Every edifice begins with a single brick. Every ocean begins with a single drop of water. And March Madness 2026 began with what happened last night that the ASSOCIATED PRESS’ nameless roboscribe reported:
Preist Ryan, Jaidon Lipscomb and Chevalier Emery all fininshed with 23 points to lead Cleveland State to a 101-93 victory over IU Indianapolis on Monday night in a play-in game of the Horizon League Tournament that saw three Jaguars also score 23.
Ryan also grabbed 12 rebounds for the Vikings (10-21), who snapped a six-game losing streak. Lipscomb hit five 3-pointers and added eight assists, five rebounds and three steals. Emery made 7 of 11 shots from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Jaxon Edwards, Kyler D’Augustino and Maguire Mitchell all scored 23 for the Jaguars (7-24), who end the season on a six-game losing streak.
I’m pretty sure none of you had a wager on IUI Jags winning it all this year, though I wonder if someone out there might have dropped a dime on having them become the first Division I men’s team to be officially eliminated from the post-season. A .226 winning percentage in a bellweather conference like the Horizon League will likely not make them a contender for an at-large bid either, even though the Final Four, just like last night’s compelling 11-10 showdown, will be played in Indianapolis. We’ve already seen how they fare with “home court” advantage.
Snarking aside, this was indeed the very first elimination game in what now begins a torrent of matchups that will take us clear through this month and into the first few days of April. In many ways the conference tournament phase has the potential to be even more attention-getting because at least for now it’s the closest thing we have to a true “Hoosiers”-like tourney where every single team in theory has a chance to win it all. Occasionally we do get teams that go on enough of a roll to make their fan base excited about such possibilities. In the last three decades 20 teams have been able to rise to the occasion to capture their conference tournament and earn a ticket to the Big Dance. Every single one of them was “rewarded” with a 16 seed. None of them won an actual NCAA tournament game, even a First Four “play-in”. But they did get their “one shining moment” by capturing their own conference title, and they at least have that trophy case and basket twine to savor as something resembling an accomplishment.
Hence you should be able to get at least as excited as CBS SPORTS’ Cameron Salerno was yesterday about how it’s gonna ramp up from here:
While all Power Five leagues will finish the regular season this week and begin their respective conference tournament next week, there will be plenty of postseason action starting on Tuesday. The Patriot League and the Sun Belt will be the second and third conferences to start postseason play.
In the Patriot League, Navy earned the No. 1 overall seed and earned a first-round bye. Navy will face the winner of No. 9 seed Army and No. 8 Bucknell on Thursday. No. 7 seed Lafayette will face No. 10 Holy Cross in the opening round, with the winner of that game getting a date with No. 2 seed Lehigh.
Because of the Sun Belt’s tournament format which places the top two seeds in the conference’s semifinals, Troy and Marshall will need to win just one game next weekend (March 8) to advance to the Sun Belt Tournament championship game. The tournament gets started in Pensacola, Florida, when No. 14 seed UL Monroe faces No. 11 seed Old Dominion before No. 13 seed Georgia State meets No. 12 seed Louisiana.
And hey, they can all at least draw some sort of inspiration from the fact that both of those conferences have contributed one of those uber-Cinderellas to that list of 20 overachievers. Not that I’m in a position to back up such a pious hope with even a shilling. If anything, I’ll hold off until the actual tournament commences. I’m already anticipating those matchups and apparently the rest of the internet is, too.
But try telling that to the passionate fan bases of those Crusaders from Worcester or those Warhawks of Monroe. Today begins their respective gauntlets, and while it will certainly eventually lead to the gallows the fun and excitement of seeing how long they can stave it off will make for some intriguing, and perhaps compelling, white noise. And if they’re somehow playing past Friday night, you’d better believe I’ll actually be paying more attention. Perhaps not as much as I will be come April. But more than I’ve lately allowed myself to. Along with, I suppose, the fine folks at IUI.
Courage…