Championship Week Video Notebook: Day 5

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It’s Day 5 of Championship Week, and we had another very exciting day!  Neither Jacksonville State nor UT Martin have ever been to the NCAA Tournament, but they will face each other tomorrow with an automatic bid on the line.  Jacksonville State upset Belmont and UT Martin, who finished second overall, got past Murray State in the other semifinal game.  Regardless of who wins, these two programs have undergone drastic improvements in recent years and both have a lot to be proud of.  We also saw a great game in the Big South as Winthrop needed overtime to hold off a Gardner Webb team that had been playing very well down the stretch.  The atmosphere was great, the intensity was great, and the game was great.  Monmouth and Saint Peter’s advanced in the Metro Atlantic, the Missouri Valley is down to the semifinals with Illinois State and Wichita State advancing, there was opening round action in the West Coast, SoCon, Horizon League, and Colonial.  We review it all, as well as look ahead to tomorrow’s action, and as always we begin with the mailbag and end with our Survival Board update.

SATURDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK ACTION

OHIO VALLEY
Format: Ladder (top 2 seeds bye into semifinals)
Location: Nashville, TN
Saturday, March 4 – Championship
8:00 PM – (2) Tennessee-Martin vs (4) Jacksonville State, ESPN2

MISSOURI VALLEY
Format: Standard
Location: St. Louis, MO
Saturday, March 4 – Semifinals
3:30 PM – (1) Illinois State vs (4) Southern Illinois, CBS Sports Network
6:00 PM – (2) Wichita State vs (6) Missouri State, CBS Sports Network

NORTHEAST
Format: Standard with Re-seed for Semifinals
Location: Campus sites
Saturday, March 4 – Semifinals
12:00 PM – (4) St. Francis (PA) at (3) Wagner, Local TV/Fox College Sports-Atlantic/necfrontrow.com
2:00 PM – (7) Robert Morris at (1) Mount St. Mary’s, Local TV/Fox College Sports-Atlantic/necfrontrow.com

COLONIAL
Format: Standard
Location: North Charleston, SC
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
12:00 PM – (1) UNC-Wilmington vs (9) Delaware, Regional TV/caa.tv
2:30 PM – (4) William & Mary vs (5) Elon, Regional TV/caa.tv
6:00 PM – (2) College of Charleston vs (7) James Madison, Regional TV/caa.tv
8:30 PM – (3) Towson vs (6) Northeastern, Regional TV/caa.tv

HORIZON LEAGUE
Format: Standard
Location: Detroit, MI
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
5:30 PM – (1) Oakland vs (9) Youngstown State, espn3
8:00 PM – (2) Valparaiso vs (10) Milwaukee, espn3

METRO ATLANTIC
Format: Standard
Location: Albany, NY
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
7:00 PM – (3) Iona vs (6) Rider, espn3
9:30 PM – (4) Siena vs (5) Fairfield, ESPNU

SOUTHERN
Format: Standard
Location: Asheville, NC
12:00 PM – (1) UNC-Greensboro vs (9) The Citadel, espn3
2:30 PM – (4) Chattanooga vs (5) Wofford, espn3
6:00 PM – (2) Furman vs (7) Samford, espn3
8:30 PM – (3) East Tennessee State vs (6) Mercer, espn3

SUMMIT LEAGUE
Format: Standard
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Note: Only the top 8 of the Summit League’s 9 teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
7:00 PM – (1) South Dakota vs (8) Western Illinois, Regional TV/espn3
9:30 PM – (2) North Dakota State vs (7) IUPUI, Regional TV/espn3

WEST COAST
Format: Standard
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Saturday, March 4 – Quarterfinals
4:00 PM – (3) BYU vs (6) Loyola Marymount, Local TV/BYU-TV/thew.tv
6:30 PM – (4) Santa Clara vs (5) San Francisco, Local TV/BYU-TV/thew.tv
10:00 PM – (1) Gonzaga vs (9) Pacific, ESPN2
12:30 AM – (2) Saint Mary’s vs (10) P0rtland, ESPN2

SURVIVAL BOARD NOTES

SOUTHLAND – If Nicholls State wins, Central Arkansas and Northwestern State are eliminated.  If Nicholls State loses, the loser of Central Arkansas vs Northwestern State is eliminated

SWAC – The loser of Arkansas Pine Bluff vs Mississippi Valley State is elminated

IVY – Penn, Columbia, and Dartmouth are still in play for the last conference tournament spot.  If either Penn or Columbia win and the other one loses, then the winner is in the tournament and the loser and Dartmouth are out.  If something else happens, there are too many scenarios to sort out.*

*IVY LEAGUE TIEBREAK SCENARIOS

Here are the possibilities for the fourth and final spot in the Ivy League tournament as we understand them heading into the final day of the regular season:

– If Columbia wins at Yale and Penn loses at home to Harvard, Columbia is in.

– If Penn wins at home over Harvard and Columbia loses at Yale, Penn is in.

– If both Penn and Columbia win, Columbia is in unless Princeton wins at home over Dartmouth AND Cornell wins at Brown, in which case Penn gets in (yes, the game between the two teams that cannot make the tournament could decide who gets in).

– If both Penn and Columbia lose AND Dartmouth loses at Princeton, Columbia is in.

– If both Penn and Columbia lose AND Dartmouth wins at Princeton, Dartmouth is in.