February 26, 2023: What surprised me, what impressed me, what went as expected, in Saturday's conference tournament action
Well, by my calculations, 31 teams have clinched a berth in the NCAA Tournament, with more to follow over the next couple of hours. Excited to see how the field of AQs comes together, and wanted to put out a few of my thoughts on yesterday’s action. It was a jam-packed day of D3 WBB that did not disappoint! Side note: Last week I made my picks for the winners of all 45 conference tournaments. Currently, I am 20-12. Not too bad!
What surprised me
Redlands found a way to hand La Verne a loss in the SCIAC championship game by the narrowest of margins, 70-69. In a one-bid league, though La Verne is 24-3, there is no path for the Leopards to make the NCAA Tournament. Very strong 4th quarter effort from Redlands, who outscored ULV 20-17 in the final 10 minutes, forcing a missed layup with 3 seconds left that would have put ULV in front. It was the first win for Redlands over ULV this season in three meetings.
Knox upset Ripon, the MWC title favorite, earning its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in the 64-61 win. Another one-bid league, the Prairie Fire quite literally caught fire in the 4th quarter, after trailing by 5 points at the end of the 3rd. Knox put 20 points on the board to Ripon’s 10, and scored 40 of their 64 points in the paint. Had fully expected Ripon to win that league.
Yesterday I wrote about UT-Dallas’ buzzer-beater to upset #1 seed Hardin-Simmons on HSU’s home court in the ASC Tournament semifinals. Well, UTD had plenty more left in the tank last night, as the Comets proceeded to defeat #2 seed ETBU, 63-57, for the ASC Tournament title. It earns UTD a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and while hearing the Comets’ name announced on Selection Monday has become fairly common in the last decade, they are under new leadership in first-year head coach Joe Shotland, with Polly Thomasson now head coaching at Hartford. What Shotland has done in the span of this year is incredible, and there was no doubt that UTD was the better team last night. Still, a #4 seed winning the whole thing was certainly far from what I had expected, especially having seen everyone in the ASC up close. UTD might be the only #4 seed in their conference tournament with a Pool A right now. Their level of play has shot up within the last few weeks. They’re now playing championship basketball.
What impressed me
In the one-bid NJAC, Rowan found a way to defeat NJCU, 79-70 for the tournament title, putting a fantastic performance on the floor. They were fairly even in just about every statistical category, but Rowan keyed in enough on Damaris Rodriguez defensively that NJCU’s star scorer had 22 points, about 3 below her average, while still keeping the rest of NJCU’s offensive attack at bay to stay in the lead. Rowan held NJCU scoreless for a 4-minute stretch midway through the 4th that gave Rowan enough separation to hold off NJCU’s late charge that saw the Gothic Knights put 10 points on the board in the span of 2 minutes.
Ohio Wesleyan, the #3 seed in the NCAC Tournament, took down #4 seed Oberlin, booking a trip to the NCAA Tournament in a 79-71 victory. I was impressed by OWU’s ability to get to the FT line, and while the free throw disparity is pretty noticeable on the box score, watching the game, it didn’t seem like OWU was being favored by the officials. Oberlin was just very physical in the paint, which led to a high number of shooting fouls. OWU ended up 24-of-30 at the line. Oberlin was just 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. I will say too, the other big key to OWU’s win was the 33 points off turnovers. That was a huge part of the victory, as Oberlin turned the ball over 29 times.
Victory wasn’t guaranteed for Hope in the MIAA title game, but the Flying Dutch won a fourth straight conference title, taking down Trine 76-65. Hope was tested in a big way in this one, and answered the call, as the Flying Dutch outscored Trine 27-11 coming out of halftime in the 3rd quarter. Savannah Feenstra had yet another double-double for Hope, and the Flying Dutch were +14 in the rebounding category. Both teams will end up in the NCAA Tournament field, but still a big win for Hope to keep the MIAA title streak alive.
What went as expected
Webster defended its place as the top seed in the SLIAC, defeating Westminster (Mo.) in the championship game, 87-84. The Gorloks, 24-2, will be playing in March for the second straight year, after a very competitive matchup that saw 24 lead changes. But in this case, no upset occurred, as Webster pulled it out late in the 4th quarter.
DeSales took down Stevens for a second time, winnign 59-36 in the MAC Freedom Championship game. 24 turnovers hurt Stevens quite a bit, and DeSales just didn’t let up. The defensive strength of DeSales was also shown in a big way, holding Stevens to a mere 36 points.
Scranton prevailed for a third time against Elizabethtown, even without Maddy Ryan on the floor. Scranton’s 69-54 win was in large part due to the Lady Royals success from beyond the 3-point arc (11 3-pointers) and solid second half, that saw them outscore ETown 32-22. I think both teams get into the NCAA Tournament, and this is the scenario we expected pretty much all week in the Landmark. Credit to ETown, they played Scranton tough once again.
Transylvania took the HCAC crown against Hanover, winning 85-58, in the Pioneers’ 27th straight win. Transy had a dominant second half, outscoring Hanover 47-21. That’s how you win a conference title. Madison Kellione had 20 points for Transy in the win.
Christopher Newport overpowered Mary Washington, 75-56, shooting 45% from the field along with 22 made free throws. No doubt CNU was far and away the best team in the C2C this year, and the Captains showed that with yesterday’s victory.
Millkin pulled out the CCIW title as anticipated, beating Augustana 57-52. Really liked how Millikin responded from a tough, 9-point first quarter. Elyce Knudsen had 17 points. She was their only double-digit scorer, and there was a point where it looked like Augustana might pull off an upset, but ultimately, Millikin found a way, and is NCAA Tournament bound.
Lots of great matchups on tap today. NESCAC title game between Trinity and Tufts tips in a few minutes a 12 pm EST. NEWMAC title game between Smith and Babson tips at 1pm EST. And we have the WIAC and MIAC championships later this afternoon. Stay tuned on the D3hoops.com Conference Tournament Tracker for updates. I’ll be on Twitter a bunch too, (@ZayasRiley), and will also be on Hoopsville along with Scott Peterson tonight, taking a look at Pool C projections. You can watch the show here. Starts at 6 pm EST I believe. Lots of great D3hoops conversations coming up in the next 24 hours!