With the NCAA  D1 conference season past the 1/2 point, several conferences have great (4 or more teams) multi-team races. Other conferences have 3 teams within a game of the lead.

The most-bunched groups are:

BIG SOUTH
1.  High Point                 8-3
    Radford                      
3. Winthrop                    8-4
4. Coastal                      7-4
    Gardner-Webb
    Charleston So.
    UNCC Ashville

HORIZON
1. Valparaiso                8-2
     Cleveland St.
3. Green Bay                7-2
    Oakland

MID-AMERICAN
1. Buffalo                      6-3
    Bowling Green
    Akron
    Kent
    Toledo
6. Cent. Michigan    5-4
    W. Michigan

Other conferences have 3 teams within a game of first place:   Sun Belt, SWAC, Northeast, Atlantic 10, ACC, Big East, Big West, Colonial, and USA

These are the types of things I look for when trying to pick that one Cinderella team every year.  For example whoever comes out on top in the Mid-American will be a battle tested program. Plus it makes watching the not as big games on TV mean that much more to me knowing that the teams involved both have a shot at the season title.

Some shuffling has occured.....10 conferences have  at least 3 teams within 1 game of the lead, down from 12 earlier in the week

Atlantic 10
1. VCU                8-2
2. Rhode Island 7-2
3. Dayton            7-3
   G. Washington 

Big West
1 UC Davis        8-1
2.UC Irvine        7-2
   Long Beach

Big South (7-team tie, all at 8-4)
Coastal Carolina
High Point
Radford
Gardner-Webb
Charleston So
Winthrop
UNC Asheville

COLONIAL
1. William & Mary      9-3
2. Northeastern          8-4
    UNC-Wilmington   8-4

Conference USA
1.  Louisiana Tech     9-2
     West. Kentucky     9-2
    UAB                          9-2
4. UTEP                       8-3

Horizon
1. Cleveland St.         9-2
2. Valpo                       8-2
    Green Bay               8-2
4.  Oakland                 7-2

Mid-American
1.  Bowling Green    7-3
     Akron        
     Kent
    Toledo
5.  Buffalo                  6-4
     C. Michigan         6-4

PATRIOT
1.  Colgate            8-4
2.  Bucknell           7-4
3.  Lehigh              7-5

SWAC
1.  Alabama St.     9-1
 2. Texas So.         8-2
     Southern          8-2

Sun Belt
1. UL Monroe       10-3
2.  Georgia So.      9-3
3.  Georgia St.       9-4

 

 

From 10 down to 6:

Teams within a game of the lead:

Atlantic 10
1. Dayton              9-3
VCU 
Rhode Island
UMass
5.Davidson         8-4

Big Sky
1.E. Washington   10-2
Sacramento St. 
3.Montana             10-3

Big South
1.High Point         10-4
Charleston So. 
Radford
4.Coastal Car.      9-5
Winthrop
UNC-Asheville

Colonial
1. William & Mary   10-4
    UNC-Wilmington
3. Northeastern        9-5
    James Madison

Horizon
1. Valparaiso      10-2
2. Green Bay        9-3
    Cleveland St.   

Mid-American
1. Bowling Green    9-3
2. Akron                    8-4
     Kent
    Cent. Michigan
    Toldeo

With just a few games remaining, several conferences have 3+ teams within a game of the lead.  These races are especially important for the mid-major conferences, where the regular season champion is guaranteed an NIT bid

Atlantic 10
1. Dayton          11-4
   Davidson
   VCU
   Rhode Island
Key games:  VCU at Dayton (2/28); Rhode Island at Dayton (3/3); VCU at Davidson (3/5)

Big 12
1.  Kansas       11-4
2 W. Virginia  11-5    
   Iowa St
4. Oklahoma 105
 Key games: Oklahoma at Iowa St. (3-2); W. Virginia at Kansas (3-3); Kansas at Oklahoma (3/5)

Big Sky
1. Sacamento St.    12-3
    Montana               12-3
3. E. Washington   11-3
4. N. Arizona           10-4
Key Games:  Montana at E. Washington (2/28); Sacramento at N. Arizona (3-7)

Big South
1. High Point         12-4
  Charleston So.   
 3.  Coastal Carolina  11-5
      Radford
     Winthrop

Key game: High point at Charleston Southern (2/28)

Colonial
 1.  William  & Mary    12-5
      UNC Wilmington 
3.  Northeastern          11-5
4. James Madison     11-6
   Northeastern has 2 games remaining; the others have one each. There are no remaining head-to-head battles among the contenders. 

