The first Sunday gives out about the same amount of points as the big first Saturday, but they are spread out over fewer games.\u00a0 So, there can be some really big swings from the results of today.\u00a0 Let’s get right to it.<\/p>\n
MISSOURI VALLEY FINALS <\/strong>(48 points):<\/em><\/u> #2 Wichita St. vs. #1 N. Iowa<\/em>.\u00a0 The best two teams in The Valley taking its grandest stage against one another.\u00a0 Lohse and Teddy are the only two without a horse in this race, as four entries have N. Iowa (Lil Lohse, Stri, Bry, and Doogan) and six entries have Wichita St. (the rest).<\/p>\n COLONIAL SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(24 points each):<\/em><\/u> #5 VCU vs. #1 Old Dominion<\/em>.\u00a0 The first game pits the regular season champion against the defending tournament champs.\u00a0 VCU knocked off their hated rival, George Mason, in a tough game, while ODU plastered Towson.\u00a0 This is must-see hoops.\u00a0 Doogan, Lynch, Lohse, and Teddy all have VCU winning this game, with Teddy and Lohse having them winning it.\u00a0 Waters and KA have already lost this game, but everyone else has ODU.\u00a0 Lil Lohse, Stri, J, Ina, and Bry all have the Monarchs winning the tournament.<\/p>\n #3 William & Mary vs. #2 Northeastern<\/em>.\u00a0 The nightcap should be another fantastic game.\u00a0 W&M got a scare from JMU, but that was nothing compared to the double-OT heart attack that NU went through against Hofstra.\u00a0 But, both teams survived and now they are two wins from Dancing.\u00a0 Stri is the only entry in the whole field that has Northeastern winning this game.\u00a0 J has lost this game already (he picked Drexel), but everyone else has W&M.\u00a0 Doogan, Alexi, Lynch, and KA have W&M going all the way.<\/p>\n WEST COAST SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(16 points each):<\/em><\/u> #5 Loyola Marymount vs. #1 Gonzaga (12-2)<\/em>.\u00a0 Gonzaga lost their first conference game in recent memory this year (and their second), but it hasn’t hurt their national profile, as they are still regarded as one of the best teams in America.\u00a0 They open their WCC tournament tonight against Loyola Marymount.\u00a0 Everyone has the ‘Zags winning this tournament, except Lynch, who doesn’t have them winning a game (he had San Fran over them this round).<\/p>\n #3 Portland\u00a0vs. #2 St. Mary’s (11-3)<\/em>.\u00a0 St. Mary’s, who definitely needs at least one win here in the WCC tournament for their at-large chances.\u00a0 Two wins (and the auto-bid) would be nice.\u00a0 Portland, who held on to beat San Diego last night, will be trying to knock them off and get to the finals.\u00a0 Ina, Stri, and Alexi all have Portland.\u00a0 KA has already lost with San Diego, but everyone else has St. Mary’s in this one.\u00a0 Lynch has St. Mary’s winning this whole tournament (the only entry not to have Gonzaga winning it).<\/p>\n NEC SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(8 points each):<\/em><\/u> #4 Long Island at #1 Quinnipiac<\/em>.\u00a0 Quinnipiac struggled, but held off Monmouth, while Long Island needed a last-second game-winner to beat Farliegh Dickinson.\u00a0 Now, the Blackbirds head to Quinnipiac to try and earn a shot to play on ESPN for a Dance ticket.\u00a0 No one has LIU in this one.\u00a0 Waters, however, has Monmouth, so he’s rooting for Long Island to zero this game out for everyone.<\/p>\n #3 Mount St. Mary’s at #2 Robert Morris<\/em>.\u00a0 The Colonials of RMC took care of C. Connecticut St. in the quarters, while MSM hammered St. Francis (PA).\u00a0 Now, they meet head-on in the semis.\u00a0 This is a pretty gigantic game, as far as the CTC goes.\u00a0 Everyone has a dog in this fight, but only four (Bry, Doogan, Stri, and Lil Lohse) have the favored Robert Morris.\u00a0 The rest have MSM.