Five days before Selection Sunday. And the granddaddy of conference tournaments tips off in of all places Brooklyn (a long way from Greensboro) Tuesday afternoon when the ACC holds its First Round.
Instead of the tightly wound weekends of yore that began on Friday at noon (or at the worst Thursday evening) and ended Sunday afternoon, Power Six conferences now take up most of the week. When the No. 1 seed plays its quarterfinal game nowadays, almost half of the league has already headed home.
That also means the creation of the “Dreaded First Round” where the bottom four (or in the case of the ACC, bottom six) square off to avoid infamy.
While Virginia Tech has played in the first round three times since the most recent realignment, Virginia is the only ACC school to avoid the first afternoon/evening. The Cavaliers play the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Louisville and Georgia Tech while the Hokies face this afternoon’s Clemson-NC State winner.
Closer to home, Towson (25-8) was derailed by Delaware in the CAA Semifinals 69-56. The No. 1 seed may have led the conference during the regular season in most defensive categories, but it was the Blue Hens whose D earned an A+ in holding the Tigers to 31% shooting and 4-23 from 3-point range.
“They have good length-I thought they were engaged pretty good. They were going under a lot of our ball screens,” Towson coach Pat Skerry said. “We got a lot threes up-which we’ve been comfortable taking a lot. I thought we had a couple of good looks when we made runs, and we never just got over the proverbial hump.”
Delaware grabbed a 32-16 lead midway through the first half and withstood several rallies after intermission. Kevin Anderson led five scorers in double figures with 17 points and shot 4 of 6 from outside the arc, including a 3-pointer that kept the contest at a two-possession game the rest of the way.
“Two nights we kept teams into the 50s on the defensive end,” Delaware Martin Ingelsby said. “And on the offensive end we were able to get into a good flow with multiple weapons, sharing the basketball, not turning it over, being able to execute at key times.”
While the Blue Hens advance, the Tigers are ticketed to the NIT for the first time in school history after winning the regular season.
“We gotta reset and try to make a run at this thing. Sometimes you get a good draw, sometimes you end up getting to host a game,” Skerry said. “All the games are on national television so they’re all meaningful for us.”
It’s not the dance they dreamed of, but it’s still playing basketball on national TV in March. And the NIT First Round is not dreaded.
Tickets Punched: Chattanooga is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 after nipping Furman 64-63 on a last-second shot in overtime for the Southern Conference championship. The Moccasins’ win extends the Paladins’ NCAA drought to 42 years. Meanwhile, Georgia State will make its fourth appearance in eight years after edging Louisiana 80-71 in the Sun Belt Conference title tilt.
Today’s Bids: After the slow drip over the weekend, six conferences will hold championship games Tuesday night:
West Coast Conference: No. 1 Gonzaga (25-3) faces No. 17 Saint Mary’s (25-6) in the West Coast Conference championship game at 9 p.m. in Las Vegas, although one could retitle the WCC the GIT (“Gonzaga Invitational Tournament”) as the Bulldogs have won 18 of the last 24 titles (they’ve reached the finals in the other six). But there’s a caveat to their “tournament success”: from 2003-11 and since 2019 the top two seeds have received byes into the semifinals, making the path to the finals a little less taxing.
Atlantic Sun: Jacksonville (21-9) plays Bellarmine (19-13) at 5 p.m. in Louisville. Prepare to meet the NCAA Logic at its best: because Bellarmine is still transitioning from Division II (it takes four years) it’s not eligible for the NCAA Tournament. So if the Knights win the regular season champ, Jacksonville State advances to the Big Dance. Who did the Gamecocks lose to in the semifinals? Jacksonville. Nothing like basically having to beat a team twice.
Horizon League: Wright State (20-13) faces Northern Kentucky (20-11) at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis one night after eliminating regular season-winner Cleveland State. The Raiders are shooting for their first NCAA trip since 2018 but were swept by the Norse men during the regular season. NKU is trying to win its third tournament in four years.
Summit League: South Dakota State (29-4) plays North Dakota State (23-9) at 9 p.m. in Sioux Falls. The Jackrabbits swept the regular season series and went a perfect 18-0 during conference play. Last year’s champion Oral Roberts was seeded 15th in the NCAA’s and went on to upset Ohio State in the First Round and Florida in the Second Round to make the Sweet Sixteen.
Northeast Conference: Wagner (21-5) at Bryant (21-9) at 7 p.m. in Smithfield, Rhode Island. The Bulldogs lost the NEC Final to Mount Saint Mary’s last year at home but return to chase their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid since becoming a full Division I member in 2012. They also split the regular season series with the Seahawks as each team won on its home floor. Wagner last won the NEC Tournament in 2003.
Colonial Athletic Association: UNC-Wilmington (23-8) faces Delaware (21-12) at 7 p.m. in Washington, D.C., at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. The Seahawks swept the regular season series and finished tied for the best record in the conference (Towson took the No. 1 seed because they swept No. 3 Hofstra), and twice benefited by upsets: No. 3 Hofstra was bounced by the College of Charleston in the Quarterfinals and No. 1 Towson tumbled to Delaware. The No. 5 seed Blue Hens won their only previous trip to the title game (in 2014) while UNC-Wilmington has the most tournament championships (six) and championship game appearances (11) of current members entering this March.
