I love the NEC.  And, every time I watch an NEC game, my lovely wife says “why do you care so much about this game when nobody even cares enough to GO to the game?”  Maybe there is an allure to being interested in a game played in an empty gym, much like the indie band that nobody else has ever heard of.  Or, maybe – just maybe – the NEC has good basketball played by upperclassmen without a timeout every three possessions.  Coaches that let their guys play, get out in transition, and run offenses that aren’t just variations of the high ball-screen, drive-and-kick.  Or, maybe I just like to pretend all of this because I have a cable channel that plays a lot of NEC basketball…

Well, this year in the NEC has been the craziest, most bizarre season I can remember.  Usually, this league plays relatively to form, with just enough surprising upsets and homecourt defenses to keep it interesting.  But, this year was absolutely all over the map.  It started with a huge blow to my favorite low-major team this year, LIU-Brooklyn, who returned pretty much their entire team from their back-to-back NEC title runs.  Julian Boyd – the all-everything, two-time defending NEC player of the year – tore his ACL in November and missed the whole season.  Then, there is Wagner, who lost their up-and-coming celebrity coach, Danny Hurley, to Seton Hall, but should have returned enough talent to compete.  They wound up finishing in 2nd-place, but it was far from easy for the Seahawks this year.  And, the perennially overlooked NEC squad, Robert Morris, who dug themselves a pretty big hole early in the year, as they started conference play with two shocking home losses to teams picked near the bottom of the league.  They recovered, though, to win the league by two full games and enter as a solid favorite to make a trip to Big Dance.  One of the teams that beat them is Bryant.  This Bryant team had never even qualified for the NEC tournament until this season, and they spent most of the year in first place.  A late swoon dipped them to 4th, but it has still been the best season in Bryant basketball history.  Lost in the mish-mash of the top four seeds is the hottest team in the league, Mount St. Mary’s, who enters the tournment winners of 7 straight.  Among the disappoinments this year are Quinnipiac and St. Francis (NY), who both expected to contend for a league title, but never really entered the conversation all year, and Sacred Heart, who lost the final 7 games to go from a top-3 finish to missing the tournament completely.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 12th – 18 points)

#3 LIU-Brooklyn vs #5 Mount St. Mary’s
If you had said that, in mid-January, that the NEC championship game would be Long Island hosting Mount St. Mary’s, well, first of all, you should rethink your life because you’d be seen as a total dork talking about the NEC in mid-January – trust me, it sucks, I know.  Anyway, that would have been unthinkable, as it looked like these two teams might not even make the NEC tournament, let alone win it.  But, here they go, the two of them squaring off in the finals on Tuesday night in the WRE Center in the BK.  The first meeting between these two was at LIU and was a lopsided win for the Blackbirds, but the two met again on February 21st at MSM, with the Mountaineers winning by a dozen.  If the Blackbirds can get into the 80’s or 90’s, they will be happy.  The Mountaineers would prefer to be in the 60’s.

J, Lynch, and PapaCim all have The Mount taking this tournament, so this would be huge for them.  Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, and Stumpf all have LIU, so that would be huge for them.  A MSM win would give the 2012 NEC title to Lynch, while a Long Island win would give Stumpf his first ever CTC conference crown.

LIU-Brooklyn 91 – Mount St. Mary’s 70
The Blackbirds – for the third straight season – are Dancing!  They got the pace they like -particularly in the second half, when they scored 56 points – and #1-seeds beware.  With C.J. Garner having completely stepped up his game (another 31 in this one), they have shifted from an inside focus on Boyd and Olasawere to more of a perimeter-oriented game with Garner and Brickman.  I think that might actually serve them better in the tournament because it’s not like the big boys would be scared of 6’7″ power forwards quite like the NEC teams are, but if you’ve got quick guards who can shoot – that will play anywhere.  The Mounties needed one more win to cap an improbable run to the Dance, but fell short.

Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, and Stumpf get huge wins here, picking the champion.  Congrats to Stumpf for taking his first CTC conference crown.

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 12 points each)

#1 Robert Morris vs #5 Mount St. Mary’s
RMC looked like the conference’s top seed on Wednesday night, as they handled St. Francis (NY) with little trouble in their quarterfinal matchup.  They will stay at home here for the semis, but welcome in a team playing some rather high-level hoops.  Mount St. Mary’s came from behind on the road at Bryant in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal mathchup to register their 8th straight win – the longest winning streak for an NEC team all year.  But, none of the 8 wins have been against teams this good, and the road wins during the streak were all against teams that didn’t even qualify for the NEC tournament, so this is a different animal.  Either way, it should be a pretty good NEC semifinal here.

J, Lynch, and PapaCim have the most at stake with the road team here, as they all have MtStM winning this whole tournament.  Teddy also has them in the finals, but losing there.  Ten people (Alex, Alexi, Bry, Cheryl, Gersh, GrossSr, LohseJr, Primm, Rikey, and RDoc) have RMC as their NEC champion.

