Tonight is one of the most exciting nights of basketball in the state tournament because teams all over the state are playing for a sectional title tonight and the right to move on to play in the state semifinal. There's a lot of close matchups as well as a couple rivalries. All in all, there's 12 games tonight, 4 sectional finals in I and III each then 2 semifinals each in North A and South A. The game of the night in each section in my opinion are: Newark Central @ Newark University in Group I, Neptune @ Lakewood in Group III, and St. Joe's @ Camden Catholic in Non-Public A. After tonight, the field will be dwindled down from 44 to 32. By the end of Sunday, we'll be down to the 6 teams that make up the TOC, but there's a lot of ball to be played till then. Here's my record through the first week of the tournament.
42-13 in Group I games
48-8 in Group II games
40-16 in Group III games
42-14 in Group IV games
14-5 in Non-Public A games
17-3 in Non-Public B games
203-59 overall
Here are my picks for tonight's games.
North I, Group I(Spreads according to Born Power Index)
#1 Boonton-1.5 over #2 Cresskill
North II, Group I
#3 Newark Central+3 over #1 Newark University
Central, Group I
#3 Asbury Park-10.5 over #1 South Hunterdon
South, Group I
#5 Point Pleasant Beach+0.5 over #7 Woodbury
North I, Group III(Spreads according to Born Power Index)
#4 Teaneck-9.5 over #2 Old Tappan
North II, Group III
#2 MillburnPK over #1 Mendham
Central, Group III
#5 Lakewood-1 over #7 Neptune
South, Group III
#1 Kingsway-12 over #3 Point Pleasant Boro
Non-Public A
#1 Seton Hall Prep-6 over #4 Paramus Catholic
#3 St. Peter's Prep-14.5 over #10 Don Bosco Prep
#4 St. Joe's(Metuchen)+4 over #1 Camden Catholic
#6 Bishop Eustace-2.5 over #7 St. Augustine
Now, onto my college predictions for tonight. There are 4 championship games being held in the Colonial, MAAC, Southern and West Coast conferences in addition to several other tournaments. Here's how I'm doing so far.
5-1 America East(Up to Semis)
4-3 Atlantic Sun
1-1 Big Sky First Round
4-3 Big South
7-3 Colonial Athletic Association(Up to Semis)
4-4 Horizon League(Up to Semis)
6-2 Metro Atlantic(Up to Semis)
4-0 Mid-American First Round
6-3 Missouri Valley
4-2 Northeast(Up to Semis)
4-3 Ohio Valley
5-1 Patriot League(Up to Semis)
8-2 Southern Conference(Up to Semis)
4-0 Summit League Quarterfinals
6-3 Sun Belt Quarterfinals
4-2 West Coast(Up to Semis)
19-6 in last nights games
76-33 Overall
Now onto my predictions for tonight.
Colonial Athletic Association Championship
#1 Old Dominion over #3 William & Mary-Don't know much about either team, but Old Dominion has a little more experience than William & Mary. They also underachieved last year in the CAA Tournament and expect them to reverse their fortune tonight and clinch a NCAA Tournament berth.
Metro Atlantic Championship
#1 Siena over #2 Fairfield-Siena's just been so dominant in this spot over the last couple years. They're clearly the most talented team in the MAAC. Fairfield isn't used to being in this spot. This game's also played at the Times Union Center in Albany, which is where Siena plays all their regular season home games so it's a big advantage to them.
Southern Conference Championship
#1S Wofford over #1N Appalachian State-Wofford got a big break here by Appalachian State taking out their archrival College of Charleston. I think Wofford-Charleston would've been a much closer game. Wofford has been the best team in the Southern Conference all season long and the top 2 teams in the South are much better than the top 2 teams in the North. I think Wofford wins comfortably.
Summit League Semifinals
#1 Oakland over #5 IPFW
#2 IUPUI over #3 Oral Roberts
Sun Belt Semifinals
#1 Troy over #4 WKU
#6 Denver over #2 North Texas
West Coast Conference Championship
#2 Saint Mary's over #1 Gonzaga-This is always one of the hardest conference championships to figure out because as long as I can remember, Gonzaga has always bee good enough to get into the tournament even if they were to lose this game. Some years Gonzaga is more motivated to win this game than others. Regardless, they're going to be in the NCAA Tournament. Saint Mary's probably woudn't be. However, there are some other years where Gonzaga seems extra motivated to prove they're the best team in the West Coast Conference, which they undeniably are and have been basically ever since the mid-90s. Some years Gonzaga just wins on talent alone and while I think this Bulldog teams very good, I don't think it's the best one we've seen. I think this St. Mary's team is one of the their best teams we've seen recently. I just have a feeling on this one and I think we'll be looking for St. Mary's to steal the first bid from one of the bubble teams.
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