Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lamar loses but advances


Lamar's Currye Todd (No. 31, left) tries to make it to the hoop past Southeastern Louisiana's Kevyn Green (No. 3, right) during a basketball game in Hammond, La. on Saturday, March 8, 2008.

Photos by Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise



Lamar's Kenny Dawkins (No. 14, right) works his way past Southeastern Louisiana's Dekyron Nicks (No. 5, left) during a basketball game in Hammond, La. Lamar started the game positioned to win the conference title outright for the first time since the 1983-84 season.



Lamar's Currye Todd (No. 31, right) defends against Southeastern Louisiana's Daryl Arnold (No. 20, left) during a basketball game in Hammond, La. If Lamar could win, they'd have an automatic berth in the NIT tournament.


Lamar's Coy Custer (from left to right), Lawrence Nwevo and Lamar Sanders watch the final few minutes of a basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La. Lamar University lost the game 83-73, but tied with Stephen F. Austin University to be Southland Conference co-champions and advance into the SLC Tournament.


Lamar's head coach Steve Roccaforte (center) along with assistant coaches Don Skelton (left) and Kermit Holmes (right) react to a referee's call during a basketball game against Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La. on Saturday, March 8, 2008. Lamar University must now win three games in four days to advance to the NIT Tournament.

Please read, "Missed shots..." by Perryn Keys.

5 comments:

Justin said...

Only the winner of the conference tournament gets the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The regular season title is meaningless in this regard.

All the projections I've seen have them in the play-in game if they win the SLC tournament.

Mark M. Hancock said...

In the story, Perryn wrote, "Had the Cardinals won their conference outright, they would have earned an automatic berth."
Perryn knows his stuff and researches his stories. I can't believe he'd write this statement without it being true.
Since the Cards lost, they must now win the tournament to advance.

Justin said...

According to my research, they would have guaranteed themselves an NIT bid if they didn't win the conference tournament. The only conference whose NCAA bid is decided by the regular season standings is the Ivy League because they don't hold a tournament.

Take a look at the Wiki page on automatic bids.

Mark M. Hancock said...

As I said, Perryn knows his stuff. I misread what he wrote. The post has been corrected.
Thanks for the correction. :-)

Justin said...

I got another for you. If you win the conference tournament you make the NCAA tournament. If you win the regular season outright and don't win the conference tournament you go to the NIT.

I know, it's confusing. :) Heck, the thing about going to the NIT if you won the regular season but not the conference tourney was new to me.