Belmont Vision - Sports - Bruins seek to punch ticket to Big Dance

ISSUE: 02/28/07 > sports > NEW FAMILY, NEW BONDS

For one-bid conferences such as the Atlantic Sun, an entire regular season is forgotten amongst three monumental days in March. I am speaking of the crapshoot that we call a conference tournament because regular season champions entertain nightmares of being upset and sent home by teams with losing records who still entertain dreams of dancing.

Rick Byrd compares the conference tournament to a final exam and the regular season to studying. “It’s a little bit like when you know you’ve studied hard for a test. You feel better going into that final and that’s what we’ve got this weekend [A-Sun Conference Tournament] is a final. And it [regular season] doesn’t get us any points on the scoreboard to start the game.

Jordan Drake is a sophomore entrepreneurship major. E-mail: drake.jordan@gmail.com

Each of the eight teams enters the tournament with a blank slate. It doesn’t matter if you go undefeated in the regular season; one loss in the tournament sends you to the other tournament, the NIT. Just ask intrastate Ohio Valley Conference member Austin Peay, who went 16-0 in conference play in the 2003-2004 season but was upset in the tournament and consequently dispatched to the NIT, where they defeated Belmont, who also lost a game in their conference tournament.

Perhaps an example that hits closer to home is the Bruins’ women’s basketball team. Two of the past three years, Coach Tony Cross’ team has won the regular season title and been awarded a No. 1 seed just to be upset both times and fail to reach the NCAA Tournament. “We’ve accomplished a lot of things. Really the only goal we have left that we have left to reach for that’s never been done before is to go to the NCAA Tournament. From day one that’s what we’ve talked about.” This season, Cross has even instilled a special tournament package that includes special offensive and defensive packages that he’s never shown before.

Byrd seems to believe that the conference tournament can be unfair. He said, “It’s a shame in a way that it all comes down to that feeling when you leave Johnson City [the site of the A-Sun Conference Tournament] one way or the other because the season-long record and performance is what matters the most. I don’t think Johnson City, whatever happens, can take away from what we’ve accomplished.”

Maybe the season as a whole matters the most to coaches but it doesn’t to the only people who have a say: the NCAA selection committee. For the record, Byrd’s Bruins have benefited from the conference tournament. Last season, Lipscomb claimed the regular season title and No. 1 seed. Yet it was Belmont who got the last laugh and enjoyed the magical carpet ride to the Big Dance while Lipscomb was relegated to the NIT.

So the fairness of the conference tournament is all relative to each team’s situation.

Since the men’s team is not the No. 1 seed and regular season champion, Byrd must be grateful that the tournament is the deciding factor.

Since the women’s team is the No. 1 seed and regular season champion, Cross has got to be upset that an upset in the tournament would keep his team from being invited to the Big Dance.