Some conference tournament trends……..
— ACC
Last five ACC tournaments, four different teams have won the tournament; Duke won it in 2019 and last year. Since 2017, they’re 15-2 in ACC tourney games.
North Carolina hasn’t won an ACC tournament since 2016; in two years under Hubert Davis, they went WL in both ACC tournaments.
Since joining the ACC, Syracuse is 5-8 in conference tournament games.
— Atlantic 15
Winners of last seven A-15 tournaments:
2016- St Joe’s (13-5, 4th)
2017- Rhode Island (13-5, T3)
2018- Davidson (13-5, 3rd)
2019- Saint Louis (10-8, T6th)
2020- COVID year
2021- St Bonaventure (11-7, T5)
2022- Richmond (10-8, 6th)
2023- VCU (15-3, 1st)
— Big 14
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2018- Michigan (13-5, T4th)
2019- Michigan State (16-4, T1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Illinois (16-4, 2nd)
2022- Iowa (12-8, T4th)
2023- Purdue (15-5, 1st)
— Big X
Since 2013……
Kansas has won four Big X tournaments.
Iowa State has won four Big X tournaments.
Texas has won two Big X tournaments.
Thats it, those three teams are only champs in last 11 years.
— Big East
Winners of last three Big East tournaments:
2021- Georgetown (7-9, 8th)
2022- Villanova (16-4, 2nd)
2023- Marquette (17-3, 1st)
From 2015-19, Villanova won the tournament 4 of 5 years, so they’ve won 5 of last 8 Big East tournaments, overall, but those were all with Jay Wright as coach.
— Big Sky
#1-seed won 10 of last 12 Big Sky tournaments; #2-seed won the other two.
Montana State won the tournament the last two years.
— Big West
First place team won three of last four Big West tournaments
Last eight Big West tourney champs:
2015- Cal-Irvine (11-5, T2nd)
2016- Hawai’i (13-3, T1st)
2017- Cal-Davis (11-5, 2nd)
2018- Cal-Fullerton (10-6, 4th)
2019- Cal-Irvine (15-1, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Cal-Santa Barbara (13-3, 1st)
2022- Cal-Fullerton (11-4, 2nd)
2023- Cal-Santa Barbara (15-5, T1st)
— CAA
Winners of last five Big 14 tournaments:
2019- Northeastern (14-4, 2nd)
2020- Hofstra (14-4, 1st)
2021- Drexel (4-5, 6th)
2022- Delaware (10-8, T4th)
2023- Charleston (16-2, T1st)
— Word of the Day: bamboozle- to fool or cheat someone.
— Stetson 88, Jacksonville 87 (Thursday night)
Hatters trailed by 10 with 4:53 left in the game.
Stetson made 13-22 on the arc, scored 1.38 points/possession.
Last year (17-14) was Stetson’s first winning season since 2001.
21-12 Hatters play Austin Peay for A-Sun title Sunday afternoon.
— Washington Huskies fired basketball coach Mike Hopkins; Huskies made the NCAA’s once in his seven years coaching there. Washington was 62-72 in Pac-12 games under Hopkins, who also spent 22 years as an assistant coach at Syracuse.
Hopkins was under contract at Washington thru next season, so he will bank $3.1M on his way out the door.
— Southern Illinois fired basketball coach Bryan Mullins, despite going 23-10/19-13 the last two years (25-15 in MVC games). At some of these mid-major schools, you don’t make the NCAA’s, they tell you to take a hike. Salukis haven’t been in the Big Dance since 2007.
— Famous birthdays on March 9th:
Bert Campaneris, 82
Dennis Harrah, 71
Linda Fiorentino, 64
Brian Bosworth, 59
Aaron Boone, 51
Matt Barnes, 44
Saturday would’ve been the 81st birthday for Bobby Fischer, the great chess master.
— MAAC
Iona won six of last seven MAAC tournaments; Saint Peter’s won the other one two years ago, and they wound up in the Elite 8 in the NCAA’s.
— MAC
Winners of last five MAC tournaments:
2019- Buffalo (16-2, 1st)
2020- COVID year
2021- Ohio U (9-5, 4th)
2022- Akron (14-6, T3rd)
2023- Kent State (15-3, and)
— Mountain West
San Diego State played in MW tournament final the last six years, going 3-3; Utah State beat the Aztecs in two MW finals, Boise State won the other one.
#1-seed won last three Mountain West tournaments.
— Pac-12
Arizona won four of last six Pac-12 tournaments. Oregon/Oregon State won the other two.
UCLA hasn’t won the Pac-12 tournament since 2014.
This is the last year of the Pac-12; Oregon State/Washington State got left behind by the rest of the league, for $$$ reasons.
— SEC
Winners of last five SEC tournaments:
2018- Kentucky (10-8, T4th)
2019- Auburn (11-7, T$th)
2020- COVID year
2021- Alabama (16-2, 1st)
2022- Tennessee (14-4, T2nd)
2023- Alabama (16-2, 1st)
— Southern
Last nine SoCon tournaments were won by a #1-seed (2 of the 9 were tied for 1st)
— Summit League
since 2012…….
South Dakota State has won six Summit tournaments
North Dakota State has won four Summit tournaments
Oral Roberts has won two Summit tournaments, but Max Abmas plays for Texas now.
— WCC
since 2004, Gonzaga is 41-4 in the WCC Tournament.
since 2010, Saint Mary’s is 19-12 (3-9 against Gonzaga).
Last time someone other than Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s won the WCC Tournament was 2008, when #3-seed San Diego won.
