Leland Stanford Junior College Qualification Tournament Predictions

Not more than one mediocre night's sleep after I made my seeding predictions, the real deal showed up on the score reporter. I did an ok job, I got the four number 1 seeds correct, but struggled with the rest. Now that I have something legitimate to evaluate I'm going to attempt to pick the winner with the minimal knowledge of these teams that I have.

Pool A

With SDSU getting the top overall seed, it should be smooth sailing in this pool with a yet to emerge Davis team and the gamut of eager B teams just looking to make the championship bracket. Davis should take the second slot but there isn't much seperating them from the rest of the teams and there could be potential shake-ups in the pecking order at the end of the day. My guess is they will show that despite relatively few wins so far in the year they have the taller, faster athletes that B teamers can't keep up with for entire games. I've got to put faith in my guys that they will prove their worth by claiming the B team pool crown and advance to Sunday.

SDSU (4-0)
Davis (3-1)
UO-B (2-2)
Texas-B (1-3)
Cal-B (0-4)

Pool B

Again, the top seed, Claremont, is head and shoulders above the rest of their pool but Chico State is always a threat to knock of teams and they have won the Qualifier in recent years. I'm really surprised they got seeded third behind Gonzaga, considering Gonzaga hasn't performed well this year and I don't think they are deserving a two seed. Stanford-B could have improved since Vegas and I have to believe they want to defend their home turf, but Bloodthirsty did deplete their ranks. I'm going to go out on a limb and say they break seed to make pre-quarters.

Claremont (4-0)
Chico State (3-1)
Stanford-B (2-2)
Gonzaga (1-3)
Westmont (0-4)

Pool C

Now the teams start to level out with a greater degree of parity and could produce some exciting games, especially since UW and OSU have faced each other twice already and might feel they know how to play the other now. Santa Clara and UCLA-B won't be competitive for the rest of the teams in their pool and Reed could scare the Beavs and the Sundodgers but without Fish, they don't have the big guns to match the state schools. This pool goes to seed

Washington (4-0)
Oregon State (3-1)
Reed (2-2)
Santa Clara (1-3)
UCLA-B (0-4)

Pool D

Despite Humboldt and L & C being seeded 4th and 5th respectively, I think Humboldt has the edge at this point in the season and will take the game. PLU sits comfortably below Bacchus and Buds and has the skills to calmly take care of Simon Fraser and Sonoma State. With the exception of the Humboldt vs. L & C, these teams should be relatively rested compared with the rest of the teams in the tourney come Sunday.

Humboldt (4-0)
L & C (3-1)
PLU (2-2)
Simon Fraser (1-3)
Sonoma State (0-4)

This is how I see Sunday going down.

Prequarters

Chico over Reed
Oregon State over Stanford-B
L & C over Oregon-B
PLU over Davis in the upset of the morning

Quarters
SDSU over Chico St
Oregon State over Humboldt
Washington over L & C
Claremont over PLU

Semis
SDSU over Oregon State
Claremont over Washington

Finals
Claremont over SDSU

Full write-up on the tournament (or at least what I saw of it) next week.