JBL | The Quadaily 25, 2028 Season (Day 85): Big Races In Little Conferences
So, we admit, we lean towards the bigger schools and conferences in this column. We're fairly positive this is evident and obvious. There's only so much time in the Quad's day, and with so much...activity?...news?...going on in the bigger conferences, we tend to venture there.
But, in purusing the standings today, we have to talk about the smaller conferences. Holy cow, there are some absolute fights going on.
Let's try to go around the nation in 80 paragraphs (let's hope it's not eighty paragraphs):
- In the A-10, St. Joseph's found themselves entering the Next line of our poll. They have dominated the A-10 so far this year, running their record to 15-2. We have a soft spot for the Fightin Jesuits, admittedly. The Hawks took out Duquesne on the road, 59-49, then found out that Dayton went on the road and got a win at second-place Richmond, 69-63. Not only does that put Dayton into a second-place tie with the Spiders at 6-2 in the conference, but it gives St. Joe's a two-game lead in the conference.
We did mention, off the record, that we did not believe St. Joe's to be of quality for the Quad 25. Their losses are to Penn and at Villanova. They don't have any quality non-conference wins, but the way the Power 5 have been taking each other out, we found room for a team that continues to beat the teams put in front of them.
- Florida Gulf Coast drew first blood in their Atlantic Sun Conference rivalry with North Alabama. In what is really a two-horse race between the Eagles (8-9) and the Lions (9-7), it was the Eagles who gained the upper hand in a 60-53 win on Day 80. Danger Will Robinson's 16 points and six assists led the way for FGCU, who led wire-to-wire. There were no lead changes, and FGCU, using their home court to bolster them, raced out to a 20-7 lead midway through the first half. They held the Lions to 35% shooting and 9-28 from three, while forcing 18 turnovers.
The two teams face each other again on 116, at North Alabama.
- The Colonial Athletic Association is quite intense. There is a five-team fight atop the conference between Drexel, Towson, Northeastern, Hofstra, and William & Mary. Towson currently sits atop the conference, thanks to a win over Drexel (giving them a tiebreaker). That rematch is on 108, at Drexel. Hostra owns the win over Towson in-conference, but they and Northeastern are 6-2. The Royalty sit at 5-3 in conference.
The interesting thing here is, four freshmen, one from each of the teams but Hofstra, lead the conference in scoring. Chase Ervin from Drexel, a postman, sits atop the conference at 18.5 ppg. He has not been the most efficient (44.3%), but he's a freshman big in a tough conference. Give him a break.
Shane McMahon is second in the conference, posting 16.8 ppg for The Royalty. The high-flying risk-taking point guard is shooting 43.4% from the field, and 35.2% from deep.
Chuck Patrick, the freshman SG at Northeastern, is third in the conference, and probably the National Sixth Man of the Year. Patrick, who is posting 15.5/4.5/2.5 and over a steal per game (23.8 PER), has not started a single game this year. Patrick is shooting 46.3% on the season, 42.5% from deep on 4.3 attempts per game.
Then, we come to Matt Furmanavicius (pronounced Fur-MAN-uh-VICIOUS), who is putting up 15.3 ppg and a conferece-leading 5.9 assists for Towson.
Hofstra's leading scorer, Jaron McLane, is also a freshman. He is averaging 11.3 ppg, though he has only started ten of his team's 18 games so far. He's shooting 54.6% from the field.
Illinois State (12-4) and Loyola-Chicago (11-6) went into their Day 81 game tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference. They left with a result, but still plenty left to settle.
Illinois State also left with a sour taste in their mouths.
"We were screwed," said DeSean Watson.
The Ramblers made four free throws in the last 39 seconds to force overtime (they could have had a win, but Trent Paige (team leading 18 points, 10-12 FT) missed the go-ahead freebie with eight seconds left). In overtime, John Beck's fallaway jumper at the buzzer gave Loyola-Chicago the shocking 82-81 win, causing fans to storm the court, and Illinois State coaches to storm the refs.
The shot appeared to be late. However, due to there being no replay (the game was not televised), the refs had no footage to use. They huddled up and decided the bucket counted.
"That shot was late," said Bobby Pratt, who led the Redbirds with 15 points.
The coaches also took issue with the disparity in foul calls. The Redbirds were called for 27 fouls which led to 40 opportunities at the line for the Ramblers.
The Redbirds shot just 9-16 at the line themselves.
"We emphasize to our kids that, if you put in the work, the result will come," said Illinois State head coach Vilgot Bowers. "We put in the work tonight. The result left us wanting. I don't ever want to put anything on anything not in our control, because the young men over there earned it...but tonight was a tough result to take."
- The biggest game in the Northeast Conference season came on Day 84, when Bryant traveled to St. Francis (NY), for a matchup of the two undefeated behemoths.
