Mac narrowly edges RDoc in Day Five, catapulting him into the Top 5.  Continued solid performances by J, GrossJr, and RDoc, keep them ahead of Mac at 2, 3, and 4 – still trailing the leader, Bry, though by a significantly more narrow margin.  Caleb made the biggest jump of the day, climbing to 11th place from 23rd.  Lohse also had a nice jump, from 18th into the Top 10.

The lowest score of the day went to GrossSr, who lost 13 spots in the standings on the day.  Lazarow made the second biggest fall – 8 spots, while LohseJr, Waters, Gersh, and Doogan all fell 6 spots.

DAY FIVE SCORES (Days Won):

1. Mac – 375.5 (1)
2. RDoc – 373.5
3. J – 368 (1)
4. GrossJr – 367
5. Alexi – 362
6. PapaCim – 358
7. Bry – 354 (2)
8. Caleb – 351
9. Lohse – 345.5
10. Scoot – 330.5
11. Stumpf – 324.5
12. Lynch – 319
13. Primm – 314.5 (1)
14. Rikey – 312
15. Alex – 303
16. Cheryl – 295
17. Gersh – 279
18. Waters – 278.5
19. LohseJr – 278 (1)
20. Dave – 277.5
21. Doogan – 271
22. Teddy – 269
23. Lazarow – 250.5
24. GrossSr – 243

OVERALL STANDINGS (Conferences Won):

1. Bry – 754
2. J – 725
3. GrossJr – 717
4. RDoc – 714.5
5. Mac – 695.5
6. PapaCim – 684 (A-Sun*)
7. Alexi – 677
8. Primm – 644.5
9. Alex – 635
10. Lohse – 634.5
11. Caleb – 619
12. Stumpf – 616.5
13. Lynch – 611 (A-Sun*)
14. LohseJr – 605
15. Scoot – 603.5
16. GrossSr – 598
17. Waters – 596.5
18. Rikey – 592
19. Gersh – 589 (OVC*)
20. Cheryl – 577
21. Doogan – 574
22. Lazarow – 558.5
23. Dave – 554.5
24. Teddy – 478

There are 31 conference tournaments over these two weeks, and they are all incredible, in their own ways.  And now with the dissolution of the CAA, one tournament stands above the other 30 – “Arch Madness.”  The place is always packed.  The rivalries are intense (only the Ivy League has had its current constitution of teams longer than The Valley).  The tournament is always incredibly competitive from start to finish.  It always has some sort of bubble aspect to it.  And, the title game – on CBS, by the way – is nearly always one of the best games played over this fortnight.  And, this year is should be no different.

Creighton was supposed to dominate the league, with their 1st-team All-American and national Top 15 ranking.  But, the Valley is no fun, especially on the road, as the Blue Jays were just 5-4 on the road in the Valley, but their 8-1 home record was enough to win the conference.  Wichita St. was the surprise leader of the Valley for most of the season before Doug McDermott’s 41 points on Saturday won the league for Creighton.  Still, the Shockers are an NCAA Tournament team and will be a tough out in any tournament they are in.  Northern Iowa got a really slow conference start, but, in the end, was almost as good as advertised.  Indiana St. looked like a sure-fire NCAA Tournament team, but got eaten up in the later part of the Valley schedule.  Illinois St. also looked like a sure-fire Tournament team, but they gotten eaten up in the earlier part of the Valley schedule.  With a hot Missouri St. team, an underrated Evansville team and three really tough teams at the bottom of the bracket, this league is set up for – once again – an amazing tournament.  Arch Madness!

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 32 points)

#1 Creighton vs #5 Indiana St.
Doug McDermott and the Blue Jays took care of a tough Drake team on Friday, while Indiana St. survived a crazy finish with #4 Evansville.  Now, the Sycamores have to beat the league’s best team Saturday and win again Sunday to salvage a tourney bid that looked certain about a month ago.

Dave, Scoot, and Waters have a pretty solid upset pick here – Waters has them winning this tournament.  Doogan, Gersh, J, and Teddy have already lost it with Evansville.  Everyone else has Creighton here, with many have picking them to win the tournament.

#2 Wichita St. vs #6 Illinois St.
Watch out for the Redbirds.  They have a roster good enough to win this tournament, and they look like they are running on all cylinders after Tyler Brown and Jackie Carmichael dominated UNI in Friday’s quartefinal.  But, Wichita looked good Friday, as well, in knocking off Missouri St.  This should be one of the best games of the first week, bar none.

Alex, GrossSr, Lazarow, and Lohse have Illinois St. in another nice upset pick – Lohse has the Redbirds winning this tournament.  Caleb, Lynch, Primm, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters have already lost the game with UNI.

QUARTERFINALS (March 8th – 16 points each)

#1 Creighton vs #9 Drake
It seems crazy to even think, but it is certainly a possibility that the best team in America (Gonzaga) and the best player in America (Creighton’s Doug McDermott) will be playing their tournament games in Week One of the CTC.  That is a joyous thing to think on this chilly Friday afternoon.  The Blue Jays are seen as a bit of a disappointment to some this year, as they were creeping towards the Top 10 in the country for a while, but to the learned eye, this was just “another” year in the Valley – where it is oh so tough to win on the road.  All I can say is that if Creighton gets a 7-seed next Sunday, I would not want to be the 2-seed in that region.  But, here, this week, Creighton is the #1-seed at Arch Madness and will kick off one of the best quadruple-headers of the entire tournament season against a Drake team that handled Bradley on Thursday night.

23 people have Creighton winning this game, and then there’s Doogan, who could clear a free 80 points on the rest of the field if Drake pulls off the upset here.  That wouldn’t be a terrible result for the other 6 people who have Creighton losing in the semis, either, or even for the 14 people that don’t have the Blue Jays winning this tournament.

Creighton 65 – Drake 53
Doug McDermott had 23 points and 7 boards and senior center Gregory Echinique had 11 points, 11 boards, and 6 blocks, as the Blue Jays won a close, hotly contested quarterfinal here against The Drake.  They will now await the winner of Evansville-Indiana St. quarterfinal this afternoon.

Doogan missed a huge upset pick here, as everyone else picks up a quick 16 points.

#4 Evansville vs #5 Indiana St.
This is an absolutely fantastic game for any day, let alone Day Four of the CTC.  The Sycamores of Indiana St. looked destined for at least an at-large berth this year, before the Valley ate them up – now, they are probably reliant on the auto-bid here.  On the other side, Evansville – a team mostly forgotten about in the Valley amidst the love affairs with Creighton, Wichita, UNI, and the two ISUs – is not to be trifled with, particularly if you can’t find a way to slow down one of the most prolific scorers in the nation – Colt Ryan.  Ryan averages over 20 points per game for a team that averages fewer than 70.  The dude can fill it up.

Fewer than half of the field (11 – Alexi, Alex, Caleb, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, and Teddy) picked Evansville in this one.  But, there is a lot more at stake moving forward in the Arch Madness bracket.  Doogan, Gersh, J, and Teddy all have Evansville going to the finals, with Doogan and Gersh picking them to win it.  On the other side, Dave, Scoot, and Waters all have Indiana St. going to the finals, with Waters picking the Sycamores to cut down the nets.  This is a pretty gigantic game in the most important tournament of the first week.

Indiana St. 51 – Evansville 50
In a wild, wild finish where both teams squandered opportunity after opportunity, ISU finally converted the second of two free throws with :02 seconds left before nearly giving up a wide open layup off of a length-of-the-floor pass.  Not sure anyone actually won this game, but I guess Evansville officially lost it.

