Piaad 3 Basketball

At least one team will come out of the Big South Conference and enter the NCAA Tournament this season, and the experts are starting to try to predict which team it will be. Who will win the Big South Tournament and move on to The Dance for a chance at winning the National Championship?  Will it be one of the front runners?  Will an underdog come from out of nowhere to take home this league’s crown?  No matter which Big South team makes it to the NCAA Tournament, you should get some NCAA Tournament tickets at StubHub.com to see them in action in March Madness. Now, let’s take a look at a few of the favorites in the Big South.

Coastal Carolina – Coastal Carolina’s Chanticleers have the best record in the Big South Conference, and they look as though they’re bound for an NCAA Tournament berth. Besides the mascot of this team, there are several other reasons to pick the CCU Chanticleers to move on into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. For one, they’ve played some tough competition.  Their second game of the season was against Duke, a team you might have heard about. While Duke wiped the floor with Coastal Carolina, we suspect the Chanticleers learned from valuable lessons, because after the Duke loss they went on a 15-1 tear. Later on in the season they tore through most of their conference foes, earning a 13-3 league record as of Feb. 21, 2010. With just two games remaining on the home game schedule—against Liberty and VMI, two teams they should beat—we like CC’s chances in March.

Winthrop – The Winthrop Eagles might just steal the limelight from Coastal Carolina this year, as they’re the No. 2 team in the Big South right now. Winthrop and CC split their season series this year, so they’re pretty evenly matched. Winthrop is a good defensive team, and they’ve played Clemson and Cincinnati this year, although both of those games ended in losses. Winthrop’s program has seen the NCAA Tournament before, and their fans would love a return to the March Madness action in 2010.

Radford – Radford’s winning conference (11-5) and overall records (16-11) give them some credibility, even though they’re currently behind the Chanticleers and Eagles in the standings.  Radford does not shoot the ball well—in fact they’re one of the worst teams in Division I NCAA basketball at three-point shooting and free throw shooting. But what they lack in finesse they make up for in brute strength and inside game. Artsiom Parakhouski Radford’s 6-foot-11 post presence, and Lazar Trifunovic is 6-foot-8 but plays like he’s three inches taller. This duo will give any opponent fits in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, provided Radford cam get an invitation to dance.

You can see the Big South Men’s Basketball Championship by getting some tickets at StubHub.com. The games will take place between March 2 and March 6.  This tournament should prove to be a fitting prelude to the action taking place all over the country when the NCAA Tournament begins.

Every year about this time the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference starts to separate the elite teams from the weak teams, the men from the boys, the contenders from the pretenders. This season is absolutely no exception. A few of the best Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference teams have made their presence felt this year and are poised to make a run at the league title. Let’s take a look at which teams have the best shots at accomplishing this feat. If you are interested in seeing the end-of-season conference championship tournament, make sure you head on over to StubHub.com to get tickets. Or, if your favorite team makes it to The Dance, get NCAA Tournament tickets to see their games!

Siena – The Siena Saints ended the 2010 regular season atop the MAAC standings, with a record of 24-6 overall and 16-1 inside the conference.  This team looks like it is set for another NCAA Tournament run, and perhaps even a couple of wins in the tourney as well.  But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Saints have played very good defense overall this year, and they’re particularly adept at consistently keeping their opponents from getting to the free throw line. Some of the team’s best wins came against Northeastern in the beginning of the season, and then against Fairfield in mid-January.

However, some of the Siena fans are worried about this team’s lack of action against top-tier teams. As recently as Feb. 20 the Saints left their somewhat easy conference schedule to play the better-than-average Butler. They ended up getting creamed, 70-53. Let’s hope that, once in the NCAA Tournament, the Siena boys can mount a better solid effort against a good team.

Fairfield – Fairfield has an outside shot at winning the MAAC title or even, perhaps, getting an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. They finished 20-9 overall and 13-5 in the MAAC. However, one problem with Fairfield is its lack of success against the top teams in the nation. While they played Maryland, Rhode Island and Siena this season, they failed to beat these teams and thus do not have a signature season-defining win to their credit. Most of Fairfield’s offense runs through Derek Needham, a point guard who can get into the lane but more often than not shoots from the outside and dishes to the always-dangerous Anthony Johnson. This is a team that could cause headaches for any first-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament—assuming Fairfield can get there, of course.

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is coming to a thrilling conclusion heading into tourney time, and the race for the league title is heating up by the second. Will you be there to see which MAAC team has what it takes to win the conference and make an appearance in the NCAA Basketball Tournament? Get tickets to the final games of the season from StubHub and cheer for your favorite MAAC team to go all the way in this year’s big dance!