Caleb Swanigan's 25th Double-Double Leads Purdue Past Northwestern

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, March 5, 2017

The Purdue Boilermakers cemented their claim on the Big Ten regular season title, winning at Northwestern, 69-65. Finishing the regular season with a 14-4 record, the Boilermakers wrapped up two games ahead of Maryland and Wisconsin, at 12-6.

Fueling the Boilermakers was their candidate for national player of the year, Caleb Swanigan, who notched his 25th double-double of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds.

The 6'9" sophomore from Fort Wayne, Indiana, was 8-for-15 from the field and hauled down 14 rebounds. Swingian's effort was aided by Vince Edwards' 25 points.

Swanigan and Edwards lead #16 Purdue into the upcoming Big Ten tournament, the winner of which will grab an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, though Purdue is assured to get at least an at-large bid should they not win the conference tourney.

Swanigan averages 18.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, making him one of the more versatile inside players in the collegiate ranks.

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A week out from Selection Sunday and there are already a host of teams that have played their way into the Big Dance.

On Saturday, Jacksonville State took down the Ohio Valley conference championship with a 66-55 win over UT-Martin. It's the first OVC title for the Gamecocks and their first NCAA invite since jumping to Division 1 and joining the conference in 2003.

Sunday began with Winthrop ending the dreams of Campbell, taking the Big South conference title with a no-doubter, 76-59 win over the upstart Fighting Camels. Winthrop had gone to the conference championship game in each of the past four seasons, but this is their first win during that span.

Florida Gulf Coast captured the Atlantic Sun conference championship, defeating North Florida, 77-61. The automatic bid is the third for the Eagles in the last six seasons.

The Missouri Valley conference championship went to Wichita State, as the Shockers pounded Illinois State, 71-51. Both teams were 17-1 in conference play, but 21st-ranked Wichita State was clearly the better of the two, racking up a 30-4 record overall.

Princeton, champions of the Ivy League, wrapped up an undefeated, 14-0, conference schedule with a 85-48 win over Dartmouth on Saturday. The perfect confernce mark was the sixth in Princeton's rich basketball history, but the kicker is that the Tigers, despite winning the conference title by four games, will have to play on in the first ever Ivy League Tournament. The league has implemented a four-team playoff, with the top seed playing #4 and #2 playing #3. All games will be played at the Palestra in Philadelphia, home to Princeton's first opponent, the Penn Quakers.

Semi-final games are on Saturday, March 11, with the finals on Sunday, March 12.

Kenny Kadji Leads Miami to ACC Title; Florida Gulf Coast, Belmont, Harvard Earn NCAA Berths

College Hoops Player of the Day for Saturday, March 9, 2013

With regular seasons ending in some of the major conferences and a couple of minor conferences hailing tourney champions and the first entrants into the NCAA field, Saturday was a huge day for college hoops.

In the Big East, Georgetown took a share of the regular season title with Marquette and Louisville - both winners on the day - with a stunning, 61-39 rout of Syracuse, finishing up their conference schedule at 14-4. The Hoyas, Cardinals, Golden eagles and Pitt Panthers will get first round byes in the upcoming conference tourney.

Miami captured the ACC title outright with a signature 62-49 home win over Clemson to wrap up the regular season with a 15-3 mark (24-6 overall), a game better than Duke, which hammered North Carolina, 69-53.

Miami was led by Kenny Kadji, who scored 23 points and ripped down 12 boards for his third straight double-double and seventh on the season. Kadji was 6-for-11 with four three-pointers and went 7-for-9 from the stripe.

Miami and Duke head to the ACC tournament the #1 and #2 seeds, setting up a possible finals match-up that could determine a #1 seeding in the NCAAs.

Three conferences crowned champions on Saturday, the first going to Florida Gulf Coast, as they topped Mercer, 88-75, capturing the Atlantic Sun tourney and grabbing the first automatic bid to March's Big Dance.

In an ironic twist, Belmont, last season's winner of the Atlantic Sun with a victory over Florida Gulf Coast, took down Murray State in overtime, topping the Racers in overtime, 70-68, to win the Ohio Valley Conference their first year in the league.

Harvard won the Ivy League, winning their final game against Cornell, 65-56, to post an 11-3 record, but the Crimson had to wait until later in the evening to celebrate their second straight Ivy title, when Brown upset Princeton, 80-67, leaving the Tigers at 9-4 with a game yet to play, Tuesday night against Penn at Philadelphia's Palestra.

NOTABLE: Kentucky likely salvaged their season and might have possibly earned an at-large bid with a 61-57 victory over #11 Florida, the Gators having already wrapped up the SEC regular season title. The Wildcats had dropped two straight before entering Saturday's game and a win over a ranked opponent was just the tonic needed to revitalize the program.

Creighton will play Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Conference tourney final Sunday, the Blue Jays hammering Indiana State, 64-43, while the Shockers took a 66-51 decision over Illinois State in the other semi-final.

A slew of other minor conference title are up for grabs on Sunday, and a huge game is on tap for 4:00 pm EDT at Ann Arbor, Michigan, as the #7 Wolverines host #2 Indiana. A Hoosier win would give them the Big Ten title outright, while a victory by Michigan could produce a four-way tie at the top of the conference between Michigan, Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State.

#1 Gonzaga turned a one-point half time lead into a 66-48 win in a WCC semi-final. The Zags will meet St. Mary's for the West Coast conference tourney title and the automatic NCAA bid at 9:00 pm EDT Sunday night.