Thanks to Bowdoin, someone's NCAA playoff bubble somewhere may have popped. The Polar Bears surprised No. 1 Amherst 65-64 in the NESCAC semifinal, pushing the Lord Jeffs into Pool C where they are a lock for an at-large bid into the national playoffs. Bowdoin will face Trinity (Conn.) in Sunday's NESCAC final.
Bowdoin was No. 5 in the Northeast Region entering the week, already ahead of Trinity and Middlebury. If Bowdoin wins the title Sunday and three teams go from the NESCAC, then nothing will likely have changed. Saturday's men's scoreboard. Scroll down for women's coverage.
&&g-boxr&&Mass-Dartmouth definitely burst someone's bubble, falling 55-52 to Rhode Island College. The Corsairs, ranked No. 5 in the nation and No. 2 in the NCAA's Northeast regional rankings, are an at-large lock and will claim one of the 17 Pool C bids. Chicago may well have done the same, likely turning the UAA from a three-team league into a four-team league by beating Wash U 74-66.
Augustana center Dain Swetalla couldn't play because of a wrist injury but Justin Bertrand came off the bench with 13 points and 11 rebounds to help the Vikings put away Illinois Wesleyan 71-60. Loras ended the game on a 21-8 run to defeat Buena Vista 77-69. Heidelberg beat Capital for the second time in the past two weeks as Chad Szalay and Andrew Lemmon each scored 19 in an 83-75 win. Heidelberg avoided the bubble and put Capital there, likely ahead of Wooster. Myles McKay and Kori Vernon scored 20 points each as UW-Whitewater outlasted UW-Stevens Point 75-71 for the WIAC title. No. 16 Lawrence completed its strong regular season with a 98-95 win over Carroll and the MWC's automatic bid.
Pomona-Pitzer survived a late rally and regulation buzzer-beater by archrival Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and held on to win the SCIAC automatic bid, 55-53 in overtime. Ohio Wesleyan ended Wabash's NCAC run, beating the Little Giants 89-72 for the title. Jon Greene hit the tying and winning free throws with 12.7 seconds left to lift Richard Stockton past William Paterson 67-66 and into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999, while Joe Canori made two free throws with 1:45 left to give Nazareth a 64-63 lead over St. John Fisher and neither team scored again. It's Nazareth's first appearance since 1998.
St. Mary's (Md.) will make its first-ever NCAA appearance after pulling out to a big lead at Mary Washington and hanging on for an 82-72 victory in the Capital Athletic Conference title game. Clarkson, who will also make its NCAA tournament debut, completed its surprising run through the Liberty League tournament with a 58-53 win over Hamilton, improving to 11-16.
The Emerson men may have had their season come to an end on Saturday, or at least their NCAA hopes with an 86-72 loss to Lasell in the GNAC title game. Other teams who have clinched automatic bids include Averett, Baptist Bible, Curry, Elms, Farmingdale State, Fontbonne, Hope, King's, Penn State-Behrend, Plattsburgh State, Salem State, St. Thomas and Widener. The full list of who's in.
Virginia Wesleyan preserved someone's at-large bid, ending the game on a 32-11 run to beat Hampden-Sydney 68-55. The Marlins will play Guilford tomorrow for the ODAC automatic bid. No. 21 Millsaps gets its rematch with No. 2 Centre after each won SCAC semifinals. Rochester maintained its at-large candidacy with a 74-67 win at Carnegie Mellon.
If your team didn't win its conference title, will it still get an at-large bid? Who will host next week's tournament games? Talk it up on our message boards.