{"id":272,"date":"2009-03-12T17:16:10","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T22:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2009-03-13T00:09:49","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T05:09:49","slug":"ctc-day-10-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=272","title":{"rendered":"CTC Day 10 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By far, the busiest and, consequently, the best day of the CTC.\u00a0 So many games, so many great teams, so much at stake.\u00a0 Awesome!\u00a0 This day will also include four games between hated arch-rivals (Oklahoma-Oklahoma St., Arizona-Arizona St., Pittsburgh-West Virginia, and Temple-St. Joe&#8217;s)<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>ATLANTIC TEN QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nThe opening round in the A-10 went without any big surprises, setting up a foursome of good games today in the quarters.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Xavier (12-4) vs. #9 St. Louis<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 After a thrilling overtime win last night against LaSalle, St. Louis get rewarded with a rested #1 Xavier team.\u00a0 Everyone has XU winning this game, and everyone except Bry, J, and Lynch have X winning the whole tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Rhode Island (11-5) vs. #7 Duquesne<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Dukes had a hard-fought win over UMass on Wednesday night and now they get the biggest surprise of the A-10 regular season, the Rhode Island Rams.\u00a0 Stri has the big upset pick of Duquesne in this one; everyone else has URI.\u00a0 Doogan and Alexi both have URI in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Dayton (11-5) vs. #6 Richmond<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Spiders hammered St. Bonaventure\u00a0last night and now get the Flyers in the quarters.\u00a0 Dayton, who should be in the tournament, could use another victory to make it certain.\u00a0 Ina and Waters have Richmond in this upset and then in another upset again next round, so this could be big.\u00a0 Lynch has Dayton winning this whole tournament.\u00a0 Stri, J, and Bry all have them in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Temple (11-5) vs. #5 St. Joseph&#8217;s<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 St. Joe&#8217;s had a nice comeback win last night, setting up the arch-rivals meeting in the quarters.\u00a0 Temple swept SJU in the regular season, and though, I think it&#8217;s totally overstated about that whole &#8220;beating a team 3 times is difficult,&#8221; I do think that there is something to be said about that in major rivalry games.\u00a0 Only Stri has the St. Joe&#8217;s upset in this game.\u00a0 Bry and J both have Temple winning the whole tournament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u><!--more-->BIG EAST QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nA second straight quadruple-header took place last night in MSG, setting up a third-straight quadruple-header tonight.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Louisville (16-2) vs. #8 Providence<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Louisville has now sat through two Big East quadruple-headers, before getting to participate in one of their own.\u00a0 They open their defense of the regular season crown with a quarterfinal matchup against a very solid #8 Providence squad.\u00a0 Everyone has Louisville winning this game, but only Doogan has the top-seed winning this whole tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Pittsburgh (15-3) vs. #7 West Virginia<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 &#8220;The Backyard Brawl.&#8221;\u00a0 These two teams just hate each other.\u00a0 West Virginia set up this war with a win over Notre Dame on Wednesday night.\u00a0 All 8 of us have Pitt winning this game.\u00a0 In fact, only Bry, Doogan, and Stri do not have Pitt winning this whole thing.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Connecticut (15-3) vs. #6 Syracuse<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Orange played a great final 10 minutes in the nightcap last night to beat The Hall and move into a great quarterfinal matchup with UConn tonight.\u00a0 Ina, Doogan, and Lynch all have Syracuse winning this game.\u00a0 Bry and Stri both have UConn winning this whole tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Villanova (13-5) vs. #5 Marquette<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Wildcats snuck into the double-bye spot after Marquette lost their last four conference games, slipping to #5.\u00a0 The Golden Eagles absolutely hammered St. John&#8217;s in the second round to get a shot at &#8216;Nova here in the quarters.\u00a0 J, Stri, and Lynch have Marquette in this mild upset.