Broad Street Believers

The top two teams survived; the next two did not.  Now, we are on to the semis tonight.  Dave, Doogan, J, Mac, and Stri were perfect in the quarters and will try to continue.

#1 Mississippi Valley St. vs. #5 AR-Pine Bluff
MVSU, after a 17-1 regular season, nearly ruined it all by losing to 8th-seeded Jackson St., but the Delta Devils came back and won to put themselves 2 wins away from the First Four.  ARPB was down big in the second half against Alabama St., but came all the way back and won in overtime last night to keep their First Four chances alive.

Gross, J, Lohse, and Teddy all have a shot at a pretty nice upset pick here with ARPB.  Gross and J actually have them winning it all.  Gersh, KA, Scoot, and Waters have already lost this game.  The other 12 have MVSU.

#2 Texas-Southern vs. #6 Alcorn St.
Alcorn St. was leading 63-18 at one point in their quarterfinal yesterday against Prairie View.  TX-Southern handled Alabama A&M with ease on Wednesday.

J is the only one with a nice upset pick of Alcorn here.  Gersh, Gross, KA, Lil Lohse, Scoot, and Teddy all had PV here, so they have lost it.  The other 13 have TX-S.

With the winningest team and the hottest team both out, we’re left with the most talented team, a solid and experienced team, a young and improving team, and a longshot wild card.

Doogan is currently leading this conference, but Dave is right behind him and has a shot to hit both finalists, while Doogan can only hit one.  And, Dave still has his champion left, while Doogan’s is out.  Doogan will hold on, if BCC and Norfolk both lose somewhere along the way.

#2 Norfolk St. vs. #11 Florida A&M
Norfolk is the best team in this conference, but they hadn’t been playing like it.  And, they still didn’t on Wednesday night, when they squeeked by Howard in the quarters.  FAMU completed a furious comeback against Coppin St. on Tuesday night, setting up their overtime win last night over Delaware St.  Can they pull off another shocker?

11 people have Norfolk St. winning this game; the other 9 have already lost it (Alexi, Gersh, Lil Lohse, Lohse, Mac, RDoc, RSmith, Scoot, Waters).

#4 Bethune-Cookman vs. #8 Hampton
The Hampton Pirates are very young, but it looks like they might be coming together at just the right time.  The Pirates beat perennial favorite Morgan St. on Tuesday, before easily handling the regular season champs, Savannah St., the next night.  Now, they get BCC, who won a thriller last night over N.C. Central.

Dave and RDoc both have BCC winning this game, in a nice upset pick.  The other 18 entries had a team that has already been eliminated.

The C-USA quarterfinal quadruple-header in Memphis yesterday was one for the ages, particularly that daytime session that featured a little bit of everything.  The Marshall-Tulsa game might have been the craziest basketball game that I have ever seen.  It’s one of those that I will remember 20 years from now.

Lynch, Primm, and Teddy are all still perfect through 8 C-USA games, which is pretty impressive considering how much madness this tournament has shown us.  All three have the same semifinal winners, so it will, unless someone else sneaks in with a big upset, most likely come down to tomorrow’s championship game to decide the CTC champion.

#1 Memphis vs. #4 Central Florida
As crazy as the day doubleheader was yesterday, it was probably even more of a relief for these two favorites to roll through their quarters without any real challenge.  Memphis hammered UTEP, while UCF did get a small test from a valiant UAB team, but the Knights were just too good.  And, though they never really get the press, UCF is in a pretty good bubble position here, which would almost go to “lock” status with a win tonight.  But, that might be a tall order, as Memphis is playing really, really well right now.

17 people have the Tigers winning this one, with Dave, J, and KA going for a pretty impressive upset pick.  Dave and KA both have the Knights actually winning this tournament, and with Dave right in the mix for the overall title, this game becomes gigantic in the grand scheme of things in the CTC.

#2 Southern Miss vs. #6 Marshall
The beauty of college basketball is the offering of second chances.  Marshall was supposed to be one of the true contenders in C-USA this year, but they vastly underachieved.  Now, after an 18-point win on Wednesday and a triple-OT thriller yesterday, the Thundering Herd are two wins away from dancing.  But, it could be a long two wins, especially considering they played a brutally hard-fought triple-OT game yesterday.  Maybe the thriller for Marshall yesterday was a blessing to S.Miss for several reasons.  One, Marshall has to be dead from that game, but secondly, because that game can make everyone forget that S.Miss nearly blew their quarterfinal several times against the 10-seed, ECU.

Gross and Lohse have the great upset pick of Marshall again here.  6 people incorrectly had Tulsa here (KA, Mac, Rikey, Scoot, Stri, Waters); the other 13 all have Larry Eustachy’s S.Miss squad, including J, Lil Lohse, Lynch, and Primm, who have them winning the tournament.

While I have often stated that I believe the Big Ten to be far and away the best conference in the nation, top to bottom, but I don’t think there is any question that the best Final Four of any conference tournament this year will be in Kansas City…today.

6 games into the 2012 Big XII tournament, and Bry has yet to miss a pick here.  But, there is still a lot to be decided, as many other people have only missed one.  This is far from over.

#1 Kansas vs. #4 Baylor
Perry Jones III dropped 31 yesterday, which should be absolutely terrifying for pretty much every other team in the country.  If that guy is motivated, this Baylor team has a legit shot to win the NCAA championship, let alone this Big XII championship.  But, #1 Kansas has won 9 straight Big XII regular season titles and the lion’s share of tournament titles, as well.

KA and Lynch both have Baylor here in a really nice upset pick.  Lynch has the Bears winning this tournament.  Many entries have KU as their Big XII champion.

#2 Missouri vs. #6 Texas
Texas probably ended all the talk about them missing the tournament this year with a really nice win over a decent Iowa St. team last night.  Mizzou blew the doors off of OK State, ending the career of the great Keaton Page.  The good news about Mizzou’s easy victory is that their biggest vulnerability is their depth, so having a relatively easy victory in the first round could come back to really pay off today and tomorrow, if they get there.

Gersh and J have a really big upset pick of Texas still alive in this one today. Dave, Gross, Mac, and Scoot have already lost with ISU here.  The other 14 all have Mizzou, with a lot of them taking the Tigers to win the tournament.

The Big East semifinal Friday night doubleheader is pretty much legendary in my mind.  I remember it being so great as a kid, as a teenager, as a college kid, and now as an “adult.”  It’s just a great double-header and, like the rest of this tournament in the World’s Most Famous Arena, it nearly always lives up to the hype.

With the great upset pick of L’ville last night and Villanova the first night, Primm is our current Big East leader.  Mac has hit 7 straight in this tournament, though, including a perfect quarterfinal round, and is right behind.  The 2012 CTC Big East champion probably rides solely on the second semifinal tonight, as Primm has L’ville and Mac has ND.

#1 Syracuse vs. #4 Cincinnati
Both of these teams had to show some real gumption to get here, but they did.  Syracuse poured cold water all over what looked like another potentially magical run for UConn yesterday, while Cincinnati needed two overtimes to finally be rid of Georgetown.

Gross is the only one of the 20 entries to have Cincinnati winning this game, so if they do, he will gain a huge 85 points on the other 19 people.  J, KA, Lynch, and Teddy have already lost this game with G’town.  The other 15 people all have the ‘Cuse, including many of them with the Orange to win this thing.

#3 Notre Dame vs. #7 Louisville
Another fanastic quadruple-header of Big East games finished up right around the stroke of midnight last night, when Notre Dame finally put away USF in overtime.  Louisville looked like the most impressive team of the night, as they handled a really good Marquette team, basically, from the opening tip.  Now, the two will play for a spot in the finals (a place Notre Dame has never been).

They will also, most likely, be battling to decide the 2012 CTC Big East champ, as the two current leaders are on opposite side of this one.  Mac has Notre Dame, and Primm has Louisville.  Primm is the only one with L’ville going to the finals.  KA and Waters are the only other two with Notre Dame in the finals.  The other 16 entries have all lost this game before it starts.  KA has Notre Dame winning this tournament.

We’ve had 11 great days of conference tournaments and now we finally get a glimpse at the best team in the country, as Kentucky joins the party on Bourbon Street today.  Yesterday’s SEC opening round got the party started late, with Mississippi State becoming yet another bubble team to implode, losing to 11th-seeded Georgia late last night.

Doogan and Primm nailed all four opening round games last night, so they will try and continue their SEC run today.

#1 Kentucky vs. #8 LSU
The Tigers rode the home crowd to a 16-point victory that ended the Arkansas season early.  And, their reward?  A date with the #1 team in the country. 

