Creighton: 2012-13 Missouri Valley Champions



Creighton defeated Wichita State 68-65 to win the Missouri Valley Conference and they did it without a strong game from their superstar, Doug McDermott.
The Creighton Bluejays defeated the Wichita State Shockers in the third meeting between the two schools this season to win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Wichita State held Creighton star Doug McDermott to 14 points, but still lost, 68-65.
Creighton led by 13 with five minutes remaining, but the Shockers made a late run to narrow the gap to one. However it proved to be too little to late, as the Bluejays held on for the win.
While Wichita State held the nation's top shooting team in check, they only shot 33.8% from the field themselves and couldn't hit from deep, going 7-of-22 from beyond the arc. With McDermott held in check, the rest of the Bluejays stepped up in a collaborative effort.
McDermott scored 25 and 41 in two previous meetings between the two schools, but Creighton showed on Sunday that it could win games without a standout performance from their star. They got out to 19-7 lead early despite starting 0-for-8 from the field and without McDermott scoring a point. McDermott didn't score until the 7:13 mark of the first half and never got into a groove.
Malcolm Armstead kept the Shockers in the game in the first half, scoring 18 of their 28 first half points as well as notching four first half steals. He finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and four steals.
The Bluejays showed they were the class of the MVC in St. Louis this weekend, beating Drake 65-53 and dispatching Indiana State 64-43 before defeating the Shockers on Sunday. Creighton secured the automatic bid with the win, but both the Bluejays and Shockers will be taking part in the NCAA Tournament. In the latest bracket projections, Creighton is listed as a seven seed and Wichita State as a nine.

Liberty: 2012-13 Big South Champions


Liberty, With 15-20 Record, Earns NCAA Berth
abcnews.go.com
ABC News

Liberty, with 15-20 record, earns NCAA berth with 87-76 win over Charleston Southern
The Associated Press
Liberty coach Dale Laney doesn't care how many losses it took to get his players to the NCAA tournament.
The Flames became just the second 20-loss team to reach college basketball's marquee event, beating Charleston Southern 87-76 Sunday to win the Big South Conference title. Liberty opened the season with eight straight losses and had never won more than three in a row until this week. Yet, it joined Coppin State in 2008 as the only schools with 20 or more defeats in the field of 68.
The Flames' .429 winning percentage (15-20) is the lowest for an NCAA tournament team since Oakland (Michigan) had a 12-18 record (.400) in 2005.
"That's awesome," Laney said of his team. "We've got the hats, right?"
Yes, you do, Coach.
The Flames finished their best stretch of basketball this year, winning their fifth in a row — and their fourth game since Tuesday — to take their first Big South tournament crown since 2004. John Caleb Sanders led the way with 27 points and tournament MVP Davon Marshall had 20 off six 3-pointers.
Marshall and Sanders got things going in a hurry over top-seeded Charleston Southern (19-12) with 3-pointers in the first 90 seconds — and the Flames barely lost their outside touch. Marshall was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc and Liberty finished 9 of 18 on long-range baskets.
The performance ended a hard-to-imagine run through the field where Liberty defeated home-standing Coastal Carolina and both Big South divisional winners in High Point and Charleston Southern. Sanders said the team began to believe when they topped the Chanticleers 78-61. "When you can beat Coastal by 20 on their home floor, we knew we could beat anybody in this tournament," he said.
That played out over the week at the HTC Center with the improbable run.
"We've played four of our best games in these four games of the tournament," Sanders said. "Talk about peaking at the exact right time."
Count on Liberty being near the bottom of the 68 NCAA seeds and a likely candidate for the tournament's first-four contests. Sanders says he and the Flames don't care which opponent they face.
"I feel like if we do us, we can give them a game," he said.
Saah Nimley had 18 points to lead the Buccaneers, who as the Big South's regular-season champs will play in the NIT.
The Flames and their cheerleaders rushed the court when the game ended, the players piling on top of each other in celebration. And why not, since Liberty was among the longest of longshots to be cutting down the nets in this one?
Liberty will try and pull off a Big South tournament double later Sunday when its top-seeded women's team takes on Longwood for that NCAA berth. The Flames women have won 14 of the past 16 Big South tournament titles.
The Flames fell behind for a final time, 40-37, on Arlon Harper's 3-pointer with 18:10 lead. That's when Sanders' jumper started a 17-7 run the next six minutes to take control. The charge was capped by Marshall's long 3-pointer that put Liberty ahead 54-47. The lead eventually grew to 14 points as the Bucs could not match Liberty's success from the field.
Charleston Southern was just 9 of 28 from behind the arc and Nimley, who made the all-Big South Conference team, was just 1 of 7 from three. The Bucs finished with five players in double figures.
Buccaneers coach Barclay Radebaugh said he told people after his team's 79-75 victory at Liberty on Jan. 26 that he wanted no part of what the Flames were building a second time.
"I think they're lying in wait," he said. "That's a scary team. They've got size, they've got depth. They're guards are good. They're strong."
Charleston Southern came in the tournament's top seed and would have hosted this final under the Big South's old home-court format. The league began a three-year deal to play at the recently opened, $35 million HTC Center on the campus of Big South member Coastal Carolina — about 10 miles or so west of South Carolina's Grand Strand, Myrtle Beach resort area.
The Buccaneers hadn't been to a Big South final since 2005 and last won in 1997, also the last time they advanced to the NCAA tournament. They got to the championship by defeating Winthrop in the tournament opener and rallied from 5 points down at the half to oust VMI, 71-65.
Charleston Southern had gone from nine victories in 2009 to back-to-back 19-win seasons the past two years. Both their leading scorers in Nimley and Harper are sophomores so Radebaugh believes the Bucs aren't done contending for Big South crowns. First things first, though.
"I'm really looking forward to the NIT," Radebaugh said. "It's not going to be a show up game for us."
Liberty was next to last in the Big South's six-team North Division. That's when the Flames found their game, topping host Coastal Carolina in the opening round before knocking off one of the tournament favorites in High Point, 61-60, in the quarterfinals. The Flames led throughout against High Point, taking a 19-point lead and holding on.
Liberty kept the run going on Saturday with a win over Gardner-Webb.
The Flames didn't let up against Charleston Southern. Sanders, the team's leading scorer this year at 13 points a game, nearly reached that mark with 12 points in the period while Marshall added 11.
Tavares Speaks hit a bucket as the halftime buzzer sounded that put the Flames ahead 35-34 heading into the break. Speaks ended the game with 18 points.
Laney, Liberty's fourth-year coach, previously led Colorado State into the NCAAs back in 2003. He said it was difficult to compare experiences and chooses to concentrate on his happy players, snipping away at basketball nets to take back to campus.
"It's life changing. I'm just looking at their faces and trying to soak in every moment," he said. "That's what you're doing this for."