\u00a0 Lynch has them going all the way to the finals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>PAC-10 QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nAlways one of the more exciting conference tournaments, the Pac-10 gets going in earnest with its quarterfinals on Thursday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Washington (14-4) vs. #9 Stanford<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Cardinal eliminated OSU last night and now gets rewarded with #1 Washington.\u00a0 Everyone has UW winning this one.\u00a0 Ina, Stri, and Lynch all have the Huskies winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 UCLA (13-5) vs. #7 Washington State<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Wazzu beat a bad Oregon team last night and now gets UCLA in the quarters.\u00a0 Everyone has UCLA in this game.\u00a0 Bry, J, Doogan, and Alexi all have UCLA winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 California (11-7) vs. #6 USC (9-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Cal Bears had a nice season and should be relatively safe come Selection Sunday.\u00a0 However, they are not quite a &#8220;lock,&#8221; so to be safe, they should take care of USC in the quarters.\u00a0 J, Doogan, Stri, and Alexi all feel that they will do so and, therefore, have picked this upset.\u00a0 Everyone has #2 UCLA reaching the finals from the bottom of the bracket, so no one has either of these teams going any further.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Arizona State (11-7) vs. #5 Arizona (9-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 In a jam-packed day, there are not many games that are much better than this one.\u00a0 A heated rivarly between\u00a0a bubblicious Arizona team and my Final Four sleeper, Arizona St.\u00a0 Stri and Lynch are the only two that picked Arizona.\u00a0 Waters and Alexi have ASU going to the finals.\u00a0 Waters has them winning the whole thing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>BIG XII QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nA thrilling Big XII opening round sets up a great quarterfinal day.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Kansas (14-2) vs. #9 Baylor<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The disappointing Baylor Bears only have one shot left at the postseason, and that is to win four straight in the Big XII.\u00a0 Step one is complete, but it just gets harder, now facing #1 Kansas.\u00a0 Everyone has KU winning this game, but only Lynch has them winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Oklahoma (13-3)<\/u><\/em><em><u>\u00a0vs.\u00a0 #7 Oklahoma State<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 OSU came from behind to beat #10 Iowa St. last night, to set up Bedlam III.\u00a0 Two more teams that flat-out hate each other.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Missouri (12-4) vs. #11 Texas Tech<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t wait to watch this game because I just can&#8217;t get enough of Mike Singletary.\u00a0 That performance last night still has me in awe&#8211;18 hours later.\u00a0 No one has Tech even here, so no one has them winning here.\u00a0 Bry, Waters, and Lynch all have Missouri winning this game (Lynch has them in the finals).\u00a0 Everyone else had Texas A&amp;M, who is out.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Kansas State (9-7) vs. #5 Texas<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 In a bubble-game, UT gets K-State.\u00a0 Only Stri and Ina have K-State winning this game.\u00a0 Alexi actually has Texas going to the finals.\u00a0 Ina has K-State going to the finals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>ACC OPENING ROUND:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nAlways one of the better tournaments, the ACC, kicks off today in Atlanta.\u00a0 Bry will try and defend his CTC ACC title (280 points), while Waters tried to improve upon last year&#8217;s performance (150).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#5 Clemson (9-7) vs. #12 Georgia Tech (2-14)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Clemson, one of the country&#8217;s best teams all year, plays in a conference that is good enough for them to finish 5th and not get a bye.\u00a0 They play a scrappy tough G. Tech team.\u00a0 Doogan and Lynch went for the big upset.\u00a0 Bry, J, and Alexi all have Clemson in the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#6 Boston College (9-7) vs. #11 Virginia (4-12)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 A surprisingly good season for the Eagles of BC will probably\u00a0end with an NCAA\u00a0tournament berth, but right now they&#8217;re only thinking about the ACC tournament.\u00a0 They are taking on a disappointing UVa team, with the winner to get Duke.\u00a0 Bry and J both went for the upset pick with the Cavs.\u00a0 Lynch has BC going to the semis.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#7 Maryland (7-9) vs. #10 N.C. State (6-10)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Can Maryland get in?