\u00a0 Plus, J, Alexi, Waters, Lynch, Lohse, and Teddy all have The Mount winning this thing.\u00a0 Lil Lohse is the only one with Robert Morris winning the tournament, so he could use a big win here.<\/p>\n PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS <\/u><\/strong>(8 points each): #4 American at #1 Lehigh<\/em>.\u00a0 The Mountain Hawks struggled for 30+ minutes with the 8-seed Army, but eventually Lehigh came through and won by 19.\u00a0 American struggled all game with a solid Navy team, but ended up pulling it out in the end.\u00a0 This semifinal pits this year’s regular season champ against last year’s regular season and tournament champ.\u00a0 Alexi and KA both have American.\u00a0 Waters has already lost with Navy here.\u00a0 Everyone else has Lehigh winning this one.\u00a0 Bry, Ina, Stri, both Lohses, and Teddy all have the Mountain Hawks taking this tournament.<\/p>\n #7 Holy Cross at #3 Lafayette<\/em>.\u00a0 The PL’s Cinderellas are the Crusaders of Holy Cross.\u00a0 After knocking out Bucknell, they now head to Lafayette to try and do the same to Franny O’Hanlon’s crew.\u00a0 Lafayette knocked off Colgate in the quarters to earn another home game.\u00a0 Teddy, one of the few to get the first HC upset correct, picked another one for the Crusaders.\u00a0 Ina, J, Doogan, and Waters have Lafayette winning here.\u00a0 Everyone else had either Bucknell or Colgate and are out of this spot.\u00a0 J and Doogan both have Lafayette winning this tournament.<\/p>\n SoCON SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(8 points each):<\/em><\/u> #2N W. Carolina vs. #1S Wofford<\/em>.\u00a0 Top-seeded Wofford took care of UNC-Greensboro yesterday and now get W. Carolina, who struggled to beat Elon on Saturday.\u00a0 Waters, Lynch, and KA all have W. Carolina winning this game.\u00a0 Everyone else has Wofford.<\/p>\n #2S College of Charleston vs. #1N Appalachian St<\/em>.\u00a0 App St. won the nightcap last night over The Citadel, 71-60, while College of Charleston absolutely crushed Chattanooga 96-69.\u00a0 Now, they meet head on with a spot in the SoCon finals on the line.\u00a0 Lil Lohse and Doogan are the only two with App St. winning this game, though neither of them have them winning the tournament.\u00a0 KA (Chattanooga)\u00a0and Lynch (The Citadel) have already lost this game.\u00a0 Everyone else has College of Charleston.\u00a0 Waters, Alexi, and J all have Charleston winning the tournament.<\/p>\n MAAC SEMIFINALS <\/strong>(8 points each):<\/em><\/u> #5 Rider at #1 Siena<\/em>.\u00a0 The Siena Saints actually trailed much of the way against #9 Manhattan, but turned it on at the end and actually won by 17.\u00a0 Rider led St. Peter’s pretty much the whole way, but now they have a much different animal.\u00a0 The Saints are the class of the MAAC, and they play the tournament on their home floor.\u00a0 Everyone in the CTC has Siena winning this game.\u00a0 Only Alexi does not have Siena winning it all.<\/p>\n #6 Niagara\u00a0vs. #2 Fairfield<\/em>.\u00a0 The Purple Eagles of Niagara pulled off a nice upset yesterday, knocking off #3-seeded Iona, 68-64.\u00a0 This upset hit many MAAC entries pretty hard.\u00a0 Fairfield, the #2-seed, took care of business against a feisty Canisius squad.\u00a0 This game can be pretty important in the grand scheme of the CTC.\u00a0 Seven entries picked Iona in this spot and, therefore, have already lost.\u00a0 Four more (Doogan, Alexi, Lohse, and KA) have the big upset pick of Niagara to win this game also and go to the finals.\u00a0 Bry is the only contestant to pick #2 Fairfield to make the finals.\u00a0 Alexi actually has Niagara winning the whole thing, so this could potentially be a big game for him.<\/p>\n AMERICA EAST SEMIFINALS<\/strong> (8 points each):<\/em><\/u> #4 Boston U vs. #1 Stony Brook<\/em>.