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Six of Indiana's Mid-Major teams will start their all-important conference tournaments this week. Only Ball State still has regular season games to play. After a long season Butler stands as the lone team that has a chance at an at-large bid. Valparaiso saw its chances fall by the wayside with two losses last week to bad teams. Both losses cost the Crusaders a regular season conference title in the Horizon league and a possible at-large bid.
With that in mind, here is what this week has in store.
Ball State (17-11, 9-5)
The Cardinals still have two games to play before the MAC Tournament, starting Wednesday night when they travel to Western Michigan for a game that will likely decide the West Division. Ball State leads the Broncos by half a game and they already won by nine in Muncie. Saturday the Cards host Northern Illinois. Wins in both games could give the Cardinals the top seed in the MAC tournament, but it is hard to call anyone a favorite in this conference with so many teams virtually dead even.
Horizon League Tournament
Valparaiso fell to the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament and will host Youngstown State on Tuesday. The Penguins were a lowly 2-16 in league play, but they did defeat co-champion Butler at home. Youngstown State did take Valparaiso to overtime in the second game this season before falling. A Valpo win would send the Crusaders to Milwaukee for the second round, where they would face the winner between Detroit and Loyola. Valpo swept Detroit, but shockingly lost to Loyola by 20 at home last week.
Butler gets a bye all the way to the semi-finals courtesy of the conference championship they shared with Cleveland State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Bulldogs won't play until Saturday in Milwaukee against the Valparaiso-Youngstown State-Detroit-Loyola winner. Should Butler win, they can host the championship game at Hinkle Fieldhouse on March 8 if they end up playing anyone but Milwaukee. Butler has an RPI of 45, but they probably need to at least win their first game in the conference tournament to get an at large bid. Winning two erases all their worries as it would secure an automatic bid.
Missouri Valley Conference Tournament
Though they won't be the favorites, Indiana State and Evansville will have an excellent chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament out of Arch Madness in St. Louis. The third seeded Sycamore and 6th seeded Purple Aces will meet for a third time this year on Friday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The winner will be just two games away from an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while both teams stand a chance at playing in one of the non-NIT postseason tournaments.
Evansville won both regular season meetings between the teams by a total of eight points. The second meeting in Terre Haute saw Evansville overcome a 15-point deficit for the win. The winner of this game likely gets Wichita State in the semifinals. Indiana State lost a pair of close games to the Shockers, including a triple overtime affair in Wichita. Evansville also lost both of their games to Wichita State.
Summit League Tournament
Both IUPUI and IPFW failed to finish the season strong, but IUPUI was the lone team to defeat conference champion Oakland in conference play. They both head to Sioux Falls, South Dakota this week to open up the Summit League tournament on Saturday.
IPFW enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed and will play South Dakota State at 6 p.m. on Sunday. The Mastodons lost both games to the Jackrabbtis this season, with SDSU winning by 16 in Ft. Wayne just a few weeks ago. SDSU also dominated at home by 35, so IPFW faces a very difficult challenge facing them in their home state.
IUPUI will open as the No. 3 seed in the tournament on Sunday night against Missouri-Kansas City. The Jaguars have had solid play out of Alex Young and Leroy Nobles all season long. They beat UMKC by 15 in Indianapolis but lost by eight in double overtime in Kansas City.
The Butler Bulldogs have been all over the map since Gordon Heyward’s desperation heave in the national championship game just missed. They have gone from early favorite for a return Final Four trip, to average NCAA team once Heyward decided to head to the NBA, to out of the tournament all together, to the Bubble, to conference champion. One year later, they find themselves exactly where they were last season: In the NCAA Tournament as Horizon League Champions.
Tuesday night Butler avenged four defeats at the hands of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: two earlier this season and two in previous Horizon League Championship games. Butler dominated throughout in a 59-44 win over the Panthers on its home floor.
Matt Howard scored 18 points and pulled down five rebounds in the victory for the Bulldogs, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in school history. Shelvin Mack also added 14 points for the Bulldogs.
Butler may have struggled against Wisconsin-Milwaukee in their two regular season meetings, but the conference tournament is a different story. The preseason league favorites are exerting their will, leading 33-20 in a true road game against the Panthers at the half.
Matt Howard already has 12 points despite a pair of early fouls to lead the Bulldogs, who clamped down defensively to build a big early lead. The Bulldogs have limited Milwaukee to 4 of 19 shooting from the field and 2 of 9 from 3-point land, and this is with the Panthers playing on their home floor.
