Recent Game Recaps

Bullet Points

Bow down before the altar of American, poxy fules. The Eagles are going dancing out of the Patriot League for the first time in school history.
Today will see the crowning glory in seven conferences. The America East, Atlantic 14, MAC, SWAC, MEAC, WAC and Big West will all have champions by the end of Saturday's action.
Friday will go down as one of the loopiest days in small-college basketball history. In 15 games last night, the higher seed only won five times. No fewer than five one-seeds went down: Xavier (A-14), UC Santa Barbara (Big West), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), Alabama State (SWAC) and Utah State (WAC) all lost. We have two No. 7 seeds in the finals: Coppin State of the MEAC and Texas-Arlington in the Southland.
Top seeds Kent State (MAC) and Morgan State (MEAC), however, survived... and will have the opportunities to become double-champions on Saturday.
The first person who writes in with what turns out to be the correct matchup of Tuesday's play-in game wins a stuffed Bally. With all the upsets in Mid-ville yesterday, we couldn't even begin to guess.

Brackets

Patriot League

Cursed no more, the Eagles' win streak against Colgate (now eight) turned out to be more important than American's 0-3 record in Patriot League title games. Tourney MVP Garrison Carr scored 17 points to seal American's first-ever Dance ticket.

at [1] American 52, [3] Colgate 46 | GameFlo

Atlantic 10

Saint Joe's proved that it's NCAA-worthy (we've been on the bandwagon for a while now), locking down the X's potent perimeter attack. Temple absorbed two runs by Charlotte and got a 2-and-15 double-double from Mark Tyndale.

[5] Saint Joseph's 61, [1] Xavier 53 | GameFlo

[2] Temple 60, [6] Charlotte 45 | GameFlo

Big West

Have you caught Anteater Fever yet? Well, why not? UCI held UCSB to 32 percent shooting and earned an 11-board margin in the upset win. Fullerton creamed Northridge with 24 points from Josh Akognon. It's the first time since 2003 this conference hasn't had a No. 1 or No. 2 reach the finals.

[5] California-Irvine 55, [1] California-Santa Barbara 50 | GameFlo

[3] Cal State Fullerton 83, [2] Cal State Northridge 68 | GameFlo

MEAC

If you've been reading along, you might have saw saw them coming, but Coppin is hott. For the second straight night, Tywain McKee's free-throw shooting prowess clinched wins (he has, after all, hit 86.6 percent of his attempts this year). Morgan had a tussle with Del-State, but you don't get between the (real) Boubacar and what he wants. Coly had 13 and 10 in the win.

[1] Morgan State 61, [4] Delaware State 55 | GameFlo

[7] Coppin State 67, [2] Norfolk State 65 | GameFlo

Mid-American

Miami couldn't pull off an NCAA miracle for a second year in a row -- they're going home after giving top seed Kent everything it didn't want. Four Zips scored in double figures to ensure an all-East affair for the third time in four years.

[3] Akron 73, [2] Western Michigan 62 | GameFlo

[1] Kent State 49, [5] Miami (Oh.) 47 | GameFlo

Southland

We were right (saying the top two seeds wouldn't make the final), but we were so very wrong on another count -- longtime TMM and State favorites Sam State simply ran out of gas down the stretch. We'll have more about that when we recap the State of the Other 22 for the year later on, but today is a day to celebrate the low seeds. The Mavericks shot an even 50 percent to take down SHSU, and you must never, never, never bet against the Demons in March. Tired top seed SFA coughed up the ball 15 times in the second half to allow Northwestern State an improbable come-from-behind win. The Demons were outshot by nine percentage points and outrebounded by seven, but still won.

[7] Texas-Arlington 72, [3] Sam Houston State 66 | GameFlo

[5] Northwestern State 69, [1] Stephen F. Austin 66 | GameFlo

SWAC

Despite having no Trey Johnson anymore, SWAC champ Jackson State is back in the title game after taking down the top-seeded Hornets. MVSU won a clankathon (shooting 37 percent to UAPB's 35) with superior rebounding and general toughness.

