It’s the same old story in the America East, as there are two mid-major quality teams in a league of a whole lot of mediocre to poor low-major teams.  In fact, this year there was even more bad basketball played in this league and the mid-major quality of program in Burlington, VT, absolutely rolled over league competition this year.  This tournament is probably a warm-up for another Vermont-Stony Brook showdown, unless our hosts (who always play well in this tournament) crash the party.

Vermont, who has just rolled through this league all year, is the championship pick of 18 people in the CTC.  5 went with Stony Brook, and 1 took Hartford.  Maine had but a single supporter in their quarterfinal matchup, and there is one person who likes Binghamton to reach the finals.  Dave is the defending champ here in the AmEast and is back to defend his title.  Including ties, there have been 8 different winners of this conference and none of them have even a piece of a title in any other year.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 18 points)

#2 Stony Brook vs #4 Albany
Remember the America East tournament?  Neither do I.  Do you believe that it was only 6 days ago?  Neither do I.  So many games, so many brackets since then, but let’s take a trip all the way back to last week.  #2-seed Stony Brook survived their 2-day trek to Albany with an easy win over Maine and a tough win over Hartford.  #1 Vermont did not survive, despite being the overwhelming favorites.  The Catamounts struggled with #8 New Hampshire before putting them away and then got beaten pretty soundly by the tournament hosts, Albany.  Now, the Great Danes no longer get to play on their home floor, as they have to travel to Stony Brook for a breakfast date with the Seawolves at 11:30 on ESPN.  If Albany wins, they should pack their bags for Dayton.  Stony Brook actually might not have to play in the First Four, but that remains to be seen.

Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf will pick up the quick 18 points here if Stony Brook can win at home.  If not, the whole field will get zero.  A Stony Brook win will split the 2014 AmEast crown 3 ways – between Alexi, Gersh, and Stumpf.  If Albany wins, we will have the ole 10-way tie, as Alexi, Becks, Chris, Colton, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, RDoc, Stritts, and Stumpf will each get the trophy for 36.5 days this year. 

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 12 points each)

#1 Vermont vs #4 Albany
The quarterfinals in the America East were all chalk because, well, the bottom of this league is terrible.  But, now we have a semi-decent (relatively speaking) four-team tournament that gets kicked off on Sunday with the tournament hosts, Albany, taking on the clear-cut tournament favorites, Vermont.  UVM actually had the toughest time of any of Saturday’s winners, as last-place New Hampshire made it a ballgame most of the way.  The Catamounts pulled away at the end, but it wasn’t as impressive as most of their regular season wins.  Albany, on the other hand, took UMBC to the woodshed.  The Great Danes are always tough in this event, as they have a great homecourt advantage, so this could be an upset alert.

All 25 people have Vermont here (not common for a semifinal to be unanimous) with 19 of them taking the Catamounts to win this tournament.

Albany 67 – Vermont 58
Personally, I think it’s time to take this tournament out of Albany.  It seems like every year that the Great Danes parlay a mediocre regular season with homecourt advantage in the conference tournament into a shocking upset – usually in the semifinal round.  Last year, they did this to Stony Brook, who was head and shoulders better than the rest of the league, and this year they do the same to UVM.  The Catamounts, ran roughshod over the AmEast all year is now heading to the NIT.

This is the first game all week where no points were awarded.  19 people lost their AmEast champion.  The 6 people (Alexi, Gersh, Lynch, Mac, Primm, Stumpf) that didn’t pick Vermont to win this tournament have to be thrilled.

#2 Stony Brook vs #3 Hartford
Both teams in the nightcap had byes to get here…wait, they actually played yesterday?  Maine and Binghamton put up absolutely zero resistance to Stony Brook and Hartford, respectively, on Saturday, so now these two teams can enter the semifinals with a lot of confidence.  Stony Brook won the regular season last year, but lost to tournament hosts Albany (much like the situation UVM faces this year), so they are out for blood this year.  Hartford is enjoying one of their best seasons in a long time, so they may show up playing with house money.

J and Lynch are the only two with Hartford here.  Lynch actually has them winning this whole tournament.  PapaCim has already lost this game with Binghamton, but the other 22 people all have SB here though only Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf have them winning the tournament.

Stony Brook 69 – Hartford 64
After watching UVM lose in the opener, both teams knew that they were playing for a chance to host the AmEast championship game.  After holding just a 2-point lead at the half, the Seawolves exploded out of the locker room and opened up a 16-point lead midway through the second half.  But, Hartford came storming back only to fall just short.  Stony Brook, who dominated the regular season last year, but lost in the semis of the tournament, now gets to host the Great Danes of Albany in the AmEast championship on Saturday.

