By Michael Samaha, columnist
We are just a few days away from the month of March, and you know what that means: March Madness. This is the most exciting time in the college basketball season. I’m not even talking about the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament, but I’m referencing everything that leads to it. With every team in the country feeling the pressure that the end of the regular season schedule brings, every game is naturally more intense – probably because there seems to be more riding on each and every game.
To start, there are plenty of schools on the bubble for NCAA tournament selection. All of those teams are trying to win against quality opponents to build their tourney résumé and trying not to lose to inferior opponents as to not gain any more bad losses. Every night, there is at least one bubble team fighting for its tournament lives. Not many teams are definite locks to be selected to play in the tournament, and even the teams who are locks are still fighting for the best seeding possible.
Also, with the end of the regular season schedule, the regular season conference championships are up for grabs. The conference standings determine conference tournament seeding and the winner of each conference is also guaranteed a spot in some kind of postseason play. In the Ivy League, the regular season champ earns the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
NU basketball is deadlocked in its own fight at the top of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings with the College of William & Mary, University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW) and James Madison University (JMU). The last time the Huskies won the regular season championship was the 2012-13 season, in which they lost in the conference title game to JMU in Richmond.
As a mid-major, winning the conference tournament and earning that automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is the ultimate goal, so winning the conference’s regular season championship doesn’t really do anything but give a slightly easier path to getting to a conference title game. The CAA this season is as wide open as it has been in years.
Five schools have a legitimate shot at the CAA title game, held in Baltimore. NU may be the most balanced team offensively, and the best rebounding team out of the five, but lacks bench depth, which can hurt the Huskies if they run into any foul trouble or a sudden injury. William & Mary is the most efficient and best-shooting offense but is weak in the frontcourt, where NU would have a real advantage. UNCW is the surprise team of the CAA season – it swept the season against NU and plays really well as a team, but its inexperience and youth could hinder it when it comes to tournament play. JMU is led by junior guard Ron Curry, who at any time could take over a game and cause a major upset and shake-up in Baltimore. Lastly, Hofstra can get really hot from the perimeter. Its two Niagara University transfer students can outscore their opponents in any game, but the team defense isn’t the strongest; if they aren’t shooting well, they almost can’t win. Don’t be surprised if the University of Delaware, Towson University or College of Charleston win a game and end the championship hopes of one of the conference contenders in the quarterfinals.
Every conference tournament is exciting because any team in the country can get hot for a couple days and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. In most of the tournaments, the teams have to play day after day with no breaks. That just adds more pressure to every game. For all of you out there who love making brackets but realize you don’t know that much about every team, I’d suggest watching the conference tournaments. You’ll see how each team is playing right before the NCAA tourney, and you’ll know which teams are hot coming into it. The people who watched the University of Connecticut in its conference tournaments the past two championship seasons already knew that those teams would make deep runs that lead to play in April.
-Michael Samaha can be reached at [email protected].