Shelvin Mack also has nine points for Butler.
The Butler Bulldogs have jumped out to a 25-10 lead over Wisconsin-Milwaukee with 7:50 to go in the first half of the 2011 Horizon League Tournament Championship Game. The winner of this game will have an automatic bid in the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Butler has failed to beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee in two attempts this year. The 23-9 Bulldogs have struggled for much of this season after their magical run to the NCAA Championship Game against Duke last April in the 2010 NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis, Ind. Like Wisconsin-Milwaukee, they were 13-5 in Horizon League play. However, two of those five loses were to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Follow our Story Stream for the Horizon League Championship Game at SB Nation Indiana.
From Jason Kirk at SB Nation:
Last year's NCAA Tournament Championship Game almost-winners are out to try and do it all again. If the Butler Bulldogs can take down the UW-Milwaukee Panthers for the Horizon League Tournament title, they'll earn an automatic bid into March Madness. They're a good bet to make it in regardless of tonight's action, but would prefer to leave no doubt.
They'll have to beat a team to whom they've already lost twice this season, not to mention a team that can only hope to make it into the NCAA Tournament by winning the conference. Butler is barely favored to win -- while this game wouldn't be that big of an upset if the Panthers pulled off the victory, it would still make the Horizon go down as yet another conference to see its top seed fail to win its tourney.
Tip off for the Horizon League Tournament title between Butler and Wisconsin-Milwaukee is 9pm Eastern on ESPN.
Follow our Story Stream for the Horizon League Championship Game at SB Nation Indiana.
They have an RPI of 36 and a record of 4-3 against the RPI top 50, but there is only one way the Butler Bulldogs can feel totally safe of their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament: Win the Horizon league’s automatic bid.
They will have a chance to do that tonight when they face off against fellow regular season champion Wisconsin-Milwaukee on the Panthers’ home floor. The Panthers swept the Bulldogs in a pair of games this year, winning 76-52 in Milwaukee and 86-80 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler also know that this is the only way Milwaukee is getting in the NCAA Tournament, while Butler at least has some leeway.
It is vastly different from last season, when Butler was comfortably in the field before completing a perfect season against horizon League competition with a conference tournament win on its home floor.
Butler has won eight in a row after a shocking 62-60 loss at lowly Youngstown State on February 3rd. That was the third of three straight losses for the Bulldogs after it had appeared they had righted the ship. Since then they have clawed their way back on to the Bubble and can erase any discussion with a victory tonight.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been equally hot, winning 10 of its last 11 and losing only to Buffalo in the BracketBusters event. Anthony Hill leads the Panthers with 15.6 points per game while Tone Boyle is scoring 13.2.
Tipoff is scheduled for 9pm.
Four more teams played their way into the 2011 NCAA Tournament by winning conference tournaments, joining Belmont, UNC Asheville, Morehead State, and Indiana State:
Four more teams will punch their tickets Tuesday night, with the Sun Belt, Horizon, Summit, and Ivy Leagues all crowning champions.
Down 45-33 at halftime, the IUPUI Jaguars mounted a comeback that fell short against Oral Roberts 83-77 in the Summit League Tournament. Alex Young (23 points), Christian Siakam (21 points), and Leroy Nobles (21 points) all chipped in with a valiant effort, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Golden Eagles, who got 26 points and 6 rebounds from junior forward Dominique Morrison.
At 19-13, IUPUI was very much a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. Winning the Summit League tourney was their absolute best bet to get to the dance. Now, the likelihood of them making it is small.
Oral Roberts will face Oakland in the Summit League finals Tuesday, March 8th at 8pm Eastern.
Leroy Nobles scored 37 points, going 6-9 from three-point land, as IUPUI destroyed Mo. Kansas City in the Summitt League Tournament Quarterfinals 79-55. Christian Siakam also chipped in with 10 point and 11 boards, including six offensive rebounds. The Jaguars took a ten point lead at halftime and expanded it by scoring 42 points in the second half.
The Jaguars will next face No. 2 seeded Oral Roberts vs. at 8:30 p.m. Game broadcast on Midco Sports Net, ESPN Full Court, and ESPN3.
