If ever there was a tournament where seeds could’ve been eliminated and teams just draw opponents out of a hat, it might be this year’s Southeastern Conference tourney.
The event that is strangely taking place in St. Louis (we know why; it still makes no sense to us) hosts a league where teams have regularly surged up and then slid back all year. Spots 4-through-12 in the final standings were separated by three games, and Thursday’s second round play reflected the closeness throughout.
Four games were decided by a combined 11 points, with spreads of one, two, three and five points. Add in a one-point game in the first round, and five of the six games so far have been decided by five points or less.
Easily the two biggest games were Alabama edging Texas A&M 71-70 in the 8/9 game and 12th-seeded Georgia upending No. 5 Missouri 62-60. The Crimson Tide won on a full-court dash by Collin Sexton to beat the buzzer, and improved their NCAA Tournament chances. At 18-14, Bama is hardly a lock, its six Quadrant 1 wins certainly helping but the overall record something that still should be a major concern. The Aggies have also frequently been an equal opportunity giver of big wins, alternating spells of greatness and confusing mediocrity, but no doubt this helped the Tide.
The other game saw a Georgia team winning, the Bulldogs a squad probably not close to the NCAA tourney at this time but still very capable. UGA also beat Mizzou in the return of touted freshman Michael Porter, who played but clearly is a long way from being all the way back yet. Porter scored 12 points but took 17 shots to get there, and he said after the game his explosiveness is still not back to the point where he wasn’t comfortable dunking the ball yet.
The other story of the day was, again, teams on the fence trying to play their way into the NCAAs. Once again, as noted by Phil Kasiecki the day before, more teams are leaving a bad last impression than a good one.
There was Louisville going down easily to Virginia 75-58 in the ACC Tournament, and Notre Dame-despite ESPN analysts’ regular campaigning-fell 88-70 to Duke. Marquette was drilled by Villanova 94-70 in the Big East, and Baylor fell to West Virginia 78-65 in the Big 12.
None of those bubble teams were necessarily expected to win, though. Middle Tennessee State, on the other hand, certainly put itself in more peril with a 71-68 overtime loss to ninth-seeded Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA quarterfinals. The Blue Raiders should still be in the NCAAs-should. Trusting the selection committee to handle MTSU with care, though, after their horrendous seed a year ago, is not something many should count on, though.
An even more crushing defeat was taken by Boise State, the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West. The Broncos let a once 13-point lead slip away and fell to Utah State 78-75, done in by Sam Merrill’s bombardment of 28 points including seven three-pointers. The Aggies are in the MWC semis for the first time, but Boise’s NCAA hopes may be quashed now. The Broncos had a better profile than some thought coming into this tourney, but a 3-4 mark in their last seven games-including two losses to Utah State-does not leave a good impression.
Conference Tournament Roundup:
- AAC: Higher seeds prevailed in the first round save for one, as No. 9 SMU sent Connecticut home 80-73 to earn a date with top seed Cincinnati. The day did include two good finishes with 5 seed Memphis holding off South Florida 79-77 and Temple edging Tulane 82-77 in the 7/10 game.
- ACC: Three of the top four seeds are in the semifinals with No. 1 Virginia, Duke and Clemson all moving on comfortably. The only of them to lose was hardly a surprise, as sixth-seeded (yes, sixth) North Carolina rolled past No. 3 Miami (Fla.) 82-65.
- Atlantic 10: Higher seeds won all four second round games, leaving the top eight seeds remaining for the quarterfinals.
- Big East: Top two seeds Xavier and Villanova advanced convincingly, while the other two games were exceptionally close and went to the lower seed. No. 5 Providence edged Creighton 72-68 in overtime, only after Alpha Diallo (19 points) hit a bit basket in the final seconds of regulation to tie it. Also, Butler came back to defeat Seton Hall 75-74 as Tyler Wideman followed up a miss with 3.6 seconds left for the winner.
