365 to 1: February 16th Update
Down go the Golden Griffins
Previously on 365 to 1:
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BoilerUp89
Our first in-season eliminations of the year have occurred. The countdown is on in earnest.
The first team to be eliminated due to poor performance was the Western Illinois Leathernecks. Two days after their first Ohio Valley Conference victory, the Leathernecks fell to Little Rock to move to 5-22 (1-15). The loss left them five wins behind tenth place and the final OVC tournament spot with four games remaining. The Leathernecks transitioned to Division 1 for the 1982 season. They've yet to make the NCAA tournament since transitioning but have been one game short just three times - most recently in 2012.
When the Leathernecks moved to the OVC from the Summit before the 2023 season I held some hope they would be able to break thru as the OVC is widely considered worse than the Summit - particularly without Murray State and Belmont. Year 1 looked promising as Western Illinois went 13-5. Two years later they aren't even making the OVC tournament.
Joining Western Illinois in the depths of OVC despair are their conference brethren Southern Indiana. The Screaming Eagles (5-21, 2-14) lost to Tennessee Tech 74-82 on Saturday. The loss put Bruce Pearl's old program five games behind the OVC cutline with four games remaining. USI were the 1995 Division II champions under the former Iowa assistant coach. This was their first year eligible post transitioning to Division I. I'm not really sure why Evansville, Indiana needs two Division I programs, but that ship is sailed.
Sunday was our first double elimination day which brings me to tiebreakers for the countdown list order. Once we get to conference tournament season, the first tiebreaker between teams eliminated on the same day is round of the tournament. There are a bunch of different formats but in general final > semifinal > quarterfinal > round 4 > round 3 > round 2 > round 1. The second tiebreaker is finish time of the game (thankfully several sites put final scores in order of finish). For non-conference tournament eliminations, we will break ties based on time eliminated or distance from the cutline.
Rider was one of two MAAC teams eliminated on Sunday and the eliminations appear to have occurred at the same time thanks to a Rider loss. The Broncs (3-22, 2-14) lost to Sacred Heart (shout out to JD and Turk) 75-86. They sit five games behind tenth place with four to play. Rider has made the NCAA tournament three times, but not since 1994. The Broncs have yet to win a NCAA tournament game. Under head coach Kevin Baggett (14 seasons), Rider has mostly been a .500 type team in the MAAC outside of the COVID season and this season when they've been terrible. There's also been a handful of 2nd and 3rd place finishes and even one regular season championship.
Eliminated at around the same time as Rider, the Canisius Golden Griffins (8-19, 3-13) fell to Manhattan 65-69 on Sunday. The Golden Griffins started conference play 3-2, but are now on an 11 game losing streak. Canisius can still catch Iona in the standings, but having been swept by Iona and Niagara (the only other team that can make it a multi-team tie), it's impossible for the Golden Griffins to move forward into the MAAC tournament field. Canisius hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 1996. They've made the tournament four times total (three consecutive years in the 50s) and were in the Regional Finals in '55 and '56. They came closest to a Final Four when they fell to Temple in the 1956 Regional Final 58-60. They are the first team in the countdown with a winning record in the NCAA Tournament (6-4).
356 Teams Remain!
9 Teams Eliminated
Conference Races
America East Conference
Conference games: 16
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 9
5th - Albany Great Danes (5-6)
6th - New Hampshire Wildcats (4-7)
7th - Bryant Bulldogs (4-8)
8th - Maine Black Bears (4-8)
9th - Binghamton Bearcats (1-11)
On Thursday, three of the four teams that entered last week tied at four wins lost. Only Albany escaped this fate as the Great Danes had Thursday off due to the uneven number of America East teams. Binghamton also lost on Thursday so those losses didn't really hurt New Hampshire, Maine, or Bryant.
Then on Saturday, the same four teams that lost on Thursday lost again with Albany surviving a late push by Binghamton to walk away with a three point victory. The win pushes Albany into a relatively safe place. The Great Danes swept Binghamton so there would need to be at least a three way tie for the final two AE tournament spots for Albany to get left out.
