You’re undoubtedly aware of G:TB’s rooting interest in Colonial Athletic Association basketball. We’re the internet’s 2nd or 3rd-leading purveyors of CAA-focused insight, according to the industry watchdogs at Street and Smith. Lesser known, perhaps, is our fondness for all things small and overlooked in the world of big-time college hoops. And I know from small and overlooked, believe me.March Madness generally refers to the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, the engorged national obsession that this year begins on March 20. While we worship at the altar of Clark Kellogg’s verbal gymnastics as much as the next guy, we believe the frenzy actually kicks off tomorrow, when the Littles start playing off for guaranteed entry into the field of 64. And so, we bring you G:TB’s rundown of the Oompa Loompas, the Ewoks, the Billy Bartys, and yea, verily, the Lollipop Guilds who imbue this first full week of March with color and character until they give way to their Brobdingnagian counterparts before Spring’s sweet breezes begin to blow.
Today we’ll focus on the tournaments that start this week, in the interest of time and some notion of a need to accomplish at least one business-related task before heading home.
America East
Location: Binghamton, NY
Dates: March 7-9, 15
Top Seed: University of Maryland, Baltimore County (13-3)
At Large Potential: Zip, Zero, Nada
For the record, I hate the split tournament format, though I grudgingly appreciate the abiding desire of conferences like the America East to get some precious television exposure. Lord ESPN, why dost thou torment us so? Also, in the interest of sharing, I spent the coldest weekend of my life in Binghamton. Moving right along...
Teejay hails from the America East’s frigid territory and insists that Albany will take the league’s automatic bid. Me, I look at UMBC’s dominant regular season (including a sweep of the aforementioned Great Danes) and the Retrievers’ killer mascot and go with the A-10 slayers (wins over Richmond and GW highlight UMBC’s out-of-conference sked) from Baltimore to make the chalk stand.
Atlantic Sun
Location: Nashville, TN
Dates: March 5-8
Top Seed: Belmont (14-2)
At Large Potential: Yeah, not so much
The A-Sun made big noise out of conference during the season’s opening weeks, with wins over Kentucky (Gardner-Webb), Alabama (Belmont), Cincinnati (Belmont), and USC (Mercer), proving yet again that mid-majors (or in this case, low-majors) can play with anyone. Belmont takes a 10-game winning streak into the conference tourney, with their last loss at Campbell way back on January 5. The top-seeded Bruins open tournament play on Wednesday against…uh-oh…Campbell.
G:TB would be doing you, the reader, a significant disservice by pretending we know anything at all about how this conference tournament will play out. Doesn’t mean we won’t be watching.
Big South
Location: Campus Sites
Dates: March 4, 6, 8
Top Seed: UNC-Asheville (10-4)
At Large Potential: Diddly
Asheville’s 10-4 conference record is a bit misleading, as the Bulldogs lost all their conference games in consecutive fashion while 7’7” center (and G:TB favorite) Kenny George and point
guard Bryan Smithson sat out with injuries. UNC-A was undefeated in conference play with the two in the lineup.Randy Peele’s Winthrop Eagles beat Georgia Tech and Miami (FL) this season after dumping Notre Dame in the 2007 Big Dance, but if George is healthy, nobody in the Big South can keep Asheville from its appointed demolition at the hands of a major conference power.
Colonial
Location: Richmond, VA
Dates: March 7-10
Top Seed: Virginia Commonwealth (15-3)
At Large Potential: Slim but not none
The CAA’s built a well-deserved reputation as a tough out in the NCAA Tourney, with VCU, UNCW, and ODU all notching wins in the last 10 years and George Mason making its’ unforgettable Final Four run in 2006. Unfortunately, that success doesn’t look to be enough to get the conference its 3rd consecutive two-bid season.
We won’t belabor the preview here, as we’ll drop a more comprehensive version on Thursday, but G:TB’s seen a lot of CAA ball this season, and we haven’t seen a better team than George Mason when the Patriots are focused. The latter part of that sentence is huge, because Mason has an annoying tendency to space out during crucial game situations. With some trepidation, it says here that Jim Larranaga prevails upon his senior standouts Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell to keep their heads in it long enough to get the band back together in late March. That is, of course, unless William and Mary catches fire. Natch.
