{"id":480,"date":"2010-03-05T14:42:21","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T19:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=480"},"modified":"2010-03-05T17:23:38","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:23:38","slug":"ctc-day-4-preview-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=480","title":{"rendered":"CTC Day 4 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, remember that cliche that I probably used way too many times, the calm before the storm?<\/em>\u00a0 Well, the skies are darkening…the storm is a-brewin’.\u00a0 Here we go.\u00a0 A whole slew of CTC games today and tonight, setting up for a huge Saturday.\u00a0 The first week will be defined by the next 36 hours, so without any more fanfare, let’s get right to it.<\/p>\n

MISSOURI VALLEY QUARTERFINALS<\/strong> (12 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nAfter the opening round appetizer last night, the main course of a Valley quadruple-header begins today.\u00a0 Only two entries lost semifinalists yesterday, so there are probably going to be a ton of CTC points handed out today in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

#8 Drake vs. #1 N. Iowa (15-3)<\/em>.\u00a0 After an exciting, last-second win last night, Drake is rewarded with a noon (local time) tip against nationally-ranked and top-seeded N. Iowa.\u00a0 The defending regular season and tournament champs repeated this year in the regular season and will try to do the same here in the tournament, starting today.\u00a0 Teddy is the only one who does not have UNI winning this game.\u00a0 He has S. Illinois, so he’ll be rooting or Drake to zero everyone out on this game.\u00a0 Four entries (Bry, Doogan, Stri, and Lil Lohse) have N. Iowa as their MVC champs, so they will be wearing the purple and gold of UNI this afternoon.<\/p>\n

#5 Bradley (9-9) vs. #4 Creighton (10-8)<\/em>.\u00a0 Two solid programs face off in the second game of the MVC quadruple-header.\u00a0 Both teams played tough non-conference schedules in expectations of possible at-large consideration.\u00a0 But, both teams struggled through a tough MVC to finish around .500, leaving them far from the bubble.\u00a0 Now, their only chance at The Dance is to win three straight in Arch Madness.\u00a0 The field is completely split on this game, with half having Bradley and the other half having Creighton.\u00a0 The contestants with the most at stake here are Teddy (Creighton), Lynch and Alexi (Bradley) who have this game’s winner going to the finals.\u00a0 No one has either of these teams winning the MVC.<\/p>\n

#7 Missouri St. vs. #2 Wichita St. (12-6)<\/em>.\u00a0 Missouri St. struggled with The Valley’s worst team, Evansville, last night, but they survived and now get a shot at #2 Wichita St.\u00a0 The Shockers had a decent season, but are not really on the bubble, so they need to win this tournament.\u00a0 This is a pretty big game for the CTC, actually.\u00a0 Teddy, Bry, and Doogan all have Missouri St. in this upset.\u00a0 Teddy even has them winning the entire thing.\u00a0 On the other side of this one are Ina, J, Alexi, Waters, Lynch, and KA who all have Wichita St. winning the MVC outright.\u00a0 Lohse is the only one who cannot score from this game, as he had Evansville winning here.<\/p>\n

#6 Indiana St. (9-9) vs. #3 Illinois St. (11-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 The nightcap of Arch Madness’s maddest day is an interesting matchup between a pair of ISU’s.\u00a0 Both teams are definitely contenders for this tournament, but it has to start tonight.\u00a0 J and Ina both have Indiana St. in the upset, though neither of them have them going any further.\u00a0 Bry, Doogan, and both Lohses have stake in Illinois St., as they have them in the finals.\u00a0 Lohse actually has them winning the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ATLANTIC SUN SEMIFINALS <\/u><\/strong>(8 points each):
\n<\/u><\/em>Well, the smoke has cleared from a two-day long quadruple-header of carnage in Macon, GA, for the top teams in the A-Sun.\u00a0 The regular season ended with a 4-way tie for first, so it was expected that the semifinals would feature those four teams battling it out over two days for the right to represent the A-Sun in the Big Dance.\u00a0 But, things don’t always go as planned, as three of them failed to make it.\u00a0 Only the #2-seed Jacksonville survived, while the other three were upset.\u00a0 This sets up a surprising, but interesting semifinal double-header tonight in Macon.\u00a0 As far as the CTC goes, Bry will try to continue his perfection in the A-Sun.\u00a0 Any points are good from here on out for anyone, though, because there are already six people who has lost their champion pick–three of whom are totally finished for this bracket, including two-time defending champ, J.<\/p>\n

