Tournament Maker

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At the end of December 2024, a 3-day tournament matched the top ranked team from each of the 8 top power conferences in the POWER CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT played in Dallas, Texas.

Power Conference Teams and Tournament Seedings:

1. Pac-12: Arizona Wildcats, ranked #1 in the polls with a 12-0 record. The Wildcats dominated all 12 pre-conference opponents with overpowering wins against Kansas, Ohio State, and Indiana, all of which were ranked teams.

2. Atlantic Coast: North Carolina Tarheels, ranked #2 in the polls and sporting a 12-1 record. The Tarheels beat ranked teams Temple and California and their only loss was to New Mexico on the road.

3. Big Ten: Iowa Hawkeyes, ranked #3 in the polls with an 11-0 record. Big wins by the Hawkeyes over all of their pre-conference challengers, none of which were ranked in the polls.

4. Southeastern: LSU Tigers, ranked #5 in the polls with an 11-1 record. The Tigers handled #4 ranked Virginia with ease but lost to #11 UCLA.

5. Big 12: Kansas Jayhawks, ranked #8 in the polls with an 11-1 record. The Jayhawks lost to Arizona, but have beaten their only other ranked opponent, Temple.

6. Big East: Seton Hall Pirates, ranked #12 in the polls with a 9-1 record. In their pre-conference games against ranked opponents, they lost to LSU but edged Indiana.

7. Mountain West: Fresno State Bulldogs, ranked #16 in the polls with a 12-0 record. Although the Bulldogs didn't have any ranked teams in their pre-conference schedule, they have lain waste to all teams they've played.

8. American Athletic: Temple Owls, ranked #23 in the polls with a 9-3 record. Even with their 3 losses, the Owls have earned their ranking by beating ranked Utah and Ohio State. Their only losses have been against North Carolina, Kansas, and UCLA, all ranked teams.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals, and championship results will be provided as they are played.

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Quarter-Finals:

#1 seed Arizona Wildcats vs #8 seed Temple Owls: Final Score Arizona-82, Temple-60. Arizona controlled the game the entire way and led 45-36 at the half. SG Darrell Walker scored 24 for the Wildcats and C Cliff Rivera had 15 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. SF Josh Bennett added 14 and PG Kelvin Smith scored 12 points. PF Marques Smith had 5 blocks and a steal. For Temple, C Shamel O’Neal hit for 16 and grabbed 7 boards, PF Felipe Da Barrosa and SF Chris Bender both scored 12 while reserve PF Tristan Simonet scored 11 points in the 11 minutes he played.

#2 seed North Carolina Tarheels vs #7 seed Fresno State Bulldogs: Final Score North Carolina-80, Fresno State-62. Defense predominated early as neither team gained more than a 2 point lead, but the Tarheels caught fire midway through the first half and quickly built a double digit lead that they maintained to the end of the half when they were ahead 38-28. Fresno State was unable to get closer than 9 points in the 2nd half and North Carolina again stretched their lead midway through the half to as much as 21 points. SF Josh Clayton hit for 17 for the Tarheels, while PF Gareth Davis and reserve SG Walter Barker both scored 11 and PG Brandon Heard added 10 and their C Jamaal Gates pulled down 11 rebounds. The Bulldogs’ SF Keith Berlin scored 12 and had 8 rebounds and PF Chris White had 3 steals and 2 blocks.

#3 seed Iowa Hawkeyes vs #6 seed Seton Hall Pirates: Final Score Iowa-71, Seton Hall-59. Iowa jumped out to leads of 8-0, 14-1, and 20-5 enroute to a halftime advantage of 41-33. Seton Hall cut the lead to 4 early in the 2nd half but at the midpoint of the 2nd half the Hawkeyes were on top by 20. The Pirates gamely tried to get back into the game but got no closer than 11 points. PG Garner Hanavan topped Iowa’s scoring with 16 points with PF Ryan Boythe scoring 12 and picking off 10 rebounds to go along with his 2 steals and 2 blocks. SF Leon Fishback tossed in 20 points and grabbed 8 boards for Seton Hall.

