Many people think that the Big XII is the best conference in basketball this year.  I see their point, and I think it’s close.  But, I think that this league is clearly 2nd to the Big Ten.  People seem to discount the Big Ten because it has been clearly the best for several years now, but we’ll get to that on the Big Ten page.  This is all about just how great the Big XII has been this year.  Even Texas Tech is really well right now.  I think every team in this league except for pitiful TCU, would have the ability to win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament.  And, I think there are at least 3 legitimate Sweet 16 teams here – one of them happens to be in 8th place because of, well, you all know.  One last thing – I am not sure that you can possibly overstate what is going on in Lawrence, KS, right now.  Bill Self and the Jayhawks have won TEN STRAIGHT BIG XII TITLES!  WHAT?!?!?!?!?  That is so incredibly amazing that it doesn’t get its due.  Seriously, that is absolutely ridiculous in this day and age.  The question now is – how will they fair without Joel Embiid?  I don’t know, but I wouldn’t bet against them.

It is not ridiculous to say that the CTC overall title could easily be decided right here.  This tournament is so all over the place, it’s ridiculous.  SIX different teams are represented with championship picks, including five picked by multiple people, and most incredibly, FOUR teams are supported by at least FOUR people as the Big XII champ.  #1 Kansas has the most, but it’s barely one-quarter of the field (8).  #4 Iowa State and #8 Oklahoma State each have 5 people backing them.  #2 Oklahoma has 4.  #3 Texas has 2 and #5 K-State has 1.  WOW!  Sleepers?  The whole tournament is a sleeper, except the bottom two teams, apparently, as only 3 people picked an upset in either game in the opening round.  The past two Big XII champions are not back this year, so we have to go all the way back to 2011 to find the “defending champ,” which is Bry.  No one has ever won this tournament more than once, so Bry, J, Stri, Alexi, and Doogan are all trying to become the first to do that.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 60 points)

#4 Iowa State vs #7 Baylor
The Cyclones won back-to-back brutally tough games over Kansas State and Kansas to get here to the championship.  Baylor has won three in a row (and 10 of 11 overall), beating TCU, Oklahoma, and whooping Texas in the semis.  Both teams are playing at truly elite levels.  The two teams split in the regular season including a 74-61 Baylor win 11 days ago.

No one has Baylor winning this championship, but Alexi, Bry, Lynch, Scoot, and Stritts all have Iowa State here.  Scoot wins the Big XII outright with an Iowa State win here, but has to share it with Dave and Gersh if Baylor wins.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 40 points each)

#1 Kansas vs #4 Iowa State
Both of these teams survived incredibly tough quarterfinal tests to get here to open a great Big XII semifinal double-header.  Andrew Wiggins put on a show for Jayhawks fans in Kansas City, as KU won in overtime against a beat-up Ok State team.  Iowa State got double-doubles from Hogue and Ejim in a tough, hard-fought win over K-State.  Now, these two will go at it in what might be the best game of the 44 games today.

10 people (Alexi, Bry, Dave, Gersh, GrossJr, Lynch, PapaCim, Scoot, Stritts, Teddy) have Iowa State in the upset here, with half of them (Alexi, Bry, Lynch, Scoot, Stritts) putting their champion at risk with ISU.  Only 8 people (Caleb, Chris, Colton, GrossSr, J, Mac, Stri, WaTers) have Kansas winning this game, but all 8 have them taking the championship.  Needless to say, this is a huge CTC game, as at least 5 people will lose a champion here.

Iowa State 94 – Kansas 83

#3 Texas vs #7 Baylor
These fierce in-state rivals will battle it out in Kansas City for the right to play for the Big XII title on Saturday.  Texas absolutely destroyed West Virginia in the quarters, while Baylor jumped out to a big lead and then held on against #2 Oklahoma.  May the worse coach lose…

Only 12 of the 25 entries can earn points here.  8 people (Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, J, RDoc, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) have Texas, while 4 (Chris, Doogan, Lazarow, Primm) have Baylor.  No one took Baylor to win the tournament, but Dave and Gersh both have Texas doing it.

Baylor 86 – Texas 69

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 20 points each)

#4 Iowa State vs #5 Kansas State
I love this Iowa State team.  I don’t know who you would consider the third-best player on this team, but I know that I would take whoever it is over any 3rd-best player on any team in America.  They don’t have a superstar (though, I have always loved Deandre Kane from his days at Marshall), but they have three guys who complement each other so incredibly well and are so versatile and brutally hard to match up against, that I seriously think that this team is a legit Final Four contender.  They open against a really quality K-State team that looked terrible for much of the noncon, but have really turned it on.  But, I guess that’s what happens when your best player is a somewhat raw freshman.  And, by “somewhat raw” I kind of mean “completely amazing.”  There are a lot of great freshmen around the country – and in the Big XII, specifically – but Marcus Foster may be the most underrated, if not having the best year.  And, let’s hear it for Bruce Weber, who was kicked out of the Illinois job and has now done two spectacular coaching jobs in Manhattan, KS.  Oh, and one quick note on the Big XII quarterfinal quadruple-header.  There are 8 teams playing in Kansas City today – and ALL EIGHT OF THEM are legit NCAA Tournament-caliber teams.  I can’t remember that ever happening.  It has been quite the season in this league.

Only 6 people (Chris, GrossSr, Mac, Primm, Stumpf, WaTers) went with the slight ‘dog of K-State here.  Stumpf has them going to the finals, while Primm has them winning the whole thing.  5 people (Dave, Gersh, GrossJr, PapaCim, Teddy) have ISU going to the finals and losing, while 5 more (Alexi, Bry, Lynch, Scoot, Stritts) put their Big XII champ on the line with the Cyclones here.  So, no matter what happens, someone will lose a champion in this quarterfinal.

Iowa State 91 – Kansas State 85

#1 Kansas vs #8 Oklahoma State
I am officially calling this the “best quarterfinal in the history of conference tournaments.”  Because of OK State’s injuries and suspensions, they finished 8th in the conference, which means they are grossly underseeded.  Because of Kansas’s RIDICULOUS run of Big XII titles, they are – as always – the 1-seed.  So, now they face off in what should be an incredible game, Elite Eight type game.  Oh, and I won’t spend too much time on a Kansas team that gets plenty of press, but I have to ask one question – is there anyone with out there with the balls to come out and say “I was wrong when I called Andrew Wiggins a bust?”  Didn’t think so.  Shameless.  Anyway, the dude is a total stud and could be the next Tracy McGrady on the next level (people forget just how great McGrady was for a short period of time).

Obviously, with a game this big in reality happening so early in a tournament, the entire shape of the CTC could be at stake here.  At least 5 people are gonna lose a champion here in the quarterfinals.  Becks, Doogan, Lazarow, Lohse, and RDoc all have the Cowboys winning this tournament.  8 others (Caleb, Chris, Colton, GrossSr, J, Mac, Stri, WaTers) have Kansas.  Interestingly, no one that has either of these teams making the finals has them losing there.  So, Dave, Gersh, PapaCim, Scoot, and Stumpf, who all have Kansas here, don’t have them in the finals.  And, Alexi, Bry, GrossJr, Lynch, Primm, Stritts, and Teddy, who have OK State here, have them losing in the semis.  Should be just a phenomenal game.

Kansas 77 – Oklahoma State 70 (OT)

#2 Oklahoma vs #7 Baylor
The amazing quadruple-header with 8 tournament teams kicks off its evening session with a really interesting matchup between an Oklahoma team that is solid and consistent and just flat-out won games all year against a Baylor team that is eye-poppingly athletic and huge, but frustratingly inconsistent and just didn’t win games.  Wednesday night was the perfect example, as this Baylor team should have run a terrible TCU team right off the court, but they let them hang around and hang around and just never really finished them off with any force.  They will need to play A LOT better to beat a very well-coached OU team led by an underrated backcourt of Buddy Hield and Cameron Clark.  The frontcourt has also really come along and is incredibly young.  Lon Kruger is going to have this team relevant for a long time to come.

This is yet another GIGANTIC game for the CTC.  Another split, as 13 people have the upset with Baylor, and 12 have OU (Becks, Caleb, Colton, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, Stri, Stumpf, Teddy).  Interestingly, everyone who has OU winning here except RDoc has them winning again in the semis.  And GrossJr, PapaCim, Stumpf, and Teddy all believe that the Sooners will win this tournament.  As for Baylor, their supporters – though more of them – aren’t quite as strong believers.  Chris, Doogan, Lazarow, and Primm are the only 4 that have the Bears even getting to the finals, and none of them have them winning it.

Baylor 78 – Oklahoma 73

#3 Texas vs #6 West Virginia
Can these coaches have any more opposite reputations?  Bobby Huggins is the cranky old basketball guy who gets players he can handle and mold, but who may not be the most coveted and then he wins with them.  Rick Barnes, on the other hand, is more of a folksy recruiter, who lands the big fish and then doesn’t win with them.  Well, interestingly, this year, it took Huggins a while to bring his guys around – though they are playing REALLY well now – and Barnes has been winning all year with seemingly inferior talent.  Maybe chasing the big fish isn’t the best way to win in Austin after all.  Well, we will see.  Either way, this game should close out a terrific day of hoops in Kansas City.  Oh, and speaking of coaches, how crazy is it that 8 of the 10 coaches in the Big XII have been to the Elite Eight?  That’s insane.

10 people (Alexi, Becks, Bry, Chris, Doogan, Lazarow, Lynch, PapaCim, Stumpf, Teddy) went with a decent upset pick with WVU here.  Alexi and Bry have the Mountaineers reaching the finals.  Of the 15 that have Texas winning this game, 8 of them (Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, J, RDoc, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) have the Longhorns in the finals.  Dave and Gersh both have them winning this tournament.

Texas 66 – West Virginia 49

OPENING ROUND (March 12th – 10 points each)

#8 Oklahoma State vs #9 Texas Tech
Marcus Smart…well, you all know all the stories.  I don’t care about all that.  What I care about is the fact that this dude can flat-out play.  And, they are going to make the tournament and be GHASTLY underseeded.  It’s kind of unfair to whoever has to play them.  Kind of like them being an 8-seed in the 10-team Big XII.  They face a Texas Tech team that probably could upset most other teams in the league, as they are playing very well under Tubby.  But, this Cowboy team is legit.  And, with the winner of this game getting Kansas in the quarters, will an OkState-Kansas game be the best conference tournament quarterfinal in NCAA history?  Don’t just blow it off – think about it.  Has there ever been a better quarterfinal in the history of conference tournaments than Kansas-OK State?

The intrigue in the opening round from a CTC standpoint is only in the future ramifications of these games.  Only Colton, GrossSr, and PapaCim have Tech here and none of them have the Red Raiders beating Kansas.  But, this is a HUGE game nonetheless.  This is unprecedented.  5 people (Becks, Doogan, Lazarow, Lohse, RDoc) have the Cowboys winning this entire tournament.  They are the only 5 that have them even reaching the finals, but 7 more (Alexi, Bry, GrossJr, Lynch, Primm, Stritts, Teddy) have them beating Kansas in the quarters.  Bracket-buster potential here, for sure.

Oklahoma State 80 – Texas Tech 62
In what is clearly the most memorable Ok State-Texas Tech game of the year, Marcus Smart made some news against Tech.  He had 18 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, 6 steals, and a block in a monster performance that even Jeff Orr would be impressed by.  Now, we are officially set up for, what I am calling, the greatest quarterfinal in the history of conference tournament history when they take on Kansas.

Colton, GrossSr, and PapaCim miss a minor upset here, but that isn’t the news here.  Becks, Doogan, Lazarow, Lohse, and RDoc all keep alive their 8-seed champion.  7 more keep alive a semifinalist.

#7 Baylor vs #10 TCU
TCU is just plain awful.  Absolutely terrible.  Baylor is very talented and playing their best right now.  This is just a bye before a really nice 2/7 date between Baylor and Oklahoma.  Oh, and by the way, I think I could watch Brady Heslop shoot 3’s all day and never get bored.  Just sayin’.  The winner of this game gets #2 Oklahoma in the quarters.

No one has TCU here, but there is still a TON of intrigue in this game (if it stays close).  Chris, Doogan, Lazarow, and Primm have the Baylor Bears going to the finals.  9 others (Alexi, Bry, Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) all have Baylor going to the semis before losing.

