Broad Street Believers

The Southland quarters were yesterday, setting up today’s semifinal doubleheader.

#2 Stephen F. Austin vs. #3 Lamar
SFA crushed their rival Sam Houston St. yesterday, while Lamar struggled with Northwestern St., but survived.  Now, these two teams that were picked to finish 1-2 in the conference before the season get to battle for a spot in the finals.  This game could make a huge difference in the Southland (and as much a difference as a 1.5x conference can make in the overall).  10 people have the slight upset for Lamar; 9 have SFA (Gersh, Gross, Lil Lohse, Mac, Primm, Rikey, RSmith, Stri, Waters).  Teddy is the only one that can’t win this, as he had Sam Houston here.

#1 UT-Arlington vs. #4 McNeese St.
UTA blew the doors off of Nicholls St. yesterday, while McNeese needed every bit of overtime to outlast UT-San Antonio.  Now, they will try and slow down an Arlington team that is on a serious roll.  Waters is the only one that picked McNeese to hit this upset,  so he can get 25.5 free points on the rest of the field if this upset comes through.  KA and Lohse have already lost with UTSA here.  The other 17 have UTA in this one.

The top two seeds survived their SWAC quarters yesterday, now we will see who their semifinal opponents will be tomorrow.

#3 Prairie View vs. #6 Alcorn St.
Both of these teams are pretty bad, so I won’t pretend to make this out to be a good game.  Dave, Doogan, J, Mac, RSmith, and Stri have Alcorn in the upset here.  J has Alcorn in the finals.  Everyone else has PV here, with KA and Teddy putting their SWAC champions on the line today.

#4 Alabama St. vs. #5 AR-Pine Bluff
Another game between two bad teams that are hard to care about – except the fact that it’s guaranteed that two people will lose their champions here.  Only 6 people took the favored Alabama St. team here (Gersh, KA, Primm, Rikey, RSmith, Waters).  Gersh, RSmith, and Waters have them going to the finals, with Gersh and RSmith picking them to win the tournament.  Gross and J both have ARPB winning this tournament.

After four games on Monday, and two more last night, the MAC is ready for a quarterfinal doubleheader tonight, as the 3- and 4-seeds join the party.

#4 Kent St. vs. #8 Western Michigan
WMU took care of N. Illinois last night 71-54 after outlasting Ball St. on Monday to reach this quarterfinal round and a date with Kent tonight.  Kent is always solid, and this year is no different.  They took a couple close losses to drop them to 4th, but they are as dangerous as anyone else in this conference both this week and next.  The winner here will have a showdown with #1 Akron.  Everyone has KSU here except Primm, RSmith, and Teddy, who have already lost with E. Michigan in this spot.  Dave and KA have Kent winning this tournament.

#3 Ohio vs.#7 Toledo
The Rockets held off a surprisingly competitive Central Michigan team last night, after beating Miami (OH) on Monday.  Now, they come to Cleveland to face Ohio U.  This Bobcat team is really, really good, and very young, so they should have their day…and it might even be this day.  The winner will face #2 Buffalo in tomorrow’s semifinal. Gross and J have really nice upset picks here with Toledo.  Dave has already lost this by picking Bowling Green.  The other 17 entries have Ohio.  Half the field has Ohio winning this tournament (Alexi, Doogan, Gersh, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, RDoc, RSmith Scoot, Stri).

Conf USA gets going with its quarterfinal quadruple-header that adds the top 4 seeds to the winners from the opening round.

#2 Southern Miss vs. #10 E. Carolina
ECU upset Rice yesterday, and now they’ll get a shot for a real upset when they take on tourney lock, S. Miss.  S. Miss has gaudy computer numbers, which go a long way in the Committee room, so they should be in.  Gross, KA, and Mac have already lost this game with Rice.  The other 17 have S. Miss.  J, Lil Lohse, Lynch, and Primm have S.Miss winning this tournament.

