Thursday Afternoon Update On The Bigger Picture - 2-26-26

 

Simulated NCAA Tournament Field For Thursday 2-26-26 (courtesy Scott Peterson)

So here we are on semifinal Thursday of the MIAC Women's Basketball Playoffs with two great games on tap tonight - Bethel at GAC in the 5:00 PM slot and SMU at Concordia in prime time at 7:00 PM.  Both of these contests should be absolute battles and you know I'm going to be watching both games online.  The winners tonight will meet in the MIAC Championship Game on Saturday at 3:00 PM at the remaining highest-seed location.  

So, while the St. Scholastica - Bethel game that I covered on Tuesday night was a blowout with the Royals advancing, the battle down in Winona on this same night was an absolutely wild affair that I had a feeling it would be - just not in the way it went down.  At the end of the third period, the Pipers seemed to have all but punched their ticket to tonight's semifinal action with a hefty 52-32 lead on the Cardinals and the magical season for SMU that seemed to have so much promise appeared to be going up in flames.  But someone forgot to inform this young Cardinals team of the dire straits they were in and instead they went on an incredible 27-0 blitz in the fourth period; snaring victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat as they advanced to tonight's semifinal action with a 59-52 victory in the unlikeliest fashion.  And, as you can see from the simulated NCAA Tournament bracket (above), SMU is clearly back in the picture for an at-large bid as their NPI ranking took a significant spike after the win.  Now, to be sure, the Cardinals are not a "sure thing" just yet; there's still a lot of moving pieces in a very fluid situation and while a loss to Concordia tonight doesn't necessarily erase them from the picture, the Cardinals will have to keep a wary eye on some of these other bubble teams - particularly out East - to see how they fare tonight and this weekend.  But personally I think the Cardinals will find a way to get in and wouldn't that be incredible to see the MIAC get FOUR teams into the Dance?  

Now, closer to home we know that the WIAC is still going to be a five-bid league and the WIAC Championship Game is set for Friday night as UW-Oshkosh (b'gosh) will host UW-La Crosse with the winner getting the conference's automatic bid.  But what's interesting here is that should the Eagles somehow find a way to pull off a massive upset, that COULD catapult them into one of the top 16 seeds whereby they would get an opportunity to host a 1st/2nd Round NCAA pod at their facility.  We'll just have to see how that all plays out.  Here in the MIAC, you'll see from above where Concordia is in an excellent position right now as a projected number-eleven seed where they would certainly be in position to host a 1st/2nd round NCAA pod at home in Moorhead.  But what happens if they should stumble either tonight or in the MIAC Championship Game?  That's a very good question.  Meanwhile, the ARC appears to be a one-bid league and there's two semifinal games tonight back home in Iowa as well (Luther at Wartburg and Buena Vista at Coe).  And the UMAC will also be a one-bid league but the number-one seed - Bethany Lutheran - was upended at home last night by North Central so now it will all come down to the UMAC Championship Game on Saturday up on the frigid shores of Gitche Gumee with the Rams taking on UW-Superior.  

As always, please feel free to fire away with thoughts.  I hope to be able to provide another update sometime tomorrow.