CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK NOTEBOOK
107 Teams remain. They break down as follows. BYU is now listed as under consideration, even though they are in our mock field as an at-large. I have a feeling that after today, they’re coming out of our field and being placed back under consideration.
-ACC – 8 quarterfinalists
-America East – 2 – Vermont @ Stony Brook
-Atlantic Ten – 8 quarterfinalists
-Atlantic Sun – Belmont (champ)
-Big Twelve – 6 – Texas (semis, under consideration), Kansas (at-large), Missouri (at-large), Baylor (at-large), Kansas State (at-large), Iowa State (at large)
-Big East – 10 – (4 semi teams), Marquette (at-large), Georgetown (at-large), UConn (at-large), West Virginia (at-large), South Florida (under consideration), Seton Hall (under consideration)
-Big Sky – Montana (champ)
-Big South – UNC Asheville (champ)
-Big Ten – 9 – (8 quarterfinalists), Northwestern (under consideration)
-Big West – 4
-Colonial – 2 – VCU (champ), Drexel (under consideration)
-Conference USA – 4 semifinalists
-Horizon – Detroit (champ)
-Ivy – Harvard (champ)
-Metro Atlantic – 2 – Loyola MD (champ), Iona (under consideration)
-MAC – 4 – semifinalists
-MEAC – 4 semifinalists
-Missouri Valley – 2 – Creighton (champ), Wichita State (under consideration)
-Mountain West – 4 semifinalists
-NEC – Long Island (champ)
-OVC – Murray State (champ)
-Pac Twelve – 6 – 4 semifinalists, Washington (under consideration), Oregon (under consideration)
-Patriot – Lehigh (champ)
-SEC – 9 – 8 quarterfinalists, Mississippi State (under consideration)
-SoCon – Davidson (champ)
-Southland – 2 – Lamar v McNeese State
-Summit – 2 – South Dakota State (champ), Oral Roberts (under consideration)
-Sun Belt – Western Kentucky (champ)
-SWAC – 4 semifinalists
-WAC – 4 semifinalists
-WCC – 3 – Saint Mary’s (champ), Gonzaga (at-large), BYU (under consideration)
-Some very exciting games yesterday.
-The two afternoon games in Conference USA went into overtime. Southern Miss would have really hurt their chances (which had been slipping away as it was) had they not pulled out the quarterfinal win against East Carolina, and it took overtime to do it. The other game between Marshall and Tulsa, who were also playing for their tournament lives, went into three overtimes before Marshall finally pulled off a 105-100 thriller. Memphis and UCF won the night session games easily, and will face each other today.
-The Big East saw a game come down to the wire in UConn v Syracuse, a double overtime game between Cincinnati and Georgetown, and another overtime game between South Florida and Notre Dame. Had South Florida managed to beat the Irish, I think they’d be inside the bubble. It is still likely the will make the field (and definite that they will make our mock field), but htey will really be sweating now.
UConn could have gotten very far inside the bubble with a win against Syracuse, but they seem reasonably safe as it is.
Louisville and Notre Dame are both safely in the field, and are playing each other in a resume game later today.
-All four Pac Twelve quarterfinal games were exciting. Oregon State knocked off top seeded Washington in a one point game. Washington’s profile is very weak, but the real selection committee is likely to take them anyway simply because it is very rare that an outright first place finisher in a top ten conference is left out of the field. As for Oregon State, they are in the semis for the first time ever and looking to make the NCAAs for the first time since 1990. They’ll face Arizona tonight, and Cal will face off against Colorado.
-Xavier, Dayton and Saint Louis are among the teams under consideration that are playing for their tournament lives today in the Atlantic Ten. The loser of Dayton v Xavier is likely out. The only team that’s a first ballot team in this conference is Temple. I think Saint Louis is reasonably safe, but they’ll be sweating a little bit if they lose to La Salle in the quarters.
-Mississippi State lost in the opening round of the SEC Tournament to Georgia. Mississippi State needed good things to happen. That was a bad thing.
-Other than that, pretty much chalk in the Big Ten and ACC opening rounds. Same with the Big Twelve quarters, other than Texas getting a massive win against Iowa State. The Longhorn profile is looking much better now, and I think a win tonight against Missouri puts them in for sure.
-Top seeded Texas Arlington just had one Southland Conference loss all year. Unfortunately, it was in the Southland semis, and the are most likely out.
-Long Beach State is a team that is causing much disagreement, but they had no trouble in the quarters. If they can win the Big West Championship, it saves the committee a big headache.
-Louisville did something that they hadn’t done since February in their game against Marquette, and that’s shoot the ball well. When I say since February, I mean February of 2011.
Enjoy the games!!!!