Broad Street Believers

A really good day for Tobacco Road sets up a Final Four with three teams from The Triangle plus one from Tallahassee.

Gross and J were the only two to go 4-for-4 in yesterday’s quarters.  With J’s better first round, he leads this conference, but they have opposing champions, so it should come down to whether Gross can hit UNC to win this.

#1 North Carolina vs. #5 N.C. State
The Tar Heels took care of business against Maryland yesterday, while the Wolfpack got a really nice win over UVa that probably put them in the Dance.  If State can hang around, this could be a really interesting game because they are one of the few teams that have the athleticism to compete with the Heels.  And, now that they actually have a really good X and O coach on the sidelines, they are pretty dangerous.

Dave and KA have already lost this game with the Cavs; the other 18 people have the Heels, with 10 of them picking them to win it all (Alexi, Bry, Doogan, Gersh, Gross, Lohse, Rikey, RDoc, Scoot, Stri).

#2 Duke vs. #3 Florida St.
The Dukies didn’t exactly look great in their first postseason game yesterday, while FSU looked decent.  Now, they get to have a rematch of that thrilling FSU win in January.

This could be just the break that a couple of contenders need, as Gross and Primm both have the Seminoles in this upset; Scoot does, as well.  RDoc had Miami here, so he has already lost it.  The other 16 all have Duke.

This joke of a conference has their title game today.  The tournament (all three games of it so far) has been pretty good – again.  There’s just something about bad basketball teams – they seem to create dramatic basketball games.

Someone is going to win this conference with a perfect bracket.  KA will finish perfect with an NJIT win; Lynch and Waters will be perfect with a ND win.  Gersh has clinched the “money” division here

#2 North Dakota vs. #4 NJIT
What a game…

KA is the only one with NJIT winning this tournament.  Gersh, Lynch, Mac, Primm, RDoc, Teddy, and Waters all have ND.

It’s getting really interesting…

On, by far, the biggest day yet, a couple people made some serious moves up the standigs, and we’ve got ourselves a really tight ballgame here.  Primm wins the day with 615 points.  Gross and Doogan also had gigantic days.  All three of them climbed 3 spots in the standings into 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  Bry maintains a 71-point lead over 2nd-place Mac, but Doogan and Primm are now both within 100 points.  Gross is within 150.  Lynch and Waters both climb 3 spots each, into 9th and 16th, respectively.  Stri jumped 2 spots to 11th.

Lohse, Dave, and RDoc came into the day in 3rd, 4th, and 5th.  They all had rough days, dropping three spots each to 6th, 7th, and 8th.  Interestingly, that group of three just switched places with Doogan, Primm, and Gross, who were 6-8 coming into the day.  J also took a fall, dropping 3 place to 13th.  Gersh came up with only 319 points on the day and dropped 2 spots to 19th.

DAY TWELVE SCORES:

1. Primm – 615
2. Gross – 596
3. Doogan – 588
4. Waters – 504.5
5. Lynch – 483
6. Mac – 481.5
7. Bry 466.5
8. RDoc – 448.5
9. Rikey – 445.5
10. Dave – 436
11. Lohse – 433
12. Teddy – 430
13. Stri – 417
14. RSmith – 395
15. Lil Lohse – 390
16. KA – 371.5
17. Alexi – 369.5
18. Scoot – 363.5
19. J – 348.5
20. Gersh – 319

OVERALL STANDINGS:

1. Bry – 2442
2. Mac – 2371
3. Doogan – 2362
4. Primm – 2359
5. Gross – 2296.5
6. Lohse – 2269
7. Dave – 2267.5
8. RDoc – 2245
9. Lynch – 2137.5
10. Teddy – 2108
11. Stri – 2033.5
12. Alexi – 2025.5
13. J – 2021
14. Rikey – 2018.5
15. RSmith – 2010
16. Waters – 1878.5
17. Scoot – 1859.5
18. Lil Lohse – 1803
19. Gersh – 1788.5
20. KA – 1533.5

The WAC quarters saw the two clear-cut top teams survive rather easily and then two exciting upsets, basically presenting a pretty smooth road to a Nevada-New Mexico St. showdown in the WAC finals – just as it ought to be.

