Broad Street Believers

Overused cliche alert…does the slipper fit?  Cinderella may be in the building, as Florida Gulf Coast (new to D-I basketball) is one win away from an NCAA tournament appearance.  However, this is a tough win to get.

#1 Belmont vs. #6 Florida Gulf Coast
Belmont swept the two regular season meetings by a combined 65 points, so I would say that FGC is a bit of an underdog here.  But, they have been underdogs all year, and they’re still standing.  Obviously, no one has FGC winning this, but those that do not have Belmont (Bry, Dave, Doogan, J, KA, Lil Lohse, Primm, and RDoc) will be rooting for them.

Currently, RDoc leads the way in this conference, but he had Mercer to win the title, so he needs an FGC win to hang on to the win.  If Belmont wins, the title will be split by about a dozen people.

The second bid to the tournament will be from the OVC.  It has been a decent tournament so far, with a bit of a void of intrigue, but we have a decent championship matchup.

#1 Murray St. vs. #2 Tennessee St.
The Racers will try to avenge their only loss of the year, while TSU will try and steal a tournament bid from the bubble.  Murray pounded Tennessee Tech last night, while TSU held on against Morehead St.  But, the game is in Nashville, so it will most likely be a strongly partisan TSU crowd.  No one has Tennessee St. winning this tournament, but 3 people (Gersh, RSmith, and Waters) had Morehead, so they will be rooting for Murray to zero out this one.

Rikey and Stri are going to split this conference title, as they are tied now and both have Murray to win it.  This will be the first OVC title for either of them and would snap a 2-year title streak for J

In a CTC that has been seriously devoid of Madness, the Big South has been the one bastion of upsets.  Winthrop pulled off some Madness, but the real darling has been VMI.

#1 UNC-Asheville vs. #7 VMI
The Keydets have been the story in this year’s CTC.  J and Lohse both had them getting here.  Asheville hasn’t really been tested yet, so we will see if JP Primm and company can earn this year’s first tournament berth.  Not surprisingly, no one has VMI winning this tournament, so the 8 people (Dave, KA, Lynch, Mac, Primm, Scoot, Teddy) who do not have Asheville will be rooting for VMI.

Lohse and J both have Asheville in this one, so they will be sharing the first 2012 CTC title handed out.  The only question is whether they will do it with 73 points or 91.  It is the first Big South title for either of them.

This is a fantastic day in the CTC.  The First Saturday.  Tons of action all over the country, with some quarterfinal quadrupleheaders and some championships.  Quick spotlight on today’s action (more in-depth previews with CTC implications to come):

Championships
Big South
Atlantic Sun
Ohio Valley

Semifinal Doubleheaders
Horizon
WCC
Patriot
MVC

Quarterfinal Double/Quadrupleheaders
America East
Colonial
MAAC
SoCon
Summit
Big Sky

Opening Rounds
Sun Belt

The Lohse Train just keeps on rolling, as he wins an amazing third straight day.  Stri seems the only one capable of keeping us, as he is only 2 points back on Day Five, and is the only one within FORTY points of our leader.  It was a rough day for J, KA, Lil Lohse, and Waters.  RSmith had a solid day to pull him out of the cellar.  Primm stays solidly in 3rd, with defending champ, Rikey, a somewhat distant 4th, in a cluster with the always solid contenders, Alexi and Dave.

Gotta keep reminding people, though, it’s still VERY early.

DAY FIVE SCORES (days won):

1. Lohse – 184 (3)
2. Stri – 182
3. Alexi – 168
4. Mac – 154
5. RDoc – 154
6. RSmith – 154
7. Rikey – 153
8. Dave – 152
9. Primm – 151
10. Doogan – 150
11. Gersh – 147
12. Lynch – 142
13. Gross – 141
14. Teddy – 138
15. Scoot – 132
16. Bry – 130
17. Waters – 118
18. J – 110
19. Lil Lohse – 109
20. KA – 94

OVERALL:

1. Lohse – 379
2. Stri – 355.5
3. Primm – 337.5
4. Rikey – 314.5
5. Alexi – 312.5
6. Dave – 312
7. RDoc – 307.5
8. Mac – 305
9. Doogan – 299.5
10. J – 292.5
11. Gersh – 290.5
12. Scoot – 281.5
13. Bry – 281
14. Teddy – 278
15. Lynch – 277
16. RSmith – 277
17. Lil Lohse – 273.5
18. Gross – 267.5
19. Waters – 234
20. KA – 223.5

In maybe the most exciting doubleheader of the day, the WCC whittled its tournament down to four.

#5 San Francisco 67 – #4 Loyola Marymount 60
A really good WCC season for LMU comes to a close, as USF was just too tough for them on this night.  The Dons move on to face #1 St. Mary’s in the semis on Saturday night.