Mount St. Mary’s 69 – Robert Morris 60
Maybe that whole “peaking at the right time” isn’t just annoying coachspeak.  MSM wins their 9th straight game, including back-to-back road upsets of, Bryant and Robert Morris – the only two teams to ever hold the NEC’s top spot all year.  Now, they are going to the finals on Tuesday with a shot at a shocking run to the Dance.  How does this happen?  Well, anything can happen in one game – and it’s gotta be EXCRUCIATING for these small school teams where the tournament is their only shot and one game ends a dream.  RMC was led all year by a terrific foursome of Lucky Jones, Velton Jones, Coron Williams, and Russell Johnson.  Well, in this game, Lucky Jones and Johnson fouled out, while Velton Jones and Williams were held to 7 and 6 points, respectively.  Velton Jones – one of the best players in RMC program history – ends his NEC career with a 2-for-17 shooting night.  Unbelievable result in Coraopolis.

This was a huge win for J, Lynch, PapaCim, and Teddy.  The first three of them actually have MSM winning a third straight road game to take the title  Ten people lost their champion here.

#2 Wagner vs #3 LIU-Brooklyn
The Seahwawks of Wagner had no trouble with CCSU in Wednesday night’s quarterfinal, but the LIU Blackbirds cannot say the same for their quarterfinal with Quinnipiac.  Trailing most of the game, the Blackbirds pulled it out and are still alive in search of their third straight NEC tournament crown.  In a jam-packed Saturday, this is one of the  better games on the slate all day.

Not surprisingly for a 2/3 semifinal, a lot of tournament championship picks are on the line here in this one.  Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Teddy, and Waters all picked Wagner as their NEC champs, while Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, and Stumpf all chose LIU-Brooklyn as their champs.

LIU-Brooklyn 94 – Wagner 82
To think that LIU-Brooklyn – the two-time defending NEC champion – would be in line to host the NEC title game would never have been unthinkable…until their best player (and heart and soul of the team), Julien Boyd, went down with a torn ACL in December and the wheels seemed to fall off.  But, they recovered – thanks to a really strong stable of guys like Jamal Olasawere, Jason Brickman, and the guy who really has stepped up, C.J. Garner – and finished 3rd in the conference.  But, it wasn’t enough to get a home semifinal, as they had to travel to Wagner.  Well, the Blackbirds played this game at completely their pace the entire way – getting out in transition and forcing the action on the defensive end, and now they are a win away from a third straight trip to the Dance.  But, honestly, as my favorite mid-major this year, I can’t help but think of what “could have been” if Boyd were here.  Call me crazy, but I thought they had Sweet 16 upside with Boyd.

Anyway, Caleb, GrossSr, Lohse, Mac, Primm, RDoc, and Stumpf all got this one right, with four of them picking LIU as their champs.  Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Teddy, and Waters all lost a champion here.

QUARTERFINALS (March 6th – 6 points each)

#1 Robert Morris vs #8 St. Francis (NY)
Despite all the hoopla surrounding LIU-Brooklyn and Wagner and the two home losses to start conference play, the Colonials of Robert Morris ultimately proved a notch above everyone else in the NEC this year and will start their quest to the tournament at home against a very dangerous 8-seed in St. Francis (NY).  After their first upper-division finish in a generation last year, the Terriers thought they could compete for their first league title this year, but it just never came together.  Now, they have to win three straight road games to qualify for the Dance.

The guy who hit solely hit the biggest upset of Day One is out on his own again here in Day Two, as J is the only one with St. Francis tonight.  And, while all six of the top six seeds in the NEC have at least one person backing them to win the tournament, RMC was the most popular championship pick with 10 people (Alex, Alexi, Bry, Cheryl, Gersh, GrossSr, LohseJr, Primm, Rikey, RDoc) nabbing the Colonials as their champ.

Robert Morris 75 – St. Francis (NY) 57
Despite Velton Jones only scoring 3 points, the Colonials won rather handily tonight in the NEC quarters.  Karvel Anderson stepped up with 23 off the bench.  And, here a disappointing season ends for the Terriers, and the Colonials will play on.

J misses his big upset pick this time, and the ten people with RMC winning this tournament are satisfied with their performance tonight.

#2 Wagner vs #7 Central Connecticut St.
The Seahawks of Wagner did come out in second place this year, but they probably would tell you that they did not play up to their potential.  There is a TON of talent on the best defensive team in the conference, so don’t rule out a trip to the Dance, but they will most likely have to beat RMC on their home floor.  As for CCSU, the former big dog in the NEC has fallen on some hard times.  They were in contention for a lot of the season this year, but slumped down the stretch and carved out a tough road for themselves, which begins on Staten Island.

J, Lazarow, Lohse, PapaCim, and Primm all took CCSU in a nice upset pick here.  Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Teddy and Waters all put have Wagner winning this tournament.

