Championship Week(s)

[GoMuskies]

It all kicks off in about half an hour when the USC Upstate Fighting Paulxu's travel to Ft. Myers to face #1 seed FGCU in the A-Sun.

The MSG Warmup Tournament (some call it by its unofficial name, the Big Ten Tournament) starts Wednesday early evening.

[X-band '01]

Florida Gulf Coast has been paired up with Xavier in some brackets in the 1-16 matchup. #2 Lipscomb actually has better overall metrics because of a much better noncon (including 2 wins against crosstown rival Belmont).

[paulxu]

I'll be traveling up the mountain to Asheville for the SoCon championship if Wofford makes it that far.

[paulxu]

Also, here's some useless information.

USC Upstate plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference. There are 8 teams in the conference.

4 are in Florida...great place to travel and play.
1 is in Georgia, and 1 in Nashville.

The 8th is NJIT in Newark, New Jersey. WTF?

[X-band '01]

Next year, they'll add North Alabama to the A-Sun. However, USC-Upstate is joining the Big South next season.

[American X]

USC Upstate plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference. There are 8 teams in the conference.

4 are in Florida...great place to travel and play.
1 is in Georgia, and 1 in Nashville.

The 8th is NJIT in Newark, New Jersey. WTF?

The sun has shone on Newark, New Jersey. Once...allegedly.

[paulxu]

Winthrop loses in the semi's.

Also, Chattanooga is last in the SoCon at 3-15.
But tonight Makinde London had 25 pts to take them to the second round.

[X-band '01]

Congrats to the Rider Broncs on locking up the first NIT bid with their loss in the MAAC Tournament tonight!

[paulxu]

I wonder if the "bomb cyclone" is messing up the Big Ten tournament?

[Juice]

Winthrop loses in the semi's.

Also, Chattanooga is last in the SoCon at 3-15.
But tonight Makinde London had 25 pts to take them to the second round.

Nice highlight from Makinde last night https://twitter.com/soconsports/status/969755497749344256?s=21

[GoMuskies]

That Rutgers/Purdue game last night at the Garden was pretty electric. That's the same kind of vibe St. Johns could deliver next week. Would make a match with them both fun and dangerous.

[X-band '01]

First auto bid will be handed out in the Ohio Valley tonight with Murray State playing Belmont in

Evansville?

[GoMuskies]

First auto bid will be handed out in the Ohio Valley tonight with Murray State playing Belmont in

Evansville?

Go Murray! Having it in Nashville every year was a huge advantage for Belmont. Plus, it was not well supported.

[X-band '01]

Go gets his wish with Murray State getting the first ticket to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

As for tomorrow, 4 conferences will have championships:
Atlantic Sun - Liberty at Radford (1:00 PM - ESPN)
Missouri Valley - Illinois State vs. Loyola-Chicago (2:00 PM - CBS)
Atlantic Sun - Lipscomb at Florida Gulf Coast (3:00 PM - ESPN)
Big Ten - Michigan vs. Purdue (4:30 PM - CBS)

On another note, how about Kansas drawing the winner of Oklahoma-Oklahoma State in their quarterfinal in the Big 12 on Thursday? That's going to make Xavier's game against Georgetown or St. John's look like a picnic by comparison.

[GoMuskies]

I love that the Big Ten is included with those other three.

[Masterofreality]

Gotta get one today for my Loyola Grad Daughter.

[X-band '01]

The Ramblers haven't looked as dominant in the tournament as they have during the regular season, but Illinois State is a perpetual bridesmaid in this conference.

[Muskie]

First auto bid will be handed out in the Ohio Valley tonight with Murray State playing Belmont in

Evansville?

Evansville has a new (or newer venue), I think that's why they are hosting.

[Muskie]

Radford v. Liberty tipping off in 13 minutes.

[X-band '01]

Radford going to the Big Dance on a buzzer-beating 3.

[Muskie]

Radford going to the Big Dance on a buzzer-beating 3.

Great shot!

[Muskie]

ASUN up next Florida Gulf Coast versus Lipscomb.

