{"id":4726,"date":"2014-03-15T11:22:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T15:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2014-03-15T11:23:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-15T15:23:17","slug":"2014-ctc-the-america-east-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4726","title":{"rendered":"2014 CTC: The America East (3\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s the same old story in the America East, as there are two mid-major quality teams in a league of a whole lot of mediocre to poor low-major teams.\u00a0 In fact, this year there was even more bad basketball played in this league and the mid-major quality of program in Burlington, VT, absolutely rolled over league competition this year.\u00a0 This tournament is probably a warm-up for another Vermont-Stony Brook showdown, unless our hosts (who always play well in this tournament) crash the party.<\/p>\n

Vermont, who has just rolled through this league all year, is the championship pick of 18 people in the CTC.\u00a0 5 went with Stony Brook, and 1 took Hartford.\u00a0 Maine had but a single supporter in their quarterfinal matchup, and there is one person who likes Binghamton to reach the finals.\u00a0 Dave is the defending champ here in the AmEast and is back to defend his title.\u00a0 Including ties, there have been 8 different winners of this conference and none of them have even a piece of a title in any other year.<\/p>\n

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

#2 Stony Brook vs #4 Albany<\/strong>
\nRemember the America East tournament?\u00a0 Neither do I.\u00a0 Do you believe that it was only 6 days ago?\u00a0 Neither do I.\u00a0 So many games, so many brackets since then, but let’s take a trip all the way back to last week.\u00a0 #2-seed Stony Brook survived their 2-day trek to Albany with an easy win over Maine and a tough win over Hartford.\u00a0 #1 Vermont did not survive, despite being the overwhelming favorites.\u00a0 The Catamounts struggled with #8 New Hampshire before putting them away and then got beaten pretty soundly by the tournament hosts, Albany.\u00a0 Now, the Great Danes no longer get to play on their home floor, as they have to travel to Stony Brook for a breakfast date with the Seawolves\u00a0at 11:30 on ESPN.\u00a0 If Albany wins, they should pack their bags for Dayton.\u00a0 Stony Brook actually might not have to play in the First Four, but that remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf will pick up the quick 18 points here if Stony Brook can win at home.\u00a0 If not, the whole field will get zero.\u00a0 A Stony Brook win will\u00a0split the 2014 AmEast crown 3 ways\u00a0– between Alexi, Gersh, and Stumpf.\u00a0 If Albany wins,\u00a0we will have the ole 10-way tie, as Alexi, Becks, Chris, Colton, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, RDoc, Stritts, and Stumpf will each get the trophy for 36.5 days this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SEMIFINALS (March 9th – 12 points each)<\/h1>\n

#1 Vermont vs #4 Albany<\/strong>
\nThe quarterfinals in the America East were all chalk because, well, the bottom of this league is terrible<\/em>.\u00a0 But, now we have a semi-decent (relatively speaking) four-team tournament that gets kicked off on Sunday with the tournament hosts, Albany, taking on the clear-cut tournament favorites, Vermont.\u00a0 UVM actually had the toughest time of any of Saturday’s winners, as last-place New Hampshire made it a ballgame most of the way.\u00a0 The Catamounts pulled away at the end, but it wasn’t as impressive as most of their regular season wins.\u00a0 Albany, on the other hand, took UMBC to the woodshed.\u00a0 The Great Danes are always tough in this event, as they have a great homecourt advantage, so this could be an upset alert.<\/p>\n

All 25 people have Vermont here (not common for a semifinal to be unanimous) with 19 of them taking the Catamounts to win this tournament.<\/p>\n

Albany 67 – Vermont 58<\/em>
\nPersonally, I think it’s time to take this tournament out of Albany.\u00a0 It seems like every year that the Great Danes parlay a mediocre regular season with homecourt advantage in the conference tournament into a shocking upset – usually in the semifinal round.\u00a0 Last year, they did this to Stony Brook, who was head and shoulders better than the rest of the league, and this year they do the same to UVM.\u00a0 The Catamounts, ran roughshod over the AmEast all year is now heading to the NIT.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the first game all week where no points were awarded.\u00a0 19 people lost their AmEast champion.\u00a0 The 6 people (Alexi, Gersh, Lynch, Mac, Primm, Stumpf) that didn’t pick Vermont to win this tournament have to be thrilled.<\/span><\/p>\n

#2 Stony Brook vs #3 Hartford<\/strong>
\nBoth teams in the nightcap had byes to get here…wait, they actually played yesterday?\u00a0 Maine and Binghamton put up absolutely zero resistance to Stony Brook and Hartford, respectively, on Saturday, so now these two teams can enter the semifinals with a lot of confidence.\u00a0 Stony Brook won the regular season last year, but lost to tournament hosts Albany (much like the situation UVM faces this year), so they are out for blood this year.\u00a0 Hartford is enjoying one of their best seasons in a long time, so they may show up playing with house money.<\/p>\n

J and Lynch are the only two with Hartford here.\u00a0 Lynch actually has them winning this whole tournament.\u00a0 PapaCim has already lost this game with Binghamton, but the other 22 people all have SB here though only Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf have them winning the tournament.<\/p>\n

