Saturday provided us with a full slate of conference championship games in college basketball which meant a lot of automatic bids for the NCAA Tournament were set to be punched. In bigger conferences, there isn’t a ton of drama when it comes to who gets in and who doesn’t for conference title games as both teams are usually assured a place in the Big Dance no matter the outcome.
However, for smaller conferences the automatic bid is often the only way into the tournament so an upset in a conference championship game can mean heartbreak for one team and jubilation for the other. That’s exactly what happened in the first title game of the Saturday schedule as Vermont hosted UMBC in the America East Championship.
At 27-5 (15-1 in conference) Vermont was the favorite to make the tournament, while 23-10 (12-4) UMBC was a solid second seed but not the anticipated automatic bid from the America East. Like many small conference tournaments, Vermont had the right to host the final as the top seed and so the challenge was even greater for UMBC, but they managed to go on the road and earn a 65-62 victory and punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament thanks to a dagger three just before the buzzer.
The Retrievers earned their trip to the dance by way of a clutch three-pointer from guard Jairus Lyles with under a second to play in a tie game, as he calmly dribbled up to the top of the key and drilled a contested jumper for the lead (and ultimately the win).
Jairus Lyles and UMBC shock Vermont and steals the #AEC bid! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ROxOHRx441
— The Game Haus Sports (@TGHSports) March 10, 2018
UMBC 65, Vermont 62 final. Here is the winning shot from my seat. Going to miss this stuff. pic.twitter.com/CMa2y4DlCR
— Ray Curren (@currenrr) March 10, 2018
It was, as the great Bill Raftery would say, a display of pure ONIONS, and one of the best moments from this conference tourney season. The Catamounts needed a Christian Laettner-esque miracle to avoid defeat and they tried that exact play, but the pass was broken up.
Lyles finished with 27 points in a starring role for the Retrievers that fittingly ended with his heroic three. UMBC figures to find itself up against a powerhouse program in the tournament, but if Lyles can replicate this kind of performance they might scare someone in the first round.