Baylor 76 – TCU 68
It wasn’t pretty, but the Bears took care of TCU and moves on to face #2 Oklahoma in the quarters on Thursday.  Cory Jefferson had 20, and Isaiah Austin added 18, as the talented Baylor team ends a terrible season for the Horned Frogs, who just don’t belong in this conference.

Everyone got this right, including a bunch of people with Baylor going pretty far.  The biggest relief came from Chris, Doogan, Lazarow, and Primm, who keep alive a finalist.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Kansas (8) – Caleb, Chris, Colton, GrossSr, J, Mac, Stri, WaTers
• #2 Oklahoma (4) – GrossJr, PapaCim, Stumpf, Teddy
• #3 Texas (2) – Dave, Gersh
• #4 Iowa State (5) – Alexi, Bry, Lynch, Scoot, Stritts
• #5 Kansas State (1) – Primm
• #6 West Virginia (0)
• #7 Baylor (0)
• #8 Oklahoma State (5) – Becks, Doogan, Lazarow, Lohse, RDoc

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #9 Texas Tech (Colton, GrossSr, PapaCim)
• QF – #8 Oklahoma State (many)
• SF – #8 Oklahoma State (Becks, Doogan, Lazarow, Lohse, RDoc)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Doogan
• 2009 – Alexi
• 2010 – J, Stri
• 2011 – Bry
• 2012 – KA
• 2013 – LohseJr (perfect)

2014 Scores

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

Conference USA engineered nearly a complete makeover this year, expanding to 16 teams (FIU is academically ineligible for postseason play, so the tournament only has 15) – the biggest of any conference in the country this year – as they seemingly took on all comers.  And, the 2014 season resulted in a very interesting season, actually, including a 4-way tie for 1st-place with UTEP (who happens to host the conference tournament) just a game back.  Old standbys Southern Miss and UTEP were still there and very much in contention for this tournament.  La Tech, who is loaded, ended up getting the #1-seed and looks like the best team (though, Southern Miss still might have something to say for that).  Tulsa – led by up-and-coming coaching star, Danny Manning – came out of nowhere like a miracle (sorry…).  Another team coming from nowhere – by way of the Sun Belt, actually – was Middle Tennessee.  The Blue Raiders finished strong and nearly won the league, finishing 13-3 in their C-USA debut.  This league is so incredibly wide open (probably the most wide open of any tournament) and should be interesting tournament all the way through.  I am glad that C-USA isn’t trying to be a major conference any more.  That ship has sailed.  Now, they are just an all-around decent mid-major league that happens to be too big right now, but whatever.  Either way, this tournament should be interesting – at least as it goes for the top 5 teams.

The CTC completely reflects the wide-openness of this tournament among the top 5.  #4 Southern Miss was actually the most popular champion pick, though barely a quarter (8) of the field picked them.  #1 La Tech is right behind with 6 championship picks.  Middle Tennessee had 5 and Tulsa 4.  The hosts and 5th-seeded UTEP have 2 people picking them.  Wow!  No team has more than 7 people taking them to win the title.  And, there are crazy upset picks, as well.  7 people took last-place Rice in the opening round.  Three people picked 14th-place Marshall to win two games – and one of them has them winning a 3rd.  One person even has #11 Florida-Atlantic winning four straight games to make the championship game.  This is gonna be nuts!  RDoc – astoundingly – nailed a perfect C-USA bracket last year and is the defending champ.  Lohse has the best history here, as the only one to have won this title more than once.

(QUICK NOTE:  Lohse really believes in this “wide open” thing.  If his bracket is perfect, he will have racked up 441 points along the way – and it’s actually not that crazy of a bracket from the looks of it – he even has #1 beating #2 in the championship).

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 42 points)

#1 Louisiana Tech vs #2 Tulsa
In this wide-open tournament, we get the top four seeds in the semifinals and 1 vs 2 in the championship on Saturday morning.  Danny Manning’s Golden Hurricane of Tulsa outlasted a tough Middle Tennessee team on Friday, while La Tech had one of the more impressive performances of the day in dismantling a really good Southern Miss team.  By the way, every other conference lets the #1 seed play the earliest games possible so as to give them a little added edge that they have earned through the regular season.  But, one of the few conferences that doesn’t do that is the only conference that has their championship before noon the day after the semifinals are played.  Doesn’t make sense that La Tech (who earned the #1 seed) has to play the late game, finish up the game around 9 and then turn around for an 11:30 tip on Saturday.  But, I’m sure there’s money involved somewhere, so whatever.  Either way, start time follies or not, this La Tech team looks like they are clearly the class of this league and will either get the auto-bid or will have Danny Manning representing the conference.

10 people have a shot at championship points here.  6 for La Tech and 4 for Tulsa.  Caleb, GrossJr, Scoot, and Stri all have Tulsa.  Chris, Colton, Doogan, Lohse, Teddy, and WaTers have La Tech.  A La Tech title will give the 2014 C-USA CTC crown to Doogan, while a Tulsa win will create a split title between Caleb and GrossJr.  Either way, it will be a new C-USA winner in 2014.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 28 points each)

#2 Tulsa vs #3 Middle Tennessee
A very underrated semifinal double-header awaits us in the C-USA tournament here in El Paso.  The appetizer pits two of the four league co-champs that were the biggest surprises.  Everyone thought that La Tech and Southern Miss would be in a brawl for the title, but these two teams snuck up on people.  Danny Manning’s Golden Hurricane hammered Tulane in the quarters on Thursday, while Middle did the same to Old Dominion.  Now, the two face off with a trip to the finals on the line.  Tulsa won the only regular season meeting of these two at home, 58-53.

This is a gigantic CTC game.  GrossSr is the only one without a horse in this race, as he has lost it with ODU already.  Of the other 24, 13 took Tulsa and 11 took Middle (Alexi, Becks, Chris, Colton, Dave, J, Primm, Stritts, Stumpf, Teddy).  Alexi, Becks, Dave, Primm, and Stumpf all have the Blue Raiders of Mid Tenn going on to win the championship.  Caleb, GrossJr, Scoot, and Stri all have Tulsa winning it, so at least 4 people will lose their champion here.

Tulsa 76 – Middle Tennessee 69

#1 Louisiana Tech vs #4 Southern Miss
On a day where all the big conferences are in action (20 of the AP Top 25 play today), the most underrated game of the day is this one in El Paso.  La Tech versus Southern Miss should be as good as non-power conference basketball gets.  These two teams played once in the regular season – an 80-71 win for SMiss – but La Tech was missing their best player, Raheem Appleby, who is back and healthy now.  This should be fantastic.

6 people (Chris, Colton, Doogan, Lohse, Teddy, WaTers) have La Tech winning this tournament.  GrossJr and Stumpf both have them winning this game before losing in the finals.  8 people (Bry, GrossSr, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, Stritts) have Southern Miss winning this tournament.  Caleb, Dave, and Stri all have them winning here, but losing in the finals.  No matter what happens, 6 people are going to lose a champion here in the semis.  This is as big as it gets in this conference.

Louisiana Tech 88 – Southern Miss 70

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 14 points each)

#2 Tulsa vs #7 Tulane
What a great season for Danny Manning and the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa.  They finished in a 4-way tie for first in the conference and took the tiebreaker for second place, which means that they have an auto-bid to the NIT, if they are to lose in this tournament.  This deep team enters the tournament on an 8-game winning streak, though the only quality team they beat in that streak was UTEP in the very building they are playing in on Thursday.  Tulsa plays a hard-nosed, very solid defense and are tough to beat in any capacity.  But, a Tulane team that doesn’t really score well (and gave up 97 to Tulsa in their regular season meeting) probably doesn’t match up well against this team.  The Green Wave did get here with a big come-from-behind win over North Texas on Wednesday, so they are feeling confident.

WaTers is the only one with Tulane here, so he will get 49 free points against the field if Tulane can pull off this upset.  Caleb, GrossJr, Scoot, and Stri all put their C-USA champs on the line here with Tulsa.  Many others have them going to the finals.

Tulsa 70 – Tulane 49

#3 Middle Tennessee vs #6 Old Dominion
What a great inaugural season for the Blue Raiders of MTSU.  They tied for first in the conference and are one of the favorites to win this tournament.  And, they are playing as well as anyone in this league.  They only have one loss since the middle of January and that was on the road at La Tech.  They are incredibly experienced (starting 4 seniors) and really solid all-around.  This won’t be an easy team to send packing.  They take on an ODU team that is also in its first year in the conference and also had a very nice debut.  They continued that nice debut by surviving Marshall on Wednesday night.  Now, the real games begin in C-USA.

5 people (Gersh, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, PapaCim) have ODU here, including GrossSr, who has them going to the finals.  Lohse and WaTers have already lost this game with Marshall and FAU.  The other 18 all have Middle, including 5 people (Alexi, Becks, Dave, Primm, Stumpf) that have the Blue Raiders winning this tournament.

Middle Tennessee 62 – Old Dominion 48

#4 Southern Miss vs #5 UTEP
Southern Miss, for a long while, looked like they were by far the best team in this conference.  In fact, their resume is still holding up as a possible at-large team – though, they’d be much better served winning this tournament and not worrying about it.  But, they lost a couple surprises down the stretch and fell into this 4-way tie.  They ended up with the 4th-seed in the tournament, which means that they have to play a de facto road game against UTEP in the quarters, after the Miners took care of ECU in the second round.

10 people (Alexi, Becks, Chris, Colton, Doogan, Gersh, RDoc, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) all have UTEP here, including Gersh and RDoc, who have them winning this tournament.  Alexi, Becks, and Scoot have the Miners reaching the finals.  Lohse has already lost with East Carolina, but the other 13 all have Southern Miss here, including 8 of them (Bry, GrossSr, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, Stritts), who have them winning it all.

Southern Miss 64 – UTEP 56

#1 Louisiana Tech vs #9 Charlotte
After a nice second round win for Charlotte over UAB, they have to take a crack at the top team in Conference USA.  Louisiana Tech, who was picked to win this league in the preseason, looks like they might be the best team in the league here entering the postseason, especially because their best player, Raheem Appleby (who is amazing) is just getting healthy in time for the tournament.  If Appleby is back to full strength, then this is clearly the team to beat in this tournament.

Louisiana Tech 86 – Charlotte 65

SECOND ROUND (March 12th – 7 points each)

#7 Tulane vs #10 North Texas
The Green Wave always do this.  They don’t have much talent, but they overperform in either the noncon or conference play underperforming in the other one.  This year it was conference play where the Green Wave – a team with no expectations and even less after a dreadful noncon, they went 8-8 in conference.  This can be explained by the fact that they are VERY young, so maybe it took a little to put it together.  Either way, this might be a team on the rise as they enter the American next year (we can only hope…).  They open their final C-USA tournament against a North Texas team that nearly sleptwalked through a game with Rice, but woke up just in time to win in overtime.  The winner of this game will meet #2 Tulsa in the quarterfinals.

As it is with essentially all C-USA games this year, this is a big one for CTC.  7 people (Becks, Bry, Chris, Dave, Doogan, PapaCim, Stritts) took the decent upset pick with North Texas.  The other 18 all have Tulane, including WaTers, who has them beating Tulsa in the quarters.

Tulane 66 – North Texas 61
North Texas led most of the way only to piss this one away and head home disappointed.  Tulane may have earned this win in the regular season, as UNT had to win an overtime game Tuesday night in advance of a 1:30 tipoff against a Tulane team that earned a bye.  And, it sure looks like the Mean Green may have wore down down the stretch of this one.  The tables will be turned on Thursday, as now the Green Wave will move on to take on a team that had a bye on Wednesday, #2 Tulsa.

7 people missed a decent upset pick here.  WaTers is the most relieved with the Tulane comeback, as he has them beating Tulsa on Thursday.

#6 Old Dominion vs #14 Marshall
ODU had a really nice (and surprising) debut season in Conf USA.  Winning 9 conference games and finishing 6th place (albeit a distant 6th from the top 5) is a nice turnaround for a team that was last-place in the CAA only a year ago.  They open their first CUSA tournament against a Marshall team that upset Florida-Atlantic on Tuesday night.  The winner here move to the quarters to face #3 Middle Tennessee.