Stony Brook 69 – Hartford 64<\/em>
\nAfter watching UVM lose in the opener, both teams knew that they were playing for a chance to host the AmEast championship game.\u00a0 After holding just a 2-point lead at the half, the Seawolves exploded out of the locker room and opened up a 16-point lead midway through the second half.\u00a0 But, Hartford came storming back only to fall just short.\u00a0 Stony Brook, who dominated the regular season last year, but lost in the semis of the tournament, now gets to host the Great Danes of Albany in the AmEast championship on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

QUARTERFINALS (March 8th – 6 points each)<\/h1>\n

#1 Vermont vs #8 New Hampshire<\/strong>
\nCheck this out –\u00a0HALF of Vermont’s 16 league games resulted in UVM wins of AT LEAST 24 points.\u00a0 That also includes wins of 30, 33, and 35 points, as well.\u00a0 Only one of their 15 conference wins were by fewer than 10 points – and that was a 7-point win at Hartford.\u00a0 Stony Brook was the only team to beat them, pulling off a 3-point win at Stony Brook, but UVM came back and beat them by 16 in Burlington.\u00a0 New Hampshire is really, really bad – don’t waste your time watching this one when there’s plenty of great basketball going on on this fine Saturday.<\/p>\n

Not only do all 25 people have UVM winning here, everyone also has the Catamounts winning again on Sunday to host the championship next week (they wait a week before the title game).\u00a0 18 people have Vermont winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

Vermont 77 – New Hampshire 60<\/em>
\nAfter an entire season of crushing AmEast teams for Vermont, and an entire season of getting crushed by UNH, this game between blood rivals was surprisingly close most of the way.\u00a0 Not that the result was ever really in doubt, but the top-seeded Catamounts definitely needed more effort than any other AmEast favorite on the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone got this right, including 19 people with UVM as their title pick.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

#4 Albany vs #5 UMBC<\/strong>
\nThe tournament hosts, Albany, are always a really tough out in this tournament.\u00a0 This year, they have some talent, but were wholly inconsistent.\u00a0 They are clearly one of the better teams, on paper, in this league, but the results didn’t show it.\u00a0 They open with a UMBC team that is just the “best of the worst” in a really bad bottom of the AmEast this year.<\/p>\n

Only\u00a08 people (Caleb, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lazarow, Lohse, Lynch, Mac, Stri) were tempted by this mild upset pick of UMBC, with none of them have the Retrievers going to the finals.\u00a0 No one has Albany winning more than this game, as all 25 people have Vermont hosting the championship game next week.<\/p>\n

Albany 86 – UMBC 56<\/em>
\nThe hosts put on a show for the partisan crowd, dismantling UMBC setting up a good semi against Vermont.<\/span><\/p>\n

8 people missed this mild upset pick.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

#2 Stony Brook vs #7 Maine<\/strong>
\nHow bad is Maine?\u00a0 VERY bad.\u00a0 How good is Stony Brook?\u00a0 Not as good as we thought they would be, but still very good for a league like this.\u00a0 This could be a bloodbath.<\/p>\n

Lynch went for the home run with Maine here.\u00a0 The other 24 have Stony Brook, including Alexi, Gersh, Mac, Primm, and Stumpf, who all have them winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

Stony Brook 80 – Maine 54<\/em>
\nA terrible Maine season mercifully ends here.\u00a0 I have an idea – maybe the Black Bears should actually invest in their athletic programs…or disband them.\u00a0 SB moves on to the semis in a tournament they can definitely win.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lynch missed the big upset pick here, while 5 keep alive their champ.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

#3 Hartford vs #6 Binghamton
\n<\/strong>Binghamton has been\u00a0just abysmal\u00a0ever since that crazy scandal from their tournament team a couple years back.\u00a0 But, they have always been a darling of the CTC because they had been coached by former Temple star, Mark\u00a0Macon.\u00a0 But, Macon did a terrible job and has been replaced.\u00a0\u00a0Now, the Bearcats are showing signs of improvement, particularly in the second half of the season, when they\u00a0rather competitive even with the top of the league.\u00a0 They open the tournament against a Hartford team that has outperformed their talent level through a nice brand of team basketball.\u00a0 This should be the most interesting of a pretty awful slate of AmEast quarterfinal matchups.<\/strong><\/p>\n

10\u00a0people (Bry, GrossJr, Lazarow, Lohse, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, Stri, Teddy) went with Binghamton in an upset here.\u00a0 PapaCim is the only one that has them winning again in the semis.\u00a0 Of the 16 people that picked Hartford here, only J and Lynch have them winning again in the semis.\u00a0 Lynch actually has them cutting down the nets next Saturday.<\/p>\n

Hartford 69 – Binghamton 42<\/em>
\nJust when it looked like Binghamton was putting something together, their season is ended by a terrible day offensively.\u00a0 Hartford looked very good and may have a shot to crash the expected UVM-SB title game.<\/span><\/p>\n

10 people missed this upset pick.\u00a0 Lynch kept alive his champ; J kept alive a finalist.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

CTC UPDATE<\/h1>\n

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