\u00a0 One of the higher-profile bubble teams, the Terps must defeat the Wolfpack on Thursday and maybe even Wake on Friday.\u00a0 Lynch, Alexi, Doogan, J, and Bry all have N.C. State pulling off the upset.\u00a0 Waters has Maryland in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#8 Virginia Tech (7-9) vs. #9 Miami (FL) (7-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Usually you see the ACC 8-9 game as a bubblicious game, and this year is no different, though Miami might be off the bubble right now&#8211;but it&#8217;s nothing two wins in this tournament can&#8217;t fix.\u00a0 Bry, Stri, and Alexi all have Miami pulling off the upset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>BIG TEN OPENING ROUND:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nA rennaissance year for the Big Ten has ended and now it is conference tournament time.\u00a0 The bottom 6 seeds open today with shots at the quarterfinals on the line.\u00a0 Bry dominated the Big Ten last year (230 points&#8211;100 more than anyone else) and will try and repeat that this year.\u00a0 Waters only had 20 points in the Big Ten last year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#6 Penn State (10-8) vs. #11 Indiana (1-17)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 A great season for the Nittany Lions will only end in the NCAA tournament if they beat lowly Indiana on Thursday.\u00a0 Everyone has PSU in this one.\u00a0 Lynch, Waters, Alexi, and Doogan have them in the semis.\u00a0 Alexi even has them in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#7 Michigan (9-9) vs. #10 Iowa (5-13)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Wolverines are also squarely on the bubble, which makes this game huge for them as well.\u00a0 Only Stri took Iowa in the upset.\u00a0 J has Michigan in the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#8 Minnesota (9-9) vs. #9 Northwestern (8-10)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 And, yet another bubbly team taking the floor on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament.\u00a0 Northwestern has had a great year and there was tournament talk all year, but it would take a lot to get back in that conversation now.\u00a0 Bry, Doogan, and Alexi all have Northwestern in the upset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>SEC OPENING ROUND:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nWell, the SEC joins the ACC, the Big Ten,\u00a0and\u00a0the SOuthland as the only conferences that have not started until today.\u00a0 A real down year for the SEC concludes this weekend with their conference tourney.\u00a0 They only have two teams that should feel secure about their tournament status, and will be lucky to get 4 bids this year.\u00a0 Regardless, this tournament is always fun to watch.\u00a0 Last year, because of that crazy, crazy tournament last year, won by\u00a0Georgia, the scoring was very low in the SEC.\u00a0 That doesn&#8217;t, however, take away from the CTC SEC championship that Waters earned with 130 points.\u00a0 Doogan and Stri will try and improve upon their 50-point perfomance from a year ago.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#3W Mississippi State (9-7) vs. #6E Georgia (3-13)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Bulldogs of Mississippi St. had a great start to conference play, but struggled towards the end and slipped into the first round.\u00a0 They open with UGa, with the winner getting S. Carolina in the quarters.\u00a0 Bry, J, Doogan, and Waters all went for the big upset pick.\u00a0 Stri and Alexi both have MSU in the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3E Florida (9-7) vs. #6W Arkansas (2-14)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Florida is struggling and might not make the Big Dance.\u00a0 They have a must win in the opening round of the SEC tournament against Arkansas.\u00a0 The winner of this game will get Auburn in the quarters.\u00a0 Everyone has Florida in this game.\u00a0 Doogan, J, Bry, Waters, and Alexi all have Florida in the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4W Alabama (7-9) vs. #5E Vanderbilt (8-8)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 &#8216;Bama and Vandy are two of the more disappointing aspects of the disappointing SEC.\u00a0 The winner will move on to face Tennessee in the quarters.\u00a0 Bry, J, Doogan, and Lynch all have Vandy in the upset pick.\u00a0 No one has either team going to the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4E Kentucky (8-8) vs. #5W Ole Miss (7-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 How can a team with Meeks and Patterson not be good?\u00a0 It&#8217;s really hard to imagine, but it&#8217;s true and UK&#8217;s 18-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances will probably end this year.\u00a0 Stri is the only one that has Ole Miss in this game.