#8 Kennessaw St. vs. #5 E. Tennessee St.<\/em>\u00a0 Maybe the biggest surprise of the CTC so far was the KSU Owls upsetting #1-seed Lipscomb on Wednesday night.\u00a0 Now, they get the benefit of an extra day off as they play the Buccaneers of ETSU.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, Stri, Alexi, Waters, Lynch, and Teddy all have ETSU winning this game.\u00a0 No one, though, has them winning it all.\u00a0 No one has KSU winning this game.<\/p>\n

#6 Mercer vs. #2 Jacksonville<\/em>.\u00a0 The Dolphins of Jacksonville are the only co-champ still standing, but it’s not like they have an easy road.\u00a0 After a night off, they play the host school, Mercer, tonight in the semis.\u00a0 No one has Mercer winning this game, but seven people have Jacksonville (KA, Lohse, Lynch, Waters, Alexi, Ina, and Bry).\u00a0 Six of them (all by KA) have Jacksonville winning the whole thing.<\/p>\n

HORIZON LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS:<\/strong> (8 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nRemember the Horizon League (a 2x bracket)?\u00a0 They played their opening round on Day One of The Challenge and now continue the tournament with the quarterfinals today and the semifinals tomorrow, at Butler.\u00a0 Then, they will take three more days off before playing the finals on March 9th at the home court of the highest remaining seed.\u00a0 In case we’ve forgotten in the madness that was the past couple days, Teddy, Ina, Doogan, and Lohse were all perfect with their opening round picks in the HL.<\/p>\n

#7 Detroit vs. #3 Green Bay<\/em>.\u00a0 In a big NFC Central matchup, we will see if Barry Sanders can carry the Lions over some old quarterback who is about to stab his fans in the ba…wait, this is March college hoops, not Thanksgiving football?\u00a0 My bad.\u00a0 Anyway, Detroit, the only team to pull off a road upset on Tuesday night now gets to play a neutral-site game against Green Bay for the right to take on #2 Wright St. in the semis.\u00a0 Green Bay took care of business against the #10-seed Youngstown St. on Tuesday, so they find themselves three wins from dancing.\u00a0 Four people (J, Stri, Waters, and Lil Lohse) have Valparaiso winning this game, so they have no shot at points here, which is bad because the game is relatively split amongst the remaining entries, so they are going to lose points somewhere.\u00a0 Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, and Teddy all have Detroit to win again tonight.\u00a0 Lohse even had the Titans in the finals, so this is big for him.\u00a0 The biggest Green Bay fans are Ina and KA, as they both have them in the finals.\u00a0 KA actually has them winning it all.<\/p>\n

#5 Cleveland St. vs. #4 Milwaukee<\/em>.\u00a0 Both Cleveland St. and Milwaukee survived at home on Tuesday night to set up a pretty good quarterfinal matchup between two of the more formidable teams in this conference.\u00a0 The winner will get to play against the hosts and nationally-ranked Butler on Saturday night.\u00a0 Everyone still has scoring possibilities in this game, and they are pretty spread out, so this is a pretty big game for the CTC.\u00a0 Seven entries have Milwaukee, while five have Cleveland St. (Bry, Stri, Alexi, Lynch, and Lil Lohse).\u00a0 Ten of the twelve entries have Butler winning the semi, but there are two with finalists playing in this game.\u00a0 KA has Milwaukee in the final; Lynch has Cleveland St. winning it all.<\/p>\n

