PBC Women's Basketball Daily Recap - March 1

Every game matters. That refrain is heard a lot in college sports, but it has never been more appropriate than for women's basketball this season. On Saturday, all of it came to a head as eight teams finished the regular season, four of whom will claim a share of the PBC Championship. By Sunday it may be five.

Clayton State forced the four-way tie as they upended Francis Marion 76-74 in Florence. Augusta State is also in the mix after pummeling Georgia Southwestern 104-55 and Lander is also there after beating Armstrong Atlantic State 97-87. Columbus State could have joined the party, but fell at UNC Pembroke 61-57. Statistics for all these games are available on the site.

So, four co-champions with USC Aiken to play at GCSU on Sunday. What about the tournament seeds? Let's take a look at tomorrow's game and what happens if either GCSU or USC Aiken win.

If GCSU beats USC Aiken, four teams are left at 13-7. Head-to-head, Clayton State and Francis Marion are 4-2 against the teams they are tied with, therefore they move to the 1-2 spots. Augusta State and Lander are 2-4. Now, to break the tie between Clayton State and Francis Marion: they split their head-to-head. However, they had different records against ASU and Lander, but we can't use them because we cannot determine who is #3 and who is #4 until we determine who is #1 and #2 (also can't determine 1 or 2 until we determine 3 or 4). So, we move to the #5 seed.

But who is that? Under this scenario, USCA would be tied with Columbus State in fifth. USC Aiken would be #5 thanks to their season sweep of CSU. So, with USCA in fifth, the #1 seed in the tournament would be Francis Marion (1-1 against USCA); Clayton State would be #2 (0-2 against USCA).

So, to recap, if GCSU wins on Sunday the tournament seeds will be:
1) Francis Marion
2) Clayton State
3) Lander (1-1 against FMU)
4) Augusta State (0-2 against FMU)
5) USC Aiken
6) Columbus State
7) Armstrong Atlantic State
8) North Georgia (wins tiebreak over GCSU)
9) GCSU
10) UNC Pembroke

Now, what if USC Aiken wins in Milledgeville? We will have a five-way tie for the lead at 13-7. Using the head-to-head tiebreak, Francis Marion is again the #1 seed thanks to a 5-3 cumulative record against the teams they are tied with. ASU, Clayton State and Lander are all tied at 4-4 and USC Aiken is the #5 seed at 3-5.

So, breaking the 2-3-4 logjam, again going back to head-to-head: Clayton State is #2 (3-1 against ASU and Lander); Augusta State is #4 (2-2) and Lander is #5 (1-3).

So, to recap, if USC Aiken wins on Sunday in Milledgeville:
1) Francis Marion
2) Clayton State
3) Augusta State
4) Lander
5) USC Aiken
6) Columbus State
7) Armstrong Atlantic State
8) North Georgia
9) GCSU
10) UNC Pembroke

The brackets for the 2008 PBC Championships will be released on Sunday evening.