\u00a0 Stony Brook, who held on to knock off Albany on Saturday, takes on BU, who absolutely plastered Hartford on their won home floor.\u00a0 Bry, J, Doogan, and Lynch all have BU in the upset in this one.<\/p>\n #6 New Hampshire vs. #2 Vermont<\/em>.\u00a0 The America East slipper resides in New Hampshire.\u00a0 Today, they get the Catamounts in another tough one.\u00a0 But, hey, they took out Maine yesterday, so anything’s possible.\u00a0 Doogan, who nailed the New Hampshire upset yesterday en route to a perfect Am East quarterfinals, has UNH pulling off another one today.\u00a0 Teddy, both Lohses, Lynch, Stri, and Ina all have UVM in this one.<\/p>\n SUN BELT QUARTERFINALS <\/strong>(4 points each):<\/em><\/u> #9 S. Alabama vs. #1 Troy (13-5)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Trojans of Troy earned the top-seed in the tournament through a couple tiebreakers, so they get to play #9 USA in their opening game.\u00a0 The Jags edged Florida-Atlantic by a point yesterday to get themselves to this matchup.\u00a0 Lynch and Lohse have already lost this game (FAU).\u00a0 Lil Lohse has USA winning this game in what will be a phenomenal upset pick if he hits it.\u00a0 Everyone else has Troy.\u00a0 Waters is the only one to have Troy winning the tournament, so this game means more to him than others.<\/p>\n #5 Arkansas St. vs. #4 W. Kentucky<\/em>.\u00a0 Two teams that got here in quite different fashions yesterday.\u00a0 They both played bad Sun Belt teams, but Arkansas St. needed OT to knock of UALR, while WKU absolutely rolled over New Orleans.\u00a0 Now they meet in the quarters in the only matchup of teams that both played yesterday.\u00a0 KA has already lost this game (New Orleans), but everyone else has WKU winning it, so if Arkansas St. wins, KA will have lost nothing with that pick.<\/p>\n #10 LA-Monroe vs. #2 N. Texas (13-5)<\/em>.\u00a0 The Mean Green of N. Texas catch a bit of a break as they get to play #10 LA-Monroe instead of the very dangerous #7 LA-Lafayette because Monroe took out the Ragin’ Cajuns last night.\u00a0 N. Texas, clearly one of the favorites to win this tournament, starts their pursuit of the Dance today.\u00a0 Bry, Alexi, and Teddy have already lost this game with the LA-Lafayette pick, but everyone else has N. Texas, so it’ll be zeroed out with a Monroe win.<\/p>\n #6 Denver vs. #3 Middle Tennessee (13-5)<\/em>.\u00a0 Denver ended the first season of the Isiah Era at FIU with a 71-64 opening round win late last night, and now they get to take on the #3-seed Middle Tennessee.\u00a0 The Blue Raiders of MTSU finished in a tie for first in the conference and earned the first-round bye.\u00a0 They will try and make their second ever NCAA tournament\u00a0by winning this tournament.\u00a0 Lynch has already lost this game (FIU) and KA have Denver.\u00a0 The other 10 entries have Middle Tennessee winning this game.\u00a0 Ina, Alexi, and the two Lohses all have Middle Tennessee winning the whole tournament.<\/p>\n SUMMIT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS<\/u><\/strong> (4 points each): #6 UMKC (8-10) vs. #3 Oakland (13-5)<\/em>.\u00a0 Oral Roberts, a perennial contender in the Summit takes on\u00a0UMKC in the first quarter of the day.\u00a0 No one has the Roadrunners in this one.\u00a0 Lynch,\u00a0and KA have Oral Roberts winning this whole tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n #5 IPFW (9-9) vs. #4 South Dakota St. (10-8)<\/em>.\u00a0 In the nightcap, two teams with very little program success will battle for the right to play in the semis.\u00a0 Only J, Stri, Waters, and KA have S.D. State in this one.\u00a0 KA and Stri both have SD State going to the finals.\u00a0 Teddy has IPFW in the finals; Lohse has them winning it all.<\/p>\n MAC OPENING ROUND <\/strong>(6 points each):<\/em><\/u> (NOTE:\u00a0 there are still a decent amount of outstanding MAC brackets, so I will wait to preview that until we get most of them in.\u00a0 I’ll let you guys know when I have updated this part of the ‘preview.’\u00a0 For the record, I have Ohio, Buffalo, N. Illinois, and Bowling Green.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first Sunday gives out about the same amount of points as the big first Saturday, but they are spread out over fewer games.\u00a0 So, there can be some really big swings from the results of today.\u00a0 Let’s get right … Continue reading
\nOne game left in the 2010 Arch Madness.\u00a0 It was been a good tournament–as always–and we’re left with the best two teams to battle it out for Valley supremacy.\u00a0 KA is one game away from a perfect bracket in the Valley.\u00a0 But, if she doesn’t get that win (Wichita St. over N. Iowa), she will not win this year’s title.\u00a0 If N. Iowa wins, Stri will win the MVC title for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n
\nA fantastic quadruple-header in Richmond yesterday saw three great games, including a double-OT thriller.\u00a0 That sets up another great day of CAA hoops with a semifinal double-header.<\/p>\n
\nAfter two rounds, the top two seeds finally join the Vegas party.\u00a0 The WCC welcomes Gonzaga and St. Mary’s to the semifinals of the tournament to face the two survivors of the first two rounds.<\/p>\n
\nAfter three days off, you almost forget about the NEC.\u00a0 But, it should be forgotten because it may play a big role as to who gets the upper hand in the first week of the CTC.\u00a0 With all four top seeds advancing, we’ve got some nice matchups in the semis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/u><\/em>The PL has actually sat for four days before continuing what started as a thrilling tournament.\u00a0 The one upset (Holy Cross) rattled the tournament enough so that only Teddy was able to hit all four quarters correctly.<\/p>\n
\nAfter two straight days of quadruple-headers in Charlotte, we have the SoCon final four, and it is the top two seeds from each division.\u00a0 It’s a north vs. south battle in Charlotte on Sunday, where we’ll see if Stri can continue his perfect SoCon bracket.<\/p>\n
\nThree games left to determine the 2010 MAAC champion.\u00a0 Yesterday’s quarterfinal quadruple-header had some exciting moment, one minor upset, and one pretty major upset.\u00a0 Through both rounds, Bry is still perfect, so he will try and continue that in this semifinal double-header.<\/p>\n
\nA Sunday double-header in Hartford in the America East will determine the two teams that wait a week for the biggest games of their lives.<\/p>\n
\nAfter the CTC’s only quintuple-header, the Sun Belt is down to 8 teams left–the 5 winners from yesterday and the top 3 seeds who are coming off of their byes.\u00a0 Of the five games yesterday, only Stri and J were even able to get four correct, so expect more wildness today in the most interesting low-major tournament of the year.<\/p>\n
\n<\/u><\/em>After two wins by the top two seeds last night, the Summit continues with the 3-6 and 4-5 matchups here tonight.\u00a0 (NOTE: sorry about the mixup in yesterday’s preview.\u00a0 I mixed up the days.)<\/em>.\u00a0 Everyone got both games yesterday, so everyone has a perfect bracket going into today’s matchups.<\/p>\n
\nWhile the first week tournaments are winding down and the second week tournaments aren’t quite ready to begin, we have an odd start time to the Mid-American conference tournament, with four opening round games on Sunday.\u00a0 Historically, Doogan has dominated the MAC, missing a perfect bracket in ’08 by one opening round game and winning again in ’09, though last year he shared the title with an equally impressive Ina.\u00a0 Bry has finished in last place in the MAC in each of the past two years.<\/p>\n