Another interesting CTC game here.  Bry, Doogan, Lohse, and Lynch all have Marshall here, with Lohse taking the Thundering Herd to reach the semis.  Stri and WaTers have already lost this game with FAU.  The other 19 all have ODU here.  Gersh, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, and PapaCim have the Monarchs reaching the semis.  GrossSr has them going to the finals.

Old Dominion 73 – Marshall 58
ODU wasn’t ready to end their first C-USA season just yet.  Trailing much of the first half and into the second, the Monarchs rallied and actually won comfortably in the end.  Future star, Aaron Bacote, dropped 25 for ODU, who moves on to face another C-USA first year, Middle Tennessee, in the quarters.

4 people (Bry, Doogan, Lohse, Lynch) miss what would have been a giant upset here.  Lohse actually lost a semifinalist here.  Gersh, GrossJr, Lazarow, and PapaCim all keep alive a semifinalist, while GrossSr keeps alive a finalist.

#5 UTEP vs #12 East Carolina
The tournament hosts are the 5th team in a 5-team league this year and, therefore, are saddled with having to play an extra round.  But, I guess being at home evens that out a bit.  UTEP looked like they were on their way to winning this league before the suspension of leading scorer McKenzie Moore (and two backups) for sports gambling (though, there was never any allegation of point-shaving).  They tripped up with Moore at first, but learned to play well without him down the stretch and seem just as good (hey, maybe he was shaving points).  Now, they enter a wide-open tournament with the home court on their side, so who knows.  They start with 12th-seeded East Carolina, who knocked off UTSA on Tuesday, to prolong what will eventually be a disappointing season for the Pirates.  The winner here has to take on #4 Southern Miss in the quarters.

Bry, Lohse, Stri, and Teddy all have ECU here; Lohse has them reaching the semis.  The other 21 all have UTEP, including Gersh and RDoc, who picked them to win the tournament, and Alexi, Becks, and Scoot, who have them in the finals.

UTEP 77 – East Carolina 68
Tournament hosts, UTEP, ran past ECU with relative ease in their second round matchup.  The Pirates of ECU end a terribly disappointing conference season, while the Miners move on to a HUGE quarterfinal matchup with #4 Southern Miss.

Bry, Lohse, Stri, and Teddy miss a nice upset pick here, with Lohse losing a semifinalist.  Gersh and RDoc are the happiest here, as they keep alive their champ.  Alexi, Becks, and Scoot are happy, too, as they keep a finalist.

#8 UAB vs #9 Charlotte
The 8/9 game is a good one for such a disappointing league.  Maybe it’s so good because these teams really never lived up to their expectations.  Charlotte looked so good in the noncon, winning the Puerto Rico Shootout with wins over Kansas State and Michigan.  Yes, that’s right, the 9th-place CUSA team won a tournament that required wins over K-State and Michigan.  What?  Well, what about the 8th-place team?  They had noncon wins over Nebraska and North Carolina.  Yep, the two teams playing in the quarterfinals of the CUSA tournament have 4 wins over tournament teams, two of which will be over teams with top-4 NCAA tournament seeds.  Well, they were a combined 14-18 in conference play, so there’s that.  But, the winner here will move on to face top-seeded La Tech in the quarters.

More of the field took Charlotte here, as only 11 (Alexi, Chris, Dave, Gersh, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lohse, Mac, Scoot, Stri, Teddy) took the Blazers of UAB.  But, the UAB supporters are more bullish on their pick.  No one has Charlotte beating La Tech in the quarters, but Alexi, Dave, Gersh, and Scoot all have UAB knocking off the Techsters.

Charlotte 80 – UAB 70
In a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates, Charlotte routs UAB to advance to the quarters to face #1 La Tech.  Thus ends a disappointing season for the Blazers.

14 people hit this minor upset pick.  Alexi, Dave, Gersh, and Scoot lose a semifinalist here.

FIRST ROUND (March 11th – 3.5 points each)

#10 North Texas vs #15 Rice
This Rice program just continues to suffer through miserable season after miserable season with this one being no different.  They actually finished in 16th place, but there is no 16-seed because of FIU’s ineligibility.  They take on the Mean Green of North Texas who joined the mass exodus from Sun Belt to C-USA this year.  UNT – now without the distraction of having a “future lottery pick” on a bad Sun Belt team (Tony Mitchell was actually picked 25 picks after the lottery ended at #37 by the Pistons and is now in the D-League) actually had a decent season and just missed grabbing that final bye.  Playing Rice is one of the closest things to a bye in D-I, though.  The winner of this game moves on the second round to face #7 Tulane.

This – as pretty much every C-USA game is going to be – is a pretty big CTC game right off the bat.  8 people (Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Stri, Teddy, WaTers) have a huge upset pick with Rice, though they all have them losing to Tulane.  7 others (Becks, Bry, Chris, Dave, Doogan, PapaCim, Stritts) have North Texas winning Tuesday and Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals.  Right away we’ve got intrigue in the “Crazy USA.”

North Texas 63 – Rice 62 (OT)

#11 Florida-Atlantic vs #14 Marshall
FAU’s transition to C-USA was a bit rocky, at first, but they righted the ship and put together an okay first season.  “Okay” is a lot better than anyone would consider Marshall’s season, as the Thundering Herd was downright dreadful at times, finishing in 15th place, despite being picked for the top-half of the league.  With Marshall’s descent and Iowa State’s emergence, maybe DeAndre Kane actually was THAT good…I’ve been saying that on these pages for years.  The winner here will take on #6 Old Dominion in the second round.

Another absolutely crazy game for the CTC.  What is going on here?  Only 9 people (Colton, Gersh, GrossSr, Lazarow, Mac, Primm, Scoot, Stri, WaTers) have the favored Owls of FAU, but Stri has them winning again on Wednesday to make the quarters.  WaTers went nuts for FAU, as he has them winning four games in four days to reach the C-USA championship game on Saturday – that is two full round further than anyone else has them going.  On the other hand, the field kind of went nuts on Marshall, as well.  Aside from the 16 people that have them pulling off this upset, 4 others (Bry, Doogan, Lohse, Lynch) have them pulling off a second upset in the second round over ODU.  Lohse went ever crazier and has them pulling off a third straight upset in beating Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals.  Just another game in Crazy-USA.

Marshall 63 – Florida-Atlantic 59

#12 East Carolina vs #13 UT-San Antonio
If you had told me that these two teams would be matching up in the C-USA tournament, I would have said “you’re crazy if you think UTSA can pull off enough upsets to meet up with ECU.”  But, conference play changed a lot for both of these teams.  ECU, who played really well in the noncon, including playing Duke tough at Cameron, was one of the last teams in the country to win a conference game.  They finally did and won a couple more to get up to 12th, but what a disappointment.  UTSA, on the other hand, won their first 3 conference games after an absolutely dreadful noncon made them look like one of the worst teams in the USA, not just Conference USA.  But, they returned a little to their losing ways and now have to play a terrible nightcap of a 12/13 game on day one of the C-USA tournament.  The winner of this one will move on the second round to take on #5 UTEP, the tournament hosts.  ECU may still be a mild sleeper pick here, but UTSA is probably one-and-done, at best.

This game seems rather tame compared to the other two – but it isn’t.  6 people (Becks, Gersh, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Scoot) went for a minor upset with UTSA, with none of them picking them over UTEP.  And, then there’s ECU.  20 people have them beating UTSA on Tuesday.  4 more (Bry, Lohse, Stri, Teddy) have them ousting the tournament hosts, UTEP in the second round.  And, Lohse actually has them beating Southern Miss in the quarters before losing in the semis.

East Carolina 79 – UT-San Antonio 76

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Louisiana Tech (6) – Chris, Colton, Doogan, Lohse, Teddy, WaTers
• #2 Tulsa (4) – Caleb, GrossJr, Scoot, Stri
• #3 Middle Tennessee (5) – Alexi, Becks, Dave, Primm, Stumpf
• #4 Southern Miss (8) – Bry, GrossSr, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, PapaCim, Stritts
• #5 UTEP (2) – Gersh, RDoc

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #15 Rice (Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Stri, Teddy, WaTers)
• R2 – #14 Marshall (Bry, Doogan, Lohse)
• QF – #14 Marshall (Lohse)
• SF – #11 Florida-Atlantic (WaTers)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Ina
• 2009 – Bry
• 2010 – Lohse, Teddy
• 2011 – Lynch
• 2012 – Lohse
• 2013 – RDoc (perfect)

2014 Scores

The American Athletic Conference.  This is only the second conference that the CTC has ever “added,” and the first one – the Great West – is now defunct.  It is pretty amazing that a new conference could be created and it could be an elite league.  And, that is exactly what the American is this year.  Yes, this league has all year been a league of “haves” and “have-nots”, but there isn’t a league in the country whose 5th best team is better than Memphis.  And, all those “have-nots” don’t exactly make up the dregs of most conferences in the country.  TCU is worlds worse than anyone in the AAC.  So is Virginia Tech.  I would take UCF, USF, and Temple over USC, Washington State, and Oregon State.  And, is Houston really any worse than the 3rd-place SEC team from Athens, GA?  I’m not even sure why I feel like I have to defend this league – people know it’s good.  And, this inaugural tournament in the BK should be a fun one.

Shockingly, only one person in the CTC took top-seeded Cincinnati to win this tournament.  One person also took #4 UConn and one more took #5 Memphis.  No one took #3 SMU.  The other 22 people all have Louisville, the 2nd-seed, winning this tournament.  Temple is a sleeper semifinalist for one.  And, since this is the first year of the American, the first ever American CTC crown will be awarded this week.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 60 points)

#2 Louisville vs #4 Connecticut
Two teams playing very well will meet up in the first ever American Athletic Conference tournament championship.  Louisville has been historically good, beating Rutgers by 61 and then Houston by 29.  UConn doesn’t have the impressive margins of victory, but they have much more impressive pelts on the wall, beating Memphis (on their home floor) and then #1 Cincinnati.  Louisville swept the Huskies in the regular season, including an 81-49 drubbing a week ago today.

Lynch is the only person with UConn here, so he can pick up a free and clear 120 points with a Huskies win.  PapaCim and WaTers have already lost this game, but the other 22 all have L’ville.  Obviously, Lynch will grab the CTC crown here if UConn wins, while GrossJr and Stri will share the first ever American title if Louisville comes through.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 40 points each)

#2 Louisville vs #6 Houston
Have you ever seen anything like the destruction that was the Louisville-Rutgers quarterfinal on Thursday?  92-31 is not a misprint.  Can I say that it wasn’t that close?  Wow.  Anyway, the Cards move on to face a Houston team that mustered enough juice to upset Larry Brown’s Mustangs.  They may have wished they didn’t after Pitino gets a hold of them.

Lynch and WaTers have already lost this game with SMU.  The other 23 people all have L’ville, including 22 of them that have the Cardinals taking this title.

Louisville 94 – Houston 65

#1 Cincinnati vs #4 Connecticut
A very impressive win for UConn over Memphis on Thursday night was preceded by a very unimpressive win for Cincinnati over UCF.  But, today is a new day and nothing matters but this one.

Surprisingly, only 10 people (Alexi, Becks, Bry, Caleb, Colton, Doogan, Gersh, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) have #1 Cincinnati winning this game, with WaTers taking them to win it all.  Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, and Stumpf have already lost with Memphis.  The other 11 all actually have the underdog UConn here with Lynch taking the Huskies to win the tournament.

Connecticut 58 – Cincinnati 56

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 20 points each)

#3 SMU vs #6 Houston
How amazing is Larry Brown?  I have said for years that if we to win one basketball game to save the world, Larry Brown should be on the sidelines coaching that team.  He’s a genius.  And, what he has done with this SMU program – in JUST HIS SECOND YEAR – might be his best act to date.  Oh, and by the way, they have the best recruit in the country committed for next season.  This year he is led by spectacular play from two sophomore transfers, Marcus Kennedy (from Villanova) and Nic Moore (from Illinois State).  This Mustang team is for real and could be a tough out in the next tournament, as well.  As for Houston, they were playing better, having won 4 in a row, including a win over Memphis, until they let UCF drop 104 on them in their final regular season game.  The Cougars can score, but they also play zero defense.  They are the best of the “have-nots” in this conference, but the have-nots don’t beat the haves this year.

7 people (Caleb, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lohse, PapaCim, RDoc, Stri) went with a decent upset pick of Houston here.  Lynch and WaTers have the most to lose with SMU, as they have them going to the finals.

Houston 68 – SMU 64

#2 Louisville vs #7 Rutgers
While the Louisville Cardinals don’t have the resume for a 1-seed in the Big Dance, but can you really tell me that there are 4 teams playing better than the defending champs right now?  I am not advocating for them to be a 1-seed just that I would probably take them on a neutral court against Villanova, Virginia, Michigan, or whomever else might get that fourth 1-seed.  The Scarlet Knights opened the American tournament on Wednesday with an ugly win over USF.

All 25 entries have L’ville winning this game.  Lynch and WaTers are the only 2 that don’t have L’ville in the finals, so they should be rooting for Rutgers here.  PapaCim is the only other one that doesn’t have them winning this tournament.

Louisville 92 – Rutgers 31

#1 Cincinnati vs #9 Central Florida
Mick Cronin can flat-out coach.  Another great season for Coach Cronin, as the Bearcats – who are rostered with grown men – are looking like a legitimate contender to make a deep tournament run.  The first ever American tournament title would be a nice thing to pick up along the way.  The manliest of these men is Sean Kilpatrick, who should probably be in the discussion for National Player of the Year Runner-Up (since that’s the award that Doug McDermott is going to let someone else have).  I would actually vote Kilpatrick over both Russ Smith and Shabazz Napier as American POY.  The Bearcats open their American run with a UCF team that put this Temple season out of its misery well after midnight last night with an incredibly ugly double-OT win.

24 people have Cincy here, with RDoc having already lost it with Temple.  WaTers is the only one that has Cincy winning this tournament, so it’s important for him that they stay alive here in the quarters.

Cincinnati 61 – Central Florida 58

#4 Connecticut vs #5 Memphis
And, we save the best for last on a great day of American hoops.  The host Memphis Tigers versus a very good UConn team.  In fact, I might venture to say that the two best backcourts in America will be facing off against one another in this FANTASTIC game.  UConn’s Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier are dynamic and explosive.  And, maybe as a result of a poor frontcourt, they also hit the glass – especially Napier, who is leading the Huskies in rebounding.  As for Memphis, they throw a host of truly dynamic guards at you in waves.  Joe Jackson is the best of them, as he has gone from a seemingly over-hyped freshman into the C-USA POY as a junior and now a grizzled vet who is one of the best guards in the best guard conference in America.  Imagine that – an 18-year old needed a couple years to hit his potential.  They also have Chris Crawford and Geron Johnson as well as former Missouri point guard, Michael Dixon, who’s a much better basketball player than he is a human being, but that isn’t saying a whole lot.  This game should be fantastic and might get the main attention in a night of wall-to-wall hoops.

As expected, this is a total toss-up game in the CTC.  13 people took Memphis, while 12 took UConn (Caleb, Chris, Dave, GrossJr, GrossSr, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, Stri, Teddy).  Shockingly, everyone that took UConn here except Caleb has the Huskies winning again to go to the finals.  Lynch actually has them winning the tournament.  The Memphis supporters, though there are slightly more of them, are not nearly as ardent.  Only 4 (Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Stumpf) have the Tigers reaching the finals.  PapaCim thinks Josh Pastner will be cutting down his own nets on Saturday.

Connecticut 72 – Memphis 53

OPENING ROUND (March 12th – 10 points each)

#8 Temple vs #9 Central Florida
It was a rough year up on North Broad, and I really hope that this isn’t the beginning of a down era.  I don’t think it is because the team was very young and lost a lot of pretty close games.  I really like Will Cummings and if Anthony Lee can stay on the floor (healthy and out of foul trouble), then he’s an excellent big.  I also really like FR Mark Williams and Josh Brown.  The team will certainly be better next year (and, Lord I hope so after 9-21 this year), but it might be a few years before a return to the Dance.  As for UCF, their entry into the American wasn’t all that pretty.  Their 4 conference wins consisted of beating the other 4 “have-nots” at home.  While Isaiah Sykes is a really unique talent, the rest of the team is rather bad.  The winner of this game faces top-seeded Cincinnati in the quarters.

9 people (Alexi, Caleb, Chris, Dave, Doogan, Grossjr, Lynch, Stri, Stumpf) took the minor upset of UCF here.  RDoc is the only one that has either of these teams beating Cincy, as he went with Temple to get to the semis.

Central Florida 94 – Temple 90 (2 OT)
And, there goes the TU season, as they finish with 9 whole wins.  I’ll save my analysis for a later post, as this game was all about Isaiah Sykes, who went for 36 & 9.  Wow.  And, wow, was this a terribly-played game.  Let’s just move on.  UCF gets Cincy in the quarters.

9 people got this one right.  RDoc lost a semifinalist with the Owls.

#7 Rutgers vs #10 South Florida
The good news for Rutgers is that no one had any cameras rolling at practice this year.  The bad news is that cameras were rolling during their games.  The Scarlet Knights were pretty bad, despite some intriguingly talented athletes, yet very few basketball players.  USF, who enters the tournament on an 8-game losing streak was really just decimated by injuries this year, particularly their star point guard, Anthony Collins.  They do still have a healthy Victor Rudd, who plays a really unique style of basketball and can score in bunches.  The winner here will try to stay within 30 of #2 Louisville on Thursday.

10 people (Bry, Chris, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lynch, Stritts, Teddy) went with USF here.  The other 15 went with Rutgers.  No one has either team beating Louisville.

Rutgers 72 – South Florida 68
And, the first ever American Athletic Conference tournament game goes to…Rutgers – who will officially be a member of the Big Ten as soon as they lose here in Brooklyn.  It almost happened on this night, but Kadeem Jack was too much for an undermanned USF team that can blame injuries for a bad year, when, in reality, they probably weren’t going to do much anyway.

15 people got this one right.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Cincinnati (1) – WaTers
• #2 Louisville (22)
• #3 SMU (0)
• #4 Connecticut (1) – Lynch
• #5 Memphis (1) – PapaCim

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #10 South Florida (many)
• QF – #8 Temple (RDoc)
• SF – #5 Memphis (Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Stumpf)

2014 Scores

Another interesting year in one of the more intriguing mid-major conferences each year – at least since they stopped thinking they were about to become the next power conference.  Unlike the WCC or even Conference USA, where people these days actually tend to overrate the depth of the conference based on the power up top, the MAC has actually found a nice niche as a bit of an overlooked mid-major that can oftentimes be a whole lot better than anyone gives them credit for.  And, the really nice part of this conference is that the strengths of the programs across the board are very comparable, so you don’t really have the same teams at the top or bottom every year (with the exception of Northern Illinois and their head-scratching inability to build any semblance of a solid program despite some inherent advantages…maybe, until now).  The Ohio-Akron rivalry over the past couple of years has been one of the best in the country, while the directional Michigan schools are always heated rivals.  This year was supposed to be the year that the Toledo Rockets bubbled up, and it looked like that was coming true, as the Rockets were undefeated longer than anyone in the country other than Wichita and Syracuse.  And, they started the conference like gang-busters and threatened to run away with it.  But, they slowly came back to the pack, and Western Michigan (playing an easier conference schedule, mind you) actually finished the season winning 10 of their last 11 (the only loss being an overtime loss at Toledo on March 1) to steal the top seed in the tournament.  The MAC has a really nice format, though it somewhat arbitrarily offers heavy rewards to the 4-seed over the 5-seed (two byes), so the loser of this dynamic this year is Ohio, who is clearly good enough to be in the top 4, but there were 5 teams good enough and only 4 spots.  The bottom of this league this year, Ball State and Central Michigan, were dreadful.

The end of this tournament is gonna be huge for CTC as all 25 people sprinkled their championship picks across the top 3 seeds.  The least popular of the 3 is the top-seeded Broncos of Western Michigan with 6 supporters.  3rd-seeded Buffalo has 7 people riding with them, while #2 Toledo is the preferred choice of the CTC with 12 people taking the Rockets.  One entry has 11th-seeded Central Michigan can win two games, while two entries have 9th-seeded Kent State winning three games.  Surprisingly, no one has any seed lower than 4 reaching the finals, and only 2 people have 4th-seeded Akron.  A lot of chalk late in this tournament.  J is the defending champion here and will be going for his 3rd MAC title.  If he gets it, he will only tie Doogan, who already has 3 MAC titles and is going for a 4th this year.  Wow!  And, while we’re talking crazy CTC history, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the greatest CTC bracket ever.  Teddy’s 2010 MAC bracket was perfect, which is impressive for a 12-team tournament any year, but check out here the chaos that ensued that year that Teddy predicted perfectly…still baffles me four years later.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 42 points)

#1 Western Michigan vs #2 Toledo
For the first time in 8 years, the MAC title game doesn’t have Keith Dambrot’s Akron Zips.  And, it sure could have.  WMU snatched victory from the jaws of defeat – erasing an 18-point deficit with an 18-0 run and then winning in overtime over the Zips.  Toledo won a brawl with EMU, setting up an interesting final where the 2-seed is probably the better team, but the 1-seed looks like a team of destiny and have been playing inspired ball for over a month now.

6 people (GrossJr, GrossSr, Lynch, Primm, Stri, Stumpf) have Western Michigan here.  12 othes (Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Doogan, Gersh, J, Lazarow, Lohse, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) have the Rockets of Toledo.  A WMU win will give Stumpf an impressive MAC title.  Toledo winning would give the championship to Becks.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 24 points each)

#1 Western Michigan vs #4 Akron
The Broncos of Western Michigan came out of absolute nowhere to win 9 of their last 10 games and take the top spot in the MAC.  Ousting Ohio from the top 4 and driving Akron down to 4th sets up this interesting semifinal here in Cleveland against the Zips, who took care of rival, Ohio, on Thursday.  WMU is led by SR shooting guard David Brown, who had scored in double-figures every game this season.

Dave and Scoot are the only two with Akron here.  The other 23 all have WMU winning this game, including 6 (GrossJr, GrossSr, Lynch, Primm, Stri, Stumpf), who have the Broncos winning this tournament.

Western Michigan 64 – Akron 60 (OT)

#2 Toledo vs #6 Eastern Michigan
The Toledo Rockets – who probably had more expectations about this season than any in recent program history – started 12-0 before a close loss at Kansas and then a MAC season-opening loss to Western Michigan.  The Rockets, who have one of the most potent offenses in the country, do struggle to get stops on the defensive end, at times.  And, their semifinal on Friday is against a team that completely shut them down on Feb 15, when EMU beat the Rockets 65-44.  Toledo got them back on Saturday, to close out the regular season, but that 44-point is 18 points fewer than what they have scored in any other game this season.  Toledo was probably the favorite to win this tournament going in, but it won’t be easy, even against a 6-seed that wasn’t supposed to be here.  EMU upset Buffalo Thursday night, 69-64.

No one has EMU winning this game.  12 people (Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Doogan, Gersh, J, Lazarow, Lohse, Scoot, Stritts, WaTers) have Toledo as their MAC champion.  GrossJr, GrossSr, Stri, and Stumpf have Toledo winning here, but losing in the finals.  The other 9 have already lost this game.

Toledo 59 – Eastern Michigan 54

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 12 points each)

#4 Akron vs #5 Ohio
These blood rivals will face off in the semis both with a real shot to take this tournament.  Akron has been in the MAC championship for something like 6 years in a row (don’t quote me on that, but it’s been a lot), so they are used to winning big games when they need to.  Ohio – the second-best program in the MAC in recent years – is usually their foil in the title game.  This time they square off in the quarters.  Ohio is led this year by two guys that were key bench contributors to their multiple tournament runs under John Groce and two guys who definitely make the All-Name Team – Demetrius Treadwell and Quincy Diggs.  If they can get help from others, those two dynamic players can take over games.  They will have to face the dynamic twosome at Ohio of Nick Kellogg and Maurice Ndour.  Akron got to sit and watch the festivities, while Ohio had to first beat Ball State on campus (which they did EASILY) and then come here and beat Miami (OH) in the second round.  The Bobcats have earned this matchup and are hungry for it.  This should be real good.  #1 Western Michigan awaits the winner of this on in the semifinals.

