Before we tackle tonight’s games, congratulations to the Cal Lutheran women who became the second team to clinch an automatic bid last night. Lauren Stroot (pictured) and her Regal teammates wrapped up the SCIAC title with a 69-67 win over Redlands. Keep an eye on Stroot who averages more than 20 points per contest.

Looking at the Wednesday slate, there should be electricity in the air when King’s hosts Wilkes in the first round of the MAC-Freedom men’s tournament tonight. And while there’s less suspense involved in the Scranton-King’s women’s tilt (audio from WUSR), maybe the Monarchs can give the Royals a scare like DeSales did on Saturday.

In other interesting Wednesday night games…

Blue-sing Streak: One way or another John Carroll is going to end their losing streak tonight. They are either going to upset No. 22 Ohio Northern or their season will be over. Can JCU avoid the same fate as 2005 NCAA tournament teams Hanover and NJCU who went one-and-out last night?

So much for unpredictability: The top four teams in the WIAC women’s tournament advanced setting up tonight’s Stout/La Crosse and Oshkosh/Stevens Point showdowns.

Please feel free to add your own thoughts below.

Sometimes the opening round of conference tournaments brings rematches of lopsided regular season contests. Like the undefeated UMW women playing Gallaudet, whom they’ve beaten by an average of 50.5 points. Or the Wooster men, fresh off the OWU loss, hosting Kenyon.

Not likely to be cliffhangers.

But sometimes familiarity breeds interesting results, even in early rounds. With that in mind, here are a few Tuesday tilts to watch:

– One Falls Swoop: When does No. 12 in the nation hosting a team who lost to Macalester become an interesting game? When it’s the WIAC!

UW-Stout opens the conference tournament with a visit from UW-River falls (6-18). Last time they met in Menomonie, it was almost a double-digit victory…for the Falcons. Can UWRF do it again? Listen and find out (8 PM EST).

– The Graduate: Sometimes I go to the basketball court where I’m attending grad school and I get dominated by the undergrads. Then I sulk home and take solace in knowing I could’ve beaten them when I was their age. Of course, they would’ve only been 11 then but that’s not the point.

Graduate school students need to band together when their own kind are carrying the older, wiser but not necessarily richer banner into battle. So tonight, Danielle Holbrook (pictured), I salute you. You are the Otterbein Cardinals’ leading scorer going into tonight’s rubber match against John Carroll. And you have inspired me to take that 6-foot-3 undergrad to the rack for a serious facial the next time I hoop it up.

– Memory Loss: Forget going into the conference tournament with momentum. The Ramapo Roadrunners have lost 5 of 6. Forget about the last meeting with NJCU in Jersey City. Ramapo lost by 20. And forget about last year’s tournament appearance. Because if the Roadrunners don’t run the table, they are going nowhere.

But you think it won’t be a battle when Ramapo and NJCU square off tonight? Forget about it…

But don’t forget to add your own thoughts below. There’s plenty to talk about with lots of tournaments tipping off.

Brandon Adair’s 31 points led the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins to the first automatic bid of the 2006 season in another heartstopping ODAC playoff game, defeating Randolph-Macon 81-78 in overtime. VWC led by as many as nine points in the second half. R-MC’s Justin Wansley led the Yellow Jackets with 24 points.

The Yellow Jackets find themselves as the first team in the pool, C that is. R-MC finishes up with a 22-6 mark overall and a 19-6 regional record.

Back up north, Lincoln University rolled Penn State-Abington, 115-83, behind 62 points from Kyle Myrick. Myrick’s previous season high was a mere 45.

In on the women’s side: Washington U.
In on the men’s side: Virginia Wesleyan. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps can clinch the SCIAC with a win or an Occidental loss tonight.

Sometimes you can over think these things.

Looking at the ODAC men’s tournament before it began, you could come up with plenty of reasons why Virginia Wesleyan and Randolph-Macon would not meet in the final. Va Wes was due for a loss. Randolph-Macon had lost to Emory & Henry. Hampden-Sydney could return to early season form.

But here we are at the end and it’s the top teams in the conference preseason poll – and the only two who made our Preseason Top 25 – who will battle over the AQ tonight (7 PM EST). It’s always nice when you end up being right when you were pretty sure you were wrong.

Then again, sometimes no amount of thought will help.

For example, does anyone feel really secure picking the winner of the women’s WIAC tournament, which starts tonight? Stout and Oshkosh split the regular season title. Stevens Point has the top offense statistically. La Crosse has the top defense statistically. And each of the bottom four has beaten at least one of the top four. You can listen to Stevens Point/Platteville or watch Eau Claire/Superior with a good connection (8 PM EST for both).

Elsewhere the NJAC women tip off their tournament and Alvernia’s men play Gwynedd-Mercy in their seemingly annual playoff game in PAC semifinals. Feel free to post links to game broadcasts or thoughts below.