As Championship Week heads into high gear, three more automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament went out on Sunday. Only one of the games was decided by single digits, but the other two had surprises along the way and on the afternoon, albeit mildly in one case.
The first championship game of the day came in the Big South, where No. 2 Winthrop got a home game after Radford went down to No. 5 Hampton on Friday. But it surely didn’t feel like much of a home game at first as Hampton made seven of their first 11 shots to run out to a 22-7 lead. Winthrop would rally with a couple of runs to get within 33-28 at the half, and it became a back-and-forth game for about nine minutes. The Eagles would then take the lead for the rest of the game, shooting 64 percent from the field in the second half en route to a 76-68 win for their second championship in four years.
The second one got started while the first was in progress, and that was in St. Louis as the Missouri Valley Conference had its championship game. It was not the matchup many expected, as No. 4 Bradley took on No. 7 Valparaiso, with the genesis of it coming Friday as three lower seeds won in the quarterfinals. The Braves won this last year in unexpected fashion, winning as the No. 5 seed over No. 6 Northern Iowa.
The experience showed at first as they ran out to a 9-2 lead. Valpo was better the rest of the half and took a 38-36 lead into the locker room, and would stretch the lead to 48-42 before Bradley took over. A 14-3 run, capped by seven unanswered points, gave Bradley the lead for good, and Darrell Brown (25 points) and teammates took care of things from there. They also changed defenses, going with a zone defense, and that slowed any attempt by Valpo to rally. The Braves won their fourth conference tournament title and became the ninth team to successfully defend their Missouri Valley title.
Finally, the Atlantic Sun championship game tipped off during the Valley final, with No. 1 Liberty hosting No. 3 Lipscomb in a rematch of last year’s title game. Only this time, Lipscomb wasn’t quite expected to get here, and Liberty entered conference play as prohibitive favorites before coming back to earth a bit and ultimately tying for the regular season title. Lipscomb lost a good deal from last season’s team and had a new head coach. They finished four games behind the co-champions, but knocked off North Florida on the road in the semifinals to get here.
This game was basically over at halftime, as a late surge by the Flames put them up by 19 at the break, and while Lipscomb scored the first seven points out of the locker room, the Flames were never seriously challenged after that in a 73-57 win. The Flames set a school record with their 30th win and closed up the Vines Center in style, as they will open a new arena next season.
All of that helps set the stage for the week to come, one where championship games will only be part of the whole story.
Side Dishes
Conference tournament roundup:
- The quarterfinal round of the CAA Tournament started off unassumingly, with No. 1 Hofstra pulling away from No. 8 Drexel 61-43. After that, it was a different story. No. 5 Delaware beat No. 4 College of Charleston 79-67, getting 25 points from Nate Darling in the other afternoon game. The evening session started with a stunner as No. 7 Elon ran out to a 13-2 lead and started the second half strong to open up a 48-34 lead, then held off No. 2 William & Mary at the end for a 68-63 win, getting 20 points and 15 rebounds from freshman Hunter Woods to lead four double-digit scorers. That wasn’t all, though, as No. 6 Northeastern also got off to a strong start and rode that to a 72-62 win over No. 3 Towson a week after the Tigers knocked them off in the regular season finale in Boston. Northeastern shot almost 53 percent from the floor against the conference’s best defensive team.
- In the Patriot League semifinals, No. 3 Boston University held off No. 7 Bucknell 64-61, then No. 1 Colgate ran away from No. 5 Lafayette 89-64
- The stage is set in the Southern Conference, and the surprises continued on Sunday. It was no surprise that No. 1 East Tennessee State blew out No. 5 Western Carolina 97-75 to advance despite 29 points, eight rebounds and seven assists from the Catamounts’ Mason Faulkner, but in the later game, No. 7 Wofford continued their magical run by holding off No. 6 Chattanooga 72-70. It’s easy to forget that the Terriers were in contention for a lot of the season before a seven-game losing streak ended their regular season with a thud. Mike Young apparently built something even better than we thought.
- The Summit League Tournament closed out the night with their second pair of quarterfinals in Sioux Falls. In the first game, No. 4 Oral Roberts outscored No. 5 Omaha 52-28 to break away for a 79-52 win, then No. 6 North Dakota and No. 3 South Dakota had a back-and-forth game where each team traded runs, with North Dakota having the final one in a 74-71 win, getting 21 points and five assists from Marlon Stewart.
The Big Ten regular season title will be shared by three teams, two of who won their regular season finale on Sunday. Maryland beat Michigan 83-70 early on to claim their share, their first Big Ten title, while Michigan State knocked off Ohio State 80-69 behind 27 points from Cassius Winston. Later, in the final game of the regular season, Illinois edged visiting Iowa 78-76 to come in a game behind them, with the Hawkeyes being part of a four-team tie next at 11-9.
Tulsa entered the day needing a win to claim an outright American Athletic Conference regular season title. Instead, they will be the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament after getting blown out 79-57 at Wichita State and losing out on the tiebreakers with Houston, who rallied past Memphis 64-57 earlier in the day, and Cincinnati, who will have the top seed. The Shockers grabbed the No. 4 seed with the win.
The West Coast Conference took a day off from their tournament on Sunday, but it wasn’t quiet with news as Mike Dunlap was let go by Loyola Marymount after six seasons at the helm. Dunlap went 81-108 during his tenure, and the job is thought to be a coveted one, although the WCC landscape is very tough after Gonzaga, BYU and Saint Mary’s.
Tonight’s Menu
Championship Week is in full swing, with tonight being one of the lighter nights of action along the way.
- The only NCAA Tournament bid being handed out on the night comes from the Southern Conference Tournament championship game in Asheville, where No. 1 East Tennessee State takes on No. 7 Wofford (7 p.m.)
- In the nation’s capital, the CAA Tournament has its semifinals with No. 1 Hofstra taking on No. 5 Delaware (6 p.m.), then No. 7 Elon battles No. 6 Northeastern (8:30 p.m.)
- The Horizon League Tournament has semifinal action in Indianapolis with No. 1 Wright State taking on No. 4 UIC (7 p.m.) and No. 2 Northern Kentucky battling No. 3 Green Bay (9:30 p.m.)
- The MAC Tournament gets going with first round action at campus sites. No. 6 Kent State hosts No. 11 Eastern Michigan, No. 7 Toledo hosts No. 10 Western Michigan and No. 8 Ohio hosts No. 9 Central Michigan with 7 p.m. tips, while No. 5 Buffalo hosts No. 12 Miami (Ohio) at 7:30 p.m.
- In Sioux Falls, the Summit League Tournament has semifinal action with No. 1 North Dakota State taking on No. 4 Oral Roberts (7 p.m.) and No. 6 North Dakota battling No. 7 Purdue Fort Wayne (9:30 p.m.)
- The Sun Belt Tournament continues with second round action at campus sites as No. 8 Louisiana visit No. 5 Georgia Southern and No. 10 Coastal Carolina travels to No. 6 Appalachian State, with both games tipping at 7 p.m.
- The West Coast Conference Tournament has semifinal action in Las Vegas with No. 1 Gonzaga taking on No. 5 San Francisco (9 p.m.) and No. 2 BYU battling No. 3 Saint Mary’s (11:30 p.m.)
