By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

TOURNAMENT TIME

• Bearcats, Wildcats pad resumes • Huggins miffed by No.3 seed • UK marches into SEC play on roll TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS & BRACKETS • C-USA: A favorite? Try any of the five champs • A-10: Road to title goes through Saint Joseph's • SEC: UK, Miss. State fight for top seed • MAC: Western Michigan should take lone bid

Team to beat

With five teams having shared the league championship in a league with so much balance at the top, it's hard to settle on one team to beat, but Cincinnati might have the best shot because it's playing in its home city.

Dark horse

Louisville. The preseason pick to win the league championship stumbled to a middle-of-the pack finish, but has the league's second-highest RPI at No. 22 and remains dangerous with Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and coach Rick Pitino.

Most to prove

Marquette. The defending regular-season league champ and Final Four participant a year ago must win the tournament to keep from being shipped to the NIT. The Golden Eagles' win over Louisville on Saturday showed that they remain capable of pulling off a surprise.

Toughest draw

Cincinnati. The Bearcats' win over Memphis earned them a share of the conference title, but it didn't give them a break when it comes to their tournament draw. They will most likely face Louisville, a team that beat them by 27 points in January, in their first game. If they survive that, they'll likely face a rematch against Memphis in the semifinals.

Weakest draw

In a league with this much parity, there is no weak draw, but the nod here probably goes to No. 1 seed DePaul, which won't have to face Memphis, Cincinnati or Louisville until the final. The Blue Demons will probably have to play Marquette, though, in their first game on Thursday. DePaul has lost six straight and 22 of 25 to Marquette.

Most likely MVP

Memphis forward Sean Banks is only a freshman, but he has scored 20 or more points in his last six games, including 28 against UC, and has emerged as one of the league's top players, as the Bearcats discovered Saturday.

Player on the spot

Andre Brown. A knee injury probably prevented the DePaul power forward from being named first-team all-conference. Now he has a chance to show the league just how good he is by leading the Blue Demons to the tournament championship.

Ticket information

At US Bank Arena. Call (513) 562-4949.