Despite the double-bye to get here, only 9 people (Alexi, Bry, Dave, Gersh, J, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot) have Akron winning this one.  Becks and GrossJr have already lost this game with Kent State, but the other 14 all have Ohio in a minor upset.  Dave and Scoot are the only two that have either team going to the finals – they both have Akron there.  Surprisingly, this game isn’t risking anyone’s champion.

Akron 83 – Western Michigan 77

#3 Buffalo vs #6 Eastern Michigan
The hottest team in the MAC entering the tournament is the Buffalo Bulls.  They finally reached expectations by playing incredibly well down the stretch, earning themselves a bye to the quarters as the 3-seed.  Buffalo goes as their all-everything stud big man Javon McCrea goes.  The MAC Player of the Year is averaging an astonishing 19 points, 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and almost 2 steals per game.  Those numbers are off the charts.  The task of stopping him here goes to, well, the whole EMU team.  The Eagles got here by way of an easy win at home over Central Michigan and a hard-fought win here in Cleveland over Northern Illinois.  Now, they have to figure out a way to stop McCrea in order to get a shot at #2 Toledo, who awaits the winner here in the semis on Friday.

Becks and Stumpf are the only two with EMU winning here.  GrossSr has already lost this game with NIU.  The other 22 all have Buffalo here, including 7 people (Alexi, Colton, Dave, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, Teddy) that have the Bulls winning this tournament.

Eastern Michigan 69 – Buffalo 64

SECOND ROUND (March 12th – 6 points each)

#5 Ohio vs #8 Miami (OH)
After a day off after the on-campus games, the MAC tournament picks up in Cleveland with the 4 winners from Monday joining the top 4 from the regular season.  Ohio, who cruised past Ball State on Monday starts the festivities against Miami (OH), who eliminated Kent State.  These two teams played two close games that were both won by Ohio, including just last Saturday in a game that went to OT.  The winner here will take on #4 Akron in the quarters on Thursday.

J is the only one that has Miami (OH) here.  A Redhawk win, though, could really bust some brackets, as 14 people (Caleb, Chris, Colton, Doogan, GrossSr, Lazarow, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Stri, Stritts, Stumpf, Teddy, WaTers) have Ohio going to the semifinals.

Ohio 63 – Miami (OH) 55
A game that was close the entire way only became an 8-point margin in the final seconds.  This game was up for grabs with even a minute to go.  Nick Kellogg went for 20-7-4 and 2 steals as Ohio survives to get themselves to a grudge match against arch-rival Akron in the quarters on Thursday.

J just misses what would have been a huge solo upset pick here.  14 people keep alive a semifinalist with the Bobcats.

#6 Eastern Michigan vs #7 Northern Illinois
Eastern Michigan took care of rival Central Michigan on Monday, while NIU survived an UGLY OT game against Bowling Green.  Now, the two face off for the right to play red-hot Buffalo in the quarters.

This could be a big swing game in the CTC.  5 people (Colton, Lazarow, Mac, RDoc, WaTers) have already lost this game with either BG or CMich.  The other 20 have something to play for here and some even further.  8 people (Chris, Dave, GrossJr, GrossSr, J, PapaCim, Stritts, Teddy) have NIU here.  GrossSr has them going on to beat Buffalo.  The other 12 all have EMU here, with Becks and Stumpf picking them to beat Buffalo in the quarters.

Eastern Michigan 53 – Northern Illinois 48
Ugly is just how NIU likes it, but they couldn’t hold on to a late lead, as they will head home with their heads held high knowing that they are building.  EMU has higher aspirations.  This Eagles team is good enough to play spoiler here, and they will get that chance as early as Thursday when they take on #3 Buffalo.

8 people missed the mild upset pick here, including GrossSr, who lost a semifinalist here.  12 people got this one right, including Becks and Stumpf, who keep alive a shot at an upset in the quarters.

FIRST ROUND (March 10th – 3 points each)

#5 Ohio vs #12 Ball State
Stud point guard D.J. Cooper is off to the Greek professional league, so you had to know that Ohio was going to take a step backwards, which they did, but it wasn’t that big of a step for two reasons.  The first is not so surprising, and that’s the emergence of Nick Kellogg as the go-to guy in the backcourt.  Kellogg was a terrific second-banana to Cooper, but he has stepped up nicely to be The Guy for the Bobcats.  The very surprising reason is the explosion of JUCO transfer Maurice Ndour.  Ndour, one of the best athletes you will see anywhere, isn’t exactly your typical JUCO transfer.  From being born in Senegal to attending high school in Japan to a JUCO in the Bronx, Ndour, who speaks five languages, has an incredibly unique backstory to go along with his incredibly unique athletic gifts.  At 6’9″, 203 pounds, Ndour does a little bit of everything on the court and is one of the toughest matchups in the MAC.  Kellogg and Ndour don’t have much help, but they probably won’t need it against a really bad Ball State team at home (though they do have a guy named Majok Major, who is as good at basketball as his name is awesome), playing for the right to join the rest of the league in Cleveland when the real tournament begins on Wednesday.

No one has Ball State here, while a slew of people have Ohio going all the way to the semis.  A Ball State win here would bust quite a few brackets.

Ohio 76 – Ball State 64
The Bobcats jumped out to a 28-8 lead early and never trailed all game, beating up on a bad Ball State team that never really had a chance.

Everyone got this one right.

#6 Eastern Michigan vs #11 Central Michigan
It’s not often that a team that returns 4 starters from the previous season can credit a solid season to the only new guy in the starting lineup, particularly when that new guy is a redshirt freshman.  But, that is the case for EMU, who had a really nice bounce-back season after a poor 2012-13, as they leaned heavily on freshman SG Ray Lee.  Lee – the best recruit to EMU in a long time, missed all but 8 games last year after breaking his foot.  He was granted a medical redshirt and has come this year ready to play.  Lee along with stud PF Karrington Ward make EMU a potential sleeper in this wide open MAC tournament.  To get to Cleveland, however, the Eagles will have to take care of their in-state rivals, the Central Michigan Chippewas.  Keno Davis is building for the future, which is a good thing because the present isn’t very good outside of super-sophomore PG Chris Fowler (no, not that Chris Fowler).

Colton, RDoc, Stritts, and WaTers all went for a really solid upset here.  WaTers has the Chippewas winning again next round.  Becks and Stumpf has the most on the line with EMU, as they both have the Eagles beating Buffalo in the quarters before losing in the semis.

Eastern Michigan 72 – Central Michigan 60
Karrington Ward had 20 & 8 for an EMU team that had control of this game through and won going away.  Thus ends a disappointing season for a young Chippewa team that did find some things to build upon.

4 people missed a nice upset pick here, including WaTers, who lost two games with CMU.  Becks and Stumpf keep alive a semifinalist.

#7 Northern Illinois vs #10 Bowling Green
Finally, some optimism can be called for on the hardcourts at NIU.  Former Michigan State point guard and Tom Izzo assistant, Mark Montgomery finally seems to have this program going in the right direction.  Not only did they finish 8-10 in conference to earn a home game in the tournament, but they are very young (including outstanding freshman Aaric Armstead).  I have always thought that this program, with their facilities and proximity to Chicago, could be a sleeping giant in the MAC, but it just never materialized.  This year looks like a step in the right direction.  They could be tested to get to Cleveland, though, as Bowling Green comes in reeling with 5 losses in the past 6 games, but they were all to the conference’s top teams.  This is an interesting matchup with the winner to go to Cleveland to face the winner of the EMU-CMU game.

11 people (Becks, Bry, Colton, Lazarow, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) have Bowling Green in the upset here.  Colton, Mac, and RDoc have them winning again next round.  GrossSr has the most to lose with NIU, as he has them all the way to the semis.  7 others (Chris, Dave, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Stritts, Teddy) have them reaching the quarters before losing to Buffalo.

Northern Illinois 54 – Bowling Green 51 (OT)
It took these great offenses in a thrilling game an extra 5 minutes to get to 105 points combined, but NIU hangs on at home, despite a ridiculous three at the buzzer by Jehvon Clarke to send the game to overtime.  It is hard to qualify it as madness, though, when a buzzer-beating three ties the game at 49.  An ugly overtime period went the way of the Huskies and they move on to Cleveland for the first time in a long time and will take on 6th-seeded Eastern Michigan on Wednesday.

11 people missed the upset here, including Colton, Mac, and RDoc, who lose a pair of game here.  GrossSr keeps alive a semifinalist, while 7 others keep alive a quarterfinalist.

#8 Miami (OH) vs #9 Kent State
What in the world happened to Kent State this year?  They were supposed to be right there in the thick of this conference race, but they just couldn’t get out of their own way.  Close losses and head-scratching no-shows paved the way towards being the most disappointing team in the MAC.  They have a shot at redemption here, but it will have to be on the road against, albeit, a highly-beatable Miami team, who just so happened to sweep the Golden Flashes in two close games this year.  The winner of this game as a Cleveland date with the Ohio-Ball State winner.

Only 10 people (Colton, J, Lazarow, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, Scoot, Stritts, Teddy, WaTers) went with the home team here with J the only one to have the Redhawks winning again next round.  Alexi, Becks, Gersh, GrossJr, and PapaCim have Kent State going to the quarters.  Becks and GrossJr went a step further and has them beating Akron in the quarters before losing to Western Michigan in the semis.

Miami (OH) 71 – Kent State 64
And the disappointing 2013-14 season for Kent State is officially over.  A back-and-forth game throughout the first half was opened up by the home team to start the second half and they held on down the stretch.  17 turnovers doomed the Golden Flashes.  Miami moves on to Cleveland to try and take down #5 Ohio.

Only 10 people got this one right here.  J keeps alive a quarterfinalist.  There was some minor bracket-busting here with the Kent loss, as Becks and GrossJr lost a semifinalist and 3 others lost a quarterfinalist.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Western Michigan (6) – GrossJr, GrossSr, Lynch, Primm, Stri, Stumpf
• #2 Toledo (12)
• #3 Buffalo (7) – Alexi, Colton, Dave, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, Teddy

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #11 Central Michigan (Colton, RDoc, Stritts, WaTers)
• R2 –  #11 Central Michigan (WaTers)
• QF – #9 Kent State (Becks, GrossJr)
• SF – #4 Akron (Dave, Scoot)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Doogan
• 2009 – Doogan
• 2010 – Teddy (perfect)
• 2011 – Doogan, J
• 2012 – Mac
• 2013 – J

2014 Scores

This year in the Big Sky was actually incredibly fascinating.  At one point during the season, 2nd place and 10th place were separated by a single game.  It turned out that a 10-10 Eastern Washington team (who could have been a live sleeper) missed the tournament by finishing 8th.  Also out are 9-11 Montana State and 8-12 Idaho State – both of whom could easily have risen up and knocked someone off).  Also missing is – literally – the WORST team in the country, Southern Utah.  One of the big stories this year is what happened to Montana.  I’m not sure, but they sure weren’t themselves.  It should be interesting to see if they show up here in the tournament.

Well, the majority of the field (16) like Weber to win this tournament on their home floor.  However, in amazing CTC craziness, the other 9 picks are spread out among nearly the entire rest of the field.  With the exception of #7 Sacramento State, every other team is represented with a championship pick.  That’s fantastic.  Needless to say, there are plenty of upset/sleeper picks here.  Perfection is the key in the Big Sky, as it has been 5 years since anyone has missed any game in the tournament and still won the crown.  Primm and Scoot shared the title last year.  Bry has actually won this tournament 3 times.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 24 points)

#1 Weber State vs #2 North Dakota
In a conference that was all over the map all year, we get a chalky final here with the top 2 seeds battling for the auto-bid.  It wasn’t easy for the top seed and tournament hosts, Weber, though, as they took care of a Northern Colorado team that may have been the most talented team in the Big Sky this year, but just didn’t have the consistency in the regular season and, therefore, had to play a road game in the semis.  Now, North Dakota has that same task.  And, judging by their performance on Friday, they may be up for it.  UND hammered a good Portland State team to get here.  Weber won both regular season matchups by a dozen points.

Lynch and Scoot are all alone on North Dakota here.  16 people (Alexi, Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Colton, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, GrossSr, PapaCim, RDoc, Stri, Stritts, Teddy, WaTers) have Weber here.  Becks, RDoc, and Stri will complete perfect Big Sky brackets if Weber wins here.  Scoot will steal the outright Big Sky title with a North Dakota win.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 16 points each)

#2 North Dakota vs #5 Portland State
North Dakota survived a really tight game with #7 Sac State, while Portland State took out perennial juggernaut Montana, setting up a somewhat unlikely Big Sky semifinal.

Dave, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have Portland State here in a nice upset pick, with Lohse has them winning it all.  8 people (Becks, Colton, Lynch, Primm, RDoc, Scoot, Stri, Stritts) have North Dakota winning here, with Lynch and Scoot taking them to win it all.

North Dakota 79 – Portland State 63

#1 Weber State vs #6 Northern Colorado
The big development with the terrible season in Missoula, MT, is that Weber State is all alone at the top of the Big Sky.  Usually, those two teams battle each other for the top spot, but this year it was all Weber.  That is not saying that this Weber team is all that special (though senior star Devion Berry sure is), and they certainly can be beaten, particularly by a talented UNC team that hasn’t been playing up to their potential lately.  They did survive a furious comeback by Northern Arizona in the quarters.  The winner of this game will be a strong favorite in the championship.  Weber State earned the right to host this game, so they have to be given the edge in this one.

Caleb, Lazarow, PapaCim, and Primm all have UNC winning here with Lazarow and Primm taking them to win it all.  Everyone except Lazarow, Lynch, and Primm have Weber State going to the finals.  This means that Caleb and PapaCim both have Weber and UNC playing each other in the finals, so they will win this game regardless and lose the other semifinal.

Weber State 66 – Northern Colorado 63 (OT)

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 8 points each)

#2 North Dakota vs #7 Sacramento State
North Dakota had a really nice season and was rewarded with the 2nd-seed in the tournament and a real shot to win this thing.  UND actually beat NDSU in the battle for North Dakota earlier this year, then they finished 12-8 in conference.  They are senior-laden and well-coached.  They will open the tournament with a Sacramento State team that is not used to important basketball games, as the program just isn’t very accomplished.

7 people (Bry, Caleb, Doogan, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Teddy) have Sac State in the upset here, though none of them have them going any further.  Lynch and Scoot put their champ at risk here, while Becks, Colton, Primm, RDoc, and Stritts put a finalist at risk.

North Dakota 79 – Sacramento State 76

#3 Northern Arizona vs #6 Northern Colorado
When UNC beat Weber State on Jan 9, it looked like UNC might be the best team in this conference.  But, two separate 4-game losing streaks ended that talk.  Now, they have new life and a shot to get this done in the tournament.  They open with a Northern Arizona team that has been solid all year long.

Only 7 people (Colton, Doogan, GrossSr, Lynch, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) have the higher-seeded UNA Lumberjacks.  The other 18 all have UNC in the upset.  Someone is going to lose a champ here, as Stumpf has UNA winning this tournament, while Lazarow and Primm both have #6 UNC.  Doogan, GrossSr, and WaTers all have UNA losing in the finals.  Caleb and PapaCim have UNC losing in the finals.  This is a pretty big swing game in the Big Sky.

Northern Colorado 62 – Northern Arizona 60

#4 Montana vs #5 Portland State
Will Cherry is gone for the Grizzlies, but Kareem Jamar (one of the best two-name names ever) is still there and Wayne Tinkle can flat-out coach.  There is no reason for this team to have struggled so mightily over the course of the season, but all is erased now, and they can salvage their season with a good weekend here.  They start with a Portland State team that is up-and-coming, but probably a year away.

11 people (Becks, Caleb, Dave, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Scoot, Stri, Stumpf, Teddy) have Portland State in the minor upset here.  Dave, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy have them going to the finals.  Lohse has them winning it.  Gersh, J, and Mac all have Montana winning this tournament.  Alexi, Bry, Chris, GrossJr, and Lazarow have the Grizz losing in the finals.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Weber State (16)
• #2 North Dakota (2) – Lynch, Scoot
• #3 Northern Arizona (1) – Stumpf
• #4 Montana (3) – Gersh, J, Mac
• #5 Portland State (1) – Lohse
• #6 Northern Colorado (2) – Lazarow, Primm

Biggest Upsets

• QF – #7 Sacramento State (Bry, Caleb, Doogan, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Teddy)
• SF – #6 Northern Colorado (Caleb, Lazarow, PapaCim, Primm)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Bry
• 2009 – J
• 2010 – Lohse (perfect)
• 2011 – Bry (perfect)
• 2012 – Bry, Lynch, Rikey, RDoc (perfect)
• 2013 – Primm, Scoot (perfect)

2014 Scores

A surprisingly interesting season in the Southland concludes with an 8-team tournament for a 14-team league.  It is probably best that they limited it to 8 because no one really enjoys watching Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, or Lamar play basketball, and these three didn’t make it because of merit.  Abilene Christian is also terrible, but didn’t make it because of D-I transition.  The interesting part is that a couple teams in this tournament could be replaced by either New Orleans or Incarnate Word and the field would be improved – particularly IW, who was actually pretty good, despite playing a noncon slate consisting entirely of NAIA and D-II teams.  But, that doesn’t matter.  What matters is that at the top of this league, there is some real intrigue.  Stephen F. Austin – picked for 3rd in the league – absolutely and completely dominated this league start to finish.  The Lumberjacks finished 18-0 in league play and 29-2 overall (one of the 2 losses was a close loss at Texas) and received one of the two double-byes to the semis.  The other one went to a shocking Texas A&M – Corpus Christi team.  The Islanders were picked 11th in this league and finished 2nd, which relegated solid teams Sam Houston State and preseason favorite Northwestern State to the single bye 3- and 4- seeds.  It also sent Oral Roberts (picked 2nd in the league) into the first round.  So, there are 4 really solid teams in this league and one of them is in the first round, two of them have single-byes, and the other one is 18-0.  It makes for an interesting tournament, though.

Considering they went undefeated in conference play and utterly dominated the season, it is a bit surprising that only 19 picked SFA to win this tournament.  3 had TxAM-CC, 2 had Sam Houston, 1 had Northwestern State, and 1 had McNeese State.  J and PapaCim are coming off perfect Southland brackets a year ago, so they are trying to defend their titles.  There are 11 different people (all competing again this year) that have won at least a share of a Southland title, but no one has won it twice.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 24 points)

#1 Stephen F. Austin vs #3 Sam Houston State
Since before the new year, it seemed as if these two teams were on a collision course for this very day.  SFA dominated the conference all year and shook off some rust to take care of a very good NW State team in the semis.  Sam Houston, who gave away the 2-seed late in the season, was forced to beat a good Oral Roberts team in the quarters and then 2-seed TxAM-CC in the semis.  Now, it’s 40 minutes for the Southland title.  Any team thinking they might be about a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament should be rooting hard for Sam Houston here because they do not want to see a 30-win Lumberjack team.

Lynch and Stumpf are the only two with Sam Houston here.  Colton, GrossSr, Lohse, and Mac have already lost this game.  The other 19 all have SFA.  Alexi and Gersh are a SFA win away from a perfect SL bracket.  Lynch will sneak up and steal the SL title if SHSU wins here.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 16 points)

#1 Stephen F. Austin vs #4 Northwestern State
The Lumberjacks of Stephen F*cking Austin were f*cking amazing this year.  Let’s quickly look inside the numbers on this amazing season.  They are 3rd in the nation in forcing turnovers.  Not unrelated, they allow the 2nd shortest possessions in the country.  And, they are the 10th best offensive rebounding team in the country.  All of this combines for a ridiculous 29-2 with only losses at Texas and East Tennessee State.

Lohse is the only one with NW State here, as he has them winning the whole tournament.  GrossSr has already lost this game with Nicholls State.  The other 23 all have SFA, including 18 of them that have the Lumberjacks scaring the crap out of someone in the Big Dance.

Stephen F. Austin 85 – Northwestern State 78

#2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs #3 Sam Houston State
Sam Houston really wanted the 2-seed to get the bye, but TxAM-CC snuck up and stole it.  But, now they get to play it all out on the court after Sam Houston’s win over Oral Roberts.  Corpus Christi had a very bizarre season.  They were absolutely dreadful in the noncon, going 2-10 against a schedule that was kind of tough, but not crazy tough.  Then, as soon as they got into conference play, they started to play like gangbusters.  They won 6 of their first 7 with the only loss a close loss at SFA.  Then, they seemed to return to form, losing 3 out of 4.   But, they then finished the season with 7 straight wins. Now, they enter the tournament with a bye to the semis and are two wins away from Dancing.

Only 9 people (Caleb, Colton, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, Mac, PapaCim, RDoc, WaTers) have TxAA-CC, despite them having a bye to this point.  Colton, GrossJr, and Mac all have the Islanders winning this tournament.  Bry, Chris, and Lohse all had ORU here; GrossSr had McNeese.  So, they have all already lost this one. The other 12 all have Sam Houston in the minor upset pick.  Lynch and Stumpf have SHSU winning this tournament.

Sam Houston State 69 – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 63

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 8 points each)

#4 Northwestern State vs #5 Nicholls State
Northwestern State – the FASTEST team in the nation – was picked to win the Southland Conference in the preseason, but they struggled to stop people, particularly on the defensive glass and were undone by some bad losses.  Smoke and mirrors Nicholls State pulled off another trick on Wednesday, beating SELa to set up this quarterfinal.  The show has to end here, right?  The winner here gets undefeated Stephen F. Austin in the semis.

Dave, GrossSr, Lynch, Scoot, and Stumpf all have Nicholls here, including GrossSr, who has them winning the whole thing.  Everyone else has NW State, including Lohse, who is the only one that has them in the finals – and he has them winning it all.

Northwestern State 88 – Nicholls State 72

#3 Sam Houston State vs #6 Oral Roberts
Sam Houston State was in position for a double-bye all year, but blew it down the stretch and gave it up to an upstart Texas A&M-CC team.  Now, they have to play Oral just for the right to face Corpus Christi, who awaits the winner in the semis.

7 people (Bry, Caleb, Chris, Lazarow, Lohse, RDoc, WaTers) have Oral Roberts here, with Bry, Chris, and Lohse taking them to reach the finals.  GrossSr has already lost with McNeese State.  The other 17 all have SHSU here, including 12 that have them in the finals and 2 (Lynch and Stumpf) that have them winning it all.

Sam Houston State 70 – Oral Roberts 61

OPENING ROUND (March 12th – 4 points each)

#5 Nicholls State vs #8 SE Louisiana
Nicholls won 10 conference games through absolute smoke and mirrors.  I have no idea how they did it, but they did.  It is a very hollow 10-8 conference record and, therefore, a pretty hollow 5-seed.  That being said, SELa isn’t that much, uh, unhollower (I have no idea what that word would be there).  Always tantalizing on paper, the Lions never seem to live up to anything, and this year was no different.  The winner of this game will take on preseason favorite and 4th-seeded Northwestern State.

11 people (Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Doogan, Grossjr, J, RDoc, Stri, Stritts, Teddy) have SELa here in the upset.  Dave, GrossSr, Lynch, Scoot, and Stumpf all have Nicholls winning on Wednesday and again on Thursday.  GrossSr did them two better by taking Nicholls to win the whole thing.  In fact, this one game on Wednesday is the only favorite that GrossSr picked all tournament.

Nicholls State 71 – SE Louisiana 64
Some guy named Dantrell Thomas scored 27, as Nicholls State’s smoke-and-mirrors season continues for at least one more game.  SELa has – as usual – another disappointing season.  Nicholls gets to play #4 Northwestern State in Thursday’s quarterfinal.

11 people miss the upset pick here, and brackets are kept from busting.  Dave, Lynch, Scoot and Stumpf keep alive a semifinalist.  GrossSr keeps alive his huge upset of a champion pick.

#6 Oral Roberts vs #7 McNeese State
Oral Roberts’ two-year foray into the Southland is over this year and they are returning to the Summit.  They have the talent to make one final run here, but their regular season was so up and down, that they are hard to trust.  They take on a very beatable McNeese State team that will sneak up and take someone out on occasion, so they better be careful.  The winner here will take on #3 Sam Houston State in the quarters on Friday.

