Automatic Bid

For the first time in 21 years, there will not be at least one New Jersey Athletic Conference men's or women's team from South Jersey competing in the NCAA Division III basketball tournaments. Since 1981, either Stockton, Rowan or the College of New Jersey has had a team in the tournaments. That streak ended when Kean beat the College of New Jersey's women in the NJAC tournament finals Friday and William Paterson topped Stockton's men on Saturday. In the past, at least one team would have gotten an at-large bid. But since the NCAA gave every Division III conference an automatic bid two years ago, it has put greater emphasis on winning a conference title.

A year ago, the Atlantic Ten was given short shrift by the NCAA women's basketball tournament committee, which limited the traditionally strong league to just one team, its champion. This year, the A-10 crowd believes the days of multiple members advancing to the national tournament might be back now that the NCAA field has been expanded to 64 teams. Still, Rutgers and St. Joseph's would rather not have to wait until the field announcement on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. Either can avoid that by winning the league playoffs, which begin today at 2 p.m. with a first-round game between ninth-seeded Temple and eighth-seeded West Virginia at St. Joseph's.

The winning streak is alive. The milestones keep piling up. Candice Dupree is on her way to becoming a basketball legend. And the Atlantic Ten Conference championship remains firmly in the grasp of the Temple women's basketball team. The 15th-ranked Owls racked up their third title in four seasons yesterday by holding off George Washington, 70-62, in the Colonials' Smith Center to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The 64-team field and pairings will be announced Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

Undefeated Rowan received a first-round bye in the NCAA Division III football tournament, but Widener was denied an at-large berth into the 28-team field. The Profs (10-0) captured an automatic bid as champions of the New Jersey Athletic Conference after Saturday's 48-12 victory over Montclair State. They will not play until Nov. 30, when they host the winner of Saturday's opening-round game between Springfield and SUNY Brockport. Rowan earned a berth in the Division III playoffs for the 10th time in the last 12 years.

THE IVY LEAGUE athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the athletics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

The Ivy League athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the atheltics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

La Salle won its first Atlantic Ten women's soccer championship Sunday in Kingston, R.I., giving coach Paul Royal his 100th victory, with a 2-1 overtime decision against Virginia Commonwealth. Junior Renee Washington scored both goals for the Explorers (17-4-1), who will head to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. La Salle's Jourdan McVicker was named the tournament's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tourney team by Explorers Washington and Ashley Chilcoat.

Tim Begley scored 18 points to lead four Penn players in double figures as the Quakers beat Dartmouth, 81-59, last night to keep alive their hopes of a share of the Ivy League title. Begley was 7 of 11 from the floor, including four three-point baskets. The victory kept Penn (16-9 overall, 9-3 Ivy League) two games behind Princeton, which defeated Harvard, 60-51, to clinch a share of the title. The Tigers (11-1) can clinch the title outright - and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament - tonight against Dartmouth.

Despite foul problems, top-seeded Richard Stockton held off second-seeded Rowan to win the New Jersey Athletic Conference final, 75-62, last night. Stockton's first title since 1988 earned it an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. Rowan (22-4) also will get a bid. Atlantic City's Carl Cochran, the NJAC's leading scorer at 21.8 points per game, led the Ospreys with 27 points. Stockton used just seven players, and three had four fouls. But Rowan committed 25 turnovers.

If you like college basketball, the Palestra is the place to be this weekend. Nine games, including four doubleheaders, will be played there tonight through Monday. The action begins at 7 tonight with Penn hosting Yale in an Ivy League contest. In a Saturday evening doubleheader, Penn will play Brown in another Ivy League matchup at 7, followed by a Midwestern Collegiate Conference game between La Salle and Dayton at 9. Penn needs just one more Ivy League victory to capture the league title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Gene Chizik led Auburn to perhaps the greatest season in the program's history, and two years later to maybe its worst. The rapid fall from a national championship to 3-9 and the Southeastern Conference doormat led to Chizik's firing Sunday, the day after a humbling, 49-0 loss to No. 2 Alabama that showed just how far the program has slipped. The Tigers went from 14-0 with a perfect SEC record with Cam Newton leading the offense in 2010 to 3-9 and 0-8, losing their final three league games by a combined 150-21.

PPL Park in Chester will host the Big East men's soccer championship on Friday and Sunday. The tournament was moved from Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., where it had been held the previous two years. The semifinals are Friday at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., with both matches televised on CBS Sports Network. All four teams to reach the semifinals are from the Blue Division. Georgetown, the No. 2 seed, will face Marquette, the No. 4 seed, in the first game, before the No. 3 seed, Notre Dame, matches up against top-seeded Connecticut.

La Salle won its first Atlantic Ten women's soccer championship Sunday in Kingston, R.I., giving coach Paul Royal his 100th victory, with a 2-1 overtime decision against Virginia Commonwealth. Junior Renee Washington scored both goals for the Explorers (17-4-1), who will head to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season. La Salle's Jourdan McVicker was named the tournament's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tourney team by Explorers Washington and Ashley Chilcoat.

THE IVY LEAGUE athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the athletics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

The Ivy League athletic directors have decided not to move forward with proposals for conference tournaments in men's and women's basketball, the league announced Thursday. The coaches had proposed a four-team tournament, but it would need to have cleared three stages to be adopted. The first stage was the atheltics directors, who discussed the issue at their annual meetings in Red Bank, N.J. "After careful consideration of these proposals, the athletics directors decided that our current method of determining the Ivy League champion and our automatic bid recipient to the NCAA Championship is the best model moving forward," Ivy League executive director Robin Smith said in a statement.

A pair of freshmen, Brianna Lancetta of Bishop Eustace Prep and Sarah Kelly of Washington Township High, each scored four goals to lead Holy Family (14-4) to a 15-10 win over Georgian Court (12-7) for the Tigers' first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's lacrosse championship on Sunday afternoon in Lakewood, N.J. Goalkeeper Melissa Jenkins (Interboro) made 12 saves and was named the tourney's most valuable player. Jenkins was joined on the all-tourney team by Lancetta and Kelly, plus teammate Stephanie McNesby (Archbishop Ryan)

When his seniors were sophomores, Cherry Hill West baseball coach Dan McMaster took them to watch a Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic doubleheader at Maple Shade. "They set their sights on it," McMaster said. Two years later, the Lions hope to do more than watch the prestigious 16-team tournament. They hope to play in it. Cherry Hill West made its case for an at-large berth to the 39-year-old tournament on Friday with an impressive, 12-7 victory over host Paul VI in an Olympic Conference interdivision game.

When his seniors were sophomores, Cherry Hill West baseball coach Dan McMaster took them to watch a Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic doubleheader at Maple Shade. "They set their sights on it," McMaster said. Two years later, the Lions hope to do more than watch the prestigious 16-team tournament. They hope to play in it. Cherry Hill West made its case for an at-large berth to the 39-year-old tournament on Friday with an impressive, 12-7 victory over host Paul VI in an Olympic Conference interdivision game.

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