Championship Week Results: March 5

Yesterday introduced the first members to join the NCAA Tournament.

America East: (1) Vermont def. (9) Binghamton, 57-46.
(5) Stony Brook def. (4) Albany, 67-61.
(2) Boston def. (7) New Hampshire, 69-60.
(3) Maine def. (6) Hartford, 66-63.
*Only mild surprise here.*

Atlantic Sun: 2nd team in! (1) Belmont thrashed (4) North Florida, 87-46. An amazing 11 players scored for Belmont, including Milford graduate Brandon Baker, who notched two straight treys from the same spot to cap a 12-2 run.

Big Sky: The tournament started yesterday, with nothing surprising.
(3) Weber State def. (6) Eastern Washington, 79-70.
(4) Northern Arizona def. (5) Montana St., 65-62.

Big South: (1) Coastal Carolina's meteoric collapse is complete, with a defeat by (4) UNC-Asheville, 60-47. This is Asheville's second tournament appearance.

Colonial: Nothing surprising, yet again.
(1) George Mason def. (9) Georgia St., 68-45.
(4) VCU def. (5) Drexel, 62-60.
(2) Old Dominion def. (7) Delaware, 59-50.
(3) Hofstra def. (11) William & Mary, 72-56.

Horizon: Conference tournament seem to get boring...
(2) Butler def. (3) Cleveland St., 76-68.
(1) Milwaukee def. (4) Valparaiso, 70-63.

Ivy: No conference tournament, but Princeton blew a chance to win the auto-bid with a loss at Harvard. Harvard clinches their first ever Ivy League crown, but if Princeton wins against Penn, they share the crown, and will play a neutral-site playoff to decide the NCAA Tournament bid.

MAAC: Snoozefest again!
(1) Fairfield def. (9) Marist, 55-31.
(4) St. Peter's def. (5) Loyola (MD), 70-60.
(3) Rider def. (6) Canisius, 79-64.
(2) Iona def. (7) Siena, 94-64.

MVC: Wichita State let me down.
(1) Missouri State def. (5) Creighton, 60-50.
(3) Indiana State def. (2) Wichita State, 61-54.

OVC: The third ticket was punched here. Congratulations to (2) Morehead State, who defeated (4) Tennessee Tech, 80-73. Morehead led by double-digits the whole game, but almost blew the lead at the end.

Southern: Still yawning. Where's the excitement?
(1N) Western Carolina def. (5N) UNC-Greensboro, 77-66.
(2S) Wofford def. (3N) Appalachian St., 69-56.
(3S) Furman def. (2N) Chattanooga, 61-52.
(1S) Charleston def. (4N) Elon, 78-60.

Summit: More normal proceedings.
(1) Oakland def. (8) Southern Illinois, 82-66.
(2) Oral Roberts def. (7) North Dakota St., 72-65.

Sun Belt: Something at least happened here.
(E3) Western Kentucky def. (W6) Louisiana-Monroe, 66-50.
(W4) North Texas def. (E5) Troy, 83-69.
(E6) Florida International def. (W3) Denver, 53-49.
**Stinks for you, Denver. Win a game in your tourney next year.**
(W5) Arkansas-Little Rock def. (E4) South Alabama, 82-68.

WCC: This is a weird bracket to begin with. Only 8 teams, but the top 2 teams get double byes.
(4) Santa Clara def. (8) Loyola Marymount, 76-68.
(3) San Francisco def. (6) Pepperdine, 76-59.