Blogs by Hof

The Fairfield Stags of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference entered the conference tournament on a hot streak, winning their last 26 games and only accumulating one loss on the season. That's impressive. Copyright Fairfield University Athletics, 2024 Fairfield's women continued winning in their conference tournament in Atlantic City, New Jersey. They rushed past Rider in their first game and grounded the Canisius Griffins in their second. The Stags were met with a big scare as the Niagara Purple Eagles took them to overtime in the conference championship, but Fairfield still came away with the win to reach 31-1 and qualify for the NCAA tournament. 31-1.  On selection Sunday, the MAAC champion received word they were slated as a 13-seed and that they would play 4-seeded Indiana in Round 1. Furthermore, they are in the same quadrant of the bracket as top-ranked South Carolina. Copyright  Fairfield University Athletics, 2024 A team with a 96.9% winning percentage received a 13-...

With only one guaranteed spot for each conference in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, winning the conference tournament is vital for most schools to enter the "Big Dance." Unless they don't lose in the regular season, the odds of Fairleigh Dickinson ever making the tournament are essentially zero without the automatic bid.  Critics of this process argue that it discounts the validity of the regular season for "Mid-Major" schools. While a team could be the clear top team in a conference and have the record to show it, one untimely upset could release them from NCAA tournament contention.  Northeast Conference: Low Reward, Low Madness Most conference tournaments use a traditional bracket format, where (nearly) everyone must win the same number of games to snag the automatic bid. Central Connecticut State won the 2023-2024 regular season in the Northeast Conference (NEC), but they are unrewarded for it - the Blue Devils need the same number of wins as 6-se...