by Commissioner » Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:00 am
Huge day in college hoops. Not a bad day for Horizon representative Wright State, which is hoping to slide up from a 15 to a 14 seed. Upsets in the last 48 hours have helped, in the America East (would have been behind Vermont, will be ahead of UMBC), Big West (probably behind UC-Davis, probably ahead of Irvine or Fullerton), and Sunbelt (behind Louisiana, ahead of Georgia State or UTArlington). With prior upsets, WSU could sneak up to a #14 seed.
Titan Non-Conference Foes
Buffalo 76, Toledo 66. Buffalo broke a 63-all tie with a 9-0 run late, highlighted by 5 points from Nick Perkins, a guy the Titans recruited hard. The Bulls (26-8) got 26 points from Wes Clark. They've got a surprisingly high RPI of 26 and should get a decent 10 to 12 seed, from which they can do some damage. Toledo (23-11), playing without injured MAC POY Tre'Shaun Fletcher, hopes for an NIT bid.
Other Games
#1 Virginia 71, #12 North Carolina 63. Virginia will enter the tournament as a clear #1 in the country.
#2 Villanova 76, Providence 66 (OT). Providence went to OT for the 3rd night in a row, but this time came up short.
#8 Cincinnati 70, Memphis 60. Memphis led by 13 at the half, but the Bearcats limited the Tigers to just 18 points after the break. So now we will see if Memphis's 21-13 record is good enough for Tubby Smith to keep his job.
#9 Kansas 81, #18 West Virginia 70. Same old, same old. Kansas wins the Big 12.
#21 Houston 77, #11 Wichita State 74. The rubber match between Cincinnati and Wichita State ain't gonna happen, as Houston (26-6) wins behind 33 points from Rob Gray, including two free throws to clinch it in the final seconds.
#13 Tennessee 84, Arkansas 66.
#15 Arizona 75, USC 61. Arizona is PAC 12 tournament champ. Deandre Ayton had 32 points and 18 rebounds for the Wildcats.
#25 Rhode Island 90, St. Joe's 87. Rhody (25-6) escaped after trailing for the first 34 minutes of the game.
San Diego State 82, New Mexico 75. San Diego State (22-10) snags the Mountain West bid. The Aztecs are playing very well, having won 9 straight, by an average of 13 points.
New Mexico State 72, Grand Canyon 58. No surprises in the WAC tournament.
Marshall 67, Western Kentucky 66. Marshall is the surprise winner of CUSA. Down 12 with 3:30 to go, Western Kentucky scored 11 straight points to close to within 1 point with 1 minute left to play. But after getting another stop on Marshall, the Hilltoppers missed two shots to win in the final 24 seconds. This will be Marshall's first NCAA in 31 years.
UMBC 65, Vermont 62. UMBC (24-10) gets its second NCAA bid ever with an upset of Vermont. UMBC trailed for all but a few seconds in this game, and was down by 9 with about 8 minutes to play. They won it on a three pointer by Jarius Lyles with 4 seconds to play. Lyles finished with 27 points. UMBC Coach Ryan Odom is another young (early 40s) guy who should be moving up soon. He has coached UMBC to 44 wins since taking over a year ago before the 2017 season. Before Odom, UMBC had won in single digits for seven straight years. Vermont (27-7, #60 RPI) is presumably relegated to the NIT.
Cal-State Fullerton 71, Cal Irvine 55. Fullerton (20-11) wins the Big West for its 3rd ever NCAA bid.
Montana 82, Eastern Washington 65. Regular season Big Sky champ Montana (26-7) was down 11 at the half, but absolutely dominated the second period to win the conference tournament and an automatic bid.
Stephen F. Austin 59, SE Louisiana 55. SFA (28-6) claims the Southland bid. A 20-2 run gave SE Louisiana a 6 point lead with 5 minutes to play, but the Lumberjacks came back for their 4th bid in 5 years.
North Carolina Central 71, Hampton 63. The Eagles (19-15), who finished 6th in the MEAC this year, get their 3rd NCAA bid in 5 years with an upset of regular seasaon champ Hampton.
Texas Southern 84, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 69. I hate the NIT autobids, and I hate that Pine Bluff (14-21) is going to get one on the basis of a 12-6 SWAC record and winning a 3-way tie-breaker for the #1 seed in the conference tournament. No wait, the NCAA has clarified. No NIT bid for Pine Bluff. Grambling, which is ineligible for postseason play, won the SWAC regular season, and the NCAA won't treat #1 tournament seed as the champ for the NIT bid. Good. I still hate automatic bids to the NIT.