OHIO VALLEY SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(8 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nJust like the Horizon League, the Ohio Valley has taken a couple of days off before continuing their tournament.\u00a0 Lohse is the only one to hit all four quarterfinal games, so he tries to continue his perfect OVC bracket.<\/p>\n

#4 E. Illinois vs. #1 Murray St.<\/em>\u00a0 E. Illinois, who edged E. Kentucky on Tuesday night, now gets to play #1 Murray St. in Nashville for a spot in the finals.\u00a0 Murray St. hammered Tennessee St. on Tuesday by 33.\u00a0 Everyone has Murray St. winning this game, except KA, who had E. Kentucky.\u00a0 She will be rooting for EIU to zero everything out.\u00a0 Lohse and Stri wouldn’t necessarily mind a Murray St. loss because everyone else has the Racers winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

#6 Tennessee Tech vs. #2 Morehead St.<\/em>\u00a0 Morehead St., like Murray St., won their quarterfinal by 33.\u00a0 And, now they get the only team that pulled off a road upset on Tuesday, Tennessee Tech in the semis.\u00a0 Lil Lohse and KA have already lost this game, having picked Austin Peay to win this.\u00a0 Everyone else, except Lynch has Morehead St. winning this game.\u00a0 Lynch has the big upset of Tennessee Tech.\u00a0 Stri and Lohse have the most at stake with Morehead, as they have them winning it all.<\/p>\n

COLONIAL OPENING ROUND<\/strong> (6 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nWith all due respect to Arch Madness in St. Louis, I think that the Colonial tournament is clearly the best tournament of the first week.\u00a0 Eleven games in four days, including some always intriguing matchups and players.\u00a0 This conference never fails to bring excitement, beginning from the opening tip at noon.\u00a0 Alexi had a nice 75-point performance in ’08 to take the title, but that was nothing, as Ina DOUBLED <\/em>that last year, only missing one opening round game on her way to a 150-point title-winning performance.\u00a0 Lynch had just 18 last year, while Doogan has stuggled for two years now in the CAA.<\/p>\n

#9 UNC-Wilmington (5-13)\u00a0vs. #8 Towson (6-12)<\/em>.\u00a0 Pat’s Cats have not exactly taken to the coaching style of Pat Kennedy, at least until the very end of 6th season at Towson.\u00a0 The Tigers just started playing better down the stretch, altogether, had another disappointing season.\u00a0 UNC-Wilmington wasn’t any better, as they finished just 5-13 in the CAA.\u00a0 The winner of this opening round game will play the top-seeded ODU Monarchs tomorrow afternoon.\u00a0 Only 5 CTC’ers had the favored Towson winning this game (Ina, Alexi, Waters, Lohse, and KA).\u00a0 11 of the 12 contestants have Old Dominion beating whomever comes from this pair.\u00a0 The one for whom this game is really big is KA, who has Towson going all the way to the CAA finals.<\/p>\n

#12 Delaware (3-15) vs. #5 VCU (11-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 The defending champs, VCU, just missed the first-round bye\u00a0and has to play Delaware in the opening round.\u00a0 It’s not quite a bye, but it’s close, as the Blue Hens (despite a couple of star Delaware high schoolers on the squad) were incredibly disappointing this year all year long.\u00a0 The winner of this game will play George Mason in the quarters.\u00a0 Only Waters (not even UD alum, Lynch) took the Blue Hens in this one.\u00a0 Waters does not have them going any further.\u00a0 The biggest VCU fans among us are Lohse and Teddy, who have the Rams winning the CAA for the second straight year.<\/p>\n

#10 Georgia St. (5-13) vs. #7 Hofstra (10-8)<\/em>.\u00a0 If you only looked at the CTC picks, you would be shocked to learn that Hofstra was a 7-seed and only 2 games over .500 in league play.\u00a0 This game, tonight, could have major CTC implications because of the incredible belief in the Flying Dutchmen (yeah, I know they changed that nickname\u00a0from the greatest nickname in college sports to the worst, but I refuse to acknowledge the change).\u00a0 Not one of the 12\u00a0entries has Georgia St. winning this game.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>But, it doesn’t stop there.\u00a0 The winner of this game would play the #2-seed Northeastern in the quarters.\u00a0 Only 3 of the 12 (Stri, Alexi, and Teddy) actually have Northeastern in that game; everyone else has Hofstra in the semis.\u00a0 And, then, just as interesting, no one<\/em> has Hofstra going any further.\u00a0 All 9 have them losing in the semis.\u00a0 Interesting.<\/p>\n

