OT: Tracking Our Colleagues

[Styre]

We don't need to be reminded that NU is the only high-major team that has never made the tournament, but there are four other programs that have been playing basketball since 1939 and have also never made it: Army, The Citadel, St. Francis (NY), and William & Mary. Every year, when March rolls around, I like to track their progress toward the NCAAs -- if we don't make it, I'd like to see one of our partners in futility get off the list. As usual, none of the four are good enough this year to be considered for at-large berths, so each will have to win their conference tournament to get in.

Unfortunately, things do not look good for the military schools, as Army (6-12, 15-14) finished in last place in the Patriot League and The Citadel (6-12, 11-18) finished tied for 7th in the Southern Conference. Army, losers of 8 of their last 9, will open the Patriot League Tournament on the road at 7th-seeded Navy, while The Citadel, 3-3 in their last 6, will face 10th-seeded Furman on a neutral court in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament.

Things look better for William & Mary (12-6, 18-11), however, as they finished in a four-way tie atop the CAA, and due to tiebreakers have the top seed in the CAA Tournament, held on a neutral court. They get a bye to the quarterfinal round where they await the winner of 8th-seeded Elon (an NU victim this year) and 9th-seeded Towson.

But I've saved the best for last: St. Francis (NY) (15-3, 21-10) won the NEC outright this season, three games in front of second-place Robert Morris. The NEC Tournament is played entirely at home sites, meaning that all they have to do is win three home games and they'll be in the NCAAs. They open the postseason at home against their 8th-seeded rivals LIU-Brooklyn.

I'll update this with results as the week continues.

 

[beetlemania74]

Good stuff. Thanks for putting this together. Part of me will be cheering for William & Mary and for St. Francis (NY) to finally break out and make the tourney....and part of me hopes they lose so that our "partners in futility" list doesn't get shorter and shorter. It's not a zero sum game, however, so in the end, I hope they win and make the tourney. It would be a good story, and I really feel that next year will be our year. 'Cats in '16!

 

[Styre]

Army done

It'll have to be another year for Army, as they fall 56-52 at Navy in the opening round of the Patriot League tourney.

 

[Styre]

St. Francis (NY) advances

St. Francis (NY) defeats LIU-Brooklyn 79-70 to open the NEC Tournament. They will host 5th-seeded St. Francis (PA) on Saturday afternoon in the semifinal round.

This post was edited on 3/4 9:09 PM by Styre

 

[docrugby1]

Re: St. Francis (NY) advances


It looks like St Francis will make it to the conference final

 

[Styre]

The Citadel out

Despite holding the higher seed, The Citadel was hammered 73-56 by Furman in the SoCon Tournament and will have to wait for another year to break their streak.

 

[Donatello Cat]

slightly OT to the OT but . . . Yale is in the Ivy League finals. I think they said they haven't made the tournament in ~50 years. Wonder what a certain fifth year transfer thinks about that?

 

[wildcat229]

This topic came up on one of the College Nation shows on Sirius XM. One of the hosts relayed a story that Army, when Bobby Knight was coaching actually turned down the opportunity to play in the NCAA. Knight did not think his team could beat UCLA so he opted for the NIT instead. Back then the NIT was not the second tier tourney it is today. So does Army get an "asterisk" with respect to this topic?

 

[Styre]

There are no "Ivy League finals" -- the Ivy League gives its automatic bid to its regular season champion, and Yale will win the conference outright with a win in their final regular season game today against Dartmouth.

And you're right, they haven't made the tournament since 1962.

 

[Styre]

Yeah, Bob Knight told that story a few years ago. I suppose that is asterisk-worthy, but they're still on the list.

 

[Styre]

William & Mary advance

Top-seeded William & Mary defeated their quarterfinal opponent Elon today in the CAA tourney, 72-59. They will face the winner of JMU and Hofstra tomorrow afternoon on NBCSN.

 

[Styre]

Re: St. Francis (NY) advances

St. Francis (NY) wins again, defeating St. Francis (PA) 62-48 in the NEC semifinals. They will host 2nd-seeded Robert Morris in the NEC Championship on Tuesday night, with the winner advancing to the NCAAs.

St. Francis will rightfully be favored, but their only home loss in conference play this season was to Robert Morris. If they win, the streak will be broken.

 

[Secho99]

I wonder if Kreisberg would've denied Dartmouth's game winning bucket off the baseline out of bounds play? Tough loss for Yale, now they have to beat Harvard again.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[docrugby1]

Originally posted by Secho99:
I wonder if Kreisberg would've denied Dartmouth's game winning bucket off the baseline out of bounds play? Tough loss for Yale, now they have to beat Harvard again.

Posted from Rivals Mobile

The Ivy League does not allow 5th year participation unless extraordinary circumstances exist

 

[Styre]

Re: William & Mary advance

A three from the corner with 0.5 seconds left in 2OT gives William & Mary the 92-91 win over Hofstra in the CAA semifinals, and puts them in the championship game against the winner of Northeastern and UNC-Wilmington. This is the Tribe's fourth appearance in the title game in the last eight years -- will they finally get the win and make the tournament?

 

[NUCat320]

UNF makes the tourney

Not a colleague, but a first-timer regardless.

D1 since 2005.

 

[Styre]

William & Mary out

Northeastern came out firing and took a 10-0 lead that they would not relinquish. William & Mary goes down 72-61 in the CAA title game, their fourth loss in the title game in eight years, and they remain in the club of ignominy.

This will be Northeastern's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991.

 

[beetlemania74]

Re: William & Mary out

Oh no, William & Mary! And to think, they lost to Northeastern (there's has to be someone out there who'll confuse that team in the NCAA tourney with us...).

Seriously though, William & Mary's title game losing streak is beginning to rival our own in football bowl games. Fourth loss in eight years? Better bring the monkey to the title game next year!




This post was edited on 3/9 9:28 PM by beetlemania74

 

[Pittcat89-90]

Re: William & Mary out

..and St. Francis loses to Robert Morris in the title game.

This is one heck of a monkey we're all dragging around.

 

[Styre]

St. Francis (NY) out

St. Francis (NY) lost only two conference home games all season, both to Robert Morris, and the second was tonight, 66-63.

The four other charter members of the never-made-the-tournament club have all lost. It's up to us now.

 

[beetlemania74]

Re: St. Francis (NY) out

Watched the end of tonight's game. St. Francis had their chances but missed a bunch of FTs towards the end, including three in the last few seconds that could have tied the game. Another guy airballed a FT before that. Feeling the pressure?

I cringed each time they showed the graphic of the teams never to have made the NCAA tourney. A bunch of nobodies (sorry, Army), and then us, from the big, bad, B1G. Someone ought to write a book about this...or at least a long feature article.



This post was edited on 3/10 8:33 PM by beetlemania74

 

[Catreporter]

Re: St. Francis (NY) out


I realize its a short list of schools that haven't made the dance, but i'll bet there is quite a long list of those schools who have NEVER WON an NCAA game. It includes Nebraska by the way. Just getting there is a whole lot easier in those smaller one bid leagues.

 

[Styre]

As a slightly unrelated addendum to this, 2015 marks the second year in a row that all 13 Division I programs in the state of Illinois will miss the NCAA Tournament. For a state that regularly produces some of the best high school talent in the country, that is absolutely embarrassing.