10 people (Colton, Dave, GrossSr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, Stri, Stumpf, Teddy) have McNeese in the mild upset here.  GrossSr did them two better, taking McNeese to go to the finals (before losing to Nicholls State).  Bry, Chris, and Lohse have the most at stake with ORU, as they all have them going to the finals.  Caleb, Lazarow, RDoc, and WaTers have a lot at stake also, as they have them in the semis.

Oral Roberts 66 – McNeese State 62
ORU had a much tougher time than they may have thought, but they survive and their stay in the Southland will last at least one more day.  Oral gets a tough Sam Houston State team in a pretty interesting quarterfinal on Thursday.

10 people miss out on the upset pick here, including GrossSr, who lost a finalist.  Bry, Chris, and Lohse keep alive a finalist.  Caleb, Lazarow, RDoc, and WaTers keep alive a semifinalist.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Stephen F. Austin (18)
• #2 Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (3) – Colton, GrossJr, Mac
• #3 Sam Houston State (2) – Lynch, Stumpf
• #4 Northwestern State (1) – Lohse
• #5 Nicholls State (1) – GrossSr

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #8 SE Louisiana (many)
• QF – #7 McNeese State (GrossSr)
• SF – #7 McNeese State (GrossSr)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Bry
• 2009 – Waters
• 2010 – Alexi, Lynch, Stri, Teddy
• 2011 – Dave
• 2012 – Lohse, Scoot
• 2013 – J, PapaCim (perfect)

2014 Scores

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

I feel like I use this post every year as a platform to go off about all the things I don’t like about the MEAC.  And, I guess this year will be no different.  And, this, from a guy that loves non-major basketball.  But, the MEAC just doesn’t seem to get it.  Ya, I know that it is a conference of very small athletic-budgeted schools.  And, I know that it is an outstanding conference, academically, boasting some of the ultimate HBCs in the nation in Howard, Morgan, Coppin, Hampton, FAMU, etc.  But, from strictly a basketball perspective, it’s pretty awful.  The quality of play is one thing – rather poor – but it’s more the conference structure that bothers me so much.  I know that conferences are getting too big and spread out around the country to stick with the pure double-round-robin format, so we are going to get unbalanced schedules all over the place.  But, the MEAC always takes it to a new level.  What is the actual essence of a conference?  In other words, what does it mean to be in the same conference as another school?  Breaking it down to its simplest level, it just means that you are going to play that school in sporting events.  Well, not in the MEAC!  There are teams in the MEAC together that did not play each other all year – not even once.  How is that possible?  How is that a conference?  I know it seems nitpicky, but last year was the last straw for me on this one when it looked like Norfolk State and Savannah State were BOTH going to go undefeated in conference because they were both very good and didn’t play each other at all.  It turned out that Savannah State did drop a game, but still.  The two never played.  And, it’s not like they are all that far apart.  It’s not like Coppin State didn’t go all the way to Florida A&M.  Savannah State and Norfolk State are probably a long bus ride away.  If you can’t figure this out, then why are you still a D-I conference?  I’m sorry, I don’t want to be this way, especially about a conference that is so heavily rooted in the city in which I live, but come on, people, figure it out.  Sorry…rant over…for 2014.  All in all, the MEAC this season was a tale of one team that is way too good for a conference this bad, and that was N.C. Central.  Any other year and the battle between Hampton, Morgan, and Norfolk would have been great MEAC theater, but this year it was just for “distant second.”  NCC is actually in KenPom’s top 100, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a MEAC team even in the top 200 before.

The domination of N.C. Central leads to 20 of the 25 CTC entries taking them to win this tournament.  4 took #3 Morgan State and 2 more took #4 Norfolk State.  No one thinks that #2 Hampton will win it.  A couple people have 11th-seeded Delaware State pulling off multiple upsets, while one person has #6 FAMU reaching the finals.  Our defending MEAC champion, Alex, took his trophy and ran, leaving this title vacant for this year.  No one has ever won this league twice, but Alexi, Lynch, Bry, Doogan, and Dave will try to win their second this year.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 12 points)

#1 North Carolina Central vs #3 Morgan State
NC Central has lived up to the hype in the MEAC tournament, as after dominating the regular season, they have similarly dominated the tournament, beating Howard by 46 and then the Norfolk (on their floor) by 23.  Now, they have one more to take care of before scaring the hell out of a high-major coach trying to gameplan for them.  The last step for Central is Morgan State – the former kings of the MEAC.  Morgan pummeled cross-town rival, Coppin State on Friday to reach the finals.

Dave, GrossSr, Scoot, and WaTers all have Morgan here.  Lazarow and Stumpf have already lost this game.  The other 19 all have NCC here, looking for the 12-point reward.  An NCC win here will give Teddy his first ever MEAC title.  If Morgan wins, Scoot will take home the 2014 MEAC crown.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 8 points each)

#3 Morgan State vs #7 Coppin State
Two blood rivals from Charm City will take to the court in Norfolk for a chance to play for the MEAC championship.  Morgan got here by was of a relatively easy 13-point win over FAMU on Thursday.  Coppin had to hold on against Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday and come back the next night for an upset win over a really good Hampton team.  Now, they get to settle their differences on the court.

No one has Coppin here, but 13 (Alexi, Becks, Caleb, Colton, Dave, GrossSr, Lynch, PapaCim, RDoc, Scoot, Stumpf, Teddy, WaTers) have Morgan to win this game.  Dave, GrossSr, Scoot, and WaTers have the Bears to cut down the nets on Saturday.

Morgan State 79 – Coppin State 64

#1 North Carolina Central vs #4 Norfolk State
NC Central looked like almost a lock to win this tournament coming in and only cemented that belief with a 92-46 whitewash of Howard on Wednesday night.  But, if there was a team that could give them a game, it would be this Norfolk team, mainly because they are hosting the tournament.  Then again, it is not like they have been all that spectacular.  They struggled to beat a bad UMES team on Monday and then took care of an offensively-challenged Savannah State team three days later.  But, this might be the biggest test for the NCC Eagles.  I expect them to pass with flying colors.

Dave, Lazarow, and Stumpf all have Norfolk here, with the latter two taking the Spartans to win the title.  GrossSr has already lost this game with Savannah State.  The other 21 all have NCC, including 19 of whom picking the Eagles to take this tournament.

North Carolina Central 68 – Norfolk State 45

QUARTEFINALS (con’t – March 13th – 4 points each)

#3 Morgan State vs #6 Florida A&M
Morgan State had a decent year and earned the first-round bye.  They aren’t the dominant versions that Morgan used to throw out there, but they are every bit as good as anyone in this league not named NC Central.  FAMU gets here by way of a 4-point win over Delaware State on Tuesday night.  The winner here will play #7 Coppin State, who upset Hampton on Wednesday night, in the semis.  If it’s Morgan-Coppin, Charm City will be rockin’.

GrossJr, Lohse, and Mac all have FAMU in a nice upset here.  Lohse has the Rattlers in the finals.  Bry, Lazarow, Stri, and Stritts have already lost this game with Del State.  The other 18 all have Morgan, including Dave, GrossSr, Scoot, and WaTers, who all have them winning it all.  A slew of people have the Bears in the finals.

Morgan State 81 – Florida A&M 68

#4 Norfolk State vs #5 Savannah State
Both of these teams survived close games Tuesday night that shouldn’t have been close, though Sav State always plays close games because their defense is so good and their offense is so bad.  Norfolk squeaked by UMES by 4, while Sav State ran away at the end from SC State, winning by 14.  Now, they play for the right to face top-seeded NC Central in the semis.

Chris, Colton, GrossSr, PapaCim, and Stritts all have Sav State here.  GrossSr has the Tigers in the finals.  The other 20 all have Norfolk here, including Lazarow and Stumpf, who have them winning it all.  Dave has them in the finals, so he needs this game too.

Norfolk State 57 – Savannah State 47

QUARTERFINALS (March 12th – 4 points each)

#1 North Carolina Central vs #8 Howard
The NC Central Eagles lost to FAMU on Jan 11 and have won 14 straight games to close out the regular season as one of the more dominant teams in MEAC history.  And, they did all of this on the heels of a terrific noncon, which included close losses to Cincinnati, Wichita State, and Maryland and an overtime win at N.C. State.  This year’s NCC team is so much better than this bottom-feeding league, but anything can happen in one-and-done tournaments.  Howard, who eliminated the defending tournament champs, N.C. A&T on Tuesday, has a much stiffer test on Wednesday.

All 25 people have NCC here, with 19 of them taking the Eagles to win the whole thing.  The 6 that don’t (Dave, GrossSr, Lazarow, Scoot, Stumpf, WaTers) should be rooting to lose this game.

North Carolina Central 92 – Howard 48
It’s almost not fair.  Why is this team in this league?  Poor Howard…

Everyone got this one right.

#2 Hampton vs #7 Coppin State
If not for NCC, the MEAC race would have been thrilling and would have been won by what should be a pretty good MEAC team in Hampton.  But, because there is a higher-caliber team in the league this year, the Hampton season might go by without notice.  While a “good” MEAC team isn’t good, this is definitely a good MEAC team.  They take on a dangerous Coppin team that knocked off Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night.

6 people (Alexi, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Scoot, Teddy) actually have Coppin here.  Dave has already lost with Beth-Cook.  The other 18 have Hampton, including 11 that have them going to the finals.  Surprisingly, no one picked the Pirates to win this tournament.

Coppin State 73 – Hampton 67
Coppin shocks the 2nd-seeded Pirates and will now move on to the semis on Friday.  A good year for Hampton ends in rough fashion.

Alexi, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Scoot, and Teddy get a great upset here.  11 people lose a finalist here.

OPENING ROUND (con’t – March 11th – 2 points each)

#8 Howard vs #9 N.C. A&T
N.C. A&T, the defending tournament champs, who won it last year as a 7-seed, were supposed to compete for a top spot in this year’s MEAC race, but it never came together for them and they finished 5-11 in conference play and picked up the 9-seed.  They will take on a Howard team that was supposed to be really bad and yet also finished 5-11 in conference play.  The winner of this game gets to play the role of Washington Generals for N.C. Central in the quarters.

11 people (Caleb, Colton, Doogan, GrossJr, Lynch, Primm, Scoot, Stri, Stritts, Teddy, WaTers) took the Howard Bison.  The other 14 have N.C. A&T.  No one has either of these teams beating N.C. Central in the quarters.

Howard 53 – N.C. A&T 47

#7 Coppin State vs #10 Bethune-Cookman
When Coppin State went into Corvalis in November and knocked off Oregon State, the MEAC took notice.  Now, I’m not sure what happened on that day, but that Coppin team never really reappeared and the Eagles finished just 7-9 in conference play – 4 games behind any shot at a bye in the conference tournament.  They will open their tournament run against a Bethune-Cookman that started the season 0-19 against D-I opponents.  Ya, you read that right…0-19.  And, since then, they have been 5-5.  What?!?  Only in the MEAC can an 0-19 team finish the season 5-5.  Now, the alma mater of the legendary John Chaney might be considered a “sleeper.”  Again, only in the MEAC.  The winner of this game will take a shot at #2 Hampton.

A dozen people (Becks, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Dave, GrossJr, J, Lazarow, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, Stri) took BC here for the upset.  Dave even has BC beating Hampton in the quarters.  This could be a minor bracket-buster here if BC wins, as of the 13 that picked Coppin to win this game, 6 of them (Alexi, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Scoot, Teddy) picked them to go on and beat Hampton in the quarters.

Coppin State 75 – Bethune-Cookman 68

#6 Florida A&M vs #11 Delaware State
A bad FAMU team went 8-8 in conference play this year and earned themselves the 6-seed.  A thought-to-be decent Delaware State team went 5-11 and earned themselves the 11-seed.  A little piece of advice – DO NOT WATCH THIS GAME (not that you could find it televised) OR ANY GAME INVOLVING DELAWARE STATE.  They play the most boring, plodding, atrocious style of offense ever seen.  And, it’s not like UVa slow or even old Princeton slow.  It’s just slow…with no purpose other than being slow.  It’s awful.  Only in the MEAC…  The winner here moves to the quarters to take on #3 Morgan State.

As far as 6/11 opening round games in really bad 1x conferences go, this is probably as “big” of a CTC game as is possible.  Only 7 people (Colton, Grossjr, Lohse, Mac, Primm, Stumpf, Teddy) took the favored Rattles of FAMU.  But, three of them (GrossJr, Lohse, Mac) have them winning again in the quarters, and Lohse even has them reaching the finals.  Of the 18 people that went for a nice upset here, 4 of them (Bry, Lazarow, Stri, Stritts) have the Hornets winning again over Morgan in the quarters.

