USA South swept all 1 seeds with a dominant season for the conference. Can they bring home the title this season. With all #1 seeds and a #2 seed the conference has the talent, but will face stiff competition from outside teams such as the 2 seeds in Yeshiva, Dallas, and Upper Iowa. The 3 and 4 seeds all look pretty talented capable of deep runs. Here we go:
Midwest region
Projected Region Final: #1 CNU verse #2 Yeshiva
Region Champs: #1 CNU
How it happens:
CNU has a surprisingly tough 2nd round matchup with the winner of UWSP and Bethany College, I expect UWSP to come through to face CNU, however the lack of experience and speed in the roster for ricosuave will be too much to pull the upset bid.
Howard Payne looks like it has the best shot to take a swing at CNU in the S16 with a very high defense and speed roster, with a great coach is what's needed for the upset, but a zone defense will be the deciding factor as CNU wins a very close one.
Yeshiva's toughest opponents will be PBA and Montclair State. PBA is a talented team and has pulled some big upsets this season and could do so against Yeshiva, but I trust Yeshiva's press defense to be the deciding factor causing to many to's for PBA to overcome.
Montclair st. if it can get past elite coach aejones in the first round has excellent depth, and scoring, which could cause a problem, for Yeshiva, with a nod to Yeshiva in coaching advantage I'll expect a double digit win for yanks to move on.
Yeshiva's and CNU meet in the regional final as the two highest seeds avoiding upsets in the tourney. However Yeshiva's press will be shredded by CNU's guards with a superior speed advantage CNU will earn a surprise double digit victory in the elite 8 to move on the the Final four as Midwest regional champs.
Potential Upset teams: Howard Payne, Westminister.
East region
Projected regional championship matchup #4 Augustana verse #3 Menlo
Region Champ #3 Menlo
How it happens:
I go with the surprise Augustana beating Greensboro in the S16 due to Augusta's speed at guard being the difference between the two press teams. Greensboro is a very talented team and is very capable of winning a championship, but things don't always work out as planned and the first #1 seed has fallen.
Before their S16 loss Greensboro will avoid an upset from a young but talented Wisconsin Stout, through its defense and experience the deciding factor. Augustana will most likely see a offensively talented but lacking on defense Chicago team, and stops that offense from scoring a thing. Augustana wins by 15+ giving a lot of confidence heading into their S16 matchup against Greensboro.
2 seed Dallas will take a surprisingly easy path the S16 with a D3 sim in the first ronud, and a very winnable 2nd round game reguardless of winner. Menlo the 3 seed is very tough and is fully loaded for a deep run, after beating their sim opponent and upset winner 11 seed Colorado, and the combination of it's fb/fcp and absurd 3 point shooting will end Dallas's excellent season.
Again Menlo advances over Augstana due to its depth/philosphy/3 point shooting ability.
Potential Cinderellas: Colorado, Wisconsin Stout
South Region
Regional Final: #1 Oglethorpe verse #6 NCWC
Winner #1 Oglethorpe
#1 seed Oglethorpe wins the South in a very tough bracket, Endicott, Lewis and Clark, and Union College are very tough teams to beat, but the extremely gifted talent of Oglethorpe in the fb/fcp will be too much for other teams to stop. As well as Union taking out Lewis and Clark in the 2nd round.
#6 seed NCWC makes a surprise run with its continuing trend of fb/fcp with great depth. They'll not out defending champs and 3 seed Centre in the 2nd round causing too many turnovers for Centre to overcome. And avoids playing Upper Iowa(who is the most overrated seed in the tourney with its lack of defense and really not playing anyone tough) as Upper Iowa loses their first game to 7 seed dominican, giving us a 6-7 S16 matchup.
potential Cinderella teams 6. NCWC 7. Dominican 5 Lewis and Clark 9. Endicott
West Region
Regional Final #1 Shenandoah verse 3 seed Cal Tech
Champ Shenandoah
It's not hard to explain Shenandoah's sucess just look at Zeyer and then Anderson, then hop on the train. Noone can stop Zeyer only slow him down. Not one team in the West has a PF of even hoping to slow down Zeyer, Cal Tech has the best chance, but Zeyer will get to the charity stripe to much and be the deciding factor. Shenandoah runs through 1st round, them Williamette, and St. Norbert. Cal Tech has great defensive ratings and players not elite as Zeyer but great enough to slow him down, however Anderson and Zarn will pick up the slack and win in a great game over Cal Tech.
Cal Tech wins big over overmatched Mississippi college before stifling 6 seed City College of NY. and "upsetting" Averett(Cal Tech will be favorite) with its superior ath/defensive ratings. Averett will give Cal Tech a go with its 3's but ultimately wont be able to make enough to move on, ending their run in the S16.
With the Final Four Matches set between:
#1 Shenandoah verse #1 Oglethorpe
and
#1 CNU verse #3 Menlo
The USA south has 3/4 teams in the final four, a solid perfomance, however it past seasons conference mates seasons tend to end on the same day and we see a similar fate.
Oglethorpes guard play is much superior to Shenandoah and Zeyer isn't able to make up the difference himself, 'doah loses for the third time against Oglethorpe in a high 80's scoring affair.
Meanwhile CNU's lack of 3 point shooter is the key factor as Menlo is able to get more points per bucket with the 3's they take to knock out CNU in the Final Four.
Championship morning we get #1 Oglethorpe verse #3 surprise Menlo in a battle between FB/FCP teams.
Oglethorphes elite guard play again is too much for its opponent and limits the 3's Menlo can take and getting them into foul trouble. The game gets slightly ugly at the end with Oglethorpe winning by nearly 15.
GZ gets his 2nd title and first at and for Oglethorpe.
Hope you enjoyed. Was quite fun to write, tried to pick some upsets, lets hear what everyone else has to say.