The college basketball season is filled with coin-flip games.
A missed three here, an errant pass there, a subpar defensive possession in the final seconds … you get the picture.
Sometimes these coin flips even out: One year I covered a Ball State team that went 9-0 at home and 0-9 on the road in conference play (naturally they finished 5th in a 10-team league).
But other times the coin-flip can be rather cruel. Case in point, Wednesday, when Georgetown lost to Seton Hall 73-68: the Hoyas may be 0-18 in the Big East, but eight of those losses have come by single digits and they’ve been in position to win more than a few of them.
Sometimes the coin-flip can be kind: Maryland finished with an 18-7 run Sunday in their 75-60 win over No. 22 Ohio State and closed Wednesday’s game with Minnesota with a 14-5 finishing kick. The Terps previously lost their first five Big Ten games decided by two possessions or less, and have learned that the way you win the close games is to keep them from getting close.
Surviving and advancing: Mount St. Mary’s wins its Northeast Conference Quarterfinal 78-48 over St. Francis (Brooklyn) thanks to a strong second half where they outscored the Terriers 33-12 over the final 15 minutes of regulation. While the Mountaineers dream of making a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament lives on, my dream of watching a St. Francis (Brooklyn) — St. Francis (PA) matchup for a spot in the Big Dance dies a quiet death. The road gets much tougher as they visit top seed Bryant Saturday, but Coach Dan Englelstad’s team can head to Smithfield, Rhode Island, knowing they were within one point of beating the Bulldogs in February (two missed shots in the final ten seconds sealing their fate).
Tonight’s game: American (10-21) at Navy (19-10), Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals; 7 p.m.
The Eagles beat Holy Cross for the third time this season the other night to post their first win in the tourney since 2016. The Midshipmen are looking for their first Patriot League Tournament win since 2019 when they won at American. And the Mids may have swept the regular season series, but it was far from a “tidy cleaning”: Navy shot 32% while making 6-of-38 three-pointers (I’d do the math, but it’d be too depressing). AU had offensive issues as well, shooting 34% while making 8-of-32 threes en route to scoring 45 and 46 points against the conference’s number one defense (Midshipmen lead the PL in stopping the three, rebounding margin and fewest points allowed).
And these two games weren’t isolated incidents: Navy finished ninth in shooting and scoring while the Eagles scored the fewest points per game.
First team to 50? Flip ya for it …
