Articles

While injuries in recent seasons have dropped a team a seed line few have hovered over a region like the right quadriceps injury to Syracuse center Arinze Onuaku. The Orange were rightfully rewarded for their overall body of work, giving them a one seed. However, how much were the penalized for the fifth-year senior’s injury? Thought by many to be a lock along with Kansas and Kentucky, Syracuse was actually slipped in behind Duke and all the way out to Salt Lake City.

#13 Houston over Maryland

#14 Montana over New Mexico

#13 Murray St over Vanderbilt

#14 Oakland over Pittsburgh

#14 Sam Houston over Baylor

#13 Siena over Purdue

#13 Wofford over Wisconsin

Other (Discuss Below)

Murray State Racers

Ohio Valley Conference (30-4, 17-1)

 

Cornell got things started on Friday night with their third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and three more guaranteed themselves spots in the Field of 65 on Saturday. In the most anticipated of the three finals it was Murray State picking up their 30th win of the season, dethroning defending Ohio Valley champ Morehead State 62-51 in Nashville. Isaiah Canaan scored 16 points off the bench to lead the way for Billy Kennedy's team, who will represent the OVC in the Big Dance for the first time since 2006.

Before getting into Saturday's action it's only right to salute the first team guaranteed a spot in the Field of 65. Cornell clinched their third consecutive Ivy League title on Friday night, winning at Brown by the final score of 95-76. The Big Red knocked down twenty (yes, twenty) three-pointers in the win, which is the fifteenth of the season away from home (a school record). All five scorers reached double figures with Jon Jacques leading the way with 20 points. The Big Red also limited the Bears to 30% shooting from the field and 29 points in the second half.

Had Cincinnati, Florida or Illinois won on Tuesday night they'd be the main story in the recap. However with all three dropping opportunities to vault themselves either into the NCAA Tournament or onto the bubble they could all look back at this night as the one that helped keep them out of the Field of 65. The Bearcats and Gators both hosted ranked teams at home and both fell by four points. Cincinnati held Scottie Reynolds scoreless in the first half but they most they could manage was a tie going into the locker room.

While three leagues begin conference tournament play on Tuesday there's also plenty of things to be settled in conferences who won't start their tourneys until next week. Florida and Illinois are two teams that look to be in good shape as of right now but both are faced with ranked opponents who would vault them into the Big Dance for sure were they to win. The Gators host Vanderbilt, a team that's still got designs on the SEC's overall title, in a game they can win provided guards Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton make sound decisions with the basketball.

Bad news hit West Lafayette and Columbia on Thursday afternoon, with Purdue's Robbie Hummel and Missouri's Justin Safford both going down for the remainder of the season with torn ACLs. The more important ligament on a national level: clearly that would be Hummel's, and his injury could be the difference in seed lines for the Boilermakers. Many have used Kenyon Martin's broken leg back in 2000 as the comparison to Purdue losing Hummel, but that's a bit off when you further examine the cases.

Does Thursday represent Conference USA's "last stand" in regards to possibly avoiding the fate of being a one-bid league? Probably not but an upset by Tulsa at Duke would go a long way in giving the conference at least two bids. The Golden Hurricane can give the Blue Devils some trouble inside due to the presence of an NBA-caliber big man in senior Jerome Jordan.