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The A-Sun doesn’t do well in the \u00a0“computer numbers,” but I think it is a much better league than any of those tempo-free numbers or the ole RPI may claim. \u00a0Mercer <\/strong>and Florida Gulf Coast<\/strong> can rival any low-major top two and many of the mid-majors, as well. \u00a0And, then there is USC-Upstate<\/strong>, which is a very talented team that just hasn’t put it together. \u00a0And, let’s not forget that Stetson <\/strong>nearly beat the ACC’s best team, and FGC DID beat the ACC’s best team. \u00a0Oh, and Mercer knocked off Florida St. \u00a0And, <\/strong>with the exception of Kennessaw St.<\/strong>, who didn’t qualify for the conference tournament, there was not an easy night all year in the A-Sun.<\/span><\/p>\n #1 Mercer vs #2 Florida Gulf Coast<\/strong> Only GrossSr (Jacksonville), Gersh and Teddy (Stetson) don’t have skin in this game. \u00a0The other 21 people all have a champion in play here. \u00a0And, we will multiple perfect A-Sun brackets. \u00a0If Mercer wins, Alex, Cheryl, Rikey, and RDoc will share the 2013 A-Sun crown with perfection. \u00a0If FGC wins, Lynch and PapaCim will boast a perfect 2013 A-Sun bracket.<\/span><\/p>\n Florida Gulf Coast 88 – Mercer 75 Lynch and PapaCim complete perfect A-Sun brackets with the win here.\u00a0 Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, Primm, Scoot, and Waters also hit this champions pick.<\/span><\/p>\n #2 Florida Gulf Coast vs #3 Stetson<\/strong> Alexi, Gersh, Lazarow, Mac, Stumpf, and Teddy all have Stetson in the minor upset here, with Gersh and Teddy picking the Hatters to win the whole thing.\u00a0 Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Waters all picked FGC to win this tournament, so multiple people will lose a champion here today.\u00a0 Dave and GrossSr have already lost this game, having picked ETSU.<\/p>\n Florida Gulf Coast 72 – Stetson 58<\/em> 16 people correctly predicted the Eagles would return to the finals. \u00a0Caleb, GrossJr, J, Lohse, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Waters all keep their champion alive..<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n #1 Mercer vs #5 USC-Upstate<\/strong> Nobody has USCU winning this game, but Caleb and GrossSr are rooting for them because they have Jacksonville winning this game, so they are hoping no one gets any points here.\u00a0 Half the field has Mercer cutting down the A-Sun nets, so the other half are probably USCU fans today, as well.<\/p>\n Mercer 72 – USC-Upstate 64<\/em> 22 people got this right, 12 of whom keep alive their champion.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n #3 Stetson vs #6 East Tennessee St.<\/strong> Eight people went for a decent pick here with ETSU (Bry, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, GrossSr, J, Scoot, and Waters).\u00a0 Dave and GrossSr took it a step further, as they both have ETSU reaching the finals.\u00a0 Gersh and Teddy are the biggest Stetson fans, as they picked them to cut down the A-Sun nets on Saturday.\u00a0 Lazarow, Mac, and Stumpf all pegged the Hatters to reach the finals.<\/p>\n Stetson 67 – East Tennessee St. 46<\/em> Eight people missed this one, including Dave and GrossSr, who lost a finalist here.\u00a0 Gersh and Teddy keep their A-Sun champs alive.<\/span><\/p>\n #4 Jacksonville vs #5 USC-Upstate<\/strong> Much of the field was enamored enough with the talent of Upstate to take them here in the minor upset, though no one was enamored enough to have them beating Mercer in the semis.\u00a0 Ten people (Caleb, Dave, Gersh, GrossSr, Lohse, Primm, Scoot, Stumpf, Teddy, and Waters) took the favored Dolphins in this one, with Caleb putting the ‘Phins through to the finals, and GrossSr picking them to win the whole thing.<\/p>\n USC-Upstate 76 – Jacksonville 62<\/em> Ten people missed this minor upset, with Caleb losing a finalist and GrossSr losing a champion.