Stimpy's Sh*tty Sunday

Stimpy got...

 
IN: N Iowa
On Life Support: Wichita St - They aren't officially dead yet but it's highly unlikely that the Shockers get an at-large bid. 
Dead:

Stonybrook

College of Charleston

W Carolina

Portland

VCU

Loyola Marymount

Rider

Stimpy's World

It was a tough day in the mid-major ranks for Stimpy.  First the beloved LMU Lions come up 2 games short of their first NCAA tournament appearance in 20 years.  Their impessive run ended in the WCC semifinals against perennial power Gonzaga.  The Lions got off to an awful start turning the ball over on their first 4 possessions.  They found themselves in a huge 16 point hole at halftime.  But Max Good kept his troops in line and LMU made a valiant run in the second half.  With about 8 minutes left, Kevin Young's spinning layup cut the lead to 61-55.  However, they got no closer as Gonzaga pulled away late.

Next stop on Stimpy's disappointment train were the early exits of Stonybrook (American East #1 seed) and double whammy of losing both SoCon teams W Carolina and College of Charleston.  Thus, neither Ren nor Stimpy will have the SoCon's representative.  Finally, the losses by Illinois and Florida while not surprising, has both teams playing their way out of the tournament field.  The Illini who appeared to be in good shape a month ago after wins at Wisconsin and Michigan St at home, have dropped 4 straight and 6 out of 7.  

There were some positives.  N Iowa ousted Ren's Wichita St dreams en route to the Arch Madness title.  Also, William and Mary's 47-45 win over #2 Northeastern coupled with Old Dominion's win clinches the CAA for Stimpy.  If the Tribe prevail on Monday, there's a good chance Old Dominion would still get an at-large bid as well.  The same can be said in the MAAC where Stimpy has both title game participants in Siena and Fairfield.  And W Kentucky dodged a major bullet when Arkansas St missed a last second layup that would have given them the win.  Instead, the Hilltoppers survived 65-64 and will face top seeded Troy on Monday.

All about Ren

Besides Stimpy's misfortune, Ren can take solace in the continued success of expected title contenders Vermont, Lehigh, and Robert Morris.  All three advanced to their conference championships.  Vermont will not have to face Stonybrook either (whot beat them) and instead will get Boston University who they've already beaten twice.   Lehigh will face Lafayette in a rubber match. Then there's the clash of the titans in the NEC where Robert Morris and Quinnipiac will battle it out to the death.  The two teams have been #1/#2 all year and split a pair during the regular season.   

There's even more good news in the Sun Belt, where Ren is guaranteed a title shot.  Both Denver and N Texas advanced to the semifinals and will play each other.  In the other semifinal, W Kentucky will have to pull the upset over red hot #1 seed Troy.  Advantage Ren in the Sun Belt.  The WCC went as planned as Gonzaga will face St. Mary's in the final tomorrow night.  Should St. Mary's pull the upset, Ren would get 2 bids from the conference.  Even if Gonzaga wins as expected, St. Mary's is in the hunt for an at-large bid.  And in the uncontested Summit conference, Ren will have 3 of the 4 semifinalists with only 5th seeded IPFW there to spoil the party. 

On the downside, Ryan Thompson's storied career ended Sunday as Rider lost a close one to Siena in the MAAC semifinal 72-62.  

What to watch for on Monday

Sun Belt- Semifinals 

2 N Texas vs 6 Denver

1 Troy vs 4 W Kentucky

MAAC Championship
1 Siena vs 2 Fairfield

Colonial Athletic Championship

3 William and Mary vs 1 Old Dominion 

WCC Championship 

2 St. Mary's vs 1 Gonzaga

Summit Conference Semifinals

3 Oral Roberts vs 2 IUPUI

1 Oakland vs 5 IPFW

Totals:

IN: Ren 11 Stimpy 21

Alive: Ren 31 Stimpy 18

Bubble: Ren 14  Stimpy 15

DEAD: Ren 9 Stimpy 12

 

 

Sunday Bloody Sunday

IN: E Tenn St, Murray St

DEAD

Illinois St

Coastal Carolina - Winthrop does it again.  Picked to finish 8th in the Big South preseason poll, the Winthrop Eagles moved to 10-1 in conference title games and ousted heavily favored Coastal Carolina 64-53.  It's a devastating loss for Ren as the Chanticleers were hands down the best team during the regular season.  They recorded a school record 28 wins but only win #29 would have gotten them into the dance.  Coastal Carolina who had only 1 winning season in 16 years will have the consolation of competing in the NIT. 