And, the 11 that picked the Aces also lost this game.  J and Teddy both lost a finalist, while Doogan and Gersh lost champions.  Dave and Scoot keep alive a finalist, while Waters keeps alive his champ.  Bry, Primm, and LohseJr now sit 1-2-3 in the overall standings.

#2 Wichita St. vs #7 Missouri St.
For pretty much the entire conference season, the Shockers of WSU looked like they would shock the Valley by taking the regular season title from Creighton.  But, a couple tough road losses and then a 41-point performance by Doug McDermott to beat Wichita on the last day of the season relegated the Shockers to #2.  Either way, it has been a surprisingly good season for Greg Marshall’s crew earning him the much-deserved Conf Coach of the Year honors, and, more importantly, almost assuring WSU’s place in the Big Dance yet again this year.  But, they want a Valley tournament banner this year, and that quest begins Friday night against a Missouri St. team that eliminated Southern Illinois on Thursday night.

Lynch and Teddy both had Southern Illinois upsetting the Shockers, so they can’t earn any points here, but they can hope for a Mo State upset to zero it out.  Cheryl, Dave GrossJr, J, and Scoot all have Wichita winning this tournament, so this is big for them.

Wichita St. 69 – Missouri St. 59
In a close game most of the way, the Shockers eventually pulled away from Missouri St., giving the Bears their 22nd and final loss.  Wichita – led by 18 & 12 from Carl Hall – moves into Saturday’s semis against the winner of the fantastic nightcap.

22 people hit on this one, as only Lynch and Teddy miss out on the 16 points here.  Cheryl, Dave, GrossJr, J, and Scoot all keep their MVC champ alive.

#3 Northern Iowa vs #6 Illinois St.
This might be the best quarterfinal matchup you will find outside of the Big Ten, Big East, and Mountain West, this year.  These two teams are really, really good.  UNI struggled out of the conference gates, but recovered to win 11 league games and earn a 3rd place finish.  Struggling out of the gate isn’t strong enough to describe the Redbirds of Illinois St.’s conference season.  Picked for second place in the preseason, the Redbirds put together a really impressive non-conference slate to seemingly justify the prognosticators.  But, they faced serious internal problems, ended up suspending their leading scorer, Tyler Brown, for a couple of games, and lost their first SEVEN games in league play.  But, they reinstated Brown and, together with one of the best players you will find anywhere, Jackie Carmichael, ISU went on a furious run to earn a bye in the tournament.  They are fully ready for this tournament and this quarterfinal really feels like a lot more than a mid-major quarterfinal.  This is can’t-miss hoops.

Only 11 people went with the favorites here, UNI (Caleb, Cheryl, Gersh, LohseJr, Lynch, Primm, Rikey, Scoot, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters), but 6 of them (Caleb, Lynch, Primm, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters) have UNI reaching the finals, and 3 more (Lynch, Stumpf, and Teddy) have the Panthers winning this tournament.  On the other side, Lohse picked Illinois St. to run through this tournament and win it – which would be a solid 248 points for him.  Alex, GrossSr, and Lazarow have the Redbirds reaching the finals.

Illinois St. 73 – Northern Iowa 65
The stars were out late night in Arch Madness for Illinois St.  Tyler Brown went for 29 points and 9 assists, while Jackie Carmichael dropped 15 points and 10 boards.  There is clearly enough talent on this team to win this tournament, and they could play with anyone next week too.  As for UNI, it was not the season they quite expected, but another solid year for a consistently good program.  Ben Jacobson is doing great things at his alma mater.

13 people hit this upset pick, including GrossSr and Lazarow, who kept alive a finalist, and Lohse who kept alive his dark horse champion.  Lynch, Stumpf, and Teddy all lost their champ here, with six more people losing a finalist.

OPENING ROUND (March 7th – 8 points each)

#8 Bradley vs #9 Drake
Bradley has recovered from a couple of really down years and looked like they might actually scratch together an upper-conference finish this year, but just couldn’t pull out enough wins on the road (and by “enough,” I mean more than one) to do that.  But, they do get to wear their home unis for a tournament game for the first time in a couple of years.  That, however, does not mean that they are favored in their opening round game.  Drake is a pretty solid team, all-around, and to show the strength and depth of the Valley, they are ranked #125 in the KenPom’s tempo-free rankings and NINTH place in this great 10-team league.  To put that in perspective, only two other conferences in the country have their 2nd-to-last team ranked in the Top-125 in KenPom’s rankings.  The winner of this one will get the pleasure of taking on Doug McDermott and Creighton in the quarters.

Only 11 people (Cheryl, Dave, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, LohseJr, PapaCim, Rikey, RDoc, Scoot, and Stumpf) took the favored Bradley Braves here.  Doogan has a whole lot at stake here for Drake, as he is the only one that doesn’t have Creighton winning in Friday’s quarterfinal, as he has Drake beating them, so he needs them to get there first.

Drake 81 – Bradley 66
Drake led pretty much the whole way, but the Braves cut the lead to 3 with just over 6 minutes left, but the Bulldogs pulled away down the stretch to end the Bradley season.  Drake will move on to face top-seeded Creighton in Friday’s quarterfinal.

Most people got this minor upset pick correct.  Doogan could be the big winner here, as he has Drake beating Creighton in the quarters.

#7 Missouri St. vs #10 Southern Illinois
After a really tough start to the season for the Bears of Missouri St., they have played a lot better as of late.  They do have a big, fat 21 in the loss column, but they are a pretty solid 21-loss team – if there is such a thing.  As for SIU – the program that really put this conference on the map – has fallen on some hard times and have been in this pigtail round for several years in a row now.  If they can take out Missouri St. here, they will get to play Wichita in the quarters.

Even fewer people (7 – Alexi, Caleb, Gersh, LohseJr, Mac, and Stumpf) have the favorite, Missouri St., in this one, none of whom have them beating Wichita on Friday.  The biggest SIU fans today are Lynch and Teddy who have them with with the minor upset on Thursday and then the major upset on Friday, beating Wichita St. and going to the semis.

Missouri St. 61 – Southern Illinois 53
The Mo State starting guards combined for 34 points, as the Bears controlled this one pretty much from the opening tip.  A last-place finish and a pigtail exit for the Salukis is how 2012-13 will be written.  Missouri St. now gets to take on second-seeded Wichita in the quarters on Friday.

Only seven people got this pick right.  Lynch and Teddy took big losses here, as they both had SIU beating Wichita in the quarters.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1  Creighton (10)
• #2  Wichita St. (5)
• #3  Northern Iowa (3)
• #4 Evansville (2)
• #5 Indiana St. (1)
• #6 Illinois St. (1)

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #10 Southern Illinois (many)
• QF – #10 Southern Illinois (Lynch & Teddy)
• SF – #6 Illinois St. (Alex, GrossSr, Lazarow & Lohse)
• Champ – #6 Illinois St. (Lohse)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Ina
• 2009 – Stri
• 2010 – Stri
• 2011 – Alexi
• 2012 – RyanSmith (perfect)

2013 Scores

1). 120 (perfect) – Mac

2). 112 – Bry

3). 96 – Alexi, Dave, GrossJr, Lazarow, PapaCim

8). 88 – Alex, J, Lohse

11). 72 – Doogan, GrossSr, Primm, RDoc, Waters

16). 64 – LohseJr, Stumpf

18). 56 – Caleb, Cheryl, Gersh, Rikey, Scoot

23). 32 – Lynch, Teddy

Just when Murray St. looked like they would have to pull the OVC up by the bootstraps into the upper tier of low-majors, they got some help.  Belmont jumped from the A-Sun to the OVC and probably moved the league into “mid-major” territory.  The problem is that teams like Austin Peay, Tennessee Tech, Morehead St., and SEMO just didn’t have the years they had hoped for.  But, that left the surprise teams like Jacksonville St., Eastern Illinois (led by the great Charlie Spoonhour’s kid) and maybe one of the biggest surprises in the country, Eastern Kentucky, to carry the load after the big two.

