End of January check-in

[SGAstumpJ]

Here's the brackets as they would appear right now:

CCAA (quarterfinals at higher seeds, semis and finals at CSU-East Bay)

#8 CSU-Los Angeles (11-8, 7-6) at #1 CSU-East Bay (16-3, 11-2)
#7 San Francisco State (11-7, 7-6) at #2 UC San Diego (16-4, 11-2)
#6 CSU-San Bernardino (12-8, 8-6) at #3 Humboldt State (15-7, 9-5)
#5 CSU-Dominguez Hills (9-8, 7-5) at #4 Cal Poly Pomona (10-5, 8-5)

GNAC (at Western Washington)

#6 MSU-Billings (10-8, 5-5) vs. #3 Western Oregon (14-5, 7-3)
#5 Seattle Pacific (9-6, 6-4)vs. #4 Alaska-Anchorage (11-7, 6-4)

BYE: #1 Saint Martin's (16-2, 9-1), #2 Northwest Nazarene (14-3, 9-2)

PacWest (at Dominican)

#6 Hawai'i-Hilo (8-8, 6-6) vs. #3 Azusa Pacific (13-8, 10-4)
#5 Holy Names (9-11, 8-7) vs. #4 Chaminade (14-4, 8-4)

BYE: #1 Point Loma (18-2, 14-0), #2 Concordia-Irvine (15-7, 11-2)

Key games this week:

CCAA: UC San Diego looks to bounce back from their upset loss at Humboldt when they host Stanislaus State on Thursday. Saturday sees East Bay at home trying to avenge their loss at Cal Poly Pomona.

GNAC: Saturday's schedule is headlined by Alaska-Anchorage at Western Oregon in an intriguing battle for 3rd. Western Washington (currently tied with Billings for 6th) has to visit both St. Martin's and Seattle Pacific this week.

PacWest: The top two teams collide for the first time this season as Point Loma visits Concordia Saturday night. The other big game this week was Monday night, as Azusa Pacific kicked off their Hawai'i road trip with a 16-point win at Chaminade to move up to 3rd place.

[tsull]

Re: End of January check-in

CCAA is the most interesting here with East Bay and San Diego battling for first. It appears St. Martin's is going to run away with it in the GNAC, though the NNU-St. Martin's rematch will be epic as NNU lost by two in at SMU early in the season. I see the regionals having four excellent teams in Point Loma, St. Martin's, and the two aforementioned CCAA schools.

Great time of year for D2 college hoops. I contend getting to regionals and then the Elite 8 in D2 is a much tougher path than getting 10th in the Big 10 and getting an at-large D-1 berth to the Big Dance.