Dingbang Tang Prediction for tonight: 5 points, 5 assists, 3 turnovers. Good luck to everyone (except bow2dacowz, can't stand him) Hope we can pull the upset.

Considering the site mail I've gotten from other players in the past 12 hours I'd say I'm not alone in finding your annual whine sessions to be humorous/sad.

Whoa St. Mary's got upset in the 1st round. Didn't see that coming. 

Posted by bbunch on 12/10/2013 9:23:00 AM (view original):
Whoa St. Mary's got upset in the 1st round. Didn't see that coming. 

You put the hex on by REALLY liking them.  Perhaps you'll REALLY like your own chances tonight. 

I'm playing a Heartland team that is ranked 14 (and 17 in the poll yesterday when the NT started). And he's a 1 seed? 

Either the rankings are seriously flawed or the NT tournament projections. I tend to believe the latter.

It's a little strange pulling for my Longwood squad vs. Incarnate Word when in real life, I live  5 minutes away from Incarnate Word's campus in north San Antonio.....and I have no freaking clue where Farmville, Virginia is (Longwood's location)  Nevertheless, no mercy on the Cardinals tonight. 

Posted by hackerhog on 12/10/2013 2:29:00 PM (view original):
I'm playing a Heartland team that is ranked 14 (and 17 in the poll yesterday when the NT started). And he's a 1 seed? 

Either the rankings are seriously flawed or the NT tournament projections. I tend to believe the latter.

Well I guess it was the former. I still can't quite understand how a 1st team All-American 872 rated center who averages 20 PPG went 4-16 from the field 

Wow. The Midwest looks crazy....now it's bvb's to take IMO. 

Wow. Some real surprises in the Midwest.  I'll start there. 

Obviously #16 Seattle is pretty strong for a 16 seed - they have quite a good team tradition and won a lot of games, but against poor competition (never really defeating a top 100 squad during the season). Their win over St. Mary's was completely shocking, and their 2nd round win against Wayne St. was very surprising as well. 4 of their 5 starters are actually extremely strong players (one of which just now entered the starting lineup for some reason), though they have absolutely no depth off the bench. Their PG and Center seem to score just about all the points. They'll need a more balanced attack vs. #4 Sonoma St., one of the best defensive teams in DII. Sonoma St. held both of their NT opponents to under 60 points, and they barely give up 40% FG throughout the season. They're the best team from the competitive Cal CAA, and their big man Leroy Metcalf is a man amongst boys out there. 

I'm inpressed with how #6 Dominican has played so far with a tough draw vs. Anderson and Mercyhurst in the NT. They have a legendary coach, bvb (known as the Larry Brown of DII Iba). They have a well rounded team with great perimeter defense. Their top 3 scorers are outside, inside, and midrange, which makes them difficult to defend. They force teams to shoot lots of threes and defend the threes very well. After those two tough victories, they take on the other tourney shocker, #15 CSU-Stanislaus. Now fungobatboy has taken them to a title game before, and this is a team that's historically been successful...they are definitely dangerous and talented for a #15 seed....and battle-tested throughout the season. True, they lost most of those battles that tested them....but they were competitive losses, and that might have prepared them well for the NT. 

As far as the East is concerned, it's been nearly all chalk.

Some have dismissed St. Edward's as not the strongest #1 seed (and their resume isn't the best #1 seed resume I've seen, so I get it), but they're still a very strong team from the Heartland, and they don't mess around on defense. They have poor depth, but might have one of the best starting 5's in the country, and they're all seniors.  They're primarily a physical, interior team that wins the close ones. #5 Bellarmine is built similarly to a degree, with 4 seniors in their starting lineup. Their guard play is superb, and their coach is legendary. They always out-play their talent level. Nobody out game-plans Bellarmine. 

#3 Limestone vs. #2 Hillsdale is definitely a heavyweight match. Hillsdale definitely has the best trio of guards in the country, and takes 8000 3 pointers a game, making just about all of them. Their bigs clean up the boards for them. They're an impressive team and quite a unique matchup. Neither team has much depth - Limestone is very starting lineup reliant, as a very young team fresh off 2 national titles in a row. They are more well-rounded on offense, but their two guards Buss and Leach, while studs, are going to have their hands full with Hillsdale's 3-headed monster of Latimer, Grimm, and Yeager.

