Circle of March: Vol. XVI

Posted by rtmsf on March 19th, 2014

The NCAA Tournament has officially started, believe it or not, and that means that two schools fell off the Circle of March last night. With defeats to #16 Albany and #12 NC State, respectively, #16 Mount St. Mary’s and #12 Xavier have now joined the 274 other poor souls that are no longer in contention for the National Championship. A couple more will drop off tonight — among Tennessee, Iowa, Cal Poly, or Texas Southern — before the bloodbath starts all over again Thursday afternoon.

circlemarch_3_18

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.18.14)

  • Mount St. Mary’s
  • Xavier
Share this story

Circle of March: Field of 68 Edition

Posted by rtmsf on March 17th, 2014

And just like that, it’s settled. Other than Louisiana-Lafayette‘s thrilling overtime victory over Georgia State in the Sun Belt championship game Sunday afternoon, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee made its executive decision on the 36 at-large teams that will remain on this year’s Circle of March. Just two short weeks ago, we started with 340 eligible teams; now, we’re down to a mere 68, and it will be among that group from which we’ll crown this season’s national champion in a mere 21 more days. Can we get to Thursday afternoon already?

circlemarch_3_16

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.16.14)

  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Clemson
  • Florida State
  • Georgia State
  • Green Bay
  • Indiana State
  • Minnesota
  • Missouri
  • SMU
  • Southern Miss
  • St. John’s
Share this story

Circle of March: Selection Sunday Edition

Posted by rtmsf on March 16th, 2014

What a fantastic Saturday of college basketball. So much fun. As we head into the final few games before the NCAA Tournament bracket comes out this evening, we’re left with a total of 80 teams still alive for this year’s national championship. Only one of those will fall off today as a result of a game — the loser of the Sun Belt Championship game between Georgia State and Louisiana-Lafayette. That will leave the Selection Committee with the dirty work of winnowing out the other 11 teams, none of which will find themselves standing in the field of 68 heading into the heart of March Madness. Here is your final pre-NCAA Tournament Circle of March.

circlemarch_3_15

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.15.14)

  • Stony Brook
  • Louisiana Tech
  • St. Bonaventure
  • Arkansas State
  • Georgia
  • Prairie View A&M
  • Western Kentucky
  • Morgan State
  • Toledo
  • North Dakota
  • Sam Houston State
  • Idaho
  • Cal State Northridge
Share this story

Circle of March, Vol. XIII

Posted by rtmsf on March 15th, 2014

Well, we’re about down to it at this point. By this time on Sunday, we’ll probably be in the range of about 80 teams still “alive” for the national title as we await the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to show us the product of all its work. For the time being, Friday’s wall-to-wall action gave us 27 more eliminations from the Circle of March, leaving us with 93 teams holding out hope as we head into Championship Saturday. That’s right, no fewer than 14 conference championships will come down today, from leagues as divergent as the WAC and MEAC to the Big East and Pac-12. Let’s enjoy it all, shall we?

circlemarch_3_14 (1)

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.14.14)

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this story

Circle of March: Vol. XII

Posted by rtmsf on March 14th, 2014

What a day. We knew it was coming, but sitting through the Championship Fortnight Thursday bloodbath is always a bit more difficult that it first seems. Keeping track of some 60 elimination games scattered throughout 19 different tournament sites is quite the challenge, but one that ultimately proves rewarding with all the great match-ups that were produced for today. As it turned out, there were no championships yesterday, but a total of 48 teams were eliminated from the Circle of March on Thursday. Note that bubble teams won’t drop off until they’re officially eliminated by the Selection Committee on Sunday evening. That leaves us with 120 teams still alive. Three more days to 68. Shall we?

circlemarch_3_13

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.13.14)

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this story

Circle of March: Vol. XI

Posted by rtmsf on March 13th, 2014

With many of the power conference league tournaments starting yesterday, the Circle of March took a 30-team hit over the last 24 hours. Every team that lost on Wednesday was clinging to the unlikely notion of making a run to a conference title for entry into the NCAA Tournament, but it wasn’t to be. There was, however, one team that won its automatic bid — American University, from the Patriot League. Heading into what will be a ginormous Thursday of action, there are now 168 teams remaining, which means a couple of things. First, we’ve blown through the 50 percent mark, with 172 of the 340 previously-eligible teams now eliminated. Second, over the course of the next four days, a hundred more teams will drop off that list. With 60 tournament games scheduled today, nearly half of those could drop off over the next 16 hours. Enjoy today’s marathon of games!

circlemarch_3_12 Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.12.14)

Read the rest of this entry »