FINALS (March 9th – 30 points)

#1 Belmont vs #2 Murray St.
The game we all wanted for the OVC final is happening.  Isaiah Canaan and Ian Clark dominated their respective semifinals, and now they will go head-to-head for all the marbles.

And, like a great CTC final should be – all 24 people have a horse in this race.  Cheryl, GrossSr, Lazarow, LohseJr, PapaCim, and Waters all have Murray St. winning this one.  Everyone else has Belmont.  If Belmont wins, Gersh will take the 2013 OVC crown outright.  If Murray wins, Cheryl and Lazarow will split the crown.

SEMIFINALS (March 8th – 20 points each)

#1 Belmont vs #4 Tennessee St.
The new OVC kid on the block, Belmont, won the OVC regular season and earned the double-bye to the semis.  They will play their first OVC tournament game Friday night against 4th-seeded TSU.  The Bruins are, yet again, one of the most underrated teams in America – not mid-major teams, but all teams.  They finished 24-6 and are a top-40 team in most tempo-free ranking systems.  They won a top-heavy OVC by two full games, including a sweep of second-place Eastern Kentucky.  However, one of their conference losses came to the team they face tonight, Tennessee St., as the Tigers beat the Bruins by a dozen on Valentine’s Day.  Tennessee St. looked pretty good against a somewhat inferior Morehead St. team on Thursday night, so this shapes up to be a pretty great opener to a terrific semifinal double-header in Music City.

All 24 entries have Belmont winning this game and going to the finals, with 18 of them picking the Bruins to win the tournament, so the 6 that didn’t pick them are TSU fans on Friday.

Belmont 82 – Tennessee St. 73
Tennessee St. jumped out to an early lead, but in the end that incredible Belmont backcourt was just that – incredible.  Ian Clark led the way with 26 points; Kerron Johnson added 23 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals; and, J.J Mann chipped in with 13 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, and 4 steals.  The Bruins now await the last obstacle to another trip to the tournament.  I fully expect Tennessee St. to play in a postseason tournament, so this is probably not the last we’ll see of Robert Covington, but if so, it was a heck of a career.

Everyone got this one right.

#2 Murray St. vs #3 Eastern Kentucky
The Racers of Murray St. were supposed to have an epic season.  They were ranked in the preseason top-15, and Isaiah Canaan was an AP 1st-team All-American in the preseason.  But, as often happens in sports, the results didn’t come close to the hype.  Maybe people forgot about a great Belmont team joining the OVC or a solid Tennessee St. team.  No one knew how good EKU would be, but still.  The non-conf was lackluster and for this Racers team to lose SIX games in the OVC is basically unacceptable.  But, they did get the 2-seed (despite finishing with the 4th-best conference record) because they won their division and earned the double-bye.  Now, they are just two wins from erasing all that negativity and going back to the Dance.  It starts Friday against a really good – and still underappreciated – EKU team that handled SEMO in a Thursday quarterfinal.  Everyone wants a Belmont-Murray final, but that might not be the best basketball matchup.

Ten people have EKU upsetting Murray here (Alex, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, J, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Rikey, and Scoot); two people (GrossJr and Teddy) have already lost this game with SEMO; the other dozen all have Murray St.  No one has EKU winning this tournament, but six people (Cheryl, GrossSr, Lazarow, LohseJr, PapaCim, and Waters) have the Racers going back to the Dance.

Murray St. 81 – Eastern Kentucky 73
Isaiah Canaan proves many of the doubters wrong and puts the Racers on his back and absolutely dominates EKU single-handedly.  Canaan went for 29 points, 6 assists, 4 boards, a steal, and a block.  Saturday’s final against Belmont should be incredible.

A dozen people nailed this pick, with a half-dozen keeping alive their champion.

QUARTERFINALS (March 7th – 10 points each)

#4 Tennessee St. vs #5 Morehead St.
Morehead survived a feisty UT-Martin team on Wednesday night and now will take on a very solid Tennessee St. team in the quarters on Thursday night.  The TSU Tigers are one of the more feared teams in the OVC simply because they boast one of the more feared players in the OVC – all-everything forward, Robert Covington.  Covington is one of those power conference players that somehow ended up at a school like Tennessee St.  The problem is that the supporting cast is questionable.  He is good enough, though, to carry the team to where they want to go.  Right now, all they want is a semifinal shot at #1 Belmont, and to do that, they will have to knock off Morehead.

More than half the field (Alexi, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, Lohse, LohseJr, Mac, PapaCim, Rikeym, RDoc, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters) actually has Morehead pulling off the minor upset here.  PapaCim has the most at stake, as he has Morehead going to the finals.  Not one person has Tennessee St. going any further than the semis.

Tennessee St 88 – Morehead St. 75
The Tigers of TSU looked real solid on Thursday night, taking care of business against a game Morehead St. team.  Robert Covington got his 21, but the supporting cast looked really good in this one, which is scary for the rest of the OVC, particularly #1 Belmont, who gets the pleasure of facing this team in Friday night’s semifinal.

Only 11 people got this one right.  PapaCim took the biggest hit, losing a finalist here.

#3 Eastern Kentucky vs #6 SE Missouri St.
There were quite a few big surprises in the country this year, but if you were trying to list the biggest, you might have to look at the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.  This band of unheralded underclassmen and JUCO transfers was picked 11th in the 12-team OVC and finished 23-8 (against a somewhat decent non-conference schedule) and 12-4 in the conference (the 2nd-best conference record, but because of a division system that grants the top two seeds to the two division winners, the Colonels slipped to #3).  They even won at Murray St. and were an overtime thriller away from sweeping Tennessee St.  However this tournament ends up for them, this season will be deemed a success, but I am sure they do not want it to end today.  They open their conference tournament run against a SEMO team that played well on Wednesday in a 10-point win over EIU that wasn’t that close.  The winner of this game will take a shot at Isaiah Canaan and the #2 Murray St. Racers.

Cheryl, GrossJr, GrossSr, Primm, and Teddy all have SEMO winning this game in a decent upset pick.  GrossJr and Teddy even have them going to the finals, so this is pretty important for them.  While no one has EKU winning this tournament, 10 people (Alex, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, J, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Rikey, and Scoot) have them winning this game and then beating Murray to reach the finals.

Eastern Kentucky 84 – SE Missouri St. 69
Sophomore forward Eric Stutz (who was in the same high school frontcourt as Cody Zeller) went for 22 and 10 as EKU handled SEMO in Thursday’s quarterfinal to set up a really nice semifinal with Murray St. on Friday night.

Five people missed on their upset picks here, while GrossJr and Teddy lose a finalist with SEMO.  Ten people keep a finalist alive with the EKU win.

OPENING ROUND (March 6th – 5 points each)

#5 Morehead St. vs #8 UT-Martin
It isn’t the same Morehead St. with Kenneth Faried earning his living in the NBA, but they did manage to win enough games to qualify for the conference tournament, which wasn’t guaranteed for much of the year, as they hovered around the cut line.  UT-Martin, technically, didn’t win enough games to qualify, but because of the disqualification of Jacksonville St. due to grades, the Skyhawks will sneak into the OVC tourney.  It is hard to know which UTM team will show up – the one that won AT Murray St. on Thursday or the one that lost by 33 to last-place Austin Peay just two days later.  The winner here will be rewarded with a quarterfinal date with Tennessee St. on Thursday.

