It's semifinal time in several conferences in DII college.
In the MARC, Villanova has looked solid after beating Bloomsburg to ensure an undefeated regular season.
With No. 8 Matt Rainer leading the forwards and thundering through the line, and Joe O'Regan scoring tries out wide, they are a handful.
"All four of the team that made the MARC playoffs are capable of walking away with the title," said Villanova Head Coach Stephen Green. Certainly Georgetown is a powerful outfit, Scranton was winning with alacrity before hitting a Villanova wall. UMBC is definitely a dark horse.
We talked in some detail about how Northwestern made the GMW semis with three wins in one week.
Three Days, Two Massive Wins, and Northwestern Vaults to GMW Playoffs
But we also know they are up against it when playing Northern Iowa, since UNI's closest conference game was ... 59-5.
Gateway has their semifinals and we're really wondering about this because it's been a hit-and-miss season for this conference. They just haven't had consistent games. SLU is probably favored.
Liberty should be very interesting and it's notable that two of the teams in the semis, including the favorites, are teams that moved over from the somewhat maligned Tri-State Conference. Tri-State usually struggled to get a straight Round of 16 place and had to play-in. Liberty got a Round of 16 spot and it's highly likely that a team that was in the Tri-State in 2022 will take it. Hmmm ...
Auburn (not going to NCR playoffs due to school size) plays Memphis in a game that establishes to top dog in the SCRC.
Allegheny also has their semis and we have a favorite there, too.
