Tourney Central 3/1/07

Three top seeds survived in the Patriot League quarterfinals; the only upset was No. 6 Army upending No. 3 Lehigh.
Five campus-site Sun Belt games are complete heading towards the tourney at Lafayette, La.. In a minor upset, No. 9 seed Middle Tennessee State beat No. 8 Troy.
The three-game SoCon opening round went according to seed, and the quarterfinal round is set.
The Big South continues tonight with semifinals at Winthrop, and the SoCon's quarters get under way in Charleston, S.C.
Starting play tonight are the Northeast and Atlantic Sun with quarterfinal action. The Missouri Valley kicks off its first round featuring low seeds. You can find those blank brackets (and all the other ones) at the "Bracket City":/info/bracketcity page.
It's March.

Brackets

!/img/brackets/PATRIOT0301.gif!

" (1) Holy Cross 83, (8) Lafayette 53":http://bbstate.com/games/66279 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66279
" (2) Bucknell 62, (7) Navy 43":http://bbstate.com/games/66280 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66280
" (6) Army 47, (3) Lehigh 46":http://bbstate.com/games/66281 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66281
" (4) American 59, (5) Colgate 44":http://bbstate.com/games/66282 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66282

The top seeds in the Patriot League easily defended their homecourts and continued their collision course, sending the bottom two teams off. But look at what the Army Black Knights did. In a game which Army led nearly throughout, Josh Miller went coast-to-coast in four seconds and put in a layup as the warm red glow of the buzzerlight illuminated the proceedings. And that, right there, may be the most exciting moment in this tourney until late next week.

!/img/brackets/SOCON0301.gif!

" (6) Georgia Southern 62, (11) The Citadel 46":http://bbstate.com/games/66569 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66569
" (7) Western Carolina 69, (10) Elon 65":http://bbstate.com/games/66298 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66298
" (8) Chattanooga 64, (9) Wofford 55":http://bbstate.com/games/66297 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66297

Do you like bad shooting? You do? Then you should have been at the SoCon first round yesterday. In the league's annual effort to relieve low seeds of their coils in a dignified manner, the bottom three candidates were removed from consideration, and all three performed so horribly from the floor that they actually shot the lights on. Elon shot 38% in its season-ending loss, Wofford managed 32% and The Citadel shot 30%. The three survivors marched on to be paired with the SoCon's top dogs on Thursday. If history is any indication, expect a surprise.

!/img/brackets/SBC0301.gif!

" (4) Louisiana-Monroe 83, (13) Denver 67":http://bbstate.com/games/66327 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66327
" (5) North Texas 93, (12) Louisiana-Lafayette 78":http://bbstate.com/games/66562 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66562
" (6) Florida Atlantic 91, (11) Florida International 88 (OT) ":http://bbstate.com/games/66564 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66564
" (7) New Orleans 77, (10) Arkansas-Little Rock 70":http://bbstate.com/games/66565 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66565
" (9) Middle Tennessee State 72, (8) Troy 64":http://bbstate.com/games/66566 | "GameFlo":http://www.midmajority.com/chartdisplay.php?GID=66566

The Sun Belt is a bit unwieldy, no? Look at these road miles that were burned in order to make the campus-site first round happen: tourney hosts Louisiana-Lafayette went 428 miles to North Texas, and Arkansas-Little Rock travelled 530 miles to be eliminated by New Orleans. The worst team in the league, Denver, was rewarded with a 1,075-mile trip to Monroe to get kicked around by the Warhawks. It makes Florida International's trip up the coast to get nipped by Florida Atlantic seem downright leisurely in comparison. And if that's not ridiculous enough, ponder three rounds' worth of league tourney with the home team eliminated, making for a lot of quiet and a lot of squeaky-shoe noises as the far-flung affiliates battle it out at the Cajundome next week. Something's got to give in this league, and I'm not talking about Calvin O'Neil, whose 21 points helped give Middle Tennessee State a small upset over the Trojans.

Good Night

Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer. Well can you put your hands in your head, oh no! Twelve teams entered the world of slumbers yesterday. Lehigh and Troy, perhaps your seasons ended a moment too soon. But for Denver, Louisiana-Lafayette, Florida International, Arkansas-Little Rock, The Citadel, Elon, Wofford, Colgate, Lafayette and Navy, it's time for sweet sleep now. We'll see you in the fall, and we hope you're all better for the extra rest. Next season, can you do something out of this world?

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