Day Three is a bit of a calm before the first storm, but there were still a decent amount of points to be won. Bry and Doogan narrowed the gap to Lohse a bit with nice days. Alexi also got himself back into the race with a decent day. J fell off the pace, and Waters continued to struggle.
DAY 3 SCORES (days won):
56 – Bry (1)
52 – Alexi
52 – Doogan
46 – Stri
44 – Lohse
42 – Ina
42 – KA
38 – Lynch (1)
36 – Lil Lohse (2)
36 – Teddy
26 – J
26 – Waters
OVERALL STANDINGS:
136 – Lohse
126 – Bry
122 – Doogan
114 – Teddy
110 – Lynch
108 – Alexi
102 – Ina
100 – KA
94 – J
86 – Stri
80 – Lil Lohse
80 – Waters
BIG SOUTH SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
The first semifinals of the CTC were contested in the Big South Thursday night in a double-header on the campus of top-seed Coastal Carolina. Seven CTC’ers (KA, both Lohses, Alexi, Stri, Doogan, and Bry) correctly predicted the final. Only Waters failed to get either finalist. Bry, Doogan, Alexi, both Lohses, and KA all have perfect Big South brackets so far. At least two of them will finish with a perfect bracket.
#3 Winthrop 61 – #2 Radford 46. In the first game of the double-header , the Golden Eagles of Winthrop suffocated the defending Big South champion Radford, holding the Highlanders to 25% from the floor. Winthrop advances to the finals on Saturday. It is a bit surprising, but more than half of the field got this one right. Only Teddy, Lynch, Waters, J, and Ina lost it. Ina lost the most, thought, as she had Radford winning the title. She will join only Waters without a horse in the race on Saturday, as the rest of the field has either Winthrop or Coastal Carolina winning this tournament.
#1 Coastal Carolina 92 – #4 UNC-Asheville 73. The best defensive team in the conference has now scored 82 and 92 in their two Big South tournament games. That is scary stuff for the rest of the league, especially when Carolina gets to play the whole tournament at home. In this semifinal nightcap, the host Chanticleers hammered Asheville to get themselves to ESPN on Saturday, as they will host Winthrop in the Big South title game. Only Waters missed this one, and, in the process, he lost his Big South champion. Seven CTC’ers have CCU winning this tournament, so this was a good result for them.
BIG SOUTH STANDINGS (*perfect bracket):
*34 – Alexi
*34 – Bry (’09)
*34 – Doogan
*34 – KA
*34 – Lil Lohse
*34 – Lohse
30 – Stri (’08)
24 – Ina
24 – Teddy
16 – J
16 – Lynch
12 – Waters
MISSOURI VALLEY OPENING ROUND (6 points each):
“Arch Madness” got underway Thursday night with an opening round double-header in St. Louis. This is the first tournament that is worth additional points (this has a 3x multiplier). Only half the field got both games on the first night. The Lohses combined for an 0-for-4 night in The Valley.
#8 Drake 63 – #9 S. Illinois 61. Madness! Josh Young hit a buzzer-beater from 10 feet away to knock off S. Illinois and advance themselves to the quarterfinals against the heavily favored top seed, N. Iowa. The field was totally split on this game, as half of the contestents loved the Drake and half hated the Drake. The one who hates the Drake the most is Teddy, who had SIU going to the semifinals. No one has Drake advancing past NIU.
#7 Missouri St. 52 – #10 Evansville 46. For a while, it looked like the nightcap in St. Louis was going to be a pretty major upset. The Evansville Aces, 2-16 in conference play this year, stayed with Missouri St. for most of the game, before falling behind for good and bailing out of Arch Madness. The Bears held on in an ugly, ugly game. The two Lohses missed on what would have been a nice upset pick. Everyone else has the Bears. The ugliness with which MSU won the game probably scares Bry and Doogan, as they have Missouri St. upsetting #2 Wichita St. tonight. And, Teddy is probably terrified, as he has MSU winning the whole thing. But, a win is a win is a win, right?
