2018 Conference Tournaments

[Obadiah]

The games of interest thread ends with Week #17, but in this new thread we will follow the games in 32 conference tournaments, some of which actually begin play this week. The outcomes of these tournament games have a impact on, not only who gets into the NCAAT, but also on the seedings. I have highlighted the conference tournaments that involve URI OOC opponents and it will be interesting to see how many of the eleven schools qualify for the NCAAT.

2018 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS

CONFERENCE	  TOURNAMENT SITE	DATES               2017 CHAMPION

ACC                 Brooklyn	      March 6-10	       Duke
AAC                 Orlando           March 8-11               SMU
America East        Campus sites      March 3, 6 & 10	       Vermont
Atlantic 10         Washington D.C.   March 7-11	       Rhode Island
Atlantic Sun        Campus sites      Feb. 26-March 4	       FGCU
Big East            New York	      March 7-10	       Villanova
Big Sky             Reno, NV          March 6, 8-10            North Dakota
Big South           Campus sites      Feb. 27, March 1-4       Winthrop
Big Ten             New York	      Feb. 28-March 4	       Michigan
Big 12              Kansas City	      March 7-10	       Iowa State
Big West            Anaheim	      March 8-10	       UC Davis
Colonial            Charleston	      March 3-6	               UNC-Wilmington
Conference USA      Frisco, TX	      March 7-10	       Middle Tennessee
Horizon League      Detroit 	      March 2-6	               N. Kentucky
Ivy League          Philadelphia      March 10-11	       Princeton
MAAC                Albany, NY	      March 1-5 	       Iona
MAC                 Cleveland         March 5, 7-10	       Kent State
MEAC                Norfolk, Va.      March 5-10	       NC Central
Missouri Valley     St. Louis         March 1-4                Wichita State
Mountain West       Las Vegas	      March 7-10	       Nevada
Northeast           Campus sites      Feb. 28, March 3 & 6     Mount St. Mary's
Ohio Valley         San Antonio	      Feb. 28, March 1-3       Jacksonville State
Pac-12              Las Vegas  	      March 7-10	       Arizona
Patriot             Campus sites      Feb. 27, March 1,4 & 7   Bucknell
SEC                 St. Louis	      March 7-11	       Kentucky
Southern            Asheville, NC     March 1-5 	       E. Tennessee State
Southland           Katy, TX	      March 7-11	       New Orleans
Summit              Sioux Falls	      March 3-6	               S. Dakota State
Sun Belt            New Orleans	      March 7-11	       Troy
SWAC                Houston	      March 6, 9-10	       Texas Southern
WAC                 Las Vegas	      March 7-10	       N. Mexico State
West Coast          Las Vegas	      March 1-6	               Gonzaga

[steviep123]

In the past few years that the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship has moved to a Sunday, it has been held at 1pm and televised nationally at 1pm, later followed by the Big Ten Championship at 3. This year, the Big Ten is a week earlier due to being at Madison Square Garden. Will the lead in to the Big Ten Championship have any affect on the A10 Championship ratings? In looking at a few sources, the American Conference Championship is on CBS that day. Will the AAC rather than the B1G following us have any affect on ratings?

[Obadiah]

CBS will televise the A-10 championship at 1 PM and the AAC Championship at 3:30 PM. The impact of that sequence is questionable. The bigger impact on A-10 ratings is that the SEC game in St. Louis is being televised by ESPN at 12 Noon /1 PM EST.

[Obadiah]

Here is one perspective of how URI OOC opponents stand on chances getting into the NCAAT.

Firm: Virginia
Likely In: Nevada and Seton Hall
On the Bubble: PC
Need To Win Conference Tourney: UNC Asheville, Florida Gulf Coast, Charleston, Iona
Likely Out: Alabama
No Shot: Brown, Holy Cross


My guess is six of the 11 teams get in.

[ace]

Pulling hard for Wagner (NEC) and Buffalo (MAC).

[section(105)]

.......when does the A-10 go back to Brooklyn.....?

[Obadiah]

Next year

[UCH21377]

Thanks for the thread Obadiah it is hard to keep up with all the tourneys!

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

Here is one perspective of how URI OOC opponents stand on chances getting into the NCAAT.

Firm: Virginia
Likely In: Nevada and Seton Hall
On the Bubble: PC
Need To Win Conference Tourney: UNC Asheville, Florida Gulf Coast, Charleston, Iona
Likely Out: Alabama
No Shot: Brown, Holy Cross


My guess is six of the 11 teams get in.

Think you got that wrong. Alabama is going to be in .