Hofstra - One of the most dangerous teams in the CAA, lost an absolute heartbreaker in double OT to #2 seed Northeastern 74-71.  Matt Janning's 3 pointer with 45 seconds left in the 2nd OT put the Huskies ahead for good.  He ended with a season-high 26 points to go along with 9 boards and 3 assists in the win.  Hofstra held Northeastern to 40% shooting from the field and outrebounded them.  But the Pride couldn't put the ball in the basket either shooting only 36%.including a dismal 6 for 21 from beyond the arc.   

Bubbles Bursting

Cincinnati - The Bearcats were no match for Georgetown and anything less than a Big East championship means curtains for Lance Stephenson and co.

U Conn -  While losing on the road to South Florida is a common occurrence, the Huskies simply had to win this game to keep their at-large hopes alive.  At 7-11 in conference, U Conn will need to make a deep run in the Big East tournament to gain consideration again.

Rhode Island - You can't lose to the Minutemen when you are already hanging by a thread.  Rhode Island is in serious trouble now.

Sunday...There Will Be Blood

American East - Quarterfinals

5 Hartford at  1 Stonybrook

6 New Hampshire at 2 Vermont 

Colonial Athletic - Semifinals

1 Old Dominion vs 5 VCU

3 William and Mary vs 2 Northeastern

It's a nightmare scenario for Ren as 3 of the 4 survivors in the CAA don the Stimpy green.  Only a Northeastern title will prevent Stimpy from adding to his collection of teams in the tournament.  Furthermore, with the bubble as weak as it's ever been, William and Mary's recent surge might be worthy of an at-large bid if they can get to the championship game.  A win by Old Dominion on Sunday should be enough to clinch an at-large bid as well.  Thus, there is a scenario where Stimpy could get 3 bids: a) WM vs VCU final b) Old Dominion still getting an at-large bid based on a weak performance by bubble teams c) VCU wins the title outright d) WM also earning an at-large if nobody steps up.  It's a longshot but stranger things have happened.

MAAC - Semifinals

5 Rider vs 1 Siena

2 Fairfield vs 6 Niagara

Siena survived an early scare from Manhattan but managed to advance.  Rider had a surprisingly easy upset win over 4th seeded St. Peter's fueled by Ryan Thompson's 22 point effort.  Fairfield was blowing out Canisius 35-14 at halftime and then went cold and Canisius came roaring back.  It was only a 6 point game with under 13 minutes to play.  But Derek Needham poured in 29 points on the day and refused to let the Stags lose.  Siena blasted Rider twice this season with 20+ point wins each time.  Fairfield and Niagara split a pair with the home team winning each contest.  

Arch Madness - Championship 

N Iowa vs Wichita St - These 2 teams who both share the distinction of losing to lowly Evansville, have also been the top 2 teams in the conference for the year.  The Panthers are likely safely into the tournament having been a fixture in the top 25.  The Shockers certainly can't feel safe if they were to lose Sunday.  The two split a pair during the regular season.  N Iowa has looked much more formidable with the return of 7 footer Jordan Eglseder from a 3 game suspension.

Patriot League - Semifinals 

1 Lehigh vs 4 American 

3 Lafayette vs 7 Holy Cross 

So Con - Semifinals

1 Wofford vs 2 W Carolina 

1 Appalachian St vs 2 Charleston 

Will Stimpy get the double upset and a guaranteed bid or be left out in the cold if the favorites win? 

WCC Semifinals

5LMU vs 1 Gonzaga

2 St. Mary's vs 3 Portland

Ren has 3 of the 4 teams in the semifinals and best case scenario he gets 3 teams.  LMU would have to win it all against St. Mary's in the finals which could very well happen.  The Lions have already beaten mighty Gonzaga once at home and played St. Mary's tough in their last game as well.  It's the 20th anniversary of LMU's magical elite 8 run in the 1990 NCAA tournament so the stars may be aligned again for the gritty Lions.  

