Five more bids locked in last night. Here's the current list:
SoCon - Wofford #7
OVC - Murray State #12
WCC - Saint Mary's #12
Atlantic Sun - Liberty #13
Horizon - Northern Kentucky #14
CAA - Northeastern #14
MVC - Bradley #15
Big South - Gardner-Webb #15
MAAC - Iona #16
NEC - Fairleigh Dickinson #16
Summit - North Dakota State #16
Was hoping a few of the games would be a little more competitive. Northern Kentucky shot the lights out and Wright State was never able to make it much of a game.
I was impressed by Northeastern's fortitude. They must have been having some serious flashbacks after blowing a 17 point lead in the finals last year. Then up 16 at halftime this year and Hofstra comes back to tie the game. But they stayed calm and pulled it out, Pusica hit some absolutely massive shots.
Similar storyline in the North Dakota State game. They had a big lead, Omaha came back in the second half to tie it. Then NDSU took control back to win somewhat comfortably.
Big story of the night is Saint Mary's stealing a bid. Bubble teams cannot be happy about that. They played a fantastic game. Slowed the tempo, kept Gonzaga out of transition. Gonzaga has a great front court, but Hunter absolutely ate their lunches last night. He had as many rebounds as Hachimura and Clarke combined. Hachimura needs more than 6 field goal attempts. It also doesn't help when you go 2 of 17 from 3. Games like this happen though. I think most people underestimate how difficult it is to go undefeated in conference play, even if you don't play in a power conference. And it's not a terrible conference, Saint Mary's is 29th in KP and 34th in NET.