NCAA Tournament Auto Bids: Duke, Kentucky, Richmond Wrap Up Automatic Berths

Dayton came into Selection Sunday hoping to poach the Atlantic 10’s automatic berth and play bid thief. Instead, Richmond handled the Cinderella Flyers and kept the NCAA Tournament bubble intact with a 67-54 victory in the Atlantic 10 Tournament final.

Richmond’s Kevin Anderson led all scorers with 23 points, and the Spiders’ Justin Harper added 18 points. Both teams struggled to produce on offense, with Richmond shooting just 42.2% from the field, only marginally better than Dayton’s 38.2%.

Duke got its revenge on North Carolina in the ACC Tournament final with a convincing 73-58 victory that should propel the Blue Devils to a No. 1 seed on this Selection Sunday.

Duke got 20 points and 10 assists from Nolan Smith in the win, and the Blue Devils’ National Player of the Year candidate led all scorers despite making just six of 18 shots. Kyle Singler and Seth Curry each added 11 points for Duke.

Kentucky didn’t need an automatic berth to the 2011 NCAA Tournament, but the Wildcats got one with a 65-54 victory over Florida in the SEC Tournament final. Now, the ‘Cats can wait for even better news about their potential March Madness seeding on this Selection Sunday.

The Wildcats did a number on regular season SEC champion Florida’s offense, holding it well below its season scoring average and to under 40% shooting from the field. Kentucky also got 17 points from super freshman Brandon Knight, and another 16 from fellow freshman Terrence Jones.

The Big East was never in real danger of having an automatic berth-winner that would not have otherwise qualified for the 2011 NCAA Tournament. But with Connecticut’s 69-66 victory over Louisville in the Big East Championship, the Huskies may have pulled off the greatest accomplishment in conference tournament history.

Kemba Walker, as usual, was fantastic for the Huskies: he had 19 points, staked UConn to a huge first half lead, and made a splendid pass to Jeremy Lamb for the lay-up that gave his team a lead it would not relinquish. Walker’s Big East Tournament performance set all sorts of records, and his 130 points over UConn’s unprecedented five wins in five days will likely be emblazoned in lore for a long, long time. Heroism isn’t quite right for sports, but there are certainly heroics, and Kemba Walker’s play over the last five days qualifies.

Despite the absence of Brandon Davies, the BYU Cougars have been able to make a run to the final of the 2011 Mountain West Conference basketball tournament on the back of some stellar performances by Jimmer Fredette. He dropped 52 against New Mexico and put up a solid 30 points tonight, but he got little help from his teammates as San Diego State coasted to an emphatic 72-54 victory. Aztecs forwards Billy White and Kawhi Leonard both hit 20 points and were both fantastic on the glass.

BYU shot 25% from behind the arc as a team, which was probably their biggest undoing. Though, only having one player other than Fredette in double figures and getting out-rebounded probably didn’t help either. With their win, San Diego State all but locked themselves into a No. 2 seed and has forced the committee into giving them serious consideration as a No. 1 seed. Based on the heavy nature of this loss and the absence of Davies, BYU, once a possible No. 1 seed, could see themselves drop below the No. 3 line.

The Mid-American contest was heavily contested all season, so it’s only fitting that the tournament championship game was just as tight. In the end, Akron upset Kent State, 66-65, in overtime to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Brett McKnight, who air balled a free throw in regulation, nailed two clutch free throws with 13 seconds to go in overtime to seal the win. Kent State had two chances to win, but Rodriquez Sherman had his shot blocked, and Randal Holt missed a three-pointer after an offensive rebound. McKnight led the Zips with 15 points off the bench, while Holt led Kent State with 14.

As was the case with many other games this past week, the American East championship game featured a team winning after taking its only lead of the game in the closing seconds. This time, it was Boston University rallying to top Stony Brook, 56-54, and punch its ticket to the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

Holland carried Boston University to the win, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Neither team shot well, both hitting just 31 percent of their field-goal attempts.

After a magical run through the NCAA Tournament in 2010, ending with a heartbreaking loss to Duke in the national championship, the Butler Bulldogs are back again in 2011 after winning the Horizon League Tournament. Butler, which shared the Horizon’s regular season title, took home the championship by dropping league co-champion UW-Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

Butler has been on a mini-run, of sorts, earning NCAA Tournament bids in each of the five seasons. The Bulldogs have gone dancing eight times since 2000, making the Sweet Sixteen in 2003, 2007 and 2010. Butler has won or shared the Horizon League regular season title in each of the last four years, as well, winning the conference tournament three times.

For the second-straight year, and third time overall, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies are in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Summit League Tournament. On Tuesday, Oakland took home the title, cruising to a 90-76 win over Oral Roberts in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Keith Benson was dominant for Oakland, scoring a team-high 28 points and grabbing rebounds to lead the Golden Grizzlies back to the Big Dance. Reggie Hamilton added 26 points, with Will Hudson, 12 points and Drew Valentine, 10 points, also in double-figures.

North Texas and Arkansas-Little Rock battled for the Sun Belt’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid, with the Trojans taking the conference title game, 64-63. Arkansas-Little Rock’s Soloman Bozeman hit a three-pointer with a second left on the clock to send his team to its first March Madness since 1990.

The game was close all evening -- North Texas began to pull away in the closing minutes, leading by seven with just under two to go, but Little Rock closed it to one point with 16 seconds left.

Kenneth Faried’s had a fantastic collegiate career. And thanks to Morehead State’s victory over Tennessee Tech in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament final, it’s not over yet.

Faried, a senior forward with some of the best hair you will see come March Madness, led the Eagles past the Golden Eagles and into the NCAA Tournament field with an 80-73 victory. He scored 24 points and snagged 15 rebounds, and added five blocks, and helped the Eagles hold off one final run.

The first team guaranteed a spot in the 2011 NCAA Tournament? UNC-Asheville, which just punched its Big Dance ticket with a victory over Coastal Carolina in the Big South Tournament championship game.

Meanwhile, the Chanticleers have 28 wins on the year, but all March Madness hopes are likely lost for Coastal Carolina without the Big South’s automatic bid. Our Chris Dobbertean had them earning a 15 seed in his most recent bit of bracketology, and a lack of big wins on their slate probably dooms their at-large candidacy, even with the historically weak 2011 bubble.