Welcome to the brand-new Sun Belt. Gone is North Texas. Gone is Middle Tennessee. Gone are FIU and FAU. In comes UT-Arlington and Georgia State, along with more next year. And, the Sun Belt has remade itself, while keeping up its tradition of one of the best low-major conferences around (could possibly be considered mid-major). This year, the old stalwarts are still here and both very good – Western Kentucky and LA-Lafayette – but it was one of the newcomers that stole the show, as Georgia State, with a high-major backcourt that consists of the coach’s son, who could have played anywhere, and the starting point guard for the 2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats. This is going to be an interesting tournament with some solid teams chasing the newbie.
19 of the 25 CTC’ers took Ga State to win this title. The other six were split 3-3 between WKU and LA-Lafayette. Both bottom seeds, Troy and ULM got some support as sleepers. Lazarow is the defending Sun Belt champ, and no one has ever won this league twice, so that could happen for Lazarow, Teddy, J, Stri, or Alexi.
CHAMPIONSHIP (March 16th – 30 points)
#1 Georgia State vs #3 LA-Lafayette
The Big Ten. The ACC. The SEC. The Atlantic Ten……….The Sun Belt?!?!? What in the world is the Sun Belt doing still playing on Selection Sunday? Who do they think they are??? Anyway, Ga State – who ran away with the regular season title (and didn’t enter the tournament until Saturday) hammered Ark State in the semis. LA-Lafayette, on the other hand, had a battle with UT-Arlington in the quarters on Friday and then a total war with their arch-rivals, Western Kentucky on Saturday, which ended in a 1-point Ragin’ Cajun victory. Now, they face off for one of the five remaining auto-bids. And, unless you count Saint Joe’s as a bubble team, there are no bids at stake on this day except this one. The other 8 teams are all playing for seeding when it comes to the tournament.
Doogan, RDoc, and Teddy are the only 3 with ULL here. Dave, GrossSr, and Scoot have already lost this one. The other 19 all have Ga State. Alexi and Lohse will split the 2014 Sun Belt crown with a Ga State win. Doogan will win it if LA-Lafayette takes the title.
SEMIFINALS (March 15th – 20 points each)
#1 Georgia State vs #4 Arkansas State
It wasn’t easy for the two quarterfinal winners on Friday, but we got ourselves the top 4 Belt teams here in the semis. (For the record, I’m not sure the Sun Belt has their tournament go all the way to Sunday – wouldn’t you (a) want to give the winner a chance to enjoy Selection Sunday and (b) wouldn’t you be afraid of one of your teams ending up in the First Four with a short preparation period?) Top-seeded Ga State got a bye to the semfinals, so they didn’t have to play Friday. The same cannot be said for Ark State, as they had to play a 60-minute game against their arch-rivals. The Red Wolves (and Andy Van Slyke’s kid) survived the 4 overtimes, but it should be interesting to see what they have left today. And, they will need a lot because Ga State is loaded. Ryan Harrow (who started for Kentucky last year) is their point guard – and he’s not even the best player on their team. The coach’s son, SO R.J. Hunter would be playing in some big-time program if his dad wasn’t a coach. And, along with Hunter and Harrow, the Panthers have two sensational senior in Devonta White and Manny Atkins. The only issue for this team is depth (their starters play more minutes than all but 12 teams in the country), but this starting five is probably better than AT LEAST half of the teams in the SEC (probably 2/3).
RDoc and Scoot are the only two that have Ark State here. Everyone else has GSU, including 19 championship believers.
#2 Western Kentucky vs #3 LA-Lafayette
The 4-OT game didn’t only affect Ark State. It delayed the tip of the second game well over an hour, seriously limiting the recovery time for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who won a hard-fought game over UT-Arlington. And, now they have to face their blood rivals, who are working on a week’s rest. The Hilltoppers, who have been struck by the injury bug this year did keep winning with hard-nosed defense, including a sweep on ULL. This should be an excellent game. If the Cajuns can recover from the late game last night, they could give the ‘Toppers everything they can handle.
This is a big game for the CTC, as all 25 people have a horse in this race, and it is as split as possible. 13 have ULL, while 12 went WKU (Bry, Caleb, Colton, Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, Scoot, Stri). Dave, GrossSr, and Scoot have the ‘Toppers winning this tournament. Doogan, RDoc, and Teddy have the Cajuns cutting down the nets.