#3 Tulsa vs. #6 Marshall
Marshall avoided an upset yesterday with a big second half against SMU, and now they get a shot at Tulsa.  This is a very popular upset pick, as only 9 took Tulsa here (Gersh, J, KA, Lil Lohse, Mac, Rikey, Scoot, Stri, Waters).  The other 11 have Marshall.  Gross and Lohse have Marshall going to the finals.  KA, Mac, Rikey, Scoot, Stri, and Waters all have Tulsa in the finals.  Mac and Rikey have them winning it all.

#1 Memphis vs. #8 UTEP
The Tigers were probably wishing that Houston would hold on to their 8-point lead in the final 3 minutes (I know I was…), but they didn’t and UTEP moves on to play the Tigers tonight.  Memphis is starting to play like the team that everyone had in the Top-15 to start the season, and I wouldn’t want to be the #1-seed that has to play 8th-seeded Memphis next weekend.  J and KA have the huge UTEP upset pick here, while the other 18 have Memphis.  The majority of the field has Memphis winning it all.

#4 Central Florida vs. #5 UAB
UCF has been pretty solid all year long.  They do have some guy named Jordan, so that’s always good when you’re forming a basketball team.  They will take on a UAB team that survived a scare from 12th-seeded Tulane last night.  Alexi, RSmith, and Scoot have the minor upset pick of UAB; the other 17 have UCF.  Dave and KA have UCF winning this title; J has them reaching the finals, but losing.

The Big XII tourney kicked off last night with two very uninteresting games.  But, just like that, this tournament became incredibly interesting, as the top 6 teams join the fold.

#4 Baylor vs. #5 Kansas St.
Baylor spent much of the season in the top 3 in the nation, and yet didn’t even finish in the top 3 in the Big XII when the smoke cleared.  They looked like a national championship team for 3 months and then looked totally lost for the last month.  Either way, there is so much talent on this team that they have to be considered a serious threat to make some noise both this week and next week.  Frank Martin has put together another fantastic campaign, and he continues to climb the ranks of the best coaches in the country, in my view.  This may have been his best job yet, as this team is not incredibly talented, but he’s got them playing very hard.  Only 5 people have K-State in the mild upset here (Doogan, Gersh, Gross, Primm, Stri).  KA and Lynch both have Baylor reaching the finals; Lynch has them winning it.

#1 Kansas vs. #9 Texas A&M
The reward for Texas A&M extending their season last night with a win over Oklahoma is a date with Kansas today.  Another terrific coaching performance by Bill Self, but then again, no one really knew quite the players he had sitting around in Robinson and Withey.  Not to mention the seeming transformation of Ty Taylor to a decent point guard.  Maybe that’s coaching, maybe that’s player development, maybe that’s fortune.  But, either way, this is an elite team this year, who is three wins from earning, without a doubt, a #1-seed.  Everyone has KU here.

#2 Missouri vs. #7 Oklahoma St.
The Missouri Tigers are one of the best stories in college hoops and are incredibly fun to watch.  They only have 7 scholarship players (and only one over 6’7″), so three games in three days might be a little hairy for this squad, but they can deal with that on Saturday, if they get there.  OSU didn’t look great last night against TTech, but they are a very dangerous team in this spot.  Dave and J went for the big upset here.  A lot of people have Mizzou winning this tournament.

#3 Iowa St. vs. #6 Texas
Two very interesting seasons represented in this game.  The Mayor, Freddy Hoiberg, has done a terrific job at ISU this year and is heading for the tournament.  Rick Barnes is in jeopardy of missing the tournament for the first time in his reign in Austin.  But, to defend Barnes (which I feel like I do every year around this time), it’s hard to imagine that he expected both Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph from going pro after one year in the Big XII.  Interestingly, this game is a dead split, as 10 people took a shot at the upset with Texas (Bry, Doogan, Gersh, J, KA, Lynch, Primm, Rikey, RDoc, and Waters.

After eight games in two days, why not go for 12 in three days.  The top four seeds in the Big East join the fray today to take on the four winners from yesterday.

