Consider this Part 2 of last night’s rant…..\u00a0 \u00a0This article has multiple purposes.\u00a0 Most important purpose is to honor all the Regular Season Conference Champions – they deserve a chance to get some recognition, even if it is simply a place in the Lunatic’s Blog.\u00a0 But it also is an opportunity to start to break down the bubble.\u00a0 I will divide the teams into groups – based on which conference tournaments could have the possibility of bursting a bubble if the conference champion loses…..<\/p>\n
Must win the conference championship – will not get any consideration for an at-large<\/strong><\/p>\n Conf USA – North Texas (NET 96, 20-11, 14-4) – March 14th<\/p>\n WAC – New Mexico State (NET 105, 25-6, 16-0) – March 14th<\/p>\n Big West – UC-Irvine (NET 113, 21-11, 13-3) – March 14th<\/p>\n Patriot – Colgate (NET 115, 25-8, 14-4) – March 11th<\/p>\n Horizon – Wright State (NET 120, 25-6, 15-3) – March 10th (Editor’s Note – they are losing tonight in their semi-final to UIC by double digits – YIKES!)<\/p>\n Colonial – Hofstra (NET 122, 24-8, 14-4) – March 10th<\/p>\n Big Sky – Eastern Washington (NET 135, 23-8, 16-4) – March 14th<\/p>\n Summit – North Dakota State (NET 137, 23-8, 13-3) and South Dakota State (NET 129, 22-10, 13-3) – March 10th<\/p>\n Sun Belt – Ark – Little Rock (NET 141, 21-10, 15-5) – March 15th<\/p>\n MAAC – Siena (NET 155, 19-10, 15-5) – March 14th<\/p>\n SWAC – Prairie View A&M (NET 202, 18-13, 14-4) – March 14th<\/p>\n NEC – St. Francis PA (NET 173, 22-9, 13-5) and Robert Morris (NET 214, 19-14, 13-5) – March 10th\u00a0 \u00a0 (special call-out at bottom of blog)<\/p>\n MEAC – NC Central (NET 257, 17-13, 13-3) – March 14th<\/p>\n Must win the conference championship –\u00a0but since at least one bubble team with an RPI between 50 and 80 will get in, it feels like we should say they will get considered for an at-large bid.\u00a0 History says they will not…..<\/strong><\/p>\n Ivy – Yale (NET 70, 23-7, 11-3) – March 15th<\/p>\n MAC – Akron (NET 74, 24-7, 14-4) – March 14th<\/p>\n Southland – Stephen F Austin (NET 77, 28-3, 19-1) – March 14th<\/p>\n America East – Vermont (NET 79, 25-7, 14-2) – March 14th<\/p>\n Lost their conference tournament but is in the NET Top 50 – they will at least get considered…..<\/strong><\/p>\n Missouri Valley – Northern Iowa (NET 48, 14-4, 25-6) – BRADLEY won tourney<\/p>\n PLAYING RIGHT NOW – In the NET Top 50 – a bubble will burst if ETSU lose – but hopefully that bubble wouldn’t have been ETSU.\u00a0 Well, hopefully, they will win and we won’t have to ever find out……<\/strong><\/p>\n Southern – East Tennessee State (NET 39, 29-4, 16-2)<\/p>\n WON THEIR TOURNEY CHAMPIONSHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n Atlantic Sun – Liberty (NET 68, 30-4, 13-3) – special note….\u00a0 the NCAA shows the current and previous NET ranking.\u00a0 Liberty’s ranking went from 64th to 68th thanks to winning their conference tournament…….\u00a0 That just doesn’t seem right……..\u00a0 So, I had to check, three teams that passed Liberty this week while the Flames were winning 3 games were St. John’s (who lost at Butler by 22), Syracuse (who lost at Miami in OT) and Tennessee (who lost by 22 at HOME to Auburn).\u00a0 So the Flames got passed by two teams that lost by over 20 points to potential tournament teams and one who lost to a team who likely won’t make the tournament – while all they did was win three games to claim their conference championship.\u00a0 \u00a0Sure – Auburn and Butler (and even Miami) are better teams than Liberty beat in the Atlantic Sun tournament.\u00a0 \u00a0But I am pretty sure that if you gave the Flames a chance to play Butler or Auburn, they could at least not lose by more than 22 points……\u00a0 Have to say – that still doesn’t seem right – it is the truth, but doesn’t seem right……<\/p>\n OVC – Belmont (NET 101, 26-7, 15-3)\u00a0 – beat co-champion Murray State (NET 134, 23-9, 15-3)<\/p>\n Big South – Winthrop (NET 146, 24-10, 15-3) – co-champion Radford lost before the championship game (NET 184, 21-11, 15-3)<\/p>\n BUBBLE GOT SEMI-BURST<\/strong><\/p>\n Mountain West – San Diego State (NET 4, 30-2, 17-1) – lost to Utah State in the championship.\u00a0 San Diego State is a lock to make it – Utah State was on the bubble but now they don’t need to worry (someone else does….)