[Michigan Muskie]

Looking over the conference tourney brackets, it's pretty amazing to see where some of the teams ended up considering the early-season success and hype. For example:

Arizona State : Once #3 in the country, now a 9-seed in the Pac-12 tourney.

Other teams that caught my eye:

Oklahoma: 9-seed in the 10-team bracket after being ranked #4 in the country about 6 weeks ago.
North Carolina: 6-seed in their own conference tourney despite ranked #9 in the country last week.
Texas A&M: 8-seed in the SEC after cracking the AP top 5 in week 8.

Less shocking, but noteworthy:
Minnesota: Pre-season #15 in the country, ended up on the #11 line in their own conference tourney
Northwestern: Another whiff in the pre-season rankings (#19.) Fell out of the rankings by week 3 and ended up a 10-seed in the B1G tourney.


Of mild interest: The Summit league features an all-South Dakota championship game.

Entertainment purposes only:
Dayton: 9-seed in the A-10 (nothing surprising about that, it's just funny.)

[usfldan]

Great shot!

Aiken High School grad Carlik Jones!

[X-band '01]

Meanwhile, Lipscomb has almost completely wasted a 32-point lead at Florida Gulf Coast. They are now up by only 7 at the under-8 timeout.

[GIMMFD]

Looking over the conference tourney brackets, it's pretty amazing to see where some of the teams ended up considering the early-season success and hype. For example:

Arizona State : Once #3 in the country, now a 9-seed in the Pac-12 tourney.

Other teams that caught my eye:

Oklahoma: 9-seed in the 10-team bracket after being ranked #4 in the country about 6 weeks ago.
North Carolina: 6-seed in their own conference tourney despite ranked #9 in the country last week.
Texas A&M: 8-seed in the SEC after cracking the AP top 5 in week 8.

Less shocking, but noteworthy:
Minnesota: Pre-season #15 in the country, ended up on the #11 line in their own conference tourney
Northwestern: Another whiff in the pre-season rankings (#19.) Fell out of the rankings by week 3 and ended up a 10-seed in the B1G tourney.


Of mild interest: The Summit league features an all-South Dakota championship game.

Entertainment purposes only:
Dayton: 9-seed in the A-10 (nothing surprising about that, it's just funny.)

Hahahahah that's amazing. Comical how bad they are. Wonder how UD Pride is dealing with this season.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Gotta get one today for my Loyola Grad Daughter.

Congrats MOR. Porter Moser was an assistant under Majerus when I was at SLU. I always liked him and wished he would have taken over for Majerus instead of Crews.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Radford going to the Big Dance on a buzzer-beating 3.

That was awesome. Love March basketball!

[X-band '01]

Congrats MOR. Porter Moser was an assistant under Majerus when I was at SLU. I always liked him and wished he would have taken over for Majerus instead of Crews.

Seconded. Loyola played by far their best game of the tournament today. Ask Florida - they will likely be a dangerous 12 seed in the tournament.

[Masterofreality]

Congrats MOR. Porter Moser was an assistant under Majerus when I was at SLU. I always liked him and wished he would have taken over for Majerus instead of Crews.

Thanks D-West! They made the Dance for the second time in my LUC daughter’s lifetime!!!

The last time they were in, she was 3. :rolleyes:

[D-West & PO-Z]

Thanks D-West! They made the Dance for the second time in my LUC daughter’s lifetime!!!

The last time they were in, she was 3. :rolleyes:

Yea that is awesome. I'll be rooting for them as long as they dont play us!

[X-band '01]

Auto-bids clinched so far:

Murray State (Ohio Valley)
Radford (Big South)
Loyola-Chicago (Missouri Valley)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
Michigan (Big Ten)

Tonight's Championship Games:
Metro Atlantic - Fairfield v. Iona (7:00 PM - ESPN)
Southern - East Tennessee St. v. UNC-Greensboro (9:00 PM - ESPN2)

There are also 4 conferences with semifinal games - Horizon, WCC, Colonial and Summit.

