Bracketology for D2: Jags sitting in picture on league tourney weekend
Justin Gray | Sports editor
If you’re like me, you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to see if the Jaguar men will get an at-large bid into the “big dance.”
Luckily for Augusta, so far, most of the things that needed to happen, happened.
Of course, after the quarterfinal loss to North Georgia on March 5, it’s all out of the Jaguars’ hands, and as AU Coach Dip Metress said: “It’s time to put on our cheering caps.”
How Does It Work?
In NCAA Division II it’s much different than Division I. Each conference is grouped into a certain region. For example, the Southeast Region contains the Peach Belt Conference, South Atlantic Conference and Conference Carolinas. And that’s the region we are diving into of course because it contains Augusta.
Regional Rankings
With two weeks to go in the season, the NCAA comes out with regional Rankings, which is a list of ten teams (only eight make it) basically showing you how teams would be seeded if the tournament started that day.
This past week, before Conference tournaments started, Augusta came in as the five-seed, which is typically a pretty safe spot to be.
The rankings on March 2 are as follows:.
Columbus State
Lincoln Memorial
USC Aiken
Lenoir-Rhine
Augusta University
UNC Pembroke
Carson-Newman
Coker
Catawba
UVa.-Wise
What has happened so far?
Two of the three conferences are already at the semi-final stage, the only one that isn’t is Conference Carolinas.
The No. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 seeds all have been eliminated from their respective conference tournaments. All of the other seeds, who aren’t eliminated, should now safely be in the field.
The forecast on Friday, March 7
As it stands right now, this is how I see the field if the season ended today.
Columbus State (Peach Belt Conference champion)
Lincoln Memorial (South Atlantic champion)
USC Aiken (PBC runner-up)
UNC Pembroke (Conference Carolinas champion)
Lenoir-Rhyne (SAC runner-up)
Carson-Newman
Augusta University
Catawba
Who should Jaguar fans pull for this weekend?
This is going to be a hard one for AU fans, but you’re going to need to pull the hardest for USC Aiken to handle business against North Georgia in the semifinals. It would be in Augusta’s best interest for the one and two seeds of the PBC to play for the championship.
Next, the Jaguars need UNC Pembroke to win the Conference Carolinas, especially because they are the only team in the conference in the current field.
Those are the two biggest, no results out of the South Atlantic Conference final is going to affect Augusta.
Who can steal bids and shake up the picture?
Emmanuel is the most likely team to shake up the field as the Lions have an automatic bye to the conference semifinals and would only need two wins to get an automatic bid. However, with a loss, they are eliminated.
North Georgia is the second most dangerous team. They aren’t in the field and there is only one way in for them to get into it, and that is by winning the conference tournament this weekend. The Nighthawks would have the toughest path to a title with USC Aiken and Columbus State/USCB standing in their way, but as they say it’s tough to knock off the defending champs.
Of course, there are a few more teams that can wreak havoc, but these are the two to keep an eye on and the most likely.
We will continue to track results as the weekend goes on, the Selection Show will be on Sunday, March 9, at 11 p.m.
Contact Justin Gray at jusgray@augusta.edu.
AU’s Demitri Gardner (2) has earned first-team all-conference honors as the 11th best scorer in NCAA Division II at 23 points per game. Gardner hopes the Jaguars (19-10) grab a spot in the Southeast Regional. At the top of the page, John St Germain III (4) had 13 points, six assists and five steals in Augusta’s 77-68 loss to North Augusta in the Peach Belt quarterfinals. St. Germain made the third team all-PBC team. (photos by Lydia Williams/the Bell Ringer)
