Starch After Dark: Big Sky Championship Game Preview

We have 2 conference tournament championship games on Wednesday, the first tipping off at 6:00 PM CST in the Patriot League and then at 10:30 PM CST over in the Big Sky. The Patriot League game is almost meaningless to our pool, except for Chris and Drew hanging out towards the bottom of the standings, so I'm not going to cover that one, but the Big Sky will have significant impacts to our standings. Before I jump into the Big Sky preview, I wanted to cover a few items as we head into the home stretch. 🏀

11 out of 31 conferences are now complete, so we are over 1/3 of the way through conference tournament season. 3 out of the 11 champions were a 3-seed or lower, so we're a little behind pace with bonus points, but sometimes the larger conferences help there. I would not consider anyone eliminated at this point, but for those hanging around 3 points or less, if you don't rack up a win (or two) tonight we're getting to the point where it may be mathematically impossible to win. Without any championship games on Thursday or Friday, after tonight it becomes 48 hours of trying to avoid losses. Although Tim may have locked up the Lowest Winning Seed bonus money, even if you're towards the bottom of the standings, you have a lot to play for. We do have 8 teams picked, and still alive, in the pool that can beat or tie Tim for that bonus money. 💰

• (1) Most bonus points - The person with the most total bonus points (picking 3 seed or lower winners) will win $150. 

• (2) Most power conference points - The person with the most power conference points (wins + bonus points) will win $150. The power conferences will be identified on the entry sheet for anyone unfamiliar with which conferences are considered power conferences.

• (3) Lowest winning seed - The person who has the lowest winning seed conference tournament champion wins $150.

• (4) Closest SEC championship game score - The person with the closest SEC championship game score wins $50. This is typically one of the last conference championship games, taking place on Selection Sunday, so even if you're in last place with no other wins, you will have the opportunity to recoup your $50.

Big Sky

Back to the games, let's break down this #starchmadness matchup between (1) Northern Colorado and (2) Montana which will be played at 10:30 PM CST. Northern Colorado is only a 2.5-point favorite, so expect this to be a close game, and for most of us that means staying up well past midnight. In our pool, 14 people picked Northern Colorado, while 11 people picked Montana, we are almost evenly split in this conference which means a win has a massive impact on the standings. Especially since 3 people in the top 15 have already been eliminated from this conference. A Northern Colorado win increases Sohler's lead, but it also moves 13 more people up in the standings, while a Montana win bunches up the top 4 spots. 🥔

I can't promise I'll have it in me to write or post a blog after midnight, but I will update the standings throughout the day and at the conclusion of the Big Sky conference championship game. We have dozens of non-championship games starting as early as 10:30 AM CST today, with many of them having impacts to our pool. 🏀