The absolute biggest day in Week One is today. There are quadruple-headers all over the country. The 2009 CTC is off and running, with 12 conference tournaments having games today. We’ll try and focus on the CTC implications with these games because there are so many
MISSOURI VALLEY SEMIFINALS:
“Arch Madness” continues tonight in St. Louis, with a semifinal double-header. There are 48 game points up for grabs here in the CTC, as the top four seeds are in action. We will see if any of the “madness” tonight can match that of last night with that CRAZY Creighton-Wichita St. game.
- #1 Northern Iowa vs. #4 Bradley. Half of us (Ina, Stri, Alexi, and Lynch) have #1 UNI going to the finals tonight. Waters and J have Bradley in the upset. Bry (SIU) and Doogan (Drake) have already lost this game.
- #2 Creighton vs. #3 Illinois State. Everyone has Creighton winning the whole tournament, so this game has basically no CTC implications.
BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP:
The top two seeds survived the rigors of the Big South championship and they face off tonight in Radford, VA. They are both coming off big semifinal wins at home.
- #2 VMI at #1 Radford. Bry and Stri have top-seeded Radford winning the title on their home floor. J and Waters have #2 VMI winning tonight. The other 4 of us cannot score in this game tonight, as Lynch had Winthrop and the other 3 had Liberty. If VMI wins tonight, J wins the Big South title. If Radford wins, Bry wins the title.
ATLANTIC SUN CHAMPIONSHIP:
Like the Big South, the top two seeds also survived the A-Sun conference tournament. And, again, like the Big South, neither of the finalists were threatened in their semifinal games.
- #1 Jacksonville vs. #2 East Tennessee State. Well, no one has #1 Jacksonville winning the title, even though they won the regular season title and got a bye to the semis. Only Lynch and J had ETSU, the #2 seed. J, who won the 2008 A-Sun title, will have to share the title this year. If ETSU wins today, he will share it with only Lynch. If Jacksonville wins, he’ll have to share it with Lynch and Ina.
OHIO VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP:
After the huge upset last night by #4 Morehead St., they now get to play on national TV in the OVC finals today. With two teams left here in the finals, none of the 8 of us had either of them winning this tournament, so this competition is all but over.
- #2 Austin Peay vs. #4 Morehead State. Bry had Austin Peay making the finals. Alexi picked Morehead St. in the upset to make the finals. No one else even picked one of these finalists correctly, so we were a combined 2-14 in picking the OVC semifinals correctly. No points are at stake tonight, so we can basically start engraving the 2009 CTC OVC championship trophy for Alexi.
HORIZON SEMIFINALS:
After two round of the Horizon League tournament, we finally get to see the league’s two best teams. The semifinal double-header tonight is on the campus of Butler University, each pitting a team that received two byes against a team that has already won two games.
- #4 Wright State at #1 Butler (15-3). Wright St. got here with a 12-point win over Valpo at home and then a 10-win last night here in Indianapolis. Butler got here by winning the regular season title and receiving the double-bye that goes along with it. All 8 of us have Butler winning this whole tournament, so this game has basically no CTC implications.
- #2 UW-Green Bay (13-5) vs. #3 Cleveland State. Again, this is UW-Green Bay, who got here by earning the double-bye against Cleveland St., who got here by winning two tournament games, including a tough one last night against a game #7 UIC team. Despite being the #2 seed and receiving a double-bye, only Ina and Waters have UW-Green Bay winning this game. Lynch, Alexi, Doogan, J, and Bry all have Cleveland St. pulling off the minor upset. Stri had Youngstown St., so he cannot gain any points here.
COLONIAL QUARTERFINALS:
After an interesting opening round quadruple-header yesterday in the Colonial, we get to see the top four seeds in action today in another quadruple-header in Richmond.
- #1 VCU (14-4) vs. #8 Georgia State. The top-seeded VCU squad takes on Georgia St. today in the first quarterfinal. Only Lynch did not take VCU to win this game, as he took Delaware (who lost by 13 to Georgia St. last night). Along with Lynch, Doogan, Stri, and Alexi wouldn’t mind seeing Rams get upset today, as they all have them losing in the semis.
