365 to 1: Marching On Towards 300 (March 5 Update)
Among others, the Roos were eliminated on Wednesday
Hi everyone, BoilerUp89 with a midweek update on the countdown. We have three days of eliminations and are rapidly approaching the 300 team mark. The good news is that no Big Ten teams have been eliminated yet. The bad news is that many of our fanbases are acting like we have been. Just remember, it's not over until it's over.
Previously on 365 to 1:
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As a reminder here's the rules we are following this conference tournament season. 1) Finish with a .500 or better overall record. 2) Finish in the top 100 of the NCAA NET rankings. 3) Be in the top 70 of NET, KenPom, Torvik's WAB, or be an at-large on anybody's bracket on BracketMatrix. Do all three of those and you go into the "Under Consideration" pile when you lose in your conference tournament. Oh, and teams that don't make their conference tournament are auto-eliminated. I'm sorry ESPN, but the 16th place ACC team isn't making the tournament.
On to the the eliminations so far this week. Write ups will be shorter.
Indiana - Indianapolis (7-25, team #341) became the first team eliminated in conference tournament season on Monday when they fell to Cleveland State in the first round of the Horizon League tournament 93-101. The Jaguars play an unique style and it will be interesting in the next few years to see whether it can work with slightly more talent. For now though, the Jaguars haven't won a conference tournament game since 2017.
The Southland regular season wrapped up Monday night and Incarnate Word was in the unfortunate position of needing a win against first place Stephen F. Austin. The Cardinals (12-19, 7-15, team #340) lost 68-76 to SFA. Incarnate Word transitioned to Division I in 2013 but have yet to go dancing since first becoming eligible in 2018.
Lamar (12-19, 7-15) was the second Southland team eliminated in the regular season finale Monday and became team #339. Due to the Incarnate Word game being played earlier, the end of the Lamar/Houston Christian game ended up being a head to head elimination battle. Lamar fell apart in the 2nd half to lose 53-75 and finish a game behind HCU. Sadly, we will be cheated once against of the great Lamar/Drake NCAA tournament matchup we all want to see.
Tuesday evening the eliminations started coming in hot and heavy.
We started in the Sun Belt where Georgia State (10-22, team #338) lost in the classic 13 seed v. 12 seed matchup 75-84 to Louisiana. The Panthers held a two point lead at the half, but Louisiana took the lead early in the second and never looked back.
In the MAC, we had a massacre of the innocents with four eliminations in the midweek games. The Eastern Michigan Emus Eagles (10-20, 4-13) lost to Buffalo 67-72 despite a spirited comeback after trailing by 18 to become #337. It was a bad time to shoot 17% from three. Eastern Michigan is two wins behind 8th place with 1 game remaining. They haven't won a MAC tournament game since 2018.
Western Michigan was also eliminated when Buffalo defeated Eastern Michigan but for good measured lost a few minutes later to Ball State 71-74 in overtime. The Broncos (team #336) fell to 10-20 overall and 4-13 in the MAC less than a week after almost ending Miami Ohio's undefeated season.
Just like their now former MAC colleagues, Northern Illinois was knocked out when Buffalo defeated Eastern Michigan. Things already looked bleak as they were down 28-51 to Kent State at halftime and went on to lose 76-102 anyway. The Huskies (9-20, 4-13) will join the Horizon League next season so that their football team can travel to the Rocky Mountains. Technically they were eliminated at the same time as Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan, but I've awarded them spot #335 because ties are ridiculous.
The US Army found new and exciting ways to wander around in the desert. The Black Knights (11-21, team #334) fell to Bucknell 55-65 in the opening round of the Patriot League tournament. Army remains one of the founding members of the Never Made the Tournament Club and appears further away from going dancing than ever before.
The Lafayette Leopards (11-21) were conquered by the Holy Cross Crusaders 82-77 in the first round of the Patriot League tournament to become team #333 in the countdown. Lafayette shot 48% from three but were undone by Holy Cross's perfect 18 of 18 from the charity stripe.
Our final MAC elimination of Tuesday occurred when UMass defeated the Ohio Bobcats. The loss left the Ball State Cardinals unable to climb into the top 8 of the MAC. Ball State can catch both Buffalo and UMass (currently 7th and 8th) with a win in their remaining, but loses either a two or three game tiebreaker. Ball State (11-19, 6-11) are team #332.
