Auto Bid Alert: TEMPLE, KENTUCKY, DUKE

Holy crap. That's really all I can come up with to describe the ACC and SEC championship games. First, the A-10 championship game showed the quality of the league, deserving of the three bids going to Temple, Richmond, and Xavier. Temple accomplished quite a feat in this topsy turvy championship week, never trailing in the A-10 tourney. Richmond whittled the lead down to 1 in the final moments, but Juan Fernandez and Ryan Brooks combined to score 30 points and ensure the Owls would take the title and the automatic bid. Richmond's Kevin Anderson put on quite a display of toughness to keep Richmond in it, but it wasn't quite enough. Final score, Temple 56-52.

Now to the big stories. Not much more to say other than big players came up big. In the SEC championship, Mississippi State perhaps missed out on a tourney bid by exactly 0.1 seconds. MSU was seemingly in control after a huge Ravern Johnson 3 put them up 5 with 2:29 left in regulation. But Jarvis Varnado and Dee Bost missed free throws down the stretch, leaving MSU only up 3 with 7.8 seconds left. UK inbounded to Eric Bledsoe, and Barry Stewart fouled him (and fouled out) with 5 seconds left before he could get up a shot. Bledsoe made the first, then executed a beautiful high, soft miss that bounced to John Wall in the right corner. Wall put up a 3 that barely drew rim, and Demarcus Cousins was in the right place, putting in the tying layup with 0.1 seconds on the clock. MSU played valiantly in overtime, last leading at 67-66 with 2:41 left. But the combination of heartbreak, fatigue, Wall, and Cousins proved fatal to MSU's title hopes. Wall hit an amazing off balance 3 from the left wing in front of the UK bench with 26 seconds left to put the Cats up 5, and after an MSU bucket by Dee Bost, Cousins hit 1 of 2 free throws to put Kentucky up 4, and that was all she wrote. MSU hit a 3 as time expired, but UK had done just enough. Final score, UK 75-74.

I was paying such close attention to the SEC that I didn't notice Georgia Tech creep back into the ACC championship, pulling within 60-57 with 1:48 left, and then Iman Shumpert made a beautiful dish to Derrick Favors to get the Ramblin' Wreck within 1 with 48 seconds left. Then, doing his best John Wall impression, Jon Scheyer hit an off-balance 3 from the right wing while fading left with 18 seconds left to ice it. Final score, Duke 65-61.

So we found out this week that apparently Da'Sean Butler, Evan Turner, Jon Scheyer, John Wall, and Demarcus Cousins have what it takes to make winning plays in the biggest moments. They better. All that's left to find out before the Selection Show is whether Minnesota can punch their ticket. I was right again:

Don't let my general disappointment in the quality of play this season mislead you into thinking March won't be March. No matter what the regular season was like, the combination of desperation and skill always makes for the best sports spectacle of the year, every year, and without really dominant teams, the ride will be even more thrilling.