Matt Langel has built something really good at Colgate. That had been the case before this season, including last season as the Patriot League Coach of the Year. But now, his work at the school has gone to another level. He not only won another Coach of the Year honor, but led them to a regular season title.
And on Wednesday night, he did the next thing on the agenda: bringing the program into the NCAA Tournament. That was accomplished with a convincing 94-80 win over Bucknell on Wednesday night.
The Patriot League has historically been ruled by Bucknell, with Lehigh being right there and Holy Cross was also right there for a stretch earlier this century. The Bison were seeking to continue that, and in what would have been impressive fashion considering they had a loaded team last year that dominated the league but lost a great deal of production and experience from. The two teams tied for the regular season title, but Colgate won the tiebreaker, and that may have been no small matter in the end.
On Wednesday night, however, the Raiders might have won in a lot of arenas, as they shot 57.7 percent from the field, including 12-21 from long range, and they had a 35-24 rebounding edge. Jordan Burns was the star with 35 points on 10-16 shooting, including 6-9 from deep, and he added six assists as well, meaning he was directly accountable for at least half of the Raiders’ points. Bucknell shot a respectable 43.6 percent, including 13-31 from long range, but this was not a night where those numbers would be good enough.
Colgate won the league for the first time since winning two straight in 1995 and 1996 with Adonal Foyle leading the way. They have made it to the championship game on three other occasions before this one.
Langel steadily brought the program up after taking over in 2011. They struggled at first, but increased their win total each year through year four, when they went 16-17 overall but 12-6 in league play, finishing second. Since then, the only blip in Patriot League play was 2016-17, when they went 8-10. They have now finished in the top half of the Patriot League in five straight seasons, and this season’s team has set a school record with 24 wins.
After last season, Langel signed a five-year contract extension, which even at the time was clearly well-deserved. This season doesn’t look like it will be the end of a run, either, as the Raiders’ top four players all have eligibility left after this season, including the league’s Player of the Year (Rapolas Ivanauskas) and Rookie of the Year (Tucker Richardson). Burns, the star on Wednesday night, is a sophomore who is seventh in the league in scoring and third in assists. They will likely enter next fall as preseason favorites.
In other words, Langel isn’t done building this program up. Indeed, he may be just beginning.
Side Dishes
Although a number of conference tournaments got going, only a handful of games register in terms of postseason implications. Among NCAA Tournament bubble teams, in the ACC Tournament No. 8 NC State edged No. 9 Clemson 59-58, which might knock Clemson out of contention while NC State appears to be on firmer ground, especially since they next face Virginia – a team against whom a loss would certainly not be a bad one. In the Big 12 Tournament, No. 8 TCU just did hold off No. 9 Oklahoma State 73-70 after leading by 16 at halftime, so they live to see another day but probably need at least a win on Thursday, while No. 7 Oklahoma got clipped by No. 10 West Virginia 72-71. The Sooners will have to sweat out Selection Sunday despite having a pretty good resume aside from a 7-11 Big 12 mark and this early exit from the tournament.
A noteworthy result from the SEC Tournament is No. 11 Texas A&M taking care of No. 14 Vanderbilt 69-52. The Commodores finish the season going winless in SEC play both in the regular season and now the conference tournament.
Ted Sarandis and I talk more about some of these conference tournament games on our latest podcast as well.
Kansas State will almost certainly be without Dean Wade in the Big 12 Tournament, as the Wildcats appear likely to play it cautiously and hold him out to heal up for the NCAA Tournament. They will get a player back, however, as Cartier Diarra should play in the conference tournament after having hand surgery last month and missing several weeks of action.
Two UCLA players are done for the season due to foot injuries, as freshman David Singleton (broken foot suffered in Wednesday night’s win over Stanford) and junior Prince Ali (ongoing plantar fasciitis) will not be able to return. Ironically, Singleton replaced Ali in the starting lineup on Wednesday before suffering the injury.
Auburn has put assistant coach Ira Bowman on administrative leave while investigating his role in the bribery scheme that ensnared former Penn head coach Jerome Allen. Bowman was an assistant at Penn at the time, and Allen testified that Bowman knew about the scheme and was involved as well.
Another coaching change was announced on Thursday, and it was a stunner as William & Mary fired head coach Tony Shaver after 16 seasons. Shaver led the program to heights it had never reached before, though that didn’t include the NCAA Tournament, and if everyone comes back, the Tribe should be among the favorites in the CAA next season since all five starters return including a Player of the Year candidate.
Tonight’s Menu
The big boys are in full swing now, and this will be a long and busy day as many conferences in action have four games on tap.
- Quarterfinal action in the ACC starts with No. 1 Virginia taking on No. 8 NC State (12:30 p.m.) and No. 4 Florida State battling No. 5 Virginia Tech (2:30 p.m.) in the afternoon, then closes with No. 2 North Carolina playing No. 7 Louisville (7 p.m.) and No. 3 Duke taking on No. 6 Syracuse (9 p.m.)
- In Memphis, the American Athletic Conference Tournament gets going with first round action.
- The Atlantic 10 has second round action in Brooklyn, starting with No. 8 Rhode Island taking on No. 9 La Salle (noon) and No. 5 George Mason taking on No. 12 George Washington (2:30 p.m.) in the afternoon. In the evening, No. 7 Duquesne takes on No. 10 Saint Joseph’s (6 p.m.) and No. 6 Saint Louis takes on No. 11 Richmond (8:30 p.m.)
