CBGB: Schools To Root For During Conference Tournament Season

Welcome to the VICE Sports College Basketball Grab Bag, where every week we’ll round up the biggest news stories in the sport. Random stuff, too, because it’s college basketball. Enjoy!

Conference tournament season is here, and the Patriot League and the Atlantic Sun have both already featured some crazy upsets.

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This time of year is awesome. It gives us some Cinderella stories to watch before the Big Dance. Because conference tournament winners claim automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, these games can mean more than anything that happens in January and February. Now, you can make a case that auto-bids are pretty dumb—talk about devaluing the regular season—but the truth is, they make the next two weeks ultra-exciting.

It’s been a slow news week, so in honor of these conference tournaments, we’re letting you know which underdogs you should root for in the lead-up to Selection Sunday.

Stetson

Stetson is very bad at basketball. The Hatters are ranked No. 264 in the KenPom.com ratings, and entering the Atlantic Sun Tournament, they were ranked No. 308—worse than Rutgers!

But since entering the conference tournament, the Hatters have won two in a row, and now they’ll face Florida Gulf Coast in the tournament final.

The only problem? Stetson isn’t eligible for the NCAA Tournament because of poor academic progress rate performance. Most of the time, leagues don’t even let postseason ineligible teams play in their conference tournaments, but the Atlantic Sun is so small, the Hatters got to play. So this game is their Super Bowl. Here’s hoping they win to stick it to the NCAA for its unjust APR rules, which unfairly and disproportionately impact poor schools with large black student populations.

Plus, if Stetson wins, Atlantic Sun regular season champion North Florida gets to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.

Holy Cross

Holy Cross is in its first year under coach Bill Carmody, who famously led Northwestern to the brink of its first NCAA Tournament berth on a couple of occasions, but was fired after never being able to close the deal.

Like Stetson, the Crusaders are not good this year. They rank No. 302 in KenPom—barely better than Rutgers!—and they lost their last five games entering the Patriot League tournament. So naturally, they’ve won their first two games of the conference tournament, including knocking off top-seeded Bucknell in double overtime.

You should root for Holy Cross to get Carmody to the NCAA Tournament under the strangest of circumstances, and also because he kind of screwed over Northwestern with the win over Bucknell. How so? The Wildcats are fighting for a spot in the NIT, and by rule, the NIT must select Bucknell because it won its conference regular season title, meaning that’s one less spot for Northwestern. Ice cold, Bill.

Oregon State

Oregon State is currently on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and the Beavers should be everyone’s favorite major conference bubble squad this year. They haven’t made the tournament since 1990, and they’re riding on the back of Gary Payton II.

The last time Oregon State played in March Madness, they were led by the elder Gary Payton.

That’s an awesome story, and it’s not like this is some team that’s just gotten lucky. Payton II is a legitimate all-conference player, and the Beavers have wins over Oregon, Cal, USC, Utah and Colorado, all of which are NCAA Tournament teams. This team absolutely deserves to be in.

However, there’s still a chance OSU will be left out. In order to prevent that, root for them to beat UCLA on Saturday and at least one team in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Valparaiso

Valparaiso is the overwhelming favorite to win the Horizon League Tournament, but cheering for the favorite in this tournament maximizes upset potential in the NCAA Tournament.

The Crusaders haven’t had many chances to prove their strength this year, splitting their two games against power conference teams—nearly upsetting Oregon and actually beating Oregon State. However, based on the advanced stats, this is one of the best mid-majors in the country, ranking an incredible No. 31 in KenPom.

Without many games against top teams, it’s unlikely Valpo has the quality wins to get into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection. However, the advanced stats say that this team has a chance to pull a classic No. 12 seed over No. 5 seed upset if they get there, and possibly make it to the Sweet Sixteen.

LSU

Yes, the Tigers are hardly a small-conference unknown. And yes, they’ve already had plenty of national exposure. Still, ask yourself this: do you want to see Ben Simmons in the NCAA Tournament? Of course you do.

Stony Brook

Stony Brook deserves to finally make the NCAA Tournament. Not only because the Seawolves have a chance to pull an upset, but also because they’ve come heartbreakingly close to their first March Madness bid the last two seasons, only to fall just short. Both times, Stony Brook has lost to Albany in the Atlantic East championship, and last year’s finale was particularly painful:

Hawaii

There is absolutely no reason Hawaii should be good at basketball. That’s why the Warriors usually aren’t. They’re a seven-hour flight from their closest opponent, they’re not soaked in tradition, and they don’t have the financial resources to compete with most of Division I.

However, first-year coach Eran Ganot has Hawaii in position to win the Big West over preseason favorite UC-Irvine and advance to the NCAA Tournament … if the squad can win its conference tournament.

This is an awesome story that probably won’t happen very often, because, well, Hawaii should never be good at basketball. So go Warriors!

Indiana

Look, the Hoosiers are a lock to make the NCAA’s, and a good bet to make a deep run. Still, the more games they win (and play) in the Big Ten Tournament, the better—because that means more opportunities for courtside photographers to take the VICE Sports Tom Crean Photo of the Week. Like this: