While conference tournament play continues, the league that went the longest without a tournament had a wild night. Much was still to be decided at first, but the picture has now cleared – somewhat. Considering the way the results went, that probably surprises a few people, but that tends to happen at this time of year.
Even with a tournament, the Ivy League race is coming right down to the wire in a big way. Saturday will be quite a night of action to watch, building on Friday night, with the regular season champion, seeding and the final berth in the league tournament all up for grabs.
The first game of the night set everything in motion, as Brown went to Princeton and held off the Tigers 67-63. That gives Brown, who forced 25 Princeton turnovers and held the Tigers below 36 percent shooting, a rare sweep of Princeton, their first in 11 years. It also puts them at 7-6 in Ivy League play, but here’s where it gets even more interesting: if they beat Penn and Princeton loses to Yale, Brown would finish tied with Princeton but have the tiebreaker by virtue of the head-to-head sweep. They would go from fighting for the last spot to not being the lowest seed.
Speaking of Yale, they lost at Penn 77-66, which keeps the Quakers alive for the fourth and final spot in the league tournament next weekend. Penn built a 16-point halftime lead that stood up, with A.J. Brodeur scoring 24 points and grabbing eight rebounds to lead the way. Penn will host Brown on Saturday night, and the winner will grab the final spot as a Penn win would tie them with Brown but give them the tiebreaker by virtue of having swept the Bears.
Finally, Cornell beat Harvard 72-59 in Ithaca in a game that was tied at halftime. The Big Red, however, have been eliminated from the league tournament because they lose all tiebreakers with Brown and Penn. Should Cornell and Penn win, leading to a three-way tie at 7-7, Penn would be the fourth team in by virtue of a 3-1 record against the other two teams, while Cornell would be 2-2 (splitting with both teams) and Brown would be 1-3 (splitting with Cornell). Matt Morgan had 31 points to go over 2300 for his career.
The top seed in the league tournament comes down to Harvard and Yale, even though both could lose to produce a three-way tie for first. Princeton was swept by Harvard and split with Yale, so the Tigers would be the No. 3 seed. Harvard would clinch the top seed with a win by virtue of having won both meetings with Yale.
As conference tournament play continues and the first NCAA Tournament bid is handed out, the Ivy League will have a big night as its tournament gets set from the final games.
Side Dishes
Conference tournament roundup:
- If you want to see any more of Chris Clemons, you will have to check out the NIT. Clemons had 23 points, but it took him 24 shots to get there, and No. 4 Gardner-Webb shot nearly 60 percent from the field to take down No. 1 Campbell 79-74 in the semifinals of the Big South Tournament. Earlier in the day, No. 2 Radford started slowly against No. 6 Charleston Southern and trailed by ten at the half, then by 12 with just under 15 minutes to play, then regained the lead on a 14-0 run, then used another 7-0 run later to take the lead for good in a 63-54 win to advance to Sunday’s championship game, which they will host for the second year in a row.
- The first two quarterfinals in the MAAC Tournament went to the higher seed, but both were close calls. No. 1 Iona just got past No. 9 St. Peter’s 73-71, and No. 2 Canisius had to fight back from being down by seven at halftime to force overtime and then edge No. 7 Manhattan 69-65.
- The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament had a split in the quarterfinals between the higher and lower seeds winning. No. 1 Loyola-Chicago ran out to a 22-point halftime lead against No. 9 Valparaiso en route to a 67-54 win, then No. 5 Bradley continued their late surge by using a big second half to knock off No. 4 Missouri State 61-58, their seventh win in nine games. In the evening session, No. 2 Drake used a big first half to take care of No. 7 Illinois State 78-62, and No. 6 Northern Iowa edged No. 3 Southern Illinois 61-58 in what will be Barry Hinson’s final game as head coach of the Salukis after seven seasons at the helm.
- The Ohio Valley Conference championship is set after Friday’s semifinals. No. 1 Belmont shut down No. 4 Austin Peay in the second half to take the lead and then pull away for an 83-67 win, getting 32 points and 21 rebounds from Dylan Windler. In the nightcap, No. 3 Jacksonville rallied from being down by nine at the half to No. 2 Murray State, then it was a back-and-forth game until Ja Morant hit a shot in traffic as he was fouled with less than nine seconds left. Jacksonville State could only get off a tough three-pointer that barely grazed the rim, and Murray State advanced with a 76-74 win as Morant capped off a stellar night with 29 points and eight assists in front of some NBA scouts and front office people.
- In first round action in Asheville at the Southern Conference Tournament, No. 8 VMI pulled away from No. 9 Western Carolina 96-83 behind 41 points from Bubba Parham, then No. 7 Samford rolled past No. 10 The Citadel 100-71.
- Second round action in the West Coast Conference Tournament saw both lower seeds win. No. 8 Pepperdine edged No. 5 Loyola Marymount 68-65 and No. 7 San Diego pulled away from No. 6 Santa Clara 62-45.
In regular season play of note, Virginia Tech handled Miami 84-70, Buffalo handled Bowling Green 84-73, Maryland held off Minnesota 69-60 and VCU won their 12th straight game by a score of 75-63 over Saint Joseph’s to finish the Atlantic 10 regular season at 16-2.
As noted earlier, Barry Hinson announced that he has coached his last game at Southern Illinois after seven seasons at the helm. A one-time head coach at Missouri State, Hinson said that he agreed before the season that unless the Salukis make the NCAA Tournament or NIT, he would step down.
Central Michigan’s 82-75 win at Western Michigan will likely not be remembered at all for the game result. Ed Phillips, one of the game officials, collapsed in the first half and was taken to a hospital in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area and is reportedly in stable condition. The game was delayed for about an hour, during which time he was treated by medical personnel before being taken to the hospital.
LSU announced on Friday that it has suspended head coach Will Wade indefinitely after more reports surfaced related to the FBI investigation. A series of statements came out, starting with LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, who also noted that assistant coach Tony Benford will be the interim coach. “All of us at LSU share the obligation to protect the integrity of this institution, as such we have suspended Head Coach Will Wade indefinitely until such time as we can ensure full compliance with the NCAA, as well as institutional policies and standards.” Wade pointed to the impact of public opinion, stating, “I cannot comment at this time on various media reports, except to say that they do not begin to tell the full story. I understand the University had to take action before all the facts are in, but I would ask everyone to withhold their judgment until the record is complete.” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said he supports LSU’s action.
In related news, ESPN reported late Friday night that former NC State head coach Mark Gottfried has been linked to impermissible payments to players via court filings in the FBI investigation. Now the head coach at Cal State Northridge, Gottfried has retained noted attorney Scott Tompsett, who disputed the allegations in a statement he provided to ESPN for their story. There is probably a lot more where these two stories came from in this investigation, and they are what Ted Sarandis and I begin our latest podcast with.
Tonight’s Menu
The first NCAA Tournament bid will go out tonight, while a number of final regular season games are on tap and other conference tournaments continue.
- The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament has its championship game, and it should be another dandy between No. 1 Belmont and No. 2 Murray State, which has become one of the really good rivalries in college basketball (8 p.m.)
- In the ACC, Clemson hosts Syracuse (noon), Boston College hosts an NC State team that may not be able to afford another bad loss (2 p.m.), and Virginia hosts Louisville (4 p.m.) before the big one with Duke visiting North Carolina (6 p.m.)
- The American Athletic Conference has a key afternoon matchup as UCF tries to stay on a roll to close out their regular season at Temple (4 p.m.), while Tulane tries to avoid a winless conference season as they host Wichita State (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Atlantic 10, some jockeying for position will be happening as St. Bonaventure hosts Saint Louis (1 p.m.) and Duquesne hosts Dayton (7 p.m.)
- The Big 12 closes its regular season and starts the day off with Texas hosting TCU (noon), then Iowa State tries to get some momentum again as they host Texas Tech while Kansas hosts Baylor (2 p.m.), Oklahoma State hosts West Virginia (4 p.m.) and Kansas State hosts Oklahoma (6 p.m.)
- Big East play begins with key games as Villanova visits Seton Hall and Butler visits Providence (noon), then Marquette hosts Georgetown (2:30 p.m.), Xavier hosts St. John’s (5 p.m.) and DePaul visits streaking Creighton (8 p.m.)
- The Big Sky regular season title will be decided by the results of two games involving teams tied at the top: Northern Colorado hosts Northern Arizona (7 p.m.) and Montana traveling to Sacramento State (10:05 p.m.), while Weber State hosts Eastern Washington as the two 11-8 teams jockey for tournament position (9 p.m.)
- The Big Ten has some key games on tap, including ones that will decide the regular season champion. Purdue visits Northwestern (2:30 p.m.) and Michigan State hosts Michigan (8 p.m.)
- The Ivy League still has much to be decided on its final night, with Yale visiting Princeton and Brown visiting Penn (6 p.m.), then Cornell hosts Dartmouth and Columbia hosts Harvard (7 p.m.)
- Nevada will try to clinch a share of the Mountain West regular season title as they host San Diego State in their regular season finale (10:30 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12, the highlights are Arizona hosting Arizona State (4 p.m.) and Washington hosting Oregon (10 p.m.)
- SEC play starts with Auburn hosting Tennessee (noon), then Mississippi State hosts Texas A&M and Kentucky hosts Florida (2 p.m.), while Arkansas hosts Alabama later on (6 p.m.) and Vanderbilt will have a tall order avoiding a winless SEC run as they visit LSU (8 p.m.)
- The Sun Belt has much still to be decided at the top, and a couple of rivalry games will go a long way towards figuring that out as UT Arlington hosts Texas State (3 p.m.) and Georgia Southern hosts Georgia State (5 p.m.), with UT Arlington a game behind the other three teams for first place.
- In the America East quarterfinals, No. 3 UMBC hosts No. 6 Albany (1 p.m.), No. 4 Hartford hosts No. 5 UMass-Lowell (5 p.m.), No. 1 Vermont hosts No. 8 Maine and No. 2 Stony Brook hosts No. 7 Binghamton (7 p.m.)
- The CAA Tournament gets going with first round action in North Charleston as No. 8 James Madison battles No. 9 Towson (4 p.m.) and No. 7 Elon takes on No. 10 UNCW (6:30 p.m.)
- The MAAC Tournament has its second set of quarterfinals in Albany with No. 6 Monmouth taking on No. 3 Quinnipiac (7 p.m.) and No. 4 Rider taking on No. 5 Siena (9:30 p.m.)
- In the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, the semifinal matchups are No. 1 Loyola-Chicago taking on No. 5 Bradley (3:30 p.m.), then No. 2 Drake will face No. 6 Northern Iowa (6 p.m.)
- The semifinals are on tap in the Northeast Conference Tournament, with Fairleigh Dickinson hosting Robert Morris (noon) and Saint Francis U hosting LIU Brooklyn (2 p.m.)
- In the Southern Conference Tournament, the quarterfinals take place in Asheville, starting with No. 1 Wofford battling No. 8 VMI (noon) and No. 4 East Tennessee State taking on No. 5 Chattanooga (2:30 p.m.) in the afternoon, then No. 2 UNC Greensboro faces No. 7 Samford (6 p.m.) and No. 3 Furman takes on No. 6 Mercer (8:30 p.m.)
- The Summit League Tournament gets underway in Sioux Falls with two quarterfinal games as No. 1 South Dakota State takes on No. 8 Western Illinois (7 p.m.) and No. 2 Omaha takes on No. 7 North Dakota (9:30 p.m.)
- Quarterfinal action is on tap in the West Coast Conference Tournament with No. 4 San Francisco facing No. 8 Pepperdine (10 p.m.) and No. 3 BYU taking on No. 7 San Diego (12:30 a.m.)
