One of the better college basketball days of the year has come to a close, and the CTC is starting to take a little more shape, heading into the ends of the little tournaments and the beginning of the big ones. The leader, Alexi, turns in yet another solid day, with 154 points. This lengthens his lead of everyone but Bry, who won the day with 162. Another good day for Ina keeps her in 2nd overall. A very nice day for Lynch, as well, finishing 3rd on the day with 146.
DAY 5:
Bry-162
Alexi-154
Lynch-146
Ina-138
Stri-138
J-124
Doogan-118
Waters-96
OVERALL (point behind the leader):
Alexi-0 (406 total points)
Ina-24
Bry-30
Stri-90
J-106
Waters-114
Lynch-114
Doogan-146
MISSOURI VALLEY SEMIFINALS
The Final Four in The Valley were the top four seeds, and they faced off in the semifinal double-header on Saturday in St. Louis. It would be hard to match the madness to occurred Friday night, but it should still be some really good basketball.
- #1 Northern Iowa 76 – #4 Bradley 62. For the first 32 minutes, this game went back and forth, with the two teams exchanging leads, but a 10-0 run midway through the second half turned a 1-point UNI lead to an 11-point lead that proved insurmountable. The Panthers will advance to Sunday’s championship. Ina, Stri, Alexi, and Lynch all got this game correct, but none of them have UNI winning the title game.
- #3 Illinois State 73 – #2 Creighton 49. Often, when a good team comes very close to being upset in the early-going of a postseason, they have “dodged the bullet” and they go on to great success. This was certainly NOT the case for the 2009 Creighton Blue Jays. They needed a miraculous shot to win Friday’s quarterfinal against Wichita St., but then they just did not show up in their semifinal game on Saturday against #3 Illinois St. 13-19 from three-point range propelled the Redbirds into Sunday’s final against #1 N. Iowa. Everyone in the CTC had Creighton winning not only this game, but the finals as well, so this conference is all but over and the 2009 trophy will have Stri engraved on it.
BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP:
The first ticket to the Big Dance was punched in mid-afternoon on Saturday. This also means that the first CTC conference championship was awarded, as well.
- #1 Radford 108 – #2 VMI 94. VMI drops 94 points on national TV and are very disappointed. Maybe they should have played ANY defense and they wouldn’t have given up 108. The Radford Highlanders will show up in just about every office in the country in a week or so, as they are going to the Dance. More importantly, Bry has clinched the first 2009 CTC conference title. He has bragging rights for a year and the foremost expert on Big South basketball.
FINAL BIG SOUTH SCORES:
Bry-36
Stri-32 (defending champ)
J-28
Ina-24
Waters-24
Alexi-20
Doogan-16
Lynch-4
ATLANTIC SUN CHAMPIONSHIP:
The A-Sun sent the second team to The Dance today, as their final also pitted the top two seeds.
- #2 East Tennessee State 85 – #1 Jacksonville 68. The E. Tennessee St. Buccanneers advance to another NCAA tournament, with a relatively easy victory in the A-Sun championship. J and Lynch both correctly predicted the champion, and, as a result, will split the 2009 CTC Atlantic Sun title.
FINAL ATLANTIC SUN SCORES:
J-38 (defending champ)
Lynch-38
Ina-20
Alexi-16
Waters-12
Bry-12
Doogan-8
Stri-0
OHIO VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP:
And, the third ticket was punched Saturday night, and it was fantastic. The madness continues…
- #4 Morehead State 67 – #2 Austin Peay 65, 2 OTs. In what was clearly the best game of the Madness so far, Morehead St. won an unexpected bid to The Dance. It looked like it was going to be all Austin Peay, as they had as much as an 11-point lead in the second half. But, Morehead St. came all the way back and actually took the lead with :06 seconds in regulation on a crazy alley-oop at the shot-clock buzzer. The shot counted and Austin Peay had one last chance. They called a play for Wes Channels. Channels drove the lane, but lost the ball. It ended up in the hands of Caleb Brown who threw up a desperation shot that banked in, sending the game to OT. Morehead had the ball, with the game tied, at the end of the first OT, but Demonte Harper got called for a charge, giving Austin Peay a chance to win. Tournament MVP Kenneth Faried blocked the potential game-winner and they went to a second OT. Finally, it was a freshman, Steve Johnson, who hit a baseline jumper with :01.4 seconds left to send Morehead to their first tournament since 1984. MADNESS! No one in the CTC had either of these teams, so the outcome meant nothing for the competition, but it sure was an exciting “exhibition.”
FINAL OHIO VALLEY SCORES:
Alexi-30
Bry-20 (defending champion)
Ina-16
J-16
Doogan-12
Stri-12
Waters-12
Lynch-4
HORIZON SEMIFINALS:
The Horizon League continued with the semifinals of their tournament on the campus of Butler University. The top two seeds finally took the floor, after receiving double-byes. In the CTC, Bry is only one game away from a perfect Horizon bracket.
- #1 Butler 62 – #4 Wright State 57. Wright St. put up a good fight and stayed with the class of the Horizon, but they just didn’t have the horses in the end. Everyone had Butler winning this tournament, so there are no real implications to the CTC here.
- #3 Cleveland State 73 – #2 UW-Green Bay 67. Well, it is one and done for the #2 team in the Horizon, as Green Bay blows a big first-half lead to Cleveland St. on Saturday night. Cleveland St. now moves on to face Butler in the finals on Tuesday. Everyone except Waters, Stri, and Ina got this upset correct. Since everyone has Butler winning it all, this conference is all but over and Bry is going to win the title. The only drama left is to see whether or not he can complete the first perfect bracket of the 2009 CTC.
COLONIAL QUARTERFINALS:
One of my personal favorite rounds of the CTC is the Colonial quarterfinals. There are great rivalries and quality players in a quadruple-header–all announced by Scott Graham. How can you beat it? Lynch struggled here, going 1-for-4 in the quarters.
- #1 VCU 61 – #8 Georgia State 52. Georgia St. was a tough team. They are coached by a former Final Four coach, Rod Barnes (Mississippi St.) and have 5 SEC transfers on the roster that just started playing well together. But, there is only one Eric Maynor and he is on VCU, as the Rams move on to the semis on Sunday in Richmond. Everyone had VCU winning this round, but Bry is the most happy, as he has VCU winning the whole tournament.
- #2 George Mason 61 – #7 James Madison 53. Another tough team gives a top-seed a game, as the JMU-Mason game was nip and tuck the whole way through. Mason finally pulled away at the end, but the game was still in the balance for about 39 minutes. Everyone had Mason, but Alexi, J, and Waters are the most happy, as they all have Mason winning it all.
- #11 Towson 58 – #3 Northeastern 54. Towson hadn’t won back-to-back games since the beginning of January and hadn’t beaten Drexel or Northeastern all year, but they have now beaten them on successive nights with their season on the line. They now will continue the Cinderella run against #2 George Mason on Sunday in the semis. Obviously, no one had Towson winning this game, but this game hurt Bry more than anyone, as he had Northeastern in the finals.
- #4 Old Dominion 52 – #5 Hofstra 51. In the game of the day, two old rivals went at it and it came down to the final buzzer, with ODU on top. Darius James hit two free throws with :20 seconds left to put ODU ahead, but it was
