The top 8 Mid-Major of the season played 4 great and balanced, at least for the most part, games to decide the participants to the Final Four of the BN’s Fantasy Tournament. We will have a winner once the two conference tournament will be over, as stated in guidelines. Only two conference tournament will be needed because three of the four teams are from the WCC, proving to be the top Mid-Major conference in every category. William&Mary, from the Colonial Conference, is the one team that will try to challenge the WCC supremacy of Gonaza, BYU and Saint Mary’s.
In the South regional, Princeton lost to Saint Mary’s. The Gaels had already went through North Dakota, Akron and Middle Tennessee. In the East regional, BYU was inferior to Green Bay in almost every statistics but ended up on top thanks to the 5 bonus point received for the win against Gonzaga, the #1 team in the AP ranking for plenty of weeks this season. As for Gonzaga and the West regional, the Ohio Bobcats never had a chance and got blown out by a vastly superior team. In the MidWest regional, William&Mary started as the #14 seed and got the best of Monmouth in the Elite Eight, after going through Valparaiso, Northern Iowa, and Marshall.
Let’s have a look at the box scores for every game.
SOUTH
#1 Saint Mary’s – #3 Princeton 59-54
Nine consecutive February wins were not enough for the Tigers, who could not get past Saint Mary’s. The Gaels are more physical and have a +7 in rebounding, which is already worth the final 5 points differential. Princeton is slightly better in the steals department, but the Tigers are inferior in every other statistical entry and cannot make it to the Final Four.
EAST
#12 Green Bay – #6 BYU 58-59
One game was the difference between winning and losing in this matchup. If it wasn’t for the win against Gonzaga, worth an extra 5 points, BYU would have been out of the tournament right now, since it was clearly the inferior team. The Cougars go ahead in the tournament, but Green Bay, starting with the #12 seed, had an amazing run and almost made it to the Final Four.
MIDWEST
#4 Monmouth – #14 William&Mary 53-58
Assists and field goal percentage were crucial to the win for William&Mary, since these two alone are worth a +12 on Monmouth. The Hawks do get something back in the rebounding department, since they average 40 rebounds to the Tribe’s 33.5, but it was not enough to overcome the initial deficit.
WEST
#1 Gonzaga – #11 Ohio 74-52
This game was over before it even started. This season, Gonzaga is bulldozing through every other Mid-Major and is putting up record-breaking numbers in almost every category. Ohio did well in the tournament, but is simply not equipped to stop the Bulldogs.
