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Lead-up to the Big Dance

IdaGriz01

Well-known member
I myself consider the conference championship tournaments a part of “March Madness.” However, there are those who only think of the “Big Dance” in those terms.

Anyway, the first big tournament upset sparked the thought of a thread about all the other craziness going on already.

So let’s get started close to home, with the Mountain West. The pundits tried to make a lot out of the “tussle” 9-seed Air Force gave San Diego State in the second round. But it was only close for awhile and you “knew” the Aztecs would wake up, put on a run, and then coast along to a solid win … which they did. They have to see Utah State as the real danger. (Not good, since they have to get through Boise State, which looked better than expected against UNLV.) But Wyoming (2-16 regular season), the 11-seed is the story here. They knocked off a pretty good Colorado State team in the first round, and then 3-seed Nevada in the second. They face #2 Utah State tonight, so … who knows?

But the real drama happened in the Missouri Valley, where 8-seed Drake pummeled #1 Northern Iowa, 77-56. The Panthers won the regular season with an outstanding 25-5 record. Their NET/RPI are excellent, but the SOS is only #119 (last I checked). The MV is not a particularly strong conference, so it will be interesting to if they get an at-large bid. With so many teams in the running, my guess is … they’ll have to settle for the NIT.
 
I swear to god there’s an upset in the MVC tournament every year. Similar to Loyola Chicago getting upset by Bradley last year.
 
Time left (about 9 min.), but Radford, the 1-seed in the Big South, is down by 11 to 5-seed Hampton.
 
Griz til I die said:
I swear to god there’s an upset in the MVC (almost every conference) tournament every year. Similar to Loyola Chicago getting upset by Bradley last year.

FIFY. :lol: March Madness, Baby!!!! (in best Dicky V impersonation).
 
And another one bites the dust ... Big South 1-seed Radford lost to Hampton, 86-78. No chance for an at-large (Big South is even weaker than the Sky), so they should be happy for an NIT bid.

SDSU pulling away from Boise in the second half. :coffee:
 
Interesting day, all around ... with several overtime games.

Utah State, the 2-seed in the Mountain West, upset 1-seed SDSU, 59-56. Doesn’t matter bid-wise, since both were going to be in anyway. However, I very much doubt that the Aztecs will still be a one seed in the Big Dance.

The Missouri Valley championship game will feature Bradley, the 4-seed, facing Valparaiso, the 7-seed.
 
IdaGriz01 said:
Interesting day, all around ... with several overtime games.

Utah State, the 2-seed in the Mountain West, upset 1-seed SDSU, 59-56. Doesn’t matter bid-wise, since both were going to be in anyway. However, I very much doubt that the Aztecs will still be a one seed in the Big Dance.

The Missouri Valley championship game will feature Bradley, the 4-seed, facing Valparaiso, the 7-seed.
Bradley won fairly handily over Valpo, 80-66. They finished tied for third in the MVC regular season, but did have a decent overall record (20-11). I very much doubt that Northern Iowa will get an at-large. Besides getting bounced by the 8-seed in their first tournament game, their 25-6 record includes two non-D-I opponents (which is why the SOS is so bad).
 
On the first big day in the Colonial, they’ve lost the 2-seed (William & Mary) and the 3-seed (Towson). The 1-seed (Hofstra) won handily, but the rest of the field drops off to #4 and lower from here on out.
 Hofstra had an impressive record (22-8), but played by far the weakest schedule of all the teams in the CAA. Another 1-seed upset would not at all surprise me here.
 
For those interested in other conferences: Minor upset in the Summit, with 6-seed North Dakota knocking off 3-seed South Dakota.
 
The 1-seed in the CAA (Hofstra) leaned on the 5-seed (Delaware), although they didn’t exactly blow them out. So no upset there.

Wofford, the SoCon 7-seed, is holding its own (barely) against the 1-seed in the championship game … lots of time left.

The 1-seed in the Horizon, Wright State, is in trouble against 4-seed Illinois-Chicago … down 49-31.

Anybody else out there watching some basketball ... and looking in on eGriz?
 
IdaGriz01 said:
The 1-seed in the CAA (Hofstra) leaned on the 5-seed (Delaware), although they didn’t exactly blow them out. So no upset there.

Wofford, the SoCon 7-seed, is holding its own (barely) against the 1-seed in the championship game … lots of time left.

The 1-seed in the Horizon, Wright State, is in trouble against 4-seed Illinois-Chicago … down 49-31.

Anybody else out there watching some basketball ... and looking in on eGriz?
I caught a little of the big sigh's womens tourney. the crowd, all 5 of them, was amazing! :clap:
 
IdaGriz01 said:
... The 1-seed in the Horizon, Wright State, is in trouble against 4-seed Illinois-Chicago … down 49-31.
And another one bites the dust!

Illinois-Chicago (16-16) pounded Wright State (25-6), 73-56. So the championship will feature the 4-seed against a 2 or 3.
 
LivingstonNative said:
SFO up 63 to 62 with seven minutes to go
Gonzaga playing like a team that knows it's going to get a bid, no matter what happens in this game (and they're right). Frisco knows it's "win or go home" for them. The WCC may well get three bids, but it sure as Hell won't get four.
 
Fair number of conference tournament games tonight, but not much drama ... except for the Gonzaga game against Saint Mary's. Even that is somewhat muted since both teams will almost certainly get bids anyway. The question will be what happens to BYU. They were ranked during the year and have good numbers ... but I'm not sure the committee is ready to give the WCC three bids.

The other championship and semi-final games had some moments but were, by-and-large, kinda boring.

About the only other drama was that North Carolina (the 14-seed) got some key players back and could be on a role -- clobbered Virginia Tech, 78-56.
 
And another one bites the dust!

The 3-seed in the Patriot League, Boston U, just knocked off the 1-seed, Colgate, 64-61, to win the auto-bid. Pretty exciting game at the end, BTW. I believe that makes three 1-seeds that have gone out. Do not see Colgate getting an at-large -- their numbers are crap. Enjoy the NIT, guys.
 
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