CTC: Day Two

LAST UPDATE:  11:41 am

If yesterday’s Opening Day to the 2011 CTC got us off with a quiet rustle (8 games over two conferences), today just continues that calm before the storm (8 more games from three conferences).  Yesterday’s tournaments – the Big South and Horizon League – take the day off to relocate, and three new ones (all 1x) begin in earnest.  What we do get here is our first afternoon affair, as Belmont meets Kennessaw State in the Atlantic Sun quarters at 2:30.

PATRIOT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS (4 points each)
One of the purest conference in college hoops, the Patriot League, starts its plodding trek towards crowning a champion.  This great league, with some of the best rivalries around, is still just an 8-team league that plays a true round-robin and then gives home court advantages throughout its tournament to try and reward regular season success (well, that and to sell tickets).  But, as far as the CTC goes, the PL sometimes gets lost because they take three days off between the quarters and semis and then four days off before the finals.  From a CTC standpoint, this tournament often gets lost – but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t valuable points to be won here.

UPDATE:  There was only one upset in the four quarterfinals here in the PL, and that upset was a popular pick, so, as expected, we still have a slew of perfect brackets in this conference, including Mac, Gross, Lil Lohse, Lohse, Lynch, Doogan, J, and Bry.

#1 Bucknell vs. #8 Army
The Bison of Bucknell were said to be a year away from really competing for a Patriot League title, but they blew that notion out of the water, winning the regular season crown going away.  Bucknell went through the conference round-robin with one single defeat.  Who managed to knock off Bucknell?  That’s right – their first round opponent, the Army Cadets.  Army was only 3-11, but played a lot of close games and beat two upper-division teams (Bucknell at home and Lehigh on the road).  But, despite the regular season split, not one person went for the big upset points with Army in this one.

UPDATE: Bucknell 78 – Army 51 

Top-seeded Bucknell jumps out to a 34-12 halftime lead and then coasts to an opening round win over the Cadets.  Freshman Cameron Ayers, son of former Sixers coach Randy, comes off the bench and drops 26 points for the Bison.  Everyone got this right.

#2 American vs. #7 Colgate
The PL this year was a two-team race from pretty much the first tip.  Bucknell, in sweeping American, won the regular season, but the Eagles went 11-1 in games against everyone other than the Bison, so their overshadowed season was pretty darn good as well.  Colgate, on the other hand, was pretty bad this year.  Opening 1-15 (including a 100-43 loss in the Carrier Dome), the Raiders righted the ship a little bit and won 4 conference games.  But, it wasn’t enough to get out of the #7 spot, earning them a date with American.  Just like the Bucknell game, this game is a walkover in the CTC, as all 20 entries has the favorite winning here.  However, Scoot has a lot more at stake here than everyone else, as he is the only one with this #2-seed winning the Patriot League.

UPDATE: American 69 – Colgate 53  

No drama here either, as American takes care of business.  Ironically for a school called American, their best player is Romanian forward Vlad Moldoveanu, who scores 31 points in this win.  Everyone hit this game and Scoot keeps his champ alive.

#3 Holy Cross vs. #6 Lafayette
It was quite an interesting season for the Crusaders of Holy Cross.  While they were picked for third in the conference before the season started (ahead of both Bucknell and American), they went 1-13 in the nonconference and it looked like the prognosticators were wrong.  But, then they started winning conference games and ended up right where they were supposed to – third.  Lafayette had a slightly different trek.  Picked to win the league by most people, the Leopards also had a rough non-conference, but never really got back on track in the league, finishing sixth.  This is as big of quarterfinal game can get, as far as CTC implications go.  Just on this game, along, the entries were split nearly right down the middle.  11 people picked Holy Cross; 9 went with Lafayette in the upset (Bry, Doogan, J, Lynch, Lohse, Lil Lohse, Dave, Gross, and Mac).  Further, 7 people (Waters, KA, Teddy, Cheryl, Dan, Gersh, and Primm) have Holy Cross in the finals, with Waters and Dan having them as their champion.  On the other side, Dave and Gross both have the Leopards in the final, though neither have them winning it.

UPDATE: Lafayette 77 – Holy Cross 70  

Lafayette pulls off the lone upset of the Patriot’s opening round, as they go up to Massachusetts and knock off 3rd-seeded Holy Cross.  Bry, Doogan, J, Lynch, Lohse, Lil Lohse, Dave, Gross, and Mac all hit this upset.  Waters and Dan are the first entrants of the contest to see a champion pick go down.

#4 Lehigh vs. #5 Navy
The defending champion Mountainhawks were supposed to compete with Lafayette for the PL title this year, but it never came together for Lehigh, though they did win just enough games to get a home game in the conference tournament.  Navy had an up-and-down year, ending up in the 5-spot with a winnable first-round game, albeit on the road.  Six people actually went with the upset pick of Navy here (Waters, KA, Cheryl, Dan, Dave, and Gersh), and Waters has the Midshipmen going to the finals.  Somewhat surprisingly, no one has Lehigh winning anything after this game.

UPDATE:  Lehigh 87 – Navy 75

In the Lehigh Valley, the Mountain Hawks get 25 points from star guard C.J. McCollum and pick up a relatively easy win over Navy.  Waters takes another hit here, as he had Navy going further than anyone else, and 5 others also fall short on their upset pick.

ATLANTIC SUN QUARTERFINALS (4 points each)
I really enjoy the A-Sun, and honestly, I am not really sure why.  It is not great basketball.  Other than the amazing rivalry of Belmont-Lipscomb, it does not have a ton of history.  It has an awkward number of teams (11), with two of them (Florida Gulf Coast and USC-Upstate still transitioning to D-1).  But, for some reason, it interests me.  And, the tournament has, in the recent past, provided some great CTC moments.  One of my best CTC memories is sitting at work, exchanging emails with Lohse about whether or not we really thought Kennessaw State could pull off an upset of #1 Lipscomb (which they did, and we both went crazy at our respective places of employment about a team that we never really even knew existed).  Anyway, last year’s tournament went haywire, as the #5 and #6 seeds played for the championship, so anything can happen down in Macon, GA.  As for the format, the A-Sun rewards its top two seeds with the chance to earn an offday in the middle of the tournament, as they split up the quarterfinals, with the top two seeds playing today, then the 3- and 4-seeds playing tomorrow, before the semis on Friday and the finals on Saturday.

UPDATE:  With only two games, both of which were quarterfinal games with a top 2 seed winning, you would expect a lot of perfect brackets here so far in the A-Sun.  But, would you expect ALL 20 to be perfect?  I wouldn’t have, but that is the case.  No one had either of the underdogs tonight, so everyone is 2-for-2 in the A-Sun.

#1 Belmont vs. #8 Kennessaw State
Be careful, Bruins!  Kennessaw State, who only qualified for the tournament because Florida Gulf Coast (who finished ahead of them in the standings) was not eligible for postseason play, knows all about upsets.  As mentioned in the opening, they knocked off top-seeded and heavily favored Lipscomb in this game last year.  And, this year, they were supposed to have a much better team.  They didn’t – in the regular season – but the slate is clean.  Belmont, who cruised to a 19-1 record and the A-Sun regular season title, is trying to head back to the dance for the fourth time in their history (their only three trips were three straight from 2006 to 2008).  I guess no one learned from last year, as no one picked KSU in this one.  In fact, 15 of the 19 people have Belmont winning the whole thing – and no other team in the league even has two people who picked them to win.  The four people that don’t have Belmont winning (Bry, Waters, KA, and Scoot) are probably wishing for an upset here, even though they didn’t pick it.

UPDATE:  Belmont 72 – Kennesaw State 57 

The very beginning of this game – when KSU jumped out to an early 7-point lead – looked eerily similar to last year’s A-Sun tournament opener, when KSU upset #1 Lipscomb.  But, the offensive juggernaut Bruins took over at about the midway part of the first half and cruised to a first-round victory.  Everyone in the CTC got this right and are 4 points richer.

#2 East Tennessee State vs. #7 Campbell
Lost in the 19-1 Belmont regular season was a pretty solid season in Johnson City, TN.  The Buccaneers (clearly Waters did not know that this was their nickname or he would have had them winning this thing) were 16-4 in the A-Sun and a clear second-place.  The Fighting Camels of Campbell struggled all year and now have a tall order if they want to make a run in Macon.  All 19 A-Sun entries (with still at least one outstanding) have ETSU winning this game.  But, the biggest ETSU fan in this group is Bry, as he is the only one with them winning the whole sha-bang.

UPDATE:  E. Tennessee State 54 – Campbell 53

The second-seeded Bucs of ETSU got a real scare in their conference tournament opener.  Campbell, down 15 with 15 minutes left, went on a furious comeback to draw within one with :35 seconds left.  They got a stop and took possession of the ball, down one, with :03 seconds left and a date with madness.  But, it was not to be as Mike Smith (who led ETSU with 24 points) stole the ball and time expired on the Camels.  ETSU will move on to the semis on Friday against the winner of tomorrow’s game between Jacksonville and N. Florida.  Everyone in the CTC got this game right, but Bry is the most relieved about this near upset being averted, as he is the only one with ETSU winning the A-Sun.

OHIO VALLEY OPENING ROUND (2 points each)
The OVC changed up their format this year to mirror that of the WCC – giving the top two teams double-byes, then the next two teams single-byes.  It is a very smart move for a predominantly one-bid league because, without sacrificing the income of the conference tournament (which only the Ivy League can survive without these days), it still offers the best chance to put your best team forward for the world to see.  This is particularly important now that four low-major teams will have participants in the “First Four” (a crock, if you ask me, as it should be the last eight at-large teams, but, well, no one really asked me).  You really want your team in the main draw and, for these lower-rated conferences a middle-of-the-pack team winning the conference tournament almost assures their place in a play-in game.  Anyway, enough of the soapbox, we’re all here for the CTC…

UPDATE:  It was the opposte of the A-Sun in the OVC’s opening round, as both favorites lost.  Granted, these weren’t exactly two great teams that went down, but they were upsets nonetheless.  1 out of 20 actually nailed both, so everyone give Gersh a nice congratulations.  On the other hand, plenty of entries (Doogan, Stri, Alexi, Waters, Lohse, Lil Lohse, Scoot, Cheryl, Dan, Rikey, Dave, Primm, and Gross) got them both wrong.  Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, Scoot, Cheryl, and Gross all lost a semifinalist, while Doogan even lost a finalist.

