March 2007 Archives
PAWTUCKET, R.I., Mar. 28 -- All animate organisms, from the globbiest amoeba to the most intricate human machine, share one thing in common: life. Life is what keeps you going, it's the light before the beginning of the tunnel. The meaning of life is simply this: it means so much that nobody can survive without it.
Every season, the 337 college basketball teams, in many certain ways, constitute living and breathing organisms -- each is a unique collection of blood and muscles and brains all working towards a common goal, each with an expected lifespan of six months (the same period of time that your average worker ant lives for, by the way). Some of these teeming teams just aren't cut out for this world and cut out early, others are snuffed out before their respective times, and still others -- like, say, the third place-cum-NCAA participant 2006-07 Miami (Oh.) RedHawks -- get to live far beyond their expected span.
But only one team gets to end its season with a meaningful victory, and live forever. (We're not counting the survivor in Myles Brand's Purgatorio -- er, the NIT.) For every other team, death comes swiftly.
I have to apologize for the stark and gloomy terms, but I'm trying to illustrate why I prefer the wide-eyed hopefulness of Midnight Madness or the mundane rhythms of late January's conference games to college basketball's final month, why it takes me at least until June to be able to even look a basketball in the eye after the final mid-major is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. For all the brief glimpses of overwhelming joy, for every One Shining Moment, there are a hundred final, tearful, bitter press conferences as losers' seasons are killed off in March's annual slaughter of the innocents.
When you go to as many games as I do, it can seem like walking through a graveyard.
In light of this great WaPo article about relative quality of hotels in the NCAA tournament's first weekend, might as well bring out the dist-o-meter again. How far from home did the committee send teams? (Distances are from campus to city center)
(East 11) George Washington -- 2372 mi. to Sacramento, CA
(Midwest 11) Winthrop -- 2058 mi. to Spokane, WA
As a public service, here are the second-round cheatsheet previews for all games, even the non-mid-major ones. Enjoy!
Saturday
12:00 -- Bradley vs. Mississippi State
So what are the real upsets? When it comes to college sports, it's all about the Benjamins. Here, then, are the first round matchups with the participating schools' 2005-06 athletic budgets. "Differences" are based on the high seed's budget. As always, expense data from the Office of Postsecondary Education.
Fun facts:
- Of the 32 first-round matchups, the lower seed has a larger budget in seven games.
Bullet Points
- http://schools.basketballstate.com/TAMCC class=optn>Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the Southland final, and Championship Fortnight has come to a close.
- It's Tournament Time!
Bullet Points
- Albany, Long Beach State, Miami (Oh.), Florida A&M, Jackson State and New Mexico State, welcome to the dance. All won their respective conference tournament championships, and are all super-great.
- LBSU is the only double-champion from Saturday, following up a regular-season title with a tourney championship. Of three No. 1 versus No. 2 matchups, four were won by the No. 2 seed.
- And there was one: the Southland final wraps up Championship Fortnight.
Bullet Points
- Holy Cross is back in the NCAA Tournament after beating Bucknell in the third consecutive Bison-Crusader title game. It's not a rivalry unless both teams get to win.
- Nevada was sent out of the WAC tourney with a freaky foul moment against Utah State. In other No. 4-over-1 action, Toledo was upset by Miami (Oh.) in the MAC semis.
- Nothing but finals from here on out: autobids in the America East, Big West, Mid-American, MEAC, SWAC and WAC. The Southland takes a day off and goes at it tomorrow.
Bullet Points
- Most action played according to seed yesterday, but there were a few upsets: Morgan State over South Carolina State in the MEAC's 4-5 game, and both low seeds won in the SWAC, including No. 6 Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
- Yeah, there were a couple of pretty surprising upsets too. Lamar knocked off Sam Houston State in the Southland in a No. 7 over No. 2 job, and Boise State upended Fresno State in the WAC 6-over-3 style.
Bullet Points
- Central Connecticut State from the NEC is going dancing, and so is Weber State of the Big Sky. Both are double champions of their respective leagues, and both just plain rock.
- No autobids tonight. Deep breath...
Bullet Points
- Wright State are double-champions of the Horizon League, having beaten a Butler team that's been all up in the national grill this season. Do you take the Raiders seriously yet?
- Oral Roberts, repeat double champions of the mighty mighty Mid-Con, and North Texas has claimed the championship Belt in the SBC. All hail, all hail!
- Two championships are settled tonight: the NEC and Big Sky. The MEAC quarters overlap with the end of its first round, and the SWAC quarters get underway. First rounds also tip off in the Mid-American and Big West.
Bullet Points
- Three championships were settled yesterday. All hail Virginia Commonwealth, double champions of the grand old Colonial, who held off a pesky George Mason team. And congratulations to Niagara, which beat Siena to claim the MAAC tournament championship.
- Oh yeah, andUnnamed Major Program From The Northwest won too, beating Santa Clara. When you win eight of nine league tourneys, isn't that time to find better competition?
Bullet Points
- In Sunday's only championship game, Creighton beat Southern Illinois to win the Missouri Valley autobid.
- Cinderella 2: Electric Boogaloo... George Mason upset Old Dominion in the CAA semis out of the No. 6 seed.
- Siena upset Marist in a No.5-over-1 job in the Metro Atlantic semis, and Sun Belt No. 9 seed Middle Tennessee State advanced by knocking off defending champion and No. 1 seed South Alabama.
Bullet Points
- We have four champions on the busiest day of Championship Fortnight: all hail Winthrop of the Big South and Davidson of the SoCon, double champions both. Second seeds who rose up to claim tourney championships and dance tickets: Eastern Kentucky of the Ohio Valley and Belmont of the Atlantic Sun.
- Nos. 1 and 2 Southern Illinois and Creighton advanced to play in the Missouri Valley final, today's only autobid game. (They're both in, anyway.)
- Butler survived an overtime scare from recent nemesis Loyola (Ill.) to reach Tuesday's Horizon League final; they're safely into the NCAA's now.
Bullet Points
- In the first real shocker of Championship Fortnight, Appalachian State was upset by College of Charleston in the SoCon semifinals.
- Four leagues crown champions today on the ESPN family of networks. The Big South, Ohio Valley, SoCon and Atlantic Sun seasons will conclude with autobids being given out. For many people who don't read this site, this is the real start of college basketball season.
Bullet Points
- No. 6 seed Virginia Military Institute has advanced to the Big South final after defeating the tourney's Nos. 2 and 3 seeds.
- Furman, the No. 5 seed in the SoCon, advanced to the semifinals by defeating No. 4#North Carolina-Greensboro.
- The Atlantic Sun quarterfinals played according to seed, except for a No.6-over-3 overtime upending by Campbell over Jacksonville.
Bullet Points
- Three top seeds survived in the Patriot League quarterfinals; the only upset was No. 6 Army upending No. 3 Lehigh.
- Five campus-site Sun Belt games are complete heading towards the tourney at Lafayette, La.. In a minor upset, No. 9 seed Middle Tennessee State beat No. 8 Troy.
- The three-game SoCon opening round went according to seed, and the quarterfinal round is set.
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Having recently completed its fourth season, The Mid-Majority is a blog about the 22 smaller Division I college basketball conferences (and independents) by me, Kyle Whelliston. I write for ESPN.com and Basketball Times, and maintain the Basketball State statistics website as well.
Here's a brief note on who we talk about, and why.
If you need to contact me for any reason, you can do so with this form. If you're looking for the stats, maps or budget data, it's all over here now.
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