<\/span><\/p>\n #2 Florida Gulf Coast vs #7 North Florida<\/strong> Surprisingly, Lazarow is the only one who took this very enticing upset pick. \u00a0Nine people will be playing close on ESPN3 this afternoon, as they have FGC winning this tournament.<\/p>\n Florida Gulf Coast 73 – North Florida 63<\/em> Lazarow came close, but missed on his solo upset pick here. \u00a0The nine with FGC winning this tournament cleared the first hurdle.<\/span><\/p>\n #1 Mercer vs #8 Lipscomb<\/strong> This is a rather mundane game for CTC purposes, as no one has Mercer going down here. \u00a0Though, half the field has someone other than Mercer winning this tournament, so they wouldn’t mind a Lipscomb upset here.<\/p>\n Mercer 82 – Lipscomb 48<\/em> Not much going on\u00a0in the CTC here, as everyone got this one right. <\/span><\/p>\n CTC UPDATE<\/span><\/p>\n Championship Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n Biggest Upsets<\/strong><\/p>\n Previous CTC Champions<\/strong><\/p>\n 2013 FINAL SCORES<\/strong><\/p>\n The A-Sun doesn’t do well in the \u00a0“computer numbers,” but I think it is a much better league than any of those tempo-free numbers or the ole RPI may claim. \u00a0Mercer and Florida Gulf Coast can rival any low-major top … Continue reading CHAMPIONSHIP (March 9th – 24 points)<\/h1>\n
\nTwo years ago, Florida Gulf Coast advanced to the finals of the conference tournament as a Cinderella 7-seed and seemed just happy to be on ESPN, as they got pummeled by Belmont. \u00a0Last year, as the 3-seed, they got there again and put up more of a fight, but still lost to a superior Belmont team. \u00a0This year, for the third straight year, the Eagles will play for a shot at their first ever trip to the Dance. \u00a0Unfortunately, they are up against the odds again, as they have to face a red-hot and talented Mercer team on their home floor. \u00a0But, FGC looked the better team in the semifinal double-header on Friday, as they took care of business against #3 Stetson, while Mercer struggled all day against #5 USC-Upstate. \u00a0This should be good…<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Light-scoring point guard, Brett Comer went for 21 points and A-Sun POY, Sherwood Brown, added 16 points and 11 boards from the guard spot, as the Eagles of FGC snap Mercer’s 17-game home winning streak and head to The Dance.<\/span><\/p>\nSEMIFINALS (March 8th – 12 points each)<\/h1>\n
\nThe Stetson Hatters erased a halftime deficit in style in Thursday night’s 21-point quarterfinal win over East Tennessee St. and now have to come back a day later and take on the biggest, most physical team in the A-Sun, who has had two days to recover from a relatively tough quartefinal win over North Florida.\u00a0 The good news for Stetson is that they match up relatively well inside with FGC with their big guy Adam Pegg; the question is can they control Sherwood Brown and Chase Fieler on the wings for FGC.\u00a0 Gulf Coast remains undefeated (8-0) against teams from the state of Florida and with Jacksonville losing Thursday, this will be the last Florida team they face this year, unless they win the A-Sun and draw Miami (who, they’ve already beaten) or Florida in the first round of the Big Dance.<\/p>\n
\nSherwood Brown does what Sherwood Brown does – dominate. \u00a0Brown had 18 points, 7 boards, and 3 steals as FGC explodes for 48 second-half points in advancing to their third-straight A-Sun championship game. \u00a0The Eagles took care of business on the glass, outrebounding Stetson 40-29.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nA really good semifinal double-header in Macon, GA, will be capped off by a great semifinal matchup between the top-seeded Bears and the talented, but underachieving Spartans.\u00a0 Both teams had somewhat easy quarterfinals, with Mercer cruising past #8 Lipscomb on Wednesday, while USCU knocked off #4 Jacksonville on Thursday.\u00a0 The host, Bears, have yet to win this tournament since it moved to their home floor, but that was mainly because Belmont was still in the league.<\/p>\n
