Hoops HD

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Up next is the entirety of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.  Houston entered this event as the favorite, while Wichita State was bordering towards the good side of the Bubble and Cincinnati desperately needed a deep run to get into the at-large field.  What would the bubble picture look like after the conference tournament was over?  It is time to find out!

AAC FIRST ROUND

The first round of the American Tournament saw UCF start the day off sneaking by South Florida 73-69.  The UConn Huskies then took the floor for their final tournament as a member of the AAC, and promptly played their final game in the league as a K.J. Lawson 3 with 13 seconds left put Tulane up 73-72, and Akok Akok’s attempt to win the game with a jumper at the buzzer came up short.  Temple cruised past SMU 68-51 in a game that was not even that close, and 22 points from Lester Quinones led Memphis to an easy 74-57 win over East Carolina.

AAC QUARTERFINALS

The top four teams in the American joined the action on Quarterfinal day for a series of games with massive bubble ramifications.  Tre Scott led the way for the Cincinnati Bearcats in the day’s opener, scoring 14 points and pulling down 17 boards as they defeated UCF easily, 84-65.  A loss in this game would have pretty much guaranteed the Bearcats a trip to the NIT, but for now their dreams of a ticket to the Big Dance stayed alive.

Next up, Wichita State, the 4 seed, took on surprising 12-seed Tulane.  The Green Wave played just well enough to stay within one run of making it a game, but not well enough to actually make that run  The Shockers were able to avoid a potential resume-crushing loss, winning 84-74.  Erik Stevenson’s 24 points were tops for his team.

Houston may have been the only AAC team that felt confident about their chances to make the NCAA Tournament heading into the day, and that over-confidence may have played a part in allowing Temple to stay in the game the entire way.  In fact, an Alani Moore 3 pointer with 23 seconds left pulled the Owls even at 69.  But the Cougars had just enough to win this one, as Quentin Grimes nailed a jump shot with less than a second left to lift his team to the two point win and a berth in the semifinals.

The day ended with another thriller, as Memphis’ chance for a spot in the Big Dance got snuffed out by Tulsa.  The Golden Hurricane won 67-63, thanks in part to a huge steal late in the game by Jeriah Horne.  The win gave Tulsa a spot in the semifinals against 2 seed Houston, and saw that, despite a couple of challenges, all four top seeds did advance to Saturday’s games.

AAC SEMIFINALS

The word heading into the first semifinal was that the winner would have a great shot at an at-large berth, while the loser would certainly be sweating things out on Selection Sunday, especially if that loser ended up being the Cincinnati Bearcats.  Although UC was playing for its tournament life, it was the Shockers that were the better team the entire day, building a 10 point lead at the half and holding it most of the second to win 80-71.

With Wichita State now looking like they had sealed up a bid to the Big Dance, Bracketologists everywhere were glued to the Tulsa-Houston game.  A win by Tulsa would likely mean contingency brackets late Sunday afternoon with the AAC title game not set to tip until just 3 hours before the field would be revealed.  The game itself was a thriller, and bubble teams everywhere were sweating hard when Tulsa took a 56-55 lead with 1:30 left to play,  However, a Quentin Grimes 3 on the Cougars’ next possession gave them the lead, and they were able to just barely hold on, with a Tulsa 3-pointer with under 5 seconds left cutting it to 60-59, the final score in the win for Houston that gave them a date with Wichita State in Sunday’s championship.

AAC CHAMPIONSHIP

With both teams looking like they were set to represent the AAC in the NCAA Tournament, there was not much at stake (other than a championship banner) in Sunday’s late title game between Wichita State and Houston.  The Shockers, who had entered the conference tournament as a team that was possibly on the bubble, ended up winning this one fairly convincingly, taking the title by an 85-70 score and locking themselves into the Big Dance with the final automatic bid of Championship Week.  Erik Stevenson scored 23 points for the victorious Shockers en route to winning the tournament Most Outstanding Player Award.

HoopsHD continues its series leading up to Selection Sunday and March Madness, as we simulate what would have happened in TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t).  Today is Saturday, March 14, a day when 14 conference tournament championship would have been decided, starting with the America East title game between Hartford and Vermont.  Do the Hawks have it in them to pull off the upset?  Let’s find out!!!

AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONSHIP

The Vermont Catamounts had entered the America East tournament as the top seed, having locked up home court advantage throughout the playoffs.  Despite this advantage, both 8-seed Maine and 4-seed UMBC had given them tough tests at home in the first two rounds.  But the Catamounts had survived and advanced, only to find the Hartford Hawks waiting, a team that had a chance to make the Field of 68 for the first time in school history.  Unfortunately for the Hawks, history was not being made today, as Vermont came out on fire early with a 15-0 run turning a 12-10 lead into 27-10 just ten minutes into the game.  Hartford was never able to mount any serious charge the rest of the way.  Anthony Lamb’s 15 points led the way, and the home crowd stormed the court at the final buzzer of the 82-57 win to celebrate another conference title and another dance ticket.

Up first among the 20 conference tournaments that weren’t: the ACC.  Simulating it out, we almost saw a surprising bid thief, as a team not projected to make a bid heading into the event made an amazing run through the event and have put themselves on the Bubble come TTTW (The Tournament That Wasn’t) Selection Sunday.

ACC QUARTERFINALS

In the first quarterfinal matchup of the day, Clemson looked to upset top seed Florida State.  Although the Tigers kept it close for a half, trailing by only 5 at the break, the Seminoles blew things open in the second half to cruise to a 69-52 win.  Trent Forrest led the way for FSU, picking up a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists.

Up next was the 4/5 matchup between Duke and NC State.  The Wolfpack entered this game knowing that a win would almost guarantee them a bid to the Big Dance.  Duke had other things in mind, however, jumping out to a 17-point lead at halftime before cruising in for and 82-64 victory.  Vernon Carey scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Blue Devil, while Tre Jones added 18 points of his own.  NC State was left to sweat out Selection Sunday.

The upset of the night came in the third quarterfinal, when Mike Brey’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish shocked the Virginia Cavaliers, scoring 70 points on one of the nation’s best defensive teams en route to a 70-50 blowout win.  A 10-0 run midway through the first half, which turned a 12-8 lead into 22-8, proved to be something the Hoos could never recover from.  John Mooney had a monster game for the Irish, scoring 21 points and pulling down 18 rebounds!

The night ended with Louisville defeating Syracuse 92-80 despite a 24 point effort from Elijah Hughes.   Six different Cardinals players all scored in double digits, led by 17 points and 9 rebounds from Jordan Nwora.  Louisville advanced to Friday’s semifinals and a matchup against #7 seed Notre Dame.

ACC SEMIFINALS

ESPN spent most of Thursday night and Friday hyping up the huge semifinal matchup between Florida State and Duke, and the game certainly did not disappoint.  The Blue Devils look good early, building an 8 point lead at the break that was extended to 10 early in the second half.  However, the ‘Noles responded, and tied the game at 76 with just over 4 minutes left.  The game was still tied with 23 seconds left when Cassius Stanley hit what appeared to be a 3 pointer for Duke, but upon replay review, his foot was on the line.  M.J. Walker then played hero for FSU, draining a 3 pointer from the left wing with only 4 seconds left to put his team up 86-85.  Vernon Carey got off a solid shot at the buzzer, but it was long and the Seminoles advanced to Saturday night’s championship game.

The second semifinal sent shockwaves through the college basketball world, most notably the locker rooms of teams on the bubble, when Notre Dame did it again – following up their win over Virginia with a 79-73 victory over Louisville.  The game was back and forth all night, with neither team leading by more than 7 at any time.  Louisville held a 73-69 lead after a Steven Enoch slam off a great feed from Lamarr Kimble with just over 2 minutes left to play.  However, the Irish came right back with back-to-back 3s from John Mooney and Dan Goodwin (who came off the bench to lead his team with 18 points), then proceeded to hit their free throws and close out the upset victory.  Jordan Nwora did have a double-double for the Cardinals, but it was not enough tonight.

