Written By: Dave Preston
Six days until Selection Sunday. And there almost wasn’t a next day for Navy as the Midshipmen were taken to overtime by Boston University before prevailing 85-80 in Annapolis.
It’s the first trip to the Championship Game in 21 years for the Mids, a program that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1998. UMBC also needed overtime to advance, beating UMass-Lowell 93-85 in the America East Quarterfinals. First-year coach Jim Ferry led Long Island University to the NCAA’s twice while with the Northeast Conference school, and is now two wins away from getting the Retrievers there for the first time since they upset overall No. 1 Virginia in 2018. Towson didn’t need overtime, but the Tigers started slow against No. 9 seed Northeastern (trailing by as many as 10) and saw a 12-point second half lead shrink to one before putting the Huskies away late 68-61.
On the less than ideal side of the weekend, VCU and Virginia Tech both lost their regular season finales Saturday to damage already murky at-large hopes: ESPN put the Hokies in their “First Four Out” group and the Rams are listed in that category on CBS sports’ online ranking. George Mason, George Washington and Richmond aren’t on the bubble but all three schools dropped their regular season finales. Maryland (15-16, 7-13 Big Ten) missed a chance to finish over .500 in the regular season as their rally at Michigan State came up short and Georgetown (6-24, 0-19 Big East) set school and Big East records for losses in a season.
Read more at WTOP.
Photo: Twitter/ @BaltimoreMDNOW
