Every year, the Sun Belt seems to blow up. Well, it happened again…
#9 Arkansas St. 64 – #1 Middle Tennessee 61
Middle Tennessee went 0-for-5 from the FREE THROW LINE in the final minute of play and still had a chance to tie in the closing seconds, except that their point guard decided that driving to the rim, down by 3 with 3 seconds left, was the best play at the time. Who needs a 3-pointer, down by 3? Anyway, the 25-win Blue Raider team is now out, and this tournament is wide open. All 20 people had Mid Tenn here, so the winners are the 10 people that didn’t have them winning this tournament (Alexi, Gersh, J, KA, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, Stri, Waters).
#7 W. Kentucky 68 – #2 AR-Little Rock 63
Might as well go the whole nine yards if there’s gonna be Madness. #2 AR-Little Rock also got beat by a Hilltopper team that is playing with house money, at this point. 6 people had the nice upset pick here (Alexi, Gross, Lohse, Lynch, RSmith, Teddy). RSmith and Teddy have the ‘Toppers going to the finals. Lynch lost his champion here.
#5 N. Texas 65 – #4 LA-Lafayette 62
The Mean Green come from behind to nip the Ragin’ Cajuns. A decent number of people had this mild upset, but the ramifications go further. Lohse has N. Texas in the finals, so that’s still alive for him. Gersh had ULL winning this whole tournament, so he, like a lot of people on this night, lost his Sun Belt champion.
#3 Denver 61 – #6 S. Alabama 50
The Pioneers are now, not only the best remaining seed, but they have to be considered the clear favorites to win this tournament, as they survive the chaos that was the quarterfinals. Gersh and RSmith missed the upset pick here. 8 people keep alive their champion pick with Denver (Alexi, J, KA, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Stri, Waters). In fact, Denver is the only remaining team that anyone picked to win this tournament.
The results of the night gives Dave the ignominious distinction of clinching a Sun Belt goose egg. He will finish this conference with 0 points.
SUN BELT PENTHOUSE: Gross, Lohse, Teddy (50)
SUN BELT CELLAR: Dave (0)