17 people have UK winning this whole tournament.  20 people have them winning this game.

#4 Florida vs. #5 Alabama
This is a really good game between two very flawed teams.  I’m not really sure why either team is flawed, as they have talent at every spot, but they most certainly are.  The Gators lead the nation in 3-pointers made, which is their greatest strength and also, quite possibly, their greatest weakness, in that they are so reliant on the long ball, and they tend to force so many shots, that they can shoot themselves out of a game really easily.  ‘Bama, on the other hand, should be a lot more consistent than they are.  Size and athleticism comes to the table every game, so it’s hard to imagine why this big, athletic ‘Bama team doesn’t show up some days.

Alexi, Dave, Gross, J, KA, Lynch, and Teddy all have Alabama in the mild upset here.  KA has Alabama in the finlas.  RDoc has Florida in the finals.

#2 Tennessee vs. #7 Ole Miss
Ole Miss, who looked rather far from the NCAA tournament at the beginning of the day yesterday, did what a lot of teams in their position (and better) did not do – they took care of business against a team they should have beaten.  While teams like Washington, Northwestern, Illinois, and conference-mate Mississippi State were busy losing games they should have won, the Rebels dispatched of an inferior Auburn team (sending them home to deal with point-shaving allegations) to set up a quarterfinal date with one of the hottest teams in the country.  It’s strange how we can just write teams off at some point in a college basketball season and then they turn around and force us to take notice.  The Vols were dead and buried, entering February, but they have won 8 of their last 9 and look like a completely different team with Jarnell Stokes in the lineup.  What a coaching job Cuonzo Martin has done in Knoxville this year, and now they have a shot to really put themselves into legit tournament discussion here.

This deep in the competition, this game could really make waves on the CTC leaderboard, as 6 people have a pretty big upset pick here with Ole Miss (Dave, Doogan, J, KA, Mac, Primm).  Moreover, the top 6 on the overall standings page entering today are exactly split 3 and 3 on this game, so all eyes are on New Orleans to see how this shakes out.  Incidentally, Lynch is the only one of the entire 20-person field to pick the 2-seed Tennessee to even make the finals, so the ramifications of this game are a one-time thing.

#3 Vanderbilt vs. #11 Georgia
An amazing day of madness had one last act to play out yesterday, and that was the UGA upset of 6th-seeded and bubble hopeful, Mississippi St.  The ‘Dawgs were in control most of the way and ended up with a double-digit win that caused ripples in SEC and CTC circles, alike.  Now, they go for another big upset, as they entertain 3rd-seeded Vanderbilt.  The Commodores have had a very peculiar season, in that they were pegged (understandably) as a Top 10 team in the preseason.  Their talent and experienced is unrivaled by all but the best teams in the nation.  But, in the beginning of the year they weren’t very good (or so you’d be led to believe by the national media).  In reality, they did have a head-scratching loss IN NOVEMBER to Cleveland State.  Then, they lost back-to-back overtime games to Xavier and Louisville, followed by a win at Davidson and another loss to a mid-major – this time Indiana St.  But, CSU and ISU are very good mid-majors and Xavier and L’ville were both in the top 10 when they beat the ‘Dores.  They went 10-6 in the SEC, with 2 losses to UK, an OT loss to Miss St. and road losses to Florida, Arkansas, and Tennessee.  They have posted double-digit wins over Florida and Marquette (on the road).  While they may not have been quite as good as people realized, I don’t see why they are seen as this huge disappoinment.  This was a good season by a potentially great team.  Watch out for them next week.

Gersh, Gross, Lynch, and Rikey have all lost this game already with Miss St.  The other 16 all have Vandy here, with 15 of them taking the ‘Dores to the finals.  KA, Mac, and RDoc have Vandy cutting down the nets on Sunday.

This is a fantastic conference, as evidenced by a pretty good day yesterday and a phenomenal day on tap today.  Honestly, this year’s Big Ten is one of the best conferences I can remember.

With the opening round quadruple-header in the books, Gersh, Lil Lohse, and Scoot all remain perfect here in the Big Ten, going 4-for-4 yesterday.  They will try and continue to runs today with the top 4 seeds getting involved.

