CTC: Day One

LAST UPDATE:  11:25 pm

Here we go!

Opening Day.  The grass is never as green.  The sun is never as bright.  The air is never as clear.  Everyone has optimism.  Everyone has hope.  Everyone is in first place.  That is the feeling right now, as no one has seen their title team go down in the quarters; no one has watched as their big upset pick fall in overtime.  Everyone has a zero in the L column.  But, only for a couple hours…

(NOTE:  There are two entries that have not come in at the time of posting, so there might be an edit or two.)

HORIZON LEAGUE OPENING ROUND (6 points each)
The Horizon League is one of the two tournaments that starts tonight, and it is actually a relatively important tournament.  Being upgraded from 2x to 3x this year (possibly because they placed a team in the championship game last year…), this tournament should get someone off to a good start here in 2011.

UPDATE:  Day One in the Horizon and all is well.  Four favorites win – some convincingly, some not as much, but it does lead into what should be a great weekend in Milwaukee.  No first round upsets usually leads to at least a couple perfect brackets, and this is no exception.  Mac, Rikey, Teddy, Waters, Alexi, Stri, Doogan, and Bry can all be embarrassed to say that they are conservative enough to have gone 4-for-4 tonight.  KA, at least with the integrity of a girl who loves a good upset, only hit one of these games.  OVERALL HORIZON LEADERS (perfect 24 pts) – Bry, Doogan, Stri, Alexi, Waters, Teddy, Rikey, and Mac.

#3 Cleveland State vs. #10 Illinois-Chicago
The Vikings have probably lost all hope at an at-large bid, so all they have left is the Horizon tournament – and they didn’t even get one of the double-byes, so they have a long road ahead of them.  The first game previewed in a tournament with 20 people and, somehow, we have a unanimous pick.  No one has UIC in this one.  Lynch has the most at stake here, as he has the Vikings winning the whole thing.  Cheryl and Primm have them going to the finals.

UPDATE:  Cleveland State 73 – Illinois-Chicago 61
The Vikings built a 17-point lead a halftime, fell asleep at the start of the second and woke up in time to beat UIC rather handily.  Future first-round NBA pick, Norris Cole, went for 26.  Everyone got this right.  Lynch kept his champion alive.

#4 Valparaiso vs. #9 Youngstown State
Valpo, like CSU, is probably out of at-large possibility, so this is all they’ve got.  KA, Primm, and Gross were the only three tempted by the big upset pick here.  Mac has the most at stake with Valpo, as he has them winning the whole thing.

UPDATE:  Valparaiso 80 – Youngstown State 71
A back-and-forth game for the first 17 minutes, opened up as Valpo went on a 9-0 run to end the first half with a 10-point lead.  They led in the second half by as many as 19 and looked like they would walk to Milwaukee for the quarters, but Youngstown State wouldn’t go quietly and actually drew the game within one, 71-70 with less than 2 minutes to go, but couldn’t get over the hump.  Brandon Wood and the Crusaders hung on and ended the upset hopes of KA, Primm, and Gross.  Mac kept alive his champion.

#5 Detroit vs. #8 Loyola (IL)
A decent Detroit team opens their tournament at home against Loyola.  As mundane as it seems, this game does have some some CTC implications.  J, Lynch, KA, and Dan all have Loyola in the upset.  Gross has Detroit going all the way to the Horizon finals.

UPDATE:  Detroit 90 – Loyola (IL) 69
Our first utter blowout of the CTC is offered up by Detroit.  The Titans cruised past Loyola to earn themselves a quarterfinal date with Valpo.  This results looks pretty nice to Gross, who has Detroit in the Horizon title game.

#6 Wright State vs. #7 Green Bay
This Green Bay team does not have Aaron Rodgers, but maybe they have his magic.  Wright State, on the other hand, has let a good season go down the drain with a fading finish.  They still are not a team to be overlooked, though, as Vaughn Duggins and company can flat-out play.  This game is the most hotly contested first-round matchup, as far as the CTC goes (though, there are very few down-the-road) implications.  11 of the 19 entries that have been submitted actually went with the underdog, Green Bay, in this one.  A minor upset, but an upset nonetheless.  Only Bry, J, Doogan, Alexi, Teddy, Rikey, and Mac took the favorite here.  Looking ahead, though, there are very few ramifications.  Only two people have Cleveland State beating either one of these teams in the quarters (Dan has Green Bay going to the semis and Waters has Wright State).

UPDATE:  Wright State 60 – Green Bay 50
Vaughn Duggins and his awkward style of play pour in 22 points as the Wright State Raiders slip past Green Bay into the quarters.  This very popular underdog pick didn’t materialize, and Wright State keeps the dreams of Waters and Stri alive to nail Wright State in the semis.  Dan lost the most in this game, as he had Green Bay in the semis.

BIG SOUTH QUARTERFINALS (4 points each)
The other conference that kicks off tonight is the Big South.  The Big South is a critical one in the CTC because it is almost always the first one, so it sort of sets the pace.  In the end, though, there are not a ton of points at stake here.  But, every conference crown is important.

UPDATE:  Day One of the Big South gave us some great games and one major upset.  Bry, Doogan, and J all hit the High Point upset and two of the three favorites that won to lead the way with 22.  KA, Dave and Primm struggled, going just 1-for-4.  OVERALL BIG SOUTH LEADERS (22 pts):  Bry, Doogan, and J.

