Day 3 is going to be an interesting day. The Big South is playing their semifinals; the Atlantic Sun quarters conclude (after starting last night); the NEC debuts with its quarterfinal round; and, the 3x tournament in the Missouri Valley (the “Arch Madness”) opens tonight with their opening round games.
BIG SOUTH SEMIFINALS:
Two nights ago, on Day 1, the Big South played their 4 quarterfinal games. They took a day off and now they have their two semifinal games on Radford University. Last year, Stri (42), Alexi (38), and J (38) performed best in this conference. Bry (20) and Waters (16) performed the worst. As for the quarterfinal rounds, only Lynch lost a finalist–he actually lost both of his and is finished–and Ina and Waters were perfect in the quarters.
- #1 Radford vs. #4 UNC-Asheville. Other than Lynch (who had Winthrop winning this game), everyone except Waters has Radford moving on to the finals. Waters would pull a big win if UNC-Asheville pulls the upset. Radford is coming off a shellacking of High Point, while UNC-Asheville beat a tough Winthrop team.
- #2 VMI vs. #3 Liberty. This game is going to be great in both a basketball context and a CTC context. VMI was 13-5 in conference play and Liberty was only a game back at 12-6. They also split their two regular season games. As far as the CTC goes, this game is going to go a long way in determining the winner of the CTC Big South. Ina, Doogan, and Alexi all have Liberty winning the whole thing. Waters and J have VMI winning the whole thing. Bry and Stri have less of a stake, as they both took Radford to win the whole thing, but for the upset points, they both took Liberty to win this game. A very important game in the context of the 2009 CTC Big South titleholder.
MISSOURI VALLEY OPENING ROUND:
The conference familiarly known as “The Valley” kicks off tonight, with the tournament, which they have dubbed “Arch Madness.” This 10-team tournament starts with two opening round games between the bottom 4 seeds. Points in this conference are worth 3x, so even these first round games can make a difference. Ina crushed this conference last year with 120 points. Waters was the only one close with 102 points. No one else even reached 80. J had a disappointing 24. This year’s race for the CTC Missouri Valley will probably have a lot to do with these early rounds, considering that all 8 people picked Creighton to win this tournament.
- #7 Wichita State (8-10) vs. #10 Missouri State (3-15). The Bears of Missouri St. had a disappointing bubble-bursting NIT selection last year and this year, they struggled to a 3-15, last-place conference record this year. Wichita St. limped to the finish, costing themselves a first-round bye. Only Stri took Missouri St. in the upset. Obviously, no one had either of these teams winning more than one game, considering everyone had Creighton winning it all.
- #8 Drake (7-11) vs. #9 Indiana State (7-11). Drake, the darlings of last year’s MVC lost their coach and 11 conference games this year. They open their MVC title defense tonight against Indiana St.–without Larry Bird. Apparently Bry and Stri hate the Drake, as both took the Sycamores in the mild upset tonight. Waters and J have Drake going to the semis. Doogan has them all the way to the finals.
ATLANTIC SUN QUARTERFINALS:
With the split-up quarters in the A-Sun, E. Tennessee St. won last night and the other two games are tonight. Two games tonight, with all 4 teams with at least 11 conference wins. This should be a good night in Nashville. Interesting note on the picks this year: the only favorite that Stri took in the A-Sun tournament was when he picked #5 Campbell to defeat #6 Mercer in the finals.
- #3 Belmont (14-6) vs. #6 Mercer (11-9). Belmont, the two-time defending A-Sun champs open their postseason tonight against Mercer. J and Stri both have Mercer upsetting the Bruins tonight, for 6 upset points. Bry, Alexi, and Waters will be watching with increased interest, as they all have Belmont winning this tournament.
- #5 Campbell (11-9) at #4 Lipscomb (12-8). Lipscomb, playing the whole tournament on their home floor, opens their postseason tonight against the #5-seed Campbell. For a quarterfinal between the #4 and #5 seeds, this actually has somewhat major CTC implications. Half of us have the Campbell upset here in the first round (Waters, Alexi, Stri, and J). Stri even has Campbell winning this entire tournament. Doogan and Ina both have Lipscomb winning the whole thing. Plus, Bry and Lynch have them losing in the finals.
NEC QUARTERFINALS:
The NEC kicks off their 8-team tournament tonight at the campuses of the higher seeds. Last year, the NEC saw a large discrepency, despite being a 1x conference. Stri won last year’s NEC with 48 points, followed closely by J with 44. But, Ina only had 16; Bry had 8; and, Doogan had a mere 4 points. This year’s tournament has two of us picking #2 Mt. St. Mary’s to win it all (Alexi and Waters) and 1 picking #5 Quinnipiac (Lynch). The other 5 have #1 Robert Morris winning this tournament. No one picked the solid #3-seed, Sacred Heart to win it all.
- #8 St. Francis (NY) (7-11) at #1 Robert Morris (15-3). The league’s best team, the Robert Morris Colonials open their postseason tonight with a game against St. Francis (NY), which barely held off Farleigh Dickinson and Monmouth to even make the NEC tournament. Waters is the only one tempted by the 14 potential upset points here, as he took St. Francis (NY) to upset the top seed. Everyone else had RMC, with Everyone but Lynch and Alexi having the Colonial win it all.
- #7 Wagner (8-10) at #2 Mount St. Mary’s (12-6). Mt. St. Mary’s, the two-time defending conference champs open their postseason tonight at home against a very tough Wagner team. Doogan is the only one to go for the 10 upset points with Wagner. Waters and Alexi have Mt. St. Mary’s winning this whole tournament.
- #6 Central Connecticut State (8-10) at #3 Sacred Heart (12-6). Two of the conference’s more successful programs meet in the quarters tonight in Fairfield, CT. The Pioneers of Sacred Heart had another great season, but lost the tiebreaker to Mt. St. Mary’s, which means they get a tough Blue Devil team in the quarters. Lynch and J both took CCSU in the 6-point upset pick. Surprisingly, not one of us took Sacred Heart to win the whole thing, but Ina and Doogan both took them to make the finals.
- #5 Quinnipiac (10-8) at #4 Long Island (12-6). A red-hot Quinnipiac team goes to Long Island to face a very good home team in LIU. The winner probably gets rewarded with a trip to Robert Morris in the semis. Only J and Alexi took the Blackbirds of LIU in this game. Everyone else took the mild upset. Lynch even has Quinnipiac winning it all. Waters has them in the finals.