- The quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City begin with No. 4 Baylor battling No. 5 Iowa State (12:30 p.m.), then No. 1 Kansas State takes on No. 8 TCU (2:30 p.m.), No. 2 Texas Tech takes on No. 10 West Virginia (7 p.m.) and the day closes with a crucial one as No. 3 Kansas plays No. 6 Texas (9 p.m.)
- At Madison Square Garden, the Big East quarterfinals start with No. 1 Villanova playing a No. 8 Providence team that will be on short rest (noon), then No. 4 Xavier and No. 5 Creighton battle (2:30 p.m.) In the evening, No. 2 Marquette takes on No. 7 St. John’s (7 p.m.), then the day closes with No. 3 Seton Hall taking on No. 6 Georgetown (9:30 p.m.)
- In the Big Sky Tournament in Boise, quarterfinal action starts with No. 1 Montana taking on No. 9 Sacramento State (2 p.m.) followed by No. 4 Weber State battling No. 5 Portland State (4:30 p.m.) The evening session has No. 2 Northern Colorado taking on No. 7 Southern Utah (7:30 p.m.) and No. 3 Eastern Washington taking on No.6 Montana State (10 p.m.)
- Second round action in the Big Ten Tournament starts with a big one as No. 8 Indiana and No. 9 Ohio State meet in what might be an at-large elimination game (12:30 p.m.), then No. 5 Maryland takes on No. 13 Nebraska (3 p.m.), No. 7 Minnesota takes on No. 10 Penn State (7 p.m.) and No. 6 Iowa takes on No. 11 Illinois (9:30 p.m.)
- The Big West Tournament gets going in Anaheim with the quarterfinals, starting with No. 2 UC Santa Barbara taking on No. 7 Cal State Northridge (3 p.m.), then No. 3 Cal State Fullerton takes on No. 6 UC Davis (5:30 p.m.) to close the afternoon session. The evening session starts with No. 1 UC Irvine taking on No. 8 UC Riverside (9 p.m.) and finishes with No. 4 Hawai’i taking on No. 5 Long Beach State (11:30 p.m.)
- Conference USA has quarterfinal action in Frisco, Texas, starting with No. 1 Old Dominion taking on No. 8 Louisiana Tech (7 p.m.) and No. 4 UTSA battling No. 5 UAB (7:30 p.m.), then No. 2 Western Kentucky takes on No. 10 North Texas (9:30 p.m.) and No. 3 Southern Miss takes on No. 6 Marshall (10 p.m.)
- The MAC quarterfinals are on tap in Cleveland, starting with No. 1 Buffalo taking on No. 8 Akron (noon), then No. 4 Kent State battles No. 5 Central Michigan (2:30 p.m.) to close the afternoon. In the evening, No. 2 Toledo takes on No. 7 Northern Illinois (6:30 p.m.) and No. 3 Bowling Green takes on No. 11 Ball State (9 p.m.)
- The second set of quarterfinals in the MEAC takes place in Norfolk as No. 3 NC Central takes on No. 11 Delaware State (6 p.m.) and No. 4 Howard takes on No. 5 Bethune-Cookman (8 p.m.)
- In the Mountain West Tournament, quarterfinal action has No. 1 Nevada taking on No. 8 Boise State (3 p.m.), No. 4 San Diego State battling No. 5 UNLV (5:30 p.m.), No. 2 Utah State taking on No. 7 New Mexico (9 p.m.) and No. 3 Fresno State taking on No. 6 Air Force (11:30 p.m.)
- In the Pac-12 Tournament, quarterfinal action starts off with No. 1 Washington taking on No. 8 USC (3 p.m.) followed by No. 4 Oregon State taking on No. 5 Colorado (5:30 p.m.) in the afternoon. At night, No. 2 Arizona State takes on No. 7 UCLA (9 p.m.) and No. 3 Utah battles No. 6 Oregon (11:30 p.m.)
- Second round action in the SEC Tournament starts with No. 8 Florida battling No. 9 Arkansas (1 p.m.) followed by No. 5 Auburn taking on No. 12 Missouri (3:30 p.m.) in the afternoon session. In the evening, No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 10 Alabama battle (7 p.m.) followed by No. 6 Mississippi State playing No. 11 Texas A&M (9:30 p.m.)
- In the second round of the Southland Conference Tournament, No. 4 New Orleans battles No. 5 Lamar (6 p.m.), then No. 3 Southeastern Louisiana takes on No. 7 Central Arkansas (8:30 p.m.)
- The Sun Belt Tournament moves to New Orleans and picks up with second round action as No. 5 Louisiana takes on No. 8 South Alabama (6 p.m.) and No. 6 Coastal Carolina battles No. 7 ULM (8:30 p.m.)
- The WAC Tournament gets going with their quarterfinals as No. 1 New Mexico State takes on No. 8 Chicago State (3 p.m.), then No. 4 UT Rio Grande Valley takes on No. 5 CSU Bakersfield (5:30 p.m.), No. 2 Utah Valley plats No. 7 UMKC (9 p.m.) and No. 3 Grand Canyon takes on No. 6 Seattle U (11:30 p.m.)