No one hit both of the upsets last night, so no one went perfect, but Bry, Lohse, and Waters all went 3-for-4 and hit the more valuable upset, so they are leading this conference, as it stands now.

#1 Nevada vs. #5 Louisiana Tech
The Wolfpack only scored 54 points last night and yet still cruised to a relatively easy victory over a bad San Jose St. team.  Louisiana Tech kept their hot streak going and knocked off a Utah St. team that really wasn’t a typical USU team, setting up the big shot for an upset.

19 people have Nevada winning this game, with the lone exception (Waters) having already lost the game with Utah St.  Most of the field has the Wolfpack winning the tournament.

#2 New Mexico St. vs. #6 Hawai’i
The Rainbow Warriors pulled of the WAC’s biggest quarterfinal upset of the day yesterday, when they came back from 7 points down in the final 6 minutes to get a buzzer-beating win over the Idaho Vandals.  NMSU hammered Fresno St., setting up this decent semifinal matchup.

7 peole have already lost this game with Idaho (Alexi, Dave, J, KA, RSmith, Scoot, Stri).  The other 13 all have NMSU, with Gersh, Gross, Lohse, Mac, RDoc, Teddy, and Waters all picking the Aggies to take this title.

I made the claim earlier that the Big XII’s Final Four was the best in the country.  Now, I’m not going to backtrack on that, but I think that the Mountain West semis that are taking place tonight in Sin City might be #2, actually.  This is going to be some serious ball tonight at the Thomas & Mack.

13 of the 20 entries went all chalk in the quarterfinals, and 13 of the 20 entries went 4-for-4 yesterday.

#1 San Diego St. vs. #4 Colorado St.
If yesterday didn’t break perfectly for CSU to finally get a well-deserved at-large big, then I’m just not paying attention.  They did everything you’re supposed to do.  They scheduled people, they beat people.  They were near the top of a very good conference.  They avoided any really bad losses.  Their computer numbers are very good, and they should pass the proverbial (and wildly subjective) “eye test.”  And, maybe most importantly of all, they didn’t slap the Committee in the face this week by laying an egg for their last impressions (a la Washington, Oregon, Northwestern, Illinois, Mississippi St…).  The Rams won their 20th game last night in convincing fashion, by dropping a solid TCU team 81-60 in the MWC quarters.  Now, they get a chance to leave no doubt by grabbing another big win against a SDSU team that looked pretty vulnerable last night in their quarterfinal win over #8 Boise St.  In fact, they trailed most of the way and needed an amazing shot by Jamaal Franklin at the buzzer.

Alexi, Gross, J, Lohse, and Teddy all have CSU in a nice upset pick here.  KA has already lost with TCU.  The other 14 have SDSU here, though only Dave, Rikey, and RSmith have them winning the whole thing.

#2 New Mexico vs. #3 UNLV
Other than Ohio St., is there a better #3-seed in the country than UNLV?  I don’t think so.  But, then again, there aren’t that many #2-seeds as good as New Mexico either.  The Lobos hammered Air Force last night, while the Rebels weren’t exactly Runnin’ last night in their win over the methodical and plodding Cowboys of Wyoming.  Tonight’s game should be an outright war.

The CTC will feel some waves from this game, as all 20 people have a horse in this race, and it’s pretty evenly split.  13 are for the slight underdog of UNLV, with 7 for New Mexico (Alexi, Dave, Gross, J, Lil Lohse, RDoc, Stri).  Most of the selections tonight are also selections to win the tournament, so this game will take out a ton of championship picks, no matter how it turns out.

The MAC resurgence this year was fueled, mainly, by four really solid mid-major teams.  And, due to the new tournament format, it was actually possible that these four best teams would constitute the conference’s final four.  And, it all worked out as planned, and now we have a really, really interesting two-day, four-team war about to take place in Cleveland.

J, riding the N. Illinois, C. Michigan, and W. Michigan upsets, has a pretty substantial MAC lead.  He actually went one round too far on Toledo or he would have had this bracket done perfectly so far.  But, with a huge spread of picks among these last four teams, this conference is still completely up for grabs.

