It took a couple days longer than normal, but March now officially feels here in full.
One year ago at this time, five teams had already punched their tickets to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Like this year’s Lenten season and Easter, though, NCAA Division I college basketball’s postseason has a late start, so much so that it took Lipscomb more than a calendar year to open defense of its Atlantic Sun Tournament crown.
The first conference tourney tipped Monday night with quarterfinal games in the Atlantic Sun. The story coming into this event is clearly a possible third matchup this season between the top two seeds. Top seed Lipscomb and second-seeded Liberty both have had terrific seasons inside and outside the conference, both tied for the regular season crown, and there is even a slim chance that both could find their way into the NCAA Tournament if they can meet up in the tourney final later this week. Both held up their end of the bargain in the quarterfinals Monday night, with Lipscomb handling No. 8 Kennesaw State 86-71 and Liberty cruising past No. 7 Jacksonville 72-58.
Along with third-seeded North Florida, a 76-66 winner over D-I newcomer North Alabama, and 5 seed NJIT posting the lone upset with an 83-78 victory at Florida Gulf Coast, the semifinals are set in this tourney, which is played entirely at schools’ home sites at the higher seeds. Lipscomb will host NJIT and Liberty will welcome North Florida, with both games happening Thursday night.
Lipscomb got a brief push early from Kennesaw State before making its move late in the first half to build a 16-point halftime lead. The Owls still made a push in the second half in what wound up being the final game for coach Al Skinner, getting as close as four before the Bisons pulled away in the final nine minutes.
Junior point guard Kenny Cooper had the finest all-around game of his career, scoring 15 points and adding 10 assists plus a career-high 10 rebounds. While Lipscomb’s respective Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside, seniors Garrison Mathews (26 points in this one) and Rob Marberry (16 points), typically carry much of the offensive load, Cooper is among many who fill considerable roles outside of them. He also has played a big role in the team’s considerably improved defense this year, and his night even included a game-high three steals.
Like Lipscomb, Liberty built an early lead on Jacksonville and then had to withstand a bit of a second-half run before advancing. The Flames shot a cool 52.2% and had balanced scoring led by Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (16 points) in winning their first-ever Atlantic Sun tourney game.
Liberty has piled up a gaudy 26-6 record in its first year in the conference after many years in the Big South. While Lipscomb is a considerably up-tempo team, Liberty’s Virginia-inspired approach plays in quite a bit of contrast, as coach Ritchie McKay was an assistant under Tony Bennett and runs much the same systems.
It has brought the most successful season in school history, a year that has included a win over UCLA and a split of two meetings with Lipscomb, with both winning on the road. In that regard, perhaps the Flames are right where they want to be with a third matchup looming if both can get by tricky semifinal games. In fact, that matchup is no gimmie, for Liberty lost to North Florida on the road less than two weeks ago.
Side Dishes:
- Who says Virginia isn’t explosive? The Cavaliers trailed Syracuse by four points early in the second half, and then outscored the Cuse 47-17 the rest of the way in a dominating 79-53 win at the Carrier Dome. Talk about a statement. UVA shot 18-for-25 from three-point range, numbers that many teams would gladly take from the foul line. (In fact, the Wahoos made just 5 of 11 from the line…) Kyle Guy hit eight triples (25 points), and both DeAndre Hunter (21) and Ty Jerome (16) added five threes each. Virginia has won seven straight and looks very much primed for a long postseason run, if it can exorcise the demons of its NCAA tourney loss to UMBC last year.
- The Big 12 brought us two top teams winning Monday, while two bubble teams did nothing to strengthen their already flimsy cases for NCAA tourney inclusion. Kansas State won at shorthanded TCU 64-52, running out to a big lead early in the second half before keeping the ball on the ground the rest of the way. The Horned Frogs keep sneaking out occasional wins to stay in the conversation, but just don’t look like an NCAA tourney team. Also, Texas Tech dropped Texas 70-51 with another efficient offensive performance, shooting 50% and getting four in double figures while holding the Longhorns to 29.6% shooting. Texas is now 16-14 overall, again, an overall resume that-if one is looking at not just wins but losses-screams a team not worthy of the NCAAs. Also, either K-State or Tech will officially end Kansas’s Big 12 title streak if it can win its finale.