Kentucky 86, Alabama 63. Gonna be close for Alabama (19-15). Joe Lunardi has them in at the moment.
Davidson 82, St. Bonaventure 70. Davidson (20-11) will try to steal a bid tomorrow in the A10 final against Rhode Island. The Bonnies are safe, I think.
Georgia State 73, Georgia Southern 67. Ray McCallum's team reaches the Sunbelt finals tomorrow.
UT-Arlington 71, Louisiana 68. UTA (21-12) advances to the Sunbelt final with an upset of regular season champ Louisiana (27-6) (formerly SW Louisiana, then Louisiana-Lafayette, or maybe SW Louisiana-Lafayette Mercy).
St. Francis (Ind.) 90, Cornerstone 79. In the Elite 8 of the NAIA tournament, #1 seed Cornerstone fell behind by 24 at the break to #2 seed St. Francis, and couldn't come back.
Who's In (Accepted or Automatic bids only):
NCAA
Virginia (ACC): 31-2, RPI #1
Villanova (Big East): 30-4, RPI #2
Kansas (Big 12): 27-7, RPI #5
Michigan (Big 10): 28-7, RPI #11
Arizona (PAC 12): 27-7, RPI #14
Gonzaga (WCC): 30-4, RPI #21
Loyola (MIssouri Valley): 28-5, RPI #22
Buffalo (MAC): 26-8, RPI #26.
New Mexico State (WAC): 28-5, RPI #35
South Dakota State (Summit): 28-6, RPI #37
Murray State (Ohio Valley): 26-5, RPI #47
College of Charleston (CAA): 25-7, RPI #56
San Diego State (Mountain West): 22-10, RPI #60
UNC-Greensboro (Southern): 27-7, RPI #64
Montana (Big Sky): 26-7, RPI #79
Bucknell (Patriot): 25-9, PRI #80
Marshall (CUSA): 23-10, RPI #87
Wright State (Horizon): 25-9, RPI #99
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun): 23-9, RPI #101
Stephen F. Austin (Southland): 28-6, RPI #112
Iona (MAAC: 20-13, RPI #108
UMBC (America East): 24-10, RPI #112
Cal State-Fullerton (Big West): 20-11, RPI # 126
Radford (Big South): 22-12, RPI #129
Texas Southern (SWAC): 15-19, RPI #222
Long Island (Northeast): 18-16, RPI #232
North Carolina Central (MEAC): 19-15, RPI #275
Who's In the NIT:
Middle Tennessee State (CUSA): 24-7, RPI #34
Vermont (America East): 27-7, RPI #61
Louisiana (Sunbelt): 27-6, RPI #65
Rider (MAAC): 22-9, RPI #69
UC-Davis (Big West): 22-10, RPI #102
Wagner (Northeast): 23-9, RPI #109
Northern Kentucky (Horizon): 22-9, RPI #114
UNC-Asheville (Big South): 21-12, RPI #130
SE Louisiana (Southland): 22-11, RPI #156
Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun): 23-11, RPI #172
Hampton (MEAC): 19-15, RPI # 240
CIT
Niagara (MAAC): 19-13, RPI #162
Austin Peay (OVC): 18-14, #164
Drake (MVC): 16-16, RPI #166
Central Michigan (MAC): 19-14, RPI #168
St. Francis (Pa.) (Northeast): 18-12, RPI #178
Fort Wayne (Summit): 18-14, RPI #209
Liberty (Big South): 20-14, RPI #211
North Carolina A&T: (20-14, RPI # 238
Abilene Christian (Southland): 16-15, RPI #260
CBI
Canisius (MAAC): 21-11, RPI #123
Miami (Oh.) (MAC): 16-17, RPI #161
Campbell (Big South): 16-15, RPI #267
Teams reported turning down CIT/CBI:
Old Dominion, 25-7, #78
Illinois State 18-15, #85
South Carolina 16-16, #89
East Tennessee State, 25-9, #93
Wyoming 20-13, #98
SMU, 17-16, #110
Ball State, 19-13, #125
Albany 22-10, #142
Tennessee Tech 19-14, #159
Oakland 19-14, #182
Hawaii, 17-13, #213
Mount St. Mary's, 18-14, #225
Duquesne 16-16, #259
Titan All Americans Calihan Swanson Sparrow Ebben DeBusschere Murray Haywood Long Tyler Duerod Phillips Green McCallum