 

 

  

Too Many Games that Matter

The Wildcats sure could have used this guy...

Moving On up

Cornell - For the 3rd straight season, Cornell becomes the first team into the tournament by clinching the Ivy League title by beating Brown easily on Friday night.  The Big Red finished 12-1 in the conference and have the type of experienced senior laden squad to do some damage in the tournament. 

E Tenn St - The 5th seeded Buccaneers took care of business by disposing of the upstart Kennesaw Owls 69-64.  Micah Williams led ETSU w/ 20 points.  They'll face another cinderella story in Mercer in the A-Sun Championship game.  Mercer, the 6th seed sent 2nd seed Jacksonville packing 66-63.  Forward Danny Emerson was a beast w/ 21 points and 15 rebounds.  

Hofstra - Advances to the quarterfinals with a 68-67 squeaker over Georgia St. 

Murray St- The Racers avoided disaster and were able to pull out a tight one against upstart E Illinois.  It was a surprisingly difficult game for Murray St who has dominated the OVC all year losing just once in conference.  Forward Tony Easley saved the day by blocking two consecutive shots in the last 15 seconds that would have tied the game.  Murray St will have to play much better in the championship against Morehead St who won easily in their semifinal vs Tenn Tech. 

LMU 87 Pepperdine 84 - Even though Ren technically drafted LMU, we doubt the bugger even knew who the Lions were playing Friday.  He certainly didn't watch it streaming online.  Thus, we'll highlight LMU in Stimpy green because it's more his team than Ren's.  The Lions get San Francisco next. 

Killed in Battle

Davidson
Wisconsin Green Bay
Missouri St

On Tap for Saturday

American East Tournament - Quarterfinals

1 Stonybrook vs 8 Albany

2 Vermont vs 7 UMBC

Colonial Athletic Tournament - Quarterfinals

2 Northeastern vs 7 Hofstra - #2 seed Northeastern will have revenge on their minds after losing at home to Hofstra less than two weeks ago.   

1 Old Dominion vs 8 Towson - The Monarchs can ill afford to slip up against Towson who they've already beaten twice.  ODU is riding a perfect 15-0 record at home as well.

4 George Mason vs 5 VCU - The Rams will get a second chance to beat G Mason on the road in this showdown of perennial CAA powerhouses.  VCU appeared to have the game won leading by as many as 15 points.  Joey Rodriguez was en fuego in that game hitting six 3 pointers to end with 24 points.  But the Patriots locked down VCU in the second half and a late 9-0 run got them back in it.  They would win it in OT 82-77 behind Cam Long's 19 points and Mike Morrison's 18 and 10 boards.  Both teams had missed opportunities at the charity stripe w/ 11 missed free throws each.  

3 William and Mary vs 11 James Madison

Big South Championship

Coastal Carolina vs Winthrop - The Chanticleers have been the class of the Big South but Winthrop certainly has the pedigree and has come up with some big wins.  The Eagles proved that by disposing of Radford easily.  The two split a pair during the regular season.  Coastal Carolina is 17-1 at home and will seek be seeking its 29th victory of the season and a trip to the tournament.  Ren really needs this one bad.

Arch Madness - Semifinals

1 N Iowa vs 5 Bradley

2 Wichita St vs 3 Illinois St - An absolutely huge game for both parties.  The Shockers most likely need to win out to get in the tournament and a loss to Osiris Eldridge and the Redbirds would be devastating.  It would automatically give the berth to Stimpy with the possibility of a 2nd bid if Illinois St were to pull the upset.  The two school split the regular season matchups.  Illinois St has won 7 of their past 8 games.  The game will likely tilt based on which Osiris Eldridge shows up for Illinois St.  In the win at home, he tossed in 26 points while he was flustered in Wichita by Toure Murray and finished with just 9 points.  The loser of this game has no shot at a berth so it's sudden death.  

Atlantic Sun Championship 

ETSU vs Mercer - As we discussed above, one of these two cinderellas will be dancing after tomorrow.  For Mercer, they'd reach .500 with a win.  In a crazy tournament that saw all four of the top seeds eliminated, Ren is hoping the upset trend does not continue.

OVC Championship
Murray St vs Morehead St (in Nashville) - The OVC's version of Syracuse vs Villanova, these two teams have been the class of the league all season.  The Eagles handed Murray St their only OVC loss of the season which ended the Racers' then nation leading 17 game winning streak. 
WCC Quarterfinals
5 LMU vs 4 San Francisco - A battle of two teams with cinderella hopes.  Both are very capable of competing with the best in the league and both toppled the goliath that is Gonzaga during the regular season.
6 San Diego vs 3 Portland
So Con Quarterfinals
2N W Carolina vs 6N Elon
2S Charleston vs 3S Chattanooga
Stimpy with 2 dogs in the race will be one step closer to a guaranteed So Con berth if form holds on Saturday.
Big Sky First Round 
4 Montana vs 5 N Arizona - A loss to the Lumberjacks could be devastating as Stimpy has both the #1 and #2 seeds in the bracket.
NEC Semifinals 
1 Quinnipiac vs 4 Long Island
2 Robert Morris vs 3 Mt St. Mary's
While this conference is destined for a 14 or 15 seed, it's an important battle between the forces of Ren and Stimpy.  The 2 represented schools appear to be on a collision course for the title.  First, both must take care of business on Saturday against 2 very capable opponents. 
Totals
IN: Ren 10 Stimpy 19
Alive: Ren 36 Stimpy 25
Bubble: Ren 14 Stimpy 17
DEAD: Ren 5 Stimpy 5

Death Count: 7

The fighting Camels of Campbell University couldn't make it out of the A-Sun desert

DEAD
Harvard

E Kentucky

Army

Radford

Campbell

Belmont

S Illinois

Stayin Alive
Quinnipiac (#1 seed survives a scare advances to face #4 Long Island in NEC semis)
Robert Morris (#2 seed advances to NEC semifinal vs #3 Mt St. Mary's)
E Tenn St (advance to A-Sun semifinal vs Kennesaw St an 8th seed who upset #1 seeded Lipscomb)
Coastal Carolina (in Big South Championship vs #3Winthrop)
Lehigh (#1 seed advances to Patriot semifinal vs #4 American)
Missouri St ( face #2 seed Wichita St in quarterfinals of Arch Madness)
Injured
Dayton fails in upset bid at Richmond by 2 points - The Flyers who led for all of the first half lost a heartbreaker to Richmond 60-58.  The loss keeps Dayton in 7th place in the ultracompetitive Atlantic 10 race at 8-7.  Dayton may need to reach the conference semifinals to get in the tournament as they appear to be on the outside looking in. 
What's at Stake on Friday:
N Iowa - Top seeded N Iowa cannot afford a slip against 14-18 Drake in the first round of the MVC Tournament.  As long as they take care of business, the Panthers should be in the tournament safely with a win.  Should they lose, the Panthers may have sleepless nights if some of the bubble teams make a strong late run.
Illinois St - The 3rd seeded Red Birds will face #6 Indiana St in the quarterfinals of Arch Madness
Davidson - The 3rd seeded Wildcats will face 6th seed Elon in a first round game for the SoCon Tournament
VCU - The 5th seeded Rams face 12th seeded Delaware in their Colonial opener.
Hofstra - They may be the 7th seed but Hofstra is one of the hottest teams in the Colonial winning 6 straight and 9 of their last 10.  Hofstra has done it both sides of the floor.  Their FG% against of 40% is tops in the league and that includes defensive powerhouse Old Dominion.  The Pride are averaging 83points per game as well led by all conference scoring machine Charles Jenkins (20.4 ppg).  If you don't think these guys are for real, ask Northeastern who were punked in their own house by Hofstra 73-62.  They'll face 10th seeded Georgia St who they just beat last week in the regular season finale.
Cornell - Big Red gets a chance yet again to be the first team to punch its ticket to the dance.  A win over Brown clinches the Ivy League for the 3rd consecutive season.\
7Missouri St at 2Wichita St - Wichita St won both meetings between the two schools but they were both squeakers.  The Bears trailed by as many as 25 in the first meeting at home before a furious late rally in front of their home crowd.  The Shockers hung out for a 65-62 win.  The second matchup was a close game throughout as Missouri St led by 6 with 12 minutes to play.  Wichita St's huge advantage from the free throw line was key in the Shockers victory.  They were 29-39 from the line while Missouri St was a mere 7 for 14. While the final score was 66-64, two late Bears 3 pointers with seconds left does skew the scoreboard a tad.
LMU - Ren may have picked LMU during his lousy draft, but the biggest game in the country will be Stimpy's beloved #5 seeded Lions vs hated rivals #8 Pepperdine.  LMU has had an amazing turnaround after a forgettable 3-26 season in 2009.  Besides knocking off perennial power Gonzaga, the Lions ruined the season for Notre Dame as well.  Anytime you watch ESPN and the topic of Notre Dame's chances comes up, you'll inevitably see Bad Loss: LMU.  The Lions are fully healthy and stayed close to St. Mary's on the road all game before succumbing late. The 2 schools split the season series so this will be a huge rubber match for the bitter rivals.   GO Lions!!





