Three cheers for the little conferences, full of little players and funny looking players and really tall players from foreign lands! The 14 seeds, the 15 seeds, the 16 seeds and the play-in gamers! Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!
America East
Phunmunki picked Vermont (5-2, 14-6), The CEO picked Boston U. (5-2, 10-9). They both sit tied at the top of the A-East along with Binghampton (5-2, 12-7) with Albany right behind (4-3, 12-8). This conference is a crap shoot, let Phunmunki and the CEO shoot the crap here.
Atlantic Sun
Phunmunki has the Belmont Bruins (8-2, 12-7), who should have run away with this conference but instead is facing stiff competition from East Tennessee State (9-1. 15-5) and Jacksonville (9-1, 11-8). I actually considered taking Jacksonville, and both the Jacksonville Dolphins and the E. Tenn St. Buccaneers are worth a look.
Big Sky
Phunmunki again holds the Portland State Vikings (6-1, 15-5), favorites to win but Weber State (6-1, 12-8) are breathing down their necks and beat them once already.
Big South
VMI, the Virginia Military Institute (8-1, 16-3) is the team I wish I would have picked instead of Charlotte. They beat Kentucky, they beat Richmond, they lost to Virginia, they beat Winthrop. They have got to be favorites to take the Big South and go dancing, with only Radford in their way.
Big West
NotaTurtle bet the bank on Cal St. Northridge (4-3, 7-10) and lost. Long Beach St. (5-1, 10-8) have taken the lead in the Big West but Pacific, Davis, & Riverside all will compete in the little Big West Tourney.
Ivy League
Jutdog's Cornell (2-0. 12-6) should wrap up the Ivy. Don't bother with Yale or Columbia this year.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
Siena Siena Siena. The CEO took Siena (10-0, 16-5) in the third round for this reason alone - Siena will win the MAAC. Hell they might go a round or two in the Big Dance.
Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)
ProgressMedia bet on Morgan State (5-2, 10-10), who did manage to beat Maryland and Depaul, but in conference just lost to Hampton tonight and earlier to Florida A&M. They should be putting this away but instead find themselves tied up with Bethune Cookman, Norfolk State and Hampton. MEAC is poison, I'd stay away from it.
Northeastern
The CEO's Mount St. Marys (5-2, 11-9) is still the best horse in this race with wins over Boston and American but they have been streaky. Fortunately for them they have won six straight to match their six straight losses in December. Despite this Robert Morris (8-1, 13-7) are giving them a run. Robert Morris plays Pittsburgh Feb. 2 so do me a favor and don't give Boaris the free 2 points because you won't beat Pitt for 5 points.
Ohio Valley
I never understood Progress Media's pick of Murray State (5-4, 10-9). Austin Peay (8-1, 12-7) and Tennessee-Martin (7-3, 14-6) have much better chances of winning the OVC Tourney.
Patriot
Progress Media's American University (3-1, 11-7) is still the favorite here but is getting a run from Holy Cross (4-1, 9-11) who just beat American last week.
Southern
Progress Media can count on Davidson (9-0, 16-3) getting an at-large bid in the unlikely chance they lose their conference tourney. You can go maverick and consider Charleston (7-2, 15-4) who has played a tough schedule and is playing hard ball but you won't get an at-large bid.
Southland
Jutdog's Stephen F. Austin (4-1, 12-5) are still favorites but Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is putting up some good numbers (5-0, 11-9) and could make a play for the Tourney Spot.
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)
Jaybird's Alabama State (6-0, 9-7) are solid and favorites to win the possibly worst conference in Division I. They may be the only team with a winning record when the chips are all counted.
Summit
Jaybird's North Dakota State (8-1, 14-5) was on my short list. They are dominating Summit League play, giving Oral Roberts (8-1, 10-11) some competition for a change. Oakland is the only other team that might challenge.
Sun Belt
The CEO took Middle Tennessee State (6-3, 12-8) and have found themselves in a competitive conference against Western Kentucky (7-2, 13-7) and Arkansas Little Rock (7-2, 14-6), either of which has as much a shot as the Mid Tenn Staters.
Independents
None will dance. Chicago St. (10-9) has played well.
Summary - all these potential picks are a gamble. If they don't win their conference tourney they are a wasted pick.
