CTC Day Six Preview

The first Sunday gives out about the same amount of points as the big first Saturday, but they are spread out over fewer games.  So, there can be some really big swings from the results of today.  Let’s get right to it.

MISSOURI VALLEY FINALS (48 points):
One game left in the 2010 Arch Madness.  It was been a good tournament–as always–and we’re left with the best two teams to battle it out for Valley supremacy.  KA is one game away from a perfect bracket in the Valley.  But, if she doesn’t get that win (Wichita St. over N. Iowa), she will not win this year’s title.  If N. Iowa wins, Stri will win the MVC title for the second consecutive year.

#2 Wichita St. vs. #1 N. Iowa.  The best two teams in The Valley taking its grandest stage against one another.  Lohse and Teddy are the only two without a horse in this race, as four entries have N. Iowa (Lil Lohse, Stri, Bry, and Doogan) and six entries have Wichita St. (the rest).

COLONIAL SEMIFINALS (24 points each):
A fantastic quadruple-header in Richmond yesterday saw three great games, including a double-OT thriller.  That sets up another great day of CAA hoops with a semifinal double-header.

#5 VCU vs. #1 Old Dominion.  The first game pits the regular season champion against the defending tournament champs.  VCU knocked off their hated rival, George Mason, in a tough game, while ODU plastered Towson.  This is must-see hoops.  Doogan, Lynch, Lohse, and Teddy all have VCU winning this game, with Teddy and Lohse having them winning it.  Waters and KA have already lost this game, but everyone else has ODU.  Lil Lohse, Stri, J, Ina, and Bry all have the Monarchs winning the tournament.

#3 William & Mary vs. #2 Northeastern.  The nightcap should be another fantastic game.  W&M got a scare from JMU, but that was nothing compared to the double-OT heart attack that NU went through against Hofstra.  But, both teams survived and now they are two wins from Dancing.  Stri is the only entry in the whole field that has Northeastern winning this game.  J has lost this game already (he picked Drexel), but everyone else has W&M.  Doogan, Alexi, Lynch, and KA have W&M going all the way.

WEST COAST SEMIFINALS (16 points each):
After two rounds, the top two seeds finally join the Vegas party.  The WCC welcomes Gonzaga and St. Mary’s to the semifinals of the tournament to face the two survivors of the first two rounds.

#5 Loyola Marymount vs. #1 Gonzaga (12-2).  Gonzaga lost their first conference game in recent memory this year (and their second), but it hasn’t hurt their national profile, as they are still regarded as one of the best teams in America.  They open their WCC tournament tonight against Loyola Marymount.  Everyone has the ‘Zags winning this tournament, except Lynch, who doesn’t have them winning a game (he had San Fran over them this round).

#3 Portland vs. #2 St. Mary’s (11-3).  St. Mary’s, who definitely needs at least one win here in the WCC tournament for their at-large chances.  Two wins (and the auto-bid) would be nice.  Portland, who held on to beat San Diego last night, will be trying to knock them off and get to the finals.  Ina, Stri, and Alexi all have Portland.  KA has already lost with San Diego, but everyone else has St. Mary’s in this one.  Lynch has St. Mary’s winning this whole tournament (the only entry not to have Gonzaga winning it).

NEC SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
After three days off, you almost forget about the NEC.  But, it should be forgotten because it may play a big role as to who gets the upper hand in the first week of the CTC.  With all four top seeds advancing, we’ve got some nice matchups in the semis. 

#4 Long Island at #1 Quinnipiac.  Quinnipiac struggled, but held off Monmouth, while Long Island needed a last-second game-winner to beat Farliegh Dickinson.  Now, the Blackbirds head to Quinnipiac to try and earn a shot to play on ESPN for a Dance ticket.  No one has LIU in this one.  Waters, however, has Monmouth, so he’s rooting for Long Island to zero this game out for everyone.

#3 Mount St. Mary’s at #2 Robert Morris.  The Colonials of RMC took care of C. Connecticut St. in the quarters, while MSM hammered St. Francis (PA).  Now, they meet head-on in the semis.  This is a pretty gigantic game, as far as the CTC goes.  Everyone has a dog in this fight, but only four (Bry, Doogan, Stri, and Lil Lohse) have the favored Robert Morris.  The rest have MSM.  Plus, J, Alexi, Waters, Lynch, Lohse, and Teddy all have The Mount winning this thing.  Lil Lohse is the only one with Robert Morris winning the tournament, so he could use a big win here.

PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
The PL has actually sat for four days before continuing what started as a thrilling tournament.  The one upset (Holy Cross) rattled the tournament enough so that only Teddy was able to hit all four quarters correctly.

#4 American at #1 Lehigh.  The Mountain Hawks struggled for 30+ minutes with the 8-seed Army, but eventually Lehigh came through and won by 19.  American struggled all game with a solid Navy team, but ended up pulling it out in the end.  This semifinal pits this year’s regular season champ against last year’s regular season and tournament champ.  Alexi and KA both have American.  Waters has already lost with Navy here.  Everyone else has Lehigh winning this one.  Bry, Ina, Stri, both Lohses, and Teddy all have the Mountain Hawks taking this tournament.

#7 Holy Cross at #3 Lafayette.  The PL’s Cinderellas are the Crusaders of Holy Cross.  After knocking out Bucknell, they now head to Lafayette to try and do the same to Franny O’Hanlon’s crew.  Lafayette knocked off Colgate in the quarters to earn another home game.  Teddy, one of the few to get the first HC upset correct, picked another one for the Crusaders.  Ina, J, Doogan, and Waters have Lafayette winning here.  Everyone else had either Bucknell or Colgate and are out of this spot.  J and Doogan both have Lafayette winning this tournament.

SoCON SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
After two straight days of quadruple-headers in Charlotte, we have the SoCon final four, and it is the top two seeds from each division.  It’s a north vs. south battle in Charlotte on Sunday, where we’ll see if Stri can continue his perfect SoCon bracket.

#2N W. Carolina vs. #1S Wofford.  Top-seeded Wofford took care of UNC-Greensboro yesterday and now get W. Carolina, who struggled to beat Elon on Saturday.  Waters, Lynch, and KA all have W. Carolina winning this game.  Everyone else has Wofford.

#2S College of Charleston vs. #1N Appalachian St.  App St. won the nightcap last night over The Citadel, 71-60, while College of Charleston absolutely crushed Chattanooga 96-69.  Now, they meet head on with a spot in the SoCon finals on the line.  Lil Lohse and Doogan are the only two with App St. winning this game, though neither of them have them winning the tournament.  KA (Chattanooga) and Lynch (The Citadel) have already lost this game.  Everyone else has College of Charleston.  Waters, Alexi, and J all have Charleston winning the tournament.

MAAC SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
Three games left to determine the 2010 MAAC champion.  Yesterday’s quarterfinal quadruple-header had some exciting moment, one minor upset, and one pretty major upset.  Through both rounds, Bry is still perfect, so he will try and continue that in this semifinal double-header.

#5 Rider at #1 Siena.  The Siena Saints actually trailed much of the way against #9 Manhattan, but turned it on at the end and actually won by 17.  Rider led St. Peter’s pretty much the whole way, but now they have a much different animal.  The Saints are the class of the MAAC, and they play the tournament on their home floor.  Everyone in the CTC has Siena winning this game.  Only Alexi does not have Siena winning it all.

#6 Niagara vs. #2 Fairfield.  The Purple Eagles of Niagara pulled off a nice upset yesterday, knocking off #3-seeded Iona, 68-64.  This upset hit many MAAC entries pretty hard.  Fairfield, the #2-seed, took care of business against a feisty Canisius squad.  This game can be pretty important in the grand scheme of the CTC.  Seven entries picked Iona in this spot and, therefore, have already lost.  Four more (Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, and KA) have the big upset pick of Niagara to win this game also and go to the finals.  Bry is the only contestant to pick #2 Fairfield to make the finals.  Alexi actually has Niagara winning the whole thing, so this could potentially be a big game for him.

AMERICA EAST SEMIFINALS (8 points each):
A Sunday double-header in Hartford in the America East will determine the two teams that wait a week for the biggest games of their lives.

#4 Boston U vs. #1 Stony Brook.  Stony Brook, who held on to knock off Albany on Saturday, takes on BU, who absolutely plastered Hartford on their won home floor.  Bry, J, Doogan, and Lynch all have BU in the upset in this one.