#5 Tennessee State vs. #8 UT-Martin
Tennessee State had a decent year this year and was actually in contention for the OVC title midway through the season.  They lost a couple tough games at the end and no find themselves needing four wins in four days to go dancing.  UT-Martin’s season was more of a tale of two seasons.  Before the Tennessee game and after.  They were really, really bad before they went to Knoxville and gave the Vols everything they could handle.  They ended up losing that game, but gained some life to their otherwise listless season.  They still only managed 6 conference wins, but are playing some of the best basketball here down the stretch.  For a #5 vs. #8 seeded affair here, it has some decent CTC implications.  5 entries have UT-Martin in a relatively big upset (Bry, J, KA, Teddy, and Gersh), while Tennessee State has gotten some love to do more damage than just a first-round win.  Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, Scoot, Cheryl, Dave, and Gross all have the Skyhawks (I admit, I looked that one up) beating Tennessee Tech next round and going to the semis.  Doogan actually has them then going on to upset #1 Murray State and reaching the finals.

UPDATE:  UT-Martin 68 – Tennesee St. 64  

The OVC gets started off with an upset, as UT-Martin trails almost the whole game but rallies to steal this one.  Tenn. St. was up by 10 points in the second-half and up by 7 with 6 minutes to play, but freshman Terence Smith made some big plays down the stretch for the Skyhawks and they move on to Round 2.  Bry, J, KA, Teddy, and Gersh all hit this upset, while Doogan’s OVC chances take a hard hit because he had Tennessee St. in the finals.

#6 E. Kentucky vs. #7 SE Missouri State
E. Kentucky was one of the more disappointing teams in the OVC this year (though, not nearly as disappointing as their directional friend, E. Illinois, who didn’t even make the OVC tournament), as they were supposed to compete for third right behind the two big guys, but lost 9 conference games and slipped to 6th.  SE Missouri State was consistently bad pretty much all year.  As far as the CTC goes, let’s just say that whoever wins the whole thing won’t be looking back as this game as a critical juncture.  Only one entry (Doogan – E. Kentucky) has either of these teams beating Austin Peay in the quarters, so everyone else has their winner here as a one-and-done.  Lynch, Gersh, and Mac are actually the only three that took SEMS in the minor upset here.

UPDATE:  SE Missouri State 65 – E. Kentucky 49

E. Kentucky’s disappointing season comes to an end in fittingly disappointing fashion, as they get upset in the first round by a bad SEMS team.  Marland Smith’s 6 three-pointers highlighted his double-double night to lead the Bears into a quarterfinal date with third-seeded Austin Peay.  This game was a 1-point game at halftime, but SEMS dominated the second half.  Lynch, Gersh, and Mac were the only 3 to hit this upset pick.  But, only Doogan lost anything more than this game, as he lost a second OVC semifinalist in as many games.

CTC SNAPSHOT – PATRIOT LEAGUE

Championship Picks:

• #1 Bucknell (17) – everyone else
• #2 American (1) – Scoot
• #3 Holy Cross (2) – Waters, Dan

Lowest Seed Picked to Win in Earlier Rounds:

• QF – #7 Colgate – KA
• SF – #6 Lafayette – Gross

Previous CTC Winners:

• ’08 – Doogan
• ’09 – Alexi
• ’10 – Teddy

CTC SNAPSHOT – ATLANTIC SUN

Championship Picks:

• #1 Belmont (15) – everyone else
• #2 E. Tennessee State (1) – Bry
• #3 Jacksonville (1) – Scoot
• #4 Lipscomb (1) – KA
• #5 Mercer (1) – Waters

Lowest Seed Picked to Win in Earlier Rounds:

• QF – #6 N. Florida – Bry, Doogan, J, Waters, Lynch, Lohse, Lil Lohse, KA, Teddy, Dan, Dave, Gross
• SF – #6 N. Florida – J, Waters, Dan, Dave

Previous CTC Winners:

• ’08 – J
• ’09 – J
• ’10 – Bry

CTC SNAPSHOT – OHIO VALLEY

Championship Picks:

• #1 Murray State (8) – everyone else
• #2 Morehead State (6) – J, Doogan, Waters, KA, Teddy, Dave
• #3 Austin Peay (5) – Stri, Scoot, Gersh, Gross, Mac
• #4 Tennessee Tech (1) – Alexi

Lowest Seed Picked to Win in Earlier Rounds:

• OR – #8 UT-Martin – Bry, J, KA, Teddy, Gersh
• QF – #6 E. Kentucky – Doogan
• SF – #5 Tennessee State – Doogan

Previous CTC Winners:

• ’08 – Waters
• ’09 – Ina (perfect)
• ’10 – J