Championship Week begins this Sunday when the first non-Ivy automatic bids will be secured for this year’s NCAA Tournament (the Ivy League champ will most likely be crowned this Saturday). That means conference tournaments have officially kicked off. The Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Patriot League are all kicking off their tournaments tonight on the campus of higher seeds. Four more tourneys will tip-off tomorrow (Big South, America East, Ohio Valley, Northeast Conference).
This means that over the next few days, our sports tickers will be flooded with the names of small schools that we aren’t even totally certain are real. As a matter of fact…let’s play a quick game. Which of these Division-I basketball programs did I just make up?
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- SIU-Edwardsville
- Omaha
- Incarnate Word
- Houston Baptist
- Longwood
- Texas Pan-American
- Grand Canyon
- Utah Valley
Trick question. Those are all real schools competing for an automatic bid in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but how many of you really knew that?
Despite the anonymity surrounding many of these programs, the conference tournaments that serve as a warm up act to Championship Week are often just as entertaining as the tournaments that we will be anxiously anticipating around this time next week. Here’s a few conference tournaments that deserve the slightest bit of your attention — especially if you’re trying to win your bracket pool by nailing the right 14-seed over 3-seed upset this year.
America East
March 4-14 (tournament games played at the campus of the higher seed)
Who’s the favorite? Albany Great Danes (21-8, 15-1)
Who else might win? Stony Brook (21-10, 12-4), Vermont (12-4, 17-12), and New Hampshire (18-11, 11-5)
Why should I watch this? The America East has four very good low major squads this year. You should be watching because the top half of the conference plays legitimately entertaining hard-nosed gritty basketball. The conference championship game has also included exciting finishes on occasion.
Who should I be watching? You probably haven’t seen a player in the country like Albany’s Sam Rowley. At 6’6 and 230lbs, Rowley leads the Danes in scoring and rebounding. The rugged Aussie has a strange skill set for his size that is especially effective against this level of competition. Despite Rowley’s effectiveness, Jameel Warney from Stony Brook is probably the league’s best player. 16 points and 11 boards is a regular day’s work for the big man.
South Bound & Down
Atlantic Sun
March 3-8 (tournament games played at the campus of the higher seed)
Who’s the favorite? Florida Gulf Coast (21-9, 11-3)
Who else might win? North Florida (12-2, 20-11)
Why should I watch this? Two words. DUNK. CITY. It’s still alive and well in the suddenly basketball crazy retirement community of Fort Myers. FGCU is still playing one of the most entertaining brands of basketball in the entire country, and people need to be tuning in.
Who should I be watching? Do you remember Brett Comer? He was the slick passing, lob-throwing, sharp-shooting, wheeling, dealing, son of a gun that the world was having a hard time holding down when the Eagles romped to the Sweet 16. It took us everything we had not to saddle him with the nickname White Chocolate. We fortunately abstained, and what do you know…Comer is still around, and he has actually developed into one of the country’s best point guards after the country turned their attention elsewhere.
Big South
March 4-8 (Conway, South Carolina)
Who’s the favorite? To be honest…I’ve got nothing.
Who else might win? Let’s make this easier. Presbyterian, Longwood, Campbell, and Liberty won’t win. Any of the seven teams that finished the season with a winning conference record could win the entire tournament.
Why should I watch this? This is compelling television! Seven teams with a shot to win a one-bid league’s conference tournament is a recipe for complete chaos.
Who should I be watching? Well, this one is actually pretty easy. His name is John Brown, and seeing this high flyer from High Point is worth whatever price their charging in Conway, South Carolina. Trust me. There’s even video to prove it.
Big West
March 12-14 (Anaheim, California)
Who’s the favorite? UC-Davis (22-5, 12-2)
Who else might win? UC-Irvine (17-11, 10-4)
Why should I watch this? See below…
Who should I be watching? This guy.
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
The man holding the ball is UC-Irvine’s Mamadou Ndiaye, and the seemingly over-matched individual tasked with defending him is Arizona’s Kaleb Tarczewski. In case you’re unfamiliar with college basketball, Tarczewski is not a diminutive point guard. He is a seven-foot, 245lbs. center. It’s hard to tell when including him in the same frame as Ndiaye, who stands at a truly astonishing 7’6, 300lbs. of muscle and wingspan. Though he is just recently returning from injury, expect Ndiaye (a native of Senegal) to make a significant impact in Anaheim. How could he not?
These are some possible championship game matchups that will definitely be worth watching during Championship Week…
- Valparaiso vs Green Bay (Horizon)
- Iona vs Manhattan (MAAC)
- Wofford vs Chattanooga (Southern)
- Stephen F. Austin vs Sam Houston State (Southland)
These small school standouts also deserve a long long during Championship Week…
- David Laury, Iona
- AJ English, Iona
- Alec Peters, Valpo
- Keifer Sykes, Green Bay
- Cameron Payne, Murray State
- Thomas Walkup, Stephen F. Austin
- Jacob Parker, Stephen F. Austin
Next: Busting Brackets Podcast March 3: Bubble Teams
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