JBL | The Quadaily 25, 2028 Season (Day 134): There Can Only Be One
There is simply too much to discuss today.
After yesterday's onvella, to be honest, we are a little gassed. We're a small mom-and-pop operation, after all.
But, we trudge on.
Our leading story comes in the Atlantic Sun, where NJIT and Florida Gulf Coast went down to the wire in the A-Sun championship.
Like the Ivy Group yesterday, one person was responsible for the play that almost lost his team a championship, and the play that, in fact, won them the title.
Please say hello to NJIT freshman point guard, Jordan Snyder.
Snyder, a generously 5'10 kid from Maspeth, New York, had a decent, but largely unassuming freshman year for the Highlanders. He finished third on the team in scoring, at 9.7 ppg. He did that on 40.7% shooting. His 3.2 assists led the team, and ranked at about 25% of his team's 16.4 assists per game. When you're 288th in assists in the nation, 3.2 is about the number you would expect to lead your team.
Jordan Snyder made his biggest assist ever last night.
But first, he nearly assisted Florida Gulf Coast to overtime.
First, let's step back to the final minute of this game. With 1:01 left, this game, a sloppy but impassioned final between two sloppy but imapssioned teams, was tied, 58-58. That means that 18 of the game's 134 points were scored in the final sixty seconds.
That is impressive in itself.
Florida Gulf Coast twice saw itself down four. The first time, they got halfway there, as Diamante Pierce's jumper, the final of his twenty points, cut a four-point advantage in half. But the Highlanders did something they failed to do all night.
They hit their free throws.
The Highlanders, going into this fateful final feature, were 10-21 from the line. Publications that cover the A-Sun were already lining up to point at that as the reason they would lose the title, rather than Florida Gulf Coast winning it.
NJIT went 6-for-6 in from the stripe in the final sixty seconds.
Clearly, they rose above the pressure.
Except for Jordan Snyder's nearly fatal mistake.
With :23 left, Florida Gulf Coast called time, down 66-62. They drew up a play for Pierce, with Danger Will Robinson as the safety. The plan was for Pierce to attack the basket quickly, and for the team to trap immediatey.
Only, NJIT was ready for that, throwing a third man into the lane as Pierce began to go down the lane. He found Robinson on the opposite wing, and passed it. Robinson bobbled for a second, but he was never in doubt.
He was chucking it.
Snyder, however, wasn't sure. Robinson was 0-2 on his threes thus far, and hadn't looked for his outside shot. So, he raced over to cut him off, preparing to cut in front of a drive.
Except he forgot to put the brakes on.
And Robinon went up, not in.
And Snyder clipped his hip as Robinson had just let go, the shot pure toward its destination. Robinson sprawled to the floor, Snyder following.
Twenty-three feet away, the ball followed suit, having gone down.
Snyder hit the floor in frustration. Robinson, slow to get up, went to the line and did what champions do.
Net. Nothing but. Tie game.
Now it was NJIT's turn to call time out. Their plan, as everyone in the building knew, was to get Malik Leech the ball. He didn't have an especially good shooting night, having gone 7-16 (5-11 3), but everyone knew where the ball was heading.
"Keep your hands up," Snyder told Kameron DeWitt as the team took back to the court. Brady Starkey heard them; the Highlander forward had an idea of his own.
The play, as it was set up, was for Snyder to hold until there was six left, then come to the right wing, where he would hand it off to Leech, who could curl around to the elbow (or nearest available space) for a shot. It would use up the clock, and not give FGCU a shot. It is a fairly cliche play, but cliches are that for a reason.
They typically ring true.
So Snyder waited until there was six on the clock. Leech had a brief issue getting free from his man. No hold as called, but the clock ticked down.
It was then that Starkey made his own play.
He set a back-screen for DeWitt, who was stationed at the opposite elbow. Snyder saw Starkey move, and knows Starkey never moves without a purpose. So, he let his eyes follow his path. He looked ahead, and saw DeWitt, about to be sprung free.
At this time, Leech was nearing himself ready to receive the handoff. He was positioning his hands, ready to round into form. But Snyder wasn't looking at him. Leech looked inside, noticing the same thing Snyder noticed. But he still had a job to do.