Not a single person wanted to take a shot on UT-Martin here, but if you are one of the 13 people that has Morehead winning again next round, you have a little more at stake here.  If you’re PapaCim, you have a lot more at stake, as he has Morehead going to the OVC title game.

Morehead St. 73 – UT-Martin 66
Morehead St. survived 24 points from Mike Liabo and opened the OVC tournament with a hard-fought W.  UT-Martin acquitted themselves well, as they stayed close all game, but just couldn’t overcome a massive size disadvantage all night.  Morehead moves on to Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup with 4th-seeded Tennessee St.

Everyone got this one right, but some were more right than others, particularly PapaCim, who has Morehead in the OVC finals.  They will have to play better than they did tonight if they want to beat TSU, let alone Belmont again on Friday.

#6 SE Missouri St. vs #7 Eastern Illinois
Jay Spoonhour – son of the legendary, Charlie – seemed to finally reach his guys at the 11th hour.  EIU was sputtering along looking dead in the water, but something clicked about a month ago, and they made a furious run through February culminated by a 15-point win at SIU-Edwardsville on Saturday to get them into the tournament.  SEMO, on the other hand, had hoped that they wouldn’t have been playing on this day at all, as they thought they had the talent to get one of the byes that came with a top-4 finish.  But, the Bears just never really got going, finishing 8-8 in league play.  The winner of this Opening Round affair will get #3 Eastern Kentucky in the quarters.

Eight people (Bry, Dave, LohseJr, Lynch, PapaCim, Scoot, Stumpf, and Waters) have Spoonhour’s EIU in the minor upset.  Cheryl, GrossJr, GrossSr, Primm, and Teddy all have SEMO winning tonight and tomorrow night.  GrossJr and Teddy actually have SEMO in the finals.

SE Missouri St. 78 – Eastern Illinois 68
SEMO went on an extended 33-16 run at the end of the first and beginning of the second to take a close game and put it away.  They cruised from there and will move on to Thursday’s quarterfinal with Eastern Kentucky.  A solid first season for Jay Spoonhour comes to a close, but this is not the last we will hear of this young EIU team.

The eight people backing the ‘dog are disappointed here, while GrossJr and Teddy are quite relieved that they didn’t lose a finalist in the opening round.  Cherly, GrossSr, and Primm are also happy, as they have still have their semifinalist alive.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1  Belmont (18)
• #2  Murray St. (6)

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #7 Eastern Illinois (many)
• QF – #6 SE Missouri St. (Cheryl, GrossJr, GrossSr, Primm & Teddy)
• SF – #6 SE Missouri St. (GrossJr & Teddy)
• Champ – #2 Murray St. (many)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Waters
• 2009 – Alexi
• 2010 – J
• 2011 – J
• 2012 – Alexi, Dave, Lohse, Rikey & Stri

2013 Scores

1). 70 (perfect) – Gersh

2). 65 – Bry

3). 60 – Alexi, Cheryl, Lazarow, Primm, RDoc

8). 55 – LohseJr, Stumpf, Waters

11). 50 – Alex, Caleb, Doogan, GrossSr, J

16). 45 – Dave, Lynch, Scoot

19). 40 – Lohse, Mac, Rikey

22). 35 – PapaCim

23). 30 – GrossJr, Teddy

Fellow roundball junkies, welcome to the 2013 CTC!  We are always trying to tweak what we do here to help you all follow along, so this year, we decided to just have a single page for each conference tournament that will be periodically updated and bumped up the blog.  I hope this makes following along easier on everyone.  There will still be the daily standings posts, and I will send an email when those posts go up, but I encourage anyone interested to check back periodically as we are trying harder and harder to enable people to follow along in “real time” as much as possible.  As always, if there are any ideas/suggestions/etc., don’t hesitate to contact us.  On to our first tournament…

The Big South Conference expanded to 12 eligible teams for their tournament this year, giving us the earliest start in CTC history – Tuesday at noon.  Trust me, that is not a complaint.  The Big South was pretty disappointing up and down this year, as preseason favorites, Campbell, Coastal Carolina, and UNC-Asheville all struggled through mediocre conference seasons.  Gardner-Webb had a terrific non-conference season, but lost a few tight games early to dig a hole from which they couldn’t recover enough to truly challenge for a top spot.  However, there were two teams that capitalized nicely on the down year conference-wide, and they were Charleston-Southern and High Point, who each won their respective divisions, earning the top two seeds in the conference tournament.  The Big South is the only remaining holdout that seeds the tournament strictly by division, giving VMI a first-round bye, despite their 8-8 conference record being worse than both UNCA and CCU.  First-year full D-I participants, Presbyterian and Longwood will make their CTC debuts today.

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 12 points each)

#1S Charleston-Southern vs #2N VMI
Charleston-Southern won an ugly noontime quarterfinal on Thursday over Winthrop, 54-47, while VMI survived a high-paced, defense-free game with Longwood, 90-86.  This game is the ole good offense vs. good defense…or, more realistically, bad offense vs. bad defense.

Teddy is the only one here with VMI, so he could pick up a quick 26 points on the rest of the field if the Keydets can go back to the Big South title game for the second straight year.  Alexi, Dave, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, and Scoot have all already lost this game with UNC-Asheville.  Everyone else has CSU here, with nine people (Caleb, Cheryl, Lohse, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, Rikey, and Waters) having CSU as their Big South champions.

#2S Gardner-Webb vs #5N Liberty
-insert generic Cinderella reference here-  You have all heard the “glass slipper” and the “pumpkin carriage” and whatnot, so I’ll save it.  The point is that a semifinal appearance for Liberty this year is quite surprising to all, but they have earned it.  They blew out Coastal Carolina (the tournament hosts) in the second half of Tuesday’s opening round game and then blew out High Point (the North Division champs) in the first half before holding on for a 1-point win in Thursday’s quarterfinal.  Now, they get a shot at the hottest Big South team, Gardner-Webb, who took care of Campbell on Thursday night rather easily. 

Eight people (Alex, Alexi, Bry, Doogan, Gersh, GrossJr, Lynch, and Teddy) have GW winning this tournament, while 7 more (Caleb, Cheryl, Lazarow, LohseJr, PapaCim, Primm, and RDoc) have them winning here, but losing in the finals.  It probably goes without saying, but nobody has Liberty winning this game, so the people that picked High Point to reach the finals will be rooting for more Cinderella magic from the Flames.

QUARTERFINALS (March 7th – 6 points each)

#1S Charleston-Southern vs #5S Winthrop
And, the Big South welcomes its top four seeds to the party, including the Southern Division champs, Charleston-Southern.  This was supposed to be “the year” for CSU, and it has been thus far.  They played a really tough non-conference schedule and then played like the best team in the league throughout the conference schedule.  They went 12-4, including two overtime losses to Gardner-Webb.  One of the other two losses, though, was a 5-point loss to Winthrop, their quartefinal opponent on Thursday, after a 2-point OT win for the Eagles over Radford on Tuesday.

22 people have Charleston-Southern winning this game.  Dave has already lost it with his Radford pick.  GrossJr could pick up some massive upset points on everybody else if Winthrop can come through.  Ten people (Caleb, Cheryl, Lohse, LohseJr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Rikey, RDoc, and Waters) have CSU cutting down the nets.

