2018 CAA Men's Basketball Tournament (and Contest)

[HUSID74]

Let's hope all the old AE teams win...so far 2-0 with Drexel and Delaware. Tomorrow lets hope it's Hofstra, NE, Drexel and Delaware.

What would that do to. Charleston Tournament?

Time to think about the Nassau Coliseum!

[EvanJ]

Northeastern will play Delaware. The northern teams would have all the Semifinalists if Towson beats William & Mary.

I predicted for two of tomorrow's games already. I predict:

Charleston 81, Drexel 68
Northeastern 78, Delaware 67

Including here and CSNBBS, seven people predicted. Here are the scores out of 200 points:

1. SomebodyToLove: 148
2. triplec2195: 146
3. Pride97: 130
4. EvanJ: 128
5. Wags: 126
6. HofstraMathew: 114
7. dan10: 104

The mean was exactly 128.

[Pride97]

For Sunday:

Charleston 78, Drexel 65
William & Mary 86, Towson 79
Northeastern 88, Delaware 73
Hofstra 85, UNCW 81

[Wags]

I don't see any upsets tomorrow. I'll go:

Charleston 84, Drexel 65
Dragons beat CofC at home this year, but lost big at Charleston.
Don't see the Dragons competing here. Tough enough being outmanned in this one, but having to do so against the rested Cougars 18 hrs after is playing a lot to ask.

William & Mary 85, Towson 82
Bad matchup for W&M. They lost by 26 at home to Towson, then lost in OT at Towson.
But in that second game, W&M was up 10 at the half. I think they'll finish better this time on the neutral floor and I think the 99-73 loss to Towson was an aberration.
Also think it's going to be tough for Towson to go 3-0 against the Tribe. Odds are, W&M finally gets one, but narrowly.

Northeastern 78, Delaware 62
Huskies beat the Hens by 12 at home, then won at Delaware by only 3 this season.
Northeastern was playing as well as anyone in the CAA to end the regular season, and like Drexel vs. CofC, tough spot the day after against a much better team.

Hofstra 84, UNCW 72
We've talked about the two games repeatedly. Finally came around to agreeing the 20-pt. loss, though alarming, was a perfect storm thing.
The second was a great effort by Hofstra in the 20-pt win.
HU does what it needs to here. Plays enough D and the core four (JWF, Rok, Eli and Buie) lead the way to somewhat hard-fought, yet ultimately comfortable W.

[HofstraMathew]

My two games for today I didn't already predict above:

Charleston 79 Drexel 73
Northeastern 73 Delaware 68

[triplec2195]

For today's games that I haven't already predicted; COC 80- Drexel 70 and NE 75 -Delaware 69.

[Wags]

For today's games that I haven't already predicted; COC 80- Drexel 70 and NE 75 -Delaware 69.

Drexel was up, 48-39, about halfway through the second half, but the run we all pretty much expected was coming, eventually happened for Charleston:

13 straight to turn a 9-point deficit into a 4-point lead and start a larger 20-5 stretch (and 27-11 to close the game).

Still, Drexel was only down 1 at the under-4, but Charleston won, 66-59. A lot lower scoring than I expected on Charleston's part (I picked them 84-65), mainly because of Drexel's defense (props to them on that, they really battled). Today showed that this is a 1 seed that's a lot more beatable than in CAA tourneys past. So if Hofstra can get there, there's no reason to be intimidated.

[triplec2195]

For today's games that I haven't already predicted; COC 80- Drexel 70 and NE 75 -Delaware 69.

Drexel was up, 48-39, about halfway through the second half, but the run we all pretty much expected was coming, eventually happened for Charleston:

13 straight to turn a 9-point deficit into a 4-point lead and start a larger 20-5 stretch (and 27-11 to close the game).

Still, Drexel was only down 1 at the under-4, but Charleston won, 66-59. A lot lower scoring than I expected on Charleston's part (I picked them 84-65), mainly because of Drexel's defense (props to them on that, they really battled). Today showed that this is a 1 seed that's a lot more beatable than in CAA tourneys past. So if Hofstra can get there, there's no reason to be intimidated.

Well Isabell picked a bad time to have an off shooting night hitting only 4/14 and scoring 14 points ouch that hurts. Harris played 22 minutes for COC his so called injury didn't seem to bother him too much normally plays about 26.

[Wags]

W&M advances rather easily over Towson, 80-66. They were the better team all game. Had a feeling about that one, that the Towson regular season sweep wasn't going to mean much today. I think W&M might be starting to peak after their last couple of regular season games and the way they played today. And the way Charleston looked today, it wouldn't shock me to see a final of W&M vs. a potential HU-NU semis winner.

So far, all chalk in terms of seeding over the first four games of the tourney.

NU/UDel next, then finally... HU takes the floor!

[Wags]

33-28 at halftime, then NU obliterates UDel, 41-22, in the second half for a convincing 74-50 win.
The best anyone has looked in the CAA tourney yet.

Hofstra up next! Gotta bring it for their shot at NU!