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BoBA 2013 ISML Predictions: Preliminaries Match Day 12

ARENA 01: Ayano Keiko (Silica) Dekomori Sanae [Akemi Homura] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 02: [Kurokami Medaka] Erica Blandelli Gasai Yuno by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 03: Shiomiya Shiori Kurugaya Yuiko [Hanekawa Tsubasa] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 04: [Nishizono Mio] Miniwa Tsumiki Kurasaki Fūko (Sky Raker) by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 05: Nishizumi Miho Ibara Mayaka [Oda Nobuna] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 06: [Aoyama Nanami] Momo Belia Deviluke Roromiya Karuta by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 07: [Takenaka Hanbee] Himenokōji Akiko Matsumi Kuro by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 08: Araragi Tsukihi Yuzuriha Inori [Shirakiin Ririchiyo] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 09: [Tsuyuri Kumin] Lala Satalin Deviluke Toshinō Kyōko by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 10: Sakura Kyōko Tōjō Koneko [Mine Riko] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 11: Mōri Ran Mizutani Shizuku [Nagase Iori] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 12: Oshino Shinobu Nyarlathotep [Takanashi Tōka] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 13: [Kotegawa Yui] Irisviel von Einzbern Elucia de Lute Ima by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 14: Kanzaki H. Aria Kirishima Shōko [Natsume Rin] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 15: Natsume Asako [Okita Sawa] Onjōji Toki by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 16: Tainaka Ritsu Honma Meiko [Nōmi Kudryavka] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 17: Shiina Mayuri Kusaribe Hakaze [Ayukawa Tenri] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 18: Kushina Anna Akaza Akari [Tomoe Mami] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 19: Konoe Subaru Yūki Mikan [Makise Kurisu] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 20: Morgiana Shimada Minami [Kanoe Yūko] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 21: Haqua du Lot Herminium [Kamikita Komari] Sanka Rea by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 22: [Kaname Madoka] Sakai Wakana Inaba Himeko by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 23: [Saigusa Haruka] Rias Gremory Watashi by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over

ARENA 24: Neko Misaki Mei [Araragi Karen] by >=700
Over/Under: 9000
Over