#1 Akron vs. #4 Kent St.
The Akron Zips have been in the MAC championship every year since 2007, despite not having the #1-seed in any of those years (they were only a #2 once).  Now, thy finally broke through and won the MAC regular season title, but still have a really tough game to reach an amazing 6th straight title game.  Kent St. survived a determined W. Michigan team last night, 76-72 to set up this outstanding semifinal.

This is a pretty important CTC game today, even though it is in a 3x conference.  6 people have Kent St. in the upset here (Dave, Gersh, J, KA, Lil Lohse, Lynch), including Dave and KA, who have Kent winning the tournament.  Teddy will lose a game where he picked E. Michigan for the fourth straight round.  The other 13 have Akron, but only Bry, Rikey, and Waters have the Zips winning the whole thing.

#2 Buffalo vs. #3 Ohio
In arguably the best season ever for the Buffalo Bulls, they earned themselves one of the two triple-byes given out for the first time this year.  The one potential downside to that (that also affects Akron in the early game) is that they haven’t played a game in 6 days.  Ohio, who struggled early yesterday with Toledo before turning it on late, got to work off the rust last night before entering this matchup for a shot at the title.

This is another game with pretty major CTC implications.  The majority of the field actually has Ohio here, as only 6 people have the Bulls (Bry, Dave, Gross, J, Lil Lohse, Primm).  KA has already lost this game with Bowling Green, but the other 13 have Ohio here, with half the field (Alexi, Doogan, Gersh, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, RSmith, Scoot, Stri) picking the Bobcats to win the tournament.  Gross, Lil Lohse, and Primm are the only three with Buffalo winning the tournament.

Last night’s Big West semis may have just greased the rails for what everyone thought would happen anyway – that the whole Big West season would come down to a single game on March 10th between LBSU and UCSB.  Now, we just have to see if it goes according to the script tonight, which it didn’t last night, when UC-Irvine upset the #2-seeded CS-Fullerton Titans.

Bry and Mac both went 4-for-4 in the quarters yesterday and have the same picks going forward.  And, with CS-Fullerton out and no one really going off the map, there is only one chance of them not splitting this title.  RDoc will win the Big West if UCSB wins the title.  Otherwise, it’s a two-way split.

#1 Long Beach St vs. #7 UC-Irvine
Since I wrote too many words on The Beach yesterday, I’ll just say that the UC-Irvine Anteaters have an amazing nickname…and no shot.

Everyone has LBSU reaching the finals, except KA, who has already lost a finalist with Pacific.

#3 UC-Santa Barbara vs #4 Cal Poly
The UC-Irvine upset yesterday (and the reseeding factor) set up the semifinal round that really ought to be.  LBSU has earned an easy road, and these two teams are really the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the conference and, therefore, ought to play for a spot in the finals.  Cal Poly beat UC-Riverside handily yesterday afternoon, while the Gouchos hammered Pacific last night.

KA is the only one with Cal Poly reaching the finals, so that would be a real nice upset pick if it came through.  8 people have the Gouchos going to the finals (Alexi, Bry, J, Lynch, Mac, Rikey, RDoc, Scoot).  RDoc is the only one that has them winning this tournament and will win the CTC Big West crown if they do.

Yesterday is the perfect example of why I hate the way the media treats the Pac-12.  Oregon’s loss to Colorado is NOT evidence of how deep the league is because Colorado is good enough to beat the Ducks.  It IS evidence of how bad the league is because Oregon couldn’t win a game they absolutely needed against a mediocre team.  And, I won’t even mention how Washington LOST that game yesterday (the scoreboard might say that Oregon St. won it, but anyone who watched the game – or knows anything about free throw shooting – will tell you that both teams lost).  Wait, to be fair, this is just kind of my opinion because it could be the real depth of the league that is causing this, right?  If only we had a way to measure these teams against teams in other leagues…if only we played NON-CONFERENCE GAMES.  Wait, we do?  We do get a chance to see how these teams would do against decent competition in other leagues?  Okay, so, how did they do?  They didn’t beat a single team in the RPI top-50 – AS A CONFERENCE?!?  You mean to tell me that 12 teams in one of the richest, most advantaged conferences in the nation could not beat a single team ranked in the top FIFTY?  So, why, again, does this conference deserve any real at-large consideration?  Because Washington won the league?  Iona won their league.  Drexel won their league.  Middle Tennessee won their league.  Hell, UT-Arlington won their league.  Washington won a mediocre conference this year and then, in their most important game of the year, they lost to the 9th-place team in said league.  Okay, rant over, sorry for the tangent.

