MCLA D-I Tournament Preview

The stage is set in Salt Lake City for the 2018 MCLA Tournament. The first round kicks off today, with D-II action starting at 1 pm eastern. D-I contests will get started at 6:30.

Here’s a little bit of what you can expect in D-I.

Front-runners:

#2 Utah – the clear favorite, it’s hard to see anyone giving them problems before the final four. They’re months away from competing in NCAA D-I and the Holmans have them clicking on all cylinders.

#1 Chapman – The Panthers had to scratch and claw their way to a 10-8 win over a solid Concordia-Irvine team in the SLC Championship. They face the possibility of a tough second-round rematch if CUI can make it past Liberty.

#3 Michigan State – This team’s on fire. They cruised to another CCLA title but drew a realy tough quadrant of the bracket. Oregon, VT and BC are all surging. It could be a bloodbath down there.

#5 South Carolina – Colorado sneaking ahead of the Gamecocks is laughable. This team’s only loss came to the #6 team in the country. Because of this brutal seed, USC has to play fellow SEC power Georgia Tech in the first round. Tech’s Coach Lovic told us he really wanted a shot at Carolina in the conference tournament and now he’ll finally get it. But if USC survives this heavyweight bout, they’ll be a problem going forward.

Dark horses:

#10 Grand Canyon – At 9-3 and failing to reach the SLC title game, we’re not hear to argue the seed GCU drew. But man do the defending champs have potential. This first round draw and a looming second round date with Utah are enough to give BYU the scaries.

#11 Boston College – Two ACC schools are reunited in a first-round matchup of PCLL champs BC and SELC winner VTech. There is a decent chance BC could pull off two upsets to make the final four.

#13 Cal – It’s hard to say how good these guys are because they play in the weaker WCLL. They have a streaky offense led by sophomore sensation Jake Pistotnik that has scored as many as 24 in a game and as few as 2. There’s enough mystery around this team to give an over-seeded Colorado pause.

#12 Georgia Tech – They’ve been plagued by injuries but experience is on their side. While they might not be the most talented team in their corner of the bracket, the Jackets will be the most prepared.

The games will be streamed by Prodigy Productions, who have brought in big-name talent to call these games, including Josh Hawkins, Casey and Ryan Powell and our guy Booker Corrigan. You can find the games here.