- Prairie View A&M took advantage of a national TV appearance and put on a show on ESPNU with a 96-69 win at Alabama State. The Panthers certainly look the part with their hustling, pressuring denial defense that forced 17 ASU turnovers, and they also shot 60% in this one. Prairie View clinched at least a tie for the SWAC title; Texas Southern stayed in striking distance with a 66-61 win at Alabama A&M. In fact, if it happens, a SWAC tourney final between these two teams might well be one of the best tourney championship games of all next week.
- The Big Sky Conference has been playing more Monday night games of late. The league nearly saw a stunner as Montana had to hang on for a 66-64 win at home against Northern Arizona. Montana State also slipped by Southern Utah 90-83 behind 32 points from Harald Frey, and Idaho State scored a 78-73 win over Weber State, a team that is sliding at the end of the season.
- With seasons coming to a close, expect the coaching changes to begin. Tennessee Tech announced that Steve Payne has resigned after eight years and following a rough 8-23 season this year. Payne won 118 games in eight years with the Golden Eagles, and had a knack throughout his tenure of alternating winning and losing seasons. His teams won 19 games three times, including last year, but all three years were followed by losing marks the next year. Tech is not an easy job in the Ohio Valley Conference and hasn’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1963.
Tonight’s Menu:
- The Big South, Horizon and Patriot League tourneys commence tonight. Preliminary rounds begin in the Big South and Patriot League, where the best matchup is an 8/9 game in the Big South between Hampton and Longwood, two teams who are very capable of making a run. In fact, Hampton came out on the wrong end of a four-way tie for fifth at 9-7, and was just one game out of the four seed. The Horizon tourney also begins with the first two quarterfinals, including top seed Wright State hosting No. 8 Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis, or IUPUI and Wisconsin-Green Bay facing Illinois-Chicago in the 4/5 game in Green Bay.
- We have one more busy Tuesday of conference play. It starts with surging Xavier at slumping Butler (6 p.m. Eastern, FS1), with the Bulldogs trying to slow down red-hot Naji Marshall.
There’s a top 15 battle in the ACC between old Metro Conference rivals Virginia Tech and Florida State (7 p.m., ESPNU). Somehow this one gets relegated to ‘the U’ while that stimulating Wake Forest at Duke game is on ESPN (7 p.m.) and hurtin’ Nebraska goes to the lion’s den of Michigan State (7 p.m.) on ESPN2.
Buffalo can clinch the MAC outright East Division title if it wins at Ohio. The other drama in the league is who can finish second in the West. Central Michigan has the inside track and can wrap it up with a win over Northern Illinois.
An important one in the Atlantic 10 has state rivals VCU and George Mason meeting. The league-leading Rams can wrap up the regular season title, while Mason is in a fight for seeding and currently is tied for fifth with Duquesne. - Golden opportunity for the Golden Gophers: Minnesota hosts Purdue, with a prime chance to pick up a fancy win (8 p.m., Big Ten Network).
Three good ones in the SEC: Mississippi State is at Tennessee, an outstanding matchup (9 p.m., SEC Network); Kentucky is on the road at Mississippi (9 p.m., ESPN) and then there are rivals meeting with Auburn at Alabama (9 p.m., ESPNU), with the perpetual fence-sitting Crimson Tide looking for another distinguishing win for NCAA tourney consideration. - Kansas needs to win its last two if it wants even a chance at the Big 12 title. It faces Oklahoma, which has turned it around some of late, winning three of four (9 p.m., ESPN2).
- Finally, the top two in the Mountain West are in action. Utah State is at Colorado State, with underappreciated Nico Carvacho going up against Neemias Queta. Also, Nevada is at Air Force, which has had a quietly very solid year in the conference (11 p.m., ESPN2).
Have a superb Tuesday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