Charleston-Southern 54 – Winthrop 47
In a close game throughout, the top-seeded Buccaneers survived the upset threat of Winthrop to advance to the tournament semis.  But, they didn’t exactly light the place on fire, shooting 28% in the…win.  In Friday’s semifinal, they will face the winner of the second quarterfinal of the day between VMI and Longwood.

GrossJr was oh so close to pulling off a massive upset here, but fell short.  Dave also saw everyone else pick up 6 points on him here, as his Radford pick cost him.  The ten people with CSU as their Big South champ can breathe a little easier, as they do the ole March tradition and “survive and advance.” 

#2N VMI vs #6N Longwood
After their surprising upset of UNC-Asheville, the Longwood Lancers get actually a lesser opponent in the quarters.  Because of the ridiculous divisional seeding system, VMI was seeded above UNC-Asheville, despite being two games worse against an easier schedule, and got the bye.  Now, they get to play the last-place team in their division that just knocked off Asheville.  The Keydets have never really committed to defense at all, but they actually did get some stops this year.  They were near the top of the league for a while, but hit a skid in late January.  But, either way, they are three wins from The Dance, and the first is against a last-place team.

No one has Longwood winning this game, but only nine (Cheryl, J, Lohse, LohseJr, Mac, Rikey, Teddy, and Waters) have VMI, so everyone else will hope Longwood pulls off another upset to zero out this spot.  Teddy is the biggest VMI fan, as he is the only one that has them going to the finals.

VMI 90 – Longwood 86
As expected, VMI played zero defense, but they scored enough points (including 31 by someone named Stan Okoye) to hold off a game Longwood team.  The Lancers were within a bucket with :14 seconds left, and then had the ball, down 3 with :03 seconds left, but turned the ball over, and their first conference tournament ends respectably.  Longwood’s Michael Kessens put up a monster line of 36 points and 16 boards.  VMI moves on to Saturday’s semis against top-seeded Charleston-Southern.

The nine people with VMI pick up 6 points on the rest of the field.  Teddy, the only one with VMI in the finals, has a shot at a 12-point gain on the whole rest of the field on Saturday.

#2S Gardner-Webb vs #3N Campbell
These two teams played all the way back on January 5th – the first day of Big South play – and that was an epic 3-overtime war won by Campbell.  It was the first of several really tough conference losses for GW that cost them a shot at a regular season title.  As for Campbell, that may have been the high point of an otherwise very disappointing season for the team many picked to win this league before it started.  And, it almost ended Tuesday night, as the Camels blew a 5-point lead in the final :12 seconds of regulation against Presbyterian.  But, they recovered and won in overtime, setting up this pretty interesting quarterfinal.

GrossSr, Scoot, and Waters have Campbell here, with GrossSr and Waters both have them in the finals.  There are a whole lot of people with GW in the finals, eight of whom (Alex, Alexi, Bry, Doogan, Gersh, GrossJr, Lynch, and Teddy) have them winning it all.

Gardner-Webb 71 – Campbell 57
A rather disappointing Campbell season comes to a close here in the conference quarters with a wire-to-wire defeat to a hot Gardner-Webb team that moves on to the semis on Saturday.  The Camels did pull with 3 midway through the second half, but GW scored 10 straight after that to put it away.

GrossSr, Scoot, and Waters miss out on a nice upset pick, with GrossSr and Waters costing themselves finalists.  The eight people who backed GW to win this tournament are happy with this result.

#1N High Point vs #5N Liberty
The game could have been a lot tougher for the Northern Division champs, High Point, but Liberty pounded tournament hosts, Coastal Carolina, on Tuesday allowing High Point this neutral site matchup instead of facing the Chanticleers on their home floor.  Now, the Panthers are hoping to end the best season in program history with their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.  They will have to get through the red-hot Flames (see what I did there?) to do it, though.

Nobody has Liberty winning this game, but nine people (Alex, Bry, Caleb, Gersh, GrossJr, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, and Waters) had Coastal in this spot, so they will be rooting against High Point in this one.  Dave, Scoot, and Stumpf are the biggest High Point fans, as they are the only three that have them winning this tournament.

Liberty 61 – High Point 60
MADNESS!  In a conference tournament that has been chock full of madness over its first two quadruple-headers, the quarterfinal nightcap was no different.  High Point came out totally flat and looked like they were going to get blown out of the building, with the Flames building up a 17-point halftime lead.  But, the Panthers roared back in the second half and were only held off by some clutch foul shooting down the stretch.  After two solid upsets, the Flames will get a crack at 3rd-seeded Gardner-Webb in the semis on Saturday.

The nine people with Coastal Carolina here are happy with the result, as it grants no one any points.  Also, the eight people with Gardner-Webb winning this title might be happy about this because the higher-seeded HP is gone, but the way Liberty is playing is a bit scary.

OPENING ROUND (March 5th – 3 points each)

#4N Radford vs #5S Winthrop
One of the pleasant surprises early in the Big South season was Radford, who was expected to be one of the worst teams in the league.  But they came back to earth down the stretch and finished 4th place in the North.  Winthrop, a perennial power in this conference struggled all year with a really young team, but stated to show signs of life down the stretch.  Radford is definitely the more experienced team, but Winthrop probably has more overall talent on the roster.  This should be an interesting game to see who faces Southern Division champs, Charleston-Southern, in the quarters.

Most of the field has Winthrop here in the minor upset, as only six people (Dave, Lazarow, Lohse, Primm, Teddy, and Waters) went with the favorite.  GrossJr has the most at stake here, as he has Winthrop beating #1 Charleston-Southern in the quarters.  Everyone else has their winner here going out in the next round.

Winthrop 60 – Radford 58 (OT)
Nothing an overtime game to kick off the festivities.  A game-winner for some guy named Joab Jerome finished off the OT comeback overcoming a 5-point deficit in the extra period. Winthrop will now try their luck in the quarters against top-seeded Charleston-Southern.

Most people hit on this minor upset pick for 6 points, and GrossJr is happy, as he didn’t lose his semifinalist pick in Winthrop.

#3S UNC-Asheville vs #6N Longwood
After losing possibly the two best guards to ever play for the Bulldogs (Matt Dicky and J.P. Primm), everyone thought that it would take some time for this new look Asheville squad to take off, but when they did, they would be very good.  Well, it seems like it was the exact opposite.  The Bulldogs took off in conference play to the tune of a 9-2 start, including 7 straight wins, but stumbled down the stretch, losing 4 of their last 5 to actually finish outside of bye position, forcing them to play in the Opening Round.  Fortunately, for them, their opponent – Longwood – is one of the worst teams in D-I.  Unfortunately, for them, the Lancers have been playing pretty well recently, winning 3 of their last 4, including a 13-point win AT Campbell.  A good team playing poorly against a bad team playing well…interesting.  Either way, the winner will match up with VMI in the quarters.

J is the only one who took a shot here at the potentially HUGELY profitable upset pick of Longwood.  Many other people have Asheville beating VMI in the quarters, but GrossSr and Lazarow have the most at stake here, as they have the Bulldogs cutting down the Big South nets.  Alexi, Dave, GrossJr, and Scoot all have Asheville reaching the finals, so they need them to survive here, as well.

Longwood 87 – UNC-Asheville 72
Two games into the 2013 CTC and we’ve got ourselves MADNESS in several ways.  First, an OT minor upset at the buzzer in the early game and a wire-to-wire huge upset in the late afternoon game.  To quote the wise Stumpf, “brackets busted.”  Longwood gets VMI in the quarters on Thursday.

