Six mid-major conferences all play tournaments today, making it one of the busiest days of tournament season. How’s that for the first day of March?

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament (Campus Sites)

We are already in semi-final play in the A-Sun, as fifth seed North Florida takes on top-seed Florida Gulf Coast, and two seed Lipscomb hosts three seed Jacksonville. Lipscomb was the hottest team heading into this tournament, and they won their first round game against Stetson by a comfortable 89-73 margin. FGCU had struggled down the stretch, including losing a couple of games at home, but won their first round game against S.C. Upstate by 20.

What to Watch For Friday in Atlantic-Sun Play

Jacksonville lost four in a row in the month of February before recovering win their next three – including the first round of this tournament. In their previous match-up Lipscomb beat the Dolphins comfortably, but earlier this season, Jacksonville beat Lipscomb at Lipscomb, where they will be playing tonight. In other words, it won’t be a cakewalk for Lipscomb, as they eye a conference finals match-up with tournament favorite – but vulnerable – Florida Gulf Coast.

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament (Albany, NY)

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference begins tournament play in Albany, NY with what essential works out to be play-in games. The eight seed, Monmouth and ninth seed St. Peter’s square off to see who plays top-seed Rider tomorrow. . In a seven vs. 10 seed matchup, Qunnipiac takes on Siena for the right to play the two seed Canisius. Finally in MAAC play, Fairfield and Marist play to see who plays third seed Niagra.

What to Watch For Friday in MAAC Play

Fairfield is actually the hottest team in the conference, winning their last four contests. A win today means they take on Niagra, who they split the season series with. Additionally, while Iona doesn’t play today, a lot of the projections really like them to be the ones to win the tournament, despite finishing fourth in the conference. Iona’s path to the auto-bid begins with Manhattan on Saturday, who’ve they’ve beat twice.

Big South Conference Tournament (Ashville, NC)

Charleston Southern and Longwood won their play-in games on Tuesday, earning a place in the quarterfinals. Charleston Southern earned a match-up with top-seed UNC Ashville while Longwood pulled off a tiny upset as the 10th seed when they beat High Point. Now they challenge Radford. In other action, three seed Winthrop plays Gardner-Webb and Liberty takes on Campbell.

What to watch For Friday in Big South Play

Radford boasts both the Big South Defensive Player of the Year – Ahmad Thomas Sr. – and Coach of the Year – Mike Jones. Not only does Radford have one of the top defensive players in the country, but as a team they only give up 65.5 points a game, which is 29th best in the nation. The Big South is wide open, as it was a conference that saw a handful of teams share at least a portion of the top-spot over the course of the season. Four games separated the first seed from the eight. Good luck handicapping this one.

Patriot League Conference Tournament (Campus Sites)

Bucknell was eight points away from finishing conference play undefeated this season – losing twice. Winning the Patriot League by 4 games ensures them home court advantage throughout the tournament, a place they only lost at only once all season. The Bison are already a team that people thing could provide a tough test as a 14 or 15 seed in the big tournament, but first things first, and that’s a Patriot League Title

What to Watch For Friday in Patriot League Play

Colgate is the second seed in the Patriot League. That’s usually a good thing. Not so much this year at Colgate’s opponent – seventh seed Lafayette – beat Colgate both times they played this season. That’s a good first step for a team who hopes to make a Cinderella run. Additionally, Leigh was 3-8 to start conference play this season. Since then they have won eight straight, the best winning streak in the league heading into tournament play. That winning streak got them from the bottom of the league all the way to fourth, ensuring them at least one home game before they most likely have to go put that winning streak on the line against Bucknell.

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament (Evansville, Indiana)

In the Ohio Valley, the top two teams get a double-bye into the semifinals. That’s a pretty sweet gig. At a minimum, the teams either Murray State (1 seed) or Belmont (2 seed) play tomorrow will be playing for the second day in a row, and possibly a third, depending on how today goes. Murray State enters the tournament winning 11 in a row. They are also another popular pick among internet boards to make some news in the NCAA Championships, but they’ll have to win here, and despite the winning streak, it won’t be a cakewalk, in the competitive OVC.

What to Watch For Friday in Ohio Valley Conference League Play

Jacksonville State is another team that plays really good defense not just by conference standards, but by national standards. They give up just 64.6 points per game, which is 18th best in the country. They stumbled a bit this past month, losing two in a row, but a late season win in Belmont, shows they could still make some noise in the OVC tournament. They also hold a win over Murray State this season, which would be there opponent tomorrow if they get by Tennessee Tech tonight, a team they beat on their home floor just five days ago and beat both meetings.

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (St Louis, Missouri)

Finally in play in action, we see (8) Evansville take on (9) Northern Iowa for the right to take on top seed Loyola-Chicago and (10) Valparaiso against (7) Missouri State to see who will play two seed Southern Illinois. Loyola-Chicago won this conference by a comfortable margin of four games, going 15-3. While they have recently found themselves in the “Others Receiving Votes” of both top-25 polls, they will almost certainly have to win out to have a chance to go dancing.

What to Watch For Friday in Missouri Valley Conference Play

It might be a little hard to sell a what to watch for in conference play-in games, so I think it’s ok to signal out a player you may have never heard of. Missouri State’s Alize Johnson, a 6-9 forward, may be playing his last collegiate game. He’s average a double-double in both of his years at the school, this year averaging 15.1 ppg. and 11.4 reb. Tournament season is full of seniors who may be playing for the last time, and I expect Johnson doesn’t want his sensational season to end at the hands of Valpo tonight. He’ll be worth a watch.