What a day yesterday. Lot of games, lot of impact, so I'm not going to waste a lot of time here. Lets jump straight into the tournament field. We now have three teams officially locked into the field with their conference's automatic berth. Florida Gulf Coast locked up the first spot as they took down Mercer in the Atlantic Sun championship game on Mercer's home court. In the Ohio Valley, Belmont left nothing to chance with an at large bid as they claimed the automatic berth as the tournament champion. A heartbreaking finish for their opponents Murray State, as with a tie game in overtime star guard Isaiah Canaan dribbled the ball off his foot to set up Belmont for the game winning shot. I hate to see Canaan finish his senior season that way, but bubble teams all over will be relieved to see that Belmont is not sitting in the at large pool. And in a surprise yesterday, Harvard clinched the automatic berth from the Ivy League as Princeton dropped a decisive game at Brown. With the first spots in the tournament field officially set, we now have 65 spots remaining.
Now, to fill those spots, after yesterday's eliminations we drop down to 214. A look at the teams eliminated reveals a long list: New Hampshire, VMI, Georgia Southern, Mercer, Wagner, Hartford, Lehigh, Gardner-Webb, Siena, Furman, Indiana State, Robert Morris, Drexel, Army, Illinois State, Canisius, Detroit, Binghamton, UNC Greensboro, Hofstra, Arkansas-Little Rock, IUPUI, Murray State, Princeton, Louisiana Lafayette, Rider, Maine, Western Carolina, William & Mary, Green Bay, Loyola Marymount, Eastern Washington, South Alabama, South Dakota, Troy, Loyola (MD), St Bonaventure, and San Diego. All were eliminated during their conference tournaments except for Eastern Washington and St Bonaventure. Eastern Washington was knocked out of contention for the Big Sky tournament with a loss to Weber State, and St Bonaventure was the odd man out in the Atlantic 10 final eliminated spot when they lost at home to Fordham and George Washington got by Dayton in overtime.
Today's conference tournament action sees no new tournaments starting today, but the championship game of the Big South tips off at 12:00pm ET with Liberty facing Charleston Southern, and at 2:05pm ET Creighton takes on Wichita State in the Missouri Valley championship game. Two winners will receive automatic bids, but the loser of Creighton and Wichita State should be safely in the field as an at large as well.
Outside of the tournaments, the regular season began wrapping up for some of the "major" conferences. For a look at how Saturday's games impacted these teams and conferences, just hit the jump.
In ACC play, Miami finally clinched the regular season title with a win over Clemson. They will take the top seed in the tournament, but their previous losing streak has likely dropped them too far to climb back into the discussion for a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Duke comes in at number two as they went on the road and put on a solid performance at North Carolina, who settled into the three seed for the tournament. Duke is still in very good position to take a 1-seed in the big dance, and it would likely take a bad loss early in the tournament to remove them from that spot. The fourth and fifth seed will be determined today with the result from Maryland at Virginia. A win by Virginia would give them the fourth seed, otherwise they'll fall to fifth and give NC State the four. NC State could have wrapped up a first round bye, but they dropped their season finale to Florida State, a game that will also hurt their projected seed in the NCAA tournament.
Of the two games remaining today, the game between Maryland and Virginia will still determine much more than seeding, as both teams are hanging on to varying levels of at large hopes, and a loss would be significantly damaging to either one at this late stage. The other game today pits Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, with the winner getting the 10-seed and the loser dropped to the 12-seed.
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The Atlantic 10, St Bonaventure became the final team to miss the tournament when they lost to lowly Fordham at home. George Washington had entered the day needing a win to avoid being that team, and they got it in the final seconds of overtime to beat Dayton. Had St Bonaventure been able to beat Fordham, Dayton would have been the team to take the drop with that loss. At the top of the conference, Saint Louis clinched the 1-seed with a win over La Salle. VCU is now officially in the 2-seed, but could share the regular season title with a win today over Temple. The 3-5 seeds are still dependent on today's result between VCU and Temple, with the only certainty being that La Salle is guaranteed either the three or four, guaranteeing a first round bye. Butler, with yesterday's win over Xavier, could fall into either the 4-seed with a Temple loss, or the 5-seed if Temple wins. Temple will wind up either the 3-seed with a win or the 5-seed with a loss. Massachusetts winds up in the six seed and Xavier in the seven, but both of these teams (as well as the rest below them) appear to need the automatic bid to make the NCAA tournament.
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The Big 12 had a bit of a twist at the end, as both Kansas and Kansas State went into their final game with the thought that a win would guarantee them a share of the regular season title. Well, they both lost, so they still get to share the regular season title. Kansas winds up as the top seed in the conference tournament while Kansas State gets the two. Oklahoma State takes the 3-seed as they got the win over Kansas State yesterday. Further down the bracket there were more twists as Oklahoma pulled a Kansas and lost to TCU. It didn't hurt their conference seed as they still sit in the 4-seed, but it will certainly hurt their NCAA seed. It shouldn't keep them out of the tournament but it is a really bad time to make the committee start second guessing your resume. Iowa State took care of business against West Virginia to solidify their place in the tournament field. Nothing they do in the tournament from the 5-seed should be able to keep them out at this point. Baylor, who will be playing in the 6-seed, did exactly what they needed in order to get back in the at large pool - beat Kansas. And they didn't just beat Kansas, they crushed Kansas. Baylor has reason to feel good today, but nothing is locked up yet, if they can follow it up with at least one win in the tournament (they face Oklahoma State) that should do it. A first round loss wouldn't be a bad loss, but they might be nervous on Selection Sunday. Texas, West Virginia, Texas Tech, and TCU round out the field in order from 7-10, but they will all need the automatic bid.
