Championship Week Previews: Tuesday

Each day this week, Storming The Floor will be previewing that night's important games. Enjoy.

Before we dive right into the previews of tonight's action, I want to be sure to warn any potential floor stormers about the dangers of running pell-mell onto the hardwood. Arena staff are taking this stuff seriously this year - they'll let you on the floor, but try not to just run them over on your way down.

Evidence of this new approach can be seen above. At first, when I saw the yellow rope come out under the basket, I thought to myself "hmm, this could be a verrry interesting new routine the dance team has put together." But alas, it was event staff trying to contain the rampaging hordes that were soon to descend. So anyway, watch yourselves. And as the arena announcers often say "please conduct yourself in a considerate and safe manner, you savages."

In addition, I want to debut the motivational platitude of the day, in which we take one of our beloved pop culture references, and use it to encourage tonight's athletes to fight for victory. Today, I've chosen "Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'" from The Shawshank Redemption. If you have a suggestion for tomorrow, email it to me at [email protected].

Tonight's Conference Tournament Games

Horizon League Final: #2 Cleveland State (21-11) vs. #1 Butler (28-3)

Summit League Final: #2 IUPUI (26-6) vs. #1 Oral Roberts (23-8)

Sun Belt Final: #4 Middle Tennessee State (17-14) vs. #3 Western Kentucky (26-6) Not only a directional modifier, but the "State" suffix. Something done gone wrong in the Sun Belt. This was supposed to be South Alabama's spot, but the Ronnie Arrow-led squad went wide of the target in the semis, putting their at-large bid in serious jeopardy after last night's developments in the West Coast Conference. WKU showcases the sweet skills of Senior G/F Courtney Lee (20.6 ppg), and would like to continue to do so next week.

Big Sky Semifinal: #3 Weber State (16-13) vs. #2 Northern Arizona (20-10). I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK. Northern Arizona's mascot is a tree-chopper. I'd prefer that to another Wildcat any day. But we'll see how this one plays out.

Big Sky Semifinal: #4 Idaho State (12-18) vs. #1 Portland State (21-9). Vandals vs. Vikings - this is more like it. Portland State has dominated the Big Sky with the true high/low duo of Jeremiah Dominguez (5'6") and Scott Morrison (6'11").

The first round games of the MEAC and WAC also begin tonight, but we won't start worrying about them just yet. Enjoy the Floor Storming!

Eric Angevine writes about college hoops at Storming the Floor and CAAZone. He can be reached at [email protected]