This new WAC is rather interesting. They raided the Southland of its best teams not named Stephen, coupled that with a top Sun Belt program and – voila – you’ve got yourself a totally revamped and solid basketball conference. Well done, WAC. Now if we can get the “Midnight Snack” package back with ESPN, we’ve got something.
I have honestly been kind of riveted with the WAC this year. The Louisiana Tech team is really easy to like. Denver is just all-around solid, and New Mexico St. and Utah St. are terrors on their home floors. Even UT-Arlington came around and showed something down the stretch. It is a good league at the top this year, but the bottom was a bit shaky.
CHAMPIONSHIP (March 16th – 36 points)
#3 New Mexico St. vs #4 UT-Arlington
The fact that NMSU is here is not that surprising, but UTA is a bit of a shock. Though, if you look back at the recent results, it probably shouldn’t have been, as they have been really good recently. NM State got here with an easy win over Idaho and then a relatively tough win over #7 Texas St. UTA took out a good Utah St. team in the quarters, before ousting their rival UTSA in the semis.
Nobody has Arlington winning this game. Alexi, GrossSr, Lynch, and Stumpf are the only four with NM State. Caleb will take the 2013 CTC WAC title with an Arlington win, while Alexi and Lynch will split it with an Aggie win.
SEMIFINALS (March 15th – 24 points each)
#3 New Mexico St. vs #7 Texas St.
This tournament was supposed to be a huge battle between the three superior teams of the WAC. Well, two of them failed to win a single game here, leaving just New Mexico St. standing as the odds-on favorites to take this title. Now, anything short of a WAC championship will be disappointing for the Aggies. They open the semis on Friday with the 7th-seeded Texas St. team that started the quarterfinal Madness by knocking off red-hot Denver. TSU got to the quarters by beating 10th-seeded Seattle team by a dozen on Tuesday.
Obviously, no one has Texas St. winning here to go to the finals, so those who do not have NMSU will be rooting for them to zero this out. Seven people do have the Aggies here (Alexi, GrossSr, LohseJr, Lynch, Mac, Rikey, and Stumpf) with four of them (Alexi, GrossSr, Lynch, and Stumpf) feeling really good about their championship pick here all of a sudden.
#4 UT-Arlington vs #9 UT-San Antonio
These two arch-rivals probably thought they were finished with each other after two tough regular season contests (both won by Arlington in close games). But, with Arlington’s win over Utah State on Thursday and San Antonio’s wins over San Jose St. and then the HUGE upset of Louisiana Tech, here they are – old foes to face off for a date with ESPN and a shot at the tourney. It is amazing to think that the WAC final will have one of these two WAC newcomers (maybe two newcomers, if TSU beats NMSU), as the middle of the season looked like a 3-, maybe 4-team race (with USU being the 4th team, not Arlington), but Arlington has been red-hot and UTSA has the talent for this run, they just never showed it.
Caleb, J, and PapaCim could be huge beneificiaries of this Madness, as they have UT-Arlington winning this game (which will count as a decent upset) to go to the finals, though none of them have them winning it. No one even had UTSA playing in this game, let alone winning it, so a Roadrunner win here would zero it out for all the La Tech supporters.
QUARTERFINALS (March 14th – 12 points each)
#3 New Mexico St. vs #6 Idaho
New Mexico St. is definitely one of the clear favorites to win this tournament, as the Aggies have had a terrific season, yet again. In a three-team race, though, they finish 3rd and will have to face another team that didn’t have to play a pigtail game, Idaho. The Vandals, led by Kyle Barone, had an up and down season that was more down than up.
Eleven people (Caleb, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, and Teddy) took Idaho in a nice upset pick here. Dave has the Vandals in the WAC finals. Alexi, GrossSr, Lynch, and Stumpf have put their champion at stake here with NMSU.
#2 Denver vs #7 Texas St.
The Pioneers of Denver will play their first ever WAC tournament game on Thursday, after a move from the Sun Belt last year. Denver was awfully close to winning the league in their inaugural season, but, at 16-2, lost in a tiebreaker to La Tech. The Pioneers do enter the tournament riding a 10-game winning streak, though, so they are awfully confident. Their first opponent is Texas St. – picked for last in the league, but finished 7th – who knocked off Seattle in the opening round on Tuesday. If all goes right, we’ll have a great semifinal on Friday between Denver and NMSU, but things don’t always go right in March.
All 24 people have Denver here, with a huge number of people taking Denver to reach the finals, and 14 people (Alex, Bry, Caleb, Cheryl, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, Scoot, Teddy, and Waters) taking the Pioneers to win this tournament.
