NBK Update: Championship Week – Monday

In the 31 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments since the field expanded to 64 teams, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels have made it to the Sweet Sixteen a whopping 20 times.  Near neighbor Duke has the most Sweet Sixteen appearances with 22.  And nearby North Carolina State has made the second weekend on six occasions.

Neither UNC Wilmington nor UNC Asheville have made the Sweet Sixteen in that span.  Both are currently on our watchlist of the Never Been Kissed, teams looking to make their first appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.  The young-and-exuberant Asheville squad won their conference tournament on Sunday, and Wilmington will battle Hofstra to the death tonight.

The NBK rankings through Sunday’s action:

Through Sunday 3/6
Through Sunday 3/6

Yale moves up significantly, as the surprise of their first NCAA Tournament appearance in fifty years gives way to the possibility that they might, just maybe, win a couple of games.  Projected as a 13-seed, the Bulldogs may draw a favorable matchup with a 4-seed in decline.

Monmouth and Iona are battling it out for the MAAC Championship as I type.  The winner will likely be a 12-seed regardless of who comes out on top.

Stephen F. Austin got some good news today as KenPomeroy’s simulator gives him an overwhelming 76.4% chance of winning the Southland tournament.  Per KenPom, that is the most of any school this year.   Have a ball, Steve-O.

The Evansville Purple Aces joined the gray ranks of the dismayed on Sunday, as they were knocked off by Wes Washpun and his Northern Iowa cronies in the MVC final of Arch Madness.  Evansville started slowly, came out with their pants on fire in the second half, and nearly completed the comeback.  But Washpun was too tough to handle down the stretch and his jumper from the top of the key dropping with 0.0 dashed the Purple Aces dreams.

I guess Stony Brook plays again tonight, but I am not sure the format of the America East conference tournament.  They seem to prize well-rested basketball above all other factors, with five days between each round of action.  Perhaps they will complete their conference tourney before the start of the NCAAs, but I don’t want to rush them.