He sold it well.
So did Starkey, whose screen did exactly as he intended. Snyder waied as DeWitt cut across the lane. Snyder anticipated the cut, and delivered a perfect, gentle feed.
DeWitt dunked it.
NJIT had the lead once more.
Robinson had a chance for a tie, but he lost the ball, the final of his six turnovers.
The Hightanders, once ruler of the Atlantic Sun (three straight trips before last season's getting crushed by FGCU in last year's final, which was also NJIT legend Daniel Brunson's final game ) are rulers of the Atlantic Sun once more.
Of course, in these small conferences, there can only be one.
This year, once again, it is the Highlander.
The At Large World Roots for Gonzaga , Memphis: Interestingly enough, there are but just two...maybe three, if you're really into Drexel...at-large bids that oculd get snatched up by teams who otherwise wouldn't make the tournament (or just one, if you're a true Cincinnati truther).
Fans of any bubble team are feverent Gonzaga and Memphis rooters right now.
Pepperdine (19-12), a team never spoken of as a true tournament contender, could find themselves in the thing if they take down the Zags (27-4) tonight. Of course, Gonzaga's entry into the CJBL Tournament is already factored. They're in no matter what.
For Pepperdine, though, it's win or JIT. That's the consensus. Even Saint Mary's, who fell to the Waves in the WCC semifinals, are safely in the tournament (we think so, at least).
Pepperdine fits neatly into that Virginia mold of teams who are offensively efficient but don't score, and defensively inefficient but aren't scored upon. There are only so many possessions a game against Pepperdine, whose pace rates them 318th in the nation. It's a neighborhood they reside in proudly--they were 317th in pace last year.
And, truth be told, Pepperdine has forced Gonzaga to play out of its comfort zome this year. While the Zags swept the Waves this season, the two games were decided by five points. The game at Pepperdine was 61-60.
This is no sure bet.
For star forward Tanner Thorpe (17.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and the rest of the Waves, this isn't some Cinderella run. They feel they belong.
They are likely the only ones. The rest of the world watches on like the angry stepsisters, ready for the ball to go on without them.
The same can be said about Cincinnati, which is interesting. The Memphis Tigers and Cincinnati Bearcats are essnetially the same narrative as the Atlantic Sun, where two teams who started off the season poorly ran roughshod over a terrible conference--and the AAC was emphatically terrible this year--to get back on their feet.
Memphis, a team with national championship talent that got off to a slow start, is seemingly clear for the tournament either way. Why that is, we are not quite sure. Their best OOC win is either Saint Mary's or Creighton. (They crushed Pepperdine, 74-56.) They also swept these Bearcats., only suffering a single conference loss at SMU (how?).
Yet, they seem to be safe.
That cannot be said about Cincinnati, and it's because of their conference. The only win worth talking about with Cincinnati this year is the one over an Ohio State team that seemed to go on holiday for a couple of weeks around that game. They have no other wins they'd even try to sell the committee about (well, they'd try, but...you know the kid in class who has to show you everything they've done, so that the teacher doesn't ask them what they didn't do? Those kids annoy teachers.)
So the bubble world waits with baited breath, to see if two (or one, or three) bids get snatched out of their cold, mediocre hands. For Pepperdine, it's a trip of a lifetime. For Cincinnati, it's a slow realization of one last gasp at the crown in a season that didn't go as expected, despite the record.
That's March, baby.
Does Nobody Want a Top Seed?: Colorado lost to USC yesterday, meaning a third team in line for a top seed (Indiana, Kentucky) lost en route to claiming one. Does nobody want these things? There's only four of them, after all.
If this were the case, expect Georgetown to beat UConn, Ohio State to take down Illinois, NC State to throttle Duke, Virginia and North Carolina to play to a double countout, and Missouri get taken out by LSU, with help from Kentucky, who came in with a chair when the refs weren't looking.
If we had to guess, we'd probably have Duke, Missouri, Illinois, and Connecticut on the one line for now, with Kansas, North Carolina, and the winner of the Pac-12 waiting in the wings.
That's all we're going to say about that now, though we will add... USC looked the part in taking down Colorado. We said in the preseason that we thought USC could win the title, and found them to be one of the favorites. (We ranked them #2 in our preseason poll, for the record. Snack on that.) We'd have no qualms with them on the top line if they win the Pac-12. We would put them over UConn at this point. We wouldn't put them over any of the other teams, but if one of them loses, and USC were to win, we'd have no issues with them as a top seed.
We predict titles!: Since it's kind of warm and we want to get outside for a walk, we'll close with some predictions. We're really good at those.
A-10 Semifinals; UMass over St. Joe's, Dayton over Richmond. We thought UMass would win the conference before the season began. We figure at least three of these teams are in...so perhaps the bubble world should be rooting for St. Joe's tonight.
AAC: Memphis 73, Cincinnati 72. Cincinnati has gotten so frustrated when Memphis escaped Tulane and Houston (which they did. Wait for this one, when Memphis hits a fall-away jumper from 18 feet at the buzzer to win it, completing a comeback from ten down in the final 90 seconds.
ACC: Duke over NC State, UNC over Virginia. Chalk is fun, because chalk gives us Duke/UNC. We'd rather have Duke-Virginia, as we feel like that's the money machup this year. But we wouldn't complain about this one, either.
Big XII: Kansas crushes Iowa State, paying them back for the loss to the Cyclones down the stretch. We'll say 86-70.
Big East: Georgetown over Connecticut. The Hoyas solved the Huskies a couple of weeks ago. As good as the UConn post is, Spencer Irving is better than any of them. Georgetown is a true darkhorse for the national title. They'll make believers by winning the Big East, denying UConn a top seed.
Big Sky: Idaho over Weber State. We believe in the Spuds.
Big South: Gardner-Webb over UNC-Asheville. This has the possiblity of being an epic as well. Call it Webb 76, Asheville 75.
Big Ten: Michigan over Maryland, Illinois over Ohio State. Michigan's finding their groove and continues their march. They're safely in now (quite possibly at the expense of Iowa). The Fighting Illini are now playing for a top seed. They'll play like it against the Buckeyes, who have been hot.
Colonial Athletic Association: Drexel over Northeastern. Drexel has been stellar all year. They'll complete the process here. We do wonder if they're at-large worthy if they lose. That will be an interesting conversation.
Conference USA: Charlotte over Southern Miss. A team that goes 21-1 in the conference...we have a hard time picking against them here.
Horizon: Illinois-Chicago over Milwaukee. A team that goes 19-1 in the conference...we have a hard time picking against them here.
Metro: Iona over Fairfield. The Stags went 20-2 in the conference. That simply leaves their ripe for upset. Iona dethrones the champs.
MAC: Kent State over Buffalo. Could and should be a really good game, but we like the top seed.
MEAC: Savannah State over Norfolk State. Both semifinals were one-point games. Think tonight might be close?
MVC: Loyola-Chicago over Illinois State. If we were able to get to one title game, this one would be it. Both teams are wildly entertaining. We could see this going to triple overtime. Easily the most underrated title game here. Call it Loyola-Chicago 92, Illinois State 90.
Mountain West: UNLV over SDSU. Then the UNLV fan base can start clamoring that they deserve a four-seed.
Pac-12: USC over Washington. We took USC to start the season, we won't back down now.
Patriot: Bucknell over Lafayette. The Bison have battled so much this year...why not tame some lions?
SEC: MIssouri over LSU, Florida over Texas A&M. A&M presents an interesting case (we had them as an at-large). We didn't even have LSU in the thing...after beating Arkansas, are they deserving? If they win tonight, they have to be in for sure...right? (Perhaps bubble world should be massive Mizzou and Florida fans.)
Southern: VMI over Western Carolina. We don't know anything about either team. So, we like our pick.
Southland: Northwestern State avenges their loss to Incarnate Word by thrashing Stephen F. Austin by 20. Coaches love good losses.
Sun Belt; Texas State over South Alabama. This is one nobody expects to be a close game, so expect a close game. Texas State by 3.
WCC: Gonzaga over Pepperdine. Expect it to be hard-fought and for the Zags to overcome a potentially big deficit with about five minutes to go, before controlling it the rest of the way for the win. Zags by 7.