Mar 5, 2021
It’s time to officially punch some tickets to March Madness! Automatic bids begin getting awarded Saturday with the men s OVC championship, and several more will be officially booked by Monday night. With autobids come bid-stealers, a critical story line to watch for bubble teams. Could someone swoop in and steal a bid in the Missouri Valley, potentially making it a three-bid league? If you’re a fan of a bubble team, you certainly hope not. How does the field look heading into this critical weekend?
On the Bubble
The bubble continues to not do itself any favors. Xavier could have essentially clinched its spot in the NCAA tournament if it had just won at Georgetown, but that was apparently too tough a task for the Musketeers. Meanwhile, Seton Hall stares down a near must-win game Saturday at St. John’s after losing Wednesday to UConn. A loss there would drop the Pirates to 13–12 and likely out of the field entering the Big East tournament. One more team still
Mar 3, 2021
Stars shine brightest in March. It’s win-or-go-home season, with conference tournaments tipping off and bubble teams fighting for their lives and a chance at NCAA tournament glory. Which players and teams did the most to boost their stock before Selection Sunday?
Sports Illustrated dives into that with the first March installment of Stars of the Week.
Horizon League Tournament
No. 1 seed Cleveland State hosted No. 10 seed Purdue Fort Wayne in the teams’ fifth matchup of the season. Fort Wayne hung tough, and the teams traded blows at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime. Things really got wild in double OT, when the Mastodons took a pair of five-point leads with two minutes to play and drained a three to take a three point lead with 32 seconds to go. But big man Algevon Eichelberger drained a banked-in prayer of a three to tie it and send the game to triple-overtime. There, CSU sealed the game by sending in its secret weapon: 7 2 freshman Mabor M