#1 Syracuse vs. #9 Connecticut
The game of the day gets going just about immediately, as the defending champs are looking for one more magical run in MSG to get them to the Dance.  The ‘Cuse has been one of the top 2 teams all year and should easily have a #1 seed next week win or lose today.  Quick note that I found amazing – Syracuse is in the top 5 in the nation in steals, despite being among the rarest teams in the nation to employ a fullcourt press.  That is a great zone.  18 people have the ‘Cuse here; no one has UConn.  Gross and Teddy have already lost this game with WVU.

#4 Cincinnati vs. #5 Georgetown
The surprising Bearcats, who like the “opponents,” have looked like a totally different team since the brawl with Xavier – except they’ve moved in opposite directions.  While X went south, Cincy sort of took off.  And, now they are the 4-seed in this tournament and didn’t have to play until today.  G’town, who beat Pitt yesterday, is looking to possibly meet up with their arch-rivals Syracuse in what would be a terrific semifinal.  This is a HUGE swing game in the CTC, as all 20 people have one of these two teams, and it’s split almost down the middle.  There are actually more G’town picks (11) than Cincy picks (9 – Bry, Doogan, Gross, Lil Lohse, Lohse, Mac, Scoot, Stri, Waters).  Only Gross has Cincy in the finals, but J, KA, Lynch, and Teddy all have the Hoyas reaching the final.  J and Lynch have them winning it.

#2 Marquette vs. #7 Louisville
This is another terrific quarterfinal matchup, as the Golden Eagles of Marquette enter the tournament to face a L’ville team that may have sent Seton Hall to the NIT last night.  Dave, Mac, and Primm all have a really solid upset pick with L’ville here.  The other 17 all have ‘Quette.  Doogan, Gross, RSmith, and Teddy all have Marquette winning this tournament.

#3 Notre Dame vs. #6 South Florida
I think the national Coach of the Year race is not a race at all.  Mike Brey should have the award locked up.  He has a team heading to the Dance that wasn’t even supposed to make the NIT.  Oh, and did I mention that they lost, by far, their best player?  Wow.  Stan Heath hasn’t done so bad, himself, as the Bulls of USF are poised to make the tourney, as well, especially after handling ‘Nova last night.  Dave, Gross, J, and Lynch have USF in this upset.  Dave, J, and Lynch have them in the finals.  KA has Notre Dame winning it all; Mac and Waters have them in the finals.

Well, yesterday was a fantastic day of basketball, and today is going to by infinitely better.  There are 49 games, most of which are in 5x conferences.  The conferences that haven’t started yet will all start today.  There is a full slate of games pretty much from 11:30 am through the wee hours of the morning.  And, I’m home today…life is good!

Semifinal Doubleheader
Southland

Quarterfinal Quadruple-Header
Big East
Big XII
Pac-12
Conference USA
Mountain West
WAC
Big West

Quarterfinal Doubleheader
MAC
MEAC
SWAC

One Quarterfinal
Great West

Opening Round Quadruple-Header
ACC
Big Ten
SEC

As the days are getting bigger (Day Ten was the second-biggest so far, Day Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen are BY FAR the biggest days), there is more ability to move up or down.  But, there wasn’t as much movement as one might expect.  But, it’s coming…

Dave wins the day by 28 points over his closest competitor, which gains him 2 spots from 6th to 4th.  Lohse finally shows that he’s mortal, finishing 15th on the day, but his two closest chasers also struggled, so he still has the overall lead by 23.5 points.  Bry is the new closest challenger, as he passed Gross and Alexi to reach 2nd.  J, who finished tied for 2nd with Bry on the day gained the most ground on the standings page, jumping 4 spots to 11th.  Dave’s 2-spot climb to 4th and Primm’s 2-spot climb to 8th were noteworthy.

Scoot had a really rough day, finishing last on the day (by 50 points) and falling 4 spots in the standings to 18th.  Doogan also took a fall of 4 spots, as he goes from 9th yesterday to 13th today.  Alexi is the only other one to fall multiple positions, as he fell from 3rd to 5th.

DAY TEN SCORES (days won):

1. Dave – 288 (1)
2. Bry – 260
3. J – 260 (1)
4. Mac – 234
5. Teddy – 228 (1)
6. Primm – 224
7. Stri – 220 (1)
8. Lynch – 218
9. RDoc – 218
10. Rikey – 216 (1)
11. RSmith – 202
12. Gersh – 196
13. Lil Lohse – 196
14. Gross – 186
15. Lohse – 182 (3)
16. Alexi – 172
17. Doogan – 172
18. Waters – 160
19. KA – 156
20. Scoot – 106 (1)

OVERALL STANDINGS:

1. Lohse – 1317.5 (BSouth, Horizon, OVC, ASun)
2. Bry – 1294 (BSky*)
3. Gross – 1282.5 (ASun, CAA, Summit)
4. Dave – 1261 (OVC)
5. Alexi – 1227.5 (OVC, WCC)
6. Teddy – 1222 (ASun, MAAC, Sun Belt)
7. Mac – 1194.5 (ASun, Patriot*, NEC)
8. Primm – 1161 (NEC)
9. RSmith – 1161 (MVC)
10. Stri – 1154.5 (OVC, ASun)
11. J – 1135 (BSouth)
12. Lynch – 1114 (BSky*)
13. Doogan – 1113.5
14. Rikey – 1113 (OVC, ASun, BSky*, NEC)
15. RDoc – 1084 (BSky*)
16. Gersh – 1007.5 (ASun)
17. Lil Lohse – 995 (SoCon, NEC)
18. Scoot – 983.5 (ASun)
19. Waters – 834.5
20. KA – 777.5

Another two-team race came down to those two teams settling it all on the court.

In an upset-free tournament, four people went all chalk for the perfect bracket.  Congrats to Bry, Lynch, RDoc, and Rikey on the four-way split of a perfect Big Sky bracket.

#1 Montana 85 – #2 Weber St. 66
Well, the nation’s leading scorer, Damian Lillard, will not be in the tournament, as the Grizz take care of business and claim the auto-bid here with relative ease.  Alexi, Bry, Dave, Doogan, J, Lil Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Primm, Rikey, RDoc, RSmith, and Teddy all got this one right.  This is Bry’s second straight perfect Big Sky bracket.

FINAL BIG SKY STANDINGS:

1. Bry – 72 (’08/’11*/’12*)
2. Lynch – 72 (’12*)
3. Rikey – 72 (’12*)
4. RDoc – 72 (’12*)
5. Alexi – 64
6. Doogan – 64
7. J – 64 (’09)
8. Lil Lohse – 64
9. Mac – 64
10. Teddy – 64
11. Primm – 56
12. RSmith – 56
13. Dave – 48
14. Gersh – 48
15. Scoot – 48
16. Waters – 48
17. Gross – 40
18. Lohse – 40 (’10*)
19. Stri – 40
20. KA – 24

A good Patriot League season came down to the best two teams battling it out in a back-and-forth game, where its brightest star stepped up in the biggest moment.

The Lehigh win gives Mac the 2012 Patriot League title – and he was perfect.

#2 Lehigh 82 – #1 Bucknell 77
C.J. McCallum showed why he will be a three-time PL POY before it’s all said and done, and now the Mountain Hawks are dancing again.  Alexi, Bry, Dave, Gross, J, KA, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Teddy, and Waters all hit this championship pick.

FINAL PATRIOT STANDINGS:

1. Mac – 75 (’12*)
2. Lohse – 66
3. Alexi – 54 (’09)
4. Bry – 54
5. Dave – 54
6. Gross – 54 (’11*)
7. J – 54
8. KA – 54
9. Lynch – 54
10. Teddy – 54 (’10)
11. Doogan – 42 (’08)
12. Stri – 42
13. Waters  – 42
14. Primm – 39
15. Gersh – 30
16. Lil Lohse – 30
17. Rikey – 30
18. RDoc – 30
19. RSmith – 30
20. Scoot – 30