Connor and I are back at it for the second round of the NCAA Mens D3 Tournament picking D3 Winners! Connor took round one with one more correct pick than myself. I’m looking to pull even in the round of 16! Although we only disagreed on only 3 games last round, this round should be quite different!
Round 2 D3 Winners – Tyler Vs Connor
RIT vs. Amherst – CW: RIT has too many weapons, and wins at home by less than 5 goals. TR: Just like 2011, Tigers take care of the formerly known Lord Jeffs at home. They lock down Moroney and RIT wins a 4-5 goal game. (Same pick)
Springfield vs. St.Lawrence – CW: St. Lawrence has impressed me, but Springfield is showing some fight. I beat against them, now I’ll pick them, and they will lose. Thanks a lot Springfield. TR: Probably one of the hardest games to pick in the round of 16 in my opinion. Going with the Larries in a tight one. A rematch with RIT awaits. (DIFFERENT PICKS)
Ithaca vs. Montclair St. – CW: Ithaca wins, but has to fight for the W. TR: Feels like these two match up somehow every single year. Bombers in a closer than anticipated game. (Same pick)
Cortland vs. Tufts – CW: Tufts should take this one. They are too dangerous in transition. TR: Don’t see the Red Dragons being able to hang with Tufts for four quarters. First one to 14 wins. I’ll go Jumbos. (Same pick)
Salisbury vs Colorado College – CW: Salisbury takes it, moves on to the next round. TR: Long flight to the east coast for CC. Should be the largest margin of victory we see in the second round. Gulls fly into the Quarters. (Same pick)
Aurora vs. Denison – CW: Denison rolls, remains tops in the region. TR: Little Midwest flavor in the round of 16. Don’t see how Aurora stops Denison’s offense. I’ll take Denison. (Same pick)
Gettysburg vs. Cabrini – CW: Okay Bullets, time to shine. Make my Gettysburg pick look smart. TR: Don’t call it an upset! Cabrini for the win. (DIFFERENT PICKS)
W&L vs York – CW: York has to be favored by 3+ goals at home. W&L looks improved, but York wins by the margin. TR: Two teams that probably didn’t play their best ball in the opening round. York in a squeaker. (Same pick)
Hmm, we only disagree twice! Maybe D3 is more predictable than I thought. Or maybe it’s not! See below for a recap of the first round games, and how we fared picking winners:
Opening Round D3 Games – Picking Results
RIT vs John Carroll – Tigers move on in a landslide. Great to see a bunch of guys record some NCAA playing time. Not much else to say here. We both picked RIT.
RPI vs Amherst – Had a feeling that RPI wouldn’t be able to put the numbers that Amherst is capable of and I was right. Moroney makes these guys go. We both picked the ‘herst.
Midd vs Springfield – Close game, but ultimately chose the wrong squad. Takes ‘Pride’ to move on, get it? We were both WRONG!
St. Lawrence vs NEC – Eeeeek! Another lopsided affair. Two out of three Liberty League teams advance, and we both nailed this prediction.
Salisbury vs Catholic – Called for a football score and got one! Salisbury’s field goal kicker was on tonight. Gulls advance. We both knew it was coming.
Colorado College vs Whittier – Something about that Colorado air. I knew this was a matchup between evenly matched teams, and the score reflects that. CC is currently making airfare arrangements, and I am bragging for picking this one right while Connor didn’t!
Albion vs Aurora –In the ‘Battle of A’s” Aurora moves on in yet another overtime game. Great win for the midwest! We both picked correctly.
Denison vs Carthage – A statement was made, whatever that may mean. Denison rolls.
Ithaca vs Morrisville – Called for a 16 goal victory for the Bombers and walked away being short by one. Ithaca advances and sees a box score with more action than a rest stop McDonalds. We both got it right.
Keene State vs Montclair State – Got the chance to see MSU a bunch this year and knew they were very capable of getting over the first round hump, good for them! Oh, and they did it on the road. We were BOTH WRONG!
WNEU vs Cortland – Hate bowing out to Connor on this one, but he nailed it (even if picked out of a hat). The one goal win over SUNY Brockport in the conference tourney scared me. If you seriously thought they were ONE goal better than Brockport you are nuts. Point goes to Connor.
Tufts vs Emmanuel – Jumbos stomp on. Literally stomp on. Both got it right.
Gettysburg vs Lynchburg – Both of us thought it would be tight, and it was just that. This is why you play the game and don’t pick scores based on rosters and similar scores. Hopefully the Bullets wake up before it’s too late. They still won and we were both correct.
Stevenson vs Cabrini – Ahhh, went against the grain here and it cost me. Score another point for Mr. Wilson!
W&L vs Sewanee – Little closer than I thought it would be, nonetheless W&L moves on, and will face a much harder test next round. We both got it right.
York vs Eastern – CW: Looks like Eastern starts and finishes their season with losses to York. Great season for them though, with all of their losses coming to teams that were either in the show, or highly considered. We both picked correctly.
In the end, Connor went 13-3 in his picks, and I went 12-4. Not bad, but the future rounds will determine our picking winner, so stay tuned!