Share this story

Circle of March: Vol. X

Posted by rtmsf on March 12th, 2014

The calm before the storm. With last night’s results, which included championship games from the Horizon, NEC, Summit and WCC Tournaments, we’re now down to a grand total of 199 eligible teams for the 2014 NCAA Championship. Oh, and hey, Mount St. Mary’s, Milwaukee, North Dakota State and Gonzaga. Nice to see you all dancing. As for today’s games, a boatload of leagues get under way as we push hard over the next five days to get this thing to 68. We’re not going to list them all here, but five power conferences and the A-10 and Mountain West all have games today, and the bloodbath will continue in these leagues at least through Friday. Expect the culling of the Circle to take its most direct hit over the next 48 hours.

circlemarch_3_11

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.11.14)

  • Jackson State
  • North Carolina A&T
  • Rice
  • Bethune-Cookman
  • Robert Morris
  • Wright State
  • Penn
  • Princeton
  • Florida Atlantic
  • Delaware State
  • IPFW
  • Texas-San Antonio
Share this story

Circle of March: Vol. IX

Posted by rtmsf on March 11th, 2014

With six days of hoops left until Selection Sunday, we still have a lot of work to do. Thirteen more teams were eliminated on Monday night, and that leaves a grand total of 211 “eligible” schools remaining on the Circle of March. Eight of those teams are now locked into next week’s field of 68, with Delaware, Wofford and Manhattan last night joining the previous five automatic entrants. Penn and Princeton finish their regular seasons this evening and four other championship games will be held in the Horizon, NEC, Summit and WCC Tournaments, but we won’t really start to see a lot of progress (also known as white space) in the Circle until the Thursday and subsequent editions.

circlemarch_3_10

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.10.14)

  • Maryland-Eastern Shore
  • Ball State
  • Kent State
  • William & Mary
  • Iona
  • Denver
  • Central Michigan
  • Bowling Green
  • South Carolina State
  • Saint Mary’s
  • Western Carolina
  • South Dakota State
  • San Francisco
Share this story

Circle of March, Vol. VIII

Posted by rtmsf on March 10th, 2014

Day seven of Championship Fortnight is in the books, and with it the first week of the Circle of March. Sunday’s slate was a bit lighter than Saturday, but we still eliminated 12 more teams to reach a total of 224 eligible schools remaining. Of course, at this time next week, we’ll be down to the magic number of 68, which means there’s still a lot of work to be done over the next 168 hours. There will only be 13 games on tap tonight, but they’re all elimination games with the MAC and MEAC getting under way, the Summit and WCC playing their semifinal rounds, and the CAA, MAAC and SoCon crowning champions. Keep in mind that to preserve the integrity of the regular season, we’re not yet eliminating schools from the CoM that still have games to play (i.e., Penn and Princeton).

circlemarch_3_9

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.09.14)

  • Canisius
  • Vermont
  • Towson
  • Davidson
  • South Dakota
  • Quinnipiac
  • Hartford
  • Georgia Southern
  • Western Illinois
Share this story

Circle of March: Vol. VII

Posted by rtmsf on March 9th, 2014

Saturday was a massive day of eliminations from the Circle of March, as the sixth full day of Championship Fortnight resulted in 46 more schools dropping out of contention for the national title. The bloodbath included only one automatic bid — hey, Eastern Kentucky — but there were 11 other mid-major tournaments occurring yesterday, as well as a number of other regular seasons ending. Sunday thus far has already brought us a few more automatic bids — Wichita State, Coastal Carolina and Mercer are all going dancing. A handful of schools were eliminated from the CoM by virtue of not qualifying for their conference tournaments starting next week, but keep in mind that to preserve the integrity of the regular season, we’re not yet eliminating schools that still have games to play (i.e., Penn and Princeton). This means that we are left with 232 “eligible” teams for the 2014 National Championship. One week to Selection Sunday!

circlemarch_3_8 (1)

Teams Eliminated From National Title Contention (03.08.14)

  • Florida Gulf Coast
  • Indiana State
  • Northeastern
  • Winthrop
  • New Hampshire
  • Wagner
  • Rider
  • Samford
  • UNC-Asheville
  • Hofstra
  • St. Francis (PA)
  • Missouri State
  • Drexel
  • Elon
  • Siena
  • UMBC
  • VMI
  • San Diego
  • Army
  • Southern Illinois
  • Loyola Marymount
  • Holy Cross
  • James Madison
  • Maine
  • Chattanooga
  • Saint Peter’s
  • Brown
  • Columbia
  • Cornell
  • Yale
  • Dartmouth
  • IUPUI
  • Cleveland St.
  • Belmont
  • Binghamton
  • The Citadel
  • College of Charleston
  • Niagara
  • Santa Clara
  • Pepperdine
  • Lamar
  • Central Arkansas
  • Houston Baptist
  • Eastern Washington
  • Montana State
  • Idaho State
  • Southern Utah
  • South Alabama
  • Texas State
  • UC Davis
Share this story