Play-in games in conference tournaments are a rarity for Roy Williams.
The Hall-of-Famer had a losing record for the first time in his career this season, but North Carolina still has a chance to be a factor in the ACC Tournament despite finishing the regular season at 13-18 overall.
Why?
Cole Anthony.
The 6-3 freshman missed 10 games this season with a knee injury, but is averaging 20.0 points over his last four outings.
If Anthony can play like the lottery pick that’s projected to be then the Tar Heels have a chance to emerge as an early story during Championship Week.
North Carolina opens the ACC Tournament on Tuesday against Virginia Tech.
San Diego State’s loss to Utah State is a blessing in disguise
The Aztecs aspired to be one of the top four seeds in the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
That’s unlikely to happen now after their loss to Utah State in last Saturday’s Mountain West Conference Tournament title game.
Things however, are not all lost for San Diego State.
Had the Aztecs beaten the Aggies in Las Vegas, they would have likely wound up as the top overall seed in the East Region.
What would that have meant?
Potential Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games across the country at Madison Square Garden.
That’s not advantageous for a team looking to reach the Final Four, especially if they wound up facing an East Coast based team in New York like Duke, Villanova, or Seton Hall.
Instead, San Diego State will likely be seeded as the two seed in the West Region with Gonzaga as the number one. If seeds hold, the two teams would potentially meet in a regional final at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
“There’s a reason why we don’t schedule games on the East Coast,” San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said last week. “It would be better for us if we advance if our fans could come and support us a few hours away in Los Angeles.”
It looks like Dutcher is going to have a chance to get his wish.
The Aztecs will enter the NCAA Tournament with a record of 30-2
Murphy’s Law feels like it’s again hitting Creighton
The Bluejays announced late Monday afternoon that sophomore point guard Marcus Zegarowski (16.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5,0 assists) is questionable for Thursday’s Big East Tournament game due to a meniscus injury suffered in last Saturday’s win over Seton Hall.
While this injury still leaves the door open for a return at some point in the future, it also brings up the question if an injury is going to again deny one of Greg McDermott’s team from going deep in the NCAA Tournament.
In 2017, Creighton had a Final Four caliber team when Maurice Watson was lost in the middle of the season to a torn ACL. While the Bluejays still managed to make the NCAA Tournament that season, they were never the same without their starting point guard and lead playmaker.
When healthy, the trio of Zegarowski, Ty-Shon Alexander, and Mitch Ballock was clearly the best perimeter in the Big East and one of the best in the country.
Without Zegarowski healthy, Creighton’s ceiling changes dramatically.
This creates a completely different dynamic entering this week’s Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
.Todd Golden is the breakout star at the WCC Tournament
This league is no longer just about Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, and BYU.
In a season which saw the WCC have three teams nationally ranked and likely to be single digit seeds in the NCAA Tournament, Golden proved that the depth in this league is real.
So is his coaching ability.
The 34-year old first-year head coach went blow for blow with Gonzaga on Monday night in Las Vegas, exchanging baskets with the Bulldogs in a battle of wits that Mark Few isn’t sure to forget anytime soon.
The Dons’ four-point defeat in the WCC Tournament semifinals wasn’t the result that they wanted, but it’s a signal that Golden — who was Kyle Smith’s top assistant at San Francisco before Smith left for Washington State last spring — is ready to lead a perennial contender in the conference.
The MAAC continues to be its own worst enemy
Eight years ago, this was a two-bid league in the NCAA Tournament
Now it’s not even on the radar of mid-major conference tournaments to track during Championship Week.
The MAAC had one of the prime spots to decide its automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament when it played in the 9 p.m. ET slot on the Monday night before Selection Sunday. Now that has shifted to Saturday afternoon.
This is a result of a venue change from Albany to Atlantic City as well as certain scheduling issues, but it’s also a microcosm of what’s plagued this conference over the past few years.
The MAAC used to have a standalone window to showcase its teams on Friday nights in the regular season during conference play and that changed when both the Atlantic 10 and Big Ten started to play league games on the same night in January and February.
The league’s decision to go to 20 conference games a few years ago was also about as puzzling as the plot of The Godfather: Part III.
The MAAC used to have its NCAA Tournament representative crowned in the spotlight.
In 2020, it will happen in obscurity.
