Harvard in Big Dance, Northeastern up next?
On an annual basis, there are one or two teams that shock the nation in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. There’s a chance that we could have a pair of Cinderella’s housed in our backyard.
Harvard punched its ticket to the tournament Sunday by beating Cornell, 65-56, and capturing the Ivy League title. The Ivy League is the only league to have an automatic bid tied to its regular season champion and is without a conference tournament.
If Northeastern makes its way into the field of 68 with a victory tonight in the Colonial Athletic Association championship game against James Madison (7 p.m., NBCSN), it can certainly make the case that it had a tougher road to the Big Dance than its cross-town rival.
The Huskies (20-11) fought and clawed their way to the title game by overcoming a monumental 24-point hole against George Mason in the semi-finals of the CAA tourney Sunday. Jonathan Lee scored on a layup with just three seconds left to give NU the win in Richmond, Va..
If Northeastern earns its first tourney spot since 1991 Monday, they’re hoping some of that CAA tourney magic will rub off 10 days later in the nation-wide dance. George Mason was the league’s most famous entry, having made it all the way to the Final Four in 2006.
Selection Sunday is March 17, the day Harvard and now possibly Northeastern will learn its first round opponents.
