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Non-Power Conference Tournaments

CDNCBBFan

CDNCBBFan

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Mar 13, 2018
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Not sure how much interest there will be in this, but wanted to start a thread to track and discuss the lesser known conference tournaments. If what I've said thus far doesn't make sense to many of you, you've probably seen these conferences referred to as Junior, Junior, Junior Varsity basketball, basketball played by the school of the blind, and conferences that are somehow actually worse than the Pac-12.

The Atlantic Sun tournament kicks off today with its quarterfinals. The Atlantic Sun is ranked 21st based on RPI, but has two teams that could be relevant come tourney time.

Lipscomb went 23-6 and 14-2 in conference play (#49 KP, #46 NET). They are currently a #12 seed at Bracket Matrix. Their notable results against power competition were:

73-64 WIN at TCU
72-68 loss at Louisville
84-67 loss at Clemson

Liberty went 25-6 and 14-2 in conference play (#65 KP, #62 NET). Their notable results against power competition were:

79-70 loss at Vanderbilt
88-78 loss at Georgetown
84-75 loss vs Alabama (neutral location)
73-58 WIN at UCLA

The tournament format consists of quarterfinals tonight, semifinals on Thursday, and the finals on Sunday. Here is the full field:

#1 Lipscomb 14-2 (#49 KP, #46 NET)
#2 Liberty 14-2 (#65 KP, #62 NET)
#3 North Florida 9-7 (#177 KP, #194 NET)
#4 Florida Gulf Coast (DUNK CITY) 9-7 (#214 KP, #223 NET)
#5 NJIT 8-8 (#176 KP, #180 NET)
#6 North Alabama 7-9 (#287 KP, #309 NET)
#7 Jacksonville 5-11 (#257 KP, #289 NET)
#8 Kennesaw State 3-13 (#341 KP, #341 NET)
 
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CDNCBBFan said:
Not sure how much interest there will be in this, but wanted to start a thread to track and discuss the lesser known conference tournaments. If what I've said thus far doesn't make sense to many of you, you've probably seen these conferences referred to as Junior, Junior, Junior Varsity basketball, basketball played by the school of the blind, and conferences that are somehow actually worse than the Pac-12.

The Atlantic Sun tournament kicks off today with its quarterfinals. The Atlantic Sun is ranked 21st based on RPI, but has two teams that could be relevant come tourney time.

Lipscomb went 23-6 and 14-2 in conference play (#49 KP, #46 NET). They are currently a #12 seed at Bracket Matrix. Their notable results against power competition were:

73-64 WIN at TCU
72-68 loss at Louisville
84-67 loss at Clemson

Liberty went 25-6 and 14-2 in conference play (#65 KP, #62 NET). Their notable results against power competition were:

79-70 loss at Vanderbilt
88-78 loss at Georgetown
84-75 loss vs Alabama (neutral location)
73-58 WIN at UCLA

The tournament format consists of quarterfinals tonight, semifinals on Thursday, and the finals on Sunday. Here is the full field:

#1 Lipscomb 14-2 (#49 KP, #46 NET)
#2 Liberty 14-2 (#65 KP, #62 NET)
#3 North Florida 9-7 (#177 KP, #194 NET)
#4 Florida Gulf Coast (DUNK CITY) 9-7 (#214 KP, #223 NET)
#5 NJIT 8-8 (#176 KP, #180 NET)
#6 North Alabama 7-9 (#287 KP, #309 NET)
#7 Jacksonville 5-11 (#257 KP, #289 NET)
#8 Kennesaw State 3-13 (#341 KP, #341 NET)
Click to expand...

Wow, they spread it out huh. Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Hotels must be cheap in that area!
 
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CDNCBBFan said:
The games are at the campus of the higher seeded team. So it makes sense to spread it out to allow for travel etc.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, thought it was at one location like most Conference tournaments. That makes sense!
 
I'm mostly interested in the WCC Tournament, since that's the one I'll be watching in person. If my kids didn't have birthdays this upcoming weekend, I'd probably watch the Southern Conference in person as well.

