After five wins in five days, Georgia Southern finally ran into a roadblock at the final step.
Thomas Dowd's 23 points and 13 rebounds lifted Troy to a 77-61 win over Georgia Southern on Monday night to claim the championship of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Trojans are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year.
Georgia Southern, the No. 10 seed in the conference tournament, needed to win six games in six days to earn the Sun Belt's automatic bid to the NCAAs. The Eagles nearly pulled it off.
Furman also earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance on Monday, beating East Tennessee State to win the Southern Conference Tournament.
Santa Clara took a big step toward its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996, beating Saint Mary's 76-71 in the West Coast Conference semifinals Monday night. It was the 600th victory for coach Herb Sendek, who has also taken Miami (Ohio), NC State and Arizona State to the NCAAs.
Santa Clara can earn an automatic bid by beating Gonzaga in the WCC final, but the Broncos probably don't need it.
Last four in according to ...
ESPN: Santa Clara, SMU, Virginia Commonwealth, Auburn.
CBS Sports: Missouri, VCU, SMU, Stanford.
First four out according to ...
ESPN: Indiana, Virginia Tech, Stanford, New Mexico.
CBS Sports: California, Auburn, Oklahoma, New Mexico.
(These updates came before Santa Clara's win Monday night.)
Here's who has claimed an automatic bid to this year's men's NCAA Tournament: Long Island University (NEC), Tennessee State (OVC), Northern Iowa (MVC), High Point (Big South), Queens (ASUN), North Dakota State (Summit), Troy (Sun Belt), Furman (SoCon).
Furman's last appearance was in 2023, when the Paladins were a No. 13 seed and beat Virginia 68-67 in a wild ending in which the Cavaliers turned the ball over and JP Pegues made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left.
Gonzaga plays in the WCC Tournament final for the 29th consecutive time Tuesday night. That streak will end next season when the Bulldogs join the Pac-12.
Other automatic bids at stake include the Horizon League (Wright State vs. Detroit), Coastal Athletic Association (Hofstra vs. Monmouth) and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Merrimack vs. Siena).
It's also the first day of the ACC and Big 12 tournaments, with bubble teams SMU, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Cincinnati in action.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
All are invited to attend this silent, unprogrammed meeting where we listen for the spirit o… Read moreSan Mateo Quakers
Exclusive film screening in San Mateo Read moreA LITTLE FELLOW: THE LEGACY OF A.P.GIANNINI
Yosemite Says said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.