#4 seed LSU Tigers vs #5 seed Kansas Jayhawks: Final Score LSU-71, Kansas-69. Kansas opened an 8 point lead early in the game, but LSU gradually came back and pulled away to go on top by 10 before the Jayhawks clawed their way back late in the half and trailed the Tigers by just 2 at the break, 41-39. SG Larry Miller scored 19 in the half for Kansas while C Kelvin Dixon had 14 points and 7 rebounds for LSU. The second half was back-and-forth the entire way with LSU hitting a 15 foot jumper with 5 seconds remaining to give them a 2 point victory. LSU’s C Kelvin Dixon finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds and the Tigers’ PG Seth Waltman scored 16, had 6 assists, and 8 rebounds while PF Tim Kellogg had 12 points and 9 boards. Topping Kansas’ scoring was SG Larry Miller with 27 points. PG Mike Ely scored 15 and had 8 assists and C Doylan Lawrence scored 10, had 17 rebounds, 1 steal, and 6 blocks for the Jayhawks.

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Semi-Finals:

#1 seed Arizona Wildcats vs #4 seed LSU Tigers: Final Score Arizona-62, LSU-41. LSU took a 7-2 lead but Arizona then scored the next 8 points and never trailed again in the first half. The Wildcats steadily expanded their lead and by the end of the half were ahead 35-20 by holding the Tigers’ shooting to 25%. It took nearly 4 minutes in the 2nd half before either team scored. Arizona’s defense continued to stymie the Tigers with the lead growing to as much 25 points. LSU only hit 24% of their FT attempts and 11% of their 3 point attempts. PG Kelvin Smith scored 16, SF Josh Bennett hit for 15, and C Cliff Rivera added 10 points plus grabbed 16 rebounds. PF Marques Smith had 13 rebounds. For LSU, C Kelvin Dixon had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Arizona blocked 20 of LSU’s shots.

#2 seed North Carolina Tarheels vs #3 seed Iowa Hawkeyes: Final Score Iowa-69, North Carolina-53. Iowa was in control of the game from the beginning and was on top by 10 midway through the half. But North Carolina narrowed the gap toward the end of the half with the Tarheels trailing by just a 34-30 score at the break. The Hawkeyes went back on top by 12 after 5 minutes of play in the 2nd half. North Carolina again came back to get within 2 points with 10 minutes remaining. Iowa quickly re-established a double digit lead and won going away. Iowa’s SF David Evans led all scorers with 17 points with PF Ryan Boythe scoring 16 and pulling down 8 rebounds to go along with his 2 steals and 5 blocks and SG Garner Hanavan adding 14 points and 9 boards. C Jamaal Gates scored 11 and had 10 rebounds for North Carolina.

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Championship:

#1 seed Arizona Wildcats vs #3 seed Iowa Hawkeyes: Final Score Arizona-89, Iowa-71. Arizona quickly took a 6-0 lead and led the entire half. In the last 10 minutes of the first half they completely dominated the Hawkeyes building a 52-29 halftime advantage. The Wildcats hit 51% of their shots in the half. Iowa’s PF Ryan Boythe dropped in 15 points but the rest of the team was bottled up. Arizona led by at least 20 points until the last 4 minutes of the game as they crushed Iowa to win the championship. PG Kelvin Smith was on fire, scoring 31 for the Wildcats with SG Darrell Walker hitting for 14. Iowa was led by SG Garner Hanavan’s 24 points and PF Ryan Boythe’s 20 points and 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks with C Seth Gilchrest hitting for 14 and SF David Evans adding 11.

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Arizona’s overpowering wins (by 22, 21, and 18 points) over top-quality opponents evidence their tremendous strength this season and why they are undefeated and #1 in the polls thus far. But the Pac-12 tends to make mince-meat of win-loss records, so they’re likely to pick up a few losses before the NCAA Tournament.


1st Team All-Tourney

PG: Kelvin Smith, Arizona—18.7 ppg and 5.0 apg
SG: SG Larry Miles, Kansas—27.0 ppg
SF: SF Leon Fishback, Seton Hall—20.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg
PF: PF Ryan Boythe, Iowa—16.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.0 spg, and 3.7 bpg
C: C Kelvin Dixon, LSU—15.0 ppg and 11.5 rpg

2nd Team All-Tourney

PG: PG Seth Waltman, LSU—16.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, and 6.0 apg
SG Garner Hanavan, Iowa—18.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg
SF: SF Keith Berlin, Fresno State—12.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg
PF: Shamel O’Neal, Temple—16.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg
C: C Jamaal Gates, North Carolina—8.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 2.5 apg

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Upper New England Tournament

This tournament is composed of all Division I teams in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the 3 upper New England states.
It’s been played using DDSCB’s Tournament Maker.

