BUFFALO at BOWLING GREEN, 2:00 PM Eastern, BCSN
1959 Dartmouth.
1962 Yale.
1963 Tennessee Tech.
1968 Columbia.
1968 Bowling Green.
The five longest gaps of failing to making the NCAA Tournament among current members of Division I that have played in at least one NCAA tournament. Dartmouth, Yale and Columbia all appear to be on their way to extending their streaks one more year as Harvard should win the Ivy League and they will not have a second chance in a conference tournament. Tennessee Tech is in fifth place in their division in the OVC and will struggle to just finish in the top 8 in the conference and qualify to play in the Ohio Valley tournament (even after their upset of Belmont last night). Bowling Green may be the best of the bunch.
The Bowling Green Falcons will certainly have the best chance of these five teams to break their drought as no matter where they finish in the MAC standings they will get a chance to play in the MAC tournament. Bowling Green has certainly not been a great team this season, sitting at 9-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAC. However, they did score a win over Ohio University last week — the same Ohio team that handed frontrunner Toledo its first MAC loss on Saturday. While the Falcons will not be contending for their Division title this season, they may be able to put a few more scares in teams during the regular season and even win a few games in the MAC tourney.
Today, Bowling Green welcomes Bobby Hurley’s Buffalo Bulls in. While Bowling Green has not played in the NCAA tournament since 1968, Buffalo is the only MAC team never to have been in an NCAA tournament (of course they have only been Division I since 1992, other than a short stint in D1 in the mid-70s). Buffalo is 11-6 on the season and 5-2 in conference. They have definitely been competitive all season, including a road win at Drexel and home wins over St Bonaventure and Kent State. this team has already vastly improved over its 20 loss season last year and al signs are that Hurley has this program headed in the right direction. The NCAA tournament may not be in the mix for the Bulls this year, but it would be no surprise at all to see them get that first berth within the next several seasons.