With 98 Percent of Teams in the Clubhouse, Beavers Play On

I can never get enough of these statistics.

Yesterday, Old Dominion beat Bradely 66-62 in the College Insider Tournament championship. Also, Baylor beat San Diego State 76-62 and Penn State beat Notre Dame 67-59 in the NIT semifinals.

That makes the Beavers one of seven teams still playing College Basketball on this first of April (and that's no April Fool's joke). Four remain in the NCAA Tournament (Villanova, Connecticut, Michigan State, North Carolina), two in the NIT (Baylor, Penn State), and Oregon State and UTEP in the CBI.

Take the 330 Divison I basketball teams, divide it by the 223 that are sitting at home on their couches, or out at the park shooting at their mascots (couldn't resist), and you get 97.87 percent. For our purposes, we'll round up to 98. That means that 98 percent of Division I squads have concluded their seasons. 

Now... let's clarify: while the Beavers may be one of the last team standing in the country, it doesn't mean they're the best. Just because I'm all giddy over the fact that we're still playing while most aren't doesn't mean this is going straight to my head... the Beavers are somewhere around the 47th percentile in winning percentage. But it's the swagger, the confidence, and the practice time we're gaining that has me excited. Plus, it never hurts to play for a championship.

Which reminds me.... a win tonight would give the Beavers a winning record on the season, the first once since the NIT squad went 17-15 in 04-05. 

While the Beavers may have had good fortunes by being awarded a berth into the College Basketball Invitational, or used cash to get home games or whatever the case may have been, it's still pretty cool.

It may not be the biggest news in the morning paper, or make it to SportsCenter, but it's still very impressive. 

And this year, we don't have to worry about who Bob De Carolis is talking to in a Detroit hotel lobby at the Final Four.

Knock on wood.

--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)