporting their school as a gift, so Go Bobcats!

Bet you didn’t expect 2 of our 5 items to mention Montana State today.  If you missed our article on conference tournament handicapping earlier in the week, here it is.  Good luck and be careful.