4 notable teams in the SoCon (using the NCAA Net Rankings):
#14 Wofford, 1 seed. 26-4, 18-0
#44 Furman, 3 seed. 24-6, 13-5
#58 UNC Greensboro, 2 seed. 26-5, 15-3
#66 East Tennessee St, 4 seed. 23-8, 13-5

Contrast this to the Pac-12 top 4 teams (net rankings):
#32 Washington. 23-6, 14-2
#64 Oregon. 17-12, 8-8
#68 Arizona State. 20-9, 11-6
#75 Colorado. 17-11, 8-8

Yep, that's right. The Southern Conference is more top-heavy than the Pac-12.
 
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WCC, SoCon and OVC are all tournaments I'm very interested in.

Haven't seen as much of the SoCon as I was hoping to this year, so will try to make up for some of that during the conference tournament.

Jealous that you will be at the WCC in person, DD. I'm really hoping someone can give Gonzaga a game, but it's looking less likely based on how they've been playing recently. Hoping that seeds hold and that we get to see a good game between Saint Mary's and BYU in one semi.

In the OVC I love watching Belmont play. Morant is very exciting obviously, but I'd prefer to see Belmont win the tournament and have a chance in a 5 vs 12 game. I haven't seen much of Jacksonville State, but with them and Austin Peay the semis and finals should be good in the OVC (assuming seeding holds).

I'm also very interested to see the MWC. The two Nevada-Fresno State games this year were both hotly contested. Now with the bad blood following the Utah State upset of Nevada, there could be some serious fireworks in this tournament.
 
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I think Lipscomb and Liberty are both good squads. Either of them could win a game or two in the NCAAT.

But imagine if a team like Clemson’s best win was UCLA. Would they get talked about at all? I mean losing to Vandy and Georgetown...those are pretty bad losses. Just not sure I could make a strong argument for either to be included as an at large bid.
 
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CDNCBBFan said:
WCC, SoCon and OVC are all tournaments I'm very interested in.

Haven't seen as much of the SoCon as I was hoping to this year, so will try to make up for some of that during the conference tournament.

Jealous that you will be at the WCC in person, DD. I'm really hoping someone can give Gonzaga a game, but it's looking less likely based on how they've been playing recently. Hoping that seeds hold and that we get to see a good game between Saint Mary's and BYU in one semi.

In the OVC I love watching Belmont play. Morant is very exciting obviously, but I'd prefer to see Belmont win the tournament and have a chance in a 5 vs 12 game. I haven't seen much of Jacksonville State, but with them and Austin Peay the semis and finals should be good in the OVC (assuming seeding holds).

I'm also very interested to see the MWC. The two Nevada-Fresno State games this year were both hotly contested. Now with the bad blood following the Utah State upset of Nevada, there could be some serious fireworks in this tournament.
Click to expand...

Definitely hoping to see the top 4 seeds in the WCC. I expect Gonzaga to win handily, but you never know. San Francisco did give them a game that went down to the wire - but that was back in January.

I'm also very, very interested in the MWC. Definitely some bad blood between Nevada and Utah State. Wouldn't be surprising to see a flagrant or two... And I wouldn't mind seeing Deshon Taylor play another game or two.
 
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GE Nole said:
I think Lipscomb and Liberty are both good squads. Either of them could win a game or two in the NCAAT.

But imagine if a team like Clemson’s best win was UCLA. Would they get talked about at all? I mean losing to Vandy and Georgetown...those are pretty bad losses. Just not sure I could make a strong argument for either to be included as an at large bid.
Click to expand...

Georgetown is slowly moving up, they're now 8-8 in the Big East and #72 in the Net Rankings. Also, I would note that Liberty lost to Vandy when Darius Garland was still playing. I certainly wouldn't expect Liberty to get an at-large bid, but they are a noteworthy team that could cause some troubles for a 4 or 5 seed.
 
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I think that's an accurate analysis of Lipscomb and Liberty. The loser won't be getting an at-large, but either could get a win or two in the tournament.

I watched that USF-Gonzaga game as well. Was very close until the last couple of minutes. Would be great to see another team play Gonzaga that close.

I really like Fresno State in general. They're really tough and physical. Huggins is a good player too. In the games I've seen Bittner hasn't played very well, but I like the edge he plays with.
 
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One seed upset last night in Atlantic Sun play - #5 NJIT over #4 Florida Gulf Coast, but that wasn't an upset from a KP or NET perspective. Bracket now looks like this:

#1 Lipscomb vs #5 NJIT
#2 Liberty vs #3 North Florida

Those games go on Thursday. Still a good chance we see a Lipscomb-Liberty play-in game for the NCAA tournament, which would be fantastic.

Kicking off today is the Big South (#27 RPI), Horizon (#22 RPI), and Patriot (#19 RPI).

Big South has 11 teams involved in the tournament, so the top 5 get byes. into the quarterfinals. Here is the seeding:

#1 Campbell 12-4 (#182 KP, #222 NET)
#2 Radford 12-4 (#114 KP, #132 NET)
#3 Winthrop 10-6 (#168 KP, #178 NET)
#4 Gardner-Webb 10-6 (#194 KP, #195 NET)
#5 High Point 9-7 (#224 KP, #242 NET)
#6 Charleston Southern 9-7 (#170 KP, #204 NET)
#7 Presbyterian 9-7 (#193 KP, #214 NET)
#8 Hampton 9-7 (#186 KP, #202 NET)
#9 Longwood 5-11 (#284 KP, #292 NET)
#10 UNC-Asheville 2-14 (#346 KP, #350 NET)
#11 SC Upstate 1-15 (#336 KP, #342 NET)

Despite being the #2 seed, Radford is the highest ranked KP & NET team. Interestingly, #1 seed Campbell is 4th in KP and 7th in NET.

The Horizon tournament involves 8 teams and the quarterfinals kick off tonight:

#1 Wright State 13-5 (#125 KP, #144 NET)
#2 Northern Kentucky 13-5 (#107 KP, #121 NET)
#3 Oakland 11-7 (#190 KP, #216 NET)
#4 Green Bay 10-8 (#206 KP, #221 NET)
#5 Illinois-Chicago 10-8 (#202 KP, #217 NET)
#6 Youngstown State 8-10 (#265 KP, #267 NET)
#7 Detroit 8-10 (#241 KP, #235 NET)
#8 IUPUI 8-10 (#192 KP, #200 NET)

Similar to the Atlantic Sun, this is shaping up for a good championship game (hopefully). I watched the Wright State-Northern Kentucky game at Wright State in mid-February and it was very entertaining basketball. If these two teams meet in the finals I'd expect more of the same.

Hoping to get to the Patriot league later but may not have time.
 
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Not surprising to see Radford that high as they're one of the few mid-majors with multiple wins over P6 schools (Texas, Notre Dame). But, I think I gotta root for Campbell on this one. I've seen a lot of the mid-major superstars play this year like Mike Daum, Ja Morant, Dylan Windler, Fletcher Magee, Garrison Matthews, and Sam Merrill. But I've yet to see Chris Clemons play. Would love to see him in the Big South Finals and NCAA Tourney.
 
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CDNCBBFan said:
WCC, SoCon and OVC are all tournaments I'm very interested in.

Haven't seen as much of the SoCon as I was hoping to this year, so will try to make up for some of that during the conference tournament.

Jealous that you will be at the WCC in person, DD. I'm really hoping someone can give Gonzaga a game, but it's looking less likely based on how they've been playing recently. Hoping that seeds hold and that we get to see a good game between Saint Mary's and BYU in one semi.

In the OVC I love watching Belmont play. Morant is very exciting obviously, but I'd prefer to see Belmont win the tournament and have a chance in a 5 vs 12 game. I haven't seen much of Jacksonville State, but with them and Austin Peay the semis and finals should be good in the OVC (assuming seeding holds).

I'm also very interested to see the MWC. The two Nevada-Fresno State games this year were both hotly contested. Now with the bad blood following the Utah State upset of Nevada, there could be some serious fireworks in this tournament.
Click to expand...
Jacksonville St is legit and has a lot of P5 transfers including one of Tennessee's former players SG Detrick Mostella who can shoot real well.

They swept Belmont this year.
 
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Got busy yesterday and didn't have time to come back to the thread. Thanks for all the comments fellas.

Since I didn't get to the Patriot league yesterday I'll do it now. 10 team tournament where the top 6 get byes into the quarterfinals. Here is the seeding:

#1 Colgate 13-5 (#128 KP, #138 NET)
#2 Bucknell 13-5 (#150 KP, #158 NET)
#3 Lehigh 12-6 (#163 KP, #157 NET)
#4 American 9-9 (#192 KP, #175 NET)
#5 Navy 8-10 (#291 KP, #287 NET)
#6 Army 8-10 (#244 KP, #239 NET)
#7 Lafayette 7-11 (#294 KP, #279 NET)
#8 Boston U. 7-11 (#231 KP, #226 NET)
#9 Loyola-MD 7-11 (#263 KP, #275 NET)
#10 Holy Cross 6-12 (#242 KP, #236 NET)

In the regular season three teams separated themselves in terms of win-loss record, and KP and NET agree that these are the top three teams in the league. KP and NET suggest that American could be closer to these three than their record would indicate. I've hardly seen any Patriot basketball this year, but the semis and finals could be interesting.

The tournament kicked off last night with #8 Boston U. beating #9 Loyola-MD, and in a seeding upset (but not a metrics upset) #10 Holy Cross knocked off #7 Lafayette. Quarterfinals are set to go on Thursday.

In the Big South all seeding held in the opening round, with #8 Hampton beating #9 Longwood, #6 Charleston Southern beating #11 SC Upstate, and #7 Presbyterian pounding #10 UNC-Asheville. Like the Patriot, quarterfinals are set to go on Thursday.

Over in the Horizon two of the four quarterfinals were played last night. #1 Wright State beat #8 IUPUI, and #4 Green Bay got by #5 UIC. The other two quarterfinals will be played tonight.

Back later to set the fields for the Northeast and Ohio Valley.
 
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Northeast (#28 RPI) and OVC (#20 RPI) kick off today. OVC has some good teams at the top, really looking forward to the later rounds of that tournament.

Here's the NEC seeding (8 teams, no byes):

#1 St. Francis-PA 12-6 (#248 KP, #250 NET)
#2 Fairleigh Dickinson 12-6 (#228 KP, #219 NET)
#3 Sacred Heart 11-7 (#232 KP, #232 NET)
#4 Robert Morris 11-7 (#262 KP, #261 NET)
#5 St. Francis-NY 9-9 (#274 KP, #255 NET)
#6 LIU-Brooklyn 9-9 (#260 KP, #252 NET)
#7 Wagner 8-10 (#303 KP, #294 NET)
#8 Bryant 7-11 (#329 KP, #319 NET)

This is one of the tournaments that I have little to no interest in. I might watch the final, but won't lose sleep over it if I miss it. BracketMatrix doesn't have a single entry that has the winner of this conference as anything but a #16 seed.

On the other hand, I'm very interested in the OVC. It has a unique structure for an 8-team field, The top 2 seeds get double byes and the #3 and #4 seeds get single byes. Considering the tournament is played on 4 consecutive days this could certainly become a factor. Here is the seeding for the OVC:

#1 Belmont 16-2 (#51 KP, #45 NET)
#2 Murray State 16-2 (#54 KP, #50 NET)
#3 Jacksonville State 15-3 (#116 KP, #134 NET)
#4 Austin Peay 13-5 (#135 KP, #133 NET)
#5 Morehead State 8-10 (#251 KP, #260 NET)
#6 Eastern Illinois 7-11 (#307 KP, #309 NET)
#7 UT-Martin 6-12 (#299 KP, #315 NET)
#8 SIU-Edwardsville 6-12 (#333 KP, #329 NET)

NashvilleVol pointed out that Belmont was 0-2 in conference against Jacksonville State and 16-0 against everyone else. Pretty interesting stat, although those two teams wouldn't meet until the finals. I've watched Belmont, Murray State, and Austin Peay this year, but not Jacksonville State. BracketMatrix currently has Belmont as a #12 seed. If the winner is them or Murray State I'll certainly have that first round game circled. If I had to choose I'd say I'm cheering for Belmont in this tournament, I really enjoy watching them play. But most importantly I'm just cheering for some good basketball from an underrated conference. Or maybe I should say underrated top half.....the bottom half is pretty terrible.
 
