Mid Major (and Lower) Conference Tournaments.

[triaddukefan]

The little guys need some love too.

The Big South has had some exciting games this week. The last ten seconds of the opening round Radford/Presbyterian game was INSANE. A buzzer beater by the HIghlanders sent My Blue Hose home in tears. In yesterday's semis.... Top Seed Garner Webb came from behind to force OT... and ultimately pulled away from Radford to get the victory. In the other semi... the last ever conference battle between the Baptists and the Methodists, My Panthers of High Point sent the Camels of Campbell to one last loss before the Camels gallop their way to the Colonial.

In today's final.... High Point led 49-48 at the start of the 4th, but the Running Bulldogs went on a 13-0 run to stun the Panthers and won 74-61. Garner Webb's first trip to the tourney since 2011. They are on a 21 game winning streak entering the NCAA's... as they were the first Big South squad men or women's to finish the regular season undefeated.


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[nwhoopfan]

I think St. Louis was the first team to punch their ticket, out of the A-10. 17-17 record on the year.

Chattanooga beat Wofford to claim the SoCon crown.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Albany and Vermont will meet for the America East title.

 

[triaddukefan]

While at the ACC game today, I was also watching the end of the A-10 championship game today, and it was amazing. St Louis apparently had the game won in regulation, but UMASS hit a 3 to tie the game at the buzzer. SLU prevailed in overtime to win their first title in school history.

 

[triaddukefan]

Love to see stuff like this. @donalddoowop The coach for SLU led Longwood to its first ever NCAA appearance last season. Only the 2nd coach to lead two different schools to tournaments in back to back seasons. Lisa Bluder is the other.


I forgot to mention, SLU knocked off the #2 seed Rhode Island yesterday. Not sure of the A-10 gets two bids this year or not. Both URI and UMASS had outstanding records.

 

[triaddukefan]

I think St. Louis was the first team to punch their ticket, out of the A-10. 17-17 record on the year.

Chattanooga beat Wofford to claim the SoCon crown.

I think i heard that Tenn Tech won the OVC yesterday.

Though I was pulling for Wofford to claim its first ever SoCon title...... it is exciting to watch celebrations like this. UT-C's head coach is Shawn Poppie. This is his first season as head coach, he came over from being an assistant at VPI.

 

[GamecockFam]

I think St. Louis was the first team to punch their ticket, out of the A-10. 17-17 record on the year.

Chattanooga beat Wofford to claim the SoCon crown.

I've been wondering if this means the A10 will get two teams in the tourney. Will UMass have a chance of making it without the automatic bid? I bet tournament results like this have the bubble teams sweating profusely.

 

[donalddoowop]

Love to see stuff like this. @donalddoowop The coach for SLU led Longwood to its first ever NCAA appearance last season. Only the 2nd coach to lead two different schools to tournaments in back to back seasons. Lisa Bluder is the other.


I forgot to mention, SLU knocked off the #2 seed Rhode Island yesterday. Not sure of the A-10 gets two bids this year or not. Both URI and UMASS had outstanding records.

I was going to mention this to you but, I forgot to post it. Was going to tell @Plebe also but have not seen anything from plebe recently. Yesterday's win was a shocker, but todays was even more shocking. I did not think they had a chance to win any games in the Conference Tourney.

 

[triaddukefan]

I was going to mention this to you but, I forgot to post it. Was going to tell @Plebe also but have not seen anything from plebe recently. Yesterday's win was a shocker, but todays was even more shocking. I did not think they had a chance to win any games in the Conference Tourney.

When she was hired, I thought it was an odd fit considering Tillet was VA based with no ties to the Midwest. I keep an eye on for former Big South coaches when they are hired at a higher level school. I know she is glad that she brought 4 of her Longwood players to St Louis to help the rebuilding effort.

 

[UcMiami]

NET is probably a good indicator of likely at large bids for mid majors and UMass is at 56 on Nolan site, URI is at 71 and neither has a top 50 NET win. Figure 32 auto bids and probably 10 of those are in the top 50 NET rankings. So most if not all of the 36 remaining bids would come from NET top 50.

The Ivy with Columbia currently at 46 and Princeton at 41 may well get two bids for the first time I can remember.

 

[donalddoowop]

When she was hired, I thought it was an odd fit considering Tillet was VA based with no ties to the Midwest. I keep an eye on for former Big South coaches when they are hired at a higher level school. I know she is glad that she brought 4 of her Longwood players to St Louis to help the rebuilding effort.

I did not follow the team this season like I usually do because they have been so disappointing. Did not know she brought four players with her. The women's team does not get much publicity here, it all goes to the men's team. However, our local newspaper, the Post Dispatch, has a story on its front page this morning. If someone had said at the beginning of the season Saint Louis would be in the National Tournament, no one would have even thought it would be the women's team.

 

[maple]

I am pulling for SDSU to win the Summit. They play in the semis today against Oral Roberts.

I have a friend who went to SDSU and she turned me into a casual Jackrabbits fan. I have seen them play twice in March at the Dome in Syracuse and I like their spirit.

