Tip-Off Marathon Update/ In Season Tournament Preview

After nearly 31 hours of nonstop basketball, I completed my third Tip-Off Marathon in a row. Without a doubt nothing was better than the finale between Michigan State and Kansas as my Spartans emerged victorious behind a triple double by Denzel Valentine and clutch shooting from freshman Matt McQuaid. With that being said here are in my opinion the top 5 games of this year's marathon and a couple notes for the games you all probably slept/worked through:
1- Michigan State over Kansas (Great game and Denzel had a triple double, MSU came back down 13 in the first half)

2- Nevada over Hawaii (Two coast to coast finishes in 10 seconds and a 41 point performance by Nevada's Marqueze Coleman; he made everything in last 10 minutes but the last half court shot)

3- Valpo over Rhode Island (After 38 combined 1H points, scoring picked up but RI missed 2 game tying threes at the buzzer after clawing back)

4-George Washington over Virginia (The Colonials upset UVA, and this is why I love the Marathon, you get to see college hoops environments that are not usually nationally televised full of energy)

5-Utah over SDSU (This game was back and forth the whole way and Utah emerged late)

So to recap the selections of my panel of experts, here is the final standings (in order of tiebreakers):
Sam Tuori 12-4
Caleb Sleeman 10-6
Nick Tuori 8-8
Zach Tuori 8-8
Eric Tuori 7-9

Congrats to Sam Tuori for winning the Tip-Off Marathon pick challenge. I will say that myself and Eric Tuori were a product of bad luck as we both lost 5 of the 6 games decided by a possession or less, but that is the craziness of the Marathon.

So for Sam's reward for winning the Marathon, he decided that we should pick the winner's of all of the in-season tournaments as they start November 19 and last through November 29 and then there is also the Diamond Head Classic over Christmas.

For complete brackets I recommend you visit this link here.

So without further ado, here is Sam and I's picks for the finalists and champions of each tournament

Tournament	Date		Nick		Sambo
Puerto Rico	Nov 19-22		Utah over Butler		Utah over Butler
Charleston	Nov 19-22		Virginia over GMason		Virginia over OleMiss
2K Classic	Nov 13-22		Duke over Wisconsin		Duke over GTOWN
Paradise Jam	Nov 20-23		Ohio over FloridaSt		FloridaSt over Tulsa
HOF TipOff(N)	Nov 21-22		Purdue over Florida		Purdue over St Joes
Gulf Coast SC	Nov 23-25		MurraySt over CMU		CentralMI over MurraySt
Maui	Nov 23-25		Kansas over Indiana		Kansas over Indiana
Legends	Nov 23-24		LSU over NCState		LSU over NCState
Main Event(H)	Nov23-25		UMASS over Creighton		Clemson over Creighton
CBE HOF Classic	Nov23-24		UNC over Missouri		UNC over KState
Cancun (Riv)	Nov 24-25		Maryland over RIsland		Maryland over RIsland
Battle4Atlantis	Nov 25-27		Gonzaga over Michigan		Gonzaga over Michigan
Great Alaska	Nov 25-28		Toledo over Drexel		Toledo over Drexel
Advocare Invtl	Nov 26-29		Wichita over NotreDame		Wichita over Dayton
Wooden Legacy	Nov 26-29		MichiganSt over Arizona		MichiganSt over Arizona
NIT Tipoff	Nov 26-27		Villanova over GATech		Villanova over Arkansas
Las Vegas Invtl	Nov 26-27		California over WestVA		California over WestVA
Emerald Coast H	Nov 27-28		Iowa State over UAB		IowaState over UAB
Corpus Christi H	Nov 27-28		S.Illinois over Portland		UTEP over Portland
Barclays Center	Nov 27-28		Cincinnati over Tennessee		Washington ovr Cincinnati
Global Sports	Nov 21-22		G. Canyon over Wyoming		Houston over Marshall
Las Vegas Classic	Nov 22-23		SMU over Colorado		SMU over Colorado
Diamond Head	Dec 22-25		BYU over Oklahoma		Oklahoma over BYU