They can exhale in Bloomington, Champaign, Provo, College Station and all the other bubble outposts around the nation.
Northern Iowa has thwarted a potential bid thief with a memorable second-half comeback.
[DraftKings: Play March Madness Fantasy College Hoops. $20 Entry. $20,000 Guaranteed Cash Prizes.]
Having fallen behind upset-minded Illinois State by 18 points late in the first half of Sunday's Arch Madness title game, the 11th-ranked Panthers roared back with a momentum-altering 25-4 surge to start the second half. That was enough to carry Northern Iowa to a 69-60 victory that actually felt somewhat routine by the end of it.
Northern Iowa's first conference tournament championship since 2010 could propel the Panthers as high as a No. 3 or 4 seed when the NCAA tournament brackets are unveiled next Sunday evening. They don't have as many RPI top 50 wins as teams from power conferences, but they're 30-3 with victories over Iowa, Wichita State, Richmond and a very good Stephen F. Austin team.
Had Illinois State followed up its semifinal victory over top-seeded Wichita State by toppling Northern Iowa as well, the Redbirds would have claimed the Valley's automatic bid and reduced the number of available at-large bids by one. The Valley would have become a three-bid league because the Shockers and Panthers are locks to reach the NCAA tournament.
Northern Iowa's second-half surge ensured that would not happen, transforming a 14-point halftime deficit into seven-point lead nine minutes later. Valley player of the year Seth Tuttle had eight of his 15 points during the run and his teammates sank four 3-pointers.
Though the Panthers shot poorly from the field on Sunday, they made up for it by sinking 22 of 26 foul shots and committing only three turnovers. Illinois State got 16 points from guard Daishon Knight and 14 from forward Deontae Hawkins, but the Redbirds never mounted a serious charge in the final five minutes.
If the conference tournament championship was just a tad bittersweet for Northern Iowa because it didn't come at the expense of Wichita State, the Panthers will nonetheless surely relish in the outcome.
They're headed back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since Ali Farokhmanesh's thunderbolt of a jump shot delivered one of the great upsets in recent years. And this time if Northern Iowa is playing in a Sweet 16 again, it won't be nearly as big a shock.
- - - - - - -
Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
http://ift.tt/18t7Z0C
No comments:
Post a Comment