Yep, I love March Madness, and as we established just as it began, my particular brand of arguably obsessive love includes the drumroll to the actual Big Dance, which doesn’t start until next week. And I’m actually most jazzed about the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of tournament week which we are joyfully in the thick of. There are games across just about every network and platform that has carried any games since November, and they begin before lunch East Coast time and eventually conclude after Seth Meyers signs off. Every game is an elimination game in the conference tournaments, and for those who haven’t spent a little time in the Top 25 it’s an elimination game for potentially the entire season (unless, like me, you actually care about the NIT and the upcoming NIL-supported Las Vegas tournament, since something has to fill in the empty weekdays once we finally get to the actual NCAAs).
And what makes this week all the more special is the possibility that, out of just about nowhere, some school that I likely didn’t spent more than a minute or at most a game with if it happens to be in a conference where a school I adore happens to be goes on a winning streak that, day by day, extends their season. In an era where conference tournaments have now bloated to the size of a regional bracket, the possibility of a double-digit conference seed advancing to the NCAA tournament is especially tantalizing. Not only would their season be extended, but it would likely prevent a bubble team’s from following suit. And those emotions, positive and negative, is what drives the deep passion and intrigue I and so many others have for college basketball.
This week, though, the number of teams that fit my definition for extra attention are minimal. By my count, exactly two double-digit conference seeds remain at this point and it can be argued one of them might just make the Big Dance regardless. Nevertheless, they’re putting on quite a show already, as BURNT ORANGE NATION’s Wescott Eberts giddily reported yesterday:
If the SEC regular season was a hard-fought battle of attrition that often resembled the trench play the nation watches on fall Saturdays, Thursday’s SEC Tournament matchup between the No. 13 seed Texas Longhorns and the No. 5 seed Texas A&M Aggies served as a microcosm with nine ties, 17 lead changes, and 52 fouls called at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville before head coach Rodney Terry’s team prevailed with a 94-89 victory in double overtime.
“The team effort was amazing,” Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson said after the game. “Everybody fought for both overtimes, the whole 40 minutes. It was just amazing seeing everyone out there fighting, even though we were tired and had guys in foul trouble the whole game.”
In the second overtime, Texas junior guard Jordan Pope made two of the biggest plays, driving left and then wrapping and ripping an impossible pass out to freshman guard Tre Johnson well beyond the three-point arc. Johnson buried it to take a two-point lead with 2:08 remaining.
But as ESPN’s more nuanced Pete Thamel reported, in a conference as uniquely skilled from top to bottom as the SEC, despite their outsized seeding these Horns are hardly a Cinderella:
Texas‘ thrilling double-overtime victory over No. 14 Texas A&M in the SEC tournament on Thursday helped position the Longhorns for a potential at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.
Texas improved to 19-14 with the 94-88 victory, and the win over the Aggies marked its seventh Quad 1 victory of the season. That set the stage for even higher stakes for the SEC’s historic season, as a Longhorns bid could make them the 14th SEC team to reach the NCAA tournament. The highest prior mark was the Big East’s 11 bids in 2011 .The win Thursday afternoon positions Texas’ game against No. 8 Tennessee on Friday in the SEC quarterfinals as an opportunity to solidify their NCAA status if they pull another upset. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved Texas into the tournament as the final team in the field in his latest Bracketology rankings on Thursday, but that status is fickle, with potential bid thieves coming from smaller-conference tournaments.
So who can that be? Well, it’s not gonna be Delaware, who came deliciously close to running the gauntlet earlier this week, as THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reported:
Donovan Newby had 17 points, Noah Ross scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half and UNC Wilmington denied No. 12 seed Delaware a historic end to the tournament with a 76-72 victory on Tuesday night in the Coastal Athletic Association championship game. Delaware (16-20) entered the tournament on a six-game losing streak, including a 30-point loss to UNCW in the regular-season finale. The Blue Hens then rattled off four wins for a chance at becoming just the third team in Division I men’s history to win five games in five days en route to a conference title.
And it may not even be the Longhorns’ fellow SEC newbie because although they had an even lower conference tournament seed their own resume is already pretty darn impressive and they darn near pulled off their own exciting win in Nashville yesterday, as the ironically named Trey Dallas of OU Nation chronicled:
Oklahoma (20-13, 6-12) lost to Kentucky (22-10, 10-8) 85-84 Thursday night in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. The loss to the Wildcats snapped the Sooners’ three-game winning streak and brought their run in the SEC Tournament to a close. Despite a late rally by the Sooners, Oklahoma lost to the Wildcats in heartbreaking fashion once again thanks to a Otega Oweh game-winning layup.
After Kentucky guard and former Oklahoma Sooner Otega Oweh sunk two free throws to put the Wildcats up 80-70 with 1:26 remaining in the game, the Sooners went on a furious, 14-3 run over the ensuing one minute and 20 seconds to take an 84-83 lead over the Wildcats.
I’d contend young Mr. Dallas might have missed the low-hanging fruit that their run was ended by a one-time teammate, but when you’re a student on such an emotional rollercoaster, you can be allowed a little slack.
It might actually come from another school in the Sooner state–one I’m a tad familiar with because they indeed ended the season of one of my emotional investment schools (when two members of your immediate family have degrees with honors from it, you develop an attachment). Once again, the ASSOCIATED PRESS is the most reliable and paywall-free source to explain why:
Jared Garcia came off the bench to score 20 points and lead Tulsa to a 75-71 victory over Temple in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Thursday night. Garcia added five rebounds for the 10th-seeded Golden Hurricane (13-19), who move on to play No. 2 seed North Texas in Friday’s quarterfinals. Dwon Odom totaled 14 points and eight assists for Tulsa. Keaston Willis scored 11.
Steve Settle finished with 22 points, six rebounds and three steals to pace the seventh-seeded Owls (17-15). Zion Stanford added 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Shane Dezonie had 10 points. Willis scored six points in the first half and Tulsa went into the break trailing 42-30.
If that sounds a little robotic to you, well, the fine print attached to it might explain why:
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Yep, this game didn’t even merit someone human covering it.
So if Tulsa needed any more motivation to keep their season going, I hope the desire to have a story generated by something capable of recognizing what’s at stake is part of it. Consider this musing a step in the right direction.
Courage…