A Bedlam Reborn.

After several years of slight modifications to the layout of my blog, The Bedlam on Baltic Avenue, I have finally decided to make the blog more accessible for people of different persuasions while staying true to the Solid Pink color that is an official color of this blog, along with the now adopted secondary shade of French Pink and the tertiary accent of white.

Akatsuki has been retired as mascot of my blog, with Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi resuming their roles as co-mascots. Version 203 is the version where the Emporio theme is used to allow for better accessibility by computer users who may not be so adept. A few widgets have been axed, and a couple of text widgets have been moved as standalone pages (yes would you believe that there have been no actual pages on this blog until now? And it's been more than 10 years!).

Also, my tumblr page has been updated with a new look took to better emphasize accessibility. The Tumblr Official look had been the look for my blog for years. Now it's been given a change to reflect my ever evolving whims. In this, I am looking forward with hope to bigger and better things.

So, I hope you enjoy the content on the Bedlam, because we have a big year of Saimoe coming up and we'll make sure you know what's going on, because at the Bedlam on Baltic Avenue, there's always something going on down there.

Northeastern: 2018-19 Colonial Men's Basketball Champions

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- When Northeastern saw its large lead fading in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament finals again, the Huskies flashed back to their failure from a year ago and all the hard work they had put in since.

"We learned from that situation," Huskies guard Shawn Occeus said. "And now we're sitting here today."

Northeastern is sitting once more as CAA Tournament champions after Vasa Pusica had 21 points off seven 3-pointers and helped his team regroup after blowing a double-digit lead to defeat top-seeded Hofstra 82-74 on Tuesday night.

The situation was so eerily similar to the 2018 finals. Northeastern led College of Charleston by 17 in the second half, then watched the Cougars cut down the nets after an 83-76 loss.

"Without that loss maybe we wouldn't be in this position right now," said Pusica, named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

The second-seeded Huskies (23-10) won the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth for the second time in five seasons and ninth time in school history.

"Are we off the one line?" