It was a new feel in the NEC this year because the juggernaut that had been the LIU Blackbirds had been broken up by injuries, graduation, and arrests and there was a power vacuum just waiting to be filled. What happened was – not surprisingly – that Robert Morris stepped right into their previous spot atop the NEC, easily beating out preseason favorites, Wagner and Bryant. LIU hit rock bottom, as, along with the dreadful 5-26 Sacred Heart squad, didn’t even make this 8-team tournament, while typical doormats Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Francis (PA) both qualified.
23 of the 25 entries went with either #1 RMC or #2 Wagner here in the NEC, with 13 of them picking RMC. While no one took RMC to lose in the quarters, there were a couple who liked Wagner to go down early. #5 Saint Francis (NY) was the longest shot for champion, while another one took #4 Mount Saint Mary’s, so someone is guaranteed to lose a champion on the first day of this tournament. Stri dominated this tournament early, winning 3 of the first 4 CTC NEC tournaments, including twice perfect, but Stumpf debuted last year with an NEC title, so he’s looking to repeat this year.
CHAMPIONSHIP (March 11th – 18 points)
#1 Robert Morris vs #4 Mount Saint Mary’s
Top-seeded Robert Morris gets to host every tournament game they are in – and it’s a good thing because they have not played very well in this tournament. Maybe the most uninspiring run to a conference championship I can remember, RMC barely sqeaked by – at home – two of the worst programs in the NEC (FDU and SFPA). Mount Saint Mary’s, on the other hand, has looked rock solid in this tournament. They erased a 19-point second half lead to beat a good SFNY team in the quarterfinals, and then went to Staten Island and took down a red-hot Wagner team in the semis. RMC has been the better team all year and is at home, but MSM has looked much better throughout this tournament. I still like the Colonials in Corapolis, but they shouldn’t get comfortable because this MSM team comes ready to play.
Lohse is one win away from the incredible prediction of a MSM NEC championship. 13 people (Bry, Chris, Colton, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Scoot, Stri, Stumpf, WaTers) are hoping that that doesn’t happen and that they can get the 18 points for a RMC championship. That RMC championship would complete a perfect NEC bracket for both Colton and WaTers. Obviously, Lohse would take the 2014 NEC title if MSM wins.
Mount Saint Mary’s 88 – Robert Morris 71
An email from Lohse at the beginning of this tournament simply read “Cim, don’t sleep on the Mount.” Well, it’s official, I slept on the Mount and they had an incredibly impressive run through the NEC to claim the auto-bid and send Robert Morris to the NIT for the second straight year. RMC has to have been heart-broken to lose in the conference tournament on their home floor two years in a row.
Colton and WaTers miss out on a perfect NEC bracket here, as Lohse claims the NEC conference title.
SEMIFINALS (March 8th – 12 points each)
#1 Robert Morris vs #6 Saint Francis (PA)
Top-seeded Robert Morris survived a surprisingly tough quarterfinal against one of the perennial NEC doormats, Fairleigh Dickinson, and now, since this tournament reseeds, they host the other perennial doormat, SFPA. The Red Flashes went into #3 Bryant’s house on Wednesday night and upset the Bulldogs get this shot at #1 RMC.
No one has SFPA reaching the finals, but 20 (everyone except Alexi, Caleb, Lohse, RDoc, and Teddy) have RMC going to the finals, with 13 of them (Bry, Chris, Colton, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Scoot, Stri, Stumpf, WaTers) taking the Colonials to win this tournament.
Robert Morris 60 – Saint Francis (PA) 57
#2 Wagner vs #4 Mount Saint Mary’s
Mount Saint Mary’s may just feel lucky to be in Staten Island (not sure that phrase has ever been used before) for this semifinal. After their miracle comeback win at home over Saint Francis (NY), the Mountaineers now have to go on the road to face the hottest team in the league, who are coming off a throttling of Central Connecticut State in the quarters.
Caleb, PapaCim, RDoc, and Teddy have already lost this game with SFNY, but the other 21 all have something at stake here. 16 people (Alexi, Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Doogan, Gersh, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, Lazarow, Primm, RDoc, Stri, Stritts, Teddy) have Wagner going to the finals. 4 have MSM (Alexi, Colton, Lohse, WaTers). In a strange twist that only happens in these reseeding tournaments, Alexi actually has Wagner beating Mount Saint Mary’s in the NEC championship game, so no matter what happens in this game, he will have one finalist correct. Depending on how you look at it, he could be rooting for MSM to get the extra upset points or he could be rooting for Wagner to keep alive his title hopes.
Mount Saint Mary’s 77 – Wagner 72
QUARTERFINALS (March 5th – 6 points each)
#1 Robert Morris vs #8 Fairleigh Dickinson
The conference champs will host a Fairleigh Dickinson team that had a very interesting season. The Knights haven’t even made this conference tournament in several seasons and were picked last again in the preseason and did their typical slate of buy games, including a 46-point drubbing at Arizona. But, in 3 nights in December, they went stated their case as maybe the best team in Jersey by winning at Rutgers one night and at Seton Hall two nights later…WHAT?!?!? Well, it will take another big road win to keep their season alive here, as RMC is the odds-on favorite to go back to the Dance and it starts now.
No one has FDU here and 13 of the 25 entries went with RMC to win this whole tournament. Alexi, Caleb, Lohse, RDoc, and Teddy are the only 5 that have RMC losing before the finals, so they would actually benefit from getting this one wrong tonight.
Robert Morris 60 – Fairleigh Dickinson 53
The Colonials had a much tougher quarterfinal than they may have bargained for, but at the end of the day, there was just too much Lucky Jones for the upstart Knights of FDU. Normally, the doormat of the NEC, FDU had an encouraging season that maybe they can build upon. As for RMC, survive and advance is all they did and they move on to the semis on Saturday.
Everyone got this one right, including 13 people who keep alive a champ.
#4 Mount Saint Mary’s vs #5 Saint Francis (NY)
This was supposed to be the year that Saint Francis (NY) entered the discussion for conference championship, but they never actually put the pieces together and now they will, most likely, have to win 3 straight road games to get to the Tournament. The first one will have to be at Mount Saint Mary’s, who had an under-the-radar consistently solid season in the NEC and have earned their quarterfinal game to be on their home court, where they have only lost 2 league games all year – one to first-place Robert Morris and one shocker to last-place Sacred Heart.
Through two days of the CTC, no one lost a tournament champion, but that is guaranteed to change on Day Three, as PapaCim has SFNY winning this tourney, and Lohse has MSM cutting down the nets. As for this game, it is also big on just the quarterfinal level, as the field is pretty split. 14 people went with the underdog, while 11 took the favored MSM (Alexi, Chris, Colton, Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Primm, Stri, Waters). Alexi, Colton, Lohse, and WaTers have the Mountaineers going to the NEC title game. Other than PapaCim, who has SFNY winning this tournament, Caleb, RDoc, and Teddy have them going to the finals, so this game is big for them, as well.
Mount Saint Mary’s 72 – Saint Francis (NY) 71
MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, another devastating ending to a season for SFNY. Up by 19 points with minutes left, SFNY could smell a trip to the semis, but MSM’s furious comeback was capped by a cold-blooded 3 with :02 seconds left by some guy named Rashad Whack (you can’t make this stuff up) won the game for the Mountaineers in thrilling fashion.
PapaCim took this loss the hardest in the CTC, as he had SFNY winning this tournament. Caleb, RDoc, and Teddy also had their brackets partially busted, as they lost a finalist. Alexi, Colton, and WaTers can breathe easier knowing they didn’t lose an NEC finalist tonight. But, the big winner here is Lohse. If MSM parlays this 19-point comeback into a crazy run to the NEC title, Lohse will have nailed it. Wow!
#3 Bryant vs #6 Saint Francis (PA)
Bryant had a real shot at this conference title, but two tough losses to Robert Morris did them in and they had to settle for a third-place finish and a quarterfinal home game against one of the annual conference doormats. Saint Francis (PA) was picked only ahead of FDU in the preseason, but won 7 conference games and finished 6th. It was a pretty unimpressive 7-9 in conference play, though, as they didn’t beat a single team above them in the standings. They were 7-0 against the 7th-, 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-place teams and 0-9 against teams in the top 5. Look for Bryant to roll through to the semis.
Only 5 people (Colton, Gersh, both Grosses, WaTers) took SFPA in a decent upset pick. None of them have them going any further. I am honestly surprised that no one took Bryant to win this tournament, but I guess their fade down the stretch scared people off from one of the more talented teams in the league with probably the easiest quarterfinal matchup. Dave, J, Lohse, Lynch, Scoot, and Stumpf all took them to reach the finals, but they all have them losing when they get there.
Saint Francis (PA) 55 – Bryant 54
More Madness! It was upset enough that the Red Flash of SFPA even made the NEC tournament, as they are a down program with very few resources, even relative to other low-major programs, but now to go on the road and beat a legit title contender in the quarters is another thing altogether. (This also didn’t help one of my CBC entries…) This is a devastating loss for a Bryant program still trying to make their first Big Dance. SFPA will have to capture some more of this magic as they make the trip down the road to Corapolis for a semifinal against in-state rival, Robert Morris, on Saturday.
Colton (who is seemingly crushing it today), Gersh, GrossJr, GrossSr, and WaTers all hit this nice upset pick. 6 people lost a finalist in this one.
#2 Wagner vs #7 Central Connecticut State
It looked for a while like CCSU was going to finish disappointingly without even making the conference tournament, but they turned it around just in time and snuck in to the 7-seed, earning a trip to beautiful Staten Island to face the second-place Seahawks. Picked to win this league, Wagner started off a very disappointing 3-4 in the league. 9 wins later, including a season-ending 59-48 win over top-seeded Robert Morris, and they might be the best team in the league right now. But, in order for Wagner to win this tournament, someone will have to beat Robert Morris in Corapolis. Will it have to them in the finals? If so, it will be after a quarterfinal win here and likely a semifinal win over a tough Bryant team.
Dave and PapaCim went for the huge upset here with CCSU (neither have them going any further). 10 people (Alexi, Becks, Caleb, GrossJr, Lazarow, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Stritts, Teddy) have everything at stake here with Wagner as their title pick.
Wagner 83 – Central Connecticut State 59
Wagner won their 9th straight game with ease here in the quarterfinals and cruise into the semifinals against Mount Saint Mary’s. CCSU rallied to make the NEC tournament and it looks like they were just happy to be there. Watch out for this Wagner team, they are playing as well as anyone right now under their 28-year old head coach and may be on their way to the Dance.
Dave and PapaCim missed what could have been a mighty upset pick. 10 people keep alive their NEC champ here.
CTC UPDATE
Championship Picks
- #1 Robert Morris (13)
- #2 Wagner (10) – Alexi, Becks, Caleb, GrossJr, Lazarow, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Stritts, Teddy
- #3 Bryant (0)
- #4 Mount Saint Mary’s (1) – Lohse
- #5 Saint Francis (NY) (1) – PapaCim
Biggest Upsets
- QF – #7 Central Connecticut State – Dave, PapaCim
- SF – #5 Saint Francis (NY) – Caleb, PapaCim, RDoc, Teddy
Previous CTC Champions
- 2008 – Stri
- 2009 – Bry, Stri (perfect)
- 2010 – Lil Lohse
- 2011 – Scoot, Stri (perfect)
- 2012 – Lil Lohse, Mac, Primm, Rikey (perfect)
- 2013 – Stumpf
Final 2014 Scores
- Lohse – 75 (’14)
- Colton – 66
- Waters – 66
- Gersh – 45
- GrossSr – 45
- Alexi – 39
- GrossJr – 39
- Chris – 30
- Lynch – 30
- Primm – 30 (’12*)
- Stri – 30 (’08, ’09*, ’11*)
- Becks – 24
- Bry – 24 (’09*)
- Dave – 24
- Doogan – 24
- J – 24
- Lazarow – 24
- Mac – 24 (’12*)
- Scoot – 24 (’11*)
- Stritts – 24
- Stumpf – 24 (’13)
- PapaCim – 18
- Caleb – 12
- RDoc – 12
- Teddy – 12
