The Parents' Basement

Pat’s Tuesday Picks

Pat — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:58:01 +0000

MEAC

1st Round: Howard over NC A&T, UMES over Coppin State, Bethune Cookman over FAMU

2nd Round: Morgan State over Howard, Norfolk State over Hampton, UMES over South Carolina State, Delaware State over Bethune Cookman

Semifinals: Norfolk State over Morgan State, Delaware State over UMES

Finals: Delaware State over Norfolk State

Thoughts: Let’s go Hornets!!!!!!!

Atlantic 10

1st Round: Duquesne over St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island over St. Joe’s, Charlotte over UMass, Dayton over GW

2nd Round: Temple over Duquesne, Saint Louis over Rhode Island, Charlotte over Richmond, Xavier over Dayton

Semifinals: Saint Louis over Temple, Xavier over Charlotte

Finals: Xavier over Saint Louis

Thoughts: I predict the Billikens will be very inspired after a pregame pep talk involving Rick Majerus pooping in front of them.

Big East

1st Round: South Florida over Depaul, St. John’s over UConn, Seton Hall over Providence, Rutgers over Cincy

2nd Round: South Florida over Georgetown, Marquette over St. John’s, Notre Dame over Seton Hall, Louisville over Rutgers

3rd Round: Syracuse over South Florida, Marquette over Villanova, Pitt over Notre Dame, Louisville over WVU

Semifinals: Syracuse over Marquette, Pitt over Louisville

Finals: Syracuse over Pitt

Thoughts: Lots of overrated teams in the conference, but Syracuse is certainly legit, so they’re the pick.

Scoreboard Update

Bo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:53:42 +0000

Well this has definitely been a less enthusiastic edition of the UCTPE but that’s alright because we renewed the domain name yesterday so all is well at The Basement. Before I get to the standings update, I just wanted to point out that as much as Pat pretends to hate picking against Troy, there’s this too.

Onto the results so far.

Patriot League: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 4 points … We both have Lehigh in the championship game so no more separation here.
Atlantic Sun: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 6 points … Pat’s rewarded for sticking with Tim Smith and correctly picking an ETSU championship.
Big South: Bo – 2 points ; Pat – 1 point … Not including missed points for not picking the first round games.
NEC: Bo – 5 points ; Pat – 4 points … Big championship game with me having Quinnipiac and Pat having Robert Morris.
Missouri Valley: Bo – 30 points ; Pat – 15 points … pretty much just beasted this one.
Southern: Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 12 points … Correctly picked Wofford
CAA: Bo – 12 points ; Pat – 12 points … Pat missed a chance for 6 points when William & Mary lost last night.
OVC: Bo – 10 points ; Pat – 4 points … Murray State bonus for me.
WCC: Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 10 points … I had a perfect WCC bracket, and that is definitely resume material.
Horizon: Bo – 8 points ; Pat – 2 points … We both still have a possible Butler bonus if they win the champ. game.
MAAC – Bo – 18 points ; Pat – 18 points … Both picked Siena
America East - Bo – 5 points ; Pat – 4 points … I correctly tabbed Vermont.
Summit: Bo – 6 points ; Pat – 5 points … 3 point swing tonight in the Champ. game as I have IUPUI and pat has Oakland.
Sun Belt: Bo – 6 points ; Pat – 8 points … Pat’s got a 3-point bonus coming to him if Troy wins.
Big Sky: Bo – 4 points ; Pat – 2 points … Still ongoing although we missed the knowledge that this is a re-seeder.
MAC: Bo – 8 points ; Pat – 6 points … Only in the quarters.

Current Tally:

Bo – 154 points (6 champs so far)

Pat – 113 points (2 champs so far)

Bo’s 3/9 Picks

Bo — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:30:58 +0000

The next round of tourneys start today, including the Big East, and with the slew of 3-point conferences opening up soon, the picks get more important. A standings update will follow this post, but I’ve got a sizable lead over Pat that is by no means insurmountable with the vast majority of points still up for grabs.

MEAC (1-point)

1st round: #9 North Carolina A&T over #8 Howard, #11 Coppin St. over #6 Maryland Eastern Shore, #7 Bethune Cookman over #10 Florida A&M

Quarters: #1 Morgan St. over NC A&T, #5 Hampton over #4 Norfolk St., #3 South Carolina St. over Coppin St., #2 Delaware St. over Bethune Cookman

Semis: Morgan St. over Hampton, Del St. over SCST

Champion: Morgan St.

Tourney’s taking place at the Joel again, what’s the over/under on Wake students that attend? 9.5?

Atlantic 10 (3-pointer)

1st round: #8 St. Bonaventure over #9 Duquesne, #5 Rhode Island over #12 St. Joe’s, #6 Charlotte over #11 UMASS, #7 Dayton over #10 George Washington

Quarters: #1 Temple over St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island over #4 Saint Louis, #3 Richmond over Charlotte, Dayton over #2 Xavier

Semis: Rhode Island over Temple, Richmond over Dayton

Champion: Richmond

Taking a risk here that neither of the two favorite wins the tournament. A-10 is a pretty packed conference and I just get the feeling that the teams with something to play for (Rhode Island, Dayton) will pull a couple upsets.

Big East (3-pointer)

1st round: #9 South Florida over #16 DePaul, #12 UConn over #13 St. John’s, #10 Seton Hall over #15 Providence, #11 Cincinnati over #14 Rutgers

2nd round: #8 Georgetown over South Florida, UConn over #5 Marquette, Seton Hall over #7 Notre Dame, #6 Louisville over Cincinnati

Quarters: #1 Syracuse over Georgetown, #4 Villanova over UConn, #2 Pittsburgh over Seton Hall, #3 West Virginia over Louisville

Semis: Syracuse over Villanova, West Virginia over Pittsburgh

Champion: West Virginia

Wide open tourney of course, and even though I really don’t like Jim Calhoun I think he’ll get his two wins.

Pat’s Weekend Picks

Pat — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:47:59 +0000

I fucked up. I didn’t get a chance to get my picks up yesterday. The only way to rectify this without either throwing out the four tournaments that started Saturday or giving Bo an insurmountable advantage was for me to blindly pick all of the favorites in those conferences. This, of course, is all the way through, and not just yesterday’s games, because it would’ve been a major advantage for me going forward to know the 1st Round results. I am embarrassed, but let’s be honest, I would’ve just been making random guesses based on nothing anyway. For record keeping purposes, here are what my picks look like.

America East

1st Round: Stony Brook over Albany, BU over Hartford, Maine over UNH, Vermont over UMBC

Semifinals: Stony Brook over BU, Vermont over Maine

Finals: Stony Brook over Vermont

Thoughts: I actually would’ve picked Stony Brook in this conference. Like Bo, I used to like that Coppenrath/Sorrentine team, but then the idiot coach started working for ESPN and made me hate him, so fuck Vermont.

Summit

1st Round: Oakland over UMKC, SDSU over IPFW, Oral Roberts over NDSU, IUPUI over Western Illinois

Semifinals: Oakland over SDSU, IUPUI over Oral Roberts

Finals: Oakland over IUPUI

Thoughts: Let’s do this for Rawle Marshall.

Sun Belt

1st Round: FAU over South Alabama, WKU over New Orleans, Arkansas State over Arkansas- LR, Denver over FIU, La.-Lafayette over La.-Monroe

2nd Round: Troy over FAU, WKU over Arkansas State, Middle Tennessee over Denver, North Texas over Lafayette

Semifinals: Troy over WKU, North Texas over Middle Tennessee

Finals: Troy over North Texas

Thoughts: I must admit I would never have picked Troy for 5 reasons: 1) I hate Troy Aikman, 2) I hate Osi Umenyiora, 3) Troy was a shitty movie, 4) I hate Demarcus Ware, 5) Troy Bell sucks

Big Sky

1st Round: Montana State over Portland State, Montana over Northern Arizona

Semifinals: Northern Colorado over Montana State, Weber State over Montana

Finals: Weber State over Northern Colorado

Thoughts: I was looking at Bo’s Picks and wondering why the fuck Middle Tennessee State would be in this conference. Well, turns out they’re not. It’s Montana State. Stupid Bo.

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I can actually pick some games.

MAC

1st Round: WMU over BGSU, EMU over NIU, Ball State over Ohio, Buffalo over Toledo

2nd Round: CMU over WMU, Akron over EMU, Kent State over Ball State, Buffalo over Miami (Ohio)

Semifinals: Akron over CMU, Buffalo over Kent State

Finals: Akron over Buffalo

Thoughts: I think Akron pays their players, so I’m going with the pros.