#1 Louisiana Tech vs #9 UT-San Antonio
The best year in the history of La Tech (men’s) basketball that didn’t have a guy named Karl Malone on its team ended with a scary two-game losing streak. It wasn’t just that they went from 16-0 to 16-2 and ended any shot at an improbable at-large bid, but it’s that they weren’t competitive in either game against their two biggest threats. They lost by 18 at New Mexico St. last Thursday and then by 26 at Denver two days later. Now, they get five days to think about it before hitting the hardwood again – for all the marbles – against 9th-seeded UTSA. The Roadrunners got here with an easy win Tuesday night over San Jose St. Oh, and if you haven’t seen La Tech play this year, tune in – sophomore guard Raheem Appleby is worth the price of cable.
All 24 people have La Tech winning this game, with 16 people taking the Techsters to reach the finals and six people (Dave, Doogan, Gersh, LohseJr, Mac, and Rikey) picking them to win this tournament.
#4 UT-Arlington vs #5 Utah St.
This conference was supposed to be a four-team race, but because Utah St. didn’t live up, it was only a three-team race. But, the Aggies are still tough, even away from their crazy homecourt advantage. UT-Arlington had a really nice first year in the WAC, including a sprint to the end to finish in the top 4. It was a good regular season for Arlington, but they are looking for more.
Only ten people (Alex, Caleb, Gersh, J, Lazarow, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, and Teddy) took the favored Mavericks of UTA here, but Caleb, J, and PapaCim have the most at stake with the Mavs going to the finals. Alexi, Cheryl, GrossSr, RDoc, and Waters have Utah St. going to the finals, so they need them to win this one.
OPENING ROUND (March 12th – 6 points each)
#7 Texas St. vs #10 Seattle
Seattle enters a D-I tournament for the first time, and they get the bottom seed and are stuck in a pigtail – that’s how it goes. The Redhawks actually weren’t terrible this year, playing really good defense and getting a real balanced scoring attack. They open with a Texas St. team that started to put it together down the stretch. This program is on the rise, so don’t be surprised if they are competing for a WAC title within 5 years. The winner of this game will face #2 Denver in the quarters on Wednesday.
Only nine people (Caleb, Cheryl, Gersh, Lohse, Lac, Rikey, Scoot, Stumpf, and Waters) have the favored Texas St. in this one. No one has either of these teams beating Denver in the quarters.
Texas St. 68 – Seattle 56
Texas St. was in control for most of this game – though Seattle made it close in the middle of the second half – thanks to Joel Wright, who went for 26 as the Bobcats extend a pretty decent inaugural WAC season. Seattle showed signs of competing all year, but, in the end, were a last place team who lost in the pigtail. TSU moves on to face Denver on Wednesday.
Only nine people correctly picked the favorite in this one.
#8 San Jose St. vs #9 UT-San Antonio
San Jose St. has had quite a season. They looked like they might be the surprise of the WAC early on, but then they kicked their leading scorer (20 ppg) James Kinney off of the team for violating team rules (most likely, academic-related). The Spartans tanked after that, particularly on the offensive end, finishing the season on a 13-game losing streak – most of which were completely non-competitive. They will hope to extend their season against UTSA, who is probably ready to close the book on 2012-13, as well. Expected to compete for an upper-level finish in their first year in the WAC, UTSA was anything but competitive early on. They did start to play better as of late, but the season had slipped away by then. They can make a little noise in this tournament, but with the next stop against #1 La Tech, it’s unlikely that their “sleeper” role will last all that long.
Half the field (GrossSr, J, Lazarow, Lohse, LohseJr, Lynch, PapaCim, Primm, Rikey, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters) have the favored SJSU in this one. No one has either of these teams beating La Tech in the quarters.
UT-San Antonio 67 – San Jose St. 49
An absolutely dreadful season for SJSU comes to a merciful close here in the 8/9 pigtail game, as the Roadrunners of UTSA dominate this one start to finish. SJSU ends the season losers of their last 14 games after the suspension of James Kinney. UTSA will take their shot at #1 La Tech on Wednesday.
Half the field got this one right.
CTC UPDATE
Championship Picks
- #1 Lousiana Tech (6)
- #2 Denver (14)
- #3 New Mexico St. (4)
Biggest Upsets
- QF – #6 Idaho (many)
- SF – #6 Idaho (Dave)
- Champ – #3 New Mexico St. (Alexi, GrossSr, Lynch & Stumpf)
Previous CTC Champions
- 2008 – Alexi
- 2009 – Bry
- 2010 – Teddy
- 2011 – Waters
- 2012 – Lohse & Waters
2013 Scores
1). 18 (perfect) – Caleb, Cheryl, Gersh, Mac, Scoot
6). 12 – Alex, Alexi, Bry, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, RDoc
13). 6 – Lohse, Rikey, Stumpf, Waters
17). 0 – GrossSr, J, Lazarow, LohseJr, Lynch, PapaCim, Primm, Teddy