#11 James Madison (4-14) vs. #6 Drexel (11-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Drexel Dragons has a real shot at the #4-seed and the first-round bye that comes with it, but they dropped a couple key games down the stretch and find themselves playing in the opening round, as the #6-seed.\u00a0 Their opponent is the 11-seeded JMU Dukes in the late game tonight in Richmond.\u00a0 Bry and KA are the only two that picked James\u00a0Madison in this upset.\u00a0 J has the most at stake with Drexel, as he and his Philly roots have Drexel going all the way to the finals.<\/p>\n

WEST COAST OPENING ROUND:<\/strong> (4 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nThe WCC opens their tourney tonight in Vegas.\u00a0 A conference that has been utterly dominated by Gonzaga has 7 teams chasing them now.\u00a0 Also, the WCC sets it up to really favor the better seeds, as the top two seeds have double-byes, while the 3- and 4-seeds have single byes.\u00a0 The 5- through 8-seeds have to win three straight games to qualify for The Dance.\u00a0 Waters won the ’08 WCC title by getting everything correct until the final.\u00a0 Ina took last year’s title with a perfect WCC bracket.<\/p>\n

#8 Pepperdine (3-11) vs. #5 Loyola Marymount (7-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 This year is the 20th anniversary of the untimely passing of Philly’s own Hank Gathers and the amazingly inspirational\u00a0run of Bo Kimble and LMU in his honor.\u00a0 Do they have the magic to bring it back?\u00a0 We will find out tonight as they open their postseason against Pepperdine, with the winner getting #4 San Francisco in the quarters.\u00a0 KA, Waters, and Bry all have Pepperdine in the upset.\u00a0 Ina, Stri, and Alexi all have LMU winning two games in this tournament.<\/p>\n

#7 Santa Clara (3-11) vs. #6 San Diego (3-11)<\/em>.\u00a0 San Diego’s remarkable run to the WCC title two years ago, with a young team, created expectations that they clearly have not fulfilled in the two subsequent seasons.\u00a0 They did come together at the end of the season to grab the 6-seed, pitting them against Santa Clara in the opening round.\u00a0 The winner of this game will play #3 Portland in the quarters tomorrow night.\u00a0 Lil Lohse, Lynch, Doogan, J, and Bry all have Santa Clara in this one, though none of them have them beating Portland.\u00a0 KA believes in San Diego, as she has them beating not only Santa Clara here, but Portland in the quarters and St. Mary’s in the semis before losing in the finals.<\/p>\n

SoCON OPENING ROUND <\/strong>(2 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nThe SoCon gets going today with quadruple-headers today and tomorrow.\u00a0 In a conference that used to be all Davidson’s, a new team, Wofford, emerged as the dominant team this year.\u00a0 College of Charleston and Appalachian St. also had decent years and ought to be considered legit contenders for this title.\u00a0 Lynch dominated the SoCon last year, after Ina had won it the year before.\u00a0 Doogan, Bry, and Alexi all struggled last year.<\/p>\n

#6N Elon (5-13) vs. #3S Davidson (11-7)<\/em>.\u00a0 Stephen Who?\u00a0 Oh, right, Stephen Curry.\u00a0 The guy who is one of the top two favorites for NBA Rookie of the Year this year.\u00a0 Ya, that guy is pretty good.\u00a0 Davidson was okay without Curry, but he clearly was the guy that made that team so dominant for the past couple of years.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, Stri, Lynch, and KA all have Elon in a big upset here over Davidson.\u00a0 Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, and Teddy all have Davidson winning two games in this tournament.<\/p>\n

