Midwest Regional

[schnautza]

1 Truman 2 Michigan Tech
3 USI
4 Wayne State
5 Ashland
6 Lewis

?????? matchups
USI/Lewis > Michigan Tech
Wayne state/Ashland > Truman

[TSU_Mike59]

Men's Midwest Regional (tournament site):
Saturday, March 13
Game 1 - 6:00 pm - #4 Wayne State vs. #5 Ashland
Game 2 - 8:30 pm - #3 Southern Indiana vs. #6 Lewis

Sunday, March 14
Game 3 - 6:00 pm - #1 Truman State vs. Game 1 winner
Game 4 - 8:30 pm - #2 Michigan Tech vs. Game 2 winner

Tuesday, March 16
Game 5- 7:00 pm - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner

Women's Midwest Regional (tournament site):
Friday, March 12
Game 1 - 6:00 pm - #4 Grand Valley State vs. #5 Ashland
Game 2 - 8:45 pm - #3 Truman State vs. #6 Northwood

Saturday, March 13
Game 3 - 5:00 pm - #1 Michigan Tech vs. Game 1 winner
Game 4 - 7:45 pm - #2 Drury vs. Game 2 winner

Monday, March 15
Game 5 - 6:00 pm - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner

[unc4life]

I know it means very little, but I have a hard time with Michigan Tech being #2 while Ashland is #5 on the men's side. Michigan Tech finished 14-7 while Ashland finished 14-8. Ashland played one non conference game while MT didn't. They did have a few different opponents in conference play, but Ashland beat them head to head in the championship. Ashland beat Davenport twice while MT lost to them twice, Ashland also beat Ferris State 2-3 while MT lost to them twice. Ashland did lose twice to Wayne State but MT never played Wayne State. I know its very close when you break it down, but you would think a head to head win would trump a close schedule.

[schnautza]

I'm also surprised to see MTU at #2, but I'm also very surprised to see UMSL get left out.
I would have honestly been more inclined to think that USI and UMSL be swapped out, since USI ended up going untested on the final stretch.

[UMSLguy]

Best of luck to the GLVC teams playing in the tournament this weekend.

So disappointing to see UMSL on the outside looking in after looking like a tournament team for most of the season.

The McKendree game is going to haunt UMSL fans for a while. After three weeks of cancellations, the Tritons led the Bearcats for almost the entire game. McKendree pulled ahead in the final minute on two botched plays: a foul behind the three point line and losing the handle for a turnover.

A fun season nonetheless.

[crazznewt]

Best of luck to the GLVC teams playing in the tournament this weekend.

So disappointing to see UMSL on the outside looking in after looking like a tournament team for most of the season.

The McKendree game is going to haunt UMSL fans for a while. After three weeks of cancellations, the Tritons led the Bearcats for almost the entire game. McKendree pulled ahead in the final minute on two botched plays: a foul behind the three point line and losing the handle for a turnover.

A fun season nonetheless.

Any word if UMSL's injured players will return next season? Rose is on my all opposition team and was a blast to watch two seasons ago in Springfield.

[UMSLguy]

Any word if UMSL's injured players will return next season? Rose is on my all opposition team and was a blast to watch two seasons ago in Springfield.

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to talk to anyone over in Mark Twain about it with everything closed.

I know at least one player is returning for graduate school, but I do not know about Rose or Grubbs. Both are 4-year seniors and so one more year would not seem out of the question. I know college is for more than basketball, but I keep thinking Rose could have a nice career playing overseas and so coming back would make professional sense.

[schnautza]

I know it's completely an exercise in futility since nothing is normal or predictable this season...
But I ran all of the regional games thru Massey's predictions. For science.
Of the 7 teams that are hosting regionals, 5 of those teams are favored by Massey to win the region. I think for many teams, this will be their first taste of a home crowd of any size. So this could be a huge factor.

Massey's predictions are:
Atlantic - 3 seed West Liberty (host)
Central - 2 seed Northwest Missouri St (host = 1 seed Northern State)
East - 1 seed St Thomas Aquinas (host = St Rose, not playing)
Midwest - 3 seed Southern Indiana (host)
South - 1 seed Flagler (host = 4 seed Valdosta St)
Southeast - 2 seed Lincoln Memorial (host)
South Central - 2 seed Lubbock Christian (host)
West - 2 seed Colorado Mines (host)


If we go another step further...should we? Why not.

Let's seed the E8 based on Massey's numbers.
#9 West Liberty
#1 NWMSU
#69 St Thomas Aquinas
#14 Southern Indiana
#12 Flagler
#8 Lincoln Memorial
#6 Lubbock Christian
#10 Colorado Mines

Seeds are assigned as follows:
1. Northwest Missouri State
2. Lubbock Christian
3. Lincoln Memorial
4. West Liberty
5. Colorado Mines
6. Flagler
7. Southern Indiana
8. St. Thomas Aquinas

Keep chasing down the rabbit hole, because we are already too far in:
NWMSU beats STAQ
Lubbock beats host Southern Indiana (it's a 1 pt game, 50/50 split - closest game of any of the matchups)
Lincoln Memorial beats Flagler
West Liberty beats Colorado Mines

NWMSU beats West Liberty
Lincoln Memorial beats Lubbock Christian

And for the championship, Northwest Missouri St beats Lincoln Memorial.

[sandtiger]

Does it take in to consideration that Southern Indiana is playing a home game for the Elite 8 as well?

[schnautza]

Does it take in to consideration that Southern Indiana is playing a home game for the Elite 8 as well?

Yep. If they can make it thru regionals, with the home crowd they are a tough out. But they play their first game in a month tonight, so anything can happen...

[USI!USI!]

25% capacity restriction will limit USI's hometown advantage. Won't be anything like last year when we packed the Ford Center.

[crazznewt]

A couple things that impress from the Women's Regional. One is the fact that Ashland is in the regional after a rough (by their standards) regular season. They are finishing strong.

Another is the play of Truman State's Ellie Weltha. She led the league in rebounding at 10+ and she gets most of the 50/50 balls in her area. She had a double double with 18 rebounds in their regional win against Northwood.

Coach Dean impresses in his second year ever as a head coach.
He will eventually get offers from other schools.

[schnautza]

Congrats to Coach Gouard on his first NCAA win as USI head coach. What a way to start post-season - definitely glad that we had the 3-6 matchup to shake the rust off!

Was this the first game Martin has played? I didn't recognize his name

[sandtiger]

Was this the first game Martin has played? I didn't recognize his name

Basically yes, he played a total of 7 min back in November. He missed a 3 and picked up a personal foul.

[schnautza]

Basically yes, he played a total of 7 min back in November. He missed a 3 and picked up a personal foul.

He played some impressive plays off the bench. Hope to see him develop more!