{"id":4690,"date":"2014-03-15T10:01:32","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T14:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4690"},"modified":"2014-03-15T15:11:42","modified_gmt":"2014-03-15T19:11:42","slug":"2014-ctc-the-wac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4690","title":{"rendered":"2014 CTC: The WAC (3\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In all my life of following the sport of college basketball, I have never been so confident in a team to win their conference as I was that New Mexico State would win the 2014 WAC title.\u00a0 Well, they didn’t.\u00a0 Somehow, Utah Valley beat out the Aggies…I still have no idea how it happened.\u00a0 This league is kind of interesting, though, as there are a ton of formerly misfit teams that may have found a home.\u00a0 Though, I think it’s time for New Mexico State to find a better spot.<\/p>\n

Well, looks like the CTC field agrees that NMSU is the overwhelming favorite here.\u00a0 In fact, they got more championship picks (23) than any other team in any conference.\u00a0 There were a couple upset picks, including several people with UTPA upsetting the top seed in the quarters, and even more that have #5 Idaho going to the finals.<\/p>\n

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 15th – 18 points)<\/h1>\n

#2 New Mexico State vs #5 Idaho<\/strong>
\nNew Mexico State was supposed to be in this position – favored in the championship game to win the WAC.\u00a0 But, how they got here was a total surprise.\u00a0 They sleepwalked through the regular season, finishing 2nd to Utah Valley.\u00a0 And, they have similarly slept through this tournament, barely beating #7 Seattle in the quarters, before struggling before pulling away from #6 CS-Bakersfield in the semis.\u00a0 But, it doesn’t matter as long as you get there, right?\u00a0 (Well, it kind of does for seeding, but whatever.)\u00a0 Idaho had a couple of close wins over UMKC and then #1 Utah Valley to get here.\u00a0 The Vandals actually gave NMSU one of their four conference losses on Feb 6.<\/p>\n

Everyone except Colton and PapaCim have NMSU here.\u00a0\u00a0Neither of them have Idaho.\u00a0 Dave and Teddy will be splitting this conference title this year – the only question left is whether or not they’ll be perfect.<\/p>\n

SEMIFINALS (March 14th – 12 points each)<\/h1>\n

#1 Utah Valley vs #5 Idaho<\/strong>
\nUtah Valley looked every bit the 1-seed on Thursday (that or UTPA looked every bit the 8-seed), dismantling UT-Pan American, 83-63.\u00a0 Idaho struggled through a 3-point win over UMKC, setting up this opening semifinal in the WAC.<\/p>\n

8 people (Bry, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, Teddy) have the nice upset pick of Idaho here.\u00a0 Everyone else has UVU, including PapaCim, who has them winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

#2 New Mexico State vs #6 CS-Bakersfield<\/strong>
\nSeattle is a feisty team, but even without suspended guard KC Ross-Miller, what is going on with New Mexico State?\u00a0 They nearly blew one against Seattle and better improve or Bakersfield will take them out.\u00a0 The Roadrunners took care of 3rd-seeded Chicago State on Friday and aren’t exactly pushovers.\u00a0 Then again, their biggest guy is 6’9″ – a full 8 inches shorter than 7’5″ Sim Bhullar, who had 24 & 10 against Seattle.<\/p>\n

Everyone except Colton, who had Chicago State, has New Mexico State here, with only PapaCim not taking them to win this tournament.<\/p>\n

QUARTERFINALS (March 13th – 6 points each)<\/h1>\n

#1 Utah Valley vs #8 UT-Pan American<\/strong>
\nThese former Great West “rivals,” came – along with Chicago State – to the WAC this year and now they are playing in the 1\/8 game.\u00a0 UTPA is really bad.\u00a0 UVU isn’t that good, but apparently they are good enough to win the WAC.<\/p>\n

Bry, Caleb, and Doogan all went for the grandaddy of WAC upsets here with UTPA.\u00a0 None of them have them going further.\u00a0 PapaCim has the most at stake here, as he is the only one that picked top-seeded UVU to win this tournament.<\/p>\n

Utah Valley 83 – UT-Pan American 63<\/em><\/p>\n

#4 UMKC vs #5 Idaho<\/strong>
\nThe Kangaroos of UMKC actually led this conference for a while, but came back to reality as a bad team.\u00a0 The Vandals of Idaho were supposed to be the “best of the rest” after NMSU in this conference, but they struggled all year to find consistency, as well.<\/p>\n

Okay, this is something that I have never seen in all my years of running CTC.\u00a0 I have seen PLENTY of unanimous picks.\u00a0 But, for 25 people to all pick an UPSET is a first.\u00a0 Well, that is the case here, as no one picked UMKC to win here.\u00a0 7 people (Bry, Caleb, Dave, Doogan, Grossjr, Lohse, Lynch) have the Vandals going to the finals.<\/p>\n

Idaho 73 – UMKC 70<\/em><\/p>\n

#3 Chicago State vs #6 CS-Bakersfield<\/strong>
\nThe former Great West teams acquitted themselves nicely in the new WAC, as Chicago State (who never finished higher than 4th in the 5-team terrible GW, finishes 3rd here in the WAC.\u00a0 I think itight say more about the WAC than CSU.\u00a0 They do have Scottie Pippen’s nephew, Quinton, though, so I guess that plays well in Chicago.\u00a0 As for Bakersfield, many expected more from this decent team, but they were incredibly inconsistent all year.\u00a0 They can put together a nice game at times and then follow it up with a terrible one.<\/p>\n

10 people (Alexi, Bry, Caleb, Chris, Dave, Doogan, GrossSr, J, Primm, RDoc) went with Bakersfield in a decent upset pick here.\u00a0 Colton has the most at stake with Chicago St., as he is the only one to take them to go to the finals, and he actually have them winning it.<\/p>\n

CS-Bakersfield 67 – Chicago State 63<\/em><\/p>\n

#2 New Mexico State vs #7 Seattle<\/strong>
\nThe only thing that would be worse than NMSU not winning the regular season would be if they didn’t win the conference tournament either.\u00a0 It has just been a head-scratching season for the Aggies, who couldn’t even beat the UVU student body.\u00a0 They open with a sneaky good Seattle team that shouldn’t have a chance, but probably does.\u00a0 Oh, by the way, not only is NMSU incredibly talented, but they are incredibly tall, as well.\u00a0 In fact, in what might be the most amazing stat of the day\u00a0– this team from a low-major conference is, literally THE TALLEST team in the country, as measured by average height weighted by playing time.\u00a0 They even have a dude who is 7’5″, 360 pounds and pretty athletic, although it takes him like 20 seconds to get up and down the court and can only play about 3-minute stretches.\u00a0 Oh, and my favorite part is he is a sophomore and has a brother two years younger, who is reportedly even bigger and has committed to the Aggies for next year.\u00a0 WOW!<\/p>\n

No one picked Seattle.\u00a0 Only Colton has NMSU losing in the semis.\u00a0 And, PapaCim is the only one with the Aggies losing in the finals.<\/p>\n

New Mexico State 70 – Seattle 68<\/em><\/p>\n

CTC UPDATE<\/h1>\n

Championship Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n