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The Ivy League joins tournament fun

Southern Methodist lost two stars from last season, was down to six scholarship players and still managed to go 17-1 in American Athletic play. It's why Tim Jankovich is one of 10 finalists for national coach of the year.

Southern Methodist lost two stars from last season, was down to six scholarship players and still managed to go 17-1 in American Athletic play. It's why Tim Jankovich is one of 10 finalists for national coach of the year.

The American is one of the last conferences to start tournament play, but the most intriguing is being saved for last, as the Ivy League takes over the Palestra this weekend. Welcome to the 21st century, folks.

American

Championship: Sunday in Hartford (3:15 p.m., ESPN).

Three things: SMU has won 13 in a row to grab the No. 1 seed. Semi Ojeleye leads the Mustangs at 18.5 points per game despite not having played the last two years. He sat out 2014-15 after transferring from Duke and redshirted last year largely because SMU was banned from the postseason . . . Second-seeded Cincinnati was the only AAC team to beat SMU, winning, 66-64, at Cincy in January . . . Temple, the 8-seed, opens with East Carolina on Thursday at 3:30 on ESPNU. The Owls split with ECU; winner gets SMU on Friday (noon, ESPN2).

NCAA Tournament outlook: ESPN savant Joe Lunardi had both SMU and Cincinnati as 5-seeds entering Wednesday's games. Houston is among his "next four out."

Big West

Championship: Saturday in Anaheim (11 p.m., ESPN2).

Three things: UC Irvine swept the league's player of the year (Luke Nelson), coach of the year (Russell Turner) and defensive player of the year awards (Jonathan Galloway). Nelson is from Worthing, England, a critical town in the preparation for the Allied invasion of France in 1944 . . . Six different schools have won the Big West Tournament the last six years. Hawaii, last year's winner, upset Cal in the first round of the NCAAs . . . The seventh seed has beaten the two seed three times in six years, which could be trouble for UC Davis. The Aggies (19-12) play No. 7 Cal Poly (11-18), which already beat them once this season.

NCAA Tournament outlook: Joey Brackets projects Irvine as a 15-seed.

Ivy League

Championship: Sunday at the Palestra (1:30 p.m., ESPN2).

Three things: Princeton (14-0) was one of two teams to go through its conference undefeated (Vermont was the other) and would have long ago clinched the league's automatic bid, except for one thing. The Ivy, for the first time, is conducting a postseason conference tournament. The top-four qualified with Harvard (2-seed), Yale (3) and Penn (4) rounding out the field . . . Play starts on Saturday with semifinals. The Ivy women are doing the same. All the games are at the Palestra . . . Penn started league play 0-6, but roared back with six wins over the final eight games to grab the final spot.

NCAA Tournament outlook: Lunardi projects Princeton as a 13-seed. If someone other than Princeton wins, that NCAA Tournament seed will probably be 15 or 16.

Mid-American

Championship: Saturday in Cleveland (7:30 p.m., ESPN2).

Three things: Akron celebrated its regular-season championship by cutting down the nets Tuesday morning after practice. The Zips played three of their last four on the road and lost the only home game (to Miami, Ohio) in that span . . . Akron has appeared in eight of the last 10 MAC title games, winning three . . . Two MAC players dropped 50 points in a game this season. Central Michigan's Marcus Keene did it against Miami, Ohio on Jan. 21. Eastern Michigan's Ray Lee matched him on Feb. 28 at CMU. Keene had 41 in an opening-round loss to Kent State on Monday. Lee had 20 in a win over Northern Illinois. Lee and EMU play Akron on Thursday.

NCAA Tournament outlook: Lunardi projects Akron as a 13-seed.

Western Athletic

Championship: Saturday in Las Vegas (11 p.m., ESPNU).

Three things: Cal-State Bakersfield won its first conference regular-season crown at the Division I level. The Roadrunners had an 11-game winning streak snapped by Grand Canyon in a meaningless regular-season finale . . . Bakersfield joined the WAC in 2013-14 and won this tournament in 2016 with a last-second shot to beat New Mexico State . . . Grand Canyon senior guard DeWayne Russell was first-team all-conference. He was born in Philadelphia and moved to Peoria, Ariz., when he was in second grade. He had a school D-I record 42 points in a December loss to Louisville in which GCU led during the second half.

NCAA Tournament outlook: This is a one-bid league with Bakersfield projected as a No. 14 seed.