This year’s MAAC tournament should be another fantastic tournament for a real up-and-coming league.\u00a0 There is one team (Iona) with a national presence and an actual at-large case to be made if they don’t win this tournament.\u00a0 There is another team (Loyola) that was under the radar all year, until they beat Iona on a Friday night in early February, only to have a meltdown right after, losing three straight, including an embarrassing 18-point loss to lowly Marist.\u00a0 Another team (Manhattan) was a program nearly left for dead until they brought in a new coach, who changed everything.\u00a0 And, then there is the defending regular season champs (Fairfield), who may enjoy playing the role of underdog for a change, since the role of favorite has been tough for them in recent years.<\/p>\n
Championship Picks<\/em> Biggest Upsets Previous CTC Champions<\/em> #7 Niagara vs. #10 Canisius<\/em> #8 Marist vs #9 St. Peter’s<\/em> This year’s MAAC tournament should be another fantastic tournament for a real up-and-coming league.\u00a0 There is one team (Iona) with a national presence and an actual at-large case to be made if they don’t win this tournament.\u00a0 There is another … Continue reading
\n10 for #1 Iona
\n5 for #2 Loyola (MD) (Alexi, KA, Primm, Scoot, Teddy)
\n2 for #3 Manhattan (Mac, RDoc)
\n1 for #4 Fairfield (Dave)<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>R1 – #10 Canisius (KA, Teddy)
\nQF – #8 Marist (KA)
\nSF – #6 Siena (Doogan, Lynch)<\/p>\n
\n2011 – Primm
\n2010 – Bry*
\n2009 – Bry
\n2008 – J<\/p>\n
\nNiagara has the talent to compete in this league and might just do so when this team gets a little experience under their belts.\u00a0 For now, they can just play the sleeper role until their kids “grow up.”\u00a0 Canisius is kinda terrible.\u00a0 The winner will get the #2-seeded Loyola Greyhounds.\u00a0 KA and Teddy went for the upset points here.\u00a0 Neither has them beating Loyola.\u00a0 Bry, J, and RDoc all have Niagara upsetting Loyola in the quarters, so they need them to win here first.<\/p>\n
\nMarist rose up and beat some people this year – which is an upgrade – but they’re not really all that good.\u00a0 On the other side of this one is St. Peter’s.\u00a0 This was an important year for the Peacocks program.\u00a0 They caught lightning in a bottle last year and had a spirited run to the NCAA tournament.\u00a0 Now, they were supposed to use that momentum to catapult the program up a level or so in an emerging conference.\u00a0 But, something happened on the way, and the Peacocks were downright terrible this year.\u00a0 They now have one last chance to make something of this season, but it will take a near miracle.\u00a0 But, never say never and that run has to start tonight against the Red Foxes.\u00a0 The winner here will play #1 Iona in the quarters.\u00a0 Bry, Lil Lohse, and Primm have the mild upset pick of St. Peter’s.\u00a0 KA is the only one to have either of these teams beating the Gaels next round, as she took Marist to reach the semis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"