Horizon
Location: Campus Sites
Dates: March 4, 7-8, 11
Top Seed: Butler (16-2)
At Large Potential: A given, if anyone other than Butler wins the conference tourney. Otherwise, nope.
Mid-major darling Butler is clearly the class of the Horizon and poised to capture a top-5 seed in the NCAA Tourney with a clean run through the league championship. Only Cleveland State and Wright State (note: neither of those are actually states) blemished the Bulldogs in the regular season, and A.J. Graves, Mike Green and the boys avenged both of those losses.
Thing is, though, Butler plays a lot of close games – 12 of their 18 conference tilts were decided by single digits – and they don’t need to win the Horizon to get into the Dance. G:TB likes surging Cleveland State (winners of 6 out of 7) to pillage their way into Hinkle Fieldhouse and get all Hoosiers on Butler, denying somebody an at-large bid.
MAAC
Location: Albany, NY
Dates: March 7-10
Top Seed: Siena (13-5)
At Large Potential: Sorry, no
Siena’s Saints took the top seed in the MAAC tourney by winning a tiebreaker over the Rider Broncs based on which team has a more geographically appropriate nickname. That said, Siena’s a pretty good squad, with a win over Stanford on their resume. The MAAC’s got 6 teams within 2 games of each other at the top, so it would surprise nobody on the G:TB staff to see any one of Siena, Rider, Loyola (MD), Niagara, Marist, or Fairfield claim the bid.
As noted before, Teejay hails from the Albany region, so we’ll leave the prognosticating to him. Survey says…Siena.
(Late breaking news from the Sports Book at the MGM Grand: Teejay says, “And Siena will win their first round game…book it”. Use that as you will.)
Missouri Valley
Location: St. Louis, MO
Dates: March 6-9
Top Seed: Drake (15-3)
At Large Potential: At least 2 and maybe 3 MVC squads will be in the Dance
Billy Packer’s least favorite conference annually vies with the CAA and the Mountain West for the title of Tallest Midget (we consider the Atlantic 10 a really bad major conference, not a top-flight mid). The MVC is clearly the class of mid-major hoops in 2008, standing 8th in Ken Pomoroy’s conference RPI.
Drake’s in the tournament already, and one of 2008’s great stories after coming from nowhere to win the MVC regular season. Illinois State’s probably in, too, but their lack of big-name win should have the Redbirds a little apprehensive. We think they win the tourney, with Drake bowing out early.
Northeast
Location: Campus Sites
Dates: March 6, 9, 12
Top Seed: Robert Morris (16-2)
At Large Potential: Bagel
The Robert Morris Colonials beat Boston College earlier in the year, and enter the NEC tourney on a 13-game winning streak. Hot team, playing at home and looking for a redemptive run to their ultimate doom. That’s the kind of human interest story that’ll keep the nation tuned in until at least the first television timeout of their loss to Kansas.
Ohio Valley
Location: Nashville, TN
Dates: March 4, 7-8
Top Seed: Austin Peay (16-4)
At Large Potential: Nope
The Ohio Valley seems to be sharing Nashville as a tournament venue with the Atlantic Sun. Since I assume that Nashville is a tiny hick town with only one arena, this has me perplexed. (I could look it up, but a) I don’t care, and b) someone will almost certainly do it for me.)
Regardless, the OVC puts on an entertaining show on a regular basis, so we’ll be tuning in to the shared-court action to hear “Let’s Go Peay” from backers of the top-seeded Governors. There’s a whole lotta parity in the OVC, with 8 of the league’s 11 teams at .500 or better. One of them will win the automatic bid.
Patriot
Location: Campus Sites
Dates: March 5, 9, 14
Top Seed: American (10-4)
At Large Potential: None
Ahh, John Feinstein’s driven-snow pure Patriot League, home of noble student-athletes and scintillating just-below-the-rim action. American University, whose conference tournament futility is an underreported phenomenon, snuck into the top seed and home court advantage when Colgate upended Navy in the season’s final game. Only 5 games separate the league champion Eagles from the last-place Holy Cross Crusaders, so your guess is as good as ours when it comes to the tournament winner.Only thing we know is that it won’t be American.
Southern
Location: Charleston, SC
Dates: March 7-10
Top Seed: Davidson (20-0)
At Large Potential: Only if Davidson loses
Davidson’s 20-0 in conference play. That’s sick, regardless of the league, and the SoCon, while mostly mediocre, isn’t the SWAC. The league as a whole played the nation’s toughest out of conference schedule, and as difficult as it is for low/mid-major teams to get games against the big guys, that fact alone is enough to make G:TB root for the SoCon.
In addition to running the table in the league, Davidson lost by 4, 6, and 8 to UNC, Duke, and UCLA, respectively. In the words of Bill Walton, put ‘em in, big man.
Although it won’t matter – the Wildcats will close the deal in Charleston and scare the bejesus out of some unsuspecting 3 seed in the first round of the tourney.
Sun Belt
Location: Mobile, AL
Dates: March 5, 9-11
Top Seed: South Alabama (16-2)
At Large Potential: So you’re saying there’s a chance
South Alabama and Western Kentucky both finished 16-2 in regular season conference action, with the league’s next best teams (Middle Tennessee, Arkansas Little-Rock, and Louisiana-Lafayette) a full 5 games back at 11-7. As an aside, how the hell is Denver in this conference?
The Sun Belt is one of those leagues where a clearly better team runs the risk of folding under the enormous pressure of the one and done environment, but we don’t see it happening to both USA and WKU. One or the other wins the league, and if it’s WKU, we still like South Alabama’s chances of sneaking into the field.
West Coast
Location: San Diego, CA
Dates: March 7-10
Top Seed: Gonzaga (12-1 – season not complete)
At Large Potential: Indeed
Same as it ever was/same as it ever was. Little known fact that the Rhode Island School of Design’s own David Byrne is a huge WCC fan. Gonzaga’s win over Saint Mary’s last week dropped the Gaels into second place, and ensured that the Bulldogs will capture their 8h straight regular season title with a win over Santa Clara tonight.
Both Gonzaga and St. Mary’s are already in the Large Cotillion (I’m running out of new ways to describe the damn thing), and the G:TB team fancies the cut of the San Diego Toreros’ jib. Playing at home, USD screws up yet another team’s at-large dreams. We fervently hope that Bob Huggins is the victim.
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44 comments:
Albany's winning the Am East.
Can I still bet against W&M winning a game in the CAA tourney? If so, count me in against any and all takers.
Rob-- I answered your question about The Wire in the comments of last post. I know you were down on this season at one point, so how do you feel about it with one episode left?
I'm looking forward to Templeton going down and seeing what happens with Michael, Marlo and the rest. And, I'd like to go back a few seasons and put another bullet in Kima. Screw that goody, two shoes carpet muncher.
mark, i thought last night's episode was phenomenal. the scenes where michael parted with dukie and bug were wrenching, and the redemption storyline with bubbles is a nice parallel to the downfall of mcnulty.
on the whole, though, i still have more complaints about the season than praise. not that realism is the holy grail, but are we really expected to believe that lester and mcnulty would go to all that trouble and not assume that a good lawyer would dig into the source of the information? it undermines the whole premise. and the way omar died was bogus.
the life on the streets aspect of the show is still mesmerizing, but the 'professional' environments (the police dept and the newspaper) have been way too contrived this season.
still can't wait to see how it ends.
The way Omar died was perfect. Something that nobody saw coming. Here's what I don't get: out of Michael, Dukie and Bug, none of them got it in their heads to just take the money and run. The three of them are their own attachements to Baltimore. And with all that cash too.
i suppose omar's death fits on some level - the game gets everyone, after all. he was the only pure character in the series, though - doesn't seem right that his death was so trivial.
The Patriot League final always rocks because of the campus site setup. I find some of these games hard to watch because they're being played in empty arenas. Conferences would do well to know their role and plan accordingly. If you're only going to draw 3000, don't play in a 10,000 seat arena.