\u00a0 Bry has Kentucky going to the semis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>MOUNTAIN WEST QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nWhat kind of odds would I have been given at the beginning of any season that the Mountain West would receive more NCAA tournament bids than the SEC?\u00a0 Well, there is an outside shot that that might happen this year, as there are five potential tournament teams in this bracket&#8211;and they all take the court today, including two of them playing each other.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 BYU (12-4) vs. #9 Air Force<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Academy picked a good time for their first conference win of the year in the opening round over Colorado St.\u00a0 Now, they go for their second against #1 BYU in the quarters.\u00a0 Everyone has BYU in this game, but everyone will probably be rooting against them, as Ina, the overall leader, is the only one who took BYU to win this\u00a0tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Utah (12-4) vs. #7 TCU (5-11)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Utes are the two-seed in this conference, after qualifying second of the three teams that split the regular season title.\u00a0 They open with the Horned Frogs in the quarters tonight.\u00a0 Everyone has Utah to win this game.\u00a0 Bry, J, and Lynch all have them winning the whole thing.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 New Mexico (12-4) vs. Wyoming (7-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 New Mexico is the forgotten team in the Mountain West, but they shared the regular season title with the two Utah schools.\u00a0\u00a0Lynch is the only one to take the Cowboys of Wyoming in this upset.\u00a0 Stri and Alexi both have New Mexico winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 San Diego State (11-5)\u00a0at #5 UNLV (9-7)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 And, one of the better games of the day\u00a0may be one of the two biggest CTC games of the day.\u00a0 It pits San Diego St. against the host, UNLV.\u00a0 This game was split right down the middle with 4 of us taking SDSU (Ina, Alexi, Stri, and Waters) and the other 4 of us taking UNLV.\u00a0 Plus,\u00a0one of us\u00a0is going to lose a champion here in the quarters, as Waters has SDSU winning the tournament and Doogan has UNLV winning it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>CONFERENCE USA QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nTwo big upsets in the afternoon yesterday, followed by two favorites winning at night, sets up an interesting Conf USA quarterfinal day on Thursday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Memphis (16-0) vs. #8 Tulane<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Tulane get the treat of getting hammered by Memphis.\u00a0 Everyone has Memphis winning the whole tournament, so this has basically no effect on the CTC.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Tulsa (12-4) vs. #10 Rice<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Ben Braun and the Rice Owls pulled off a last-second upset of Marshall last night, setting them up against #2 Tulsa here in the quarters.\u00a0 Everyone has Tulsa in this game, except Stri, who has already lost with Marshall.\u00a0 Doogan, Ina, and Bry all have Tulsa in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 UAB (11-5) vs. #11 Southern Mississippi<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 S. Miss crushed UCF last night, pulling of a nice upset.\u00a0 Now, they get UAB in the quarters.\u00a0 Everyone has UAB in this game, and everyone except Doogan, Ina, and Bry have UAB in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 UTEP (10-6) vs. #5 Houston<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 One of the games that everyone is waiting for in this tournament is going to happen, after Houston beat SMU last night.\u00a0 Waters, Bry, and J are the only ones that took the favored Miners of UTEP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>MAC QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nAfter a night off after the opening round, the MAC continues with the quarters tonight.\u00a0 This conference could be a real difference-maker in the final CTC standings, as there\u00a0are a lot of discrepancies between the picks.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Bowling Green (11-5) vs. #9 Ohio<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The University of Ohio pulled off a nice little upset on Tuesday over W. Michigan, and now they get the top seed, Bowling Green.\u00a0 J is the one that would score big with the upset, as he picked Ohio to win this game.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, and Doogan all have Bowling Green winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Ball State (7-9) vs. #7 Central Michigan<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Ball St., because of their winning their division in the MAC were guaranteed a top-2 seed, despite being only 7-9 in-conference.