LIU-Brooklyn eases to 3-peat in NEC Tournament

The Blackbirds of LIU-Brooklyn are quickly becoming a staple of the NCAA tournament and they are heading back to the dance for a third straight year after destroying Mount St. Mary's, 91-70 , on their home court in Brooklyn.

In the previous two years in the NCAA tournament the Blackbirds were 15 and 16 seeds and currently have a 20-13 record (12-6 NEC) and have an RPI of 185 (courtesy of realtimerpi.com) and that likely means another 15 or 16 seed for them this year. Could they take the next step and put a wrench in hundreds of thousands of brackets nationwide? In this crazy year who knows?

As for the championship game? Well, things weren't exactly easy from start to finish for LIU-Brooklyn as Mount St. Mary's decided they were going to at least show up for a half. These two went into the break just four points apart, but that wouldn't stay that way for long in the 2nd half as Blackbirds guard C.J. Garner decided to just go off.

Garner sparked the turnaround from a close game to a blowout with 31 points on an efficient 13 of 17 from the field for the night. His big night was coupled with that of forward Jamal Olasewere, who had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win.

Could we be looking at an NEC dynasty in the making? Well, blowout wins and domination of the last three tournaments says yes. So does winning two of the last three regular season crowns.

Rick Pitino said this could be the year a 16 seed takes down a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and if the Blackbirds are a 16 seed you best look out for them - they are explosive and athletic - a combination that always gives teams trouble come tournament time.

Its WKU in a Good Sun Belt Final

Western Kentucky defeated Florida International and won their second straight Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Monday, 65-63.

The game was close throughout but the Hilltoppers were fueled by George Fant who scored 17 points and brought down 13 rebounds in the win.

                                                               George Fant
                                                        
Florida International held a lead in the first  of 8 but Western Kentucky captured the lead late in the half. The game was tight all through the second half but it was the Hilltoppers holding on to the win and earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They held the Golden Panthers to just 38.7 percent shooting from the field.

The loss ended an impressive run by Richard Pitino in his first season at Florida International. The Panthers ended up 18-14 for the season. Meanwhile, Western Kentucky will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 20-15 record.

The Sun Belt Tournament had it's share of upsets including the Panthers upset of top seed Middle Tennessee State who was the overwhelming favorite to cut down the nets in Hot Springs, with their 28-4 record entering. Now, bubble teams accross the Country will await to see if the Sun Belt will send two teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Nothing To See Here as Gonzaga Wins WCC Crown.... Again

Gonzaga vs. St. Mary's - it's perhaps the most heated rivalry out west. Sorry Arizona vs. UCLA, sorry Utah State vs. BYU, it's the truth. Lately it's also produced a ton of great basketball games and one such was the final of the West Coast Conference tournament last year.

So, forgive us if we thought we'd maybe, just maybe see something of a similar sort in the WCC tournament final nearly a year to the day removed from a pure classic?

Instead the No. 1 ranked team in the country, Gonzaga, did what it's done to the Gaels all season long - it blew the doors off of them, winning the WCC tournament title 65-51 going away. It completed a season sweep and believe it or not was actually the closest game between the two all season long.

With the blowout the Zags have made one heck of a case for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament as well. They went 16-0 in the West Coast Conference and sit at 31-2 overall in a year where there haven't been any "great" teams this is perhaps the most deep and complete team we've seen.

That was on full display on Monday night as Gonzaga had forward Kelly Olynyk go off for a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds and fellow forward Elias Harris had 19 points as well. Those two alone did enough damage as the Gaels only countered with Stephen Holt's 19 points in the losing effort.

Up next for Gonzaga in really breaking the "glass ceiling" of the mid-major status is gaining that No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and it's something we'll be watching for big time come Sunday night at 6pm Eastern.

James Madison Seniors Will Team to CAA Championship

The Colonial Athletic Association tournament is usually a highlight of Championship Week, it's full of ultra-competitive teams playing great games. However in 2013 things were a bit different as the CAA is undergoing a lot of changes in the future, which left just seven teams eligible for the conference tournament and it's automatic bid.

On Monday night No. 1 seed and regular season champion Northeastern took on No. 3 seed, but 4th in the regular season, James Madison in Richmond. So, the Huskies should've walked away with this one, right?

