
NCAA Conference Tournaments 2016: Predictions, Results for Sunday's Top Games
The last five automatic bids to the NCAA tournament have been handed out Sunday, with conference finals held in the American, Atlantic 10, Big Ten, SEC and Sun Belt conferences. With those games finished, all that remains is for the NCAA selection committee to announce its 68-team field.
Scroll through to check out quick recaps of the last conference tourney finals.
Predictions made by Brian J. Pedersen.
AAC Final
1 of 5
Connecticut 72, Memphis 58
Five Connecticut players scored in double figures, helping the Huskies to the American Athletic Conference title and the final automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
The fifth-seeded Huskies (24-10) held Memphis to 19 first-half points and led by as many as 17, keeping the sixth-seeded Tigers (19-15) from stealing a bid just before the NCAA field was announced. Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller had 13 points apiece for UConn, while Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis added 12 (with Hamilton contributing 11 rebounds for a double-double) and Omar Calhoun scored 10 off the bench.
Memphis got 21 points and 11 rebounds from Dedric Lawson.
Atlantic 10 Final
2 of 5
Saint Joseph's 87, VCU 74
As they have all season, DeAndre' Bembry and Isaiah Miles carried Saint Joseph's, this time to its second Atlantic 10 tournament title in the last three seasons.
Bembry had 30 points and Miles added 26, combining to shoot 24-of-32 from the field. Miles added 12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season, helping the fourth-seeded Hawks (27-7) top 80 points for the fourth time in five games.
Saint Joseph's shot 64.8 percent, holding No. 2 VCU (24-10) to 41.2 percent from the field. The Hawks led by as many as 21 points in the second half. Then, after the Rams pulled within seven with 4:28 left, they went on a 10-2 run to put the game away.
Korey Billbury and JeQuan Lewis had 19 points apiece for VCU, but that duo was just 4-of-17 from three-point range as the Rams went 7-of-29 from outside.
Big Ten Final
3 of 5
Michigan State 66, Purdue 62
The Spartans made their final push for a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by claiming their third Big Ten tournament title in the last five seasons.
Second-seeded Michigan State (29-5) led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but fourth-seeded Purdue pulled within one with 2:50 left. However, the Boilermakers (26-8) missed their final six shots and were just 1-of-10 down the stretch, with Johnny Hill's driving layup down two with 13 seconds left getting swatted away by Matt Costello.
Denzel Valentine was an assist short of a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for MSU. Purdue got 19 from Vince Edwards and 11 each from A.J. Hammons and Caleb Swanigan.
Purdue was looking for its first Big Ten tourney title since 2009.
SEC Final
4 of 5
Kentucky 82, Texas A&M 77 (OT)
Three-pointers by Derek Willis and Jamal Murray in the final 62 seconds of overtime broke a 75-all tie, lifting second-seeded Kentucky (26-8) to its second straight SEC tournament title.
Willis canned one from the right side with 1:02 left. Then, as the shot clock wound down, Murray pulled up from the left side to drain another three with 15.8 seconds remaining for an 81-75 lead. It was the second-largest margin in a game that stayed close throughout, with top-seeded A&M (26-8) leading by four at halftime.
Danuel House had a career-high 32 for the Aggies, including a jumper with 22 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session. Tyler Ulis, who had a career-best 30 points for Kentucky, missed a fallaway jumper at the buzzer that would have won it.
The win avenged Kentucky's overtime loss at A&M in February, a game that included controversy toward the end when Kentucky center Isaac Humphries was issued a technical foul for slamming the ball with less than a minute remaining in OT.
Sun Belt Final
5 of 5
Arkansas-Little Rock 70, Louisiana-Monroe 50
Top-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock trailed by five points at halftime but opened the second half on an 18-4 run to run away with the Sun Belt title and its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011.
The Trojans (29-4) held second-seeded Louisiana-Monroe (20-13) to 17 second-half points, the 16th time this season they've limited an opponent to under 60 points. Monroe scored 86 in a win over Little Rock earlier in the season.
Roger Woods had 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds for Little Rock, which had four players in double figures. Justin Roberson led Monroe with 17 points.

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