Futility
For the second night in a row, one of the core four Futility
schools participated in their inaugural 2018 post season game, and limited
their post season to forty total minutes.
Tonight, it was NEC quarter final night, and St. Francis NY never really
provided much of a challenge for LIU losing by a final margin of 23 points. That makes our Mount Rushmore of Futility zero
for two, and Thursday will be an off day before The Citadel jumps into Southern
Conference Tournament action on Friday.
Elsewhere, in the OVC ladder tournament SIU Edwardsville
dropped their opener against Tennessee Tech.
It will be ten seasons of Division I play without an NCAA appearance for
the Cougars. 29 of the 43 Futility
schools are still alive
Drought
Toggling back to the NEC we had the first major seed upsets
of the tournament, which was even more surprising given the top seed home court
advantage the format provides, and the nearly .800 home court winning
percentage those four teams collectively boasted.
Nevertheless, while we just ticked into March officially, the seventh
seed Robert Morris and the sixth seed Fairleigh Dickinson provided some
magic. Both teams had two regular season
losses against their opponents, but it was the third that mattered most, which
was extra painful for St. Francis PA has this will now be 27 years without an
NCAA tournament. That streak is
currently 34th on the Drought list.
Rough night for the holy franks.
Tennessee Tech is seventh on that list, and while it came at
the expense of SIU Edwardsville, the Eagles live to see another day. Eastern Illinois similarly survived another day, but at the expense of Tennessee State and their now 24 year long streak of heartbreak.
Conference Tournaments
Seven tournaments are in action tomorrow, including two for
the first time this year. First we have
semifinal action in the Atlantic Sun.
Florida Gulf Coast is the overwhelming favorite and will take on North
Florida. The other semifinal features a
Futility school in Lipscomb against a Jacksonville team who hasn’t made the
tournament since 1986.
Three leagues are in the quarterfinal rounds. The Big South resumes with action in
Asheville, NC after first round campus sites.
Gardner Webb will be looking to take a step toward their first NCAA
appearance against a Winthrop team that is seemingly in the dance every
year. Longwood, the ten seed, will look
to continue their run against the second seeded Radford. Campbell and their dynamic guard Chris
Clemons are looking for the first trip since 1992, and will take on Liberty in
the nightcap. The game will follow the
top seed UNC Asheville who will be hosting Charleston Southern who has not made
the tournament since 1997.
The Patriot League is back in action again at campus sites
for their final eight teams. Colgate is
the second seed and will host Lafayette.
The Raiders of Hamilton, NY have not made the NCAA since 1996 when
Adonal Foyle took them to the promised land.
Navy, who has not been in the brackets since 1998, will be hosting Holy
Cross.
The Ohio Valley has two quarterfinal games on the
schedule. The previously mentioned
Tennessee Tech will start the action taking on the four seed Jacksonville State
and March wizard Ray Harper. Eastern
Illinois will look
to take another step toward ending their own as they will face Austin Peay in
the second game.
The Big Ten tips at noon in the Garden with four second
round games. Rutgers avoided elimination
tonight against Minnesota, and will take on Indiana tomorrow night. The Scarlet Knights own the longest drought
in the Power Six conferences at 26 years and counting.
As for the new tournaments beginning play, the MAAC has
three first round games tomorrow.
Quinnipiac is in the middle game, hosting Siena, and looking for their
first ever trip. Marist, the last place
eleven seed, has less optimism but will be looking for their first return trip
since 1987. The Red Foxes drew
Fairfield, who is 61st on the Drought list having not went since
1997.
The Missouri Valley is our final conference in action tomorrow. Evansville and Missouri State are tied on the drought list with both teams in the 1999 NCAA field. The Aces will have Northern Iowa in the opening first round game. Missouri State will have Valparaiso in the following game.
Notable Games (predictions in italics, 3-1 last night, 2-2
from pending games previous night, 69-45 overall, 1 game pending from tonight)
Thursday's top five as I see them:
#5 Oregon State at Washington- Washington 73, Oregon State
71
#4 Marshall at UAB- UAB 78, Marshall 74
#3 Weber State at Montana- Montana 75, Weber State 70
#2 Virginia at Louisville- Virginia 67, Louisville 65
No comments:
Post a Comment