Seeding held last night in the other two Horizon quarters. #2 Northern Kentucky was down at half but rallied to beat #7 Detroit. #3 Oakland won a close one against #6 Youngstown State.

Semis are on Monday and will have:

#1 Wright State vs #4 Green Bay
#2 Northern Kentucky vs #3 Oakland

In the NEC the lone seeding upset was #6 LIU-Brooklyn over #3 Sacred Heart. #1 St. Francis-PA had a much tougher test than expected, only winning by 4.

Semis are on Saturday:

#1 St. Francis-PA vs #4 Bobby Morris
#2 Fairleigh Dickinson vs #6 LIU-Brooklyn

OVC also kicked off last night with #5 Morehead State beating #8 SIU-Edwardsville and #7 UT-Martin beating #6 Eastern Illinois. That sets up the second round for tonight:

#4 Austin Peay vs #5 Morehead State
#3 Jacksonville State vs #7 UT-Martin

#1 Belmont and #2 Murray State await in the semis.

Quarters in the Big South tipped off this afternoon. #2 Radford beat #7 Presbyterian to advance to the semis.

Getting started today are the MAAC (#29 RPI), MVC (#14 RPI), and WCC (#8 RPI.....DD, are you there for the opening round?).

MAAC is not one that interests me much, but here is the seeding:

#1 Iona 12-6 (#217 KP, #213 NET)
#2 Canisius 11-7 (#273 KP, #271 NET)
#3 Quinnipiac 11-7 (#226 KP, #214 NET)
#4 Rider 11-7 (#211 KP, #195 NET)
#5 Siena 11-7 (#255 KP, #250 NET)
#6 Monmouth 10-8 (#295 KP, #284 NET)
#7 Manhattan 8-10 (#322 KP, #318 NET)
#8 Marist 7-11 (#272 KP, #278 NET)
#9 St. Peter's 6-12 (#316 KP, #319 NET)
#10 Fairfield 6-12 (#291 KP, #293 NET)
#11 Niagara 6-12 (#314 KP, #303 NET)

Pretty crazy parity there....is it still called parity if it's because everyone is terrible? 5 teams within one game of first. The #8 seed having a better KP ranking than the #2 seed. Seems like pretty much anyone could win it (if anyone cares). The top 5 seeds get a bye into the quarters.

MVC is a little more interesting. It's not the conference it once was, but there are still some okay teams. The top 6 seeds get a bye into the quarters:

#1 Loyola-Chicago 12-6 (#126 KP, #128 NET)
#2 Drake 12-6 (#133 KP, #131 NET)
#3 Southern Illinois 10-8 (#144 KP, #143 NET)
#4 Missouri State 10-8 (#175 KP, #163 NET)
#5 Bradley 9-9 (#177 KP, #171 NET)
#6 Northern Iowa 9-9 (#184 KP, #169 NET)
#7 Illinois State 9-9 (#200 KP, #193 NET)
#8 Indiana State 7-11 (#196 KP, #189 NET)
#9 Valparaiso 7-11 (#232 KP, #199 NET)
#10 Evansville 5-13 (#224 KP, #207 NET)

If a bunch of those names don't bring back March Madness nostalgia you're not a true college basketball fan.

Back a bit later with the WCC field and to reset the brackets for the Patriot and Atlantic Sun.
 
Been pretty busy and not going to be around much until tomorrow. PVRing the interesting games today. Both ASun and OVC gave us the finals matchups that most were hoping for. The Murray State-Jacksonville State semi frustrated me. Found myself cheering for JSU, they really outworked MSU in the second half and I felt like Morant kept getting bailed out by the refs. Anyway, should be an entertaining final nonetheless.

