Grambling at Alabama State, 6:00 PM Eastern, bamastatesports.com
Welcome to the final edition of the Under the Radar Game of the Day for the 2017-18 season! By the end of the day today, every UTR conference will have completed its regular season and, by no later than Sunday morning, we should have all of the remaining UTR conference tournament brackets released (the only conference with regular season games left for Sunday is the American). The final edition of the Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Montgomery, Alabama as the Alabama State Hornets play host to the Grambling Tigers.
Alabama State enters today’s game at 8-21 overall and 8-9 in SWAC play. A win today will give the Hornets a .500 record in conference, though they are still destined for a road game in the quarterfinal round. The Hornets did defeat Jackson State last time out thanks to 17 points from Reginald Gee and 13 off the bench from Rodney Simeon. Win or lose today, Alabama State at least knows that it will have a chance to capture a bid to the NCAA Tournament in next week’s conference tournament. The same is not true for their opponent.
The Grambling Tigers currently sit at 16-14 overall and 12-5 in SWAC play. The 12-5 mark places them one game ahead of three teams for sole possession of first place. This evening’s game is therefore a chance for the Tigers to clinch the outright SWAC regular season championship. They moved within a game of this position last time out when they snapped a two game losing steak by pulling out an overtime win at Alabama A&M, thanks in part to 32 points from Ivy Smith. For most teams, winning today would lock in the top seed in their conference tournament and guarantee no worse than an NIT berth in the postseason. However, Grambling is unjustly and unfairly (in our opinions) banned from the postseason due to their Academic Progress Rate. The good news for the Tigers is that we here at HoopsHD are ready to right this wrong and help save what has been arguably their best season of basketball ever. We have taken the liberty of preparing a WAIVER APPLICATION for Grambling, to allow them to play in the postseason. The Waiver is now online and we are just waiting for an answer from the powers that be. Keep an eye on our Championship Week Video Notebook podcasts, as we will fill you in on the results as soon as we have them!!!
Check out the waiver application, just click the link below!