After the four games on Tuesday night, the A-10 is ready for the rest of its tournament in the great old Atlantic City. It should be an interesting A-10 tournament this year, as the three-time defending tournament champions are actually the top seed this year, so we’ll see how the Owls can handle being the hunted this time.
More than half the field actually got all four opening round games correct, so this CTC title is wide open.
#1 Temple vs. #8 Massachusetts
The Minutemen knocked off Duquesne in Amherst on Tuesday, scoring a season-high 93 points. They are playing well entering the tournament, but did lose in overtime to this Temple team last week. This should be a much tougher quarterfinal than would be expected as the A-10’s top seed, as the conference is really deep this year.
19 people have TU here, with only Teddy going for the huge upset with UMass. Most of the field has the Owls cutting down the nets on Sunday.
#4 St. Bonaventure vs. #5 St. Joe’s
If you’ve never seen Andrew Nicholson play, you might want to tune in for this one…or just catch him in the NBA next year. Check out these career numbers for the 6’9″ senior from Canada: 2,000+ points, 850+ rebounds, 225+ blocked shots. He has even added an outside shot to his game this year, hitting 15 three-pointers in just 40 attempts. The dude can flat-out ball, and if he ever gets a “tough” streak to him, he could be a solid pro. Nicholson has one last chance to lead his team to the NCAA tournament and that starts today against Coach Pompous and his overrated Hawks.
Surprisingly, only 5 people (Bry, Gross, Mac, Primm, Stri) went with St. Bonaventure here. The other 15 have the mild upset of St. Joe’s. Teddy is the only one with either of these teams going to the finals, as he has St. Joe’s there.
#2 St. Louis vs. #7 LaSalle
I get the feeling that people forget just how great of a coach Rick Majerus is (or maybe people forget, altogether, that he is even still coaching) because it seems as if it has come as a surprise that this St. Louis team is heading to the Dance – and, possibly, a white-jersey seed, at that. But, this guy can flat-out coach and he took his time and built this program his way, and now everyone in the Gateway City is reaping the benefits. The Bilikens open their postseason today against a pretty tough LaSalle team. LaSalle is another example of just how deep this league is. The Explorers won 20 games over a pretty tough schedule and they ended up in 7th place, needing a win over Richmond just to get here.
Well, at least these people seem to know how good Majerus is, as 19 of the 20 CTC entries have St. Louis winning this game. Only Waters, who has an L here with Richmond, did not take the Bilikens. Gersh and Teddy put the A-10 champion on the line here with StL. Several others have them in the finals.
#3 Xavier vs. #6 Dayton
What an interesting year for the Musketeers. Before the brawl with cross-town rival, Cincinnati, they looked like a potential Final Four team. Now, they look like a Final Four team in the NIT. It’s truly unbelievable because they have so much talent. Would it surprise anyone if they ran right through this tournament? Would it surprise anyone if they bowed out by 20 tonight against their biggest conference rivals? Doubt it. Dayton handled GW on Tuesday to set up this grudge match for a spot in the A-10 semis.
This is an important CTC game, as well. 8 people have Dayton here (Doogan, Gersh, Gross, Lil Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Scoot, Stri); the other 12 have X. Gross and Scoot have Dayton getting to the finals before losing. Lynch has the Flyers winning the whole tournament. Likewise, Dave and KA both have Xavier taking this title and the auto-bid. Alexi, J, Primm, and RSmith have the Musketeers in the finals.