[Wags]

Not that I care anymore, but I'll keep picking:

I like the way W&M played some uncharacteristic defense (they way HU should have tonight!) and I Charleston was mostly unimpressive against Drexel.
I think Charleston will bounce back and play better, but it feels like W&M, after being inconsistent, has started to put it together over its last few games and has something going. And Charleston just feel like a weak 1 seed right now.
I'll go with the Tribe to shoot well from the perimeter and pull off the upset, 82-78 (something I would not have picked 2-3 weeks ago at all).

Northeastern looked like the best team in the CAA to end the regular season and no different now. They have all the ingredients to cut the nets and give a team trouble in the NCAAT. I think they do that, but I'll wait on the title game until I see the matchup. For now, I think they get by UNCW, but it might not be easy. They swept UNCW this year, but both games went to OT. I think they get it down in regulation this time, 85-74.

[EvanJ]

Here are the scores through six games:

1. SomebodyToLove: 422
2. dan10: 378
Tied 3. triple2195: 348
Tied 3. Pride97: 348
5. HofstraMathew: 320
6. EvanJ: 302
7. Wags: 296

I predict:

Charleston 79, William & Mary 75
Northeastern 82, UNC Wilmington 73

[Pride97]

Don’t much care anymore but I feel I should play this out

Charleston 76, W&M 67
Northeastern 85, UNCW 72


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[EvanJ]

Charleston won 83-73. Charleston had only 8 fouls and 4 turnovers. They became the first team to have 8 or fewer fouls and 4 or fewer turnovers in 2018 (it last happened on December 29, 2017) and the 21st team to do that since 2010-2011 (counting each game as a "new" team as Wisconsin did it four times and Michigan did it twice). It's the first time since 2010-2011 that a CAA team or opponent did that. 3 of the times were against teams not in Division I.

[Wags]

Northeastern crushes the team that knocked us out last night, 79-52.
Northeastern held UNCW to one fewer point that UNCW scored against us in the second half alone last night.

Getting outscored 53-40 in the second half is not how you put teams away.

Northeastern in this tournament? 84-47 over its first two opponents of this tourney in the second half because of the DEFENSE.
- Up 5 at the half, outscored Delaware, 41-22.
- Up 9 at the half, outscored UNCW, 43-25.

Doing it occasionally this year didn't work. But I am going to keep repeating it here starting in November... DEFENSE... until everyone tells me to shut up... until fans at home games DEMAND it from the team EVERY home game next year. Enough 91-86 wins only to lose that way when it counts. I want to be Northeastern. I want to still score 40 or more in the second half like HU does now, but not allow over 50. I want to allow half that in the second half, like NU does... LIKE, OH... HOFSTRA DID AT ELON (when it was SERIOUS), winning by 19 this year, as opposed to allowing 53 in the second half (like last night) to Elon in an earlier 13-point loss this year (when HU wasn't serious about D).


Anyway, my pick...
NU has been the best team in this tournament. I see the same tomorrow night. 74-67, Huskies.

[Pride97]

Charleston 78, Northeastern 75


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[triplec2195]

Northeastern crushes the team that knocked us out last night, 79-52.
Northeastern held UNCW to one fewer point that UNCW scored against us in the second half alone last night.

Getting outscored 53-40 in the second half is not how you put teams away.

Northeastern in this tournament? 84-47 over its first two opponents of this tourney in the second half because of the DEFENSE.
- Up 5 at the half, outscored Delaware, 41-22.
- Up 9 at the half, outscored UNCW, 43-25.

Doing it occasionally this year didn't work. But I am going to keep repeating it here starting in November... DEFENSE... until everyone tells me to shut up... until fans at home games DEMAND it from the team EVERY home game next year. Enough 91-86 wins only to lose that way when it counts. I want to be Northeastern. I want to still score 40 or more in the second half like HU does now, but not allow over 50. I want to allow half that in the second half, like NU does... LIKE, OH... HOFSTRA DID AT ELON (when it was SERIOUS), winning by 19 this year, as opposed to allowing 53 in the second half (like last night) to Elon in an earlier 13-point loss this year (when HU wasn't serious about D).



Anyway, my pick...
NU has been the best team in this tournament. I see the same tomorrow night. 74-67, Huskies.

You will be held to it and maybe the NEW BATTLE CRY FROM OUR COACHES WILL BE DEFENSE,DEFENSE AND THEN MORE DEFENSE!!!!! I'll take NE also 75-73! A real nail biter!!

[EvanJ]

1. SomebodyToLove: 502
2. Pride97: 464
3. dan10: 420
4. EvanJ: 404
5. Wags: 374
6. triplec2195: 348 (did not predict yesterday's games)
7. HofstraMathew: 320 (did not predict yesterday's games)

I predict:

Northeastern 73, College of Charleston 71

[Dooku25]

Haven't made any predictions yet, but I do think Northeastern gets it done tonight. I will at least be rooting for them, which btw would be the only team out of Boston I could ever pull for lol

[Wags]

Interesting: Vegas has Charleston as a 2-point favorite tonight, yet the ESPN Matchup Predictor likes NU (55.4%) over CofC (44.6%):

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... =401020174