Western Kentucky (Sun Belt)
Austin Peay (Ohio Valley)
Arkansas Little Rock (Sun Belt)
Charleston (Southern)
VMI (Big South)
Albany (America East)
East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)
Texas A&M CC (Southland)
Weber St. (Big Sky)
Robert Morris (Northeastern)
Jacksonville (Atlantic Sun)
Long Beach St. (Big West)
Binghampton (America East)
Oakland (Summit)
Oral Roberts (Summit)
Tenn-Martin (Ohio Valley)
Holy Cross (Patriot)
14 comments:
Trouble Brewing for:
Notre Dame - lost 4 straight, and next four games are: at pitt, at cincy, at UCLA, and Louisville home. Reg season final record: 18-12
Miami, Fl - Playing good, but heads into stretch of at Maryland, Wake Forest home, at Duke, UNC home, and at Florida St. Possible 5 game losing streak.
Marquette - should continue to lead the pack, but ends the conf reg season with: at Georgetown, UCONN home, at Louisville, at Pitt, and Syracuse home.
USC - might just reach .500 in conf play, with road games coming against UCLA, Zona St, Cali, Stanford, and Zona, and a home game yet against Washington.
Texas A & M: Already 1-4 in conf play, remaining schedule includes games at Oklahoma, at Baylor, home against Texas and Missouri. Can a 6-10 finish in Big 12 ball net you the NCAAs?
Boston College: Will lose 7 of their next 10 games, including road bouts against Wake and Miami, as well as home troubles against Duke and Clemson.
Southern Ill: Already one of the worst picks in 08/09, 6 of their next 9 games are against teams with better conf standings who are simply playing better. No post-season this year, and only 6 or 7 more wins coming all-together.
Iowa: Of the remaining 11 games, they lose 7, including at Illinois, at Wisconsin, and at Mich St. Maybe the CBI? Iowa should net 9 points max for the remainder of the year.
~ Jut's lunch hour
Dammit phunmunki - I thought you and the badgers had purdue, up by 5 with 3 mins left.
*nelson* haaaa ha *nelson*
Looks like Michigan and Maryland are the best teams left. Maybe Penn St.
Nice D Duke, the CEO could taste a huge night with Nova taking care of business, great play though by Wake to win it.....
-The CEO
I only got to watch the first half of the Duke Wake game but it was fantastic. Great basketball on both sides, really damn good. I can see both these teams in the Elite Eight for sure if not the final four.
yes, Michigan will be there too. Take Michigan. They beat Duke too this year. Take them. Michigan should go top 8. Maryland too.
Holy Cross over Colgate... Holy Cross is going to give American a run for their money me thinks...
Villanova over Pitt! Woo Hoo! Down with Boaris!
Providence (6-2, 14-6) over Syracuse...
South Carolina (4-2, 15-4) over Vanderbilt...
GO MUSA Tonight !!!
Iowa taking down Mich St (babs)
Wash St taking down Zona St (babs)
St Louis taking down Dayton (Aka)
Clemson taking down V Tech (Boaris)
No player in the history of this year's matchup could do more to help take down the giants.
Go IOWA MUSA!
Babs, at this point our records are basically the same 111-47 but you are 25 pts ahead of me, saying that maybe the best play is to go with major schools. However, if my teams come through and win their conferences, I can easily make up the 25 pts. Will be interesting to see where this ends, will definitely drive a modification of draft behavior next year.....
-The CEO
Next year, here are some changes that are happening:
We're adding the Atl 10 to the major conf list.
We're adding 4 additional pts on to winning a major conf reg season.
We're adding 3 additional pts on to winning a minor conf reg season.
We might even split into 3 categories like Babs did in his conf breakdowns. Winning the Mountain West is far superior to winning the SWAC and should be recognized as such.
We'll add some points to winning a first round NCAA game (only at 2pts now with the likely +3 for 5 total as it is likely against another player).
We might add +1 to 3rd and +2 to 4th round wins in the NIT.
We might add novelties such as +5 for going undefeated in reg season, which is quite an accomplishment for any team.
I wouldn't necessarily hold out for those majors yet.
I would add:
+5 points for a team that loses 10 straight games (cause they need the help);
Trades between players, one team for one team;
Banning the Atlantic 10 from having seven teams picked (come on!) and keeping them as a mid major (because they won't get more than one at large at best);
Oooh, I know, every week there is a vote by all players for one player to get one bonus point for "good behavior" and you can't vote for yourself;
On the topic of drafts: Move the draft online only and use a scheduled system (Player 1 pick due at 9 a.m, player 2 pick at 10 a.m., etc.) where if a player fails to pick on time they are skipped;
Allow players to trade draft picks as well as teams;
Jut just called, gotta go.
Feb 22nd Jut Dog, Feb 22nd, yes Wake has to go to Duke, we look forward to the visit......
-The CEO
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