Storyline: March Madness starts with conference tourneys. There were maddening finishes, too. Almost as maddening as some of the NCAA Selection Committee’s at-large picks. Written by Aric Anderson, Minnesota
Everyone knows March is the month for madness. The madness begins in early March when the conference tournaments begin. We’ve seen tournament berths come from buzzer beaters; and the lowering of seeds can result from a controversial call. Let’s go over what happened in two conference tournaments.
MVP Tournament
Northern Iowa guard Wes Washpun makes the game-winning jump shot to beat Evansville (photo: sandiegouniontribune.com)
First, there’s ‘Arch Madness’ or the MVC Tournament. Conference favorites, Wichita State battled against 4-seed Northern Iowa in OT. The giant-killing Panthers moved on to face the Evansville Purple Aces, the 2-seed, winning because of Wes Washpun’s game winner. That stung shot stopped Marty Simmons’ Purple Aces from advancing to the NCAA Tournament. UNI got the automatic bid as an 11-seed.
Big 12 Tournament
Skip to the Big 12 semifinal where Oklahoma faced West Virginia. At game’s end Oklahoma star, Buddy Hield, took a shot that would surely change the NCAA Tournament future for the Sooners–OU would play Kansas in the final and, with a win, might get a NCAA 1-seed. Missing would most likely give the Sooners a 2- or 3-seed. Well, Buddy made the shot. But was it on time? According to the refs, no: he got the ball off after the buzzer sounded. Some think otherwise. The Sooners ended up a 2-seed in the same bracket with Oregon as the 1-seed.
Selection Madness
Monmouth has the most famous bench in college basketball (photo, USAToday.com)
Madness can also happen during team selection for the NCAA tournament. The Committee decided that Tulsa was good enough to play-in as an 11-seed, but teams like Monmouth and St. Bonaventure weren’t good enough to participate in the tournament. Of course, many fans were in an uproar, saying there is no way teams like Texas Tech, Syracuse, and Tulsa should be in the tournament.
Is this a preview of what’s in store the next few weeks?
