It's March baby!!!!

Tipoff

BREAKING NEWS: The Field of 68 is launching a whole new series featuring our favorite number, 68 Shining Moments. I’ll let Rob Dauster give the initial explanation for this project:

Over the last four months, we have amassed interviews with the people that lived the greatest, the most memorable moments in the history of the NCAA tournament. We went straight to the horse’s mouth to find out when T.J. Sorrentine realized that he had, in fact, hit that shot from the parking lot, and whether or not Ali Farohkmanesh was, actually, serious with that shot. We talked to Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome from Virginia. We sat with Danny Manning, and Kris Jenkins, and Ryan Arcidiacono, and Keith Smart, and Dunk City.

The series has launched with interviews you won’t want to miss, available via the Field of 68 YouTube channel, Periscope, twitter, and dailymotion. Each offers incredible insights from the players and coaches that lived the memorable moments, including:

• Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker reflect on Wisconsin’s back-to-back Final Four runs and take down of the 38-0 Kentucky team.

• Ryan Odom of the UMBC Retrievers talks about the greatest upset in March history, defeating #1 Virginia.

• T.J. Sorrentine of the Vermont Catamounts looks back at his deeeeeeeeeep three (allegedly shot from the parking lot) against Syracuse in 2005.

Stay tuned to the channel to catch the legends of March as they take us back to their legendary moments.

Conference Tracker

It’s Championship Season! Let’s take a look at conference tournament action and what lies ahead.

The Conference Tournament action has kicked into high gear, so this section is going to focus on just the tournaments that are scheduled to conclude by Monday night.

• Atlantic Sun. The ASUN conference quarterfinals begin Thursday afternoon and the story here has to be #2 Bellarmine. While the Knights fell to #1 Liberty over the weekend following a two-week layoff, there is no shame as this is the first year in Division 1 for the Louisville, Kentucky-based team. Head Coach Scott Davenport has done an excellent job throughout his tenure as head coach as the results in year 1 prove. In other news, Jacksonville has decided to end their season and will not participate in the postseason this year:

  • Thursday:

    • #1 Liberty vs. #8 Kennesaw State (2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #4 North Florida vs. #5 North Alabama (2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #3 Lipscomb #6 FGCU (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN +)

    • #2 Bellarmine vs. #7 Stetson (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Friday:

    • Semifinal Game 1 (2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • Semifinal Game 2 (7:00 p.m. EST in ESPN+)

  • Sunday:

    • Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Game (2:00 p.m. on ESPN)

• Big South. The conference tournament has mostly gone according to seed so far in the Big South, where top seed Winthrop looks to continue its dominance over the rest of the field. Winthrop will take on 5-seed Longwood, winner over UNC Asheville on Monday. Radford and Campbell both advanced and will face off in the other semifinal. 

  • Thursday:

    • #3 Campbell vs. #2 Radford (6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #1 Winthrop vs. #5 Longwood (7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Sunday:

    • Big South Championship Game (12:00 p.m. EST on ESPN)

• Missouri Valley Conference. “Arch Madness,” as the MVC calls their conference tournament, will be held in Saint Louis and features plenty of teams with historic moments. Valpo has Bryce Drew’s famous buzzer beater in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Northern Iowa’s Ali Farokhmanesh hit his own iconic shots against Kansas in 2010. Loyola-Chicago and Sister Jean made it all the way to the Final Four in 2017. This year features a resurgent Loyola-Chicago team as well as a Drake Bulldogs squad that began the year 18-0. Compelling matchups abound in the MVC tournament this year.

  • Thursday:

    • #9 Bradley vs. #8 Southern Illinois (6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #6 Illinois State vs. #7 Northern Iowa (9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Friday:

    • #1 Loyola-Chicago vs. Bradley/SIU (12:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #5 Evansville vs. #4 Indiana State (3:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #2 Drake vs. UNI/Illinois State (6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #6 Valparaiso vs. #3 Missouri State (9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Saturday:

    • Semifinal Game 1 (1:00 p.m. EST on CBSSN)

    • Semifinal Game 2 (4:00 p.m EST on CBSSN)

  • Sunday:

    • MVC Championship Game (2:10 p.m. EST on CBS)

• Ohio Valley Conference. The Belmont Bruins have dominated the OVC since joining the conference and this year is no exception. At 24-3 overall, the Bruins set a record of 28 consecutive conference wins earlier this season. Top seeds Belmont and Morehead State took care of business on Wednesday night and will face the winners of Thursday night’s games. The winner of the OVC championship on Saturday will become the first team to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

  • Thursday: 

    • #5 Murray State vs. #4 Jacksonville State (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #6 Austin Peay vs. #3 Eastern Kentucky (9:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Friday: 

    • #1 Belmont vs. Murray State/Jacksonville State (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPNU)

    • #2 Morehead State vs. Austin Peay/Eastern Kentucky (9:30 p.m. EST on ESPNU)

  • Saturday:

    • OVC Tournament Championship (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2)

• Southern Conference. The UNC-Greensboro Spartans and Wofford Terriers both finished the year with 8 losses, including 5 in conference. The Spartans played a few more games and clinched the regular season title. Such is the way of things in college basketball during the 2020-21 season. Former North Carolina walk-on Wes Miller, in his 10th season as head coach for the Spartans, will look to collect his second SoCon Tournament Championship this season.

  • Friday:

    • #8 The Citadel vs. #9 Western Carolina (5:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #7 Mercer vs. #10 Samford (8:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Saturday:

    • #1 UNC-Greensboro vs The Citadel/WCU (12:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #4 Chattanooga vs. #5 ETSU (2:30 p.m EST on ESPN+)

    • #2 Wofford vs. Mercer/Samford (5:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #3 Furman vs #6 VMI (8:00 p.m. on ESPN+)

  • Sunday:

    • Semifinal Game 1 (5:00 p.m. EST on ESPNU)

    • Semifinal Game 2 (7:30 p.m EST on ESPNU)

  • Monday:

    • Southern Conference Championship Game (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN)

• Sun Belt Conference. The story of the year in the Sun Belt has to be interim head coach Terrence Johnson. It has been a season of firsts in San Marcos, Texas. The Bobcats have claimed their first ever regular season record in the Sun Belt and will look to continue making history in the conference tournament. Should they win, they will be competing in just the third NCAA Tournament in program history and looking for another first, a tournament victory. The Sun Belt Conference uses an East/West division structure and will pair teams and games listed below include the ranking within each division.  

  • Friday:

    • #4W Arkansas State vs. #5E Georgia Southern (6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #3E South Alabama vs. #6W ULM (6:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #4E Appalachian State vs. #5W Little Rock (8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #3W UTA vs. #6E Troy (9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

  • Saturday:

    • #2W Louisiana vs. South AL/ULM (6:00 p.m EST on ESPN+)

    • #1E Georgia State vs. AR State/GA Southern (6:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #2E Coastal Carolina vs. UTA/Troy (8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • #1W Texas State vs App State/Little Rock (9:00 p.m. on ESPN+)

  • Sunday:

    • Semifinal Game 1 (6:30 p.m. EST on ESPN+)

    • Semifinal Game 2 (9:00 p.m EST on ESPN+)

  • Monday:

    • Sun Belt Conference Championship Game (7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2)

The Mixtape

The Field of 68 team puts out lots of great content each week. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

• The Tuesday action this week was huge. Michigan lost to Illinois while Baylor beat West Virginia in an overtime thriller. Rob Dauster and Jeff Goodman break down the games and discuss what it means on the Best Bets podcast. Perhaps the biggest news came out of Omaha, Nebraska. Creigthon head coach Greg McDermott used the wrong analogy in a post-game discussion in the locker room. There is no sugar-coating this; McDermott used racist language in a way that could have led to suspension or even termination. Rob and Jeff discuss this story and the big game action. 

• Speaking of Michigan, Go Blu with Stu Douglass met with assistant coach Saddi Washington to discuss the family culture of the Wolverines under Michigan Man and head coach Juwan Howard. After entering the year with lots of questions, none remain about the success of this squad. Washington shares insights into the season and how the team navigated the COVID pause.

• Arizona’s women’s basketball head coach Adia Barnes stepped onto Christy’s Court with Christy Winters Scott. The Arizona alum talks about her path to Tucson, life in the WNBA and overseas, and being a mother and head coach. Barnes is a rising star in the coaching ranks and has quickly raised her program’s status, including a WNIT Championship in 2019 to leading a team focused on a deep run in the San Antonio area this March.

• 2021 has been a season to forget for Kentucky fans, but there are so many shining moments for Big Blue Nation. A few of those moments belong to former NCAA Tournament Champion, All-American, and NBA player Scott Padgett. The big man joined Wayne Turner on the Burner Turner show to talk about his path to Lexington from the “war zone” known as Louisville. It wasn’t all smiles at UK for Padgett. He recounted a fistfight with teammate Jamaal Magloire and how the two patched things up right afterwards.

Weekend Primer

Heading into the weekend, we take a look at the big matchups on the schedule.

While the conference tournament schedule for Friday is hot and heavy, there are few compelling regular season games being played Friday night. Instead, the big games this weekend are spread across Saturday and Sunday.

The weekend slate includes a mix of marquee matchups and bubble battles. In the marquee matchup category, the action kicks off at 2:00 p.m. as freshman phenom Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State travel to Morgantown to face Deuce McBride and West Virginia. Were it not for a pair of losses to conference bottom feeder TCU, OK State’s resume would be up there with some of the best teams in the country. Baylor has locked up first place in the conference standings but the Cowboys and Mountaineers are still fighting for second place. In the B1G, the biggest game of the weekend might be between Illinois, looking to build off its big victory over Michigan and cement its status as a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, as they travel to Columbus to face Ohio State. Star guard Ayo Dosunmu has been sidelined from a facial fracture and might make his return in this game. Look for the man in the mask. In the ACC, Virginia and Louisville will battle for a chance to claim the conference regular season should Florida State falter. In the bubble battle category, Indiana and head coach Archie Miller will look for one final chance to get back into the tournament picture as they travel to West Lafayette to face the Purdue Boilermakers. Archie Miller has struggled to win games against Purdue head coach Matt Painter, losing all 6 matchups as the Hoosiers have dropped 11 of the last 12 in the series. Meanwhile, the Duke Blue Devils have one last chance to impress the NCAA Tournament Committee this weekend in what normally would be a marquee matchup as they travel 8 miles down Tobacco Road to face the North Carolina Tar Heels. The home team in this matchup is more solidly in the fold for the NCAA Tournament this year but has dropped 2 of its last 3 games to unranked teams. A loss to the Blue Devils might put the Tar Heels in a sticky situation heading into the ACC Tournament.

Sunday has its own slate of big-time matchups. Houston has turned into a powerhouse again under head coach Kelvin Sampson and is back in the upper echelon of college basketball for the first time since Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were members of Phi Slamma Jamma. Wichita State has been the surprise of the American Athletic Conference this year, but Houston will be fighting for the higher seed in the NCAA Tournament as they travel to Memphis to face Penny Hardaway’s Tigers. The Tigers boast the nation’s most efficient defense but need a signature win to get into the NCAA Tournament field of 68. In the B1G, the Wisconsin Badgers look to right the ship as they close out the regular season against resurgent Iowa and the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin has dropped 4 of its last 5 and, while they appear safe to dance in the NCAA Tournament, have a lot to prove for a team that entered the year with high expectations. In the Big 12, Texas Tech and Baylor will close out the conference regular season with the Bears looking to cement their place as the #2 overall team in the country. Meanwhile, Sunday afternoon will be the second of back-to-back matchups between Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans are on a run late in the year and have two chances to get into the NCAA Tournament for good. Michigan is looking to rebound from a loss to Illinois - sans Ayo Dosunmu - as they look to clinch the B1G regular season for the first time since 2014. The regular season stakes rarely have so much on the line.

• Saturday:

  • #17 Oklahoma State vs. #6 West Virginia (2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN/ESPN2)

  • Indiana vs. #23 Purdue (2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN/ESPN2)

  • #4 Illinois vs. #7 Ohio State (4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN)

  • #21 Virginia vs. Louisville (4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2)

  • Duke vs. North Carolina (6:00 p.m. EST on ESPN)

• Sunday:

  • #9 Houston vs. Memphis (12:00 p.m. EST on CBS)

  • #25 Wisconsin vs. #5 Iowa (12:30 p.m. EST on Fox)

  • #18 Texas Tech vs, #3 Baylor (4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN)

  • #2 Michigan vs. Michigan State (4:30 p.m. EST on CBS)