[paulxu]

Heartbreaker for Wofford to not be in the SoCon final.
Up by 2, UNCG hits a 3.
Wofford has 3 shots in last 10 seconds and can't hit one of them. Loses by 1.
They have a lot of good shooters, but should have driven to the hoop being down only 1.

[OTRMUSKIE]

Cleveland State just beat Oakland 44-43 to move to the Horizon championship game. Cleveland St finished the year 9-22. If they win tomorrow they will statistically be the worst team ever to make the dance at 13-22. These small schools need to make the regular season champ the auto bid. That’s BS NKU has to play in the NIT now.

[X-band '01]

What's crazy is that Cleveland State is 7-4 since February. They were 4-18 prior to that.

[dethwing]

The saddest day for me was when the Ivy abandoned their practice of not having a tournament. If you're going to have a tournament, I like the step-ladder that the WCC used to use. Give the top seeds a bigger advantage.

[GoMuskies]

The saddest day for me was when the Ivy abandoned their practice of not having a tournament. If you're going to have a tournament, I like the step-ladder that the WCC used to use. Give the top seeds a bigger advantage.

OVC still does the stepladder. Murray State and Belmont got byes to the semifinals.

[GoMuskies]

The ACC Tournament is underway in Brooklyn, so the real Championship Week has begun.

[dethwing]

OVC still does the stepladder. Murray State and Belmont got byes to the semifinals.

Apparently, so does the Southland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Southland_Conference_Men's_Basketball_Tournam ent

They even only invite the top 8 of the conference.

[X-band '01]

With Arizona State's loss and meltdown at the end of their game, there's a good chance they'll end up in the NIT.

Tra Holder got a flagrant-2 for shoving a Colorado player after a Colorado dunk in the closing seconds. There was also a brief scuffle that saw a Colorado player leave the bench and subsequently get ejected. Colorado head Tad Boyle also tweaked his back while breaking up the scuffle.

[D-West & PO-Z]

With Arizona State's loss and meltdown at the end of their game, there's a good chance they'll end up in the NIT.

Tra Holder got a flagrant-2 for shoving a Colorado player after a Colorado dunk in the closing seconds. There was also a brief scuffle that saw a Colorado player leave the bench and subsequently get ejected. Colorado head Tad Boyle also tweaked his back while breaking up the scuffle.

Looked like he hurt his achilles. As a PT and someone who has ruptured my achilles that is what it looked like to me. He started running towards the fight and then flinches and looks back behind him. When you tear or rupture your achilles it feels like someone hits you in the back of the ankle and when he turns around and looks that looks like what he was thinking that someone hit into him. Then he has a noticeable limp throughout.

I hope for his sake it isnt his achilles, that is not a fun surgery/recovery.

[dethwing]

They certainly haven't done us any favors since that game. They were hovering right at the edge of top 50 most of the year, but now well below it. What a huge collapse. ASU was one of only two teams to go undefeated in the non conference.

[drudy23]

Can someone explain how Oklahoma is a lock?

[D-West & PO-Z]

Can someone explain how Oklahoma is a lock?

If you are referring to Bubble Watch on ESPN they made them a lock quite a while back and have written since that they are getting worried but that they never have unlocked anyone because that would defeat the purpose of locks but that they admit they are dont feel good about them in the lock category.

[XUFan09]

If you are referring to Bubble Watch on ESPN they made them a lock quite a while back and have written since that they are getting worried but that they never have unlocked anyone because that would defeat the purpose of locks but that they admit they are dont feel good about them in the lock category.Basically, Oklahoma has done the improbable since achieving lock status. Heck, if they don't make it, I wonder if they'll be the first team ever to prove it wrong. In a large sample size (in this case, many years of Bubble Watch), crazy things do happen.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[X-band '01]

Collin Sexton had a game-winning drive to keep Alabama's NCAA hopes alive for at least one more day. Beat Auburn and they should be safely in.

[GoMuskies]

K State is probably in with their win over TCU. They have had the most delightfully mediocre year ever.

[X-band '01]

Being .500 in the Big 12 will do the trick.

[smileyy]

Remember when ASU was getting first place votes? I guess they couldn't hit 50% from 3 forever.