#3 BYU 73 – #6 San Diego 68
This was one of the best games of the night, as the young Terreros showed some real spirit going after BYU all game.

The SoCon tipped off their tournament on Friday with an opening round quadrupleheader.  The results were all over the place, so a perfect 4-for-4 from Dave is very impressive.  It is almost as impressive that Waters went 0-for-4.

#10 Appalachian St. 93 – #7 College of Charleston 81
Can someone please tell me what in the world happened to CofC in the last month and a half?  Anyway, App State ends the strange season for the Cougars and now gets the Northern Division champs, UNC-Greensboro in the quarters.  This may have been the biggest CTC game of the day.  Dave, Gersh, KA, and RSmith hit this nice upset pick; Dave and Gersh kept alive a semifinalist.  Doogan, Lohse, Lynch, RDoc, and Teddy all lost a finalist with this loss.  Bry, Gross, and Rikey each lost a semifinalist.

#6 W. Carolina 68 – #11 The Citadel 56
A bad Citadel team is sent packing by a mediocre WCU team, who now moves on to face Wofford in the quarters.  Bry, Gersh, Primm, and Waters all missed this upset pick.  Lil Lohse is the only one that didn’t pick Wofford next round, as he has WCU.

#9 Furman 77 – #8 Samford 64
The Paladins of Furman not get Davidson in the quarters, as they handled Samford.  This was a popular upset pick, as only KA, RSmith, Scoot, Stri, and Waters missed it.  KA had Samford beating Davidson, so this loss was a double for her.

#5 GA-Southern 76 – #12 Chattanooga 70
Chattanooga led this game for pretty much the entirety of the first 38 minutes, but unfortunately for those who picked the Mocs, they play 40.  A slew of people had this huge upset, while Bry, Doogan, Gross, and J even had the Mocs winning again.  No one has GA-Southern in the finals, but Alexi, Dave, Lohse, Primm, Rikey, RSmith, and Teddy all have GA-Southern beating Elon in the quarters.

SOCON LEADER (24*) – Dave
SOCON CELLAR (0) – Waters

A couple of relatively uninteresting games in the MAAC continue the chalk theme.

#8 Marist 64 – #9 St. Peter’s 57
The defending tournament champs are out in the first game, as the Red Foxes of Marist earn a quarterfinal date with #1 Iona.  Bry, Lil Lohse, Primm, RSmith, and Waters all miss the mild upset.

#7 Niagara 80 – #10 Canisius 70
It wasn’t as easy as Niagara may have expected, but they do take care of a bad Canisius team.  Teddy and KA were the only two that took a shot at this upset.  Bry, J, and RDoc all have Niagara beating Loyola in the quarters, so this win was important for them.

Chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk.  All day and all night.  And, the MVC was the poster child.

#1 Wichita St. 72 – #8 Indiana St. 48
Wichita looked really, really good today, just blistering a 19-win Indiana St. team.  I still think that ISU might be the best #8-seed in the country, but they didn’t look it on this day.  19 people got it right; Dave got it wrong.

#4 Illinois St. 52 – #5 N. Iowa 44
Shows you what I know.  I said that if it’s a slow, halfcourt game that UNI would have the advantage, but the ISU defense looked like the best unit on the floor today, as the Redbirds advance to face Wichita in the semis on Saturday.  Only Dave, Doogan, Gersh, Mac, RSmith, and Stri got this right.

#2 Creighton 68 – #7 Drake 61
Drake put up quite the fight, but Mr. McDermott and company were just too much tonight.  J and KA missed the big upset here.  Alexi, Bry, Mac, Rsmith, and Teddy all keep their champ alive.

#3 Evansville 72 – #6 Missouri St. 64
The great MVC career of Kyle Weems is over, as Evansville eliminated the Bears with an 8-point win in the nightcap.  Evansville will now get #2 Creighton in the semis in a rematch of an absolute thriller in the regular season.  The field was pretty split on this one, so winning this was a well-earned 16 points.  KA keeps her champ alive; J keeps his finalist alive.

MVC LEADERS (80*) – Mac, RSmith, Stri (’09/’10)
MVC CELLAR (32) – Waters

The top two seeds in the OVC entered the tournament today to take on the survivors of the quarterfinal round, and, as was the trend of the night, it was chalky.

#1 Murray St. 78 – #4 Tennessee Tech 58
No problem for the bubble teams on this night, as Tech was just flat-out overmatched.  19 people get it right; Gersh gets it wrong.

#2 Tennessee St. 59 – #3 Morehead St. 52
This one looked like it might get ugly, but Morehead made a strong comeback, but fell short.  This gives Murray a shot to avenge their only loss this season in the finals on Saturday.  Half the field got this right; half got it wrong.

OVC LEADER (52*) – Rikey, Stri
OVC CELLAR (24) – Gross