Meanwhile, Binghamton is down to their final chance. They sit three games behind New Hampshire, Maine, and Bryant with four to play. The good news for them is that their remaining games are against that trio and 4th place UMass Lowell. There's a realistic path even if it's very narrow.
This week Binghamton travels to Bryant on Thursday and UMass Lowell on Saturday. Maine and New Hampshire will face off in the Granite state this weekend.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Maine, New Hampshire, UMass Lowell, NJIT
American Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 13
8th - Tulane Green Wave (6-6)
9th - Florida Atlantic Owls (6-7)
10th - North Texas Mean Green (6-7)
11th - Rice Owls (5-8)
12th - East Carolina Pirates (4-8)
13th - UTSA Roadrunners (1-12)
East Carolina defeated UTSA on Wednesday but failed to gain ground on either Tulane or Rice that evening as both found ways to win on that same night. North Texas responded by defeating Memphis on Thursday.
Over the weekend East Carolina defeated Rice on Saturday to keep themselves in the middle of things and put a dent in the Owls' plans for the postseason. On Sunday, UNT won at Temple by 3 and Tulane edged out UAB by a single point to move clear of Rice. Meanwhile FAU finds themselves back near the cutline as they are in the middle of a six game losing streak after an overtime loss to South Florida yesterday.
In other news, UTSA won their first conference game of the season on Sunday! This keeps them alive, but only just since UNT and Tulane won the same day. There's still at least one scenario that sees UTSA get in, but with the teams clustered around 8th-11th still playing each other a bunch it's a narrow path since there are some guaranteed wins there.
This week, FAU travels to UTSA on Wednesday while Tulane/North Texas promises to be an important Thursday evening game. On Sunday Rice goes to Tulane and UNT hosts FAU.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Atlantic Sun
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 12
5th - Bellarmine Knights (6-8)
6th - Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (6-8)
7th - West Georgia Wolves (6-8)*
8th - Eastern Kentucky Colonels (5-9)
9th - Stetson Hatters (5-9)
10th - Jacksonville Dolphins (5-9)
11th - North Florida Ospreys (4-10)
12th - North Alabama Lions (3-11)
*ineligible for NCAAT
Rough week for North Florida as they lost to fellow ASUN tournament bubble teams FGCU and Jacksonville. They still have three games remaining against Stetson, FGCU, and Jacksonville so all is not lost, but there is definitely work left to do. On a side note, the ASUN schedulers are crazy.
Eastern Kentucky blew a major opportunity to secure a relatively easy victory against North Alabama losing on the road in overtime. The win keeps the Lions in the thick of things, but EKU is now tied for the final spot in the ASUN tournament field.
Stetson hosts North Florida on Saturday.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: North Alabama, Queens, Central Arkansas, Bellarmine, West Georgia
Atlantic Coast Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 15 of 18
14th - Wake Forest Demon Deacons (4-8)
15th - Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-10)
16th - Boston College Eagles (2-10)
17th - Pittsburgh Panthers (2-11)
18th - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-11)
Wake Forest defeated fellow ACC tournament bubble team Georgia Tech on Wednesday and followed it up with a win over Stanford on Saturday. They aren't out of the woods completely but things look a lot better than they did a week ago.
The Irish knocked off Georgia Tech by 14 this weekend to take a very tentative hold over the 15th and final spot in the ACC tournament.
This week Notre Dame will go to Pittsburgh on Saturday.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Big West
Conference games: 20
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 11
8th - Cal Poly Mustangs (7-8)
9th - Long Beach State Beach (4-10)
10th - UC Riverside Highlanders (3-12)
11th - Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (2-12)
Thursday night's games saw the Beach, Highlanders, and Roadrunners lose while Cal Poly pulled out a home victory over UC Irvine. The Mustangs continued their winning ways on Saturday while the Beach and Highlanders both lost again. Bakersfield sat idle over the weekend. Bakersfield and Riverside can still catch and pass Cal Poly but the Mustangs are capped at 13 losses so things could be over for them as soon as Thursday.
