3 Conferences Already Playing: America East, Big South and Horizon League

We already have 3 conferences that have tipped off conference tournament play: America East, Big South and Horizon League. I will run through where each of these leagues are at along with any impacts to the pool. In the Big South today every team will be playing which means every one of us in the pool has the potential to lose a team tonight. It really is a terrible feeling losing a conference champion on day 1 of the pool, but it is fun watching it happen to others.

One housekeeping item before moving to the breakdown that I promised, I need to update the links to the blog and the standings since I screwed those up in the last note. Let's try that section again. As conference tournaments complete at different dates through selection Sunday on 3/14/21 I will post updates along with the current standings via the links below. I'll also send e-mail updates periodically for those that absolutely refuse to use the blog, but the blog will be the primary way to get everyone information over the next few weeks. Depending on how bored I get during work and how much basketball action is happening, I sometimes will provide 2-3 updates each day.

Here is the real link to the blog and standings for you to bookmark:

2021 Conference Tournament Challenge Blog

Standings (One Drive)

Now that we have the links cleaned up let's go ahead and move to the conference tournament previews.

America East

• The American East conference tournament started on Saturday, 2/27/21 with first round action and quickly turned around on Sunday, 2/28/21 with the quarterfinals. They are already to the semifinals. The biggest upset has been (3) New Hampshire being eliminated by (6) UMass-Lowell in the quarterfinals.
• Although UMBC is the 1 seed, 62% of the pool picked (2) Vermont to win the conference tournament. When you look at Team Rankings they have (2) Vermont as the favorite with a 56% chance of winning it all.
• We have only one lone person that reached for a bonus pick in this conference and that is Mattyboi with (6) UMass-Lowell. For those new to this pool these are the kind of conferences that can be pivotal if one person wins with bonus points while everyone takes a loss.
• The next America East game is Saturday, 3/6/21.

Big South

• The Big South conference played its first round on Saturday, 2/27/21 consisting of the 6-10 seeds and are now on to the quarterfinals.
• (1) Winthrop was picked by 65% of our pool and Team Rankings gives (1) Winthrop a 64% chance to win this conference tournament.
• 6 people picked 3 seeds or lower in this conference which means plenty of chances for someone to snag bonus points with a win. (4) UNC-Asheville and (6) Gardner-Webb were popular picks with only Brad ridding (3) Campbell Camels.
• Today is a great first day for our pool as all the Big South teams will be in action (matchups and schedule below). Someone will suffer a loss today since (3) Campbell and (6) Gardner-Webb are matched up!

Horizon League

• The Horizon League was the first to tip off way back on Thursday, 2/25/21 with first round action. 4 teams have already been eliminated: (12) Robert Morris, (11) UIC, (7) Green Bay and (9) IUPUI.
• Although Cleveland State is the 1 seed, 65% of the pool picked (2) Wright State to win the conference tournament. When you look at Team Rankings they have (2) Wright State as the favorite with a 72% chance of winning it all.
• We do see a scattering of bonus picks on lower seeds covering the 3-6 seeds, we have all seeds covered in this league!
• The next Horizon League game is Tuesday, 3/2/21.

This is your final reminder to check your picks for accuracy and reach out to me if anything is inaccurate. I have already made 3 corrections of screw ups I made, which are now corrected on the spreadsheet.

One final note. As you are watching your teams lose one by one and melting down, remember that typically 16-18 total points wins this pool. You're trying to win 40ish percent of your picks with hopefully a few bonus picks mixed in. In the end, you do not need to win every single game, and you will not win every single game, so sit back and enjoy the next 2 weeks.

Good Luck!