Afterward, there was no doubt as to who the current kingpin in the conference is.
St. Francis shot a blistering 59% fro the field, including 13-29 from three, cruising to a 102-86 win over Bryant. The win gave the Terriers (14-4, 9-0) the tiebreaker in the conference over Bryant (14-6, 8-1).
No other team is within three games of the two.
Mike Emery led six players in double figures for the Terries with 24 points and five assists. He had no turnovers. As a team, St. Francis committed just nine of them.
The key for St. Francis was getting three players off the bench score at least twelve points. Deshon Reed (14), Connor Evans (13) and Idy Ash (12) gave St. Francis a needed lift when their starters came to rest. In fact, each of them were at least +16 during their time in the game.
"They were the difference," said Emery after the game.
Bryant played well, shooting 51% from the field, and going 11-23 from three themselves. Taurean Allen posted 24-5-6, while Roydell Self had 18 on 7-10 shooting. But they only got 17 points from their bench.
Overall, the Terriers outscored the Bulldogs from the bench 41-17.
St. Francis was efficient in the paint, getting 47 points in the paint. Their approach, to stay consistent inside, led them to overcome an early ten-point deficit, and lead over the last 25:17 of the game.
There was only one lead change.
"They kept getting us inside," said Emery. "It was either a deep three or inside. We would run them off the line, and they'd get a layup. Or we'd send a double-team inside, and they had a guy waiting. Every time we adjusted on defense, they were one step ahead. It was frustrating."
The return game is on 120, at Bryant.
- Navy seemed like they would run away with the Patriot. They had dispatched Lafayette and Bucknell, the two contenders for the conference title. They were undefeated and had everyone in the rearview.
Then, Lehigh happened.
As with all things in the Patriot, no team should be overlooked...even a team that was 4-11 heading into that game, and losers of eight of their last ten.
Lehigh shot 51% from the field, a fact even more amazing when you factor in that they were 2-18 from beyond the arc, in destroying Navy, 84-70.
Dominique Bearden was Lehigh in this game. He was 1-10 from three, but 8-11 from inside the arc. He finished with a game-high 25, leading four Mountain Hawks in double figures.
Jalan Miller added 16, on 5-5 shooting, and five rebounds.
This was a shock, as Lehigh led for 39:19 of this game. It wasn't as if Navy shot poorly; they shot 45% from the field, and 10-26 from three. But they were just 6-8 from the line.
Lehigh, by contrast, was 24-27.
"That wasn't the refs," said Navy guard David Jackson after the game. "We were sloppy and constantly out of position on defense. They executed a good gameplan, but we put them on the line a lot. They hit their free throws, but this one is on us."
Jackson led Navy with 13, but was 3-10 from three. AJ Farrell also had 13, but he was kept off the boards. In fact, Lehigh dominated everything inside. They outscored Navy, 52-28, in the paint, and had 12 second chance points, compared to just five for Navy.
All in all, it was Lehigh's night.
It was not Navy's.
And now, all of a sudden, the Patriot looks a lot more interesting.
Navy travels to Lafayette on Day 100.
- Here's an interesting one: Due to the imbalanced schedule in the Southland, Stephen F Austin (14-4, 9-1) and Northwestern State (15-5, 9-0), the two kingpins in the conference, meet only one time.
That would be on the final day of the regular season.
Right now, the only blemish between the two is SFA's loss to Nicholls State (13-4, 6-2), back on Day 77. They fell 81-69 that day.
So, if neither team falters for the rest of the season, we're looking at a winner-takes-well-not-all-but-the-top-seed-in-the-conference-tournament final day of the regular season.
The Quad 25, 2028 Season
Day 85
1. Indiana (18-1, 1)
2. Kansas (16-3, 4)
3. Connecticut (18-3, 5)
4. Virginia (17-2, 6)
5. Kentucky (18-1, 2)
6. North Carolina (17-4, 7)
7. Missouri (17-2, 10)
8. Duke (15-4, 3)
9. Washington (16-3, 11)
10. NC State (16-3, 10)
11. Southern Cal (16-4, 8)
12. Colorado (17-3, 12)
13. Illinois (15-4, 13)
14. Florida (13-4, 14)
15. Maryland (14-5, 16)
16. Villanova (15-4, 18)
17. San Diego State (17-2, 17)
18. Memphis (16-4, 19)
19. Utah (13-5, 15)
20. Purdue (13-6, 20)
21. Gonzaga (16-2, 21)
22. Pittsburgh (13-6, 22)
23. Iowa State (14-4, 13)
24. Ohio State (15-4, 24)
25. Stanford (15-6, 25)
Next: Georgetown, Boston College, New Mexico, St. John's, St. Joseph's