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NCAA bid in sight as UB girls input MAC tourney

The University at Buffalo women’s basketball team discovered the last or what it seems like to be snubbed for postseason attention.

The Bulls went 22-10 but were overlooked in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, even though they beat seven teams that went to the NIT.

“We say that we are not going to leave it in all and sundry’s hands anymore and feature them desire we get in,” stated UB teaches Felisha Legette-Jack.

UB (25-four) enters the Mid-American Conference quarterfinals on Wednesday in the strong role to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, even though the Bulls do not get the automatic bid that incorporates prevailing the occasion.

NCAA bid in sight as UB girls input MAC tourney

UB, which went 16-2 within the MAC, is the No. 2 seed. It split with No. 1 seed Central Michigan (17-1) all through the normal season. UB has received nine direct games, tops in the MAC.

The Bulls stand No. 19 in the nation in the Rating Percentage Index, a key metric the NCAA uses to pick out at-huge teams. Central Michigan is No. 20, and the No. 3 MAC seed, Ball State, is No. 34.

ESPN tasks UB as a No. 9-seeded at-large group, whilst Central Michigan costs an eight seed. UB isn’t even one of the ultimate four inside the 64-team discipline by using ESPN’s projections. RealtimeRPI.Com tasks all three pinnacle MAC teams, which include Ball State, making the sphere.

“We’re a wholesome conference that has performed the work,” Legette-Jack stated. “Now is our turn to have a couple of teams within the match.”

If UB receives the MAC final and loses, it clearly is within the NCAA discipline. If the Bulls lose to Ball State inside the semifinals, they have a strong argument to make it, given their RPI rating and their 10-2 record towards groups within the top a hundred. But Ball State (24-5) would have an issue, too. UB beat Ball State, 84-80, in their lone everyday-season meeting. Would the NCAA choose three MAC groups?

UB can eliminate uncertainty using winning as a minimum game. Three is the goal, which UB performed years in the past when it beat Central Michigan for the MAC identify as the No. 8 seed.

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The avenue begins with the quarterfinal in opposition to No. 10 seed Kent State (13-18) at about 5:30 p.M. Wednesday at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.

“Our intention now could be to reclaim and improve,” said Legette-Jack, relating to a motto at the crew practice shirts. “We don’t see ourselves as better than or worse than. We see ourselves as aggressive. If you placed the ball obtainable, we are going to show up. We’re going to compete for forty complete minutes.”

UB stands 0.33 within the MAC and 30th inside the country in scoring at seventy-seven points a game.

But the MAC is strong in women’s basketball, the 8th-quality convention, by using RPI rating. Central Michigan is No. Five in the kingdom scored 83.3, and Ball State is No. 12 (eighty-two. Zero).

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Where UB arguably has a slender facet is on protection. The Bulls are No. 2 inside the MAC in points allowed and No. 1 (at the side of No. 31 within the kingdom) in field-intention percent defense, holding foes to 36.6 percent. UB is No. Four inside the state in 3-point percentage allowed.

No. 1 U Conn misplaced in OT to Syracuse 86-85, as Gerry McNamara drained a 3-pointer at the give up of regulation for the second consecutive game. No. 6 George Washington saw its 18-game prevailing streak and best A-10 season to end because the Colonials lost to Temple, 68-fifty three. The Colonials have been the state’s lone one-loss team, and their loss will open up a 2nd bid for the A-10 (sent handiest GW remaining year), shutting out a college to be named later (Sunday).

My free play on Friday is a rare CBB general. Take Nebraska/Oklahoma underneath at nine:20 ET. You might also have overlooked my Las Vegas Insider (Mia-Fl/Duke) as I cross for a three-0 start within the tourneys and my early 15* on South Carolina/Tennessee, but there may be lots of time for my 20* Big-12 Tourney GOY and my night CBB 15*. Also, tonight, I’m freeing my first LEGEND play of the conference tournaments. These special releases, previously to be had to handiest my personal clients, are now to be had at the net and have long gone three-0 due to mid-February! In the NBA, it’s my largest three-recreation record of the season, my Triple Play of the Year, as I look to continue my sixty-three % NBA run because Feb 3.

The handiest other top-25 teams to lose on Thursday have been No. 12 Washington to Oregon (84-73) and No. 19 West Va. 15 Pittsburgh (68-57). No. 2 Villanova had no such trouble, as the Wildcats without problems treated Rutgers (87-fifty five), No. 3 Duke plays today at 12:00 midday ET in opposition to Miami-Florida. Four Memphis took care of Tulane (75-56) and No. Five Gonzaga is finished with its season and looking ahead to a possible No. 1 seed (no longer in all likelihood).

Highlights by using the convention

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Georgetown beat Marquette sixty two-59 in the most effective different Big East recreation on Thursday. Marquette’s loss made former C-USA teams zero-three of their Big East tourney debuts this 12 months. Temple’s win over GW sets up a conventional “Big Five” matchup these days, as St Joe’s beat St Louis, 56-37. In the ACC, Clemson’s longshot hopes of a bid ended with a sixty-six-sixty-three loss to Miami-Fla, and even as Florida State might also nonetheless get in, the Seminoles’ loss to Wake (78-sixty six) failed to assist. Finally, Maryland possibly guaranteed itself a price ticket to the dance by beating hapless Ga Tech, eighty two-64.

Michigan performed itself out of any hazard of an at-huge bid, losing to Minnesota fifty nine-55 inside the Big-10 tourney. The MAC has been a one-bid convention considering that 1999 and regular-season champ Kent State superior with a seventy-six-sixty-seven win over Buffalo. In the Big-12, Colorado edged Baylor 65-61, putting in a Friday showdown with Texas A&M. UTEP and Houston both needed wins in C-USA yesterday and got them, but now face the league’s pinnacle-two groups (Memphis and UAB) on Friday.