In a game I didn't think was happening until Wednesday, Purdue Fort Wayne was hunted to extinction by Green Bay in a 56-64 game. The Mastodons finished the season with a winning record (17-15) but had a NET ranking of 251 at the time of the time of their elimination from auto-bid contention. They have yet to make the NCAA tournament and are team #331 in this year's countdown.
The final elimination of Tuesday was in the same conference as the first: the Sun Belt. Last place Louisiana Monroe won just 4 games this season and lost in the opening round of the Sun Belt torture experiment by a score of 80-87. Sophomore Krystian Lewis scored 27 points behind a 17 of 18 performance at the free throw line. The Warhawks (team #330) finish 4-26 this year.
Wednesday saw our first daytime basketball of the conference tournament season. Jacksonville and Bellarmine played a thriller, but Bellarmine prevailed 82-79. thanks to the late game heroics of former Boilermaker Brian Waddell. With Jacksonville up three and 51 seconds remaining, Waddell made a layup to cut the lead to 1. Bellarmine got the ball back after a missed free throw and Waddell scored on a dunk to take a 80-79 lead with 14 seconds remaining. The loss drops the Jacksonville Dolphins to 12-20 and they become team #329. It has now been 40 years since they made the Big Dance.
The North Alabama Lions (9-21) lost to 5 seed Florida Gulf Coast 58-69. The Lions haven't had many years of NCAA tournament eligibility but they are a NMTC member.
Eastern Kentucky (11-21) was upset by the Stetson Hatters 76-92. Stetson scored 54 points in the first half to jump out to a 13 point lead and added a few more to the final margin after halftime. The Colonels' tournament drought will reach 13 years next season.
Team #326 is the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (11-22). Louisiana will not be winning 7 games in 7 days following a 72-87 loss to James Madison. Sophomore Jaxon Olvera scored 28 points in the loss.
The nation's longest drought without a conference tournament victory will continue for another season. The Chicago State Cougars (7-25) fell to top seeded Long Island 75-79. Honestly they were mostly the better team in this one but Long Island shot 50% from three. Chicago State played much better late in the season. We will see if they can build on it next season and get their first conference tournament victory since 2013. They remain a NMTC member.
Cleveland State was raided by Wright State 61-90. The Vikings (11-22) haven't been very good since Dennis Gates left for Missouri, but this game got out of hand.
There will be no repeat champion in the Ohio Valley. Last year's champion Southern Illinois Edwardsville was dispatched in overtime by Eastern Illinois 71-77. Arnas Sakenis missed two free throws for the Cougars with 24 seconds remaining in regulation. SIUE (19-13) had a NET of 254 entering the day.
Fairleigh Dickinson (11-21) lost to Mercyhurst 61-70 in the first round of the NEC Wednesday night. Good riddance. The Knights become team #322,
The Milwaukee Panthers (12-20) were blown out by Detroit Mercy 63-84. Unfortunately Bo Ryan isn't roaming the sidelines for Milwaukee anymore. Fortunately, neither is Bruce Pearl.
The upset of the night in the Horizon League was 4 seed Oakland losing to 7 seed Northern Kentucky 84-85. Brody Robinson scored 36 points for the Golden Grizzlies on 10 of 20 three point shooting but Oakland's late rally fell short as their buzzer beating three could only cut the lead to 1. Oakland finishes 15-16 against Division I opponents.
Le Moyne lost to Stonehill but that isn't an elimination. It does mean the dream of a 3rd place NEC tournament game for the auto-bid is dead however.
2 seed Central Connecticut State lost to Wagner 60-70 after being held to just 25 second half points. The Blue Devils (18-12, NET 281) were led by Darin Smith Jr.'s 29 points and 13 rebounds but it wasn't enough to prevent them from becoming team #319 in the countdown.
The Horizon League will not have a first time tournament participant. Youngstown State followed the lead of Fort Wayne and lost to Robert Morris 53-68. The Penguins (15-17) have been in Division I since 1982. They've been one game short four times, most recently last year.
The Big South tournament opened with a bang! Gardner-Webb held off South Carolina Upstate 65-64. Upstate committed a foul with 14 seconds remaining and Gardner-Webb hit both free throws to take the lead. The Spartans (13-19) turned it over twice and missed two free throws in the last 30 seconds of the game.
Back in the ASUN, West Georgia ended North Florida's season despite 50 second half points for the Ospreys. North Florida (7-25) lost 85-93 and it's been 11 years since their sole NCAA tournament appearance.
We also had a regular season elimination yesterday. Rice (12-18, 6-11) fell to North Texas 58-62. The loss leaves the Owls 1 win behind Temple and Memphis with 1 game remaining for Rice. Although Temple and Memphis don't play their midweek game until tomorrow, Rice lost their only game against Memphis and although they split the season series with Temple (and also against fellow 6 win team East Carolina) when we go to the 2nd tiebreaker (wins against teams tied for 1st, 2nd, etc.), Rice is locked in to losing that tiebreaker. Rice last made the NCAA tournament in 1970.
Kansas City (4-27) has a rough season. They've already hired former Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon to take over next season. The Roos unsurprisingly lost to Oral Roberts in the opening round game of the Summit League tournament 62-84. Turgeon will have his work cut out for him as he tries to get the Roos to their first NCAA tournament.
Team #313 is Old Dominion. The last team in the Sun Belt that played in Round 1 to lose in the bracket tournament of pain, the Monarchs loss ensures that there will be no 7 wins in 7 days. I am disappointed. Old Dominion (12-21) gave it a shot but fell 84-88. That's despite senior Jordan Battle's 45 points! Battle went 8 of 10 from three and 15 of 16 from the free throw as he tried to will his team to a victory.
The final elimination of Wednesday was the Little Rock Trojans. Their 62-72 loss to Lindenwood in the OVC nightcap leaves Little Rock 12-20. Little Rock trailed by 18 early but made a run to tie it at 42 in the second half. The Trojans eventually took a 50-49 lead but only held it for 20 seconds and Lindenwood was able to pull away again.
311 Teams Remain!
54 Teams Eliminated
Conference Races Decided Since Sunday Or Ongoing
American Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 13
9th - Memphis Tigers (7-9)
10th - Temple Owls (7-9)
11th - East Carolina Pirates (6-10)
12th - Rice Owls (6-11) - eliminated 3/4
13th - UTSA Roadrunners (1-16) - eliminated 2/18
Rice's loss on Wednesday to North Texas saw them eliminated. Their 0-1 record against Memphis and 1-1 records against Temple and East Carolina don't do them any favors. A two team tie with Temple would be their best tiebreaker scenario but they still lose out due to worst record against teams tied for 1st or worst record against the 5th place team.
Tonight, East Carolina hosts Tulsa. Temple faces Tulane and Memphis gets South Florida.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Atlantic Coast Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 15 of 18
15th - Pittsburgh Panthers (4-13)
16th - Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-13)
17th - Boston College Eagles (3-14)
18th - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-15) - eliminated 2/28
Boston College lost Tuesday night, but Pitts and Notre Dame failed to eliminate them on Wednesday as both the Irish and Panthers lost themselves. Pitt trailed Florida State by 16 at the half, but came back to lose by 1. A victory would have secured them a spot in the ACC tournament.
On Saturday, Boston College faces off against Notre Dame while Pittsburgh has Syracuse. If Pitt wins, they are in. If they lose, the winner of the Boston College/Notre Dame game will get the last spot in the ACC tournament.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Conference USA
Conference games: 20
Teams participating in tournament: 10 of 12
8th - Missouri State Bears (7-11)
9th - Florida International Panthers (7-11)
10th - New Mexico State Aggies (6-12)
11th - UTEP Miners (6-12)
12th - Delaware Blue Hens (5-13)
This week both New Mexico State and UTEP play Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State. If either does better than the other they should be in great shape. Delaware has to face Sam Houston State and Louisiana Tech. They will need to win both games to have a chance to make the CUSA tournament.
CUSA games occur tonight.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Mid-American Conference
Conference games: 18
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 13
7th - Buffalo Bulls 7-10)
8th - UMass Minutemen (7-11)
9th - Central Michigan Chippewas (6-11)
10th - Ball State Cardinals (6-11) - eliminated 3/3
11th - Western Michigan Eagles (4-13) - eliminated 3/3
12th - Northern Illinois Huskies (4-13) - eliminated 3/3
13th - Eastern Michigan Broncos (4-13) - eliminated 3/3
Eastern Michigan's loss to Buffalo eliminated the bottom three teams and UMass's victory over Ohio saw the end of Ball State's hopes.