\u00a0 They did get the bye and now get CMU in the quarters.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, and Stri all have CMU winning this game.\u00a0 Lynch, Waters, and J all have Ball St.\u00a0 Alexi and Doogan had EMU, who is out.\u00a0 Waters and Lynch both have Ball St. in the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Buffalo (11-5) vs. #6 Kent State<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 This game is going to have major CTC implications&#8211;major!\u00a0 Probably the most important quarterfinal game of the entire CTC.\u00a0 3 of us (Bry, Alexi, and Stri) have Kent St. winning here, in the upset.\u00a0 And, it doesn&#8217;t stop there.\u00a0 Bry has Kent St. going to the finals.\u00a0 Alexi and Stri?\u00a0 Well, they have them winning the whole shooting match.\u00a0 Ina, J, and Doogan all have Buffalo in the finals.\u00a0 This game is huge for the CTC.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Miami (OH) (10-6) vs. #5 Akron<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Akron needed a last-second game-winning shot in OT to beat the bottom seed, Toledo, on Tuesday night, but they survived.\u00a0 Now, they get Miami (OH) in the quarters.\u00a0 This quarterfinal, while not quite as dramatic as the Buffalo-Kent St. game, will also change a lot of CTC destinies.\u00a0 Only J, Waters, and Lynch have Miami (OH) winning this game.\u00a0 Everyone else has the underdog.\u00a0 J and Lynch actually both have Miami (OH) winning this entire tournament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u><strong>WAC QUARTERFINALS:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/u>Well, after the play-in game last night in the WAC, we now have 8 teams for the quarterfinals that get going on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Utah State (14-2) vs. #9 Fresno State<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 After Fresno&#8217;s 6-point win over Hawaii last night, they get the top-seeded Utah State squad.\u00a0 Everyone has USU in this game.\u00a0 But, only J and Waters have them winning this whole tournament, so an upset here would be probably be welcomed by the other six of us.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Nevada (11-5) vs. #7 San Jose State (6-10)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The #2 team in the WAC&#8211;and the most popular\u00a0among CTC contestants&#8211;gets it going on Wednesday in the quarters against San Jose St.\u00a0 Everyone has Nevada in this game, and Bry, Ina, Lynch, Alexi, and Doogan all have the Wolfpack winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Idaho (9-7) vs. #6 Louisiana Tech (6-10)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The Vandals of Idaho snuck in to the #3 seed down the stretch, giving them the chance to take on La Tech instead of either Boise St. or New Mexico St.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, and Lynch all took La Tech in the upset.\u00a0 None of them had them going any further.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Boise State (9-7) vs. #5 New Mexico State (9-7)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 In a really good first-round matchup, two rivals go at it, with the chance to play (probably) the top seed, Utah St., in the semis.\u00a0 But, despite the closeness in the teams and the seedings, Bry is the only one that took New Mexico St.\u00a0 Lynch, Alexi, and Doogan all have Boise St. going to the finals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><u><strong>BIG WEST QUARTERFINALS:<\/strong><\/u><br \/>\nTwo opening round games in the Big West last night&#8211;two upsets.\u00a0 Now, the #3 and #4 seeds enter the fray today for the quarters.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#3 Pacific (10-6) vs. #7 CS-Fullerton<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 After Fullerton&#8217;s upset of Riverside last night, they now get #3 Pacific.\u00a0 J and Waters actually have Fullerton winning this game in another upset.\u00a0 Lynch and Stri both have Pacific winning this tournament.\u00a0 Bry and Ina both have them reaching the finals.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 UC-Santa Barbara (8-8) vs. #8 UC-Davis<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 UC-Davis pulled off the big one-point upset over the Anteaters of UC-Irvine and now they get UCSB.\u00a0 Stri has UC-Davis again in this one.\u00a0 Everyone else has UCSB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>SOUTHLAND QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nI don&#8217;t know who the Southland Conference thinks it is, but every year it is one of the last conferences to have their tournament, and it always has its championship on Selection Sunday.\u00a0 That is ridiculous, if you ask me.