#5S Furman (7-11) vs. #4N UNC-Greensboro (6-12)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Paladins of Furman open their postseason against UNC-Greensboro, with the winner to face top-seeded Wofford in the quarters.\u00a0 This shows you the lack of balance between the two divisions, as Furman has a better record, but a worse seed than Greensboro.\u00a0 Only Teddy, J, Stri, and Waters went with Greensboro in this one.\u00a0 Waters has Greensboro knocking off Wofford next round, so he needs this win.\u00a0 KA has Furman beating Wofford, so she also needs it, just on the other side.<\/p>\n

#6S Georgia-Southern (6-12) vs. #3N Chattanooga (6-12)<\/em>.\u00a0 Another example of the difference between the two divisions has the 6-seed from the South playing the 3-seed from the North between teams with the same conference record.\u00a0 The winner of this game will play College of Charleston in the quarters.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, Doogan, Alexi, and both Lohses have GA-Southern in the upset.\u00a0 None of them have GA-Southern moving on after that, though.\u00a0 KA is the only one that has Chattanooga moving past the quarters.\u00a0 She has them winning the whole tournament, so this is a big game for her.<\/p>\n

#5N Samford (5-13) vs. #4S The Citadel (9-9)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Citadel opens their postseason with a game with Samford in the nightcap.\u00a0 The winner of this game will play Appalachian St. in the quarters.\u00a0 Doogan is the only one that has Samford in this game, so he could pick up some nice points on the field if he hits this one.\u00a0 Bry, J, Lynch, and KA all have The Citadel winning the quarterfinal matchup with App St.\u00a0 Lynch even has them going all the way to the finals.<\/p>\n

MAAC OPENING ROUND<\/strong> (2 points each):<\/em><\/u>
\nThe Siena Conference…I mean the MAAC…gets underway today with a pair of opening round games in Albany.\u00a0 Every conference tournament game is exciting and intriguing, but these are not exactly two matchups that have anyone glued to their ESPN ScoreTrackers.\u00a0 Bry is coming off of a perfect MAAC bracket in ’09, so he will try and continue that trend.\u00a0 J won the MAAC in ’08.\u00a0 Alexi and Lynch have historically struggled forecasting this tournament.<\/p>\n

#9 Manhattan (4-14) vs. Loyola (MD) (6-10)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Manhattan Jaspers have really fallen off, finishing only above hopeless Marist in the MAAC.\u00a0 They take on Loyola tonight in the 8-9 opening round game for the right to get destroyed by Siena tomorrow.\u00a0 Bry is the only one who has Manhattan in this minor upset.\u00a0 And, no one has either of these teams beating Siena next round.\u00a0 This game is about as meaningless as there is in the CTC…but somehow, I’m still interested.<\/p>\n

#10 Marist (1-17) vs. #7 Canisius (8-10)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Red Foxes of Marist finished the regular season with a 1-28 record, with their only win coming at home against Manhattan.\u00a0 Canisius had a decent season, finishing just one game out of the 5-seed.\u00a0 The winner of this game will play #2 Fairfield tomorrow in the quarters.\u00a0 Stri and Waters both took the bait of the upset points and went with Marist.\u00a0 In fact, both of them went a step further, taking Marist not only to beat Canisius tonight,\u00a0 but then to knock off Fairfield tomorrow.\u00a0 Three entries (Teddy, KA, and Lynch) all have Canisius going to the semis, so they need a win tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, remember that cliche that I probably used way too many times, the calm before the storm?\u00a0 Well, the skies are darkening…the storm is a-brewin’.\u00a0 Here we go.\u00a0 A whole slew of CTC games today and tonight, setting up for … Continue reading →<\/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":[944,9,479],"tags":[490,493,486,497,492,485,495,494],"class_list":["post-480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-challenge","category-college-hoops","category-conf-tourney-challenge","tag-atlantic-sun","tag-colonial","tag-horizon-league","tag-maac","tag-missouri-valley","tag-ohio-valley","tag-socon","tag-wcc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480","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=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}