Games Mar. 2-8

[triaddukefan]

Last day of the regular season for the Big South. Hampton at Radford in the battle for the #2 seed in the conference tournament. UNC-A visits HPU in probably the last WCBB game ever in the Historic Millis Center.

 

[Plebe]

Central Michigan has been playing with fire all season, and it seems to be catching up to them.

They're in another dogfight, down 3 to Eastern Michigan in 3Q. This would be CMU's third consecutive loss, and their second straight loss to a sub-100 team.

Just a week ago CMU looked like a lock. They have a very high RPI but their resume is actually quite weak, and this losing skid is jeopardizing their chances at an at-large bid. They might need to win the MAC tournament if they can't win today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

They have a very high RPI but their resume is actually quite weak

I know this happens, but it seems rather counter intuitive.

 

[nwhoopfan]

CMU won by 7.

Oklahoma is getting boat raced by Texas Tech. Didn't that just happen? Nearly gave up 60 points in the first half.

 

[Plebe]

Western Kentucky survives a scare vs. Louisiana Tech, 71-67. For a team right near the cut line, this was an absolute must-win.

Missouri State also had a close game with Loyola Chicago, but pulled away late for a 72-61 game in Alexa Willard's final home game.

 

[Plebe]

A couple of important C-USA games between bubble teams:

MTSU surges late for a 79-74 win at Charlotte.

Old Dominion and Rice are tied 41-41 in mid-3Q. ODU beat Rice a few weeks ago in Norfolk, but has since taken 2 losses to fall a game behind Rice in the standings.

 

[triaddukefan]

The CUSA tournament should be fun... too bad its on CBS Sports

 

[Plebe]

ODU and Rice are going down to the wire. Two point game with about 3:00 left. Too bad this game isn’t on espn3.

Another huge game with bubble implications under way with TCU visiting Morgantown. WV needs this win very badly to stabilize their resume.

 

[triaddukefan]

In Big South Action..... Radford defeats Hampton and claims the 2nd seed in the conference. The Camels of Campbell couldnt get over the hump and lost to Garner Webb. On senior night.... My Panthers of HPU blasted the Bulldogs of UNC-A. .... 89-62. NO ONE want to face HPU in the tournament that starts in a few days.

 

[triaddukefan]

 

[Plebe]

Rice prevails by 3 over ODU in a very back and forth game with lots of lead changes. What a mess the bubble is this year. ODU looked to be in decent shape just a week ago. Now two losses in a row and it’s anyone’s guess.

The bubble picture with the CUSA teams is a total mess. Could be a one bid league or could get 3 or 4 teams to sneak in.

 

[LETTERL]

In the Southland, Nicholls and Incarnate Word finished tied for 6th in the conference standings; Nicholls gets the #7 seed in next week's conference tournament since Incarnate Word won the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season. The Colonels will face either Stephen F. Austin or Abilene Christian in the first round of the conference tournament.

 

[Plebe]

In the Southland, Nicholls and Incarnate Word finished tied for 6th in the conference standings; Nicholls gets the #7 seed in next week's conference tournament since Incarnate Word won the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season. The Colonels will face either Stephen F. Austin or Abilene Christian in the first round of the conference tournament.

Actually that isn’t quite correct.

I’ve mentioned that the Southland has the most elaborate tiebreak procedures I’ve ever seen. Part of that is because they don’t use H2H as the tiebreaker if the teams in question played only once and the home team won. That was the case here, as Nicholls lost a heartbreaker in San Antonio when Incarnate Word hit a last second 3.

The next step in the tiebreaker is record against other teams whom both played twice. Long story short, it came down to Nicholls’ recent win over 5th place New Orleans, which made them 1-1 vs. UNO compared to UIW’s 0-2 record. So Nicholls actually gets the 6 seed

 

[Plebe]

In the Southland, Nicholls and Incarnate Word finished tied for 6th in the conference standings; Nicholls gets the #7 seed in next week's conference tournament since Incarnate Word won the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season. The Colonels will face either Stephen F. Austin or Abilene Christian in the first round of the conference tournament.

Having said all that ... the next creative twist is that the Southland doesn’t use a typical 8-team draw. The top 2 seeds get a double bye to the semifinals, and seeds 3 and 4 get a single bye to the quarterfinals. That means that the 6 and 7 seeds meet in the first round — which would be Nicholls and Incarnate Word, so it didn’t really matter who won the tiebreaker after all