Atlantic NCAA Tourney

[JDonAB92]

University of Charleston women win the Atlantic Region with a 79-73 win over Tiffin in Columbus, Ohio. UC advances to the Elite Eight.

[boatcapt]

Hard to say. It's pretty rare for Regional Final Four Sunday to have two boring games (blowouts).

In general, I'd say that bye was a huge advantage. Not so much in the legs, but just simply the fact of avoiding a potential loss. They also got to sit in the bleachers and watch their potential opponent in person. Most years all 8 teams are very good and the 8 (while it rarely happens) is capable of knocking off the top seed. Legs-wise, they get today off. These are young kids. One day of rest and they'll be fine.

I'm not buying in to the WL is the underdog theory. They are the 'home' team despite being the 'away' team tomorrow night. That's a huge advantage. Hillsdale was built to play a "Mercyhurst Style" game. Will they get sucked in to playing 110 mph? We'll see. Whomever controls the tempo tomorrow night wins. I think it's that simple.

I can see that. While it is WLU's home cort and they will derive some benefit from that, the crowd advantage that would occur in a "normal" year will be somewhat muted by the limited attendance.

Hillsdale has what has proven to be WLU's kriptonite in the past...several active skilled bigs and an ability to slow the game down. On the other hand, WLU seems to have the tools to beat a team like Hillsdale...Ability to shoot at a very high percentage (can't rebound shots that drop through). Also WLU has the ability to push a team to playing faster than they are comfortable playing...an advantage particularly when a tema hasn't played them before.

While I think this will be a tight down to the wire game, sometimes when you have two different teams like this that have never played before, you can get a blow out. Really I won't be surprised with whatever the outcome is.

[TopperAlum2015]

Not to get Boat started on his arbitrariness of seeding argument again . . . but . . .

Did anyone notice the importance of the bye? West Liberty is one of only 3 teams that played on the first day of the tournament who are still playing. #3 WLU is still playing. #4 Emmanuel is still playing. And #5 Northwest Nazarene (who upset overall #1 Colorado Mesa) is still playing. That's it. EVERY other team remaining is a 1 or 2 seed.

[Chuck Norris]

[TopperAlum2015]

[Columbuseer]

Great explanation. In addition, sites had to submit a formal proposal as a prerequisite for consideration ( due in late Jan, I think).

[Columbuseer]

Got curious about whether bye helped higher-ranked seed advance
only looked at 2019 regional games, In second round with no byes, higher seed won 13 of 16 games or 81.25% (IUP was one of 3 higher seed victims).
Would need more years of data to be significant comparison. But suffice it to say the higher seeds did OK without a bye in 2019.

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-men/d2/2019

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Got curious about whether bye helped higher-ranked seed advance
only looked at 2019 regional games, In second round with no byes, higher seed won 13 of 16 games or 81.25% (IUP was one of 3 higher seed victims).
Would need more years of data to be significant comparison. But suffice it to say the higher seeds did OK without a bye in 2019.

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/basketball-men/d2/2019

That tournament sucked for IUP. We got stuck with the exact same bracket as the PSAC Tournament the week prior. Week before we played West Chester on Saturday and Mercyhurst on Sunday. Regional we played West Chester on Saturday and Mercyhurst on Sunday. And, naturally, we blow Mercyhurst out of the gym in the PSAC Final and then lose by 10 in the NCAAs. Beauty of the fourth meeting, I suppose.

I still wonder what would have happened had Fairmont just closed out that Round 1 game against Mercyhurst when they were up 5 in the final minute. Highly likely we'd have finally got the IUP vs WL final.

[IUPalum]

That tournament sucked for IUP. We got stuck with the exact same bracket as the PSAC Tournament the week prior. Week before we played West Chester on Saturday and Mercyhurst on Sunday. Regional we played West Chester on Saturday and Mercyhurst on Sunday. And, naturally, we blow Mercyhurst out of the gym in the PSAC Final and then lose by 10 in the NCAAs. Beauty of the fourth meeting, I suppose.

I still wonder what would have happened had Fairmont just closed out that Round 1 game against Mercyhurst when they were up 5 in the final minute. Highly likely we'd have finally got the IUP vs WL final.

Fairmont shat themselves plain and simple!

[boatcapt]

Fairmont shat themselves plain and simple!

I agree. They were clearly better than Hurst and should have won going away. They didn't and are now sitting at home watching.

[IUPalum]

I agree. They were clearly better than Hurst and should have won going away. They didn't and are now sitting at home watching.

Did you even read the previous post I commented on? We were talking 2019! WOW!!!!!!

[Chuck Norris]

[IUPHawks24]

I agree. They were clearly better than Hurst and should have won going away. They didn't and are now sitting at home watching.

Based on what? They lost... and were down double digits multiple times in the 2nd half before coming back. Hurst probably should've put them away earlier.

Fun matchup between West Lib and Hillsdale. We'll see if the Hilltoppers can get the game going at the pace they need to win.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Based on what? They lost... and were down double digits multiple times in the 2nd half before coming back. Hurst probably should've put them away earlier.

Fun matchup between West Lib and Hillsdale. We'll see if the Hilltoppers can get the game going at the pace they need to win.

I'd agree. That game wasn't as close as the score. Fairmont just wasn't a good match against them. They were all out of sorts the majority of the game.

[Scrub]

Not to get Boat started on his arbitrariness of seeding argument again . . . but . . .

Did anyone notice the importance of the bye? West Liberty is one of only 3 teams that played on the first day of the tournament who are still playing. #3 WLU is still playing. #4 Emmanuel is still playing. And #5 Northwest Nazarene (who upset overall #1 Colorado Mesa) is still playing. That's it. EVERY other team remaining is a 1 or 2 seed.

Clock struck midnight for Northwest Nazarene last night. Only WLU & Emmanuel remain among seeds lower than #2.