\nThis game was tied at 57 with about 3:30 play when USCU’s best player and A-Sun Conference Player of the Year, Torrey Craig went down with an apparent concussion and Mercer’s star, Langston Hall, just took over. \u00a0The Bears, who have one of the nation’s longest winning streaks are now one home win away from Dancing.<\/span><\/p>\nQUARTERFINALS (March 6th & 7th – 6 points each)<\/h1>\n
\nThe Stetson Hatters this year were supposed to compete just to make the 8-team A-Sun tournament, but they were actually in contention for a conference title for a while, before finishing a respectable 3rd place behind the two big guns in the conference.\u00a0 ETSU has the opposite story.\u00a0 They were supposed to possibly challenge the big guys up top, but needed a late-season surge to assure themselves a place here at the tournament table.\u00a0 This game is a battle of the guard-oriented ETSU team and a Stetson team with a lot of size.\u00a0 The winner will get to face Florida Gulf Coast in Friday’s semifinal.<\/p>\n
\nThe Stetson Hatters saw their excellent season slipping away at halftime, when they trailed by 3, but came out of the locker room like gangbusters and blew the doors off of ETSU for the relatively easy 21-point win.\u00a0 The Hatters advance to Friday’s semifinals to take on 2nd-seeded Florida Gulf Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nProbably the most intriguing matchup of the A-Sun quarters is Thursday’s 4-5 game between Jacksonville and Upstate.\u00a0 The A-Sun this year was supposed to be\u00a0a thrilling three-team race all year, but one team just didn’t show up to the party – USC-Upstate.\u00a0 Between Torrey Craig, Ricardo Glenn, and Jodd Maxey, many believe that this Spartan team has clearly<\/em> the most talent in the entire conference, but they have just been unable to put any semblance of consistency together this year.\u00a0 Jacksonville, on the other hand, has probably overachieved given the talent level that they have.\u00a0 Until the final two weeks of the season, the Dolphins were right in the mix for a conference title.\u00a0 They finished #4 and need to beat Upstate for a semifinal shot at #1 Mercer.<\/p>\n
\nAll 5 Upstate starters were in double-figures, as the Spartans take one step towards vindicating their otherwise disappointing season.\u00a0 They will take a shot at top-seeded Mercer (on the Bears home floor) in Friday’s semifinal.\u00a0 A mediocre Jacksonville season comes to a close in this one.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAs good of a season as FGC had – and it was, clearly, the best in program history – they couldn’t pull out their first conference title and now they get a pretty tough quarterfinal against a UNF team that won 8 conference games and has been playing very well lately.<\/p>\n
\nAs expected, the Ospreys of UNF put up a good fight, but eventually the more talented FGC team prevailed, despite a relatively quiet day from their star, Sherwood Brown. \u00a0For UNF, it was quite the way to close out a career for Parker Smith, who closed out a stellar career with 29 points and looked like the best player on the floor for most of this game. \u00a0The FGC Eagles are now 8-0 against teams in the state of Florida and might get a shot at 9-0 in the semis if Stetson beats E.Tennessee St. in the\u00a0quarterfinal.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nJust like FGC, top-seeded Mercer doesn’t get a walkover in the quarters, either, as Lipscomb is playing their best ball of the year and could put up a fight in the host’s own gym.<\/p>\n
\nTop-seeded Mercer looked like the A-Sun team to beat on Wednesday,\u00a0as they pounded\u00a0Lipscomb to open their A-Sun tournament run.\u00a0\u00a0First-team all A-Sun point guard, Langston\u00a0Hall went for 12 points and 10 assists, as the Bears move on to the semis on Friday.\u00a0 A rough season for Lipscomb\u00a0comes to a close with a whimper.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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