CTC: Day 6 Preview

Saturday (Day 5) was jam-packed with games all over the country; Sunday is a little less “packed,” but has better (more CTC value) games.  This day will go a long way to see who has the advantage heading into the high-value, major tournaments.

MISSOURI VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP:
Even though the final in The Valley pits #1 vs. #3, it is a rather unexpected final, mainly because of who is missing–Creighton.

• #1 Northern Iowa vs. #3 Illinois State.  Top-seeded Northern Iowa will try and complete a great Valley season, but they will be tested by a red-hot Illinois St. team that remembers getting destroyed last year in The Valley final against Drake.  Everyone has Creighton winning the tournament, so there are no points on the line here.  Stri is going to take Ina’s CTC Valley title away.

COLONIAL SEMIFINALS:
An extremely exciting quarterfinal round (all four of which were on TV here in the South) gave us a CAA Final Four for Sunday.

• #1 VCU vs. #4 Old Dominion.  This s going to be one of the best games of the day and, personally, I cannot wait to watch it.  This game is really big for the CTC.  Four of us have VCU (Bry, Ina, Waters, and J), and three of us have ODU (Alexi, Doogan, and Stri).  Lynch has Delaware, who is already out.  Doogan and Stri both have ODU winning it all.  Bry has VCU winning it all.
• #2 George Mason vs. #11 Towson.  The CTC Cinderella lives to see another day, as Towson knocks off another high CAA seed.  They get a shot to continue their George Mason-esque run today against, well, George Mason.  Bry, Doogan, and Lynch who have already lost this game (either with Northeastern or Drexel) will be rooting for the Tigers to pull off another upset.  The other five all have Mason

WEST COAST CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS:
The structure of the WCC tournament gives the top two teams a double-bye to the semis.  So, tonight is the first we will see of the class of the WCC, #1 Gonzaga and #2 St. Mary’s.

• #1 Gonzaga (14-0) vs. #4 Santa Clara.  Gonzaga went undefeated in the WCC this year, but the slate is clean now and they have the same chance to get the auto bid as the other three Final Four teams.  They open tonight against #4 Santa Clara, who beat San Diego last night.  Everyone except Bry has Gonzaga winning this tournament, so Bry is a Santa Clara fan today.
• #2 St. Mary’s (10-4) vs. #3 Portland.  Patty Mills is healthy, so St. Mary’s is a LOT better than they have been for the past month and a half.  Everyone has St. Mary’s winning this game, but Bry is the only one with them winning the title.

AMERICA EAST SEMIFINALS:
After a pretty wild quarterfinal day in the America East, we have an unexpected Final Four.

• #1 Binghamton vs. #4 New Hampshire.  After two games yesterday, two of the top three seeds had been eliminated, opening this tournament widely to Binghamton.  And, now the top two remaining seeds face off in Albany in the semis.  Doogan is the only one with New Hampshire making the finals, so he could gain a lot of points if that comes through.  J had Stony Brook, so he is out.  Everyone else has Binghamton.  Only Bry and Ina have them winning the tournament, though.
• #6 UMBC vs. #7 Albany.  A very surprising semifinal matchup, pits the defending champ and the home team.  Both Bry and Lynch both have UMBC making the finals (Lynch actually has them repeating and winning this tournament).  Everyone else had Vermont in the finals, so they will be rooting for Albany today, so they don’t lose points to the “Retriever Believers.”

SoCON SEMIFINALS:
It was apparent all year that the South Division was much better than the North Division, but the North held their own in the quarters, taking two of the four spot in the SoCon Final Four And, since they are both at the bottom of the bracket, they will now definitely have representation in tomorrow’s championship.

• #1S Davidson vs. #3S College of Charleston.  If I had to guess, this would be the real championship of the SoCon, but then again, I have been the one that has been saying that the South Division would dominate the North in this tournament and that hasn’t actually happened.  Either way, don’t expect Davidson to run away from the Bobby Cremins-coached Charleston team.  Stri actually has this big upset of Charleston.  Everyone else has Curry and the boys.
• #3N Samford at #1N Chattanooga.  Maybe this home court thing really does matter.  Who knew?  Anyway, the Moccassins are just two home wins away from the Big Dance.  Samford, a bit of a surprise here, is ready to pull off another upset.  No one even had Samford getting this far, so obviously no one has them winning this game, but everyone except Waters and Lynch will be rooting for them today, as they all had The Citadel in the finals.  Lynch is the biggest Moccassin fan, as he has Chattanooga winning this tournament. 

MAAC SEMIFINALS:
The Big Three in the MAAC all survived last night and now we have a pretty good Final Four in Albany tonight.

• #1 Siena vs. #5 Fairfield.  The Siena Saints, the pride of the MAAC, continue their potential run to the tournament today against FU.  Everyone has Siena winning this game, and half of us (Bry, Alexi, J, and Waters) have Siena winning it all.
• #2 Niagara vs. #3 Rider.  One of the better games of the day pits two very good MAAC teams against each other for the right to play in Monday’s title game.  Only Alexi has Rider; everyone else has Niagara, including Ina, Doogan, Stri, and Lynch, who have them winning it all.

NEC SEMIFINALS:
Three days after the four quarterfinal games, the NEC continues tonight with a pair of semifinal matchups on the higher-seeded campuses.  Another packed Final Fou