[2] Mississippi Valley State 70, [6] Arkansas-Pine Bluff 59 | GameFlo

[4] Jackson State 77, [1] Alabama State 72 | GameFlo

Western Athletic

BSU guard Aaron Garner, who hadn't scored 10 or more all season, went 4-for-6 and scored 14 points -- along with three other double-figure Broncos, he helped nullify a Utah State season sweep and move on to the finals. They'll meet host and defending tourney champion New Mexico State, which won for the first time in three tries against Nevada by more than doubling up the Wolf Pack on the glass, 49-24.

[4] Boise State 88, [1] Utah State 78 | GameFlo

at [3] New Mexico State 83, [2] Nevada 75 | GameFlo

On Tap Tonight

America East

After a week off, the A-East returns to decide a champion. Neither school has ever been to the NCAA Tournament.

12:00 pm ET - [2] Hartford 18-15 (10-6) at [1] Maryland-Baltimore County 23-8 (13-3) | Preview

Recent: 03/02/2008 UMBC 57 @HART 58 01/16/2008 HART 85 @UMBC 86

Atlantic 10

It's Big Five flava in Atlantic City, with two North Philly and City Line going at it for the first time in an A-14 title game. This may come down to whichever side can bring more fans.

6:00 pm ET - [5] Saint Joseph's 21-11 (9-7) vs. [2] Temple 20-12 (11-5) | Preview

Recent: 03/02/2008 TU 57 STJOE 56 01/26/2008 STJOE 68 @TU 67

Mid-American

As it should be: Kent and Akron taking their crosstown rivalry to the big stage. Much as like tonight's Temple-Saint Joe's game, the two teams have never met with everything on the line like this.

7:00 pm ET - [1] Kent State 27-6 (13-3) vs. [3] Akron 23-9 (11-5) | Preview

Recent: 03/09/2008 KENT 61 @AKR 58 01/23/2008 AKR 69 @KENT 75

SWAC

Mississippi Valley State won the season series, but the second matchup that came two weeks ago was a SWAC classic, with Standford Speech laying in a shot at the buzzer to win it for the Delta Devils. MVSU hasn't been on the big bracket since 1996.

7:00 pm ET - [4] Jackson State 13-19 (10-8) vs. [2] Mississippi Valley State 16-15 (12-6) | Preview

Recent: 03/01/2008 MVSU 74 @JSU 73 02/02/2008 JSU 53 @MVSU 81

MEAC

What a day for local rivalries. The two Baltimore schools will fight it out for all the MEAC marbles. Morgan wants the MEAC's first 15 seed since 2002; Coppin would be happy with a trip to Dayton.

8:00 pm ET - [1] Morgan State 22-9 (15-2) vs. [7] Coppin State 15-20 (8-9) | Preview

Recent: 03/06/2008 COPP 64 @MORG 68 12/01/2007 MORG 78 @COPP 50

Western Athletic

Fast, physical NMSU matches up very well against the shooters of Boise State, if a recent 99-80 blowout wasn't enough proof. The Aggies have won six straight meetings between the two.

9:00 pm ET - [4] Boise State 24-8 (12-4) at [3] New Mexico State 21-13 (12-4) | Preview

Recent: 02/09/2008 BOIST 80 @NMSU 99 01/10/2008 NMSU 76 @BOIST 73

Big West

Irvine's run could be attributed in large part to a sudden burst of Windex; the Big West's eighth-best rebounding team and 18-th worst in the nation has won the boards battle in both of its tourney games. Fullerton's Josh Akognon has made 50 percent or more of his 3-point attempts in his last five contests.

11:00 pm ET - [3] Cal State Fullerton 23-8 (12-4) vs. [5] California-Irvine 18-15 (9-6) | Preview

Recent: 03/08/2008 CSF 74 @UCI 66 01/04/2008 UCI 83 @CSF 93