[reef]

Yeah Alabama is a 9 seed now on bracket matrix so likely safe

[steviep123]

I've noticed many of the smaller one bid conferences have a day off in between opening rounds and the quarterfinals. Probably to allow for travel as many of the games are on the campus sites of the higher seed.

[RF1]

It will be interesting to see how the Big Ten does at MSG. Will it draw well with tickets being a very hot commodity? Will it generate a lot of attention and buzz in NYC? Will there be after effects to its NCAA teams having nearly two weeks off since the Big Ten is being played a week ear;ier than usual (Big East is at MSG the week before slection Sunday)?

[Rhodysk]

Also with big ten in NYC I think the ACC is in Brooklyn this being the reason A10 is in D.C

[steviep123]

It will be interesting to see how the Big Ten does at MSG. Will it draw well with tickets being a very hot commodity? Will it generate a lot of attention and buzz in NYC? Will there be after effects to its NCAA teams having nearly two weeks off since the Big Ten is being played a week ear;ier than usual (Big East is at MSG the week before slection Sunday)?

All excellent questions. I'm sure it will draw well. I think there are a lot of fans of Big Ten teams in the NYC area. During the football season I remember someone posting all the different "college football team bars" in Manhattan and there were a ton of them. All B1G schools were represented, most within just a few blocks of each other (I think Michigan and one other team were down by the Freedom Tower area, the rest in around Midtown).

But my guess is if they return to NY, it will be Barclays in a few years when it's free and be the same weekend as the rest of the majors and beyond. Also, having the tournament so far from your conference footprint may turn into an issue. Not necessarily for the B1G (though I admit they should be in Chicago each year as a base, like the BE with NYC), but certainly for others, for example, The American. No need to have it in Orlando. Pick a good location for year in and year out. Similarly, the ACC should be better located than Barclays (though there are more northeastern teams than before, but really, just BC and Syracuse). It's kind of like having the A10 Tourney in St. Louis.

[Da_Process_Survivor]

It will be interesting to see how the Big Ten does at MSG. Will it draw well with tickets being a very hot commodity? Will it generate a lot of attention and buzz in NYC? Will there be after effects to its NCAA teams having nearly two weeks off since the Big Ten is being played a week ear;ier than usual (Big East is at MSG the week before slection Sunday)?

All excellent questions. I'm sure it will draw well. I think there are a lot of fans of Big Ten teams in the NYC area. During the football season I remember someone posting all the different "college football team bars" in Manhattan and there were a ton of them. All B1G schools were represented, most within just a few blocks of each other (I think Michigan and one other team were down by the Freedom Tower area, the rest in around Midtown).

But my guess is if they return to NY, it will be Barclays in a few years when it's free and be the same weekend as the rest of the majors and beyond. Also, having the tournament so far from your conference footprint may turn into an issue. Not necessarily for the B1G (though I admit they should be in Chicago each year as a base, like the BE with NYC), but certainly for others, for example, The American. No need to have it in Orlando. Pick a good location for year in and year out. Similarly, the ACC should be better located than Barclays (though there are more northeastern teams than before, but really, just BC and Syracuse). It's kind of like having the A10 Tourney in St. Louis.

I'll never understand why the ACC went away from Greensboro. Perfect spot for their tourney and the historical home of it

[steviep123]

It will be interesting to see how the Big Ten does at MSG. Will it draw well with tickets being a very hot commodity? Will it generate a lot of attention and buzz in NYC? Will there be after effects to its NCAA teams having nearly two weeks off since the Big Ten is being played a week ear;ier than usual (Big East is at MSG the week before slection Sunday)?

All excellent questions. I'm sure it will draw well. I think there are a lot of fans of Big Ten teams in the NYC area. During the football season I remember someone posting all the different "college football team bars" in Manhattan and there were a ton of them. All B1G schools were represented, most within just a few blocks of each other (I think Michigan and one other team were down by the Freedom Tower area, the rest in around Midtown).

But my guess is if they return to NY, it will be Barclays in a few years when it's free and be the same weekend as the rest of the majors and beyond. Also, having the tournament so far from your conference footprint may turn into an issue. Not necessarily for the B1G (though I admit they should be in Chicago each year as a base, like the BE with NYC), but certainly for others, for example, The American. No need to have it in Orlando. Pick a good location for year in and year out. Similarly, the ACC should be better located than Barclays (though there are more northeastern teams than before, but really, just BC and Syracuse). It's kind of like having the A10 Tourney in St. Louis.

I'll never understand why the ACC went away from Greensboro. Perfect spot for their tourney and the historical home of it

Agreed!