\u00a0 Then again, it doesn&#8217;t really affect my life&#8211;it&#8217;s just one less Southland game that I will watch.\u00a0 No one in all of last year&#8217;s CTC picked even\u00a0one finalist correctly last year in the Southland, as #5 Northwestern St. took on #7 UT-Arlington.\u00a0 We were a combined 0-for-14 in the semis.\u00a0 Even still, Bry took the CTC Southland title (despite his views on their scheduling decisions) with 44 points.\u00a0 It is hard to blame them because of all the upsets, but Ina and Waters will still try and build on their 8-point performance.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#1 Stephen F. Austin (13-3) vs. #8 Southeastern Louisiana (7-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The best team in this conference opens against SE Louisiana.\u00a0 Everyone has SFA in this one.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#2 Nicholls State (12-4) vs. Texas State (7-9)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 One of the two big competitors to SFA opens against Texas St.\u00a0 Bry, Doogan, and Waters all like Texas St. in the upset pick.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#3 Sam Houston State (12-4) vs. Texas-San Antonio (8-8)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 A popular CTC pick, Sam Houston St. opens with UTSA in the quarters.\u00a0 Lynch and Doogan both have SMHS winning the whole tournament.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Texas A&amp;M-Corpus Christie (11-5) vs. Texas-Arlington (9-7)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0A unanimous 4-5 game is rare, but we have it here, as everyone went with #4 Texas A&amp;M-CC in this one.\u00a0 J even has the Aggies winning this tournament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>MEAC QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nThe second-half of the MEAC quarters take place on Thursday night, with the 3- and 4-seeds in action.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#3 Norfolk State (9-7) vs. #6 Bethune-Cookman<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 BC knocked off MD-Eastern Shore on Wednesday, and now they get #3 Norfolk St. in the quarters.\u00a0 Surprisingly, only Waters and Lynch have Norfolk St. winning this game, even though they are the #3 seed and got a bye to get here.\u00a0 Stri has already lost this game with UMES; the other 5 of us have the underdog, Bethune-Cookman.\u00a0 J has BC in the finals.\u00a0 Waters and Lynch both have Norfolk St. in the finals, with Waters taking them to win it.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 North Carolina A&amp;T (9-7) vs. #5 Coppin State (9-7)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 In the one quarterfinal that didn&#8217;t need an opening round game for the setup, as both of these teams got byes to be here.\u00a0 Despite being favored, only Doogan believes in N.C. A&amp;T&#8211;and he really believes in them, as he picked them to win this whole tournament.\u00a0 Everyone else has Coppin St. in the mild upset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>SWAC QUARTERFINALS:<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nThe second-half of the SWAC quarters take place on Thursday night, as the #3 and #4 seeds take the court.\u00a0 Waters is the defending CTC champ in the SWAC, scoring 52 points last year.\u00a0 Stri only had 4 points in this conference last year; Alexi only had 8; and, Doogan only had 12.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><u>#3 Prairie View A&amp;M (12-6) vs. Mississippi Valley State (7-11)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 The forgotten team in the SWAC, Prairie View, takes on MVSU in the quarters tonight.\u00a0 Only Waters and Lynch took MVSU in the upset.\u00a0 Stri is the only one who has PVAM even going to the semis.<\/li>\n<li><em><u>#4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-7) vs. #5 Southern (8-10)<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Bry, Doogan, Stri, Waters, and Lynch all have Southern in the mild upset.\u00a0 Lynch has Southern winning this whole thing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By far, the busiest and, consequently, the best day of the CTC.\u00a0 So many games, so many great teams, so much at stake.\u00a0 Awesome!\u00a0 This day will also include four games between hated arch-rivals (Oklahoma-Oklahoma St., Arizona-Arizona St., Pittsburgh-West Virginia, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=272\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,479],"tags":[514,549,508,548,516,513,515,509,510,546,512,547,545,544,511],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-hoops","category-conf-tourney-challenge","tag-a-10","tag-acc","tag-big-east","tag-big-ten","tag-big-west","tag-big-xii","tag-conf-usa","tag-mac","tag-meac","tag-mountain-west","tag-pac-10","tag-sec","tag-southland","tag-swac","tag-wac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}