QUARTERFINALS (March 8th – 6 points each)

#1 Vermont vs #8 New Hampshire
Check this out – HALF of Vermont’s 16 league games resulted in UVM wins of AT LEAST 24 points.  That also includes wins of 30, 33, and 35 points, as well.  Only one of their 15 conference wins were by fewer than 10 points – and that was a 7-point win at Hartford.  Stony Brook was the only team to beat them, pulling off a 3-point win at Stony Brook, but UVM came back and beat them by 16 in Burlington.  New Hampshire is really, really bad – don’t waste your time watching this one when there’s plenty of great basketball going on on this fine Saturday.

Not only do all 25 people have UVM winning here, everyone also has the Catamounts winning again on Sunday to host the championship next week (they wait a week before the title game).  18 people have Vermont winning this tournament.

Vermont 77 – New Hampshire 60
After an entire season of crushing AmEast teams for Vermont, and an entire season of getting crushed by UNH, this game between blood rivals was surprisingly close most of the way.  Not that the result was ever really in doubt, but the top-seeded Catamounts definitely needed more effort than any other AmEast favorite on the day.

Everyone got this right, including 19 people with UVM as their title pick.

#4 Albany vs #5 UMBC
The tournament hosts, Albany, are always a really tough out in this tournament.  This year, they have some talent, but were wholly inconsistent.  They are clearly one of the better teams, on paper, in this league, but the results didn’t show it.  They open with a UMBC team that is just the “best of the worst” in a really bad bottom of the AmEast this year.

Only 8 people (Caleb, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Stri) were tempted by this mild upset pick of UMBC, with none of them have the Retrievers going to the finals.  No one has Albany winning more than this game, as all 25 people have Vermont hosting the championship game next week.

Albany 86 – UMBC 56
The hosts put on a show for the partisan crowd, dismantling UMBC setting up a good semi against Vermont.

8 people missed this mild upset pick.

#2 Stony Brook vs #7 Maine
How bad is Maine?  VERY bad.  How good is Stony Brook?  Not as good as we thought they would be, but still very good for a league like this.  This could be a bloodbath.

Lynch went for the home run with Maine here.  The other 24 have Stony Brook, including Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf, who all have them winning this tournament.

Stony Brook 80 – Maine 54
A terrible Maine season mercifully ends here.  I have an idea – maybe the Black Bears should actually invest in their athletic programs…or disband them.  SB moves on to the semis in a tournament they can definitely win.

Lynch missed the big upset pick here, while 5 keep alive their champ.

#3 Hartford vs #6 Binghamton
Binghamton has been just abysmal ever since that crazy scandal from their tournament team a couple years back.  But, they have always been a darling of the CTC because they had been coached by former Temple star, Mark Macon.  But, Macon did a terrible job and has been replaced.  Now, the Bearcats are showing signs of improvement, particularly in the second half of the season, when they rather competitive even with the top of the league.  They open the tournament against a Hartford team that has outperformed their talent level through a nice brand of team basketball.  This should be the most interesting of a pretty awful slate of AmEast quarterfinal matchups.

10 people (Bry, GrossJr, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, Stri, Teddy) went with Binghamton in an upset here.  PapaCim is the only one that has them winning again in the semis.  Of the 16 people that picked Hartford here, only J and Lynch have them winning again in the semis.  Lynch actually has them cutting down the nets next Saturday.

Hartford 69 – Binghamton 42
Just when it looked like Binghamton was putting something together, their season is ended by a terrible day offensively.  Hartford looked very good and may have a shot to crash the expected UVM-SB title game.

10 people missed this upset pick.  Lynch kept alive his champ; J kept alive a finalist.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Vermont (18)
• #2 Stony Brook (5) – Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, Stumpf
• #3 Harford (1) – Lynch

Biggest Upsets

• QF – #7 Maine (Lynch)
• SF – #6 Binghamton (PapaCim)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Alexi
• 2009 – Bry
• 2010 – Lynch, Stri
• 2011 – Doogan (perfect)
• 2012 – Scoot, Waters
• 2013 – Dave

2014 Scores (through semifinals)

1. Alexi – 36
2. Becks – 36
3. Chris – 36
4. Colton – 36
5. Dave – 36
6. Doogan – 36
7. Gersh – 36
8. RDoc – 36
9. Stritts – 36
10. Stumpf  – 36
11. Bry – 30
12. Caleb – 30
13. GrossSr – 30
14. Primm – 30
15. Scoot – 30
16. Teddy – 30
17. WaTers – 30
18. J – 24
19. GrossJr – 24
20. Lazarow – 24
21. Lohse – 24
22. Mac – 24
23. Stri – 24
24. PapaCim – 18
25. Lynch – 12