[bigappleram]

Huge alumni bases for many Big 10 schools in NYC - Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland and others. I would assume it draws well. In my own office probably 25% of the staff is from a Big 10 school.

[Obadiah]

The Big Ten Tournament opened last night in its first ever appearance at MSG in New York. In first round action, Iowa prevailed over Illinois, 96-87 and Rutgers upset higher seed Minnesota, 65-54. A crowd of 14,681 witnessed the first round doubleheader.

[Obadiah]

Big Ten tournament continues with second round action today starting with Wisconsin vs. Maryland at 12 Noon. The Atlantic Sun tournament also continues with semi final action at campus sites.

Other conferences opening their championship tournaments today are: Patriot League, Ohio Valley, Metro Atlantic, Big South, and Missouri Valley.

[Obadiah]

In Big South quarterfinals, Charleston Southern at UNC Asheville.7 PM. On ESPN3.

In Atlantic Sun semifinals, North Florida at Florida Gulf Coast. 7 PM. On ESPN3.

In Patriot League quarterfinals, Holy Cross at Navy. 7 PM.

[rhodysurf]

Oh man I love watching conference tournaments at work

[ace]

In general, I don’t have much interest in Big 10 basketball outside of Rutger’s rebuild, but their tournament has been pretty good so far. Still weird that it’s so early.

[rhodyrudder]

In general, I don’t have much interest in Big 10 basketball outside of Rutger’s rebuild, but their tournament has been pretty good so far. Still weird that it’s so early.

I missed the announcement that they're now a 1-bid league.
Do they have OOC games scheduled with the Big South next week?

[ace]

Not good.

[theblueram]

Not good.

Why is that not good? P5 preference is overrated as is evident by this post.

[rambone 78]

Every year some teams underperform, for various reasons....P5 or not....

Those 2 REALLY underperformed.

[PeterRamTime]

How bout Holy Cross Asheville and FGCU all getting wins tonight!

[rambone 78]

Holy Cross win was a surprise.

[ace]

Northwestern was such a good story last year, but they just collapsed this season.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for a Pitino, especially when they had a guy like Reggie Lynch on the team.

[Obadiah]

Showing how anything can happen in conference tourneys. #2 Michigan State struggled in its BT quarterfinal game versus a Wisconsin team which had finished the regular season in ninth place. The game was not decided until the waning minutes as the Spartans' defensive effort helped them secure their thirteenth straight win, 63-60.

[Obadiah]

The first four automatic bids to the 2018 NCAAT were issued on Sunday:

Taking the first bid, Radford of the Big South qualified on a buzzer beater over Liberty, 55-52.

Loyola-Chicago won the Missouri Valley title, 65-49. This will be the Ramblers first trip to the NCAAT in 33 years.

Lipscomb upset Florida Gulf Coast to take the Atlantic Sun title, 108-96.

#!5 Michigan beat #8 Purdue, 75-66 to take its second straight Big Ten title. The tournament held at MSG for the first time drew crowds better than last year's tournament in Washington, DC, though not as well as those held in Indianapolis.

[wpbrown8267]

rooting hard for Iona tonight in the MAAC and Charleston in the Colonial

[RF1]

The first four automatic bids to the 2018 NCAAT were issued on Sunday:

Taking the first bid, Radford of the Big South qualified on a buzzer beater over Liberty, 55-52.

Loyola-Chicago won the Missouri Valley title, 65-49. This will be the Ramblers first trip to the NCAAT in 33 years.

Lipscomb upset Florida Gulf Coast to take the Atlantic Sun title, 108-96.

#!5 Michigan beat #8 Purdue, 75-66 to take its second straight Big Ten title. The tournament held at MSG for the first time drew crowds better than last year's tournament in Washington, DC, though not as well as those held in Indianapolis.

Murray State on Saturday was actually the first to punch its NCAA ticket. It won the OVC Tournament by beating Belmont 68-51. It was their 13th straight win, the longest current active streak in D1.

The Wikipedia page for the 2018 NCAA Tournament is being updated as teams make the field:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_NCAA ... Tournament

[Obadiah]

Thanks, RF1, for the correction. I glanced down the opening post in this thread and missed the OVC March 3 final as the earliest final date.

Several conferences are opening their tournaments today, but the only final tonight is the Southern Conference title match between E. Tenn. State and UNC Greensboro. 9 PM. On ESPN2.

[RF1]

Thanks, RF1, for the correction. I glanced down the opening post in this thread and missed the OVC March 3 final as the earliest final date.

Several conferences are opening their tournaments today, but the only final tonight is the Southern Conference title match between E. Tenn. State and UNC Greensboro. 9 PM. On ESPN2.

I don't mean to be a pita but the MAAC Final is tonight at 7pm from Albany. It is on ESPN and it features URI OOC opponent Iona versus Fairfield. the top three seeds of the MAAC (Rider/Canisius/Niagara) all got knocked out early before the semis leaving the 4th seed Gaels as the highest seed left.

[wpbrown8267]

Thanks, RF1, for the correction. I glanced down the opening post in this thread and missed the OVC March 3 final as the earliest final date.

Several conferences are opening their tournaments today, but the only final tonight is the Southern Conference title match between E. Tenn. State and UNC Greensboro. 9 PM. On ESPN2.

I don't mean to be a pita but the MAAC Final is tonight at 7pm from Albany. It is on ESPN and it features URI OOC opponent Iona versus Fairfield. the top three seeds of the MAAC (Rider/Canisius/Niagara) all got knocked out early before the semis leaving the 4th seed Gaels as the highest seed left.

Yeah i mentioned earlier rooting for Iona tonight, i think Fairfield is something like a #6 seed in the MAAC, should be a good game, I'm a Gaels fan tonight

[wpbrown8267]

also, this isn't related to Rhody, but I watched this guy during conf tourney week last year, and he's a beast - Mike Daum out of South Dakota State. They play tonight in the semis but was hoping they win the Summit, he put up 33 and 19 in their 1st round game. Great player, basically the only player they have but a really good one

just threw that out there for anyone wanted to load up on CBB before Rhody plays and the NCAAs start

[Obadiah]

No problem, RF1, I was using the ESPN scoreboard which sometimes can be confusing.

I thought of the four schools that needed to win their conference tournaments to get into the NCAA - UNC Asheville, FGCU, Iona, and Charleston - I guessed that two of the four would make it and didn't think Iona would be one of them. So far, none have made it, and Iona gets a shot tonight and Charleston has a shot tomorrow night, but only if they get by William & Mary in tonight's CAA semifinal.

Thanks for the tip, wpbrown, on S.D. State. Will try to watch their game vs. N. Dakota State which is on ESPN3 tonight. They have the home court advantage in that tilt.

[ace]

Go Seahawks!

[Obadiah]

Charleston advanced to its second straight CAA final by beating William & Mary, 83-73. W&M had been the surprise team in the CAA this season and had previously split its home and home series with Charleston. Other than a brief lead early in game, W&M trailed most of this game. Any comeback in the waning minutes was diminished as W&M missed its desperate three pointers and Charleston hit on all the FT taken as W&M purposively fouled.

[Obadiah]

Iona takes the MAAC tournament title and gets the automatic bid to the NCAAT with a 83-71 win over Fairfield. After a close first half, Iona was able to pull away from Fairfield in the second half, building a 17 point lead at one point, before Fairfield rallied to close the deficit in the game's waning moments, but the Stags ran out of gas. Iona becomes the first URI OOC opponent to get into the NCAAT.

[RF1]

Florida Gulf Coast and UNC-Asheville, while not winning their league tournament and NCAA bid, are both going to the NIT via automatic bids as regular season conference champs.

[Obadiah]

Northeastern routs UNC Wilmington 79-52 in a CAA semifinal game. The win sets up a title match between Northeastern and Charleston on Tuesday evening. In the regular season, Charleston swept the home and home series with Huskies, the first game by 16 points and the game in Boston by 5 points.

[reef]

I am pulling for Wagner and coach Bashir !!!

[Rhodymob05]

Zags are wiping the floor with San Fran. They really need to leave that conference.

[reef]

Yeah them to the Mountain West makes a lot of sense

[RF1]

Yeah them to the Mountain West makes a lot of sense

Except for having no football program and having little in common with most of its members (all its current members are large publics).

[Obadiah]

Tied at the end of first half, UNC Greensboro completely dominated the second half to beat E. Tenn State, 62-47, to grab the Southern Conference crown. UNCG becomes the seventh team getting the auto bid to the NCAAT. They also won the SC regular season title.

[Obadiah]

Big upset in West Coast tourney as BYU beats #20 St. Mary's, 85-72. It's going to be a long wait for St. Mary's until Selection Sunday.

[RF1]

Big upset in West Coast tourney as BYU beats #20 St. Mary's, 85-72. It's going to be a long wait for St. Mary's until Selection Sunday.

St. Mary's is 28-5 with a current RPI of #43. Played an OOC SOS of #187 and overall SOS of #164. They certainly would have helped their strength of schedule had they played URI as had been a rumored possibility.