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The Big East finished in a three way tie at the top of the standings, as the three teams that were tied going into yesterday, all won to keep a share of the regular season title. Georgetown dominated Syracuse for forty minutes to take the 1-seed in a tiebreaker, Louisville took down Notre Dame to fall into the 2-seed, and Marquette needed overtime but beat St Johns to claim the 3-seed. Pittsburgh got a win over DePaul yesterday to take the final double-bye in the 4-seed. Syracuse, in a bit of a free fall recently, drops to the 5-seed. Notre Dame's loss relegates them to the 6-seed while Villanova, not in action yesterday, sits in the seven. Cincinnati came really close to making a strong case to free fall out of the at large pool altogether, but came back to beat South Florida in overtime at home. They shouldn't need to worry about missing the tournament now if they need an at large, but they have not been playing well down the stretch and a home loss to South Florida would have given cause to worry. They'll be in the 9-seed facing 8-seeded Providence, who had quietly been trying to make a last second push into the at large pool. It would have taken a lot anyway, but they came up short in a loss to Connecticut yesterday anyway. The loss for St Johns drops them all the way to the 10-seed, and once an at large contender, they'll need the automatic bid to get into the tournament now. Rutgers, Seton Hall, South Florida, and DePaul round out the field in seeds 11-14.
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The Big Ten title race was left until today, and all eyes will be on Indiana at Michigan at 4:00pm ET. Indiana can win the title outright with a win, or a win for Michigan opens the door for up to a four way tie looping in Michigan State and Ohio State. In action yesterday, Minnesota keeps puzzling everyone as they lost again, this time at Purdue. Their tournament resume is solid, but their recent play suggests their NCAA tournament seed will not be too favorable if they don't go on a run in the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa, also in action yesterday, held on to their at large hopes for the time being as they beat Nebraska at home. They will need to get something done in the tournament to make a case for themselves, but the door is open. The bulk of the conference tournament field will be set today, so check back tomorrow for the complete set up.
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Mountain West regular season action wrapped up yesterday with a bunch of twists and turns. New Mexico had clinched the regular season title and 1-seed, but they dropped their season finale at Air Force, a game that all of a sudden reopens their at large candidacy. Air Force will be the six seed in the conference tournament, and has an opportunity against three seed UNLV for another quality win. UNLV lost their season finale to Fresno State. A win in that game would have clinched the 2-seed. Instead that spot goes to Colorado State, who beat Nevada to close out the season. Boise State picked up an enormous win over San Diego State at home to close out the season, which should make them feel good about their at large chances. In the 5-seed, they get a chance to do it again in the tournament as San Diego State falls into the 4-seed.
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In the Pac-12, Oregon sputtered away the regular season title with back to back losses, culminating yesterday with a loss at lowly Utah. UCLA took advantage of the opening, and won at Washington to win the Pac-12 outright and claim the 1-seed. Oregon's loss dropped them down to the 3-seed, as California - not in action yesterday - moved into the 2-seed. Arizona topped Arizona State to clinch the 4-seed while effectively ending Arizona State's at large hopes and dropping them down to the 9-seed. Colorado closed the season with a bad loss to Oregon State, but holds the 5-seed anyway. The loss will hurt their projected tournament seeding, and they'll now get a rematch in the first round as Oregon State is the 12-seed in the tournament. The remaining teams will need the automatic bid to make it to the NCAA tournament, but the field is rounded out by 6 seed Washington facing 11 seed Washington State, 7-seed USC facing 10-seed Utah, and 8-seed Stanford facing the aforementioned 9-seed Arizona State.
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In SEC action, the teams that needed to get something/anything done did so. Kentucky somehow overcame a late deficit to beat Florida, as Florida did not score a point in the last 7:30 of the game. They get the 2-seed, behind Florida with this win, but they'll still need to avoid losing their first game in the SEC tournament. The 3-seed goes to Ole Miss as they beat LSU yesterday, but they'll likely need at least one tournament win as well to help their chances, and they face a dangerous potential game in their first match-up with Missouri in the 6-seed. Alabama hit a half court shot as time expired to beat Georgia yesterday, a game they had to win, and it got them the 4-seed. Their resume is still not very impressive, and the potential matchup with 5-seed Tennessee may be an at large elimination game. Tennessee did get a big win over Missouri yesterday, but can't feel safe yet and losing to Alabama (or earlier) would be damaging to their chances. Arkansas got a win over Texas A&M yesterday and land in the 7-seed, but they will likely need to beat Kentucky in their potential second tournament game in order to have a legitimate shot at an at large still. The rest of the field needs to win the tournament, but has in order from 8-14: Georgia, LSU, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Auburn. This should be a very interesting tournament, with a lot of teams with fringe at large chances picking each other off.
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