Day Three of the CTC is the last “rest day” before the craziness that is the first weekend.\u00a0 The Big South is the first conference to hit the semis.\u00a0 The A-Sun continues their quarters from last night.\u00a0 The NEC gets going.\u00a0 And, The Valley, one of the two jewels of the first week (along with the Colonial, which starts tomorrow) has a pair of opening round games, as an appetizer to a quarterfinal quadruple-header tomorrow in St. Louis.\u00a0 Lohse followed up a perfect Day One with an imperfect, but victorious Day Two, so we’ll see if he can continue.\u00a0 Lynch tied Lohse yesterday to get him back in business after a bit of a struggle on Day One.\u00a0 And, Teddy began with Patriot League perfection yesterday and is very much in the running for the top spot.\u00a0 Day Three…next.<\/p>\n
BIG SOUTH SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(8 points each):<\/em><\/u> #3 Winthrop vs. #2 Radford<\/em>.\u00a0 In the first half of the\u00a0semifinal double-header in Conway,\u00a0SC (the Coastal Carolina homecourt),\u00a0the past two\u00a0Big South champions will meet for\u00a0a spot in the finals.\u00a0 This game is as big as it gets in the Big South, as far as The Challenge goes.\u00a0 Five have Radford (Teddy, Lynch, Waters, J, and Ina) and seven have Winthrop.\u00a0 But, even more importanly, four people have their champion playing in this game.\u00a0 Alexi, Lil Lohse, and KA have Winthrop winning this tournament.\u00a0 Ina believes in a Radford repeat this year.<\/p>\n #4 UNC-Asheville at #1 Coastal Carolina<\/em>.\u00a0 The top-seed in the Big South gets to host the semifinal double-header tonight, and that honor goes to C. Carolina.\u00a0 The team that pays the “road” price is UNC-Asheville, as they are the road team in this semifinal.\u00a0 In a very rare near-consensus finalist, 11 of the 12 contestants have C. Carolina winning this game and advancing to the Big South title game.\u00a0 The only dissident is Waters, who has UNC-Asheville winning this game and the whole tournament.<\/p>\n MISSOURI VALLEY OPENING ROUND<\/strong> (6 points each):<\/em><\/u> #10 Evansville (2-16) vs. #7 Missouri St. (8-10)<\/em>.\u00a0 Evansville made something out of a pretty awful season by knocking off nationally-ranked N. Iowa last week.\u00a0 They will try to take that momentum into their opening round matchup with Missouri St.\u00a0 The Bears, on the other hand, started strong, but have struggled down the stretch.\u00a0 They had a great non-conference, where they went 10-1, including wins over Auburn and St. Louis.\u00a0 Their only non-conference loss was a close loss at Arkansas.\u00a0 But, they did not carry that into conference play, and even fell a game short of a first-round bye, so their shot at redemption has to start tonight.\u00a0 It’s a pretty big game for The Challenge because both of these teams figure into a couple of our brackets in big ways.\u00a0 Both Lohses have Evansville in the upset, and Big Lohse actually have Evansville winning two games in the tournament, so he’s up for some big-time upset points if that comes through.\u00a0 Everyone else has MSU in the first-round, but Bry and Doogan both have them beating Wichita St. in the next round.\u00a0 And, Teddy has even more faith in the Bears.\u00a0 He has them coming from the opening round to win four games in four days and winning Arch Madness.<\/p>\n #9 S. Illinois (6-12) vs. Drake (7-11)<\/em>.\u00a0 It is teams like the Salukis of SIU that remind us just how impressive the Gonzaga run has been over the last decade-plus.\u00a0 It looked, for a time, that SIU would be that “mid-major” that became a national contender year in and year out.\u00a0 But, much like fellow conference-mates like Creighton and Bradley and other mid-majors with “aspirations,” like Winthrop, Davidson, E. Michigan, VCU, Vermont, Hofstra, Utah St., and even the Final Four program of George Mason have fallen victim to the difficulties of sustained success at the mid-major level.\u00a0 Even Siena, once this class graduates will probably slip back.\u00a0 But, of all of these teams, it looked most of all like the Salukis would have staying power.\u00a0 They were built around defense and hard-nosed play (things you can teach non-McDonald’s All-Americans).\u00a0 But, it just hasn’t happened.\u00a0 They slipped to just about rock-bottom this year, finishing 9th place in the Missouri Valley.\u00a0 Well, they have one last four-game run to make something out of this season and it starts tonight against The Valley’s darlings of two years ago, Drake.\u00a0 Most people in The Challenge actually took the Salukis in a minor upset over Drake.\u00a0 No one who picked Drake has them beating N. Iowa in the next round.\u00a0 And, all of those who took SIU, only Teddy has them going to the semis.\u00a0 So, this game is biggest for Teddy because if he can get two wins from the Salukis, he is in for a ton of upset points.<\/p>\n ATLANTIC SUN QUARTERFINALS<\/strong> (4 points each):<\/em><\/u> #5 E. Tennessee St. (13-7) vs. #4 Campbell (14-6).\u00a0 <\/em>Campbell, despite finishing in a tie for first, loses the tiebreaker and has to play ETSU (the preseason conference favorite who only finished a game out of first) in the first round.\u00a0 This is a big swing game in The Challenge because very few people seemed to have faith in #1 Lipscomb (and now they’re gone), so many people have a finalist coming out of this quarterfinal matchup.\u00a0 Actually, most people like the underdog ETSU squad in the first round, as only three (KA, J, and Lohse) have Campbell here.