One Bid Conferences in Super Regionals

If you read my rant, I mean article, on the one-bid conferences in the tournament, then you might be interested to know I was proved wrong on at least one count. The Davidson Wildcats have shown the undeserving can move on and in a big way. They were the sixth place team in Atlantic-10 and in no way should have been in that regional. Look what they did. They knocked off the number two team in the nation, twice, at home to move on to a super regional. Can you see that happening in football? Me neither. Basketball? Upon occasion.

How about the other teams that I wrote about? Well, let's see.

UMBC

They lost both of their regional games.

Sacramento State

They lost both of their regional games.

BYU

Won the second game in an elimination round but lost their second to Stanford.

South Alabama

They won their opening game but lost the next two to be eliminated.

Oral Roberts

The Golden Eagles were eliminated by Arkansas but made some noise by eliminating Oklahoma State in a loser’s bracket game.

Texas Southern

Lost both their games to LSU and Rice and they weren’t close.

UNCG

Won one game but were competitive in all games.

Holy Cross

Didn’t stink up the joint as they beat Nebraska in an elimination game but lost to Yale and Oregon State (no shame there).

Tennessee Tech

They surprised Florida State in their opening game but then lost the next two to bow out.

Central Connecticut

They lost both their games but weren’t embarrassed. Did you know their mascot is the Blue Devils? Neither did I.

Bethune-Cookman

Bless their pea-pickin’ hearts as they made it to final elimination round but lost to #4 Florida. Good showing.

Ohio

Lost both their games and at least one of which I think they should have won. They lost to Kentucky and Indiana.

Marist

Went to Florida for two days and then went home - two losses.

Yale

They went 2-2 in their regional which ain’t bad as they beat Nebraska (which lost to both Yale and Holy Cross in an embarrassing showing) and Holy Cross but lost to Oregon State twice in games that weren’t close. Oh well, two wins to brag about.

Illinois-Chicago

They lost both of their games but were eliminated in a close one with Mississippi State, 5-4.

Delaware

Lost two close games to Texas Tech (5-2) and Arizona (6-5 in 12 innings). They represented. The Blue Hens possess one of the better mascot names in college sports.

Radford

Lost both their games. How many noticed that my original article had it Redford, as in Robert Redford. Yup, spell check knows so much more than I do.

FGCU

Lost to #2 North Carolina in an elimination game. They lost their first game to Davidson which was considered an upset until the Davidson team beat North Carolina in the deciding game.

Davidson

Here’s what I said about Davidson:

Thirteen teams with Steph Curry's old stomping grounds the sixth place (6th!?) finisher. No team really stood up in the conference but the top teams were mostly over .500. Sixth place? Come ON! No wonder they get #2 North Carolina. Good luck. Two Carolina teams going at it? Could be interesting.

Interesting indeed. Shows you what anyone can say about another team. You never know. They take on Texas A&M in a Super Regional.

Here are some other results that concern the mid-major:

Sam Houston State beats #5 Texas Tech in the Lubbock Regional to move on to a super regional (Tallahassee). They won three in a row in the losers’ bracket which is tough assignment.

Dallas Baptist beats #13 Virginia in the Forth Worth Regional but was eliminated by TCU in the final. Still, a good showing by a very good team.

Missouri State beats Arkansas to move on. In fact, they had to take two of three from the Razorbacks to move on. Oh yeah!

Long Beach State beats Texas in the final game so SDSU losing to LB doesn’t look so bad after all, does it?

So how many teams in a super regional that area considered mid-majors? Long Beach State, Missouri State, Dallas Baptist, Sam Houston State, and Davidson. That’s five teams which ain’t bad but could have been better. Now the problem of depth will start to rear its ugly head. It’s hard to root against any of these teams but Davidson certainly has to have the heart strings of the nation in its grasp. I think super regionals start Friday.