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The madness before the madness percolated over the weekend in D.C. on multiple fronts, with a pair of conference tournaments in play.
American (21-12) beat four-time defending Patriot League Tournament champion Colgate 72-62 Sunday 72-62 to advance to its first title tilt in 10 years, bouncing back from a slow start that had head coach Duane Simpkins’ team trailing by as many as eight early on.
“I thought once we got settled and we started touching the paint,” Simpkins said. “I told our guys at halftime, ‘It’ll be an avalanche, it’ll be an avalanche.’ We’re gonna make 3s and everything else, but that ball has to touch the paint. And I thought we did a really good job of that.”
The victory is AU’s third in three games against a team that has had the Eagles’ — as well the entire league’s — number for some time.
“When I got this job last year, I spent quite a bit of time watching film of their teams over the last four or five years. Just to try to get an idea of what do we have to get our standard up to,” Simpkins said. “To be able to beat a Colgate in the past five or six years en route to our first championship in some time is big time.”
American plays Navy (15-18) on Wednesday for the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth after the Midshipmen bounced top seed Bucknell 83-77. The Midshipmen not only have won on the road twice in the Patriot League Tournament, but they also swept the regular season series from AU.
“We’ve got to be able to play hard without fouling,” Simpkins said. “We gotta be smart, we can’t allow the referees to be put in those positions to make those calls.”
All eyes will be on Bender Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The CAA Tournament is over halfway complete at CareFirst Arena, formerly Entertainment and Sports Arena, with three of the top four seeds advancing to Monday’s semifinals. Towson (22-10) defeated Drexel 82-76 Sunday behind 32 points from Dylan Williamson.
After starting the season 4-8, the Tigers find themselves two wins away from their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1991. What turned a potential sorry season into a special one?
“We got healthy, that was one. We played a brutal nonconference schedule,” Towson head coach Pat Skerry said. “But I think for us we had a great win to start conference play at Wilmington. And that, I think, restored some faith in what we’re doing.”
The last time the Tigers entered the CAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed, they fell to eventual tournament champ Delaware in the semifinals. This March, the 12th seed Blue Hens have won three games in three days to present an obstacle to Skerry’s team once more.
“For me personally, I want to make sure we defend and rebound at a typical Towson level,” Skerry said. “We’re really way better on offense than we’ve been but sometimes we let that slip away from some of the other things that we’re capable of doing at a high level.”
Towson faces Delaware on Monday at 6 p.m.
Bids Awarded
Saturday, the Ohio Valley became the first conference to hold its championship game this year with SIU-Edwardsville beating Southeast Missouri State 69-48 for the Cougars’ first-ever NCAA Tournament berth since joining Division I in 2008.
Omaha also claimed its first trip to the Big Dance on Saturday, but not by winning the Summit tournament championship. The Mavericks’ Saturday semifinal win placed them against NCAA-ineligible St. Thomas-Minnesota (the Tommies are only in their fourth Division I season), assuring them of dancing next week (for the record, Omaha went out and beat STM 85-75).
Sunday’s games saw High Point punch its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament by edging Winthrop 81-69 in the Big South Championship Game, while Lipscomb topped North Alabama 76-65 for the Bison’s first appearance since 2018 (and second since becoming D-I). Recent tournament mainstay Drake beat Bradley 63-48 to win the Missouri Valley Conference as the Bulldogs claim their fourth trip to the NCAAs in five years.
Tonight’s Bids
SoCon: 7 p.m., ESPN. Furman (25-8) faces Wofford (18-15) to wrap up an upset-riddled tournament, during which three of the four favorites lost their quarterfinal game. The fifth seed Paladins needed overtime to eliminate regular season winner Chattanooga 80-77 thanks to 25 points from PJay Smith. The first team all-SoCon selection also scored 26 in the school’s regular season finale against Wofford. But the sixth seed Terriers are far from intimidated, having held Smith to 7 points on 3 of 12 shooting in January during a 1-point win in Furman’s building.
Sun Belt: 7.p.m, ESPN2. The conference that delivers byes into the semifinals for the top two teams saw both No. 1 seed South Alabama and No. 2 James Madison lose Sunday, with Troy (22-10) dominating the Dukes 79-60 by holding JMU to 32% shooting and seven of 27 from 3-point range and Arkansas State (24-9) surprising the Jaguars 74-71 behind a career-high 23 points from Joseph Pinion. Each school won on the other’s home court during the regular season. Troy led the conference in rebounding margin and boasts SBC Player of the Year in Tayton Conerway, while the Red Wolves rank first in scoring, second in defending the three and third in rebounding.
Tournament trails for the locals
Big East: Georgetown plays DePaul on Wednesday in the first round at 6:30 p.m.
ACC: Virginia Tech takes on California on Tuesday in the first round at 4:30 p.m., while Virginia meets Georgia Tech on Wednesday in the second round at noon.
Atlantic 10: Richmond faces Davidson on Wednesday in the first round at 11:30 a.m. while George Washington plays the winner of Rhode Island and Fordham on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the second round.
VCU and George Mason won’t play until Friday when the Rams have an 11:30 a.m. quarterfinal tipoff (against St. Bonaventure or Duquesne) and the Patriots have a 5 p.m. start. (against George Washington, Rhode Island or Fordham).
MEAC: Two-time defending tournament champion Howard has the No. 4 seed and plays Morgan State on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
Big Ten: Maryland, after securing the No. 2 seed, gets the vaunted double-bye and won’t play until Friday at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of Illinois/Iowa/Ohio State.
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