CAA and MVC Tournament Predictions

In the past, I admittedly have not paid close attention to the smaller conference tournaments. Maybe I'd watch a minute or two of the conference tournament game, but that was about it. This year, I'm planning on watching some more of them and following them along more closely, and that starts up in the next few days with the CAA and MVC Tournaments. Both teams have a shot at getting multiple bids, so competition will be strong because there are a few teams in each conference needing to boost its resume.

Another perk here is that since I'm an Accounting student, I work with Excel a lot, so I'll even try to make some sweet-looking brackets for my prediction, sort of as a test run for the bigger conference tournies next week. Well, the brackets probably won't be cool to you, but they'll be cool to me, and that's what really matters.


Comments: More good CAA reading can be found at this blog (and the writer is also the author of the new book I just bought, which is nice). Right now there are probably 4 teams with a shot at making the Tourney as an at-large, but no one is really guaranteed a bid. Drexel and ODU have some nice wins, but they might have to at least make it to the Finals to get an at-large bid. Hofstra is probably out of luck again unless they win the Tourney, and VCU probably needs to at least win their opener to be safe. In the end, I'll go with Drexel, the team with non-conference road wins against Villanova and Syracuse, to remove all at-large doubts and clinch the auto bid.


Comments: The at-large picture here is a little clearer than the one in the CAA, but not by much. Southern Illinois is in. Creighton is probably in, but needs at least 1 more win to make sure. Missouri St. might be in, but they better beat Wichita St. in their tourney opener, and another win in the semis would assure them. If Bradley can get to the Tourney Finals, they'll have a shot. Everyone else is playing for their lives. The upset I see is a mini one, with Missouri St. punching their ticket to the Dance with a win over Creighton. In the finals, Southern Illinois is just too strong offensively and defensively. I like them to win it.

What are your predictions?

dan

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