Wow, what an incredible day! We have bubble teams dropping all over the place and now we are surely to see some teams back their way into the tournament. The question is whether some of these teams will back their way in or will we see teams like South Alabama, Virginia Commonwealth, and Illinois State back in? Let’s get to the action!
ACC
(9) Florida State 70 – (8) Wake Forest 60
(12) N.C. State 50 – (5) Miami 63
(10) Virginia 76 – (7) Georgia Tech 94
(11) Boston College 71 – (6) Maryland 68
There were really only two games tonight with tournament implications. Miami was in good shape and needed to only avoid a bad loss. In fact, they would have been in the discussion even with a loss today. That game was never too much in doubt. The other game of interest was Boston College – Maryland. It seems unlikely that even with just one win today that the Terps would be in but losing today certainly sends them to the NIT. In the “There’s not much of a chance of this happening” department, I should note that should Florida State knock of North Carolina I think you have to start looking at their resume as well.
Big East
(8) Villanova 63 – (1) Georgetown 82
(5) West Virginia 78 – (4) Connecticut 72
(7) Pittsburgh 76 – (2) Louisville 69
(6) Marquette 89 – (3) Notre Dame 79
So, the lower seed wins three of four games. That’s not all that surprising because the top 7 in the Big East really are pretty strong and I would argue fairly equal. The big question out of the Big East is whether Villanova gets in. When they lost I was thinking they were probably in trouble (even if they pass the very subjective and hated by me “eye-test” by my eyes anyway; they look like a tournament team to me). Now with all the other outcomes of the day I think they may be OK again. We’ll see what the weekend brings, but my gut would say at this point Villanova gets in.
Atlantic 10
(8) Dayton 65 – (1) Xavier 74
(5) St. Joseph’s 61 – (4) Richmond 47
(7) La Salle 75 – (2) Temple 84
(6) Charlotte 69 – (3) Massachusetts 65
Lots of important action today in the A-10. Xavier knocks off Dayton and sends the Flyers to the NIT. St. Joseph’s easily beats Richmond. Most analysts were saying St. Joseph’s would need to beat Xavier to get a bid but with everything that happened today I think it’s possible (even if still a bit unlikely) that they could get in even without that win. It’s also time to take a closer look at Temple’s resume. Should they get to the final I think they deserve some credit for a run to the A-10 final combined with a second place regular season finish in a very good league. UMass has to be kicking themselves right now. They really blew that 17-point halftime lead in a hurry in dropping a critical game to Charlotte. That’s a horrible final impression to give to the committee and I don’t know that the rest of their resume will overcome that.
Big Ten
(9) Michigan 55 – (8) Iowa 47
(10) Illinois 64 – (7) Penn State 63
(11) Northwestern 52 – (6) Minnesota 55
Did anyone watch any of this today? The bottom half of the Big 10 is really horrible. It’s stunning that Northwestern was able to stay as close as they did for as poorly as they played.
Mid-American
(7) Eastern Michigan 61 – (2) Western Michigan 70
(6) Central Michigan 60 – (3) Akron 81
(8) Toledo 57 – (1) Kent State 77
(5) Miami 74 – (4) Ohio 61
There were no big surprises in the MAC today except perhaps for the ease at which Miami disposed of Ohio. Kent State kept their at large hopes in pretty decent shape. The better teams won to keep the semifinals of this tournament interesting.
Big 12
(9) Oklahoma State 76 – (8) Texas Tech 72
(12) Colorado 91 – (5) Baylor 84
(10) Missouri 56 – (7) Nebraska 61
(11) Iowa State 47 – (6) Texas A&M 60
What an absolutely brutal loss for Baylor. What happened in that first half? Baylor still may overcome this and get in the tournament but they gave the committee every reason to keep them out and I don’t want to hear any cries from Waco if they’re excluded. I wouldn’t have necessarily thought that beating Iowa State would be enough for Texas A&M but enough other bubble teams dropped that they might be fine now.
SEC
(5E) South Carolina 77 – (4W) LSU 73
(6W) Auburn 82 – (3E) Vanderbilt 93
(5W) Alabama 80 – (4E) Florida 69
(6E) Georgia 97 – (3W) Mississippi 95
It was funny to see Vanderbilt playing today because if you didn’t look at the standings you’d just figure they’d be good for a bye today. But that’s what happens when you sit behind Tennessee and Kentucky. Their win over Auburn was not too difficult. Florida dug themselves an incredible 28 point hole and perhaps even more incredibly almost pulled themselves out of it. Finally Alabama hit a few shots, got a few stops and pulled out the double-digit win to eliminate the Gators not only from the SEC tournament but also from NCAA tournament consideration. And what about Georgia twice fouling a three point shooter, once late in regulation to allow a tie and overtime, and once late in overtime to allow Ole Miss to tie it. And then Georgia gets a game winning jump shot under a second left from the unfortunately named Dave Bliss (if anyone knows if there is any relation between him and the other Dave Bliss please let me know; a quick Google search makes me think there is no relation). So, today in the SEC eliminates Florida and Ole Miss so we’ll likely have 5 SEC teams in.
Southland
(7) Texas Arlington 81 – (2) Lamar 75
(6) McNeese State 62 – (3) Sam Houston State 64
(8) UTSA 60 – (1) Stephen F. Austin 71
(5) Northwestern State 71 – (4) SE Louisiana 51
Heavy favorite Stephen F. Austin actually had a battle with UTSA. Now, despite the fact that Sam Houston State escaped with a win over McNeese State it seems quite likely that we’ll see a Stephen F. Austin – Sam Houston State final after the Lamar loss. And that’s fine by us.
Conference USA
(7) Tulsa 78 – (2) UAB 68
(6) UTEP 80 – (3) Houston 77
(9) Tulane 56 – (1) Memphis 75
(5) Southern Miss 68 – (4) UCF 62
Just in case Memphis wanted an easier road to the Conference USA tournament title, they got it. Houston losing was not that surprising; they really didn’t play well down the stretch. However, UAB’s loss to Tulsa was pretty shocking and that should eliminate UAB from NCAA tournament consideration. There’s not enough on the resume to justify a bid after losing this early to Tulsa.
Western Athletic
(5) Hawaii 74 – (4) Boise State 80
(8) San Jose State 65 – (1) Utah State 85
(7) Fresno State 57 – (2) Nevada 64
(6) Idaho 53 – (3) New Mexico State 73
The higher seeds won all games which was expected considering it was the WAC that had four teams at a four way tie for first place. Now Nevada has to face New Mexico State on their home floor. These semifinal games should be pretty good.
Pac 10
(5) Arizona State 55 – (4) USC 59
(9) California 66 – (1) UCLA 88
(6) Oregon 70 – (3) Washington State 75
(7) Arizona 64 – (2) Stanford 75
Well, my guess is that Arizona still gets in even with the loss to Stanford but that was helped out by the fact that Arizona State and Oregon both missed their chances to cement bids. Now they get tossed into the group with the rest of today’s losers and the losers from earlier in the week. I have no impressions right now of their chances but I feel like they should be poor.
Mountain West
(9) Colorado State 62 – (1) BYU 89
(5) Air Force 49 – (4) San Diego State 53
(7) TCU 88 – (2) UNLV 89
(6) Utah 82 – (3) New Mexico 80
My goodness, how close we were to a TCU-Utah semifinal match-up! UNLV somehow managed to overcome some outrageous three point shooting (17-23!) to beat TCU with the benefit of a made jumper with a foul called late in the contest. Then New Mexico was not able to beat Utah and we are not going to get the UNLV – New Mexico elimination game most were expecting. UNLV most certainly needs to beat Utah on Friday now.
Southwestern Athletic
(6) Arkansas Pine Bluff 72 – (3) Alabama A&M 59
(5) Southern 55 – (4) Jackson State 56
These winners get a shot at the top two seeds on Friday.
Mid-Eastern
(6) Florida A&M 61 – (3) Norfolk State 69
(5) N.C. A&T 62 – (4) Delaware State 64
Keep in mind that 2 seed Hampton has already lost to Coppin State so Norfolk State gets a bit of an advantage working towards getting to the championship game. Delaware State now faces top seeded Morgan State.
Big West
(7) UC Riverside 69 – (3) CSU Fullerton 81
(5) UC Irvine 57 – (4) Pacific 56
The UC Irvine upset over Pacific will prevent the idea semifinal day in the Big West but at least the three 12-4 regular season finishers will play as CSU Fullerton knocked off UC Riverside. The action in the Big West really starts tomorrow.
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