#6 New Hampshire vs. #2 Vermont.  The America East slipper resides in New Hampshire.  Today, they get the Catamounts in another tough one.  But, hey, they took out Maine yesterday, so anything’s possible.  Doogan, who nailed the New Hampshire upset yesterday en route to a perfect Am East quarterfinals, has UNH pulling off another one today.  Teddy, both Lohses, Lynch, Stri, and Ina all have UVM in this one.

SUN BELT QUARTERFINALS (4 points each):
After the CTC’s only quintuple-header, the Sun Belt is down to 8 teams left–the 5 winners from yesterday and the top 3 seeds who are coming off of their byes.  Of the five games yesterday, only Stri and J were even able to get four correct, so expect more wildness today in the most interesting low-major tournament of the year.

#9 S. Alabama vs. #1 Troy (13-5).  The Trojans of Troy earned the top-seed in the tournament through a couple tiebreakers, so they get to play #9 USA in their opening game.  The Jags edged Florida-Atlantic by a point yesterday to get themselves to this matchup.  Lynch and Lohse have already lost this game (FAU).  Lil Lohse has USA winning this game in what will be a phenomenal upset pick if he hits it.  Everyone else has Troy.  Waters is the only one to have Troy winning the tournament, so this game means more to him than others.

#5 Arkansas St. vs. #4 W. Kentucky.  Two teams that got here in quite different fashions yesterday.  They both played bad Sun Belt teams, but Arkansas St. needed OT to knock of UALR, while WKU absolutely rolled over New Orleans.  Now they meet in the quarters in the only matchup of teams that both played yesterday.  KA has already lost this game (New Orleans), but everyone else has WKU winning it, so if Arkansas St. wins, KA will have lost nothing with that pick.

#10 LA-Monroe vs. #2 N. Texas (13-5).  The Mean Green of N. Texas catch a bit of a break as they get to play #10 LA-Monroe instead of the very dangerous #7 LA-Lafayette because Monroe took out the Ragin’ Cajuns last night.  N. Texas, clearly one of the favorites to win this tournament, starts their pursuit of the Dance today.  Bry, Alexi, and Teddy have already lost this game with the LA-Lafayette pick, but everyone else has N. Texas, so it’ll be zeroed out with a Monroe win.

#6 Denver vs. #3 Middle Tennessee (13-5).  Denver ended the first season of the Isiah Era at FIU with a 71-64 opening round win late last night, and now they get to take on the #3-seed Middle Tennessee.  The Blue Raiders of MTSU finished in a tie for first in the conference and earned the first-round bye.  They will try and make their second ever NCAA tournament by winning this tournament.  Lynch has already lost this game (FIU) and KA have Denver.  The other 10 entries have Middle Tennessee winning this game.  Ina, Alexi, and the two Lohses all have Middle Tennessee winning the whole tournament.

SUMMIT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS (4 points each):
After two wins by the top two seeds last night, the Summit continues with the 3-6 and 4-5 matchups here tonight.  (NOTE: sorry about the mixup in yesterday’s preview.  I mixed up the days.).  Everyone got both games yesterday, so everyone has a perfect bracket going into today’s matchups.

#6 UMKC (8-10) vs. #3 Oakland (13-5).  Oral Roberts, a perennial contender in the Summit takes on UMKC in the first quarter of the day.  No one has the Roadrunners in this one.  Lynch, and KA have Oral Roberts winning this whole tournament. 

#5 IPFW (9-9) vs. #4 South Dakota St. (10-8).  In the nightcap, two teams with very little program success will battle for the right to play in the semis.  Only J, Stri, Waters, and KA have S.D. State in this one.  KA and Stri both have SD State going to the finals.  Teddy has IPFW in the finals; Lohse has them winning it all.

MAC OPENING ROUND (6 points each):
While the first week tournaments are winding down and the second week tournaments aren’t quite ready to begin, we have an odd start time to the Mid-American conference tournament, with four opening round games on Sunday.  Historically, Doogan has dominated the MAC, missing a perfect bracket in ’08 by one opening round game and winning again in ’09, though last year he shared the title with an equally impressive Ina.  Bry has finished in last place in the MAC in each of the past two years.

(NOTE:  there are still a decent amount of outstanding MAC brackets, so I will wait to preview that until we get most of them in.  I’ll let you guys know when I have updated this part of the ‘preview.’  For the record, I have Ohio, Buffalo, N. Illinois, and Bowling Green.)