Three more conference tournaments begin Friday, making it 11 tournaments in action. The MAAC, Southern Conference, and West Coast Conference tournaments get underway.
All Times EST
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
Tournament Site: Bridgeport, CT
Friday, March 4: Opening Round
G 1: #8 Niagara (9-22) vs. #9 Marist (5-26)
G 2: #7 Siena (12-17) vs. #10 Manhattan (6-24)
Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round
G 3: G 1 Winner vs. #1 Fairfield (23-6)
G 4: #4 St. Peter’s (17-13) vs. Loyola (Chi) (15-14)
G 5: G 2 Winner vs. #2 Iona (20-10)
G 6: #3 Rider (22-9) vs. #6 Canisius (15-14)
Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round
G 7: G3 Winner vs. G 4 Winner
G 8: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner
Monday, March 7: Championship Game At 7 PM on ESPN2
G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner
Hot Team: It depends on how you look at it. Rider won their last five games, seven of their final eight, and 10 of their last 12. Included in this was a road win at top seed Fairfield.
Iona won their final seven games including a victory over Fairfield as well.
Fairfield, prior to the season-ending loss to Iona had won five in a row and 12 of 13.
Not Hot: St. Peter’s was 9-3 in conference play and ended up 11-7 with an extra loss in the Bracketbuster.
Team Nobody Wants To Play: The obvious choice here is top-seeded Fairfield. The Stags don’t get to play in their home gym, but they do get to play in their home town.
Fairfield as Favorite: We are inclined to go against the Stags here, but not by much. Iona and Rider should meet in the semifinals, and the winner of that game has a 50-50 chance of besting Fairfield in the final.
Our Pick: Let’s go with the hottest team that has shown an ability to put away opponents quickly. We’ll pick Iona to win in a mild upset.
Southern Conference Tournament
Tournament Site: Chattanooga, TN
Friday, March 4: Opening Round
G 1: #4S Davidson (17-13) vs. #5N UNC-Greensboro (6-23)
G 2: #3N Appalachian State (15-14) vs. #6S Georgia Southern (5-26)
G 3: #3S Furman (20-9) vs. #6N Samford (12-18)
G 4: #4N Elon (13-16) vs. #5S Citadel (10-21)
Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round
G 5: G 1 Winner vs. #1N Western Carolina (17-14)
G 6: G 2 Winner vs. #2S Wofford (18-12)
G 7: G 3 Winner vs. #2N Chattanooga (16-15)
G 8: G 4 Winner vs. #1S College of Charleston (22-9)
Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round
G 9: G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner
G10: G 7 Winner vs. G 8 Winner
Monday, March 7: Championship Game at 9:00 PM on ESPN2
G 9 Winner vs. G 10 Winner
Hot Team: Wofford won their final five regular season games by an average of 15.8 points per game. Included in that run was an incredible 39 point win at Chattanooga, the host team for this tournament.
Davidson closed with nine wins in their last ten games. This includes an 11-point win over College of Charleston, a 14-point win over Chattanooga, and a nine-point win at Wofford.
Not Hot: After winning seven in a row, top-seeded College of Charleston dropped its last two games, allowing Wofford to tie them for the South Division title.
Team Nobody Wants To Play: Chattanooga is the host team, and the Mocs are a much better team at home.
College of Charleston as Favorite: C of C is not a heavy favorite. In fact, we would classify the Cougars as a co-favorite at best.
Our Pick: Wofford is a team on a mission. The Terriers came close last year, and they have the horses to win three games in three days. Forward Noah Dahlman can take over a game at both ends of the court.
West Coast Conference Tournament
Tournament Site: Las Vegas
Friday, March 4: Opening Round
G 1: #5 Portland (20-10) vs. #8 Loyola Marymount (10-20)
G 2: #6 Pepperdine (11-20) vs. #7 San Diego (6-23)
Saturday, March 5: Quarterfinal Round
G 3: G 1 Winner vs. #4 Santa Clara (18-13)
G 4: G 2 Winner vs. #3 San Francisco (16-13)
Sunday, March 6: Semifinal Round
G 5: G 3 Winner vs. #1 St. Mary’s (23-7)
G 6: G 4 Winner vs. #2 Gonzaga (22-9)
Monday, March 7: Championship Round at 9:00 PM on ESPN
G 5 Winner vs. G 6 Winner
Hot Team: Gonzaga is peaking at the right time. The Bulldogs won their last seven games by an average of 19 points a game. Six of their nine losses were to quality teams.
Not Hot: St. Mary’s lost three games in a row before topping Portland in their regular season finale. Of course, two of those losses were to Utah State and Gonzaga.
Team Nobody Wants To Play: Portland was not expected to win 20 regular season games again after losing so much to graduation, but the Pilots cannot be dismissed. They could easily upset Santa Clara in the Quarterfinal Round, and then St. Mary’s will have to worry about an upset in the Semifinal Round.
St. Mary’s as Favorite: We don’t consider the Gaels the favorite in this tournament. Gonzaga is clearly the better team at this point of the season. GU’s path to the Championship Game will be easier than SMU’s.
Our Pick: Coach Mark Few has the Bulldogs playing their best at the right time. We believe Gonzaga is the prohibitive favorite in this tournament.
Thursday’s Tournament Game Scores
America East Conference
#8 Binghamton 91 #9 Maryland-Baltimore Co. 65
Binghamton advances to take on top-seed Vermont when the Quarterfinal round commences Saturday.
Atlantic Sun Conference
#5 Mercer 73 #4 Lipscomb 63
#6 North Florida 68 #3 Jacksonville 64
The lower seeds won both games on Thursday. Mercer, the host team, now advances to the Semifinal round to face top-seed Belmont, while North Florida takes on East Tennessee.
Big South Conference
#3 UNC-Asheville 62 #7 High Point 45
#1 Coastal Carolina 89 #4 V M I 81
Coastal Carolina hosts UNCA for the automatic bid at 4 PM Saturday.
Missouri Valley Conference
#8 Southern Illinois 57 #9 Illinois State 54
#10 Bradley 63 #7 Drake 48
Southern Illinois moves on to face top-seed Missouri State, while the last place seed Bradley faces number two seed Wichita State.
#4 Northern Iowa faces #5 Creighton, and #3 Indiana State faces #6 Evansville in the other quarterfinal games.
Northeast Conference
#1 Long Island 90 #8 St. Francis (PA) 75
#4 Central Connecticut State 64 #5 St. Francis (NY) 62
#2 Quinnipiac 78 #7 Mount St. Mary’s 59
#3 Robert Morris 78 #6 Wagner 74
LIU hosts CCSU and Quinnipiac hosts Robert Morris in the Semifinal round Sunday.
Ohio Valley Conference
#4 Tennessee Tech 83 #8 UT-Martin 59
#3 Austin Peay 76 #7 Southeast Missouri 60
Tennessee Tech brings a six-game winning streak into their semifinal match with top-seed Murray State. Austin Peay faces Morehead State in the other semifinal game Friday night.
The Pi-Rate Ratings 