#1 Coastal Carolina vs. #8 Gardner-Webb
Coastal Carolina had the nation’s longest winning streak at one point this season, but lost its only two conference games in the last week of the season, so, despite a 16-2 conference record, they are not exactly playing their best basketball.  Gardner-Webb would not have even qualified for the Big South tournament if Florida Gulf Coast was eligible, but a chip and a chair, right?  If they win every game they play from here on out, we will crown them national champions.  Doogan and Primm swung for the fences here, going for the huge Gardner-Webb upset pick.  On the other side, Coastal, the top seed, was the champion pick of 10 people (Bry, J, Lynch, both Lohses, Scoot, Rikey, Dave, Gross, and Mac).

UPDATE:  Coastal Carolina 83 – Gardner-Webb 72
And there is a 17-way tie for first in the CTC!  In the first final score of the 2011 CTC, the Chanticleers overcame their “issues” to win their opening tournament game at home.  Gardner-Webb led much of the first half, but Coastal held them at arm’s length for most of the second half, winning a game that was a lot closer than the final score.  Doogan and Primm’s longshot upset pick was close, but didn’t quite come through.

#2 Liberty vs. #7 High Point
Liberty, the surprise of the Big South this year, had a remarkable year, considering they only lost one game to anyone other than Coastal, even though they were only picked to finish 8th in the conference in the preseason.  High Point, well, wasn’t very good this year.  Despite that, three entries (the BSB contingent – Bry, Doogan, and J) have High Point in the upset here.  Surprisingly, though they are the #2-seed, only 3 people have Liberty winning this whole tournament (KA, Dan, and Gersh), so those three are big-time Liberty fans for the next week.

UPDATE:  High Point 66 – Liberty 60
Madness!  Shay Shine drops 26 on the Flames and High Point moves on.  Liberty looked like they were going to win big, opening up an 18-9 lead early in the first half and then a 39-30 lead midway through the second, but the last 14 minutes were dominated by Shine and High Point.  J, Doogan, and Bry all nailed the first big upset of the CTC.  KA, Dan, and Gersh all lost their champion.

#3 UNC-Asheville vs. #6 Charleston-Southern
Barring a big Gardner-Webb upset of Coastal, this game will probably go the furthest of all quarterfinal games in determining this year’s Big South CTC champion.  5 people have Charleston-Southern in the upset (KA, Teddy, Cheryl, Dave, and Mac), while 4 others have UNC-Asheville cutting down the nets as Big South champ on Saturday (Doogan, Alexi, Waters, and Primm), with a boatload of others having UNC-Asheville as least in the finals.  Teddy and Dave actually have CSU in the finals.  This is a big see-saw game in the Big South quarters.

UPDATE:  UNC-Asheville 72 – Charleston-Southern 63
Asheville takes care of business at home, never really being threatened.  With the Liberty loss giving them a home semifinal and a short-handed Coastal squad, Asheville has become the new favorite to win this tournament.  Doogan, Alexi, Waters, and Primm would like that result.  Teddy and Dave lost finalists here.

#4 VMI vs. #5 Winthrop
VMI – maybe the most exciting team in the country to watch because of their astromonical number of three-point attempts and their complete aversion to defense – played really well down the stretch to earn the 4-seed and a home game in the first round.  The downside – they get an experienced, well-coached (albeit, slightly down on their usual talent) Winthrop team.  While VMI is the favorite and the home team, the majority went against the Keydets here.  Only Doogan, Stri, Teddy, Cheryl, Dan, Rikey, Gersh, and Mac took VMI at home.  But, those who like them seem to love them.  Doogan has the Keydets in going to the finals, while Teddy and Cheryl actually have them winning the whole thing.  Alexi, KA, and Primm have the most at stake with the Golden Eagles, as they have Winthrop going to the finals.

UPDATE:  VMI 78 – Winthrop 73
VMI played just enough defense to hold off the Golden Eagles in a game that was close all night.  Alexi, KA, and Primm lose a finalist.  Teddy and Cheryl keep their champion alive.

As promised, I want to give an overall preview of each conference and its CTC implications on the day they get started, so we will see how this works.

CTC SNAPSHOT – HORIZON LEAGUE

Championship Picks:

• #1 UW-Milwaukee (5) – Doogan, Cheryl, Dave, Gersh, Primm
• #2 Butler (12) – everyone else
• #3 Cleveland State (1) – Lynch
• #4 Valparaiso (1) – Mac

Lowest Seed Picked to Win in Earlier Rounds: 

• OR – #9 Youngstown State – KA, Primm, Gross
• QF – #8 Loyola IL – Lynch, KA
• SF – #4 Valparaiso – J, Alexi, Waters, Lohse, Lil Lohse, Teddy, Mac

Previous CTC Winners:

• ’08 – Ina/Waters
• ’09 – Bry
• ’10 – Doogan/Teddy (perfect)

CTC SNAPSHOT – BIG SOUTH

Championship Picks:

• #1 Coastal Carolina (10) – everyone else
• #2 Liberty (3) – KA, Dan, Gersh
• #3 UNC-Asheville (4) – Doogan, Alexi, Waters, Primm
• #4 VMI (2) – Teddy, Cheryl

Lowest Seed Picked to Win in Earlier Rounds: 

• QF – #8 Gardner-Webb – Doogan, Primm
• SF – #6 Charleston-Southern – Teddy, Dave

Previous CTC Winners:

• ’08 – Stri
• ’09 – Bry
• ’10 – Alexi/Lil Lohse/KA (perfect)