Tuesday, April 7, 2020 [ 1-Entries | 2-Teams ]
25 YEARS: 38 CONFERENCES HAVE EXISTED IN OUR POOLS
30-32 automatic bids each year, 9 conf never getting more than 1 bid
EL SEGUNDO/HOME, CA (smt)- Would the Big Ten (B10) have gotten a record 12 (of 14) teams into the tournament? More likely 10 which would’ve been the second-highest ever (Big East (BE) 11 in ’11). Would the Big Ten top the record 19 wins by the Atlantic Coast (ACC) in ’16? But we’ll never know. So without a tournament, here is another 25 Year retrospective, this time focusing on the conferences who have made the tournament (the proper 64 that is).
What we do know is that for the past 25 years, 38 conferences have existed with only the American West (AW) (’95-’96) and Great West (GW) (’10-’13) not putting any teams in (no automatic bid due to not enough teams in conference those years). Currently, all 32 Division I conferences get an automatic bid (though again, four of the worst conference tournament winners will vie in First Four). Nine conferences have never gotten an at-large bid. From ’01-’10 the two lowest auto bid tournament champions (team #64 and #65) played in the Opening Round game. From ’11 to present, the four lowest auto bid champions play in the First Four. 13 conferences have put their auto bid team in the Opening Round/First Four with the Southwestern Athletic (SWA) doing it 11 of 19 years. Because they have lost 9 of those Opening Round/First Four games, the SWA have only placed a team in the proper 64 bracket 16 of 25 years.
The Atlantic 10 (A10) is a perfect 3-0 in the First Four with five others 2-0 (America East (AE) – keeping a streak of all 25 years with just one team in proper 64, Big West (BW), Colonial Athletic (CAA), Ohio Valley (OVC), and Summit (SUM)). The Pac-12 (P12) is 3-4 (including losing both in ’18, the only conference to ever have 2 teams in First Four) while the Big 12 (B12) has appeared just once (won in ’17). The Northeast (NEC) has appeared in 7 straight First Four games (’13 to present) going 3-4 (4-5 overall). The Mid-Eastern Athletic (MEA) has lost 3 straight First Four games (’17 to present) (3-6 overall). Despite this, the MEA actually has 3 wins in the tournament (#15 Coppin St ’97, #15 Hampton ’01, and #15 Norfolk St in ’12).
Continue reading
CERRITOS APT/LONG BEACH, CA (smt)- Was just about to write all four teams winning by double-digits and then #4E-Florida decided to change things up. Up by 12 with 4 and a half minutes left, #8E-Wisconsin battled back with some help from the Gators. Florida missed four shots, two free throws, and committed two turnovers, and failed to foul while up by 3 leading to Zak Showalter’s off-balance running three-pointer to tie the game at 72 with 2 seconds left. With our first overtime of the tourney, the momentum continued with the Badgers building a 5-point led with a minute left. But it was the Badgers’ turn to help out, missing two free throws, committing a dumb early foul, Khalil Iverson mis-timing a breakaway dunk that was partially blocked, and inexplicably allowing Florida to run the down the court with four seconds to give Chris Chiozza an open look, albeit a stop-jump floater, buzzer-beating three-pointer to stun Wisconsin, 84-83. Crazy.