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With both SIUE and Omaha never before reaching the NCAA Tournament, 2025’s first two bids go to unusual winners

While the heat of the power conference regular season took a lot of the headlines over the weekend, Saturday saw two NCAA Tournament automatic bids claimed, with SIUE winning the Ohio Valley Conference title game over SEMO and Omaha earning a bid due to St. Thomas’ Summit League semifinal win while NCAA Tournament-ineligible.

Starting in the Ohio Valley, the first conference championship game of the season saw SIUE blow past SEMO 69-48. Ray’Sean Taylor, a four-year starter at SIUE who has averaged double figures in all four seasons, was once again the main man for the Cougars, scoring 20 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and dishing out four assists. Taylor shot just 3-of-9 from the field, but his ability to get to the line proved crucial, as the senior guard sunk 13 of his 16 free throw attempts.

During the post-game interview on ESPN2, SIUE head coach Brian Barone had an emotional moment after officially leading SIUE to its first ever NCAA Tournament, stating how this had been a goal of the program for years, and giving fans an insight to the team’s daily motivation: “I’m about to go get a pair of scissors that I hung up six years ago above our locker room door. We did that six years ago. People didn’t think we were going to be able to do it,” said Barone.

The Cougars used that very pair of scissors to cut down the nets at the Ford Center in Evansville and will likely head into the NCAA Tournament as a 16 seed regarding any drastic changes throughout the rest of Champ Week.

In the Summit League, it was only semifinal Saturday, with the championship still to come on Sunday, but the Omaha Mavericks were able to clinch their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. In the Mavericks’ semifinal matchup, it was an extremely straightforward victory, with Omaha jumping out to a 16-4 lead and taking a 55-26 lead into halftime. The final score was 100-75 in favor of Omaha, with Tony Osburn’s 30 points and eight three-pointers leading the way.

The win for Omaha in the first semifinal of the day at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls meant that if NCAA Tournament-ineligible St. Thomas (due to Division I reclassification requirements) defeated North Dakota in the second semifinal, Omaha would claim the automatic bid.

St. Thomas did exactly that, limiting North Dakota star Treysen Eaglestaff (who had 51 points in the quarterfinal) to just six points on six field goal attempts and forcing him into seven turnovers. The Tommies won 85-69 and the emphasis of victory was definitely defensively, but Kendall Blue also had a solid night offensively with 21 points.

Omaha and St. Thomas will now meet on Sunday at 9:00 ET for the Summit League tournament title, but only a trophy is on the line, instead of the usual automatic bid that comes with it. Regardless of the outcome the Mavericks will advance to the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll likely be a 15 or 16 seed.

Other Things to Note:

• Mark Sears hits late winner in overtime to lift #7 Alabama past #1 Auburn 93-91
• Strong second half pushes #2 Duke past North Carolina 82-69 on the road
• Zuby Ejiofor spoils #20 Marquette’s senior night with winner in overtime to give #6 St. John’s an 86-84 victory
• Penn State upsets #12 Wisconsin on the road 86-75 behind 25 points from D’Marco Dunn
• #19 Kentucky earns massive road win over #15 Missouri to close out the regular season