- Big Sky: Top seed Montana got a scare before putting away 8 seed and defending champion 84-76, and that wasn’t even close to the strangest game of the quarterfinals. Fifth-seeded Northern Colorado blew out perennial tough out Weber State 80-55, and No. 10 Southern Utah is in the semis after upending 2 seed Idaho 92-78. No. 3 Eastern Washington also held a huge lead much of the way over 6 seed Portland State, though the Vikings surged late before falling 78-72 as EWU’s Bogdan Bliznyuk scored 35 points. For a league that was very solid and competitive almost from top to bottom this year, the blowouts were surprising.
- Big 12: As even as this league was all year, it’s the top four seeds still going in the semifinals. No. 4 Kansas State had the closest shave, getting a Barry Brown jumper in the final seconds of overtime to knock out TCU 66-64. The Wildcats now get rival Kansas, which finally got by Oklahoma State this year, 82-68.
- Big West: This has become one of the better league tourneys in recent years, and the quarterfinals featured four outstanding games. The first three were decided by a combined seven points, with top seed UC Davis holding off No. 8 UC Riverside 70-66, fourth-seeded Cal State Fullerton surviving Long Beach State 76-74 after a 49ers’ tip-in attempt at the buzzer rolled around the rim and off, and then 3 seed UC Irvine getting a jumper by Max Hazzard in the final seconds for a 68-67 comeback win over Hawaii. The final game brought a rout as No. 2 UC Santa Barbara jumped on Cal Poly early and rolled to a 75-53 victory.
- Conference USA: Besides Southern Miss, the other top seeds advanced, and No. 2 Old Dominion is the highest seed left after edging No. 10 Louisiana Tech 62-58. The Monarchs now get ready for a huge semifinal with No. 3 Western Kentucky after the Hilltoppers drilled 6 seed UAB 98-70. WKU just might be the favorite now. Fourth-seeded Marshall also advanced with a 95-81 win over Texas-San Antonio.
- MAC: Three of the top four seeds are into the semifinals, the only mild upset by seed being No. 5 Kent State-the defending tourney champion-edging Ball State 76-73. No. 2 Toledo also edged 7 seed Miami (Ohio) 71-69.
- MEAC: No. 3 Savannah State is the second of three regular season tri-champions to make an early exit after No. 6 North Carolina Central slowed down the Tigers and won 58-56 in the quarterfinals. The Eagles now face Morgan State in a pairing of 6 and 7 seeds in a semifinal. Also on Thursday, No. 4 North Carolina A&T edged Norfolk State.
- Mountain West: No. 1 Nevada was pushed by bitter rival UNLV but held on for a 79-74 win in Las Vegas. The Wolf Pack gets 5 seed San Diego State now after the Aztecs’ 64-52 win over Fresno State. What a tough matchup for a semifinal game. The other semi has New Mexico lined up to face Utah State after the third-seeded Lobos eliminated Wyoming 85-75.
- Pac-12: The day had mostly lackluster quarterfinal games, with Arizona, USC and UCLA all winning by double digits. We’re guessing all three are in the NCAA tourney. The fourth, though, saw No. 6 Oregon oust Utah 68-66. Don’t count out the Ducks for an at-large bid yet-we could see it happen easily, and the win at Oregon also is one that could yet help Boise State.
- Southland: No. 3 Stephen F. Austin cruised past 7 seed Central Arkansas 86-64 and fourth-seeded Sam Houston State knocked out defending champion 5 seed New Orleans 85-63. This league will have two excellent semifinal games Friday night.
- WAC: The top four seeds all advanced, including No. 3 Grand Canyon having to rally to get by Missouri-Kansas City 77-74. Top seed New Mexico State drilled No. 8 Chicago State 97-70.
Side Dishes:
- Hoopville’s Phil Kasiecki and Ted Sarandis recorded their latest Talking Hoops podcast yesterday, talking conference tournaments present and recently completed this week. You can listen to it here.
