In all my life of following the sport of college basketball, I have never been so confident in a team to win their conference as I was that New Mexico State would win the 2014 WAC title. Well, they didn’t. Somehow, Utah Valley beat out the Aggies…I still have no idea how it happened. This league is kind of interesting, though, as there are a ton of formerly misfit teams that may have found a home. Though, I think it’s time for New Mexico State to find a better spot.
Well, looks like the CTC field agrees that NMSU is the overwhelming favorite here. In fact, they got more championship picks (23) than any other team in any conference. There were a couple upset picks, including several people with UTPA upsetting the top seed in the quarters, and even more that have #5 Idaho going to the finals.
CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 18 points)
#2 New Mexico State vs #5 Idaho
New Mexico State was supposed to be in this position – favored in the championship game to win the WAC. But, how they got here was a total surprise. They sleepwalked through the regular season, finishing 2nd to Utah Valley. And, they have similarly slept through this tournament, barely beating #7 Seattle in the quarters, before struggling before pulling away from #6 CS-Bakersfield in the semis. But, it doesn’t matter as long as you get there, right? (Well, it kind of does for seeding, but whatever.) Idaho had a couple of close wins over UMKC and then #1 Utah Valley to get here. The Vandals actually gave NMSU one of their four conference losses on Feb 6.
Everyone except Colton and PapaCim have NMSU here. Neither of them have Idaho. Dave and Teddy will be splitting this conference title this year – the only question left is whether or not they’ll be perfect.
SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 12 points each)
#1 Utah Valley vs #5 Idaho
Utah Valley looked every bit the 1-seed on Thursday (that or UTPA looked every bit the 8-seed), dismantling UT-Pan American, 83-63. Idaho struggled through a 3-point win over UMKC, setting up this opening semifinal in the WAC.
8 people (Bry, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, Teddy) have the nice upset pick of Idaho here. Everyone else has UVU, including PapaCim, who has them winning this tournament.
#2 New Mexico State vs #6 CS-Bakersfield
Seattle is a feisty team, but even without suspended guard KC Ross-Miller, what is going on with New Mexico State? They nearly blew one against Seattle and better improve or Bakersfield will take them out. The Roadrunners took care of 3rd-seeded Chicago State on Friday and aren’t exactly pushovers. Then again, their biggest guy is 6’9″ – a full 8 inches shorter than 7’5″ Sim Bhullar, who had 24 & 10 against Seattle.
Everyone except Colton, who had Chicago State, has New Mexico State here, with only PapaCim not taking them to win this tournament.
QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 6 points each)
#1 Utah Valley vs #8 UT-Pan American
These former Great West “rivals,” came – along with Chicago State – to the WAC this year and now they are playing in the 1/8 game. UTPA is really bad. UVU isn’t that good, but apparently they are good enough to win the WAC.
Bry, Caleb, and Doogan all went for the grandaddy of WAC upsets here with UTPA. None of them have them going further. PapaCim has the most at stake here, as he is the only one that picked top-seeded UVU to win this tournament.
Utah Valley 83 – UT-Pan American 63
#4 UMKC vs #5 Idaho
The Kangaroos of UMKC actually led this conference for a while, but came back to reality as a bad team. The Vandals of Idaho were supposed to be the “best of the rest” after NMSU in this conference, but they struggled all year to find consistency, as well.
Okay, this is something that I have never seen in all my years of running CTC. I have seen PLENTY of unanimous picks. But, for 25 people to all pick an UPSET is a first. Well, that is the case here, as no one picked UMKC to win here. 7 people (Bry, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, Grossjr, Lohse, Lynch) have the Vandals going to the finals.
Idaho 73 – UMKC 70
#3 Chicago State vs #6 CS-Bakersfield
The former Great West teams acquitted themselves nicely in the new WAC, as Chicago State (who never finished higher than 4th in the 5-team terrible GW, finishes 3rd here in the WAC. I think itight say more about the WAC than CSU. They do have Scottie Pippen’s nephew, Quinton, though, so I guess that plays well in Chicago. As for Bakersfield, many expected more from this decent team, but they were incredibly inconsistent all year. They can put together a nice game at times and then follow it up with a terrible one.
10 people (Alexi, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Dave, Doogan, GrossSr, J, Primm, RDoc) went with Bakersfield in a decent upset pick here. Colton has the most at stake with Chicago St., as he is the only one to take them to go to the finals, and he actually have them winning it.
CS-Bakersfield 67 – Chicago State 63
#2 New Mexico State vs #7 Seattle
The only thing that would be worse than NMSU not winning the regular season would be if they didn’t win the conference tournament either. It has just been a head-scratching season for the Aggies, who couldn’t even beat the UVU student body. They open with a sneaky good Seattle team that shouldn’t have a chance, but probably does. Oh, by the way, not only is NMSU incredibly talented, but they are incredibly tall, as well. In fact, in what might be the most amazing stat of the day – this team from a low-major conference is, literally THE TALLEST team in the country, as measured by average height weighted by playing time. They even have a dude who is 7’5″, 360 pounds and pretty athletic, although it takes him like 20 seconds to get up and down the court and can only play about 3-minute stretches. Oh, and my favorite part is he is a sophomore and has a brother two years younger, who is reportedly even bigger and has committed to the Aggies for next year. WOW!
No one picked Seattle. Only Colton has NMSU losing in the semis. And, PapaCim is the only one with the Aggies losing in the finals.
New Mexico State 70 – Seattle 68
CTC UPDATE
Championship Picks
- #1 Utah Valley (1) – PapaCim
- #2 New Mexico State (23)
- #3 Chicago State (1) – Colton
Biggest Upsets
- QF – #8 UT-Pan American (Bry, Caleb, Doogan)
- SF – #5 Idaho (Bry, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch)
Previous CTC Champions
- 2008 – Alexi
- 2009 – Bry
- 2010 – Teddy
- 2011 – Waters
- 2012 – Lohse, Waters
- 2013 – Alexi, Lynch
2014 Scores