 

Where Everyone Stands

IN: (28) For now, we'll just list the top 7 seeds according to ESPN's latest bracket.  

Ren 10 Stimpy 18
Kansas
Duke
W Virginia
Pittsburgh
Ohio St
Vanderbilt
BYU
Tennessee
Wisconsin
Georgetown
Butler
Texas A & M
Xavier
Maryland
Texas
Richmond
Missouri
Oklahoma St
Syracuse
Kentucky
Kansas St
Purdue
New Mexico
Villanova
Michigan St
Temple
Gonzaga
Baylor

Out: None

Bubble: (32) 

Ren 14 Stimpy 18

UNLV

Louisville

Wake Forest
N Iowa
Cal
Illinois
Florida
Marquette
Old Dominion
Utah St
Siena
Cornell
Mississippi St
Notre Dame
Minnesota
Mississippi
Seton Hall
Cincinnati
Georgia Tech
Clemson
Florida St
U Conn
UAB
Virginia Tech
St. Mary's
San Diego St
Rhode Island
Dayton
Memphis
Arizona St
Washington
Wichita St

ALIVE: (70)

Ren 41 Stimpy 29

UNC
Tulsa

W Carolina

Army

Radford

William and Mary

College of Charleston

Akron

Missouri St

VCU

W Kentucky

S Alabama

Weber St

Portland

Murray St

Michigan

Oregon

Washington St

Long Beach St

Fairfield

Campbell

Sam Houston St

Quinnipiac

Buffalo

Nevada

Stonybrook

Illinois St

Iowa St

N Colorado

Texas Tech

Northwestern

Miami (FL)

Boston College

Morgan St

Vermont

Coastal Carolina

Lehigh

Loyola Marymount

E Tenn St

Belmont

Wisconsin Green Bay

Oakland

Oral Roberts

Robert Morris

IUPUI

Sacred Heart

Stephen F Austin

UT San Antonio

Pacific 

UC Irvine

UC Riverside

Texas A and M Corpus Christi

E Kentucky

Kent St

Prairie View

Montana

Hofstra

N Texas

Louisiana Tech

Alabama

Nebraska

Rider

George Washington

Denver

UCLA

Penn St

Texas Southern

Davidson

S Illinois

Oklahoma

DEAD (1)

Harvard

 
 

12 Days til Selection Sunday!

Believe it or not, conference tournaments started today.  Finally, the majority of Ren's teams and Ren's fate will be decided.  He's got a lot of ground to make up in terms of the number of teams that get in the tournament.  According to the latest ESPN bracket, Stimpy has 35 teams to Ren's pitiful 24.  Of course this number will change since the one bid leagues are so unpredictable. 

IN, OUT, BUBBLE, ALIVE, DEAD

As we head into Championship Week, we'll be categorizing and recategorizing teams in one of these 5 categories:

1. IN - These are the teams that have already clinched at least an at-large bid to the tournament.  They are typically the best teams in the nation that have nothing to worry about except for seeding on Selection Sunday.  Examples: Syracuse, Kansas, Villanova.  When teams clinch their conference automatic bids they'll be added to this hallowed group. 
2. OUT - These are teams that just lost in the conference tournament.  While they are out of the running for the automatic bid, they have a strong enough resume to be considered a bubble team. 
3. BUBBLE - These are teams that are "on the bubble".  They have a strong enough resume to be considered by the committee but will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday.  As we know, the bubble changes on a daily basis depending on the results of teams that are also in the bubble discussion.  Teams can play their way off and on to the bubble with signature wins and bad losses. 
4. ALIVE- These are teams that have ZERO shot at an at-large bid but are still playing in their conference tournaments.  They are alive for now, but if they lose, notify the next of kin. 
5. DEAD - These are teams that have lost and their season is over.  They have zero shot at an at-large bid.  We'll be adding a lot of teams to this list in the next 2 weeks!