Bo’s MAC Picks

Bo — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:15:52 +0000

MAC (1-pointer)

1st Round: #7 Western Michigan over #10 Bowling Green, #6 Eastern Michigan over #11 Northern Illinois, #9 Ohio over #8 Ball St., #5 Buffalo over #12 Toledo

Quarters: Western Michigan over #2 Central Michigan, #3 Akron over E. Michigan, #1 Kent St. over Ohio, #4 Miami (OH) over Buffalo

Semis: Akron over Western Michigan, Kent St. over Miami (OH)

Champion: Kent State

Bo’s 3/6 Picks

Bo — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:09:54 +0000

America East (1-pointer)

1st round – #1 Stony Brook over #8 Albany, #4 Boston U. over #5 Hartford, #3 Maine over #6 New Hampshire, #2 Vermont over #7 UMBC.

Semis: BU over Stony Brook, Vermont over Maine

Champion: Vermont

Once a Coppenrath fan, always a Coppenrath fan.

Summit (1-pointer)

First round: #1 Oakland over #8 UMKC, #5 IPFW over #4 South Dakota St., #3 Oral Roberts over #6 North Dakota St., #2 IUPUI over #7 Western Illinois

Semis: Oakland over IPFW, IUPUI over Oral Roberts

Champion: IUPUI

If you think I have anything to say about this conference then you’ve got another thing coming.

Sun Belt (1-pointer)

First round: #8 Florida Atlantic over #9 So. Alabama, #4 Western Kentucky over #13 New Orleans, #5 Arkansas St. over #12 Arkansas-Little Rock, #6 Denver over #11 FIU, #7 La.-Lafayette over #10 La.-Monroe

Quarters: #1 Troy over FAU, Western Kentucky over Arkansas St., #3 Middle Tennessee over Denver, #2 North Texas over ULL

Semis: Western Kentucky over Troy, Middle Tennessee over North Texas

Champion: Western Kentucky

I said it last year and I’ll say it again, this is the most ludicrous conference in the country and something needs to be done about it.

Big Sky (2-pointer)

1st round: #6 Portland St. over #3 Middle Tennessee St., #4 Montana over #5 Northern Arizona

Semis: #2 Northern Colorado over Portland St., Montana over #1 Weber St.

Champion: Northern Colorado

Nothing to say here, but one more conference (MAC) starts tomorrow and we’ll check in with the first full scoring update. Pat’s got E. Tennessee St. in a championship game tonight – I’m assuming Tim Smith will be in attendance, he’s got nothing better to do – and we both missed our first chance at a champ when Coastal Carolina lost to Winthrop in the Big South final.

Pat’s Picks Part 2

Pat — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:07:05 +0000

OVC

Semifinals: Murray State over Eastern Illinois, Morehead State over Tennessee Tech

Finals: Morehead State over Murray State

Thoughts: At the end of the day, Morehead just has too much head to be defeated.

WCC

1st Round: Loyola Marymount over Pepperdine, Santa Clara over San Diego

2nd Round: Loyola over San Francisco, Portland over San Diego

Semfinals: Gonzaga over Loyola, Portland over St. Mary’s

Finals: Portland over Gonzaga

Thoughts: I think Bo’s right that Gonzaga doesn’t win this tournament, but I think he’s got the wrong team.

Horizon

2nd Round: Green Bay over Detroit, Cleveland State over Milwaukee

Semifinals: Green Bay over Wright State, Butler over Cleveland State

Finals: Butler over Green Bay

Thoughts: I think “Horizon League” is my least favorite name for a conference in the country. It sounds like the name of a douchebag bird watching group or something. So fuck you, Horizon League.

MAAC

1st Round: Loyola over Manhattan, Cansius over Marist

2nd Round: Siena over Loyola, St. Peter’s over Rider, Niagara over Iona, Fairfield over Canisius

Semifinals: Siena over St. Peter’s, Fairfield over Niagara

Finals: Siena over Fairfield

Thoughts: I don’t believe Bo has watched more than 10 minutes of a MAAC game in at least 3 years.

Bo’s Picks

Bo — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:18:43 +0000

Four more conferences to pick before tonight, all 2-point conferences.

Ohio Valley (2-pointer)

Semis: #1 Murray State over #4 Eastern Illinois, #2 Morehead St. over #6 Tennessee Tech

Champion: Murray State

We missed the first round of this tourney, but don’t worry about it, you didn’t miss anything. Looks to me like Murray State is the clear class of this conference.

