Conference tournaments started last week with a few teams punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament over the weekend:
Atlantic Sun: Kennesaw State secured their first ever bid to the dance with a 67-66 victory over Liberty, the conference heavyweight. Amir Abdur-Rahim has been nothing short of fantastic turning around a team that went 1-28 just three seasons ago. I wonder if he's a candidate for the Georgia Tech job. He's certainly deserving of promotion.
Big South: Speaking of coaches who have done great jobs, Mike Morrell took over a UNC Asheville team that went 4-27 in his first year and four years later has the Bulldogs back in the tournament. ETSU has been garbage recently so maybe that's a landing spot for Morrell should he move on (SoCon is a step up from the Big South). 7th seed Campbell nearly did the impossible and won four games in five days but ran out of gas down the stretch coupled with a hot streak from UNCA player Tajion Jones. Campbell runs the Princeton offense which is very effective. The Fighting Camels are off to the CAA next year. I don't think UNCA has true upset potential, but they do have some size down low with Tennessee transfer Drew Pember.
Missouri Valley: All Darian DeVries does is win, as he secured his fifth straight 20 win season at Drake and the school's second NCAA bid in the past three years. Despite being a two seed in the conference tourney, their collective experience makes them an intriguing pick in a round of 64 game depending on the matchup. I believe I saw a graphic that said Drake's starting 5 is older than a couple NBA teams which is crazy. The Bulldogs knocked off the top seed Bradley in the finals. DeVries is an Iowa native, but I don't see either P6 job in the state opening unless Fran McCaffery leaves for another job like Notre Dame. Maybe Minnesota might be an option as well.
Ohio Valley: 5th seed Southeast Missouri State secured their first bid in 23 years, knocking off 2nd seed Tennessee Tech in overtime (a team that hasn't made the big dance since 1963). I actually caught a part of the game towards the end and it was absolutely crazy. TTU thought they had won at the buzzer but their guy had a toe on the line sending the game to overtime. SEMO is probably a 16 seed in the tournament as the OVC was gutted following the departures of Belmont and Murray State to the MVC.
A few championships coming up in the coming days:
NEC: Merrimack and Fairleigh Dickinson face off Tuesday. Merrimack is ineligible for the tournament because the NCAA is stupid so FDU is in the field regardless of what happens. I mentioned Abdur-Rahim and Morrell as coaches who have done great jobs at their respective schools but Tobin Anderson may have done the best job of the three. Fairleigh Dickinson won 4 games all of last year and was in complete shambles. Anderson arrives and in year 1 wins 19 games and gets them to the tournament. Their team lost a close game to Loyola and beat St. Joe's outright during OOC play. I think the main takeaway is that more teams in small conferences should hire successful coaches from the D2 ranks. Joe Gallo has also done a good job at Merrimack and deserves to be in line for a slightly better job regionally - maybe Holy Cross or New Hampshire.
Patriot: Colgate and Lafayette square off in the championship. Not much to say here other than it would be absolutely stunning if Toothpaste U manages to lose to the Leopards. Lafayette has had a roller coaster of a season under Mike Jordan (not that one). Funnily enough, Jordan was an assistant at Colgate for a number of years. Unfortunately, there were abuse allegations earlier in the season and he has not coached recently. It's even more incredible that Lafayette has stayed afloat despite that - they did lose a close game to St. Joe's in OOC play and beat La Salle by 25. It's all about the 'gate though. I'm not sure what job Matt Langel is holding out for. Seems like St. Joe's isn't ready to move on from Lange yet - maybe Temple?
SoCon: There's a rematch in the championship game here as Furman takes on Chattanooga in Asheville. The Paladins are the favorite and have not made the tournament since 1980. They will be plenty motivated against the Mocs having lost to them at the buzzer in last year's final. 'nooga is a different team when Jake Stephens is in the lineup and he should play in today's game. With Lamont Paris taking the South Carolina job, the Mocs hired Dan Earl from VMI (a coach that stays in conference doesn't happen too often but it's a significantly better job). Chattanooga isn't very strong defensively so if their threes aren't falling that should make it Furman's game but the Paladins have limped to the final, trailing Shawn Walker's Mercer Bears at halftime and needing overtime to take out a Western Carolina team they were beating by 20 earlier.
Sun Belt: Louisiana and South Alabama are the last teams standing in the conference. The Ragin' Cajuns defeated USA in both meetings during the regular season but the Jaguars are entering the final with great momentum. Per Bart Torvik they have played like the 25th best team in the country since late January but a cold start has them as the 8 seed in the tournament. I think either team has a chance to make things interesting in an NCAA game.
A couple more highlights from the past few days:
9th seed Northern Arizona defeated top seed Eastern Washington in Big Sky quarterfinal action. I can't imagine what it's like being an EWU fan that started conference play 16-0 only to lose their last three games at a critical point in the season. At least they get the NIT. Northern Arizona has lost a lot of close games this season so I guess they were due. Montana State, last year's champion, is probably the heavy favorite in the conference now.
My personal favorite highlight (or I guess lowlight) comes from the Mustangs of San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly was down 3 to UC Riverside and their guard lost track of the time/score and went in for a layup. I couldn't stop laughing but also feel for him/team. If there's a silver lining at least it wasn't in the conference tournament because there's probably not a worse way to end a season. The coaches of these two teams are headed in different directions. UCR's coach Magpayo is deserving of promotion while Poly's coach John Smith is probably let go (although I think they've played better than their record suggests). It's just a tough job.
The Dude wrote: