CURTIS HENRY
Distribution Manager
When the calendar turned to March, one thought became dominant for all basketball fanatics across the nation: March Madness.
The coming days will set the field for the tournament of 68 Division I teams, with one ticket being punched as of Saturday night. Five days into March, the tournament already has its first Cinderella; the Austin Peay Governors. Austin Peay entered the weekend with a 15-17 overall record and was the eighth and final seed in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) tournament. The Governors walked out of Saturday 18-17 and with the OVC tournament trophy in hand. They were the first OVC eight seed in history to win the tournament.
The other bid that was clinched on Saturday was the Ivy League bid for Yale, its first outright conference championship ever.
With two of the 68 spots filled, the next spot will be decided by the Atlantic Sun Championship. The matchup will feature Florida Gulf Coast University (you know, the team that made the sweet 16 as a 15 seed three years ago and everyone went bonkers) and Stetson University.
Stetson came into the tournament ineligible for NCAA play and boasting a 10-21 season record. Should it pull yet another upset, the Atlantic Sun bid will be awarded to regular-season champions, the University of North Florida.
That matchup will decide the third bid to the big dance, meaning that 29 more teams will lock up an automatic bid over the course of the next five days.
Notable teams with some work left to do include Monmouth University, Syracuse University, Louisiana State University (LSU) and St. Bonaventure University.
Monmouth is an interesting team to watch moving forward if you’re looking for a team to be this year’s Cinderella. Prior to conference play, only Michigan State (which was ranked number one at several points throughout the year) had as many wins against RPI top-50 teams as Monmouth.
Monmouth entered the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament as the No. 1 seed and the consensus favorites to advance out of the MAAC. Should it falter and not clinch an automatic bid, it presents an interesting case for the selection committee.
Monmouth has wins this season against the University of California, Los Angeles — a team that beat then-ranked No. 1 Kentucky — No. 17 Notre Dame, University of Southern California, and two notable road wins against both Georgetown University and Rutgers University.
Monmouth could be one of the biggest tourney snubs if it fails to win its conference tournament. But it also represents a potential Cinderella as it is projected to be an 11 or 12 seed.
Among the other notable teams with work left to do sits Syracuse, a 19-12 team with as many good wins as bad losses. Prior to last season’s postseason ban, ‘Cuse was a team that had won at least 27 games in six consecutive seasons. A one-and-done, or otherwise poor showing, this week in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament could leave the Orange on the outside looking in.
LSU and its stud Ben Simmons have their work cut out for them as well, as they’re currently listed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN first four out. Simmons is the nationwide favorite to go No. 1 in June’s NBA draft, but his lack of a supporting cast at LSU is a true testament to basketball being a team sport. He’s carried the Tigers to an 18-13 record, but anything short of winning the Southeastern Conference tournament could leave the prospect out of the big dance.
Finally we’ve arrived at St. Bonaventure, one of the four Atlantic 10 teams (A-10) generally thought to be in the tournament if it were to start today. That’s not the case, meaning that this team has work to do in this week’s tournament.
Not much was expected of the Bonnies coming into the season and surely their share of the A-10 title with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the University of Dayton shattered all season goals. The team currently projects to a 12 seed, with room to improve heading into the tournament.
The next few days will be pivotal for the team, as a quick exit will most certainly spell the end of its season. A lack of quality wins out of conference is clearly the team’s achilles heel, as its most notable victories came against the University at Buffalo and Ohio University.
However, there’s a strong history for A-10 teams making runs in the NCAA tournament in the last decade, especially when they come in as seeds 11 or higher.
2006 was the year that the world fell in love with the Cinderella story that was George Mason, the 11 seed that reached the final four. 2011 saw VCU reach the final four as an 11 seed and the University of Richmond reach the sweet sixteen as a 12.
Dayton reached the Elite Eight in 2014 and won two games last season; each year it entered the tourney as an 11 seed. La Salle University advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013 as a 13 seed. Saint Louis University made appearances in the round of 32 in three straight seasons from 2012-2014.
Should the Bonnies qualify for the tournament, it would be their first appearance since 2012. However, if they come in as an 11 or a 12 seed, recent history suggests that they should warrant consideration as an upset special for at least the first weekend.