In past years, Monday night of Championship Week wasn’t so light on championship games. This year, only one was on tap, and for a while, it was interesting. It looked like there could be a repeat champion in the Southern Conference, although this would have been a quite unexpected one.
Wofford wasn’t expected to even get here, either before the season or before the conference tournament. The Terriers lost a good deal off last season’s team that went undefeated in the conference and won a game in the NCAA Tournament, and long-time head coach Mike Young left to become the head coach at Virginia Tech. But Young built something even better than first thought, and after some growing pains in non-conference, the Terriers won five in a row and six out of seven to close out that portion of the season, including a win at North Carolina (before we saw that this is no ordinary Tar Heel team).
But after some promise in the conference season, the Terriers fell on hard times toward the end of the season. They lost seven in a row to end the regular season, starting with three straight at home, and entered the Southern Conference Tournament as an afterthought with the No. 7 seed.
After knocking off No. 2 Furman and No. 6 Chattanooga to get to Monday night, the Terriers faced off against top seed East Tennessee State for the championship. They fell behind quickly 11-2, but scored the next nine points and eventually took a 24-19 lead. But from that point on, they seemingly ran out of gas, as East Tennessee State would take a five-point lead into the locker room and pull away in the second half for a 72-58 win
East Tennessee State will be in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017, and the became the fourth team in conference history to win 30 games in a season. The Buccaneers took on the likes of Winthrop, Kansas, Little Rock and LSU in non-conference play, so this team is battle-tested and won’t be seeing a team of this caliber for the first time.
After a light night of action, things pick up on Tuesday night and then accelerate from there for a couple of days before the big day on Sunday.
Side Dishes
For many years, the CAA had its championship game on this night, but it’s now semifinal night. No. 1 Hofstra was 12-23 from long range and led by double digits for most of the second half in knocking off No. 5 Delaware 75-61, then No. 6 Northeastern built a 20-point lead in the first half and held off No. 7 Elon 68-60 to advance to their third straight CAA championship game.
The Horizon League Tournament began their semifinal round with a shocker as No. 4 UIC blitzed No. 1 Wright State by running out to an early 17-6 lead and leading by 20 early in the second half en route to a 73-56 win over the team that led the conference wire to wire in the regular season. In the nightcap, No. 2 Northern Kentucky took over in the second half en route to an 80-69 win over No. 3 Green Bay.
The MAC Tournament got underway with four first round games at campus sites. No. 6 Kent State beat No. 11 Eastern Michigan 86-76, while No. 7 Toledo held off No. 10 Western Michigan 76-73 behind 22 points and 16 rebounds from Willie Jackson and despite 35 points from Western Michigan’s Michael Flowers, and No. 8 Ohio took care of No. 9 Central Michigan 85-65, while the one road team to win was the lowest seed as No. 12 Miami (Ohio) held off No. 5 Buffalo 85-79.
The Summit League held its semifinals in Sioux Falls, and an in-state battle for the title is set as No. 1 North Dakota State got past No. 4 Oral Roberts 75-69 and No. 6 North Dakota pulled away from No. 7 Purdue Fort Wayne 73-56.
Second round action in the Sun Belt Tournament saw both home teams win as No. 5 Georgia Southern edged No. 8 Louisiana 82-81 and No. 6 Appalachian State turned the game around in the second half to rally from a 15-point halftime deficit to top No. 10 Coastal Carolina 70-65.
The last games of the night came out west in the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. No. 1 Gonzaga had to hold off No. 5 San Francisco 81-77 in the opener, then Jordan Ford hit a jumper with less than two seconds to go to push No. 3 Saint Mary’s past No. 2 BYU 51-50.
A couple of teams may miss key players in their upcoming tournaments. Creighton may be without guard Marcus Zegarowski, who is listed as doubtful for the Big East Tournament with a meniscus injury in his right knee suffered late in Saturday’s win over Seton Hall, while Florida could be without Kerry Blackshear Jr. for the SEC Tournament as a result of a sprained left wrist, which he injured in their season finale against Kentucky.
Three more coaching changes came on Monday as James Madison has parted ways with Louis Rowe after four seasons, while two came in the Mountain West as Air Force let Dave Pilipovich go after eight seasons and Wyoming sent Allen Edwards packing after four seasons. Rowe was 43-85 at his alma mater, including 21-51 in CAA games, and the highly disappointing season that just completed along with the opening of the Atlantic Union Bank Center next season were surely key factors. Air Force is a tough job, and Pilipovich had eight years to try to get them into the NCAA Tournament, never doing better than 18-14 overall and 8-8 in his first season (2012-13). One wondered if Edwards was saving his job when the Cowboys won two games in the Mountain West Tournament, but the downward momentum – they won at least 20 games in each of his first two seasons and combined for 17 the past two – was too much to ignore.
Tonight’s Menu
Five more automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament go out tonight, and a couple of the big boys are among the ones that get their tournaments underway.
- In Washington, D.C., the CAA championship game will be a rematch of last year’s as No. 1 Hofstra takes on No. 6 Northeastern (7 p.m.)
- The Horizon League championship game in Indianapolis will have No. 2 Northern Kentucky taking on No. 4 UIC (7 p.m.)
- The Northeast Conference championship game has No. 2 Saint Francis U visiting No. 1 Robert Morris (7 p.m.)
- The Summit League championship game will be an in-state battle as No. 1 North Dakota State takes on No. 6 North Dakota (9 p.m.)
- In Las Vegas, the West Coast Conference championship game will be a rematch of last season’s as No. 1 Gonzaga battles No. 3 Saint Mary’s (9 p.m.)
- The ACC Tournament gets underway in Greensboro with first round action as No. 12 Wake Forest battles No. 13 Pittsburgh (4:30 p.m.) and No. 11 Virginia Tech takes on No. 14 North Carolina (7 p.m.)
- The America East Tournament has its semifinals, with No. 3 Hartford traveling to No. 2 Stony Brook and No. 4 UMBC visiting No. 1 Vermont (7 p.m.)
- The MAAC Tournament gets underway in Atlantic City with first round action as No. 8 Fairfield battles No. 9 Manhattan (5 p.m.), No. 7 Iona takes on No. 10 Canisius (7 p.m.) and No. 6 Niagara takes on No. 11 Marist (9 p.m.)
- In Norfolk, the MEAC Tournament gets underway with first round action as No. 8 Delaware State battles No. 9 Maryland-Eastern Shore (6 p.m.) and No. 7 South Carolina State takes on No. 10 Howard (8 p.m.)
- The SWAC Tournament has quarterfinal action on campus sites as No. 1 Prairie View A&M hosts No. 8 Alabama A&M (6:30 p.m.), No. 2 Southern hosts No. 7 Alabama State, No. 3 Texas Southern hosts No. 6 Grambling State (8:30 p.m.) and No. 4 Jackson State hosts No. 5 Alcorn State (9 p.m.)