Conference USA
1, La. Tech        12-3
2. UTEP              11-3
3. UAB                 11-4
Key game:  UTEP at La. Tech (2/26)

Horizon
1. Valparaiso    12-3
2. Cleveland St.  11-4
    Green Bay       
    Oakland
  Key games: Valpo at Cleveland (2/27); Oakland at Green Bay (2-28)

Mid-American
1. Cent. Michigan    11-4
2. Bowling Green    10-5
   Kent
   Toledo
Key Games: Toledo at Cent. Mich (3/5); Kent at Bowling Green (3/5)

Sun Belt
1. Georgia Southern    12-4
   Georgia State
   UL Monroe
Key games: Ga. State at Monroe (3/5;  Ga. Southern at Ga. State (3/7)

The 32 (or so) conferences is what makes college basketball different than college football. Well, that and the fact they each use unique balls and the game rules are also different. 

The First Thursday and Friday of March Madness is the greatest two days in sports.  Drama City Baby !!

Posted by skinndogg on 2/27/2015 3:41:00 PM (view original):

The First Thursday and Friday of March Madness is the greatest two days in sports.  Drama City Baby !!

Wednesday, the day before, is also the most popular day for vascetomies.  You get to stay home for 2 days following surgery

Good news for High Point in the Big South. They won, while the 4 teams chasing them each lost to lower-ranked teams.   High Point can win the title outright if they defeat Charleston Southern.    If they end up tied, it goes to a tie-breaker for the #1 seed:

(2) Win-loss record versus conference opponents occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings, in which the tied teams played an equal amount of times. Continue down the standings until one team gains and advantage. With 11 teams in the league, each team only played eight teams twice, which makes this second tie-breaker a little muddier.

Charleston Southern defeated High Point 97-93 (3OT) to claim the #1 seed in the Big South and a guaranteed NIT bid. 

The Colonial ended in a 4-way tie with Northeastern, William & Mary, UNC Wilmington, and James Madison at 12-6.  William & Mary won the tie-breaker and the guaranteed NIT bid. They've never played in the NCAA tournament.

Interesting about the Colonial tie. James Madison went 0-6 vs.the other tied team and 12-0 vs. the rest of the conference.  William  & Mary was 5-1 vs. the other tied teams but lost 4 games to the bottom 5 teams in the conference, twice on their home court

More and more, the mid-majors are rewarding their RS champion, making it easier for them to win the CT. Some allow their higher seeds to host each tournament game. Others have given their champion 1 or 2 byes. 

The Ohio Valley, for instance, only allows 8 of their 12 teams to play in the CT, which is held on a neutral court in Nashville.  The #1 (Murray St.) and #2 (E.Kentucky) seeds get double-byes to the semi-finals.  The #3 (Belmont)  and #4 (UT Martin) seeds get single byes to the quarterfinals.  Seeds #5-#8 play on the first day.

The Northeast Conference has all games on campus sites, with the top seed hosting. The teams are reseeded after each round so that the regular-season champion always faces the lowest seeded team. 

With one game remaining, the Mid-American could end in a 4-way tie.

Currently:
1.  Cent. Michigan     12-5
2.  Bowling Green      11-6
     Buffalo                    11-6
     Kent                         11-6
     Toledo                     11-6

Bowling Green is at Buffalo, which will eliminate the loser. If Central Michigan loses at Western Michigan (9-7), there could be a 4-way tie between Central, Kent, Toledo and the Bowling Green-Buffalo winner

  If the tie involves Bowling Green, tie tie-breaker would be  1. Kent;   2. Bowling Green; 3. Cent. Michigan; 4. Toledo

If the tie involves Buffalo, instead, the finish would be:  1. Cent. Michigan; 2. Kent; 3. Buffalo; 4. Toledo

If it's a 3-way tie between Central, Bowling Green and Kent,   1. Kent; 2. Bowling Green, 3. Cent. Michigan

if it's a 3-way tie between Central, Buffalo, and Kent;,  1. Central; 2. Buffalo; 3. Kent

If it's a 2-way tie between Central and Bowling Green,  Bowling Green wins

If it's a 2-way tie between Central and Buffalo, Central Michigan wins. 

Tie top two seeds receive double-byes into the semis.  Seeds #3 and #4 receive one bye into the quarter-finals.   The top overall seed is guaranteed at least a NIT berth.  Toledo and Buffalo have no shot at the #1 seed