Instead what we got was another upset in the finals and a game that really didn't play out the way you would think from a final score that read James Madison 70, Northeastern 57. That's because it was a game that was OVER at halftime with the Dukes up 40-18.

Predictions Update

For those of you following along, Andy Coppens and Mike Holder made Championship Week predictions for all the tournaments, in Championship Week Central. Since Andy lives in Wisconsin and Mike lives in North Carolina, there is some Barbeque, Brats and Cheese on the line.

The scoring system for the predictions are as follows:

If Champion is picked = 10 points
For each win by a Sleeper picked = 5 points
If Sleeper wins Championship = 10 points plus 5 for each game won

Mike came into Monday with 35 points while Andy had 10. 5 Conferences were at play on Monday but a lot of similar picks by Mike an Andy, meant not a difference in margin after the tournaments finished. Here is how things looked with the Monday tourneys. Both Mike and Andy had Davidson winning the Southern and Western Carolina as sleeper. Both got 15 points from that tournament as WCU won one game while Davidson cut down the nets. In the Colonial neither picked the Champion and both had George Mason as sleeper. They picked up 5 points in that tournament as GMU won one game. In the Sun Belt, Both had Middle Tennessee State who fell short and both had Florida International as sleeper who won two games, giving each 10 points from that tournament. In the WCC, both Andy and Mike picked Gonzaga, but neither of their sleeper picks won games, so each received 10 points from the WCC. Finally, Neither picked the Champion in the MAAC, but each had Iona as their sleeper, who made the run in the tournament, earning each one 25 points. After the dust settled on Monday, here are the updated standings.

Mike   100 points

Andy  75 points

At the end of each day, as tournaments crown their Champions, we will be updating our results, so check back and see how you fared against our picks.

Iona Survives Manhattan, Earns Bid

Despite a fine effort by Manhattan, 4th seed Iona held the Jaspers off for a 60-57 win earning a trip to the Big Dance.

Manhattan led most of the first half fueled by solid defense and held a two point halftime lead. They held the lead until the 13:21 mark of the second half when the Gaels finally pulled ahead. Despite a strong effort by Manhattan, Iona never relinquished the lead again.

Tre Bowman came off the bench to score 20 points for Iona, pulling down 5 rebounds on the night. Lamont Jones had 14 points in the game.

                                                                    Tre Bowman

Iona was strong at the free throw line where they went 15-17 on the game, helping to fend off a Jasper comeback.

The MAAC was a tournament of upsets leading to a 4 and 6 seed playing for the Championship. The Gaels took out top seed Niagara en route to their Championship. The two and three seeds fell in the quarterfinals.

Iona enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of  20-13. After losing three in a row and 6 out of their last 7, they have put a 6 game winning streak together heading to the Big Dance.

Davidson Does it Again

In what has become a regular event for Bob McKillop's Wildcats, Davidson is heading back to the NCAA Tournament. Davidson finally wore down a gutty College of Charleston team and won

It is the 7th Southern Conference Tournament Championship for Bob McKillop since 1998.

Many remember the run in 2008 with Steph Curry, falling one shot short of the Final Four. This team may not be as talented as that one, but they have now won 17 straight games and won the regular season and tournament going away.

De'Mon Brooks led the Wildcats with 24 points and 8 rebounds. Three other Davidson plays scored in double figures including J.P. Kuhlman who had 14 points in the game.

Davidson led the game from wire to wire and each time Charleston attempted a run, Davidson had an answer. The Cougars fought hard, but appeared to have run out of gas with around 7 minutes left to play as the Wildcats stretched out the lead.

Davidson held College of Charleston to under 30 percent from the floor in the game, including 1-10 from behind the three point arc. Davidson will move on to the NCAA Tournament while Charleston will await a possible bid to the NIT or other post season tournament. They hold a record of 24-10.

Davidson will be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament, entering with a record of 26-7 including the current win streak. They are battle tested with games against the likes of New Mexico, Gonzaga and Duke in non conference play. With the victory tonight, they are back to back Champions of the Southern Conference. With a number of upper class men in the lineup, nobody will be thrilled to seem them in their bracket.

(photo of De'Mon Brooks courtesy of ESPN)