Anywhere online or on social media in the Division I college basketball world, there is talk about who’s on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. That conversation locally includes the Division II NCAA tournament and the FLC men’s basketball team.
The Skyhawks are right on the bubble for an NCAA tournament bid and a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament home game. FLC is 15-9 overall and 9-6 in the RMAC after back-to-back losses for the first time since early December.
If FLC wants to host a conference tournament game and make the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year, the Skyhawks might have to finish 4-1 or 5-0 in a somewhat easy five-game stretch to finish the season.
FLC is in a three-way tie for fourth in the RMAC with UCCS and Black Hills State for the final home conference tournament game.
The good news in this situation is the Skyhawks have already beaten both teams this season and don’t play either team again in the regular season.
Some more good news for FLC fans is the remaining regular season schedule is relatively weak on paper. The Skyhawks play three of the four worst teams in the RMAC standings. Chadron State is the only remaining opponent which doesn’t have a losing record in conference play. The combined conference winning percentage of FLC’s final five regular season opponents is 34%.
On the flip side, FLC needs to show it can consistently beat the conference’s bottom teams; the Skyhawks lost to New Mexico Highlands, the RMAC’s worst team, on Feb. 8. If FLC goes 4-1 it should be in a good position to get the fourth seed; 5-0 would certainly seal it.
The NCAA tournament bid is more up in the air for FLC. The Skyhawks had the sixth-best RPI in the South Central Region before they lost to New Mexico Highlands and Colorado Mesa. Now the Skyhawks are ninth with a possible eight bids from the South Central Region to the NCAA tournament.
A 4-1 stretch heading into the RMAC tournament would put FLC in a decent position for an at-large bid. If any mediocre teams are bid stealers in the conference tournaments, that could cause trouble for FLC. A five-game winning streak would be ideal to boost FLC’s RPI before the conference tournament.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
