Southland Hoops: The Mid-Major Taking College Basketball By Storm!

Alright hoops fans, let's turn our attention to a conference often overlooked, but no less competitive: the Southland. We're talking about college basketball, both men's and women's, and the fight for supremacy in this Texas and Louisiana-centric league. Founded way back in 1963, the Southland currently features 12 schools, each vying for that coveted automatic bid to the Big Dance.

Southland Hoops: The Mid-Major Taking College Bask...

Now, the Southland has seen its fair share of changes over the years. Remember the membership shakeups of 2021? Five schools departed, creating a bit of a vacuum. But things have stabilized, with a couple of those schools returning and new institutions joining the fold. It's a testament to the conference's resilience and its continued importance in the landscape of mid-major basketball.

Here's how the tournament breaks down: out of those 12 teams, only the top eight make it to the conference tournament. It gets pretty cutthroat. The bottom four seeds have to battle it out in the first round, and the winners then face the third and fourth-ranked teams in the quarterfinals. The top two seeds, meanwhile, get to sit back and watch the carnage unfold, awaiting the winners in the semifinals. Talk about an advantage!

Frankly, getting anything other than one of those top two seeds makes the path to the NCAA Tournament a real uphill battle. The Southland is almost always a one-bid league, meaning the only way to get into March Madness is to win the conference tournament. So, regular-season performance is absolutely critical for teams dreaming of extending their season.

Looking at the standings right now, the final two spots in the Southland tournament are still very much up for grabs. Northwestern State, Lamar, Incarnate Word (UIW), and East Texas A&M are all hovering around that bubble. Even Southeastern Louisiana (SLU), despite being in last place, still has a mathematical shot. With just a couple of games left, we're talking about serious must-win situations for many of these teams. This is where legends are made, or dreams get crushed.

Then you've got McNeese and SFA, the clear frontrunners. McNeese is currently leading the conference in both the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) and Wins Above Bubble (WAB). SFA isn't far behind. A strong finish could even put SFA in consideration for an at-large bid, but that's a long shot. The irony is, securing a bye to the semifinals might actually hurt SFA's chances. Fewer games mean fewer opportunities to improve their WAB score, which could be a crucial factor in the eyes of the Selection Committee.

So, only one Southland team will make it to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and right now, McNeese and SFA look like the most likely candidates. Their dominance in the regular season and the tournament structure gives them a significant edge. It's going to be a fascinating finish to the season, and I, for one, can't wait to see how it all unfolds. And hey, don't sleep on those other teams battling for a tournament berth. Anything can happen in March (or in this case, late February/early March)!