 

In the Dirty South,

#1 Longwood takes on #5 CSU-Chico. It's been one of Longwood's strong seasons after a few down years, but the Lancers' NT draw is brutal. CSU Chico has 6 Seniors and 6 Juniors and runs a full court press with them, so it's an understatement to say that they're a pretty deep squad. And while there's not one standout player on Chico's squad, they substitute guys in droves, and there's no weak link or weak position on the squad. This is a rematch of an early season game which Longwood barely won. However, Longwood's squad improved greatly midseason with an important lineup change. Longwood relies on an inside-out game. Their three best scorers each have specific roles, but both Neilsen and Gardner are very versatile, where Wurth just rains down 3's. Santoyo is their inside bad boy, rebounding, dunking, and fouling. They have a strong bench as well, but nothing near Chico's depth. 

#6 Florida Southern's Eddie Shouse scores a whole lot of points. He's the stud on a team of role players. Florida Southern was kind of an unknown, playing a mostly poor schedule, but rarely losing. They recieved a pretty favorable draw in the NT, but you're supposed to win the games you get, and Fla. Southern is definitely doing that. They shoot extremely well from 3, mostly due to Shouse. They're possibly running into a buzzsaw in #7 Wisconsin-Parkside, a team full of ridiculously good athletes and defenders. They drive the lane and get fouled better than anyone else in DII Iba. They're impossible to score against. They won 3 titles in the last 12 seasons with the same formula So why are they #7? Probably because they don't really have any shooters themselves. It's like they did an experiment, picking out the 12 best young athletes in the state of Wisconsin and giving all of them scholarships, whether or not they've ever shot a basketball before. Nevertheless, everyone should be put on notice after their 1 point win over very good #2 seed Northeastern St....this Wisc-Parkside squad is dangerous. This game makes for a fun matchup of opposite styles, as Florida Southern is not super athletic and relies on their shooting. 

In the Wild West

#1 Pfieffer's coach bow2thacowz thought the tourney gods were against him, pitting his squad against #16 seed Clark, a ringer of a #16 seed if their ever was one. Yet his strong squad prevailed, and they move on to a tough CVAC-Heartland matchup vs. #4 Valdosta St.  Pfieffer did not struggle with either NT opponent. They're like Hillsdale with dominant perimeter scoring, but unlike Hillsdale, their bigs can put up numbers once in a while too. Their 4 losses were all very close, by 8, 3, 1point, and an OT loss.....They are probably up there with Parkside as the best defensive team in DII, and their non-scoring bigs rebound everything, so you can't ignore them. #4 Valdosta St. is interesting....they go 12 deep, and have some very impressive wins and surprising losses in their resume. All 12 guys contirubute to their very well-rounded offense. Only one scorer gets double figures (11 a game), but their offense is very efficient, so it's pretty hard to defend their squad. 

#6 Ouachita Baptist was a team that jumped out at me from the beginning that was much more impressive than their seeding. They get to play the shocking #15 S. Dakota St. Jackrabbits, who were able to out free-throw shoot their two startled NT opponents by a wide margin. Apparently 3 pointers are illegal in South Dakota, but they draw fouls extremely well, and their two upsets over OPSU and Cal Poly Pomona weren't really that close. Ouachita Baptist hasn't lost in forever, and have some very quality wins on their resume. They should be a #2 or #3 seed in my opinion, but were hurt by a weak conference. They have great guards that penetrate to the basket a lot (and draw fouls....notice a trend here??) Terrell Perry might be the best offensive guard in the country, and very clutch (they just barely got by a tough Pittsburgh St. team on a last-second Perry jumper), and Pilarsky is no slouch either. They are a strong team, but they can have depth issues. 

Love the writeups bbunch. Great stuff as always!

Good write up bbunch. One thing you left out of the Valdosta-pfieffer matchup: Valdosta doesn't stand a chance. Pfeiffer has a rediculous team this year

appreciate the writeup as always bbunch, it's nice to be worth mentioning for the first time in a while lol. but i agree with alazer, Pfeiffer is a veeeeeerry strong bet for our bracket