The conference tournament is a beautiful thing, it really is. It means more than a second chance. It means never having to say you're sorry for losing to Florida State. Or to Seton Hall. Or to seven straight opponents, all before Christmas.
It means that, if you can take care of business now, you can get to the NCAA tournament even if you didn't take care of business then.
|  | | Georgia Tech ran into an NCAA roadblock in Tallahassee last week. Now the path leads through Virginia on Friday.
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So here they are: Georgia Tech, Connecticut and Temple. Three teams that probably must win -- but not win the whole thing -- during their conference tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
All three might belong in the NCAA tournament regardless, but first they may have to atone for their sins. For Georgia Tech, it was a biggie: Thou shall not lose your final game of the season to 8-20 Florida State. Thou chokers.
The Jackets didn't have impeccable NCAA tournament credentials going into that game, but beating Florida State would have made for a 17-10 record and 9-7 in the conference, with non-conference victories against UCLA and Kentucky and a top-40 RPI. That should have been enough. Instead, all the Jackets did was add the one line their resumé was lacking -- a devastatingly bad loss.
If the Jackets can beat No. 12 Virginia (for a third time), the selection committee might be persuaded to forget the loss to the Seminoles, who have exactly one player, Michael Joiner, who -- maybe -- could start for any of the top six ACC teams.
"If we win Friday, I'll feel very, very confident," says Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. "If we lose we'll be on the bubble, and it will be up to the selection committee."
Just because we're putting Connecticut in the same story with Georgia Tech, don't go putting the Huskies' loss to Seton Hall in the same category as the Jackets' loss to Florida State. They are not -- repeat: not -- comparable. Except for one reason, that is: Connecticut probably needed that win to clinch its spot in the NCAA tournament.
Beating Seton Hall -- a team loaded with talent and dissension -- would have given the Huskies 20 wins and a winning conference record. Gold stuff. But the loss Saturday gave the Huskies a 19-10 record (8-8 in the Big East), an RPI near 50, and a tarnished late impression on the selection committee.
"If we beat Seton Hall, all the questions would have been answered," Huskies coach Jim Calhoun told the Hartford Courant. "We didn't do that, but ... if you look at what we've done and who we've beaten, I'd have to say we would be among those 34 (at-large) teams."
Maybe so, but a win in the first round of the Big East tournament would tie up the Huskies' NCAA argument in a pretty bow. Problem is, the foe is No. 14 Syracuse.
Unlike Georgia Tech and Connecticut, Temple has done everything it could of late to get into the tournament. The Owls have won 14 of 19, including their last game, against George Washington. But Temple is only 18-12 overall (12-4 in the Atlantic 10), and has been playing catch-up since a seven-game losing streak left its record an unsightly 4-7. Its RPI: somewhere around 48.
Another win might do it, but it might not be easy. The third-seeded Owls probably will face Dayton, and though Temple has swept Dayton, the Flyers are coming off a season-ending win against A-10 heavyweight Xavier.
Temple coach John Chaney doesn't know what it would take to keep alive his program's streak of 11 straight NCAA tournament appearances.
"I don't have any idea," he says. "I still don't have a clue."
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Game of the Week
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Villanova vs. West Virginia
Big East First Round
Wednesday (ESPN, Noon ET)
Only the winner has any chance of the NCAA tournament. This game ought to crackle.
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Only in America (East)
The strangest little conference tournament concludes Saturday, after a week off, in a different state. After all that, Hofstra hopes to be in the NCAA tournament -- win or lose.
The Pride (25-4) play host to Delaware (20-9), which was the host for the America East tournament's early rounds over the weekend. With one of the best winning percentages in the country, an RPI near 60 and nonconference wins against St. John's and Rutgers -- hey, you take your non-conference wins where you can get them -- Hofstra might be able to sneak an at-large bid out of the selection committee. Just to be safe, of course, it needs to beat the Blue Hens led by first-year coach David Henderson, the former Duke forward and assistant.
Good news for Hofstra: Only one league team has beaten it at home in the past four years.
Good news for Delaware: That's the team.
Iona owns MAAC
Iona big man Nakiea Miller lurched around the court and finally collapsed. Everyone around him was smiling. Miller would be OK. So would Iona.
Coach Jeff Ruland's Gaels had just won the MAAC title for the third time in four years. Thanks to Miller.
Miller had 24 points and 15 rebounds in the Gaels' 74-67 victory against upstart -- and host -- Canisius, which was trying to become not only the first No. 7 seed to win the MAAC tournament, but also the first team to win four games in the tournament. Canisius already had beaten the No. 2 (Niagara) and No. 3 (Siena) seeds.
Not this time. After jolting Canisius right out of the tournament, Miller was jolted with smelling salts so he could enjoy the postgame celebration.
Around the East
Other Big East teams who might be able to play their way into an NCAA bid without actually having to win the conference tournament -- but who need more than a win in the first round -- are Villanova (17-11, No. 45 RPI), West Virginia (17-9, No. 56 RPI) and Miami (16-11, No. 66 RPI). Two or three wins might do it for any of the three, but someone goes down in the first round when Villanova plays West Virginia.
In the Atlantic 10, Dayton (18-11, No. 71 RPI) and St. Bonaventure (18-10, No. 63 RPI) conceivably could get an at-large bid without winning the conference tournament. But the league will be hard-pressed to get as many as three bids, much less four.
With St. Joseph's and Xavier safe, the Flyers and Bonnies probably need Temple to flop.
"I believe if we get to 21 (wins), we'd be hard to ignore," Dayton coach Oliver Purnell says.
Speaking of St. Joseph's, Hawks guard Marvin O'Connor made us look absolutely ingenious for naming him Atlantic 10 player of the year -- OK, so it wasn't that hard a choice -- by scoring 37 points against La Salle, including (get this) 18 points in the final minute.
St. Joe's trailed 80-70 when O'Connor went off, and the only reason the Explorers managed to avoid Duke-Maryland infamy was 11-for-11 shooting at the foul line. O'Connor got hotter as the seconds ticked off, scoring 11 points in the last 22.5 ticks.
Over 40 minutes, that's a rate of 1,173 points per game. We'd like to see Dajuan Wagner try that.
Who's Hot
Are you kidding? We retire the honor for the rest of the season in honor of O'Connor.
Who's Not
Who's not: Anyone but O'Connor.
Quote to Note
"They were tough shots, no easy ones. Marvin the Magnificent."
-- La Salle coach Speedy Morris said of O'Connor's burst.
Gregg Doyel covers the ACC for The Charlotte Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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