Teams:

Maine Black Bears
Dartmouth Big Green
New Hampshire Wildcats
Vermont Catamounts

Game #1: Vermont Catamounts vs Dartmouth Big Green

This game started slowly. After 3-1/2 minutes of play Dartmouth led 2-0. Dartmouth maintained a very small lead until the 8:47 mark when Vermont scored on a short jumper to go ahead 17-15. From there the lead shifted back and forth a few times, but the Catamounts’ domination of the boards (20-10) enabled them to enjoy a 29-25 halftime advantage. Vermont’s center Otis Whitehead scored 8 and grabbled 7 boards and PF Matt Lindsey also scored 8. PF Andre Dobbins came in off the bench to score 8 points for Dartmouth.

Vermont expanded their lead to 8 points after 3-1/2 minutes of play in the 2nd half. The Catamounts continued to hold a 4-9 point lead, but with 2:20 left, the Big Green hit 2 free throws to get within 3 at 59-56. After working the ball around outside, Vermont’s PF Blane Gilchrest hit a shot from the free throw line and was fouled. He sunk the foul shot to complete the 3 point play and put the Catamounts on top 62-56. On Dartmouth’s next possession, Vermont’s PG Roy Bailey stepped into a passing lane to intercept a pass. He tossed the ball up court to streaking SG Joe Haywood who drove to the hoop for an easy layup to increase the lead to 8. From there on, the Big Green were forced to foul and ended up on the short end of a 68-61 final score. Vermont out-rebounded Dartmouth 33-27 and outshot the Big Green 50% to 44%.

For Vermont C Otis Whitehead dropped in 14 points and hauled down 9 rebounds, PF Blane Gilchrest scored 13, PF Matt Lindsey hit for 11 while grabbing 8 rebounds, and SF Daniel Bennet scored 11 and had 5 assists and 5 steals. PF Andre Dobbins scored 15 for Dartmouth and SF Dana Wilson added 10.

Game #2: Maine Black Bears vs New Hampshire Wildcats

Maine hit two 3’s and two FG’s on its first 4 possessions to take an 10-3 lead. It then took nearly 4 minutes before either team scored again with New Hampshire nailing a 3 pointer. The Wildcats continued to fight back and took their first lead at 17-16 with 10:43 left in the half. The Black Bears regained the lead shortly thereafter and pulled away late to sport a 43-37 lead at the break. Maine’s SF Jermaine Moore poured in 17 points. SG Earl Perry topped New Hampshire’s scoring with 10 points.

The Wildcats got within a single point early in the 2nd half, but then Maine went ahead by 8 at the midpoint of the 2nd half. With 5 minutes remaining, the Black Bears were ahead 79-64. Maine went on to win easily 82-68.

SF Jermaine Moore knocked down 28 points for Maine with teammates C Derrick Cummings adding 14, PG Deaundra Walker hitting for 12, and SG Jordan Winder scoring 10. Walker also had 8 assists. New Hampshire’s SG Earl Perry popped in 20 points and PG Donald Brown added 16.

Game #3: Maine Black Bears vs Vermont Catamounts

There were a bunch of early lead changes but with C Derrick Cummings leading the way Maine led 20-15 midway through the half. The Black Bears were in control at the break by a score of 40-32 as they outshot Vermont 48% to 38%. C Derrick Cummings finished the half with 14 points and 6 boards for Maine. SF Darrell Bennet’s 9 points topped the scoring for Vermont.

In the 2nd half Maine spurted out to a 59-40 advantage with 12 minutes to play. The Black Bears continued to pull away to stomp Vermont 88-63 and win the championship. Maine hit 58% of their FG attempts compared to Vemont’s 39%. The Black Bears also held a 13-4 turnover advantage.

Maine’s C Derrick Cummings had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. PG Deaundra Walker also scored 20 for the Black Bears with SF Jermaine Moore adding 10 points. For Vermont SF Darrell Bennet finished with 15 points, reserve Blane Gilchrest hit for 14 as well as grabbing 8 rebounds, and C Otis Whitehead scored 11.

Tournament MVP: Maine’s C Derrick Cummings who averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds.