Wow, two more 1 seeds and a 2 seed fell last night. Remaining Sweet 16 seeds:

1,2,3,3,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9,13,15,16

Valdosta has to be considered the favorite to win the whole thing. Heck of a run by Columbus St. getting to the Sweet 16 as a 16 seed. They face a tough Limestone squad, should be a good game.

Isn't this the 2nd time C-bus St has made a Cinderella run?

Yep, they made the Final Four in season 73 as a 9 seed. They beat:

8 seed Mesa
1 seed Longwood
5 seed Mercyhurst
2 seed Harding
Lost to 4 seed Queens (NC) in the Final Four

Haha Iba is always full of upsets lately. At least we at Longwood got to be the upsetters rather than the upsettees in the first round (sorry Mesa St. )

Posted by getbedarded on 1/15/2015 10:40:00 AM (view original):
Wow, two more 1 seeds and a 2 seed fell last night. Remaining Sweet 16 seeds:

1,2,3,3,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,9,13,15,16

Valdosta has to be considered the favorite to win the whole thing. Heck of a run by Columbus St. getting to the Sweet 16 as a 16 seed. They face a tough Limestone squad, should be a good game.

Ssshhhhh. Don't say that! After seeing what's happened to the other top seeds I feel fortunate to still be alive.

Sweet 16 previews
Midwest

#1 Valdosta hasn't always had a great defense this season, but nobody has scored 50 on them in the NT yet. They have great guards and a great coach. However, I could see #5 Clark pulling the upset here. Clark has an unusual team with 2 huge scorers and nobody else even attempting shots very often. While a good man defense could take advantage of that strategy, Valdosta runs a press, so there could be issues shutting down Moore and Mascoro. The game is a ridiculous contrast in styles of play, with Clark getting 92 a game, and Valdosta not giving up 50 all tournament. 

#6 West Florida has a very solid and unspectacular team. Every guy on the squad plays defense, but nobody is dominant on D. #15 Bentley is a strange team that has only made 1 three-pointer all year, and lives off of getting to the foul line. They won in round 1 with a shocking blowout upset over CSU Chico. I worry about West Florida in this one, because it could be an ugly free-throw shooting contest. 

I think Valdosta squeaks by in a very close one, and Bentley gets the upset. Valdosta over Bentley in the Elite 8. 

East

Bakersfield is a very dangerous 9 seed with a lot of talent. I think they needed a little luck as well to get past IW, but they're really good. I think their depth will hurt Kennesaw St., who has 2 really amazing players and some other guys that are fairly decent, nothing more. 

Wingate is probably seeded lower than they should be. They're a 28-3 6 seed that shoots effeciently, rebounds, and shoots the 3. However, Concord is DEFINITELY seeded lower than they should be. It's never an easy task to run Bellarmine off they court, as they did in Round 2. 

Prediction:  #9 Bakersfield over Concord in the Elite 8. 

South:  Columbus St??? Haven't they done this before? I wouldn't want to run into them as a double digit seed ever again. I think #4 Limestone's defense will be too much for Columbus St, though. They're a tough team to score on, and pretty effecient on offense as well. Brianxavier has won a few titles, so he might have a shot. 

The other matchup in the South is the most intriguiing in the Sweet 16....maybe DII's best starting lineup in Drury vs. the monsters from Lander. It's a heavyweight fight, both teams could completely be #1 seeds. Lander looks very tough on defense as well, but they have some big-time scorers to boot. 

Look for Lander to beat Drury in a deathmatch that's within 10 points. Look for Columbus St. to scare Limestone before Limestone's D squeezes the life out of them. And look for Lander to win a nailbiter (maybe an OT game) vs my conference mate. 

Prediction:  #2 Lander over #4 Limestone

West. #8 Lemoyne vs. #13 Sonoma is a pretty strange sweet 16 matchup. Sonoma St. can make any game nasty and close, and they are deep, with no starters averaging in double figures. However, Lemoyne is much better than a 8 seed. They play D really well and make 3's really well. A few close in-conference losses to merrimack and a mediocre OOC weakened their RPI, weakening their seeding, but I think that team is really good. 

#3 Bowie St. vs. #7 U of DC - 2 very similar teams that have deep rosters and wreak havoc with the press. U of DC will be the favorite to win the title next season. Bowie has a pretty good path to get there right now, though - they're stacked. 

Prediction: #3 Bowie St. over #8 Lemoyne. 


Final Four
Lander beats Bowie St.  (I think these are the 2 best teams in the tourney) 
Valdosta over Bakersfield

Lander over Valdosta for the title. 

Good read as always bbunch

Posted by getbedarded on 1/15/2015 5:14:00 PM (view original):
Yep, they made the Final Four in season 73 as a 9 seed. They beat:

8 seed Mesa
1 seed Longwood
5 seed Mercyhurst
2 seed Harding
Lost to 4 seed Queens (NC) in the Final Four

you had to remind me of one of my most regrettable losses, but I brought it up.

Posted by hackerhog on 1/15/2015 10:41:00 PM (view original):

Posted by getbedarded on 1/15/2015 5:14:00 PM (view original):
Yep, they made the Final Four in season 73 as a 9 seed. They beat:

8 seed Mesa
1 seed Longwood
5 seed Mercyhurst
2 seed Harding
Lost to 4 seed Queens (NC) in the Final Four

you had to remind me of one of my most regrettable losses, but I brought it up.

That was one of my best teams ever. I remember being floored by that loss. 

Thank you bbunch.  i hope we are good enough to keep it close and then who knows.
Yes, it is fortunate that they are a press team (so no double team on moore),  but wish we didnt face #1 team so early.  kelby03 seems like a great coach.
Moore wont quite make it to 3,000 points and wont quite catch the d2 record set last year,  but he will finish #2 all time scorer and also has a sweet awards resume

I love those posts from you, bbunch. Great job

Posted by davinchi on 1/16/2015 12:41:00 AM (view original):
Thank you bbunch.  i hope we are good enough to keep it close and then who knows.
Yes, it is fortunate that they are a press team (so no double team on moore),  but wish we didnt face #1 team so early.  kelby03 seems like a great coach.
Moore wont quite make it to 3,000 points and wont quite catch the d2 record set last year,  but he will finish #2 all time scorer and also has a sweet awards resume

lol I guess I called that one davinchi - you definitely kept it close. Good season....and props for playing the game in a different way and having success at it. 

Yes, nice call bbunch. You nailed that prediction. Great game davinci. Too bad we played this soon. I'm fortunate to survive that game.

Posted by kelby_03 on 1/16/2015 2:30:00 PM (view original):
Yes, nice call bbunch. You nailed that prediction. Great game davinci. Too bad we played this soon. I'm fortunate to survive that game.

at least your game with him was a round of 16 game. I had to play him in the round of 32. Both of us being Top 10 teams.

Congrats to dtm on the national title! Once Lander was knocked out, them (Bowie) and Valdosta definitely were the 2 best teams left. Glad to see Bowie St. back to prominence