- #2 George Mason (13-5) vs. #7 James Madison. JMU hammered William & Mary last night, so they ought to have some confidence coming into this matchup with #2 George Mason. They are also led by seniors and juniors, so do not count them out. However, it seems all 8 of us “counted them out,” as everyone has George Mason winning this game.
- #3 Northeastern (12-6) vs. #11 Towson. The biggest chaos of the CTC so far took place last night when #11 Towson knocked off #6 Drexel. Only Alexi had that pick and 5 of us (Lynch, Stri, Waters, Doogan, and J) had Drexel making at least the semifinals–Doogan had them in the finals. If Towson can pull off another upset, Bry would be the most affected, as he has Northeastern in the finals.
- #4 Old Dominion (12-6) vs. Hofstra. With all respect to The Valley’s semis, this is probably the best conference tournament game of the day. Two very solid teams, with a storied rivalry, in a big quarterfinal matchup. J, Waters, and Lynch all have Hofstra in the upset, but none of them had them in the finals. If ODU goes down, Alexi, Stri, and Doogan will all lose finalists; Doogan and Stri will lose champions.
WEST COAST CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS:
After a pair of uneventful opening round games, the WCC moves into the quarterfinals today in Vegas. We get to see the #3 and #4 seeds open their postseasons.
- #3 Portland (9-5) vs. Pepperdine. The Waves took out San Francisco last night, 93-85 and now get to play #3 Portland in the quarters. The winner of this game gets to test just how healthy Patty Mills is in the semis, against #2 St. Mary’s. Only Lynch has Pepperdine winning this game. Everyone else has Portland.
- #4 Santa Clara (7-7) vs. San Diego. The defending champion Terreros of San Diego survived a scare from Loyola Marymount last night and now get to face Santa Clara in the quarters. Lynch is the only one with Santa Clara winning this game, even though they are favored. No one has either of these teams beating St. Mary’s. Doogan has already lost this game, as he had LMU defeating Santa Clara.
SoCON QUARTERFINALS:
After a quadruple-header yesterday, the SoCon continues with another quadruple-header today in the quarterfinal round. It also gives us the debut of the top four seeds, including Davidson and the great Stephen Curry.
- #1S Davidson (18-2) vs. #4N Appalachian State. Mr. Curry debuts his 2009 postseason today against App St. Curry is trying to follow-up on his great postseason a year ago, but it has to start here in Chattanooga. Not surprisingly, everyone has Davidson winning this game. Stri would be the most happy to see Davidson get beat, as he has them going out in the semis. Lynch wouldn’t mind, as he has them losing in the finals. Everyone else has them winning this tournament.
- #1N Chattanooga (11-9) vs. #5N Elon. Chattanooga, who would have finished 5th in the South Division, even with the unbalanced schedule, got the top seed in the North and the bye. And, they got one more break–they get Elon instead of a tough Wofford team because Elon upset the Terriers last night. Bry, J, Doogan, and Alexi all had Wofford not only yesterday, but also winning today, so they cannot gain any points in this game, but are probably rooting for Elon. Lynch is the biggest Chattanooga fan in the field, as he has them winning this tournament.
- #2S The Citadel (15-5) vs. #3N Samford. Samford barely got past the Furman Paladins last night, 57-52, and now they get to battle a really good Citadel team. All 8 of us have The Citadel winning this game. Stri has the most at stake here, as he has The Citadel winning the whole tournament. Bry, Ina, and J have them going to the finals and losing.
- #2N Western Carolina (11-9) vs. #3S College of Charleston. Another big of an unfair situation, as the College of Charleston had to play last night, while the W. Carolina Catamounts had the day off. None of us seemed concerned about the off day, though, as no one picked W. Carolina to win this game. Everyone has College of Charleston winning this game, except Lynch, who had UNC-Greensboro.
AMERICA EAST QUARTERFINALS:
After a thrillingly awful game last night in the opening round, the rest of the America East takes the court in Albany tonight.
- #1 Binghamton (13-3) vs. #9 Hartford. Hartford, after knocking off Maine last night, get rewarded with a date with the conference’s top seed, Binghamton. Everyone had Binghamton winning this game. Ina and Bry have a little more at stake, as they have Binghamton winning the whole tournament.