#1 Michigan St. vs. #8 Iowa
Congrats to Fran McCaffery on his first Big Ten tournament win yesterday, ending the Bruce Weber Era at Illinois.  Now, he will have to match wits with Tom Izzo (wits probably isn’t the biggest issue here, it’s more the players…).  But, honestly, what another incredible job by Izzo this year.  Just sensational.

All 20 entries took Michigan State in this game, but only 4 (Gersh, Scoot, Stri, Waters) have them winning this title.

#4 Wisconsin vs. #5 Indiana
Yesterday I said that Mike Montgomery is the most underrated coach in America.  Well, I will stick to that, but only because I think that Bo Ryan is starting to get more of his just due.  This guy wins – and wins big – every year, despite have a serious lack of talent.  How many Badgers are in the NBA?  And, yet, Ryan’s teams are Top 15 every, single year.  They earned another bye with one of their least talented teams in a long time.  And, they will open with an immensely talented IU team coming off a big second half against PSU.

Indiana is a very popular upset pick here, as only 5 people (Bry, Gross, Rikey, RDoc, Waters) have the Badgers winning this game.  Gross (the huge Michigan St. fan) is the only one that has the Badgers beating Michigan St. in the semis.  On the other hand, 7 people have IU going to the finals (Dave, Doogan, Lil Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Primm, RSmith), with Lynch and RSmith picking them to win it all.

#2 Michigan vs. #10 Minnesota
Tubby’s Gophers looked pretty good yesterday in the heartless elimination of Northwestern in overtime.  Now, they get a Michigan team that looks as ready for March as any Wolverine team in a long time.

J is the only one with the huge upset pick of Minnesota here.  Alexi, Dave, Gross, Lohse, RSmith, and Waters all thought this was a good spot for an upset pick, but went with Northwestern to get that upset, so they can’t get any points here.  The other 13 people all have Michigan, including Lil Lohse, who has the Wolverines winning this tournament.

#3 Ohio St. vs. #6 Purdue
The Boilermakers welcomed Nebraska to the Big Ten tournament rudely yesterday, by hammering them in the nightcap.  Now, they get to take their shot at OSU.  Ohio St., the #3-seed, is though, by some, to be in the top 3 in the nation, let alone the Big Ten.  But, that remains to be seen.

KA and Stri are the only two with the Purdue upset here; everyone else has OSU.  Stri has the Boilers in the finals; KA has them winning it.

After the four games on Tuesday night, the A-10 is ready for the rest of its tournament in the great old Atlantic City.  It should be an interesting A-10 tournament this year, as the three-time defending tournament champions are actually the top seed this year, so we’ll see how the Owls can handle being the hunted this time.

More than half the field actually got all four opening round games correct, so this CTC title is wide open.

#1 Temple vs. #8 Massachusetts
The Minutemen knocked off Duquesne in Amherst on Tuesday, scoring a season-high 93 points.  They are playing well entering the tournament, but did lose in overtime to this Temple team last week.  This should be a much tougher quarterfinal than would be expected as the A-10’s top seed, as the conference is really deep this year. 

19 people have TU here, with only Teddy going for the huge upset with UMass.  Most of the field has the Owls cutting down the nets on Sunday.

#4 St. Bonaventure vs. #5 St. Joe’s
If you’ve never seen Andrew Nicholson play, you might want to tune in for this one…or just catch him in the NBA next year.  Check out these career numbers for the 6’9″ senior from Canada:  2,000+ points, 850+ rebounds, 225+ blocked shots.  He has even added an outside shot to his game this year, hitting 15 three-pointers in just 40 attempts.  The dude can flat-out ball, and if he ever gets a “tough” streak to him, he could be a solid pro.  Nicholson has one last chance to lead his team to the NCAA tournament and that starts today against Coach Pompous and his overrated Hawks. 

Surprisingly, only 5 people (Bry, Gross, Mac, Primm, Stri) went with St. Bonaventure here.  The other 15 have the mild upset of St. Joe’s.  Teddy is the only one with either of these teams going to the finals, as he has St. Joe’s there.

#2 St. Louis vs. #7 LaSalle
I get the feeling that people forget just how great of a coach Rick Majerus is (or maybe people forget, altogether, that he is even still coaching) because it seems as if it has come as a surprise that this St. Louis team is heading to the Dance – and, possibly, a white-jersey seed, at that.  But, this guy can flat-out coach and he took his time and built this program his way, and now everyone in the Gateway City is reaping the benefits.  The Bilikens open their postseason today against a pretty tough LaSalle team.  LaSalle is another example of just how deep this league is.  The Explorers won 20 games over a pretty tough schedule and they ended up in 7th place, needing a win over Richmond just to get here. 

