College Hoops: No Seed is Safe in One-Bid Leagues

The first day of action in NCAA Basketball’s conference tournaments saw upsets season kick up a gear. Al Dannity says seeds had better beware, the regular season counts for nothing in one-bid leagues.

Where’s Longwood? All that matters is that despite going 4-12 in conference, they’re still in the Big South tournament and UNC Asheville, which went 10-6, is done for the year. Liberty? They went 6-10 in conference but knocked off 9-7 Coastal Carolina 78-61. These results should serve as a wake-up call. The regular season stopped being relevant last week for teams in one-bid leagues. It’s all about making sure there’s a tomorrow.

Lafayette, 10-4 in Patriot League play, had better sit up and take notice. Just two weeks ago they suffered a scare at Holy Cross. Tonight the 4-10 Knights will be out to slay the Leopards. Bucknell whupped Navy twice this season, but 12-2 vs 2-12 only affects betting lines. At this time of year anything and everything can happen. Just ask Lehigh, you might recall they topped Duke in March Madness last year (even though I mistakenly thought it was Loyola before our readers corrected me). They went 10-4 this season and yet their days on the hardwood could end tonight if they slip up against 5-9 Colgate.

That’s what makes this my favourite time of the year. Sure the quality of play isn’t as good as in the big conferences but the sheer desperation on display can make funny things happen. That’s why Lipscomb, 7-11 in Atlantic Sun play, won’t be pushovers for 14-4 Mercer tonight. Even Loyola Marymount vs Portland, with combined 5-27 records in West Coast Conference play, holds some kind of twisted appeal. It would take something almost unthinkable for the winner to go on and take the conference auto-bid but that doesn’t matter tonight. All that matters, all that is relevant, is that one of these terrible teams won’t be playing Basketball tomorrow. The other will.

Hope isn’t what drives these players. It’s the fear of losing hope that does. As long as there is still a chance, no matter how small, of making it to the Big Dance they will fight and die not to lose it. There are games between bigger teams tonight but there aren’t bigger games. Georgetown and Villanova’s hopes for the season may be different in the morning but they won’t change decisively. These players in small conferences wish they had such a luxury. When I’m camped in front of my TV and computer tonight watching games simultaneously, I’ll be grateful they don’t.