[paulxu]

Yikes. This is supposedly from the UConn/SMU game today in Orlando.
Contrast this to MSG

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXyW9jZXkAA5yw4.jpg:large

[X-band '01]

Yikes. This is supposedly from the UConn/SMU game today in Orlando.
Contrast this to MSG

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXyW9jZXkAA5yw4.jpg:large

That wouldn't even fill half the bandbox they use in Orlando for the Advocare Invitational during Thanksgiving.

[smileyy]

SMU doesn't travel (to Brooklyn?)? Whoda thunkit. What a joke of a conference.

[JTG]

27,28,29,30,31. Yep, 31 fans.

[XUBison]

Yikes. This is supposedly from the UConn/SMU game today in Orlando.
Contrast this to MSG

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXyW9jZXkAA5yw4.jpg:large

This is really sad for UConn. They are killing a great basketball program, aND their powers that be don’t even care.

[D-West & PO-Z]

This is really sad for UConn. They are killing a great basketball program, aND their powers that be don’t even care.

Yeah but their football team has been gr.....oh, wait, nvm.

[muskiefan82]

Would the UCONN women's team have made a better showing against SMU?

[paulxu]

Some currently available seat prices as shown on ESPN game schedules:

SMU v. Cincinnait $3
VCU v. Rhode Island $35
Providence v. Xavier $66

[Tardy Turtle]

$9 for lower level in Orlando.

Comparable @ MSG $238.

[X-band '01]

Meanwhile, Marshall also on the verge of making it to the C-USA championship for tomorrow. They actually beat Middle Tennessee twice this year, but MTSU was knocked out by Southern Miss last night.

[paulxu]

Looked at a couple videos of the UC game on ESPN.
There is nobody at those games in Orlando. Seriously.
They're not even posting attendance in the stats.

[X-band '01]

Cincinnati down double digits at halftime against Memphis.

[xavierj]

Cincinnati down double digits at halftime against Memphis.

And flips the switch holds Memphis to 2 points in 9 minutes. Game over

[Lloyd Braun]

WV favored by 1.5 over Kansas today.

[D-West & PO-Z]

WV favored by 1.5 over Kansas today.

Interesting. Anyone know why? Isnt tournament in KC?

[xavierj]

Interesting. Anyone know why? Isnt tournament in KC?

Isn’t the big guy for Kansas out? I guess they figure that West Virginia will dominate inside.

[GIMMFD]

Interesting. Anyone know why? Isnt tournament in KC?

Hard to beat a team 3 times, WVU was up 15 on Kansas in the second half in the first meeting, second meeting the team was battling the flu and almost still won despite a 20 pt FT discrepancy (Allen Fieldhouse obviously), only thing I can guess about it tbh. That and Azubike is out, so Konate and Ahmad should feast.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Davidson is up 22-15 against St Bonaventure and 13 mins into the game and has NOT attempted a 2 point shot yet.

[D-West & PO-Z]

13 mins and 28 secs into the game Davidson attempts, and misses, their first two point FG.

[X Factor]

And flips the switch holds Memphis to 2 points in 9 minutes. Game over

Held Memphis to 18 points in the second half.

[GIMMFD]

Konate doing his damnest to punish Kansas, let's go WVU, help us out, and take down those bastards.

[Porkopolis]

My Herd going dancing for the first time in 31 years! So thrilled and equally happy that they won’t play X.

[GIMMFD]

My Herd going dancing for the first time in 31 years! So thrilled and equally happy that they won’t play X.

I'VE GOTTA HERD ON!!! Nothing like seeing a team of WV boys do well, Elmore was unreal!! Excited for those guys, 4th Ave may burn down tonight.

[X-band '01]

Since they didn't play this year, there's a chance WVU and Marshall could play each other in Round 1.

[Porkopolis]

Since they didn't play this year, there's a chance WVU and Marshall could play each other in Round 1.

Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind. That would be my dream matchup.

[chico]

My Herd going dancing for the first time in 31 years! So thrilled and equally happy that they won’t play X.

That was a great game. Marshall could do some damage with 2 20-point scorers and a coach that loves the 3 pointer.