- #2 Vermont (13-3) at #7 Albany (6-10). The Catamounts slipped up at the end of the season, costing them the top seed, and more importantly, forcing them to play the #7 seed, Albany on their home floor. However, this did not sway 7 of us from taking Vermont. Only Bry took Albany at home in the big upset.
- # 3 Boston University (11-5) vs. UMBC (7-9). The defending champion Retrievers open their title defense against Boston University tonight. Lynch, Alexi, and Bry took the Retrievers. In fact, Lynch and Bry (an alum of UMBC grad school) both have UMBC going to the finals, with Lynch picking them to win the whole thing.
- #4 New Hampshire (8-8) vs. Stony Brook (8-8). An interesting matchup between two 8-8 teams in the quarters. Only Doogan and Lynch took UNH to win this game, even though they are the favorite. J has the most at stake, as he has Stony Brook going to the finals.
MAAC QUARTERFINALS:
The America East had one thrillingly awful game last night, and the MAAC did them one better, with two thrillingly awful opening round games–both ending up in upsets by teams that were a combined 8-28 in conference play this year.
- #1 Siena (16-2) vs. #9 Canisius. The Saints were supposed to be the best mid-major team in the country this year, but it just wasn’t quite the season they expected. But, they can still make some noise, if they can win the MAAC tournament. Everyone has Siena going to the finals. Half of us have Siena winning it all (Bry, J, Alexi, and Waters)
- #2 Niagara (14-4) vs. #10 Marist. The Red Foxes scored 43 points last night and are somehow still alive to play again today. They face the biggest competition to Siena, the Niagara Purple Eagles. Everyone has Niagara winning this game, and everyone except Alexi has them winning the semifinal game as well. Three of us have Niagara winning the tournament (Ina, Stri, and Lynch)
- #3 Rider (12-6) vs. #6 St. Peter’s (8-10). Rider has been sort of an afterthought in this conference all year, as Niagara and Siena have been so dominant, but Rider can really play. They open their postseason tonight against the St. Peter’s Peacocks. Only Lynch went with the SPC upset. Alexi is the biggest Rider fan, as he has them going further than anyone else–to the finals.
- #4 Manhattan (9-9) vs. #5 Fairfield (9-9). An interesting 4-5 matchup between two 9-9 teams to see who gets to play Siena (probably) in the semis. Bry, Ina, Alexi, and Lynch took Fairfield in the mild upset pick. No one has either team winning more than one game.
BIG SKY QUARTERFINALS:
The Big Sky kicks off tonight, with two quarterfinal games. This tournament is basically a test to see if anyone can take out the big favorite, Weber St. Bry and Ina shared the 2008 CTC Big Sky title, with 36 points. Stri (8) and Doogan (12) did not fare well in this conference last year.
- #6 Montana State (6-10) at #3 Montana (11-5). A huge rivarly continues tonight in Missoula. No one took Montana St. in this one. The biggest Montana fan is Stri, as he is the only one with the Grizzlies in the finals.
- #5 Northern Colorado (8-8) at #4 Idaho State (9-7). The winner of this game gets the first crack at Weber St. on Tuesday. Ina, Doogan, Stri, Alexi, and Lynch all picked the N. Colorado in the mild upset. No one has either of these teams beating Weber St. in the semifinals.
SUMMIT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS:
And, the Summit League kicks off tonight in Sioux Falls, SD. Like some other conferences, the Summit League gives the top two seeds the advantage of playing a day before the #3 and #4 seeds, so there are only two of the quarterfinals taking place tonight.
- #1 North Dakota State (16-2) vs. #8 Centenary (6-12). ND State, the regular season champs, open their postseason tonight against Centenary, who had to win the last game of their season just to make this tournament. No one has ND State losing today, and only Lynch has them losing before the finals.
- #2 Oral Roberts (14-4) vs. #7 South Dakota State (7-11). Again, this is another unanimous pick, as everyone has ORU opening their postseason with a win. Bry and Waters are the biggest Oral Roberts fans, as they both have them winning it all.
