Tip Off Preview: Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League and Patriot League

Tonight 4 conference tournaments will tip off, this is the first time that I can remember 4 conferences tipping off all at the same time.  Below you will see a full breakdown of the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Horizon League and Patriot League conference tournaments.  Every single person in the pool will have teams playing tonight and every single person can potentially suffer a loss.  Nothing is worse in this pool than losing a team on day one.

As conference tournaments complete at different dates through Sunday, 3/15, I will post updates along with the current standing on the blog via the link below. 

I'll also send e-mail updates periodically for those that refuse to use the Blog.  Typically for the first few days I'll send information in e-mail, but I'll back off of that once things get going.  Depending how bored I get a work, I will sometimes update the Blog twice in a day.

This Blog is a great way to pass time during the day...

https://2020conferencetournamentchallenge.blogspot.com/

Bookmark this link, it contains the current spreadsheets and standings, I update the standings multiple times each day.  Hopefully Tim won't constantly have the spreadsheets checked out in edit mode.

 

Atlantic Sun Preview

• 71% of the picks in our pool are on (1) Liberty to win the conference championship and Team Rankings gives (1) Liberty a 75% chance to win the conference championship so we are all very much aligned.

• 4 of the picks in our pool are on (3) Lipscomb, the significance being that a (3) Lipscomb championship would mean bonus points for 4 people.

• 1 lone person stands out, Brian, picking (6) Florida Gulf Coast to win the conference championship.  I assume Brian stopped paying attention to college basketball in 2013.

• We are guaranteed to see at least 1 loss tonight as (3) Lipscomb will be playing (6) Florida Gulf Coast.  (3) Lipscomb is only favored by 6 points so this should be a fairly close game.  All of these games are on in the evening on ESPN+.

Big South Preview

• 41% of the picks in our pool are on (1) Radford to win the conference championship and Team Rankings gives (1) Radford a 45% chance to win the conference championship so again we are all very much aligned with our picks.

• Games tonight are NOT worth watching as only the 6 - 10 seeds are playing and this will have no impact to the pool. All of these games are on in the evening on ESPN+ but don't waste your time.

Horizon League Preview

• 56% of the picks in our pool are on (1) Wright State to win the conference championship and Team Rankings gives (1) Wright State a 49% chance to win the conference championship so in the Horizon League we are over valuing the 1 seed.

• The 4 - 8 seeds are playing tonight, but we do have players with (4) Illinois-Chicago, (5) Youngstown State and (6) Oakland so many people are at risk.  However, everyone can potentially escape tonight without a loss.

• All of these games are on in the evening on ESPN+.

Patriot League Preview

• 68% of the picks in our pool are on (1) Colgate to win the conference championship and Team Rankings gives (1) Colgate a 58% chance to win the conference championship so in the Patriot League we are again over valuing the 1 seed.

• Only the 7 - 10 seeds are playing tonight, however we have 2 players at risk so we'll all be rooting against (7) Bucknell and (8) Lehigh.  This could be a bad night for Brian as he reached deep for some of these teams.

• These games will be played in the evening on the Patriot League Network (PLN) so good luck trying to find and watch these games, unless you're Dan Sohler, he'll probably be at these games live. 😄

Last reminder to check your picks for accuracy before games tip tonight!

Also, as you're watching your teams lose, remember that 16-18 total points typically wins the pool, so you're trying to win about 40% - 45% of your picks, with a few bonus picks mixed in.  In the end, you don't need to win every single game.

Good Luck!