A full rundown of every team and what category they are in as of today will follow.

A Big Week

The Sweet 16

After a brief hiatus, here are 16 developments over the past week impacting Ren/Stimpy's teams as we are less than 3 weeks away from Selection Sunday... (in no particular order) 

1. N Iowa loses to Evansville - The Purple Aces have just 2 wins in their 17 games against the Missouri Valley Conference.  Those 2 wins however are doozies.  The first one over Wichita State all but knocked the Shockers out of the tournament.  On Tuesday, they did the unthinkable beating #25 N Iowa.  Just a stunning development and the Panthers better get it turned around soon to feel safe on Selection Sunday again.  
2. U Conn 73 W Virginia 62- Jim Calhoun has his Huskies playing inspired ball lately after two monster upsets of Villanova and W Virginia.  It sets the stage for a huge matchup vs Louisville on Saturday.
3. Duquesne 73 Dayton 71 - The Flyers are stumbling badly lately with losses to Duquesne, St. Louis and Temple.  They may be playing their way out of the tournament and next week's battle at Richmond will be their last chance before the Atlantic 10 tournament begins
4. Florida 75 Tennessee 62 - The Gators first win over Tennessee in three years has them a step closer to getting back to the tournament for the first time since their back to back national championships in 2006/2007.  
5. Hofstra 73 Northeastern 62 - A bad loss that dropped the Huskies from first place in the Colonial Athletic.  Add in their failure to capitalize on bracketbusters vs Louisiana Tech Saturday and it means they'll need to win the conference tournament with no at large bid available to them.  
6. Texas Tech blasted by Texas and Kansas St = NIT
7. Boston College blows out Virginia Tech at home 80-60. A terrible loss to BC for the Hokies a team that has few impressive wins on its resume.  15 of their 21 total wins came against teams outside of the RPI 100.  If they don't beat Maryland and/or Ga. Tech down the stretch and make some noise in the ACC tourney, the Hokies will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday.  We just might see the annual tradition of Seth Greenberg whining about the selection process yet again as the Hokies resume is barren.
8. Wichita State loses to Bradley - The Shockers were on life support as it is but Bradley just pulled the plug.  
9. Houston 92 Memphis 75 - Memphis is headed to the NIT unless they win the conference title.
10. Purdue loses Robbie Hummel to a torn ACL for the season.  A devastating loss to one of the hottest teams in the country.  The loss of Hummel puts a serious damper on the Boilers hopes for a deep run.  Perhaps nobody in the country was playing as cohesively as Purdue who were making a serious run for a #1 seed.
11. Notre Dame blows out Pittsburgh at home 68-53.  Without Harangody, the Domers shot the lights out hitting 10 three pointers en route to a surprisingly easy win.  Pittsburgh was coming off a brutal 3 game stretch including the 3OT classic against W Virginia so a letdown was not surprising.  It demonstrates how the Big East is the toughest conference in America.
12. Marquette survives 63-61 OT over St. John's on the road to keep their bubble hopes alive.  The Golden Eagles will play fellow bubbe-ites Seton Hall on Sunday and Louisville 2 days later.  
13. Towson 83 William and Mary 77 - Off the bubble for good this time, the Tribe will need to win the CAA to get in the dance. 
14. Duke pounds Tulsa 70-52.  The Golden Hurricanes last chance to get a nonconference win was looking promising for a while.  Eventually, Duke's depth and big 3 of Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer, and Kyle Singler was too much for Tulsa.  
15. Texas bounces back strong despite loss of point guard Dogus Balbay for the season.  With wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma St, the Longhorns gained some momentum and have stopped the bleeding for now.  
16. Morehead St 70 Murray St 65- While Murray State has zero chance at an at-large berth, they were cruising along in the Ohio Valley with an unblemished 16-0 record.  The loss to incumbent Morehead State, who won the OVC last season, has these 2 teams on a collision course for a rematch in the OVC title game.