One of those early southern conferences is really guilty of this. I think it's the A-Sun, but it could be any of about 5 conferences. Whoever it is, they play in front of nobody.
O's closer Chris Ray went to W&M? Did I know that? And where the hell was I?
you were long "graduated", supposedly. rays shortstop brendan harris also wore the green and gold.
Is Bill Bray still big league material?
there's a decent breakdown of the television schedules for little con hoops here:
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/new/story/weekly_tv_schedule_march_3_941278
and, yes, i believe bill bray is a redleg.
fox sports says favre's retiring. that boy's cried wolf before.
pat knight's pretty much a dolt, no?
i know this isn't news to any of gtb's readers, but holy pete rozelle is the nba unbalanced.
the east has 5 teams above .500, with the nets holding down the last playoff spot with a 26-33 record (.441). meanwhile, the west has 10 teams above .500 (and 8 above .600), with 8th-place golden state at 36-22 (.621). denver's on the outside looking in with a record good enough for 4th in the east (35-24).
also, rumors are starting to come out of las vegas. disturbing rumors.
I received a text from TJ yesterday at 5 that simply read "Vegas Baby, Vegas". At that point, I was a little worried about our doofus overlord.
Here's a bit of my take on The Wire...I liked how Omar died, not only was it not overdone, but the kid who shot him had been repeatedly portrayed as a kid with no guidance and serious anger issues (He stole Namond's stash and then called him a bitch only to have Michael kick his ass. Later, Michael takes him on his corner and he repeatedly tried dukie. Plus, he saw Omar threaten all of Marlo's people so he had reason to be scared for himself and his livelihood if Omar were to take down Marlo).
Also, I don't find the newspaper situations to be wholly unrealistic, in a time when the medium is dying, its entirely possible that Templeton could get away with his lies for a period of time, especially if the stories he's writing are bringing attention to a paper on its last legs. If nobody was any the wiser then i see your issue but the fact that Gus (and many others) are wise to his antics allows me to buy in.
Now, McNulty and Lester's convoluted wire tap scenario is a little harder to swallow but I think that speaks to the desperation of those two characters in the face of a city that's turning it back on the real police work that needs to be done.
Finally, as for Michael, Dukie and Bug...none of them have ever left baltimore. Where would they go and what would they do? That is their entire world and they're likely to feel as though they can't go anywhere else. Michael an Dukie can't be any more than 15 in this season.
Herc's role has been great this season as well, he's gone from this dumb cop who couldn't work the system to a guy working for the crookedest(?) lawyer in Baltimore who's working both sides of the legal process. His progression has been both unlikely and extremely interesting.
the newspaper stuff seems too "ripped from the headlines" for my taste. simon's done such a great job of conveying the details of the other major plot mechanisms (the drug squad, the docks, the schools) without hitting us over the head with them - maybe that's why the journalism stuff feels so preachy and contrived. not saying it's unrealistic, necessarily (jason blair says hi), just way less subtle than i've come to expect from the show. i think it's a product of a) simon's obvious and public bitterness toward the newspaper business and b) the fact that he had only 10 episodes this season to start, build, and finish the story.
i'm picking nits at this point - it's still the best television in my lifetime.
You're right that Simon's bitterness about the newspaper biz was a bit transparent this season. The way he portrayed the two head editors was a little heavy handed, even for my taste. Though, I did get a kick out of the constant Dickensian references that were undoubtedly a veiled (or not so veiled if you're on the inside) shot at somebody he worked with/knows.
Also, there's a scene where Kenard, (the kid who shot Omar) where he's dumping what looks like lighter fluid on a cat. All the other kids are running away from Omar and he's just sitting there pouring some crap on a cat he's torturing. He's the next Marlo.
you think marlo's evil, or just machiavellian?
I spoke with the Doofus Overlod this morning. He was in his 28th consecutive hour of consciousness, fully and completely in the bag, and consorting with "IRA terrorists" (not known if he was referring to the Roth or Belfast variety). Here's hoping he makes it back alive.
Marlo lacks compuncture or compassion. When he was first introduced as a character, the scene that really defined him was when Fruit was going to kill Bubble's junkie friend. Marlo was really cool with his "either kill him or don't kill him, just hurry up".