Florida A&M 65 – Delaware State 61

OPENING ROUND (March 10th – 2 points each)

#4 Norfolk State vs #13 MD-Eastern Shore
UMES, the perennial doormat of the MEAC, is in their familiar last-place position, but this year they actually showed a little improvement down the stretch and definitely enter the tournament playing the best ball of the year (which is saying very little).  Norfolk has not exactly built upon that shocking upset of Mizzou a couple years ago as much as you may have thought they would have.  They are still one of the better MEAC programs right now, but they should start really seeing the fruits of that exposure, and a 4th-place finish this year is kind of disappointing.  They get to face last-place UMES here in Norfolk to open the conference tournament.

No one has UMES in this big upset.  Most people have Norfolk at least reaching the semis.  Lazarow and Stumpf are the only ones that put their MEAC champion on the line in the opening round, as they both have Norfolk winning this tournament.  Dave is the only other one that has them going to the finals.

Norfolk State 78 – MD-Eastern Shore 74
What looked for a while to be a “rocking chair” game for Norfolk got really interesting at the end, as UMES erased a 23-point second-half lead to tie the game at 74.  But, they turned the ball over on the final two possessions and head home for the season, while Norfolk escapes to play another day.

Everyone got this right, including Lazarow and Stumpf, who sweated out their MEAC champs nearing blowing it.

#5 Savannah State vs #12 South Carolina State
Savannah entered full-fledged D-I status with a bang, winning the 2012 MEAC regular season and then runner-up to Norfolk in the regular season last year.  But, they have not been able to put it together in the MEAC tournament either year, so they are still chasing that first NCAA Tournament appearance.  They don’t have as much talent here in 2014, but they do probably have the deepest roster in the MEAC and get a lot of minutes out of a lot of guys – which can only help down the stretch of a grueling MEAC season when you may have to play awful to semi-awful teams twice a week…sorry.  The winner of this game plays the winner of the first game of the night in a quarterfinal on Wednesday.

6 people (Bry, Doogan, GrossJr, J, Stumpf, WaTers) took S.C. State here in a big upset, though none of them have the Bulldogs going any further.  Surprisingly, only Chris, Colton, GrossSr, and Stritts believe in the Tigers enough to have them even reaching the semis.  GrossSr has the most to lose here, as he has Savannah reaching the finals.

Savannah State 61 – South Carolina State 47
Ugh…S.C. State’s season ends on a night where they made 14 of the 53 shots they took (26%).  Savannah State, whose defense is actually very good for this level (and, it’s a good thing, too, because they have the 6th WORST offense in the nation) looked exceptional on the night.  The Tigers now see if that defense is enough to take down the tournament hosts, Norfolk, in the quarters on Wednesday.

6 people missed out on a nice upset pick here.  GrossSr keeps alive a finalist, while 3 others keep alive a semifinalist.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 North Carolina Central (19)
• #2 Hampton (0)
• #3 Morgan State (4) – Dave, GrossSr, Scoot, WaTers
• #4 Norfolk State (2) – Lazarow, Stumpf

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #12 South Carolina State (Bry, Doogan, GrossJr, J, Stumpf, WaTers)
• QF – #11 Delaware State (Stri, Stritts)
• SF – #6 Florida A&M (Lohse)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Alexi
• 2009 – Lynch
• 2010 – Bry
• 2011 – Doogan
• 2012 – Dave
• 2013 – Alex

2014 Scores

The SWAC is terrible…again.  I understand the draw of this conference and its importance to the cultural landscape of sports, but it really doesn’t belong in D-I because (a) they just can’t get quality players and (b) they can’t keep them eligible.  Again this year, 4 of the 10 teams in the conference are ineligible for postseason play because of academic reasons.  The conference got a special exception this year to allow all 10 teams to play in the tournament, though, and the conference will – GET THIS – award the auto-bid to the eligible team that went the furthest in the tournament.  Uh…WHAT?!?!?  Yep, SWAC basketball…it’s FANNNN-tastic.  By the way, the ineligible teams are the two last-place teams in MVSU and Grambling, the 4th-place team ARPB, and, yep, you guessed it, first-place and regular season dominant, Southern.  Reminiscent of last year when the dominant team all year was Texas-Southern and yet they were ineligible for postseason play.  Awesome.

21 of the 25 have one of the top 2 seeds winning this tournament, with Southern getting 13 picks and Tx-Southern getting 8.  Jackson State and Alcorn State are a couple of sleeper picks.  GrossJr and Teddy both went perfect in the SWAC in 2013 and are trying to defend their titles.  It was Teddy’s second SWAC championship – the only one with more than one.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 12 points)

#2 Texas-Southern vs #8 Prairie View A&M
The Annual First Four Play-In game pits Texas-Southern and Prairie View.  TSU has, expectedly, waltzed through the bottom half of the bracket, including a 12-point win over a decent Alabama State team in the semis on Friday.  PVAM has won three straight to get here – crushing two prideless teams in MVSU and Southern before tackling Alabama A&M in Friday’s semifinal.  The winner here is undoubtedly headed for Dayton’s First Four.

No one has PVAM here, but 9 people have TSU (Alexi, Becks, Colton, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Stri, Stritts, Teddy).  Colton will win the SWAC outright if the Tigers win this game.  He will have to share the title with Bry if Prairie View pulls off another upset.

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 8 points each)

#2 Texas-Southern vs #3 Alabama State
Well, at least now we have done away with all the teams with nothing to play for and we are left with a 4-team tournament for the auto-bid.  Texas-Southern, who wiped out Grambling on Wednesday, had a day to rest coming into this semi against a decent Alabama State team that took care of Alcorn State with ease.  The winner of this game will  be somewhat big favorites in the championship.

This is as big as it gets in the awful SWAC.  PapaCim has already lost this game with Alcorn State.  The other 24 are perfectly split down the middle on either side of this one.  9 people (Alexi, Becks, Colton, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Stri, Stritts, Teddy) have Texas-Southern winning this tournament.  Bry, Chris, and WaTers have them going to the finals, but losing there.  Of the other 12 that have Alabama State, only Lazarow, Lynch, and Stumpf have them winning it all.

Texas-Southern 73 – Alabama State 61

#5 Alabama A&M vs #8 Prairie View A&M
PVAM was the benefactor of Southern’s embarrassing rollover performance on Wednesday, while Bama A&M took care of another team with nothing to play for, ARPB.  Now, these two play for a game on ESPN.

Dave and Lazarow are the only two with a chance to gain any points here, as they both have AAM in the finals.  No one has either of these teams winning the tournament.

Prairie View A&M 55 – Alabama A&M 49

QUARTEFINALS (con’t – March 13th – 4 points each)

#3 Alabama State vs #6 Alcorn State
Both of these teams are at least eligible for postseason play, so that’s good.  The winner will take on #2 Texas-Southern in the semis.

8 people (Becks, Bry, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, PapaCim, Stri, WaTers) have the decent upset of Alcorn here.  PapaCim has them going to the finals.  Alabama State has the potential to bust some brackets in this one, though.  Lazarow, Lynch, and Stumpf all  have them winning this tournament.  9 others (Caleb, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lohse, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Scoot) all have them going to the finals, but losing.

Alabama State 64 – Alcorn State 51

#4 AR-Pine Bluff vs #5 Alabama A&M
If UAPB is anything like Southern or MVSU, they will roll over and give up because they have no chance at the NCAA tournament.  ‘Bama A&M does, so maybe they’ll get to roll through as if there were byes…oh wait, that’s how they were going to do it before giving these teams a chance to play for pride.  The winner will take on the 8th-seeded Prairie View team that benefitted from Southern’s lack of any personal pride on Wednesday night

This is a total CTC toss-up game, as 13 have the underdog A&M, while 12 (Becks, Caleb, Chris, Colton, Gersh, GrossJr, J, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, Stri) have UAPB.  There are some future-round ramifications here, too, as Mac has UAPB winning this tournament.  Becks, GrossJr, Lynch, and Stri has UAPB reaching the finals.  Dave and Lazarow both put a finalist at risk here with A&M.

Alabama A&M 69 – AR-Pine Bluff 50

QUARTERFINALS (March 12th – 4 points each)

#2 Texas-Southern vs #10 Grambling State
Texas-Southern was supposed to dominate this league, particularly with Aaric Murray (LaSalle transfer) in the fold.  But, they were uneven and inconsistent.  They started playing their best ball late, but didn’t come close to catching Southern, who ran away with it.  But, the NCAA has upheld their ruling of making Southern ineligible, so Texas-Southern is really just playing a 4-team tournament hoping Southern makes the finals.  If so, the other finalist would get the auto-bid regardless of the championship result.  Game one of this mini-tournament will be against a Grambling team that is actually showing life and knocked off Jackson State on Tuesday.

6 people (J, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, Primm, RDoc) have already lost this game with JSU.  The other 19 all have Tx-S here, including 9 people (Alexi, Becks, Colton, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Stri, Stritts, Teddy) that have TSU winning this tournament.

Texas-Southern 79 – Grambling State 54
TSU has no trouble with Grambling, as they roll into the semis.

19 people got this one right, including 9 that have the Tigers taking this tournament.

#1 Southern vs #8 Prairie View A&M
Southern was dominant in the SWAC this year, but it doesn’t matter because they will not be playing in the NCAA tournament because of academic issues.  That impact could go two ways.  It could make them less hungry because there isn’t that carrot at the end or it could make them hungrier because this is now their real finale for 2014.  The first time we get to see any signs of which one will be in Wednesday’s quarterfinal against a PV team that knocked off Miss Valley State, who is also ineligible.

All 25 people have Southern here with most of the field taking them to win this tournament.

Prairie View A&M 64 – Southern 46
Wow, talk about a total lack of any personal pride.  The Southern Jaguars – who are head and shoulders better than anyone in this league, particularly PVAM – found out a couple days ago that they weren’t going to be eligible for the NCAA tournament and so they just flat-out didn’t show up.  PVAM is still alive here and is one of the few eligible teams in this tournament.

All 25 people lost this game, including a ton of people who had them winning this tournament.

OPENING ROUND (March 11th – 2 points each)

#8 Prairie View A&M vs #9 Mississippi Valley State
Prairie View was supposed to compete for an upper-division finish, but lost some close games and fell to a pigtail game here.  MVSU is ineligible for postseason and didn’t seem to care much about the season finishing only above (and barely) a Grambling team that lost like 1,000 straight games.  The winner of this game faces another ineligible, top-seeded Southern.

Only 7 people went with the 8-seed Prairie View.  No one has either of these teams beating Southern.

Prairie View A&M 79 – Mississippi Valley State 63

#7 Jackson State vs #10 Grambling State
Grambling went 0-28 in 2012-13 and then lost their first 18 games against D-I opponents this year.  So, after 46 straight losses, they – why not – win 3 of their next 6 games, with the 3 losses all rather close.  So, I guess they are no longer an automatic win, which is bad news for Jackson State, who could use a few of them after a very disappointing season for them.  Grambling is ineligible for postseason play, so I guess they’re just playing “for fun.”  The winner takes on #2 Texas-Southern in the quarterfinals.

5 people (Becks, Bry, Colton, Lynch, Stumpf) took a shot with Grambling here.  6 people (J, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, Primm, RDoc) actually have JSU beating TxS in the quarters.

Grambling State 84 – Jackson State 75

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Southern (13)
• #2 Texas-Southern (8) – Alexi, Becks, Colton, Doogan, GrossJr, Stri, Stritts, Teddy
• #3 Alabama State (3) – Lazarow, Lynch, Stumpf
• #4 AR-Pine Bluff (1) – Mac

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #10 Grambling State (Becks, Bry, Colton, Lynch, Stumpf)
• QF – #7 Jackson State (J, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, Primm, RDoc)
• SF – #6 Alcorn State (PapaCim)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Waters
• 2009 – Ina (perfect)
• 2010 – Teddy
• 2011 – Lynch
• 2012 – Dave, Doogan, Stri (perfect)
• 2013 – GrossJr, Rikey, Teddy (perfect)

2014 Scores