Hmm, a CCIW team out of the tournament already. Tough draw for North Central, playing a strong team on the road in a physical first-round game and the result is not all that surprising. After tonight, one has to think St. Thomas could win Saturday at Lawrence as well, though the Tommies fed off their crowd quite a bit and won’t have more than 350 in the house on Saturday.
For Occidental to score 22 points in the first half without Sam Betty in the game (three fouls early) is not too surprising. To allow 12 points is pretty good by any stretch. That has become a game, however.
Gotta feel for the Plattsburgh player who missed both free throws. The Hamilton student section was primarily under the opposite basket in the second half, but walked to the other end during the time out. That’s why higher seeds get home-court advantage … scratch that, why they used to get home-court advantage. We’ll see our first neutral-site games of this tournament tomorrow.
Second year in a row Ursinus goes one-and-out at home to an Atlantic Region team. It could signify the beginning of the end for the Centennial as a serious March competitor. This is three years out of four that the Bears have lost an NCAA Tournament opener. It’s the Skyline’s first playoff win since 2003.
Elms was held at arm’s length pretty much the whole night. And now the baby is awake so I have to wrap up. Comments appreciated.
On last night’s women’s game, ugly outcome for Oglethorpe but a good learning experience for a very young team. They should be back. Really enjoyed listening to the broadcast on the Net, although it wasn’t posted on the NCAA’s site. Also enjoyed the postgame interview with the coach, five minutes after the game ended. (Those who broadcast NCAA Tournament games will know what I’m getting at here.)
FINAL: Occidental fans storm the floor in a 48-41 win against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Well, that Occidental 48-41 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was a real shock! Occidental finished tied for second in SCIAC while CMS finished at the top. What could have happened? Could it be that the game was scheduled in Occidental’s home court, despite the fact they had finished second? We wouldn’t the game played a neutral court to see who the best team actually would be, would we? What a farce!
Every regional game counts, not just the 14 conference games. CMS had two losses to Chapman and Oxy had a win against Whitworth, pretty much negating the SCIAC advantage.
If CMS had swept Oxy that might have been more convincing.
Sam Betty went out with early foul trouble, but junior forward Nick Mills did a great job on the boards while Betty was on the bench. Oxy played good defense in the first half, holding Claremont to 12, but the Stags also missed some easy layups. I agree with the Great Gatsby that Claremont should have had a home game rather than being on the road, but dems da breaks.
“It could signify the beginning of the end for the Centennial as a serious March competitor.”
I don’t follow. When has the Centennial EVER been a serious March competitor when F&M hasn’t represented the conference?
Or are you speculating about the Centennial’s future NCAA fortunes, based only on the failures of Ursinus at the national level? I think “beginning of the end” is a bit of a strange statement to make.