MISSOURI VALLEY STANDINGS:
*12 – Alexi
*12 – Doogan
*12 – Ina (’08)
*12 – KA
*12 – Lynch
*12 – Waters
6 – Bry
6 – J
6 – Stri (’09)
6 – Teddy
0 – Lil Lohse
0 – Lohse
ATLANTIC SUN QUARTERFINALS (4 points each):
The second part of the A-Sun quarters took place on Thursday night and the madness continued. Bry completed a most unlikely sweep of quarters with two more upset picks. Everyone else went 1-1 last night, except KA, who missed them both.
#5 E. Tennessee St. 72 – #4 Campbell 64. The Buccaneers, led by 32 points from Micah Williams, knocked off regular season co-champ Campbell in the first quarterfinal of the night. The Bucs will advance to Friday’s semi to take on the surprising #8-seed Kennessaw St. Only J, Lohse, and KA missed this upset pick. J and Lohse both got hit hard, as they had Campbell in the finals. An amazing number (7) of CTC’ers have ETSU in the finals, so this was a big win for Teddy, Lynch, Waters, Alexi, Stri, Ina, and Bry.
#6 Mercer 87 – #3 Belmont 81. When the dust settled on the two-day long A-Sun quarterfinals, three of the four regular season co-champs had been eliminated from the tournament without winning a single game. The host school, Mercer, finished an unlikely quarterfinal round with a win over #3-seed Belmont in a wild game. There were also some serious CTC implications associated with this result. Bry and Lohse were the only ones to take the upset, but the Belmont made waves. Lil Lohse had Belmont going to the finals, and J, Doogan, Stri, and Teddy all had Belmont winning the whole thing.
ATLANTIC SUN STANDINGS:
*38 – Bry
32 – Lohse
28 – Lynch (’09t)
22 – J (’08, ’09t)
10 – Alexi
10 – Doogan
10 – Ina
10 – Lil Lohse
10 – Stri
10 – Teddy
10 – Waters
4 -KA
NEC QUARTERFINALS (4 points each):
The NEC kicked off Thursday night with four quarterfinals at the various campus sites. Most of the games were highly contested, but the home favorites all came through in the end to advance to the semis. Bry, Ina, Stri, Alexi, Lohse, Teddy, and Doogan all went chalk and were rewarded with a four-for-four night in the NEC. Waters was the only one to only get two right.
#1 Quinnipiac 84 – Monmouth 75. Five players in double-figures allowed top-seeded Quinnipiac to hold off a game Monmouth squad by nine Thursday night to advance to the NEC semis on Sunday. Only Waters got this one wrong and it hurt, as he had Monmouth in the finals. There are five CTC’ers that have QU winning this thing.
#4 Long Island 63 – #5 Farleigh Dickinson 61. It’s not often that you see a game-winning basket in a 2-point game occur with 1:48 to go in the game. The NEC…it’s fannnn-tastic. Yes, LIU’s Kenny Onyechi git the go-ahead bucket (LIU’s last points of the game) with 1:48 to play, and FDU went 0-7 the rest of the way, as the Blackbirds hold on to win and advance to a semifinal on Sunday at Quinnipiac. Lil Lohse, Waters, and J all missed this pick, but none of them had FDU going any further, so not a big loss.
#2 Robert Morris 71 – #7 C. Connecticut St. 63. The Colonials of RMC took care of business against CCSU Thursday night, as they are now just two wins away from repeating as the NEC representative to the Big Dance. Lynch and KA both missed on this big upset pick, but neither of them had CCSU going any further.
#3 Mount St. Mary’s 65 – #6 St. Francis (PA) 50. MSM wins their 11th consecutive game, as they hammer St. Francis (PA) Thursday night. To get to a dozen straight, they will have to go into Pittsburgh and beat Robert Morris on Sunday in the NEC semis. No one in the CTC had St. Francis winning this game, but some were more interested than others, as half the field has MSM winning this whole tournament.
NEC STANDINGS (prior NEC titles; *perfect bracket):
*16 – Alexi
*16 – Bry (’09t*)
*16 – Doogan
*16 – Ina
*16 – Lohse
*16 – Stri (’08, ’09t*)
*16 – Teddy
12 – J
12 – KA
12 – Lil Lohse
12 – Lynch
8 – Waters