J NAILS this huge upset and picks up two dozen points in the process.  GrossSr and Lazarow learn quickly in their inaugural campaigns how cruel the CTC gods can be sometimes, as they are already down a champion.

#3N Campbell vs #6S Presbyterian
The Fightin’ Camels of Campbell were picked, by some, to win the Big South this year.  Well, no one told them that, as they started and ended terribly, with their only saving grace coming in two strong weeks in late January.  The Blue Hose of Presbyterian built their entire program around their 2012 team and its entry into D-I with a bang.  They had 5 seniors, who all redshirted in 2011 to be ready for D-I in 2012.  Well, a simple clerical error of misplaced paperwork in the school’s Athletic Office, made it so they did not get all of their paperwork in on time, which meant that they had to wait until this year to be eligible for the NCAA tournament.  A gut-wrenching result, to say the least, but they have rebuilt and are actually entering D-I the way it was meant to be entered – difficultly.  We will see if their first run through the Big South Tournament is as glorious as they expected it to be last year.  Don’t count on it with all of their talent having graduated a year too early.  The winner of this one will take on a tough Gardner-Webb team in the quarters.

Alex, Bry, Dave, Doogan, and Gersh took shots at the Presbyterian upset here, though none of them have the Blue Hose beating Gardner-Webb in the quarters.  GrossSr and Waters have the most to lose here with Campbell, as they both have them reaching the finals.  Scoot has a lot to lose, as well, as he has them in the semis.

Campbell 81 – Presbyterian 73 (OT)
Three for three in the “Madness” department for the Big South today.  Presbyterian scored 5 points in the final TWELVE SECONDS of regulation to force overtime, but the Fightin’ Camels survived by outscoring the Blue Hose 14-6 in the extra period.  Campbell advances to take on Gardner-Webb in Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup.

Almost huge upset points for five people, and GrossSr and Waters dodge a big bullet and keep their finalist pick of Campbell alive.  Dave is still looking for his first CTC points of 2013.

#4S Coastal Carolina vs #5N Liberty
The Chanticleers of CCU slipped down to the 4-seed from the Southern Division, meaning they line up for a quarterfinal date with Northern Division champ, High Point, if they can get past a feisty Libery team.  Can anyone imagine what this Liberty team would be like if they still had Duke’s starting shooting guard, Seth Curry?  The Northern Division champions, High Point, await the winner of this one in the quarterfinal nightcap on Thursday.

The two Lohses are the only two to take Liberty here in the upset, with neither of them taking the Flames to go any further.  J joins GrossSr and Lazarow as the only entries whose Big South championship picks are up at stake, as he has the Chanticleers winning this whole tournament.  He is actually the only one with them even reaching the final, so he’s boom-or-bust on CCU this year (and, as the defending co-champ in the Big South, he might be on to something).  Nine others (Alex, Bry, Caleb, Gersh, GrossJr, PapaCim, Primm, RDoc, and Waters) all have CCU upsetting High Point in the quarters, so they are hoping for a Chanticleer victory here.

Liberty 78 – Coastal Carolina 61
Liberty’s Davon Marshall, has been a scoring machine as of late, but tonight was a special night for the first-year JUCO transfer.  A 28-point performance to knock off the tournament hosts, Coastal Carolina, if one to remember.  It looked like it might be an easy night for the Chanticleers, as they scored the first 8 points of the game.  But, the Flames responded and actually took a 3-point lead into the locker room before an impressive second half performance.  Liberty will now face off with Northern Division Champ, High Point in the quarterfinals.

The two Lohses were the only two to hit on this upset, but that is not the big news.  The only remaining perfect Big South bracket is, all of a sudden, busted, as, only hours after cashing in on a huge upset pick of Longwood, J loses his Big South champion.  Nine others lost a semifinalist here, as well.  Quite the madness-filled opening day in the Big South…

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Charleston-Southern (10)
• #2 High Point (3)
• #3 Gardner-Webb (8)
• #4 VMI (-)
• #5 UNC-Asheville (2)
• #6 Campbell (-)
• #7 Coastal Carolina (1)

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #12 Longwood – J
• QF – #9 Winthrop – GrossJr
• SF – #7 Coastal Carolina – J
• Champ – #7 Coastal Carolina – J

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Stri
• 2009 – Bry
• 2010 – Alexi & Lil Lohse (perfect)
• 2011 – Doogan
• 2012 – J & Lohse

2013 Scores

1). 51 – J

2). 39 – LohseJr

3). 33 – Lohse

4).  27 – Cheryl, Mac, Rikey

7). 21 – Alexi, Caleb, Lynch, PapaCim, RDoc, Stumpf, Teddy

14). 18 – Alex, Bry, Doogan, Gersh

18). 15 – GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, Primm, Scoot, Waters

24). 6 – Dave

The A-Sun doesn’t do well in the  “computer numbers,” but I think it is a much better league than any of those tempo-free numbers or the ole RPI may claim.  Mercer and Florida Gulf Coast can rival any low-major top two and many of the mid-majors, as well.  And, then there is USC-Upstate, which is a very talented team that just hasn’t put it together.  And, let’s not forget that Stetson nearly beat the ACC’s best team, and FGC DID beat the ACC’s best team.  Oh, and Mercer knocked off Florida St.  And, with the exception of Kennessaw St., who didn’t qualify for the conference tournament, there was not an easy night all year in the A-Sun.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 9th – 24 points)

#1 Mercer vs #2 Florida Gulf Coast
Two years ago, Florida Gulf Coast advanced to the finals of the conference tournament as a Cinderella 7-seed and seemed just happy to be on ESPN, as they got pummeled by Belmont.  Last year, as the 3-seed, they got there again and put up more of a fight, but still lost to a superior Belmont team.  This year, for the third straight year, the Eagles will play for a shot at their first ever trip to the Dance.  Unfortunately, they are up against the odds again, as they have to face a red-hot and talented Mercer team on their home floor.  But, FGC looked the better team in the semifinal double-header on Friday, as they took care of business against #3 Stetson, while Mercer struggled all day against #5 USC-Upstate.  This should be good…

Only GrossSr (Jacksonville), Gersh and Teddy (Stetson) don’t have skin in this game.  The other 21 people all have a champion in play here.  And, we will multiple perfect A-Sun brackets.  If Mercer wins, Alex, Cheryl, Rikey, and RDoc will share the 2013 A-Sun crown with perfection.  If FGC wins, Lynch and PapaCim will boast a perfect 2013 A-Sun bracket.

Florida Gulf Coast 88 – Mercer 75
Light-scoring point guard, Brett Comer went for 21 points and A-Sun POY, Sherwood Brown, added 16 points and 11 boards from the guard spot, as the Eagles of FGC snap Mercer’s 17-game home winning streak and head to The Dance.

Lynch and PapaCim complete perfect A-Sun brackets with the win here.  Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, Primm, Scoot, and Waters also hit this champions pick.

SEMIFINALS (March 8th – 12 points each)

#2 Florida Gulf Coast vs #3 Stetson
The Stetson Hatters erased a halftime deficit in style in Thursday night’s 21-point quarterfinal win over East Tennessee St. and now have to come back a day later and take on the biggest, most physical team in the A-Sun, who has had two days to recover from a relatively tough quartefinal win over North Florida.  The good news for Stetson is that they match up relatively well inside with FGC with their big guy Adam Pegg; the question is can they control Sherwood Brown and Chase Fieler on the wings for FGC.  Gulf Coast remains undefeated (8-0) against teams from the state of Florida and with Jacksonville losing Thursday, this will be the last Florida team they face this year, unless they win the A-Sun and draw Miami (who, they’ve already beaten) or Florida in the first round of the Big Dance.

