Until Championship Saturday, Tuesday night will go down as the biggest night in terms of conference championships, with five automatic bids getting handed out. Whereas Sunday’s set of four championship games had a little bit of everything, Tuesday night’s consisted of four convincing wins and an overtime affair. All have their own little stories as well.
We’ll start with the lone overtime game, which was the CAA championship in North Charleston, SC. Northeastern had blitzed their first two opponents in the tournament, and looked like they might be on their way to another convincing win for all the marbles as the first half came to a close. The Huskies ended the half on a 14-2 run to go up by 13 at the break, and the lead would reach 17 a few minutes into the second half. The Cougars, who were the preseason favorites and playing in front of a home crowd just a few miles from campus, got the lead down to ten, then ran off nine unanswered points to get close, and would ultimately send it to overtime. In the extra session, the Cougars took control, going up by six points about three minutes in, and the Huskies could get no closer than three the rest of the way as the Cougars pulled out an 83-76 win. Two of the conference’s top players did all they could for their teams, with Joe Chealey scoring 32 points to lead the Cougars and Vasa Pusica leading Northeastern with 30. We will have more on this later.
At the same time, the Northeast Conference championship game was going on, and LIU used a big 15-2 run in the first half to go up 34-18 at halftime. Behind Joel Hernandez (32 points) and Raiquan Clark (20 points, eight rebounds), the Blackbirds held off regular season champion Wagner 71-61 to reach the NCAA Tournament in Derek Kellogg’s first year at the helm. Certainly, the firing of Jack Perri a year ago seemed odd considering they had won 20 games, but credit Kellogg for bouncing back from a tough end to his tenure at UMass to get a new program back to the NCAA Tournament.
The Horizon League championship game had the possibility of providing the first conference champion with a sub-.500 record this year, as Cleveland State took their 12-23 mark into the game against Wright State. The Raiders took care of business, however, beating the Vikings 74-57 for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2007.
The two late championship games were a bit different, but neither was a real nailbiter. In the Summit League championship, South Dakota State was threatened by South Dakota in the second half, but the Jackrabbits had too much for the Coyotes in a 97-87 win behind 29 points from David Jenkins Jr. It’s the third straight Summit League championship for the Jackrabbits, the last two coming in the first two years for T.J. Otzelberger at the helm.
Bubble teams can breathe a little bit easier after Gonzaga took care of BYU 74-54 to win the West Coast Conference championship, as the Cougars were hoping to be bid thieves. The Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to extend their streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to 20, a streak that is matched or bettered by only Kansas (28), Duke (22) and Michigan State (20).
Side Dishes
The America East championship game matchup is set, and it will have UMBC traveling to Vermont after the Retrievers beat Hartford 75-60 and the Catamounts beat Stony Brook 70-51.
There were no surprises in the opening round of the ACC Tournament, although Pittsburgh gave Notre Dame all they could handle before succumbing 67-64.
As coaching news continues to occupy a fair amount of the news cycle, a very interesting report emerged that Memphis may fire Tubby Smith and replace him with program legend Penny Hardaway. While a good coach, Smith is clearly not a good fit, something that became apparent around this time last year as the Tigers finished a bad year and then saw a good deal of attrition, including the transfer of the Lawson brothers. Attendance has continued to nosedive to the point where it is the lowest in almost 50 years. One thing that could scuttle this is that Smith has a nearly $10 million buyout.
Former NBA star Reggie Theus is out at Cal State Northridge after five seasons. The program struggled during his tenure, never reaching .500 and also self-imposing a postseason ban in 2016-17 after an investigation into alleged academic issues.
Also out as head coach is Ken Burmeister at Incarnate Word. Burmeister spent 12 seasons at the school dating back to their Division II days, and while ten of those years saw winning seasons, this year was not a good one as they went 7-21 overall including a 2-16 mark in the Southland Conference. You can keep track of all the coaching changes right here on Hoopville.
San Diego head coach Lamont Smith will not face charges after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence in northern California over a week ago. Smith, who is on administrative leave, was arrested at Oakland International Airport after the Toreros finished a weekend road series, and while in the clear legally, he may have an uncertain future at his alma mater.
Tonight’s Menu
One of the busiest days of tournament action is ahead of us on Wednesday, with just one championship game among them.
- The Patriot League championship game has Colgate visiting Bucknell (7:30 p.m.)
- Second round action in the ACC Tournament is on tap in Brooklyn, with Louisville taking on Florida State (noon), then Boston College taking on NC State (2:30 p.m.) in the back half of the afternoon session. In the evening, Notre Dame has an opportunity as they take on Virginia Tech (7 p.m.) and Syracuse likewise has one as they take on North Carolina (9:30 p.m.)
- First round action is on tap in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, with No. 13 UMass taking on No. 12 La Salle (6 p.m.) followed by No. 14 Fordham facing No. 11 George Washington (8:30 p.m.)
- Bedlam will get the Big 12 Tournament going as Oklahoma takes on Oklahoma State (7 p.m.), then Iowa State takes on Texas (9:30 p.m.)
- The Big East Tournament gets started with St. John’s taking on Georgetown (7 p.m.) and DePaul taking on Marquette (9:30 p.m.)
- In the Conference USA Tournament in Frisco, TX, first round action has Southern Miss taking on Florida International (7 p.m.), UTEP taking on UT San Antonio (7:30 p.m.), then Louisiana Tech takes on North Texas (9:30 p.m.) and Florida Atlantic takes on UAB (10 p.m.)
- The MEAC Tournament has its first two quarterfinals, with Florida A&M taking on Hampton (6 p.m.) and Morgan State taking on Bethune-Cookman (8:30 p.m.)
- The Mountain West Tournament gets underway in Las Vegas, starting with Air Force taking on UNLV (2 p.m.), then Colorado State battles Utah State (4:30 p.m.) and San Jose State takes on Wyoming (7 p.m.)
- First round action in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas has Arizona State taking on Colorado (3 p.m.), a rivalry game with Cal taking on Stanford (5:30 p.m.), Oregon State taking on Washington (9 p.m.) and Washington State taking on Oregon (11:30 p.m.)
- The SEC Tournament gets going in St. Louis with Vanderbilt taking on Georgia (7 p.m.) followed by Ole Miss taking on South Carolina (9:30 p.m.)
- Also getting underway is the Southland Conference Tournament, where Texas A&M-CC takes on New Orleans (6 p.m.) and Central Arkansas takes on Lamar (8:30 p.m.)
- The Sun Belt Tournament gets going in New Orleans, with Texas State taking on Coastal Carolina (12:30 p.m.), then Little Rock taking on Appalachian State (3 p.m.), South Alabam taking on Troy (6 p.m.) and UL Monroe taking on Arkansas State (8:30 p.m.)