RDoc is the only one to hit the big Oregon St. upset yesterday, so he sits atop the Pac-12 CTC standings.  But, he also lost his champion (UCLA) yesterday, so he needs the Beaver Madness (leave it alone…) to continue today if he’s to keep his lead.

#4 Arizona vs. #9 Oregon St.
Do you know what the awful fallout of this Washington fiasco is?  The Huskies are still going to get in because “they won the Pac-12, they have to be one of the best 37 at-large teams.”  And, now that Oregon St. is coming off a big, emotional win, they have to play their third game in three days against Arizona.  So, the Wildcats will probably win that game, sending them to the Pac-12 finals, opening up the argument for yet another Pac-12 team to get in.  So, a game that should have finally proven to the Committee (and the world) that this is a one-bid league, it is going to have the opposite effect and now add ammo to the argument of MORE Pac-12 teams.  God help me if Colorado wins today, which might put them back in the discussion and it might lessen the effect of the Oregon loss in the quarters here to help their case…ahhhh.

I guess I wasn’t done the rant.  Now, for the game.  Arizona looked pretty good yesterday, despite the suspension to Turner (I guess sometimes when you have a prima dona point guard, you might be better without him, regardless of the talent).  Then again, they were playing a mediocre UCLA team (see, this conference sucks).  Oregon St. tried to give the game away, but Washington (Tony Wroten, in particular) wouldn’t take it.  Have fun in the D-League after leaving WAYYY too early, Tony.

Obviously, no one has Oregon St. here, but Arizona could be HUGE for a couple of the legit contenders.  Dave, Doogan, Gross, and Waters all have the ‘Cats winning here.  Doogan and Gross have them winning the tournament.

#2 California vs. #6 Colorado
Mike Montgomery’s Cal Bears survived a scare from Monty’s ex-team and arch-rival, Stanford, last night, but Pac-12 POY Jorge Gutierrez was too good down the stretch, and Cal moves on to today’s semis.  The Buffs of Colorado are now 2-0 all-time in Pac-12 tournament games, as Colorado won a roller-coaster quarterfinal over Oregon last night, when double-double machine, Andre Roberson, scored the go-ahead bucket with :10 seconds left to effectively end any at-large talk for the Beavers (or it should, at least – it probably won’t…they’ll probably get a 7-seed just to spite me).  Now, can Colorado play its way back on the bubble with a win here (or play it’s way to an auto-bid with another win tomorrow)?

No one has Colorado winning this game, and only half of the field has the 2nd-seeded Bears making the finals (Bry, Dave, Gross, KA, Mac, Rikey, RDoc, RSmith, Scoot, Stri), with only Bry, Dave, Mac, and Stri picking them to win the tournament.

N.J.I.T. beat Houston Baptist in, what I’m sure was, a thrilling game in Chicago last night, setting up the Great West’s version of a Final Four.

#1 Utah Valley vs. #4 N.J.I.T.
Utah Valley has proven themselves to be the class of this “conference” in its three years of existence.  They have won the first two tournaments and the first three regular seasons.  But, the past two tournament have been on their home floor. 

KA, Lynch, and Waters have the NJIT upset pick; the other 17 have UVU, with most of them picking them to win the tournament.

#2 North Dakota vs. #3 TX-Pan American
It is amazing just how far UTPA has come in just one year.  Last year, they were the 345th (out of 345) team in the RPI.  This year, they earned themselves a first-round bye in their conference tournament.  Okay, that was only a little sarcastic. 

Dave, Doogan, and J are the only three that picked UTPA in this mild upset.  The other 17 have UND.