They are sort of the equivalent to UConn in their conference. Consistently good. They do have a tendency to live and die by the 3 most years. If they could find a way to bring in just a little more talent they could be a bottom 25 team pretty often IMO. They are well coached.

I’m also pulling for CCSU tonight in their quarterfinals game. My mom is an alumni.

Lastly, U of Albany plays in their conference final on Friday (!) and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them. I’ve had a soft spot for them since they almost upset Duke in the Big Dance some years ago. I just like the cut of their jib.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

NET is probably a good indicator of likely at large bids for mid majors and UMass is at 56 on Nolan site, URI is at 71 and neither has a top 50 NET win. Figure 32 auto bids and probably 10 of those are in the top 50 NET rankings. So most if not all of the 36 remaining bids would come from NET top 50.

The Ivy with Columbia currently at 46 and Princeton at 41 may well get two bids for the first time I can remember.

One of the factors of the end of the old Big East Conference was a downgrading of the A10, never mind (of course) all the conference changes over the years. Before the old BE went away, the A10 was virtually always a 2 bid league and sometimes 3 bid.

What stood them in good stead in the old days was as a decent conference in the east, they played a lot of games against teams from the power conferences , and didn't always lose, for that matter. This put them a leg up on most mid-majors who either didn't play that many games against the power conferences, or were consistent losers even against the lower level teams.

I'm sure you are correct, I think it has been a number of years since they received multiple bids.

 

[nwhoopfan]

James Madison wins the Sun Belt crown.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I am pulling for SDSU to win the Summit. They play in the semis today against Oral Roberts.

They won and await the winner of Kansas City vs. Omaha. Both of those teams have sub .500 records, I prefer those kind of teams don't get in the Dance. Although Omaha would be 16-16 with 2 more wins. Still would rather see a better team like SDSU get in there, not sure if they would get an at-large berth if they don't win the conference tourney.

 

[nwhoopfan]

We know Washington St. is in and I think Gonzaga is a sure thing. Could we get 3 from the State of Washington in the Tourney? Eastern Washington advanced to the semis of the Big Sky today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The Horizon is going to give us something we haven't seen much of so far--a #1 vs. #2 matchup in a conference tourney final. Green Bay and Cleveland St. finished well ahead of everybody else during the regular season and will duke it out for an auto bid tomorrow.

 

[maple]

They won and await the winner of Kansas City vs. Omaha. Both of those teams have sub .500 records, I prefer those kind of teams don't get in the Dance. Although Omaha would be 16-16 with 2 more wins. Still would rather see a better team like SDSU get in there, not sure if they would get an at-large berth if they don't win the conference tourney.

Tbh I doubt SDSU would get in without an AQ. They had close losses to some ranked teams (#21 Creighton, #10 Louisville) and actually beat #24 Kansas St. On the flip side, they got blown out by SCar and Washington State. Their NET ranking is #32 and their SOS is 111. RPI is 245! My eye test tells me they are worth an at-large bid (and ESPN agrees with me! ), but I struggle to believe the committee would give it to them.

SDSU has had some success in the tourney. Back in - I believe - 2018, they made it all the way to the S16. It's a shame that that, for now at least, is probably their ceiling.

 

[nwhoopfan]

but I struggle to believe the committee would give it to them.

It can't hurt that they have name recognition. They have been regular participants in the Tourney for a number of years now. I do think the committee might give a slight nod to programs like that.

edit--okay, I had to look up their Tourney history, goes back further than I realized; appearances in 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 21.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Gonzaga is putting the finishing touches on a whuppin' of BYU and will advance to the WCC final to face either Portland or Pacific.

I still feel really bad for Portland winning the AQ in 2020 and then having the Tourney cancelled.

 

[maple]

It can't hurt that they have name recognition. They have been regular participants in the Tourney for a number of years now. I do think the committee might give a slight nod to programs like that.

You could be right about that! And they actually did host the early rounds of the tourney back in 2016. I remember because Syracuse got sent all the way out there and won (then went to the title game). Fan support is small in comparison to the blue bloods, but very strong. When SDSU came to the Dome back in the 2018 tourney a shockingly large number of fans traveled out here to support them.

 

[maple]

edit--okay, I had to look up their Tourney history, goes back further than I realized; appearances in 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 21.

Replying to your edit since I just saw it now -- WOW! Definitely didn't realize it went that far back. No wonder fan support is so strong.

They have also had success in the WNIT, having won it all last year.

 

[maple]

One more team I will be rooting for ... Cal State Bakersfield. I lived there for a few years (for work). Hated the area and I didn't even realize they had a DI WBB team until I left! Their program is, to put it nicely, sad. It would take a miracle for them to get the Big West AQ. But rooting for an underdog/Cinderella story is always fun.

 

[nwhoopfan]

CSUB! I think they moved up to D1 fairly recently. I think I saw them play against Oregon St. in Corvallis 3 or 4 years ago. They were outgunned but pesky.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Whew, Portland barely got past Pacific. The WCC also managed to get #1 vs. #2 in the title game. Assuming Gonzaga is solidly an at large berth, I'm kinda pulling for Portland. Karma owes them for 2020.