\u00a0 J and Lohse have Campbell in the finals.\u00a0 Shockingly, more than half the field (Bry, Stri, Alexi, Waters, Ina, Teddy, and Lynch)\u00a0actually have ETSU in the finals.<\/p>\n \u00a0#6 Mercer (10-10) vs. #3 Belmont (14-6)<\/em>.\u00a0 Technically, this is a “neutral-site” conference tournament game, but it is played on the campus of Mercer University.\u00a0 Bry and Lohse both have Mercer in this one–together again for an A-Sun upset, so who knows.\u00a0 This time, though, they are the only two that believe in the underdog.\u00a0 An upset here would be rough on Teddy, J, Doogan, and Stri, as they all have the Belmont Bruins taking the A-Sun.\u00a0 And J, after nailing the KSU upset yesterday and being the two-time defending champion in this conference, knows his A-Sun hoops.<\/p>\n NEC QUARTERFINALS<\/strong> (4 points each):<\/em><\/u> #6 St. Francis (PA) (9-9) at #3 Mount St. Mary’s (12-6)<\/em>.\u00a0 MSM starts their NEC title quest with a home game against St. Francis (PA).\u00a0 Even though all 12 contestants picked MSM to win this game, this game has the potential to make some major waves in the CTC.\u00a0 Half of the field (more than any other school) has MSM winning the entire tournament.\u00a0 Throw in KA and Ina, who have MSM going to the finals,\u00a08 of the 12 contestants will be really hoping that MSM avoids the big upset tonight.<\/p>\n #8 Monmouth (8-10) at #1 Quinnipiac (15-3)<\/em>.\u00a0 The top-seeded Bobcats of Quinnipiac open their quest for The Dance with a home game against a decent Monmouth team who struggled down the stretch to fall to 8th place.\u00a0 Waters is the only one who picked Monmouth in what would be a KSU-like upset.\u00a0 In fact, Waters believes so much in the Jersey school, that he has them goig to the finals of the NEC tournament, so this would be a huge <\/em>upset for him tonight.\u00a0 Bry, Doogan, Ina, Stri, and KA have the top-seeded Bobcats winning this whole tournament.<\/p>\n #7 C. Connecticut St. (9-9) at #2 Robert Morris (15-3).<\/em>\u00a0 The defending champs and this year’s co-champs, Robert Morris, grabs the #2 seed and home games all the way through unless they get QU in the finals.\u00a0 The CCSU Blue Devils are the first ones to head to Pittsburgh to take on the Colonials in this year’s NEC tourney.\u00a0 Lynch and KA both have this big upset, though neither of them have CCSU going any further.\u00a0 Somewhat surprisingly, only Lil Lohse has Robert Morris winning this tournament, so this game is big for him.<\/p>\n #5 Farleigh Dickinson (10-8) at #4 Long Island (11-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 The LIU Blackbirds ended up with the hotly-contested #4-seed with a couple final week victories.\u00a0 Their reward?\u00a0 A first-round home game before a semifinal that will probably be on the road against the top-seed.\u00a0 FDU struggled down the stretch, but put it together enough to grab the #5-seed.\u00a0 There are not that many CTC implications in this one because no one has either of these teams going any further than this round.\u00a0 J, Waters, and Lil Lohse all went for the minor upset of FDU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Day Three of the CTC is the last “rest day” before the craziness that is the first weekend.\u00a0 The Big South is the first conference to hit the semis.\u00a0 The A-Sun continues their quarters from last night.\u00a0 The NEC gets … Continue reading
\nAt the end of the day, we will have our first championship matchup, as the first conference to play their semis is the Big South.\u00a0 Two nights ago, all four top seeds took care of business on their home floors, and now the scene shifts to Coastal Carolina for a semifinal double-header at the home of the top seeded Chanticleers.\u00a0 Bry is the defending champion of the Big South, taking the title from Stri, who won in ’08.<\/p>\n
\nThe greatest name for a conference tournament, “Arch Madness,” kicks off today in St. Louis.\u00a0 The conference affectionately known as “The Valley” is our first non-1x conference to get underway.\u00a0 A lot of points are awarded in The Valley, so the importance is ramped up.\u00a0 This is the most valuable tournament of the first week of games (along with the Colonial), so the early leader might be decided by the results in St. Louis.\u00a0 Stri is trying to repeat as The Valley champion, after edging out Ina and Alexi last year.\u00a0 In ’08, Ina dominated The Valley with a whopping 120 points.\u00a0 J is trying to right the ship in this conference after back-to-back last place performances.<\/p>\n
\nThe Day After…\u00a0 The A-Sun continues in the aftermath of #1-seed Lipscomb falling to #8-seed Kennessaw St.\u00a0 The 3- and 4-seeds are in action today, as J tries to continue his path towards an A-Sun three-peat.<\/p>\n
\nAnd, the NEC kicks off tonight with four quarterfinal matchups between the eight teams that qualified for the NEC tournament (4 teams were left out of the mix).\u00a0 Quinnipiac and defending champ, Robert Morris, tied for the regular season title, but Quinnipiac won the tiebreaker and grabs the #1 seed.\u00a0 All games in this tournament will be at the home courts of the higher seeds.\u00a0 The quarters are tonight, with the semis on Sunday and the finals next Wednesday.\u00a0 Stri is the man to beat in the NEC, as he is the two-time defending champion in this conference, including last year’s title defense with a PERFECT bracket.\u00a0 Bry also had this conference perfect last year, so they were the ’09 co-champs.<\/p>\n