Alexi, Gersh, Lazarow, Mac, Stumpf, and Teddy all have Stetson in the minor upset here, with Gersh and Teddy picking the Hatters to win the whole thing.  Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Waters all picked FGC to win this tournament, so multiple people will lose a champion here today.  Dave and GrossSr have already lost this game, having picked ETSU.

Florida Gulf Coast 72 – Stetson 58
Sherwood Brown does what Sherwood Brown does – dominate.  Brown had 18 points, 7 boards, and 3 steals as FGC explodes for 48 second-half points in advancing to their third-straight A-Sun championship game.  The Eagles took care of business on the glass, outrebounding Stetson 40-29.

16 people correctly predicted the Eagles would return to the finals.  Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Waters all keep their champion alive..

#1 Mercer vs #5 USC-Upstate
A really good semifinal double-header in Macon, GA, will be capped off by a great semifinal matchup between the top-seeded Bears and the talented, but underachieving Spartans.  Both teams had somewhat easy quarterfinals, with Mercer cruising past #8 Lipscomb on Wednesday, while USCU knocked off #4 Jacksonville on Thursday.  The host, Bears, have yet to win this tournament since it moved to their home floor, but that was mainly because Belmont was still in the league.

Nobody has USCU winning this game, but Caleb and GrossSr are rooting for them because they have Jacksonville winning this game, so they are hoping no one gets any points here.  Half the field has Mercer cutting down the A-Sun nets, so the other half are probably USCU fans today, as well.

Mercer 72 – USC-Upstate 64
This game was tied at 57 with about 3:30 play when USCU’s best player and A-Sun Conference Player of the Year, Torrey Craig went down with an apparent concussion and Mercer’s star, Langston Hall, just took over.  The Bears, who have one of the nation’s longest winning streaks are now one home win away from Dancing.

22 people got this right, 12 of whom keep alive their champion.

QUARTERFINALS (March 6th & 7th – 6 points each)

#3 Stetson vs #6 East Tennessee St.
The Stetson Hatters this year were supposed to compete just to make the 8-team A-Sun tournament, but they were actually in contention for a conference title for a while, before finishing a respectable 3rd place behind the two big guns in the conference.  ETSU has the opposite story.  They were supposed to possibly challenge the big guys up top, but needed a late-season surge to assure themselves a place here at the tournament table.  This game is a battle of the guard-oriented ETSU team and a Stetson team with a lot of size.  The winner will get to face Florida Gulf Coast in Friday’s semifinal.

Eight people went for a decent pick here with ETSU (Bry, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, GrossSr, J, Scoot, and Waters).  Dave and GrossSr took it a step further, as they both have ETSU reaching the finals.  Gersh and Teddy are the biggest Stetson fans, as they picked them to cut down the A-Sun nets on Saturday.  Lazarow, Mac, and Stumpf all pegged the Hatters to reach the finals.

Stetson 67 – East Tennessee St. 46
The Stetson Hatters saw their excellent season slipping away at halftime, when they trailed by 3, but came out of the locker room like gangbusters and blew the doors off of ETSU for the relatively easy 21-point win.  The Hatters advance to Friday’s semifinals to take on 2nd-seeded Florida Gulf Coast.

Eight people missed this one, including Dave and GrossSr, who lost a finalist here.  Gersh and Teddy keep their A-Sun champs alive.

#4 Jacksonville vs #5 USC-Upstate
Probably the most intriguing matchup of the A-Sun quarters is Thursday’s 4-5 game between Jacksonville and Upstate.  The A-Sun this year was supposed to be a thrilling three-team race all year, but one team just didn’t show up to the party – USC-Upstate.  Between Torrey Craig, Ricardo Glenn, and Jodd Maxey, many believe that this Spartan team has clearly the most talent in the entire conference, but they have just been unable to put any semblance of consistency together this year.  Jacksonville, on the other hand, has probably overachieved given the talent level that they have.  Until the final two weeks of the season, the Dolphins were right in the mix for a conference title.  They finished #4 and need to beat Upstate for a semifinal shot at #1 Mercer.

Much of the field was enamored enough with the talent of Upstate to take them here in the minor upset, though no one was enamored enough to have them beating Mercer in the semis.  Ten people (Caleb, Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, Lohse, Primm, Scoot, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters) took the favored Dolphins in this one, with Caleb putting the ‘Phins through to the finals, and GrossSr picking them to win the whole thing.

USC-Upstate 76 – Jacksonville 62
All 5 Upstate starters were in double-figures, as the Spartans take one step towards vindicating their otherwise disappointing season.  They will take a shot at top-seeded Mercer (on the Bears home floor) in Friday’s semifinal.  A mediocre Jacksonville season comes to a close in this one.

Ten people missed this minor upset, with Caleb losing a finalist and GrossSr losing a champion.

#2 Florida Gulf Coast vs #7 North Florida
As good of a season as FGC had – and it was, clearly, the best in program history – they couldn’t pull out their first conference title and now they get a pretty tough quarterfinal against a UNF team that won 8 conference games and has been playing very well lately.

Surprisingly, Lazarow is the only one who took this very enticing upset pick.  Nine people will be playing close on ESPN3 this afternoon, as they have FGC winning this tournament.

Florida Gulf Coast 73 – North Florida 63
As expected, the Ospreys of UNF put up a good fight, but eventually the more talented FGC team prevailed, despite a relatively quiet day from their star, Sherwood Brown.  For UNF, it was quite the way to close out a career for Parker Smith, who closed out a stellar career with 29 points and looked like the best player on the floor for most of this game.  The FGC Eagles are now 8-0 against teams in the state of Florida and might get a shot at 9-0 in the semis if Stetson beats E.Tennessee St. in the quarterfinal.

Lazarow came close, but missed on his solo upset pick here.  The nine with FGC winning this tournament cleared the first hurdle.

#1 Mercer vs #8 Lipscomb
Just like FGC, top-seeded Mercer doesn’t get a walkover in the quarters, either, as Lipscomb is playing their best ball of the year and could put up a fight in the host’s own gym.

This is a rather mundane game for CTC purposes, as no one has Mercer going down here.  Though, half the field has someone other than Mercer winning this tournament, so they wouldn’t mind a Lipscomb upset here.

Mercer 82 – Lipscomb 48
Top-seeded Mercer looked like the A-Sun team to beat on Wednesday, as they pounded Lipscomb to open their A-Sun tournament run.  First-team all A-Sun point guard, Langston Hall went for 12 points and 10 assists, as the Bears move on to the semis on Friday.  A rough season for Lipscomb comes to a close with a whimper.

Not much going on in the CTC here, as everyone got this one right.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1  Mercer (12)
• #2 Florida Gulf Coast (9)
• #3 Stetson (2)
• #4 Jacksonville (1)

Biggest Upsets

• QF – #7 North Florida (Lazarow)
• SF – #6 East Tennessee St. (Dave & GrossSr)
• Champ – #4 Jacksonville (GrossSr)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – J
• 2009 – J
• 2010 – Bry
• 2011 – Dave & J
• 2012 – Gersh, Gross, Lohse, Mac, Rikey, Scoot, Stri & Teddy

2013 FINAL SCORES

1. Lynch (’13*) – 75 (perfect)
2. PapaCim (’13*) – 75 (perfect)
3. GrossJr (’12) – 69
4. J (’08, ’09, ’11) – 69
5. Lohse (’12) – 66
6. Primm – 66
7. Scoot (’12) – 60
8. Waters – 60
9. Caleb – 54
10. Alex – 51
11. Cheryl – 51
12. RDoc – 51
13. Rikey (’12) – 51
14. Bry (’10) – 45
15. Doogan – 45
16. LohseJr – 42
17. Alexi – 39
18. Mac (’12) -39
19. Lazarow – 33
20. Gersh (’12) – 30
21. Stumpf – 30
22. Teddy (’12) – 30
23. Dave – 24
24. GrossSr – 12 

With the first big-time scoring day, there was a ton of movement, and Bry’s big day gives him the overall lead, as the first to top 400 points.  As a point of reference, the winner last year nearly topped 3,000, so to say we are still very early in the 2013 CTC is a pretty big understatement.