Also have the Big South final tomorrow - #2 Radford vs #4 Gardner-Webb. Campbell was upset in the semis so we won't get to see what Clemons could have pulled off in the finals or the NCAA tourney.

MVC final also scheduled for tomorrow. Hoping we get to see Loyola-Chicago vs. Drake. If seeding holds the SoCon semis should also be fantastic tomorrow. As DD pointed out, the top 4 in that conference are all very good teams....better than the top 4 in the Pac-12 based on advanced metrics.

I'll probably be back to check in again later on tomorrow.
 
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Yay! Ja Morant is back in the tournament! Whoever gets Murray State in the 1st Round will have their hands full.

Now, WCC... USF lost to the 8-seed Pepperdine, who has now won 3 in a row. They get #1 Gonzaga tomorrow lol. On your 4th consecutive game you get #1 team in the country, which has yet to play a game in the tournament... Seriously hope San Diego doesn't win tonight. Gonzaga/Pepperdine and Saint Mary's/San Diego isn't quite the semifinal I would hope for.
 
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dukedevilz said:
Yay! Ja Morant is back in the tournament! Whoever gets Murray State in the 1st Round will have their hands full.

Now, WCC... USF lost to the 8-seed Pepperdine, who has now won 3 in a row. They get #1 Gonzaga tomorrow lol. On your 4th consecutive game you get #1 team in the country, which has yet to play a game in the tournament... Seriously hope San Diego doesn't win tonight. Gonzaga/Pepperdine and Saint Mary's/San Diego isn't quite the semifinal I would hope for.
Click to expand...
NCAA selection committee loves interesting matchups and I really wouldn't be surprised if UK plays them early. We've drew a few instate opponents early in the past.
 
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lurkeraspect84 said:
NCAA selection committee loves interesting matchups and I really wouldn't be surprised if UK plays them early. We've drew a few instate opponents early in the past.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I see Murray State as a potential 12 seed, where the Terps get "lucky" to face them...

Oh and both MVC semis had great upsets today- should be an interesting game for Bradley vs NIU...
 
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Congrats to Liberty on winning the Atlantic Sun.

Liberty's coach, Ritchie McKay, is a former UVA assistant.

Otherwise I wouldn't give a shit.
 
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Such a great time of year!

Auto bids so far (with their seed from BracketMatrix):

OVC - Murray State #12
Atlantic Sun - Liberty #12
MVC - Bradley #15
Big South - Gardner-Webb #16

Really hoping Belmont can snare an at-large bid still. Would love to see both them and Murray State with upset opportunities in the first round. There is another thread specifically about whether the field needs to be cut back. I'm of the opinion that it's the right size, but that the right teams don't get in. This may go against the spirit of the tournament, but I don't even really care if Indiana, Alabama, or Georgetown are better than a team like Belmont. The tournament is better when 26-5 mid-majors are given at-large bids, as opposed to 17-15 power conference teams that went 7-11 in conference play. I have my fingers crossed that we are moving into a new era in which more mid-majors are given at-large bids but we'll have our first idea as to whether that's the case on Sunday.

Would also love to see Lipscomb get in, but unfortunately I think they don't have a strong enough case. Kudos to the refs in the ASun Final for ignoring James' theatrics (is it a pre-requisite that you have to flop like a fish at every opportunity if that's your last name?). What an insane dive. In a perfect world he would have been given a T for making a mockery of the game, but at least they didn't give Marberry a foul of any kind. Other than that, very entertaining game. I thought both teams played at a really high level in the second half. It's a shame that one of them is probably not going to make the tournament.

