Today was all kinds of insane!! In the American Conference, we saw a quadruple overtime game between Cincinnati and Connecticut, both of whom were bubble teams and really needed the win. We got to the fourth overtime after Cincinnati hit a last second shot to go up by 3 with less than a second left, but that was followed by a three-quarter courts heave by UConn that went in to force another overtime.
Oklahoma also hit a shot from beyond mid court against West Virginia which appeared to win them the game, but it was ultimately waved off.
We saw two overtime games in the Pac Twelve as well with Utah and Oregon both hanging on to win.
Michigan won on a last second shot against Indiana, which gave them one of their biggest wins of the season, if not the biggest win, and gives their profile a huge boost.
Tulane and Memphis pulled off upsets in the American and will face each other in the semis next year with the winner being just one game away from the NCAA Tournament.
All of that, plus all of the other action in all of the other conferences as we recap a crazy Friday, preview Saturday, and give an update of our Hoops HD Selection Committee.
CLICK HERE for John Stalica’s report on the Hoops HD Selection Committee
And for all you radio lovers, there is an mp3 version of the show at the bottom of the page
AMERICA EAST
Championship
11:00 AM – (3) Vermont at (1) Stony Brook, ESPN2
AMERICAN
Semifinals
3:00 PM – (1) Temple vs (5) Connecticut, ESPN2
5:30 PM – (6) Memphis vs (10) Tulane, ESPN2
ACC
Championship
9:00 PM – (1) North Carolina vs (2) Virginia, ESPN
ATLANTIC TEN
Semifinals
1:30 PM – (1) Dayton vs (4) St. Joseph’s, CBS Sports Network
4:00 PM – (2) VCU vs (6) Davidson, CBS Sports Network
BIG EAST
Championship
5:30 PM – (1) Villanova vs (3) Seton Hall, FOX
BIG SKY
Championship
8:45 PM – (1) Weber State vs (2) Montana, ESPNU
BIG TEN
Semifinals
1:00 PM – (4) Purdue vs (8) Michigan, CBS
3:30 PM – (2) Michigan State vs (3) Maryland, CBS
BIG 12
Championship
6:00 PM – (1) Kansas vs (2) West Virgnia, ESPN
BIG WEST
Championship
11:30 PM – (1) Hawai’i vs (3) Long Beach State, ESPN2
CONFERENCE USA
Championship
2:30 PM – (2) Middle Tennessee vs (5) Old Dominion, FS1
MID-AMERICAN
Championship
7:30 PM – (1) Akron vs (3) Buffalo, ESPN2
MEAC
Championship
1:00 PM – (1) Hampton vs (3) South Carolina State, ESPN2
MOUNTAIN WEST
Championship
6:00 PM – (1) San Diego State vs (2) Fresno State, CBS
PAC-12
Championship
10:00 PM – (1) Oregon vs (2) Utah, FS1
SEC
Semifinals
1:00 PM – (1) Texas A&M vs (4) LSU, ESPN
3:30 PM – (2) Kentucky vs (6) Georgia, ESPN
SOUTHLAND
Championship
9:30 PM – (1) Stephen F. Austin vs (2) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, ESPN2
SWAC
Championship
6:30 PM – (3) Jackson State vs (4) Southern, ESPNU
SUN BELT
Semifinals
2:00 PM – (1) Arkansas-Little Rock vs (4) Louisiana-Lafayette, espn3
4:30 PM – (2) Louisiana-Monroe vs (3) Texas-Arlington, espn3
WAC
Championship
11:00 PM – (1) New Mexico State vs (2) Cal State Bakersfield, ESPNU
Hoops HD Mock Committee Report – Friday, March 11
Click here for Jon Teitel’s interview with Holy Cross’s Eric Green; also click here for Jon’s daily NCAA bracket prediction AND bonus audio commentary with David Griggs.
On Day 2 of our Mock Selection Committee meetings at Hoops HD, we were able to accomplish 3 things today – the number of teams Under Consideration shrunk down to 18 (including Centenary Winner Chicago State), the top 8 seed lines were voted into the seed list, and 4 more teams were voted into the At-Large field.
After debating the merits of the top-ranked teams in the field, each of the committee members submitted their top 12 teams for consideration. (The real committee would submit 8 teams, but we did 12 teams as a time-saving measure.) The next step was to rank each of those teams 1 through 12 (the real Committee would seed the top 8 teams 1 through 8). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 1 through 8 on the overall seed list. After more debate, our committee then individually submitted the next 8 teams for consideration (top 4 for the real committee). These teams, in addition to the 4 carryover teams from the prior step, were then ranked 1 through 12 (ranked 1 through 8 by the real Committee). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 9 through 16 on the overall seed list. This process was repeated until we had 24 teams on the seed list.
Once we got final results from the evening games, we debated on 4 more teams to add to the at-large field. Using the same process that was used last night to vote in at-large teams, our committee added Connecticut, Cincinnati, Michigan and Saint Joseph’s to the field. With Michigan’s inclusion to the field (along with the 3 other remaining Big 10 teams already voted in), we are now assured of another at-large spot opening up courtesy of the Big 10. This leaves us with a minimum of 2 more at-large teams to vote into the field tomorrow night; there could be as many as 5 teams depending on who wins the SEC, Atlantic 10 and American conferences. However, since either Tulane or Memphis is guaranteed to be in the American championship game on Sunday, we are guaranteed at least one contingency team. Another potential contingency lies in the A-10 depending on whether Davidson or VCU get to their championship game. Another spot could open up if Texas A&M and Kentucky play each other for the championship on Sunday, although either Georgia or LSU can also play the role of bid thief.
After the 4 additional teams were added to the field, we added 8 more teams to the Master Seed list and finished our meeting with 32 teams seeded. You can view the list below:
Tomorrow night, we will begin scrubbing the seed list to adjust for additional game results through Saturday night. We will vote in the 2 remaining guaranteed at-large spots and also choose additional contingency teams as necessary. The two remaining Sun Belt teams will be included in the master seed list as well as part of any multiple contingencies that would arise on Sunday. The remaining teams will also be voted into the seed list as well.