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As Expected, the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens are Carrying the College Basketball Torch for the Tri-State Region
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The Delaware Blue Hens are one win away from going dancing after they dispatched the Towson Tigers in the CAA semifinal with one of the dunks of the year:
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This run is nothing short of ludicrous. It’s preposterous. But it’s awesome baby! <Dick Vitale voice> Delaware was 12-19 heading into the Coastal tournament. They had a terrible season, won five conference games, and got into the bracket as the 12 seed, meaning they had to play a 12/13 game against not-powerhouse Stony Brook to make it to the second day. They then beat Campbell, William and Mary, and the #1 seed Towson, and if they dispatch the #2 seed, UNC Wilmington, they are going to the NCAA Tournament with a 17-19 record.
What’s more is that they entered the conference tournament having lost 11 of 12. They were ranking 260th on KenPom, out of 364 teams. They had no business being anywhere near a postseason tournament.
The thing about Delaware being on the doorstep is that the CAA is a one-bid league to begin with. Towson wasn’t going to be an at-large team, so if the Hens win, they aren’t taking a bid from a bubble team. We can avoid that whole argument about auto bids taking berths away from average power conference teams that aren’t a threat to win the natty to begin with. And with the Big 5 situation being what it is, bleak, Delaware (and Princeton) are our best hope for a “local” team being in the tournament, and even then “local” is doing a lot of work. Still, it’s a good story. Let’s go HENS.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com