With their victory over Ohio, UMass clinched their ticket to Cleveland (I'm so sorry, Minutemen). Central Michigan needs to defeat Ball State on Friday night and have Buffalo lose to Toledo.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: None
Southland Conference
Conference games: 22
Teams participating in tournament: 8 of 12
7th - Northwestern State Demons (8-14)
8th - Houston Christian Huskies (8-14)
9th - Incarnate Word Cardinals (7-15) - eliminated 3/2
10th - Lamar Cardinals (7-15) - eliminated 3/2
11th - East Texas A&M Lions (6-16) - eliminated 2/28
12th - Southeastern Louisiana Lions (6-16) - eliminated 2/24
The Southland went down to the wire following a 22 game season, but on the final night of games Houston Christian won while the two Cardinals lost and were eliminated.
Never Made the Tournament Club Members: Incarnate Word (eliminated), Texas Rio Grande Valley, East Texas A&M (eliminated)
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)
356 - Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners (eliminated from American contention 2/18)
355 - Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (eliminated from Big West contention 2/19)
354 - Niagara Purple Eagles (eliminated from MAAC contention 2/20)
353 - UC Riverside Highlanders (eliminated from Big West contention 2/21)
352 - Southeastern Louisiana Lions (eliminated from Southland contention 2/23)
351 - Long Beach State Beach (eliminated from Big West contention 2/26)
350 - Brown Bears (eliminated from Ivy contention 2/27)
349 - Princeton Tigers (eliminated from Ivy contention 2/27)
348 - Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (eliminated from ACC contention 2/28)
347 - Saint Francis Red Flash (eliminated from NEC contention 2/28)
346 - Binghamton Bearcats (eliminated from America East contention 2/28)
345 - Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (eliminated from OVC contention 2/28)
344 - East Texas A&M (eliminated from Southland contention 2/28)
343 - Dartmouth Big Green (eliminated from Ivy contention 2/28)
342 - Columbia Lions (eliminated from Ivy contention 2/28)
341 - Indiana Indianapolis (eliminated in Horizon 1st Round 3/2)
340 - Incarnate Word Cardinals (eliminated from Southland contention 3/2)
339 - Lamar Cardinals (eliminated from Southland contention 3/2)
338 - Georgia State Panthers (eliminated in Sun Belt 1st Round 3/3)
337 - Eastern Michigan Eagles (eliminated from MAC contention 3/3)
336 - Western Michigan Broncos (eliminated from MAC contention 3/3)
335 - Northern Illinois Huskies (eliminated from MAC contention 3/3)
334 - Army Black Knights (eliminated in Patriot 1st Round 3/3)
333 - Lafayette Leopards (eliminated in Patriot 1st Round 3/3)
332 - Ball State Cardinals (eliminated from MAC contention 3/3)
331 - Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (eliminated in Horizon 2nd Round 3/3)
330 - Louisiana Monroe Warhawks (eliminated in Sun Belt 1st Round 3/3)
329 - Jacksonville Dolphins (eliminated in ASUN 1st Round 3/4)
328 - North Alabama Lions (eliminated in ASUN 1st Round 3/4)
327 - Eastern Kentucky Colonels (eliminated in ASUN 1st Round 3/4)
326 - Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (eliminated in Sun Belt 2nd Round 3/4)
325 - Chicago State Cougars (eliminated in NEC 1st Round 3/4)
324 - Cleveland State Vikings (eliminated in Horizon 2nd Round 3/4)
323 - Southern Illinois Edwardsville Cougars (eliminated in OVC 1st Round 3/4)
322 - Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (eliminated in NEC 1st Round 3/4)
321 - Milwaukee Panthers (eliminated in Horizon 2nd Round 3/4)
320 - Oakland Golden Grizzlies (eliminated in Horizon 2nd Round 3/4)
319 - Central Connecticut State Blue Devils (eliminated in NEC 1st Round 3/4)
318 - Youngstown State Penguins (eliminated in Horizon 2nd Round 3/4)
317 - South Carolina Upstate (eliminated in Big South 1st Round 3/4)
316 - North Florida Ospreys (eliminated in ASUN 1st Round 3/4)
315 - Rice Owls (eliminated from American contention 3/4)
314 - Kansas City Roos (eliminated in Summit 1st Round 3/4)
313 - Old Dominion Monarchs (eliminated in Sun Belt 2nd Round 3/4)
312 - Little Rock Trojans (eliminated in OVC 1st Round 3/4)
