After three decently interesting games yesterday, the Sun Belt picks up with a quarterfinal quadruple-header today.
#1 Middle Tennessee vs. #9 Arkansas St.
The Red Wolves knocked off FL-Atlantic by 15 yesterday and looked real good in doing it. Middle Tennessee has been a lot better than the rest of the conference all year and they start their title chase today. All 20 people have Mid Tenn here, with a lot of them picking the Blue Raiders to win it all.
#2 AR-Little Rock vs. #7 W. Kentucky
The Hilltoppers are one of the classic Sun Belt programs (probably, The Sun Belt elite), but they really struggled all year. However, with everyone alive in March, they have new life and survived a tough game yesterday against FIU. AR-Little Rock, the surprising champion of a year ago, had a thrilling season chock full of overtime and buzzer-beating wins in conference, getting them to the #2-seed. 6 people actually have WKU in the upset here (Alexi, Gross, Lohse, Lynch, RSmith, Teddy). The other 14 have UALR. Mac has the Trojans winning the whole thing.
#3 Denver vs. #6 S. Alabama
S. Alabama survived against #11 Troy last night and now get the reward of facing a really, really good Denver team. The Pioneers are about as talented as a mid-major gets, but they were up and down all year, particularly away from their mile-high home court. But, they are definitely good enough to take this whole thing, but it starts today. Gersh and RSmith have USA in the nice upset here. 16 people all Denver here (Dave and Doogan have already lost with Troy here). A number of entries have the Pioneers in the finals. 8 people have them winning it all (Alexi, J, KA, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Stri, and Waters).
#4 LA-Lafayette vs. #5 N. Texas
This is a great quarterfinal between two teams who got yesterday off to prepare for this one. The Ragin’ Cajuns have had a decent season, but started to falter at the end, slipping to 4th. The Mean Green, on the other hand, started really slowly, but have been playing much better lately. No matter who survives this one, they should give their next opponent (most likely, Middle Tennessee) a real test. This game could be a real swing game, as it’s nearly split down the middle. 11 people actually took the mild upset with N. Texas (Bry, Gross, J, Lohse, Primm, Rikey, RDoc, RSmith, Scoot, Stri, Teddy). The other 9 have LA-Lafayette. Gersh and Lohse have the most at stake here, as they have their picks here beating Middle Tennessee next round (Gersh with ULL, Lohse with UNT).
