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.

The “world’s greatest city” takes center stage on the first Sunday of our championship run. Baruch is the top seed in the women’s CUNYAC tournament but last year’s winner, Staten Island, plays host. After an aggressive non-conference schedule, Diane Ramirez (pictured) and her Bearcat teammates will try to get past York (N.Y.) today.

The UAA doesn’t have a conference tournament, but the next two weekends will serve the same purpose on the men’s side. Five teams are vying for the automatic bid and two of them – Washington U. and NYU – battle in the first game of our D3hoopsNet doubleheader (12 PM EST).

The NYU women fight for their playoff lives against UAA champs Wash U. at 2 PM. With a good internet connection, you can watch the ODAC men’s semifinals courtesy of Penn Atlantic. And the LMC will see if the third time’s the charm after having three of their men’s quarterfinals snowed out again yesterday.

With some conference tournaments starting today, a few familiar men’s teams could face the end of their season.

Williams travels to Tufts in a battle of regionally ranked teams in the NESCAC tournament’s first round. Two teams previously ranked in the top 25, Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney, enter the ODAC tournament badly needing wins. Read what one CUNYAC aficionado has to say about the conference quarterfinals, which tip off today in Staten Island.

Out west Claremont-Mudd-Scripps can write a happy ending to their SCIAC season. Miles Taylor (pictured) and Stagg Nation can clinch the conference title and its bid into the men’s tournament by beating No. 15 Occidental.

In women’s action traditional rivalries ratchet up a notch with Bates hosting Colby, Williams hosting Amherst and Wesleyan (Conn.) hosting Trinity (Conn.) in the NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinals. Meanwhile the LMC plays its semifinals at 8 PM.

Here’s where you can catch a few of those games on the net, including all four NESCAC quarterfinals.

Women

2 PM EST: NESCAC – #1 Bates vs. #8 Colby

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #3 Wesleyan (Conn.) vs. #6 Trinity (Conn.)

8 PM EST: LMC – #2 Concordia (Wis.) vs. #3 Edgewood

Men

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #1 Amherst vs. #8 Conn College

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #2 Trinity vs. #7 Colby

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #3 Tufts vs. #6 Williams

4 PM EST: NESCAC – #4 Bates vs. #5 Bowdoin

6 PM EST: ODAC – #2 Randolph-Macon vs. #7 Bridgewater (Va.)

8 PM EST: ODAC – #3 Hampden-Sydney vs. #6 Roanoke

10:30 PM EST: SCIAC – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. No. 15 Occidental

Please feel free to share your thoughts on these or other games below.