- Also plugging some of our other content from this week, our story from Wednesday about the outstanding season had by South Dakota, which lost in the Summit League final.
Today’s Menu: It’s a day full of semifinal games, as well as several leagues getting into their quarterfinals.
- The ACC Tournament semifinals includes a bonus meeting between North Carolina and Duke (9:30 p.m. Eastern, ESPN), preceded by a good one between Clemson and Virginia.
- The Big 12 semis match Kansas against Kansas State (7 p.m., ESPN) plus No. 2 Texas Tech vs. No. 3 West Virginia (9:30 p.m., ESPN).
- The Big East features No. 1 Xavier against Providence (6:30 p.m., FS1) plus 2 seed Villanova against regular nemesis Butler (9 p.m., FS1).
- The SEC quarterfinals include Alabama against rival and top seed Auburn (1 p.m., ESPN), and Mississippi State gets a golden opportunity against No. 2 Tennessee (7 p.m., SEC Network).
- Conference USA’s semifinals have upstart Southern Miss against Marshall (1:30 p.m., CBSSN), plus a dandy between old Sun Belt rivals with Old Dominion vs. Western Kentucky (4 p.m., CBSSN).
- The MAC semis are excellent, as usual. Top seed Buffalo gets defending tourney champs Kent State (6:30 p.m., CBSSN) in the first one-tough assignment for the Bulls. The second has a pair of West Division teams with No. 3 Eastern Michigan vs. 2 seed Toledo.
- Mountain West semifinals: top seed Nevada gets tough 5 seed San Diego State (9 p.m., CBSSN), and that’s followed by Utah State against New Mexico (11:30 p.m., CBSSN).
- The Pac-12 semifinals have another Arizona-UCLA matchup (9 p.m., Pac-12 Network). That’s followed by USC against Oregon (11:30 p.m., FS1).
- WAC semifinal games have New Mexico State against No. 4 Seattle plus Grand Canyon against Utah Valley in a good 2-vs.-3 pairing.
- The Big West also should have two excellent semifinals. Cal State Fullerton played an outstanding championship game last year, and they meet in the first semi. The second has rivals UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, with the Gauchos having a bit of a bitter taste after getting drilled by the Anteaters in their last matchup (Midnight, ESPNU).
- The Southland semifinal games including top seed Southeastern Louisiana opening against No. 4 Sam Houston State, followed by 2 seed Nicholls State vs. Stephen F. Austin.
- The Atlantic 10 is into its quarterfinals. No. 1 Rhode Island gets eighth-seeded VCU in a duel of Rams (Noon, NBCSN), plus No. 2 St. Bonaventure opens against 7 seed Richmond (7 p.m., NBCSN).
- The American quarterfinals have a number of competitive games on paper and are led by top seed Cincinnati against No. 9 SMU (Noon, ESPN2), which is followed by a solid 4/5 game with Tulsa against Memphis (2:30 p.m., ESPN2). No. 2 Wichita State also has a tough one against Temple (7 p.m., ESPNU), 3 seed Houston gets No. 6 Central Florida (9:30 p.m., ESPNU).
- The Big Sky tourney semifinals are led by top seed Montana against Northern Colorado (8:30 p.m., Eleven Sports), followed by upstart Southern Utah vs. 3 seed Eastern Washington (11 p.m., Eleven).
- The MEAC semifinals are No. 1 Hampton against North Carolina A&T, plus the aforementioned underdogs in the second semi with Morgan State against North Carolina Central.
- The SWAC contests its semifinals, with the top four seeds still alive. Top seed Arkansas-Pine Bluff takes on Southern, and No. 2 Prairie View A&M faces defending champion Texas Southern.
- The Sun Belt quarterfinals are led by top seed Louisiana-Lafayette against No. 9 Texas State. Second-seeded Georgia State gets No. 7 Troy, the defending tourney champions, and Texas-Arlington is the 4 seed and gets Applachian State in the 4/5 game.
Enjoy your Friday and the last few days before Selection Sunday.
