Ah yes, March Madness. With Selection Sunday less than two weeks away, SportsJudge wants to get you ahead of the curve with an inside look at the "other brackets". Conference tournaments kick off tomorrow Tuesday, March 3rd and the NCAA Basketball team of Brian Doyle, Kevin Fenstermacher and Mike Colligan plan to break down all 30 tournaments leading up to the Big Dance. Today, we'll take a look at the Big South Conference, Horizon League, Ohio Valley Conference, and the Patriot League.Big South Conference (previewed by Mike Colligan)
Winthrop has typically been the cream of the crop in the Big South Conference, winning 8 of the past 10 tournaments, but a changing of the guard looks to be on tap as the Eagles limped to a 9-9 conference record this year.
Instead, Radford enters the 2009 tourney as the #1 seed with the potential of playing the entire tournament at home in the Dedmon Center (bracket can be found here). With much of the team's starters returning from last season, and the addition of junior transfer Artsiom Parakhouski, the Highlanders completed the greatest turnaround in Big South history, rising from 7th to 1st in one year's time.
#2 seed VMI, led by twins Chavis and Travis Holmes, managed to record the second-most wins in team history. Their 22 wins rank only behind the 1976-77 squad which advanced to the Sweet 16. Should VMI advance past the first round, they will likely find themselves faced with Liberty and preseason Player of the Year Anthony Smith. Liberty was pummeled by the Keydets 109-72 last week on their home court but found a way to recover and knocked off top seed Radford on the road to finish the season. If Liberty can find a way to advance past VMI, which is no small challenge, they should feel comfortable after winning 2 of their past 3 trips to Radford.
As for Winthrop, they find themselves in a first round rematch of last year's Championship game against UNC-Asheville. You might remember last year Asheville featured 7'7 360-pound Kenny George. Unfortunately, George's career came to a screeching halt this October after a staph infection resulted in partial amputation of his right foot. Winthrop enters the tournament on a five-game winning streak but in each game they have battled huge deficits early on, only to rally for wins. A slow start on the road at UNC-Asheville could lead to a quick tournament exit.
In the end, I think Radford should be able to find their way to the NCAA tournament as Big South Champions. Despite homecourt advantage being minimized by a pedestrian 5-2 record at home (9-0 on the road), the Highlanders have been on fire in 2009 (14-2 since Jan 1) and seem to be peaking at just the right time.
Brian Doyle: VMI
Kevin Fenstermacher: VMI
Mike Colligan: Radford
Horizon League (previewed by Brian Doyle)
This is one the tournaments for teams on the bubble to keep an eye on. With Butler just about guaranteed a spot in the field, they face tough competition in Wisconsin–Green Bay, Cleveland St., Wright St., and even Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has shown flashes earlier this season. If there’s an automatic bid that’s likely to burst a power conference team’s bubble, the level of competition in this league puts the odds in favor that this tournament will create one of them.
The first round of the Horizon League Championship starts tomorrow with higher seeds hosting (see the bracket here). Butler clinched the #1 seed in the Horizon tournament with a hard fought two point win at home against Cleveland St. on Saturday which means the Bulldogs will host the second half of the tournament, including the championship game, in Indianapolis. Wisconsin-Green Bay and Butler, the top two seeds, have byes into the semi-finals, meaning both should be well rested as they await competition that played the night before. Wisconsin-Green Bay just lost a close one at Wright St. on Saturday. Consider it a wake up call for the the tournament. If they can get by a likely tired Cleveland St., who just showed Butler to be vulnerable at home, look for Ryan Tillema-led Wisconsin-Green Bay, a team that would have everything to play for, to upset Butler, a team that’s only playing for a seed, in the championship game a week from tomorrow.
Brian Doyle: Wisconsin-Green Bay
Kevin Fenstermacher: Butler
Mike Colligan: Wisconsin-Green Bay
Ohio Valley Conference (previewed by Kevin Fenstermacher)
The Ohio Valley Conference has a lot of teams that could come out as the champion of their conference tourney this year. I feel that five teams (Tennessee-Martin, Murray State, Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay) have a legit shot at winning the 8-team tournament (see the bracket here). This will be a one bid league as no teams have any significant wins and none have a shot for an at-large bid. Let's take a quick look at a few of the contenders...