While Bry jumped 11 spots to gain the top spot on the overall standings, the biggest jump of the day went to GrossJr, who climbed 16 places back into the top 4.  RDoc jumped into the top 5, gaining 14 spots, and GrossSr moved to #3 – an 11-spot increase.  Waters also jumped 11 spots into #11.

While Teddy had the lowest score of the day, Caleb took the biggest tumble, dropping 15 spots to #23.  I guess I jinxed Doogan by calling him consistent yesterday, as he fell 12 spots to #15.  Gersh and Rikey also fell, losing 9 and 7 spots, respectively.

J, Alex, LohseJr, and PapaCim all had solid days to remain in the top 10 and very much in striking distance here in the early going.  With semifinals and finals coming up this weekend and the bigger conferences next week, there is still a whole lot of shakeup bound to happen all up and down these standings.

DAY FOUR SCORES (Days Won):

1. Bry – 257 (2)
2. GrossJr – 237
3. RDoc – 220
4. GrossSr – 219
5. Waters – 211
6. Lazarow – 197
7. J – 189 (1)
8. Dave – 178
9. PapaCim – 178
10. Alex – 176
11. Alexi  – 172
12. LohseJr – 172 (1)
13. Scoot – 169
14. Stumpf – 168
15. Primm – 165 (1)
16. Mac – 164
17. Cheryl – 158
18. Lohse – 154
19. Gersh – 153
20. Doogan – 144
21. Rikey – 142
22. Lynch – 140
23. Caleb – 116
24. Teddy – 82

OVERALL STANDINGS THROUGH DAY FOUR

1. Bry – 400
2. J – 357
3. GrossSr – 355
4. GrossJr – 350
5. RDoc – 341
6. Alex – 332
7. Primm – 330
8. LohseJr – 327
9. PapaCim – 326
10. Mac – 320
11. Waters – 318
12. Alexi – 315
13. Gersh – 310
14. Lazarow – 308
15. Doogan – 303
16. Lynch – 292
17. Stumpf – 292
18. Lohse – 289
19. Cheryl – 282
20. Rikey – 280
21. Dave – 277
22. Scoot – 273
23. Caleb – 268
24. Teddy – 209

Fueled, in part, by the huge upset pick of Loyola Marymount, our defending overall champ, Primm take the Day Three title and moves into 2nd place in the overall standings.  J has another solid day and is back in the top spot overall, while the ever-consistent Doogan hovers within striking distance in 3rd place.  Other big climbers include Alexi, Mac and PapaCim, who each gained 8 spots on the overall leaderboard.

GrossJr has really rough day, finishing 11 points worse than anyone else on Day Three, causing a 16-spot drop in the standings from 4th to 20th.  GrossSr hit the LMU pick late, saving himself from a disastrous day, but still fell 7 spots to 14th.  Rikey falls 7 spots to 13th place.  Our leader after two days, LohseJr, struggles a bit and falls to 7th place.

DAY THREE SCORES

1. Primm – 79 (1)
2. Mac – 74
3. PapaCim – 72
4. Alex – 70
5. J – 70
6. Lynch – 70
7. Caleb – 69
8. Gersh – 69
9. Alexi – 68
10. Doogan – 64
11. Bry – 57
12. Lohse – 57
13. Cheryl – 50
14. Rikey – 50
15. LohseJr – 49
16. GrossSr – 48
17. Teddy – 47
18. Waters – 45
19. RDoc – 44
20. Stumpf – 43
21. Lazarow – 37
22. Dave – 33
23. Scoot – 33
24. GrossJr – 22

OVERALL STANDINGS THROUGH 3 DAYS

1. J – 168
2. Primm – 165
3. Doogan – 159
4. Gersh – 157
5. Alex – 156
6. Mac – 156
7. LohseJr – 155
8. Caleb – 152
9. Lynch – 152
10. PapaCim – 148
11. Alexi – 143
12. Bry – 143
13. Rikey – 138
14. GrossSr – 136
15. Lohse – 135
16. Teddy – 127
17. Cheryl – 124
18. Stumpf – 124
19. TDoc – 121
20. GrossJr – 113
21. Lazarow – 111
22. Waters – 107
23. Cheryl – 104
24. Dave – 99

After the second-best Day One, CTC rookie, LohseJr, shares the honor of Day Two champ with the veteran, Bry.  LohseJr now has an 8-point lead over the rest of the field.  Bry, with his big day moves up 14 places from 22nd to 8th.  Another grizzled vet, Doogan, who finished just a point behind the winners, made a nice jump from 8th to 3rd.  Another rookie, GrossSr, who was also 1 point back, jumped 12 spots from 19th to 7th.  The biggest fall of the day came from Scoot, who finished in last on the day, costing him a fall from 5th to 22nd.  Mac also took a tumble from 4th to 14th.

DAY TWO SCORES

1. Bry – 75 (1)
2. LohseJr – 75 (1)
3. Doogan – 74
4. GrossSr – 74
5. Lynch – 68
6. Primm – 68
7. Gersh – 67
8. GrossJr – 67
9. Teddy – 67
10. Alex – 65
11. Caleb – 64
12. Rikey – 64
13. Stumpf – 62
14. Alexi – 61
15. Lazarow – 61
16. Lohse – 58
17. Mac – 58
18. RDoc – 58
19. PapaCim – 57
20. Dave – 56
21. Cheryl – 55
22. J – 55 (1)
23. Waters – 54
24. Scoot – 47

Overall Standings After Day Two

1. LohseJr – 106
2. J – 98
3. Doogan – 95
4. GrossJr – 91
5. Gersh – 88
6. GrossSr – 88
7. Rikey – 88
8. Alex – 86
9. Bry – 86
10. Primm – 86
11. Caleb – 83
12. Lynch – 82
13. Mac – 82
14. Stumpf – 81
15. Teddy – 80
16. Lohse – 78
17. RDoc – 77
18. PapaCim – 76
19. Alexi – 75
20. Cheryl – 74
21. Lazarow – 74
22. Scoot – 71
23. Dave – 66
24. Waters – 62

A crazy quadruple-header in the Big South and a very chalky Horizon get the CTC off and running.  Bolstered by the huge Longwood upset pick, J wins Opening Day.

1. J – 43 (1)
2. LohseJr – 31
3. GrossJr – 24
4. Mac – 24
5. Rikey – 24
6. Scoot – 24
7. Alex – 21
8. Doogan – 21
9. Gersh – 21
10. Lohse – 20
11. Caleb – 19
12. Cheryl – 19
13. PapaCim – 19
14. RDoc – 19
15. Stumpf – 19
16. Primm – 18
17. Alexi – 14
18. GrossSr – 14
19. Lynch – 14
20. Lazarow – 13
21. Teddy – 13
22. Bry – 11
23. Dave – 10
24. Waters – 8