Speaking of a controversial calls, how about the MVC final? I guess maybe I'm just turning into an old man that talks about how basketball used to be played by real men back in the day - but I didn't think this was worthy of a flagrant/dead ball foul either (the sound was low so I'm unclear which they actually called). Either way, it turned into a 6 point possession which changed the score from 50-49 UNI to 55-50 Bradley. At such a critical point in the game you should need to pretty much kill someone to force a call with that kind of impact IMO. Quite a comeback from Bradley, though. They were completely out of sync, and then suddenly the tide turned and they were scoring every time down. Lundy really kickstarted it for them. Think he had 7 or 9 straight to start the run. Despite the good win, that's not the MVC we are used to. I believe they said at least one MVC team has won a tournament game for 7 straight years. They will not be making it 8.

The other trend of the day was home teams losing in title games. Radford made it 2 for 2 in their loss to Gardner-Webb. Been a while since I've seen someone go 14 of 17 for 32 points. Very impressive performance by Laster.

I hadn't seen Gardner-Webb or Bradley this year. Obviously a tiny sample size (one game), but am I wrong to think that if they end up on the same seed line that Gardner-Webb is the more dangerous team? <Insert joke here about how whichever of them plays Virginia is the more dangerous team>

What's on tap today?

CAA Semis
#1 Hofstra vs #5 Delaware
#2 Northeastern vs #3 Charleston

Horizon Semis
#1 Wright State vs #4 Green Bay
#2 Northern Kentucky vs #3 Oakland

WCC Semis
#1 Gonzaga vs #8 Pepperdine
#2 Saint Mary's vs #7 San Diego

SoCon Final
#1 Wofford vs #2 UNC-Greensboro

MAAC Final
#1 Iona vs #6 Monmouth

DD - the semifinal matchups in the WCC are unfortunate, but I'm having trouble feeling too bad for you considering you're in Vegas for the week :)

Edit: Sorry to see South Dakota State won't be in the tournament this year. Congrats to Mike Daum on a spectacular career.
 
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In UNCG beats Wofford, which is a pretty game going on, somebody is not going to be happy. Wofford already has the at-large. UNCG needs to win this game and they're in also. One of the last 4 in gets blasted out?
 
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Wofford survives a challenge from UNC-Greensboro and Iona crushes Monmouth to add to the list of auto bids. Agree with the posters above that say both Wofford and UNCG should be in the tourney. I was actually cheering for UNCG because Wofford would then have received an at-large bid.

Not sure if anyone saw it, but I really enjoyed the split screen of McGill from Iona as he patrolled the sideline with four fouls, living and dying with every play even though they were up 20. It was about the only thing that could have made that second half interesting.

Didn't see the Hofstra second half and OT, but was really surprised they had such a tough fight against Delaware.

Auto bids currently, with the current seed projection from BracketMatrix:

OVC - Murray State #12
Atlantic Sun - Liberty #13
MVC - Bradley #15
Big South - Gardner-Webb #16
SoCon - Wofford #7
MAAC - Iona #16

Five finals set for tonight. Four of the five contain the top two seeds, should make for some competitive games (hopefully):

CAA: #1 Hofstra vs #2 Northeastern
NEC: #1 St. Francis-PA vs #2 Fairleigh Dickinson
Horizon: #1 Wright State vs #2 Northern Kentucky
WCC: #1 Gonzaga vs #2 Saint Mary's
Summit: #2 Nebraska-Omaha vs #4 North Dakota State
 
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Delaware kept on making big shot after big shot. It had an upset feel to it but Hofstra kept their cool and never were down more than 2 in the second half (I think)

Iona looked pretty impressive compared with what they've been doing lately but it's hard to tell. I liked the split screen too.

Also of note, Northern Kentucky hit a go ahead three with less than a few seconds left, huge moment if they can win tonight. I think them and Wright State can give someone a game in the tournament (projected 14 seed right now)
 
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Yea, I thought Iona looked good too. But as you say, it's tough to tell and one game can be deceiving. Playing against a poor opponent and shooting the ball well to start the second half. If some of those shots don't go down it might be a close game throughout and then we're drawing different conclusions.

Very glad to see that both Wright State and Northern Kentucky made it through. That's one finals matchup that I had circled as one I wanted to see. Agree with you that either of them could give a #3 seed trouble (depending on matchups).
 
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