This Thursday Riverside and Bakersfield play each other while Cal Poly takes on league leader Hawaii. The Mustangs have Saturday off so Riverside, Bakersfield, and Long Beach State need to take advantage to try and catch up in the win column this week.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: UC Riverside
Conference USA
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 12
9th - UTEP Miners (6-9)
10th - Delaware Blue Hens (5-9)
11th - Florida International Panthers (5-9)
12th - New Mexico State Aggies (5-10)
All of a sudden, these teams are winning games! UTEP went on the road to Jacksonville State Wednesday night to pull themselves up to the six win mark. They were unable to continue their winning ways against conference leader jackass Liberty and fell to the Donkeys on Saturday.
Delaware defeated FIU on Thursday and followed it up with a victory over Missouri State over the weekend. FIU and New Mexico State also found ways to win over the mushy middle of the CUSA on Saturday so this race remains extremely tight. Two other teams sit at 6-8 entering this week, so don't be shocked if either of them show up here next week.
UTEP and New Mexico State have the middle of this week off but will face each other in Las Cruces on Saturday. FIU has to play Liberty "university" on Thursday but will have an opportunity against Missouri State on Saturday. Delaware gets two opportunities against the mushy middle this week with games against Western Kentucky on Wednesday and Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Ivy League
Conference games: 14
Teams participating in tournament: 4 of 8
4th - Cornell Big Red (5-5)
5th - Dartmouth Big Green (4-6)
6th - Princeton Tigers (4-6)
7th - Columbia Lions (4-6)
8th - Brown Bears (2-8)
Busy weekend for the Ivy. The Quakers and our old buddy Fran won twice to move to 6-4. Cornell and Columbia split the weekend, while Princeton and Dartmouth lost twice. The Big Green's loss Saturday night keeps Brown alive as the Bears picked up a win.
This upcoming weekend Brown will play Princeton, while Columbia plays Dartmouth and 4th-place Cornell plays Harvard.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Conference games: 20
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 13
6th - Mount St. Mary's (8-8)
7th - Fairfield (8-8)
8th - Manhattan Jaspers (8-9)
9th - Sacred Heart Pioneers (8-9)
10th - Iona Gaels (7-9)
11th - Niagara Purple Eagles (4-12)
12th - Canisius Golden Griffins (3-13) - eliminated
13th - Rider Broncs (2-14) - eliminated
Rider lost two more games this week to fall to 2-14. Combined with double win weeks by Mount St. Mary's, Manhattan, and Sacred Heart as well as Iona winning their Friday game, The Broncs can no longer reach tenth place.
Canisius has a similar story. Following two losses this week, they can only tie for 10th place. Unfortunately for the Golden Griffins, they are 0-2 against Iona and Canisius so in the event of either a two or three team tiebreaker, they are still out.
Niagara's head to head victory over Iona keeps them alive for now, but three games back with four to play isn't promising.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Quinnipiac, Merrimack, Sacred Heart
Mid-American Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 13
8th - Buffalo Bulls (5-7)
9th - Central Michigan Chippewas (4-8)
10th - Ball State Cardinals (3-9)
11th - Northern Illinois Huskies (3-9)
12th - Western Michigan Broncos (3-9)
13th - Eastern Michigan Eagles (3-10)
The back of the MAC lost on Wednesday while Buffalo won to extend their lead in the standings. The Bulls however had the weekend off. Central Michigan defeated NIU and Western proved what Big Ten football fans from the West/East era knew in their hearts to be true (West > East) by defeating Eastern Michigan.
On Tuesday Buffalo hosts NIU. A Bulls win would really hurt the chase group who are running out of time to make a push. CMU travels to Ypsilanti that same day. The weekend will see yet another directional Michigan matchup as Western hits up Central Michigan.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Northeast Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 10
T2nd - Le Moyne Dolphins (9-5)*
T4th - Mercyhurst Lakers (8-6)*
6th - New Haven Chargers (6-7)*^
8th - Saint Francis (4-9)
9th - Wagner Seahawks (4-9)
10th - Chicago State Cougars (4-10)
^ineligible for NEC tournament
*ineligible for NCAA tournament
Break up the Cougars! Chicago State beat Saint Francis and Stonehill to get to four NEC wins this week. Unfortunately they couldn't keep their momentum going and lost to Le Moyne by 18 on Saturday.
Thanks to Wagner's victory at Stonehill on Saturday they reclaimed the 8th NEC tournament spot. Saint Francis entered the week in decent shape but the recent Chicago State wins (4 in their last 6 games) and Wagner's weekend triumph leaves Saint Francis uncomfortably close to being left out of the NEC tournament in their final Division 1 season.
Looking ahead, Wagner hosts Saint Francis on Saturday in their third game of the week. Chicago State meanwhile plays the top half of the conference twice.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Stonehill, Chicago State, Le Moyne, Mercyhurst, New Haven
Ohio Valley Conference
Conference games: 20
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 11
7th - Little Rock Trojans (7-9)
8th - Eastern Illinois Panthers (7-9)
9th - Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (6-10)
10th - Southern Indiana Screamin' Eagles (2-14) - eliminated
11th - Western Illinois Leathernecks (1-15) - eliminated
Western Illinois beat Eastern Illinois on Tuesday to get into the win column for conference play. It staved off elimination for the Leathernecks temporarily but they lost to Little Rock on Thursday to end their season.
The Leathernecks aren't alone among the OVC eliminated teams. EIU's victory over Little Rock on Saturday took them to 7 conference wins. Combined with Southern Indiana's loss to Tennessee Tech, the Screamin' Eagles are too far back to catch up to 8th place with just four OVC games remaining. The win does keep Tennessee Tech in the picture for the OVC's final spot.
Tennessee Tech faces SIUE and Lindenwood this week. Eastern Illinois will see Morehead and the Screamin' Eagles of USI. Little Rock gets the challenge of UT Martin and SEMO. Advantage Eastern Illinois. Tennessee Tech split the season series with Little Rock and were swept by Eastern Illinois so they've prefer a tie with Little Rock but would be advised to get in front of either of the teams in the standings.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Lindenwood, Tennessee Martin, Western Illinois (eliminated), and Southern Indiana (eliminated)
Southland Conference
Conference games: 22
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 12
8th - Northwestern State Demons (6-11)
9th - East Texas A&M Lions (5-12)
10th - Southeastern Louisiana Lions (5-12)
11th - Incarnate Word Cardinals (5-12)
12th - Houston Christian Huskies (5-12)
Big week for Northwestern State who won two games by a combined five points to grab 8th place in the Southland. SELA beat Incarnate Word but could not hold off Northwestern State. East Texas A&M and Incarnate Word lost twice this week while Houston Christian was able to manage a 1 point win over New Orleans on Saturday.
Important games this week include a battle between the Lions to establish the leader of the pride, East Texas A&M at Incarnate Word, and Northwestern State at Houston Christian.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Incarnate Word, Texas Rio Grande Valley, East Texas A&M
The List
365 - New Haven Chargers (transitioning)
364 - West Georgia Wolves (transitioning)
363 - Mercyhurst Lakers (transitioning)
362 - Le Moyne Dolphins (transitioning)
361 - Coppin State Eagles (APR)
360 - Western Illinois Leathernecks (eliminated from OVC contention 2/12)
359 - Southern Indiana Screamin' Eagles (eliminated from OVC contention 2/14)
358 - Rider Broncs (eliminated from MAAC contention 2/15)
357 - Canisius Golden Griffins (eliminated from MAAC contention 2/15)
