Six more mid-majors punched their tickets to The Big Dance on Monday and Tuesday after winning their respective conference tournament championship games.
After five teams punched their own tickets over the weekend, Charleston, Furman, Gonzaga, Louisiana, Northern Kentucky, and Oral Roberts clinched their own spots on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
Charleston, Cougars left little doubt this season of how strong of a team they were, going 31-3 on the year, including 16-2 in CAA conference play. The only three games they lost all season were to North Carolina, Hofstra, and Drexel, the latter two coming in back-to-back games. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Charleston has won each of their last ten games.
Furman, 27-7, was eyed as a team all season that was likely to win their conference and go dancing in March. They completed that prophecy on Monday with a 88-79 win over Chattanooga, using a 50-point second-half effort to fend off the Mocs. Their trip to the NCAA Tournament will be the program’s first in 43 years, their last appearance coming in 1980. It’s overall the program’s seventh tournament appearance.
Gonzaga, 28-5 one of the country’s top-10 ranked teams, officially earned their auto-bid with a 77-51 win over St. Mary’s; the Bulldogs dominated the first half, leading 37-19 at halftime, and never looked back. The Bulldogs have now made each NCAA Tournament since the 1998-99 season and will likely be a four-seed or higher for the sixth consecutive season.
Louisiana, 26-7, was the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament defeating Georgia Southern and Texas State before facing off against South Alabama in the tournament’s championship game. After finding themselves trailing 37-33 at halftime, the Ragin’ Cajuns outscored the Jaguars 38-29 over the final 20 minutes before winning 71-66. It’s the program’s 11th trip overall to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and first since 2014.
Northern Kentucky had to outlast Chicago State 63-61, earning their third-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and the first since the 2018-19 season. The Norse went 22-12 this season, including 14-6 in conference play. They’ll look to make it past the Round of 64 for the first time in this year’s tournament.
Finally, Oral Roberts is headed to its second tournament in three years after getting there in 2020-2021. They defeated North Dakota State 92-58 in the Summit League Championship game. The Golden Eagles won 30 games for the first time this season, going 30-4 while running through their conference schedule with an 18-0 record. The last time they got to the Big Dance, they upset No.2 Ohio State and No.7 Florida before narrowly losing to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen.
List of auto bids:
ASUN: Kennesaw State (26-8)
Big South: UNC Asheville (27-7)
Colonial Athletic Association: Charleston (31-3)
Horizon League: Northern Kentucky (22-12)
Missouri Valley: Drake (27-7)
Northeast: Farleigh Dickerson (19-14)
Ohio Valley: Southeast Missouri State (19-16)
Southern: Furman (27-7)
Summit League: Oral Roberts (30-4)
Sunbelt: Louisiana (26-7)
West Coast: Gonzaga (28-5)