Wagner 72 – Central Connecticut St. 50
Wagner’s stud power forward, Jonathan Williams, goes for 20 & 6, as the Seahawks make short work of CCSU and advance to the semis on Saturday.

The five with the CCSU upset pick are 6 points back after this, while the 5 with Wagner winning this tournament are rather encouraged with this performance.

#3 LIU-Brooklyn vs #6 Quinnipiac
This was supposed to be The Year.  The Blackbirds had it all – immense talent, experience, continuity, confidence.  But, one ACL tear can blow things up.  They actually looked very lost for a while, but recovered and finally learned to play without Julien Boyd.  And, let’s not forget, that as good as Boyd is, there is still a ton of talent on this roster, particularly Jamal Olasawere (who should step right into the POY spot vacated by Boyd) and Jason Brickman (who leads the NATION in assists).  The seeding didn’t exactly do them any favors, though, as Quinnipiac is a top-notch NEC team stuck as the 6-seed.  At 11-7, the Bobcats were only a game out of second place and they had won 7 in a row before losing at LIU on Saturday.  Now, they head right back there to try and start a 3-game winning streak that would end in a tournament berth.

This is probably the biggest swing game of the CTC so far.  Ten people (Alex, Alexi, Cheryl, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, J, PapaCim, Scoot, and Waters) have Quinnipiac in the upset tonight with Alex, Dave, and Doogan having the Bobcats going to the finals.  But, on the other side, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, and Stumpf all have LIU-Brooklyn winning this whole tournament, while a handful more have the Blackbirds in the finals.  This game is pretty huge in the early going.

LIU-Brooklyn 91 – Quinnipiac 83
C.J. Garner had a career-high 30 points on Saturday in a 6-point win over Quinnipiac in LIU’s regular season finale.  Well, tonight in the Blackbirds quarterfinal rematch with the Bobcats, Garner matched that performance in a thrilling come-from-behind win for LIU to set up a semifinal trip to Staten Island to take on Wagner on Saturday.

The huge CTC game ends with an LIU win, costing the 10 people who took QU in the upset the points here, with Alex, Dave, and Doogan losing a finalist here.  Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, and Stumpf all keep their champion alive.

#4 Bryant vs #5 Mount St. Mary’s
The best season in Bryant basketball history could have been even better.  A 2-point home loss to Robert Morris on Thursday night was all that separated them from their first ever NEC regular season championship.  But, that loss resulted in them falling to the 4-seed and a possible road date with RMC in the semis if all of the seeds hold.  They did, however, earn themselves a home game here in the quarters, but have to face the hottest team in the bracket, Mount St. Mary’s, winners of 7 straight entering the tourney, which began with a 14-point win over Bryant back on Valentine’s Day.

As big as the Quinnipiac-LIU game is for the CTC, this might be even bigger.  At least two people will lose their NEC champion in this game.  If Bryant wins, J, Lynch, and PapaCim will lose their champ.  If MtStM wins, Caleb and Scoot will be down a champ here.  Actually the majority of people have MtStM winning tonight on the road.

Mount St. Mary’s 75 – Bryant 69
For 30+ minutes, Bryant looked like they might cruise to their first ever conference tournament victory.  But, Mount St. Mary’s came back to win their 8th straight game sending them to Robert Morris on Saturday for a semifinal matchup with the #1-seed.  This was the end of a very good season for Bryant that somehow seems a little empty after leading the conference for so much of the year.

Caleb and Scoot have now officially lost their NEC champion.  J, Lynch, and PapaCim keep theirs alive.  A bunch of people hit this minor upset.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1  Robert Morris (10)
• #2  Wagner (5)
• #3  LIU-Brooklyn (4)
• #4 Bryant (2)
• #5 Mount St. Mary’s (3)

Biggest Upsets

• QF – #8 St. Francis (NY) (J)
• SF – #7 Central Connecticut St. (J)
• Champ – #5 Mount St. Mary’s (J, Lynch & PapaCim)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Stri
• 2009 – Bry & Stri (perfect)
• 2010 – Lil Lohse
• 2011 – Scoot & Stri (perfect)
• 2012 – Lil Lohse, Mac, Primm & Rikey (perfect)

2013 Scores

1. Stumpf (’13) – 74
2. Lazarow – 68
3. Mac (’12*) – 65
4. Lohse – 59
5. Lynch – 57
6. Teddy – 57
7. PapaCim – 45
8. GrossSr – 44
9. J – 39
10. Primm (’12*) – 38
11. Caleb – 35
12. RDoc – 35
13. Bry (’09*) – 27
14. Gersh – 27
15. LohseJr – 27
16. Alexi – 21
17. Cheryl – 21
18. Dave – 21
19. Doogan – 21
20. GrossJr – 21
21. Rikey (’12*) – 18
22. Alex – 12
23. Scoot (’11) – 12
24. Waters – 12