Saturday, March 8, 2008

4 Spots Filled 61 more to go!

It's March, and the madness will soon take center stage.

Three teams have reserved their spots in the Big Dance!

Belmont defeated Jacksonville to win the Atlantic Sun Championship 79-61.
The Belmont Bruins are 25-8. Belmont obviously is a mid-major team. However they did beat the Cincinnati Bearcats (Big East) and Alabama (SEC) this season. They also got routed by Xavier (Atlantic 10). Belmont will carry a 13 game win streak into the NCAA tourney.

The Austin Peay Governors (24-10) won the Ohio Valley Conference tourney with a win over Tennessee State 82-64. Austin Peay is another mid-major. Looking at their schedule I didn't see any big name wins. They did beat the fore mention Belmont Bruins twice. The lost to Vandy and Memphis. Memphis is likely to be a pretty high seed.

Winthrop will also be in the big dance. The Eagles (22-11) defeated UNC-Asheville 66-48 to win the Big South tourney and NCAA bid. Winthrop did beat Georgia Tech and Miami from the ACC. They defeated Old Dominion and East Carolina from the Colonial. Lost to Baylor, Ole Miss, West Virginia and Marshall.

Cornell won the IVY league which does not have a conference tournament. The Cornell Big Red are 21-5. The lost to Duke (ACC) and Syracuse (Big East) in notable games.

These 4 teams are all Mid-Majors, the small teams, that are not expected to do anything in the Big Dance. But every year their are upsets. Many time the small teams are the ones who ruin brackets. Look at the George Mason Patriots who made it to the Final 4 two years ago.

No comments: