Siena earned the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) bid with a 72-65 Overtime win over Fairfield. Siena trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half before completing their third straight comeback victory in as many days. Siena had the benefit of hosting their own conference tournament and they needed every bit of their home crowd to earn their 3rd straight NCAA bid. Even with an RPI of 37, Siena would have been on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday without an automatic bid due to a poor Strength of Schedule and 0 quality wins to show for it. In fact, they would have been 26-7 with 0 top 50 wins. Sounds familiar, right Creighton of 2009?
While the MAAC was not a bubble buster, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) could have been; however, Old Dominion wrapped up the league’s auto bid by defeating William & Mary 60-53. Old Dominion will be a very tough 10-12 seed to face in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Saint Mary’s was among my “last four in” when I released my field of 65 last night. Now, Saint Mary’s is safely in and will not have to sweat out Selection Sunday for the second straight year after a dominating 81-62 victory over Gonzaga tonight in the finals of the West Coast Conference Tournament. Gonzaga moves from auto-bid status to “lock” status on my sheet and I’ll replace Memphis with Saint Mary’s on my last four in list. So, nobody moves out of my field today; however, I expect that to change tomorrow.
And not to be left out, because you never what team will win an NCAA Tournament game, Wofford defeated Appalachian State 56-51 to win the Southern Conference Tournament.
Tomorrow’s Games to Watch with Bubble Implications (all times Central)
Horizon League Championship: #12 Butler (27-4, 18-0) vs. Wright State (20-11, 8-6), 8p.m. Central, ESPN.
Should Butler not be able to defeat Wright State, the Horizon League will earn two bids. Butler holds two victories over Wright State this year and won by 12 points each time.
Big East Tournament
DePaul (8-22, 1-17) vs. South Florida (19-11, 9-9) (11a.m., ESPN)
Saint Johns (16-14, 6-12) vs. UCONN (17-14, 7-11) (1p.m. ESPN)
Providence (12-18, 4-4) vs. Seton Hall (18-11, 9-9) (6p.m. ESPNU)
Basically South Florida, UCONN, and Seton Hall all need wins, otherwise their tourney hopes are likely over.
Atlantic 10 Tournament
Saint Josephs (11-19, 5-11) vs. Rhode Island (21-8, 9-7) (6p.m.)
George Washington (16-13, 6-10) vs. Dayton (19-11, 8-8) (8p.m.)
Just like The Big East teams listed above, both Rhode Island and Dayton can ill-afford to lose these games.
Realtimerpi.com updates their site once a day and you can view team RPI’s there. Keep in mind that RPI is not the sole factor in deciding who makes the tournament
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