Today, we saw the stupidity behind conference tournaments. This season, the America East decided to host its conference tournament in Albany. #1 seed Vermont, who lost only one game in the conference all year, was stuck playing #4 Albany, who lost seven conference games. Not entirely surprisingly, behind its home crowd, Albany knocked off Vermont, eliminating who is clearly the America East's best team from tournament consideration.
One wonders why these conference tournaments persist as the way teams are selected for the NCAA tournament. Look, Vermont's regular season championship cannot be taken away, but it is well known that what is played for is the NCAA tournament. So why should Vermont have had to travel to the home of the conference's fourth-best team for a win-or-go-home game? Keep the conference tournaments, especially for tiebreakers, but make any outright regular season champions the automatic bid.
The same thing, to a lesser extent, happened to Davidson in the Southern Conference tournament. Davidson had, far and away, the best season of any Southern team, and it was as hot as any mid- or low-major. It unfortunately ran into a lucky Western Carolina team today, and was eliminated. The Southern will now send a team to the NCAA tournament who couldn't even finish in the top 2 in the conference for a sure-fire first-round loss.
Major conference regular seasons are also winding down, and the big news of the day on that front was Minnesota and Maryland keeping their tourney hopes alive. Maryland still has plenty of work to do, but its upset of Virginia was quite important. Minnesota was closer to start the day, but winning at home against Penn State just kept Minnesota alive, not really doing much to move the Gophers.
@Maryland 75, Virginia 69 - win not enough for Maryland to sneak into tourney, UVA seed in trouble
Syracuse 74, @Florida State 58 - FSU misses out on major win, tourney bid still in doubt
Saint Louis 64, @Massachusetts 62 - excellent road win for SLU to get back on track
La Salle 71, @Saint Joseph's 63 - very bad home loss for St. Joe's, seed will drop
@Ohio State 69, Michigan State 67 - expected home win, but MSU still in trouble
@Minnesota 81, Penn State 63 - Gophers still alive for NCAA tourney upon good B10 tourney
@Nebraska 77, @Wisconsin 68 - huge win for Nebraska, alive for at-large berth
Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship
#2 Mercer 68, #1 Florida Gulf Coast 60
Notes: Mercer gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Florida Gulf Coast.
Big South Tournament Championship
#1S Coastal Carolina 76, #4S Winthrop 61
Notes: Coastal Carolina gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Conway, SC.
Missouri Valley Tournament Championship
#1 Wichita State 83, #2 Indiana State 69
Notes: Wichita State gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Saint Louis, MO.
America East Tournament
#4 Albany 67, #1 Vermont 58
#2 Stony Brook 69, #3 Hartford 64
Notes: Winners play for America East Conference Tournament Championship on March 15 at Stony Brook. Semifinals held at Albany, NY.
Colonial Tournament
#1 Delaware 87, #5 Northeastern 74
#3 William & Mary 75, #2 Towson 71
Notes: See below for future tournament information. All games at Baltimore, MD.
MAAC Tournament
#1 Iona 75, #4 Canisius 72
#2 Manhattan 87, #3 Quinnipiac 68
Notes: See below for future tournament information. All games at Springfield, MA.
Southern Tournament
#5 Western Carolina 99, #1 Davidson 97 (OT)
#3 Wofford 71, #7 Georgia Southern 57
Notes: See below for future tournament information. All games at Asheville, NC.
Summit Tournament
#4 Denver 71, #5 South Dakota 55
#3 South Dakota State 71, #6 Western Illinois 50
Notes: See below for future tournament information. All games at Sioux Falls, SD.
The regular season is over, and all that is left are conference tournaments. Three more teams will get their automatic berths on Monday, while the MAC and MEAC tournaments get underway.
Colonial Athletic Conference Tournament Championship
#1 Delaware vs. #3 William & Mary
Notes: Winner gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Baltimore, MD.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament Championship
#1 Iona vs. #2 Manhattan
Notes: Winner gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Springfield, MA.
Southern Conference Tournament Championship
#3 Wofford vs. #5 Western Carolina
Notes: Winner gets automatic NCAA tournament bid. Game at Asheville, NC.
MAC Tournament
#12 Ball State at #5 Ohio
#9 Kent State at #8 Miami (OH)
#11 Central Michigan at #6 Eastern Michigan
#10 Bowling Green at #7 Northern Illinois
Notes: Ohio/Ball State plays Miami (OH)/Kent State and Eastern Michigan/Central Michigan plays Northern Illinois/Bowling Green on March 12. Later games at Cleveland, OH.
MEAC Tournament
#5 Savannah State vs. #12 South Carolina State
#4 Norfolk State vs. #13 Maryland Eastern Shore
Notes: Winners play on March 13 in MEAC quarterfinals. All games at Norfolk, VA.
Summit Tournament
#1 North Dakota State vs. #4 Denver
#2 IPFW vs. #3 South Dakota State
Notes: Winners play on March 11 in The Summit League Tournament Championship. All games at Sioux Falls, SD.
West Coast Tournament
#1 Gonzaga vs. #4 Saint Mary's
#2 BYU vs. #3 San Francisco
Notes: Winners play on March 11 in the West Coast Conference Tournament Championship. All games at Las Vegas, NV.
No comments:
Post a Comment