The IPFW Mastodons saw their season come to an end tonight with an 85-75 loss to South Dakota State. Frank Gaines had 21 points for the ’dons, who tried to overcome a double digit deficit but could get no closer than four late. Nate Wolters exploded with 30 for the Jackrabbits, who won despite allowing four IPFW players to reach double-figures. Trey McCorkle and Ben Botts each had 16 for IPFW.
That ends the season for the Mastodons, who finished the year 18-12 and will likely not be called for a postseason tournament. They are the Division I team from the state of Indiana to never make the NCAA Tournament.
Before the season started the Indiana State Sycamores were picked as a non-factor in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Trees shockingly finished third in the regular season standings, then avenged two losses to Evansville and two losses to Wichita State to get to the Missouri Valley Conference final.
Today they completed an improbable run to the NCAA Tournament, beating conference champ Missouri State 60-56 to take the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It is ISU’s first NCAA bid since 2001, when the Trees upset 4th seeded Oklahoma 70-68 in overtime before falling to Gonzaga in the second round.
Aaron Carter had 15 points for the Trees, while Jake Odum had 12. Missouri State had a chance to tie with less than seven seconds left, but ISU forced its 10th turnover of the game and Jake Kelly sealed the game with two free throws.
Missouri State has an Indiana tie with former Purdue standout Cuonzo Martin as its first year head coach. The Bears could still earn an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 25-8 overall record. Indiana State will take a 20-13 record into the tournament.
Despite 24 points from Brandon Wood, Valparaiso could not come through to make the Horizon League final an all-Indiana affair. the host Panthers got 24 points from Anthony Hill and 16 from Kaylon Williams to move into the Horizon League Tournament final against Butler.
A frustrating final two weeks of the season saw Valpo gain a big win over Missouri State, then lose a possible at large bid with losses to Green Bay and Loyola before falling short of the Horizon League final. the Crusaders will be in consideration for other postseason tournaments, but they likely will be outside of the NCAA picture after being an at large candidate two weeks ago. Such is life on the Bubble. as a mid-major.
For the third time this season Butler has defeated Cleveland State, this time 76-68 to move into the Horizon League Tournament Final. the Bulldogs can host the tournament championship if Valparaiso defeats Wisconsin-Milwaukee later tonight.
The victory may have been enough to earn an at large bid for Butler, anyway, as they swept the top-50 Vikings in all three games this season. Matt Howard, Andrew Smith, Shawn Vanzant, and Shelvin Mack each reached double figures as Butler stopped a 24 point night from Norris Cole.
Butler now stands one game from erasing all doubt about a return appearance int he NCAA Tournament, but with three wins over the Vikings (who are a top 50 RPI team), they may be fine with a close loss in the conference championship game.
Not much was expected of Indiana State coming into the season. they were picked to finish 7th in the Missouri Valley Conference, but the Trees may yet finish their season in the NCAA Tournament. After going 0-4 against Evansville and Wichita State during the regular season the Trees have beaten both on back-to-back days in order to advance to the Missouri Valley Conference championship tomorrow against Missouri State.
Myles Walker led the Trees with 14 points and six rebounds as ISU shocked the Shockers 61-54. Jake Odum added 12 points for the Trees.
Indiana State will now play for the MVC’s automatic bid against Cuonzo Martin’s Missouri State team. ISU and MSU split the season series with each team winning at home.
Friday night saw two Indiana teams take t a big step towards the NCAA Tournament, but one team is officially eliminated. Valparaiso and Indiana State are now two steps away from an automatic bid in their respective conference tournaments, but Evansville will have to wait for a possible CIT bid.
Ball State’s chances at winning the MAC West Division ended tonight as the Cardinals fell 85-70 at Western Michigan. Malik Perry led the Cards with 13 points, but they could never get in a rhythm as the Broncos led the entire second half. Mike Douglas torched Ball State for 24 points.
Valparaiso did not have such problems, as the Crusaders won their Horizon League Tournament opener last night with an 80-71 win over Youngstown State. Brandon Wood finished with 20 points, while Cory Johnson had 15. The Crusaders will play Detroit Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tourney in Milwaukee.
March Madness: Butler Leads Group Of Three That Clinched Berths Tuesday Night To NCAA Tournament
Three more teams won’t have to sweat Sunday evening’s Selection Show, as they punched their ticket to the 2011 NCAA Tourament Tuesday night:
Two more teams will clinch berths Wednesday night, as the Northeast Conference and Big Sky crown champions.
Mar 09 9:29a by Matt Grecco