<\/p>\n REMAINING SMALL CONFERENCE LOCKS – these conferences will take a spot away from the bubble since at least the top team is a lock to make the tournament<\/strong><\/p>\n American – Houston (NET 20, 23-8, 13-5), Cincinnati (NET 51, 20-10, 13-5) and Tulsa (NET 78, 21-10, 13-5).\u00a0 Houston has the type of profile (top 25 NET and in the AP\/Coaches Top 25) to survive a loss (although they might get a little uncomfortable if that lost is in the quarterfinals). – March 15th<\/p>\n West Coast – Gonzaga (NET 2, 29-2, 15-1).\u00a0 Bubble bursts if Gonzaga or BYU doesn’t win.\u00a0 St. Mary’s is on the bubble and would love to upset BYU and Gonzaga so they don’t have to sweat out Selection Sunday. – March 10th<\/p>\n Atlantic 10 – Dayton (NET 3, 29-2, 18-0).\u00a0 Richmond is clearly on the bubble – but since they are so close to the cut line, you have to figure anyone outside of Dayton winning is making the bubble smaller. – March 15th<\/p>\n MAJOR CONFERENCES – many others from these conferences could win without reducing the true bubble, but these conference champs are all locks.\u00a0 And while the point was to recognize the small conference champs, it feels awkward not to give these champs their praise as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n Big 12 – Kansas (NET 1, 28-3, 17-1) – March 14th<\/p>\n ACC – Florida State (NET 10, 26-5, 16-4) – March 14th<\/p>\n Big East – Creighton (NET 11, 24-7, 13-5), Villanova (NET 13, 24-7, 13-5) and Seton Hal (NET 15, 21-9, 13-5) – March 14th<\/p>\n Pac 12 – Oregon (NET 12, 24-7, 13-5) – March 14th<\/p>\n SEC – Kentucky (NET 21, 25-6, 15-3) – March 15th….\u00a0 \u00a0Have to add not sure how the 7th\/8th team in the country (depending on if you agree with the Coaches or the AP) has a NET ranking of 21st…\u00a0 Suspect it has to do with losing to Evansville in the first game of the season – of which if that is the case, it is kind of sad……<\/p>\n Big 10 – Wisconsin (NET 24, 21-10, 14-6), Michigan State (NET 7, 22-9, 14-6), and Maryland (NET 18, 24-7, 14-6) – March 15th<\/p>\n SPECIAL CALLOUT IN THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n The actual conference champion in the NEC was Merrimack (NET 217, 20-11, 14-4).\u00a0 But because of the NCAA rules around schools transitioning to Division 1, Merrimack isn’t eligible to play in the NCAA Tournament, and thus, won’t be playing in the NEC conference tournament championship.\u00a0 However, Merrimack deserves to be on this list – it is truly incredible to be in your first season in Division 1 basketball and end up finishing as the outright regular season champion.\u00a0 Sadly, they have to hope that the CBI or CIT will invite them since they are ineligible for the two bigger NCAA-run tournaments.<\/p>\n And while I don’t want to jinx it, right now, East Tennessee State looks like they are going to lock up their bid as they have a 68-54 lead over Wofford with 1 minute and 37 seconds left.\u00a0 That will be good for the bubble, but even better for East Tennessee State – a 29\/30 win team deserves to be dancing in March!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So – there you go!\u00a0 All the regular season champions got some recognition (hopefully, I didn’t forget someone as I was typing).\u00a0 And you get a Championship Week viewing guide – when championship games will be, which conferences might impact the bubble, which teams to root for simply because they deserve to dance and winning their tournament is the only way that will happen…..\u00a0 It should be a great week of basketball!!!!\u00a0 \u00a0As for tonight, I am going to work further on my bracketology strategy – and maybe watch a little of the West Coast semi-finals.\u00a0 Gonzaga is playing next (although would have preferred to see BYU \/ St. Mary’s).\u00a0 Don’t think it is a good idea to stay up for the 11:30 pm EST start time – that seems like creating sleep deprivation that isn’t necessary as much as I would like to watch.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Consider this Part 2 of last night’s rant…..\u00a0 \u00a0This article has multiple purposes.\u00a0 Most important purpose is to honor all the Regular Season Conference Champions – they deserve a chance to get some recognition, even if it is simply a place in the Lunatic’s Blog.\u00a0 But it also is an opportunity to start to break 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