Well, at least these people seem to know how good Majerus is, as 19 of the 20 CTC entries have St. Louis winning this game.  Only Waters, who has an L here with Richmond, did not take the Bilikens.  Gersh and Teddy put the A-10 champion on the line here with StL.  Several others have them in the finals.

#3 Xavier vs. #6 Dayton
What an interesting year for the Musketeers.  Before the brawl with cross-town rival, Cincinnati, they looked like a potential Final Four team.  Now, they look like a Final Four team in the NIT.  It’s truly unbelievable because they have so much talent.  Would it surprise anyone if they ran right through this tournament?  Would it surprise anyone if they bowed out by 20 tonight against their biggest conference rivals?  Doubt it.  Dayton handled GW on Tuesday to set up this grudge match for a spot in the A-10 semis. 

This is an important CTC game, as well.  8 people have Dayton here (Doogan, Gersh, Gross, Lil Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, Scoot, Stri); the other 12 have X.  Gross and Scoot have Dayton getting to the finals before losing.  Lynch has the Flyers winning the whole tournament.  Likewise, Dave and KA both have Xavier taking this title and the auto-bid.  Alexi, J, Primm, and RSmith have the Musketeers in the finals.

With the ACC so down this year, particularly in the middle and bottom of the conference, the opening round quadruple-header was rather uneventful.  The semifinals should be very good, but today’s quarters have a chance to be relatively interesting.

7 people went 4-for-4 yesterday, including Dave, Doogan, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Stri, and Teddy, so this conference is there for the taking.

#1 North Carolina vs. #8 Maryland
The Terps looked really good yesterday, and it is hard to know whether that was because they played really well or their opponents (Wake Forest) were just that bad.  It was probably some of Column A, and more of Column B.  Either way, to say that the competition level from the 9th-place Deacons to the 1st-place Heels is a a big step up is quite the understatement.  UNC was the preseason #1, and, while it took them 4 months to show it, they sure looked like it on Saturday in Cameron.  Now, they get to start their quest for an ACC title and another #1 seed in the tournament.  Personally, I’m hoping that they can get that third #1, so that, if all falls right (which never happens), we could get a dream championship game between Kentucky and Carolina.  But, that’s more of a Sunday night conversation.

KA has this huge upset pick of Maryland here.  The other 19 have UNC, with a large number taking Carolina all the way.

#4 Virginia vs. #5 N.C. State
This is a great quarterfinal matchup.  Not because it’s two great teams, but because it’s two decent teams, who are very interesting, particularly if matched up against each other because of their different styles.  N.C. State throws athletes at you in waves, while UVa likes to play slowwwwwwwwwwww.

Doogan, Gross, J, Lynch, and RSmith are the only 5 with N.C. State here.  Waters has already lost the game with BC.  The other 14 have the Cavs.  Dave and KA have UVa in the finals.

#2 Duke vs. #10 Virginia Tech
Va Tech ended the Clemson season last night, 68-63, giving them a shot at #2 Duke.  The Blue Devils don’t have the most talented team in the country, by any stretch, but they do have the best coach.  Ryan Kelly is out for the tournament, which should hurt, but they have like 7 Plumlees that can just up their minutes a little bit and no one will notice that the other big white guy is out.

All 20 entries have Duke winning this game, so I guess the 4 people that don’t have Duke in the finals (Gross, Primm, RDoc, Scoot) will hope that they get this pick wrong.

#3 Florida St. vs.

This is the one…

While yesterday had more games (49, as compared to 38 today), today’s games are worth twice as much and are, oftentimes, less obvious.  So, today and tomorrow are the days where there are IMMENSE opportunities to move in the standings.  There are so many points still yet to be won, that it’s hard to say that any lead or any position is even remotely safe.

Today’s action should be quite intense…

Semifinal Doubleheaders
Big East
Big West
Big XII
Conf USA
Great West
MAC
MEAC
Mountain West
Pac-12
SWAC
WAC

Quarterfinal Quadruple-Headers
ACC
Atlantic 10
Big Ten
SEC