He's certainly masochistic and singular in purpose.
you think teejay's evil, or just silly?
I just got a phone call from "the Teej". It went like this:
Me: Hello
TJ: Greg!!!
Me: Hi TJ.
TJ: GRRREGGG!!!!!
click
that appears to be going around.
And all I got was a text message.
As for Kenard, that scene with the cat was right before he shot Omar. If you look back on the scene he kind of sizes up Omar as he walks by, and most certainly ran for his stashed gun immediately thereafter. Kenard's shooting, in a way, signaled the arrival of yet another young street legend.
To that point, you're right about him being the next Marlo, his character has been shown to be built for the game for a while now. This brings up a point that I wanted to mention, I enjoy how the writers have pushed forward a few plotlines that have no chance of seeing completion (Herc, Freeman, Kenard, etc.) if only to allow viewers to let the show live on in their minds.
Also, it's appropriate that Omar was killed by a young hopper. Omar lived by a code where he didn't rob non-drug dealers, didn't cuss and didn't kill kids. In a way, that code was his downfall because there's no way an adult would have got the jump on him like that.
Not going to bed...bad idea jeans.
By the way, the Clippers should never be part of a three parlay. Ever.
Here I thought my day was brutal...Whitney is in a limo in Mississippi with some random dudes. At Arby's.
between teejay's walkabout and whitney's planes, trains, and automobiles remake, g:tb will have some stories to tell over the next few days.
Only known of them will get told. We'll end up with a youtube representation of TJ's day/night and some Jonas Salk story from Whitney...yay.
reader's choice:
i've got an unhinged rant about media coverage of the obama/clinton race or a youtube from rick majerus.
your call.
Give us the Majerus...
I want to keep talking about The Wire. I still don't get why Dukie chose to be dropped off in the Skid Row area of drug-shooters and boy-lovers. Sure, that arabber gave him ten bucks to steal scrap metal and they did a good job showing that he couldn't get work elsewhere. But for a kid of his intellect to voluntarily drop down to that route just doesn't make sense to me.
at that particular moment, though, he had no other real choice - he didn't know of any other place, even though he's a relatively smart kid. i think the point the writers are making is that these characters have such a limited worldview because of their circumstances - they couldn't even conceive of an option outside of baltimore. the system(s) have failed them abjectly.
Rob's right, Dukie has nobody else in his life who he can latch onto. His family is useless (and he probably couldn't find them if he wanted to at this point)and Michael can't help him right now. The only other person in his life who has cared recently is Prezbo and it looks like they reconnect (albeit briefly) in this upcoming final episode but I doubt he knows where he could find Prezbo outside of the school. In his mind, he had no choice but the junkman and his boy toucher cohorts.
In many ways, Dukie's disposition and intellect worked against him all this time. He wasn't enough of a trouble maker to go in the alternate program (and thus meet somebody like Bunny Colving) and his intellect wasn't ever put in a position to flourish and grow due to his familial circumstances.
what's really damning is that michael, who is both smart and resourceful, couldn't think of a better option for himself and dukie than to split up. where the heck is he gonna go? he's dead in balmer. does he go to the cops and fulfill marlo's unwitting prophecy? do we even see him again?
The Raiders gave Javon Walker a 6 yr/55 mil deal? Are they trying to top the Jets in questionable big money deals?
If that's their aim...mission accomplished. In fact, they were probably there on the Tommy Kelly deal alone.
I think we'll see Michael again next episode, at least I hope so. Anybody figure out if we're getting more than an hour on Sunday?
There is no system; the universe is indifferent.
existential bastard.
You mother-bitchex are talking my languache now!
Jerry:
"One of those early southern conferences is really guilty of this. I think it's the A-Sun, but it could be any of about 5 conferences. Whoever it is, they play in front of nobody."
You called it. The A-Sun picks a school to host the final long before the games are played, and quite often the host is out by the final. That probably won't happen this year, as South Alabama (at-large-worthy) is hosting.
extra p, you making the trip to richmond for the caa shindig?
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