West Coast Conference (2-pointer)

1st round: #5 Loyola Marymount over #8 Pepperdine, #6 San Diego over #7 Santa Clara

2nd round: Loyola Marymount over #4 San Francisco, #3 Portland over San Diego

Semis: #1 Gonzaga over Loyola, #2 Saint Mary’s over Portland

Champion: Saint Mary’s

I actually like how the WCC structures their tourney. For a conference that’s generally looking to get two teams in, it makes sense to protect the best two until the semi’s.

Horizon (2-pointer)

2nd round: #7 Detroit over #3 Green Bay, #4 Milwaukee over #5 Cleveland St.

Semis: #2 Wright State over Detroit, #1 Butler over Milwaukee

Champion: Butler

We missed the first round of this one too, but it was only two games. Fuck Cleveland State and their former crackhead coach.

MAAC (2-pointer)

1st round: #9 Manhattan over #8 Loyola (MD), #7 Canisius over #10 Marist

2nd round: #1 Siena over Manhattan, #5 Rider over #4 St. Peter’s, #3 Iona over #6 Niagara, #2 Fairfield over Canisius

Semis: Siena over Rider, Iona over Fairfield

Champion: Siena

My love for the MAAC is well documented and I really wanted to side with the Gaels for my facebook friend Ricky Soliver but Siena is just better than everyone else in the league, they’re experienced and they have no way to get into the tourney with an at-large.

Bo’s CAA And Southern Picks

Bo — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:40:22 +0000

Southern (2-pointer)

Opening round: #3 Davidson over #6 Elon, #4 UNC-Greensboro over #5 Furman, #4 Citadel over #5 Samford, #3 Chattanooga over #6 Georgia Southern

Quarters: Davdison over #2 WCU, #1 Wofford over UNC-G, Citadel over #1 Appalachian State, #2 College of Charleston over Chattanooga

Semis: Wofford over Davdison, C of C over Citadel

Champion: Wofford

You wanna know something pathetic? This broad is Wofford’s most famous alumnus.

CAA (2-Pointer)

Opening Round: #9 UNC-Wilmington over #8 Towson, #5 VCU over #12 Delaware, #6 Drexel over #11 JMU, #7 Hofstra over #10 Georgia State

Quarters: #1 Old Dominion over UNC-W, VCU over #4 George Mason, #3 William & Mary over Drexel, #2 Northeastern over Hofstra

Semis: VCU over ODU, Northeastern over Bill & That Lamb Girl

Champion: VCU

As Pat said, this league is loaded 1-7 and should make for one of the more interesting tourneys in the country. I’m sticking with the Larry Sanders show.

Pat’s Southern and CAA Picks

Pat — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:07:13 +0000

There are other picks to get to today, but these two conferences start in the afternoon, so I’ll get them out of the way first. And to return Bo’s favor of passing along my Lipscomb pick (and thanks a lot for that, asshole), I can tell you that he picks UNCW in the opening game.

CAA

First Round: #8 Towson over #9 UNCW, #5 VCU over #12 Delaware (teardrop), #7 Hofstra over # 10 Georgia State, #6 Drexel over #11 James Madison

Second Round: #1 Old Dominion over Towson, #4 George Mason over VCU, Hostra over #2 Northestern, #3 William & Mary over Drexel

Semifinals: GMU over ODU, WMU over Hofstra

Finals: WMU over GMU

Thoughts: There’s a huge split in this conference between the top 7 and bottom 5, so expect chalk in the early rounds. Once it gets to the semifinals though, it’s pretty much up in the air. I admit William & Mary’s impressive early season win at Wake played a major factor in this selection, but I also just really like how they play European style basketball. If they get into the tournament, they’re a tough draw in round 1 (though the same can be said for any of the top 5 teams in this conference).

Southern

First Round: #3 Davidson over #6 Elon, #5 Furman over #4 UNCG, #4 Citadel over #5 Samford, #3 Chattanooga over #6 Georgia Southern

Second Round: #3 Davidson over #2 Western Carolina, #1 Wofford over #5 Furman, #1 App. State over #4 Citadel, #2 Charleston over #3 Chattanooga

Semifinals: Wofford over Davidson, Charleston over App. State

Finals: Charleston over Wofford

Thoughts: If you’re wondering about the repeating seed numbers, it’s because this conference is inexplicably split into 2 divisions. Actually, one of the best things about doing this the past 2 years is being reminded of how retarded that is on an annual basis.