QUARTERFINALS (March 14th – 10 points each)
#4 Arkansas State vs #5 AR-Little Rock
The Red Wolves of Ark State have had another quietly nice season in The Belt, as former LSU coach, John Brady, continues to build his program in Jonesboro. Led by the son of former Phillies centerfielder, Andy Van Slyke, Ark State are very experienced. They will not be an easy out here. Their first test is against their biggest rivals – UALR – who knocked off Troy in the opening round on Thursday. The winner here will battle top-seeded Georgia State in the semis on Saturday.
7 people (Becks, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Mac, PapaCim, Teddy) have UALR in a mild upset pick here. Colton has already lost with Troy. The other 17 all have Ark State, including RDoc and Scoot, who have the Red Wolves going to the finals.
Arkansas State 116 – AR-Little Rock 114 (4 OT)
#3 LA-Lafayette vs #6 UT-Arlington
It was another excellent season for a very under-sized Ragin’ Cajuns team, as they battled all year near the top of the conference, but couldn’t get into double-bye position, finishing behind arch-rivals WKU and newcomers Ga State. But, the Hilltoppers await ULL in the semis for a bloodwar. That is, if UT-Arlington can’t upset the Cajuns first. The Mavs slipped past LA-Monroe on Thursday.
No one has UT-Arlington here, but Dave and Scoot both have LA-Monroe, so they’ve already lost. The other 23 all have Lafayette, including Doogan, RDoc, and Teddy, who have them winning it all. A whole host of others have the Cajuns reaching the finals before losing.
LA-Lafayette 91 – UT-Arlington 85
OPENING ROUND (March 13th – 5 points each)
#5 AR-Little Rock vs #8 Troy
This game pits two teams that probably didn’t expect to be in this opening round. UALR was battling near the top of the league all year, so they definitely expected to at least get one of the single-byes that are awarded to the 3rd- and 4th-place teams. But, they slipped to 5th and now have to play here on Thursday. Troy, on the other hand, was mired near the basement of the league all year and was just hoping to get into 8th place, so as not to be eliminated before the tournament starts (Texas State and preseason pick for 2nd place, South Alabama are the ones that didn’t qualify). But, they won just enough games to get in and now the slate is clean and they are 4 wins from Dancing. The winner here takes on 4th-seeded Arkansas State inthe quarters.
7 people (Bry, Caleb, Chris, Colton, Doogan, RDoc, Stri) have the Troy Trojans in a decent upset here. Colton has them going to the semis. 7 people (Becks, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Mac, PapaCim, Teddy) have UALR winning a pair of games in this tournament.
AR-Little Rock 74 – Troy 61
#6 UT-Arlington vs #7 LA-Monroe
The other newcomer, UTA, also had a decent inaugural season here in The Belt. They played much better in the second half of the year than the first. The Mavericks lean heavily on their stud senior, Brandon Edwards, who is trying to extend a terrific career. UTA opens with a team that is used to being the doormat of this league, ULM. And, the Warhawks did it with one of their most important players (Amos Olatayo) injured for much of the year. Monroe, LA, is better well-known for being the home of Duck Dynasty, but this basketball team is capturing the attention of the locals. #3 LA-Lafayette awaits the winner of this one in a quarterfinal matchup on Friday.
The majority of the picks are for the underdog here, as only 11 people (Alexi, Caleb, Chris, Colton, Doogan, GrossJr, J, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Teddy) have UTA. None of them have the Mavericks beating ULL in the quarters. Dave and Scoot both have ULM winning here and then taking out their big rivals, ULL, in the quarters.
UT-Arlington 68 – LA-Monroe 65
CTC UPDATE
Championship Picks
- #1 Georgia State (19)
- #2 Western Kentucky (3) – Dave, GrossSr, Scoot
- #3 LA-Lafayette (3) – Doogan, RDoc, Teddy
Biggest Upsets
- R1 – #8 Troy (Bry, Caleb, Chris, Colton, Doogan, RDoc, Stri)
- QF – #8 Troy (Colton)
- SF – #4 Arkansas State (RDoc, Scoot)
Previous CTC Champions
- 2008 – Alexi
- 2009 – Ina
- 2010 – Stri
- 2011 – J
- 2012 – Teddy
- 2013 – Lazarow
2014 Scores