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP

The talk heading into the ACC Championship game was whether or not their two huge wins was enough to put Notre Dame back on the bubble and give the Irish a shot at an at-large bid.  The Irish, however, wanted to simply take care of business on the court and play their way into the field.  When Notre Dame took a 39-37 lead into the halftime break, it really looked possible.  However, the second half belonged to Florida State, as the ‘Noles, led by 19 points from M.J. Walker and 18 points and 10 boards from Trent Forrest, took control of the game and cruised in for a 98-87 win.  Florida State was the ACC champion and on their way to the Big Dance.  For Notre Dame, it was time to wait and see if wins over Boston College, Virginia and Louisville was enough to convince the Selection Committee that they deserved a dance ticket as well.

What is happening isn’t fair.  That’s a large part of how I feel.  I’m not saying that I think any decisions that were made were wrong.  I just hate that a freak set of circumstances denied so many players, coaches, and fans in all divisions of all sports the chance to finish their seasons and play in their championship events.

I’ll be honest, when I first started hearing about the coronavirus I was a little concerned, but it was still very easy to dismiss.  I felt the same when it showed up in the United States.  I felt the same when it proved to be fatal for some that contracted it.  I was sorry for what happened to them, but I still only thought of it as individual tragedies and not a national crisis.  I even felt that way when Chicago State and Kansas City opted not to travel to Seattle for their regular season games.  I admit that I was flippant about it on some of our shows and on Twitter.  I was wrong.  COVID-19 is a serious problem.  While a large part of me feels what is happening isn’t fair, I also respect why the conferences and the NCAA decided to cancel everything moving forward.

Whatever it is you are feeling about this…scared, angry, cheated, concerned, supportive, or whatever, I think you have a right to feel that way.  Over the past year or two, I’ve come to find (oftentimes to my surprise) that there are various people with strong ties to college basketball who follow this site.  For those who were directly impacted by the NCAA Tournament being cancelled, it is you that I and everyone else who works on this site feels for the most.  We all love watching your teams play, and we are all incredibly sorry that you will not get the chance to have that experience this year.  For us, we are just fans.  I wasn’t good enough to even play on my junior high team, much less for a div1 college team.  Games will be back on in November, and we’ll be back doing what we do throughout the season next year.  As sad as we are that The Tournament is cancelled and we won’t get to do the things that are fun for us, that’s not really important.  We have the rest of our lives to be fans.  It’s the players and coaches that we feel for the most.

In addition to being a former bad junior high basketball player, I’m also not a physician or high level science scholar.  What I do understand about the coronavirus/COVID-19 is that we are in the contagion stage and not into the full blown infectious stage.  It is a respiratory virus, which is spread through respiratory droplets and vapors.  In a sport like basketball where players are breathing heavily, and in each others faces, and sweating, and basically producing a maximum amount of “respiratory vapors,” there is a high level of concern of how one player who is infected could cause so many others to become infected.  I get that.  I also get that while the disease is not terminal in most people, particularly college-aged athletes, it is potentially terminal for a certain demographic of people.  In order to mitigate the infection stage, it is important to contain the contagion stage as much as possible.  That is why I agree with the thought process of cancelling these large gatherings even though I hate that it has to happen.

I also noticed that the NCAA was basically the last organization to announce any sort of cancelation.  I would like to think that they were exhausting all possible options to try and figure out a way to play the NCAA Tournament and give everyone a safe, exciting, and meaningful experience.  It wasn’t until that they felt it was impossible to pull off that they finally announced it was cancelled.  I do know that they did not make the decision arbitrarily.  They consulted with medical experts and heeded their advice.  That may not be much of a consolation to some people, particularly the players and coaches, but I do feel like they acted as the experts in the medical community advised them to act.

It’s fun being David Griggs.  It really is.  I think it reminds me of why I love this sport, and really all college sports, so much.  I don’t gamble, or play fantasy sports, or play video games, or have any really expensive hobbies, or anything like that.  I do this.  I love the sport to the point to where I have to do more than just watch it, and Hoops HD allows for me to have that outlet.  I have a blast doing it with all the people who contribute to the site, not just in March, but all year long.  We actually have formed a strong bond as fellow college hoops junkies, I’m sad that we can’t collectively have our annual Selection Committee and NCAA Tournament experience.  But, we will be back!  If making these decisions can help save lives, help the medical community get in front of this as we head into the infection stage, and help get us back to our normal routines sooner rather than later, then I can understand and agree with why it was done.

Be safe!  Stay Healthy!  See ya soon!!