Monday of Championship Week is typically a showcase for the mid-major conferences. None of the major conference championships start until Tuesday and Wednesday. And so all the games are from the smaller conference – including the championship finals of the Southern and MAAC Conferences.
The Southern Conference Championship was of particular interest this year, because it is very rare when you see a ranked team from the Southern Conference. But that is what Wofford was tonight – as they brought their 20th ranking in the AP poll and 28-4 record to Asheville, NC to play against 2nd seed UNC-Greensboro, who was no slouch at 28-5.
And with 5 minutes and 41 seconds left in the game, UNC-Greensboro led 55-50. And every team on the bubble’s worse nightmare was starting to become a potential reality – that the 20th ranked Wofford Terriers who have a NCAA NET ranking of 14th would need an at-large bid to get into a tournament – one the Selection Committee most likely would have given.
Then, for the next 4 1/2 minutes, the Terriers went on a 16-0 run, going on to win the Southern Conference Championship 70-58 and ending UNC-Greensboro’s upset bid. The Spartans now have to hope that their 28-6 record, a close game against Wofford (well – close if you actually watched the game, it is unusual that a team leads for most of the game and ends up losing by 12) and NET ranking of 58th and their close 6 point loss at LSU in November will be enough to get in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Spartans, if the Selection Committee does what it normally does, that will not likely be enough – which is why the rest of the Bubble was hyper-ventilating for 35 minutes and can suddenly catch their breath.
Wofford is the Southern Conference Champions and will be heading to the Big Dance. And there will be one more team from the bubble making their way into the tournament because the Terriers had an amazing final 5 minutes to save their undefeated conference record and gain the automatic bid. Congratulations to the Wofford Terriers!