The first of 32 Finals is tonight at 8:00 P.M. on ESPN2 as 1 seed Belmont plays 2 seed Murray State in the Ohio Valley. These are the only two teams in the same conference with 4 or fewer losses, and 11 of 353 teams have 4 or fewer losses. ESPN's BPI gives Belmont a 52.8 chance to win. Before yesterday, Belmont was 44th in the NET, and Murray State was 48th, so the loser has a small chance at an at-large bid. In a Semifinal win over Austin Peay State, Belmont's Dylan Windler had 32 points and 21 rebounds. He became the first player since at least 2009-2010 to make at least 8 threes and have at least 21 rebounds.
Another pair of great teams in a bad conference will be 1 seed Lipscomb hosting 2 seed Liberty in the Atlantic Sun Final tomorrow at 3:00 P.M. on ESPN. Both teams have 6 losses, and ESPN's BPI gives Lipscomb a 72.6 chance to win. Before yesterday, Lipscomb was 43rd in the NET, and Liberty was 63rd. The bad thing about hosting is that if Lipscomb loses, a home loss is worse for their at-large chances than a neutral site loss would have been.
Chris Clemons is the only player averaging more than JWF. He's averaging 30.0, and his next game will be in the NIT after he shot poorly and 1 seed Campbell played bad defense in their Semifinal loss to 4 seed Gardner-Webb. He's fourth with 3,193 points and 24 behind third, so he could end third with the most points since Portland State's Freeman Williams, who ended in 1978. LSU's Pete Maravich has a record that won't be broken with 3,667.