Tennessee-Martin: The Skyhawks ended the conference regular season with a solid 21-8 record and a regular season conference championship after finishing 14-4 in OVC play. They are lead by the leading scorer in the conference, guard Lester Hudson. Hudson has helped Tennessee-Martin to the top points per game in the conference by dropping in over 26 points per game (7.7 RPG and 4.2 APG bolster his gaudy stat line).
Murray State: Murray state has put together a strong end of their season with ten wins in their last twelve games. I expect no problems in the first round for Murray State, but two losses to Austin Peay this year makes me feel like they have their number. I wouldn’t count them out after finishing 13-5 in the conference and 18-11 overall, but their defensive style might not be able to handle the stronger scoring teams throughout the OVC tournament.
Morehead State: Morehead State was looking very strong before losing their last four games heading into the conference tournament. It will be very hard for them to rebound and grab three straight wins against, especially with their first round game being against an Eastern Kentucky team that started their four-game skid. Morehead State is 11-1 at home this season (they beat EKU 68-64 at home) so it benefits them for the first round of the OVC tournament to be held at campus sites of the top-seeded teams.
Eastern Kentucky: Mike Rose leads the Colonels with 20.2 PPG and 5.4 APG. The senior forward has consistently lead EKU, scoring 30 or more four times this season. He also shown he can put up big point totals against the top teams in the OVC. If EKU can pull out a big win in the first round at Morehead State, they are another strong candidate to take the tourney crown.
Austin Peay: The Governors fought through a hard stretch during the middle of the season losing three conference games in a row (2 in overtime) at the end of January. Led by senior Drake Reed, Austin Peay is a team that has to be taken seriously in the OVC Tournament. Reed has been a force for Austin Peay ever since a Freshman and has improved into the superstar they need. Reed reached 30 points seven times this season averaging 22.4 per game. He also worked the board with 7.7 boards per game and shown that he can dish the ball as well with 2.2 APG.
I think that Austin Peay, led by Drake Reed, will be the team to come out of this conference on top. Tennessee-Martin has a strong case, but I think that Reed is the driving force that will bring the Governors into the tournament. The Lester Hudson / Drake Reed shootout I think will make for an entertaining final. Look for Austin Peay guard Wes Channels (16.8 PPG) to be the wildcard for the Governors as he can get hot from beyond the arc and provide some more scoring.
Brian Doyle: Tennessee-Martin
Kevin Fenstermacher: Austin Peay
Mike Colligan: Murray State
Patriot League (previewed by Brian Doyle)
After years of classic Holy Cross-Bucknell battles in the championship game (that matchup is now a first round matchup this year), American won last year’s Patriot League tournament and look to be the favorites to do the same again this season, entering the tournament with a 13-1 conference record. The higher seed hosts all games in the tournament, so look for the championship game to be held down in Washington D.C..
Navy, the #3 seed (check out the bracket here), will likely have to visit Holy Cross in Worcester in the semi-finals, which is not an easy place to win, despite Holy Cross’ terrible start to this season. That is if Holy Cross can get by Bucknell, who traveled to beat them in February. No matter the competition, I like the Midshipmen, led by the backcourt scorers of Chris Harris and Kineo Kila to advance to the championship game at American. But senior Garrison Car and American have been in this position before, look for them to make another appearance in the NCAA Tournament, likely as a #15 seed again, and again as champions of the Patriot League.
Brian Doyle: American
Kevin Fenstermacher: Holy Cross
Mike Colligan: American
*Be sure to stop back Wednesday when the SportsJudge team breaks down the Atlantic Sun, MAAC, Missouri Valley, and Northeast Conferences.
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1 comments:
Winthrop.... I was there in Greensboro, NC when they almost knocked off Tennessee (as was Brian and Kevin?). I was covering the games for Seton Hall (who got knocked off the game before) and Lofton hit that shot 3 feet in front of me to save the No. 2 seed Tennessee from No. 15 Wintrhop.
Never doubt the mid majors.
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