The Bobcat Nation

Prediction Time


Last year, I put some future pressure on myself by picking Appalachian State and Northern Iowa to meet in the championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn. on selection Sunday. While it wasn’t going out on a limb to select Appalachian State, taking an unseeded Northern Iowa squad as my other finalist seemed pretty crazy — until the Mountaineers and Panthers showed up for the title game.

I also correctly selected Appalachian State as the national champion.

But anyway, here goes, without a benefit of a safety net.

My first-round winners in the upper side of the bracket are Appalachian State, Montana State, Illinois State and Youngstown State. In the lower half of the draw, my picks are UMass, New Hampshire, Southern Illinois and Montana (I learned my lesson, Griz fans, always picking against the Grizzlies in the first round).

From there, I see ASU, Illinois State, New Hampshire and Montana advancing to the semifinals and those two games setting up an Appalachian State-New Hampshire final.

Backtracking just a bit, I fully expect the winner of the New Hampshire-UMass quarterfinal to eventually end up in Chattanooga.

And with the championship on the line, I see Appalachian State making history as the first back-to-back champion since Georgia Southern pulled off the trick in 1999 and 2000.

Whatever the results, it should be another fun playoff run, all the way to Chattanooga.

STREETCAT wrote:Prediction Time


Last year, I put some future pressure on myself by picking Appalachian State and Northern Iowa to meet in the championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn. on selection Sunday. While it wasn’t going out on a limb to select Appalachian State, taking an unseeded Northern Iowa squad as my other finalist seemed pretty crazy — until the Mountaineers and Panthers showed up for the title game.

I also correctly selected Appalachian State as the national champion.

But anyway, here goes, without a benefit of a safety net.

My first-round winners in the upper side of the bracket are Appalachian State, Montana State, Illinois State and Youngstown State. In the lower half of the draw, my picks are UMass, New Hampshire, Southern Illinois and Montana (I learned my lesson, Griz fans, always picking against the Grizzlies in the first round).

From there, I see ASU, Illinois State, New Hampshire and Montana advancing to the semifinals and those two games setting up an Appalachian State-New Hampshire final.

Backtracking just a bit, I fully expect the winner of the New Hampshire-UMass quarterfinal to eventually end up in Chattanooga.

And with the championship on the line, I see Appalachian State making history as the first back-to-back champion since Georgia Southern pulled off the trick in 1999 and 2000.

Whatever the results, it should be another fun playoff run, all the way to Chattanooga.

I love it.

I fully expect the winner of the New Hampshire-UMass quarterfinal to eventually end up in Chattanooga.

I don't luv that!!!

The thought of the dream scenario of the Cat/Griz rematch for all the marbles just is insane.

Can you imagine the state of Montana on that Saturday? It would shut down!

But let's just win one at a time.

webdav wrote:The thought of the dream scenario of the Cat/Griz rematch for all the marbles just is insane.

Can you imagine the state of Montana on that Saturday? It would shut down!

The championship game is on a Friday night at 8:00 Eastern Time. Looks like if that scenario played out most of the state of Montana would shut down a bit early...hell, maybe it would just be a state holiday.

SCPaladin wrote:

webdav wrote:The thought of the dream scenario of the Cat/Griz rematch for all the marbles just is insane.

Can you imagine the state of Montana on that Saturday? It would shut down!

The championship game is on a Friday night at 8:00 Eastern Time. Looks like if that scenario played out most of the state of Montana would shut down a bit early...hell, maybe it would just be a state holiday.

Yea...........for about a week!

SCPaladin wrote:The championship game is on a Friday night at 8:00 Eastern Time. Looks like if that scenario played out most of the state of Montana would shut down a bit early...hell, maybe it would just be a state holiday.

My memory is foggy, but wasn't there one year when the Griz were in the title game, and it started at like 5:30 eastern time on a Friday (3:30 in Montana)? I think I remember Governor Martz closing all state offices early so people could watch the game (I was living on the east coast at the time, though, so this is just what I vaguely remember reading...people who actually lived there might remember better)

Grizlaw wrote:

SCPaladin wrote:The championship game is on a Friday night at 8:00 Eastern Time. Looks like if that scenario played out most of the state of Montana would shut down a bit early...hell, maybe it would just be a state holiday.

My memory is foggy, but wasn't there one year when the Griz were in the title game, and it started at like 5:30 eastern time on a Friday (3:30 in Montana)? I think I remember Governor Martz closing all state offices early so people could watch the game (I was living on the east coast at the time, though, so this is just what I vaguely remember reading...people who actually lived there might remember better)

I think you are correct, that was 2001 and their opponent was none other than the FURMAN PALADINS!