BY: SOME GUY NAMED STEVE
Conference tournaments are awesome, and if you disagree, you are wrong.
Before there’s any confusion, I am not just talking about the major conferences. I am talking about all of them! Although they might not get the hype, mid-major conference tournaments have produced some of the most exciting basketball that you could ever watch! You can call me crazy, but I truly believe conference tournaments are as good as March Madness.
What you missed last night
Last night featured four Horizon quarterfinal games that were all incredible. While the rest of the college basketball world was watching Michigan vs. Illinois (yes, I was watching that too), the Horizon league had my attention. Out of the four quarterfinal match-ups, THREE went to overtime, and one of those games made it to triple overtime! All four games were decided by four points or less, one game featured a 20-point comeback, another featured a buzzer-beater, and the triple-overtime game had a combined 212 points! These games were remarkable!
No. 4 North Kentucky 70 vs. No. 5 Detroit 69
The only game that didn’t go to overtime was between Detroit and North Kentucky but that did not take anything away from how crazy it was. Detroit went into the second half leading 40-37 and the game went back and forth for the remainder of the game with no team leading by more than five at any point. Detroit and North Kentucky traded basket after basket until the 3:45 mark where Detroit watched a 69-64 lead vanish.
This is March so you have to expect a crazy ending and this game did not disappoint. Detroit missed their last four shots and watched North Kentucky cut the deficit from five to just one with 20 seconds to go. Naturally, Detroit missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity allowing North Kentucky to get one last possession to win. Now came the chaos. North Kentucky missed its initial game-winning shot but had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR offensive rebounds and were finally able to tip in the game-winning basket as time expired!
What I thought would be the craziest game all night was just a warm up for what the rest of the Horizon league had in store.
No. 8 Milwaukee 94 No. 2 Wright State 92 (Final OT)
The biggest upset of the night was when No. 8 seeded Milwaukee defeated the No. 2 seed and betting favorite Wright State 94-92 in overtime. Wright State lead by eighteen at halftime but this is college basketball and no lead is safe. Let us fast forward to the 6:26 mark of the second half where Wright State had a TWENTY FOUR POINT LEAD (72-48). A comeback seemed virtually impossible for Milwaukee and Wright St looked to be cruising to an easy victory.
But this is college basketball.
No. 8 seed Milwaukee somehow scored 33 points in the final six minutes and came all the way back to tie the game at 81 to force overtime. The Panthers needed everything to go right for them and it did. They were down eight with a minute to go and four with 13 seconds to go. This game should’ve been over 100 different times but this is March and what is supposed to happen never does. The craziest part about this comeback was Wright State made 80% of its free throws (28-35) but Milwaukee just didn’t miss. Milwaukee could’ve kicked the ball and it would’ve went it.
Overtime was no different as Milwaukee found itself down multiple possessions early and came all the way back to win by two. This game was one of the craziest comebacks I have ever witnessed.
No. 1 Cleveland State 108 No. 10 Purdue FW 104 (Final 3 OT)
Perhaps the craziest game of all four was the battle between the No. 1 seed Cleveland State and the No. 10 seed IPFW. This game was supposed to be a blowout, but that was not what IPFW had in mind.
In order to keep it close IPFW needed to have a good shooting night and it did not disappoint. IPFW hit 16 three-pointers and shot 50% from the field. No matter what Cleveland State did IPFW would not go away. IPFW overcame a nine-point second-half deficit and was able to tie the game up at 65 with 16 seconds to go in regulation. Cleveland State quickly made a jumpshot which was followed up by IPFW making a contested layup of its own and forcing the first overtime.
In overtime the pressure was on the Vikings as they found themselves trailing by five points in both the first and second overtime. The craziest overtime was the second one where Cleveland State made an and 1 layup to tie the game at 86 with 1 minute to go. IPFW put the pressure right back on them and hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds to go which Cleveland State followed up with a 3 pointer of its own to force a third overtime. Cleveland State ended up winning in the third overtime after hitting some clutch free throws at the end. Writing about this game does not do it justice.
No. 3 Oakland 87 No. 6 Youngstown St 83 (Final OT)
Nothing too out of the ordinary for this game. Just your typical Tuesday night game that was close the entire way and eventually goes to overtime. A very mild game compared to the rest.
Looking Ahead
As you will see, the rest of the week will be flooded with different conference tournaments starting, and I am strongly recommending you to tune into these games. Over the next two days, the Atlantic 10, Patriot, Ohio Valley, Atlantic Sun, Missouri Valley, and West Coast conferences start their tournaments.
We are just getting started folks!
Wednesday’s Notable Games
Missouri (+4) at Florida
SIUE (+19.5) at Belmont (Ohio Valley tournament)
Creighton (+4.5) at Villanova
UCLA (+4.5) at Oregon
SE Missouri St. (+7.5) at Morehead State (Ohio Valley Tournament)
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