Anything Can Happen
In about one to two weeks or so Division 1 college basketball and hockey teams will be playing in their conference tournaments, where you there will be a favorite and an extreme underdog. You never know whether that one underdog team gets hot and goes on to win it all. If an underdog does pull that off, it receives an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, thus taking a spot away from a team who was expected to be in or was on the proverbial bubble. In March, bubbles are meant to burst.
Well in Division 3 sports, particularly basketball and hockey as far as this blog is concerned, the conference tournaments started this week. Some conferences finished their tournaments and crowned a champion and some might go on for another week before they crown their champion.
If you live in a bubble or are reading a blog on this site for the first time, you may not know or just forgot that Chris, Kevin and I went to Oswego State University. I know we rarely mention it, so you might be confused when we do.
Anyway, the Oswego men’s hockey and basketball teams partook in the conference tournaments this weekend. The basketball team came into the tournament as the number one seed, 18-0 during the regular season and 24-1 overall, the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.
They took on the Cortland Red Dragons on Friday, 2/23/24 and definitely did not play their best game. Oswego was down 44-35 at the half, shooting 42% from the field and only 20% from 3-point range. Oswego would fight back in the second half and perform much better, shooting 46.4% from the field and a ridiculous 50% from 3-point range to come back and win the semifinal 76-68. Now when you are 18-0 in conference, you will have had a test or two throughout the season and will need to show some mental fortitude which the Lakers did on Friday night.
Saturday, they would face the New Paltz Hawks who were tied for second place during the regular season at 12-6, a far cry behind Oswego. Well, New Paltz did not see it this way and they fought tooth and nail to stay with the Lakers. During the season, Oswego had one of those aforementioned close games beating the Hawks at home by one point, 84-83. Well Saturday was their night to shine. The Hawks shot an impressive 57.1% from the field 60% from 3-point range and were still down 45-41 at the half. Not shooting well in the second half, they were still able to stay close and eventually took down the Lakers 85-80. What is important to note here is that, as I mentioned earlier although Oswego will very likely make the tournament no matter the outcome, New Paltz now grabbed the SUNYAC automatic bid, which will burst the bubble of another team who did not win their tournament and were so close to getting in.
On the hockey side, Oswego and the hated Plattsburgh Cardinals, finished the season tied with 25 points. Due to Oswego going 2-0 against Plattsburgh in the regular season for the first time in a long time (if ever), the Lakers would get the number two seed in the conference tourney. This forced Plattsburgh into playing in the first round which they are unaccustomed of doing. The Cardinals would barely hold on, beating the lowly Potsdam Bears 3-2 in overtime.
This is where drama would ensue and, as the typical Oswego-Plattsburgh playoff goes, there will be controversy that will last a lifetime.
This takes us to Saturday night in Oswego, where the Campus Center was rocking and the fans were ready to cheer on the Lakers. Oswego took the lead midway through the first period and held on into the second period.
In the second, the Cardinals scored early on and there is debate whether the goal should have counted. Oswego would also score during the second period, only to have the goal disallowed due to the players skate being in the paint at the top of the crease, although not affecting the goaltender at all.
The game would go to the third period, where the two teams traded goals and this would take us to overtime. Nothing like overtime playoff hockey, sitting on the edge of your seat on pins and needles just waiting for that final goal.
Well, that goal came and it was scored by Plattsburgh and this would send them on to the championship game next weekend. The Cardinals, the number 6 team in the nation would go on to face the Geneseo Knights, the number four team in the nation, OR SO WE ALL THOUGHT. The vaunted Cortland Red Dragons were back again and they had something to say here. Cortland took down the number one seed Knights and will play in the championship game next Saturday against Plattsburgh with an automatic bid on the line.
Now the hockey division 3 tournament is not like basketball where they have 64 teams. There are only 11 teams which can make this tournament. If Cortland can grab that automatic bid, there is an outside chance the SUNYAC gets three teams in the tournament and once again another bubble will be burst with a team in another conference waiting to hear if their name was called.
This is what happens this time of year when conference tournaments come around. You never know what will happen, or who will take home the title or whose bubble will burst because the underdog came out of nowhere to win it all.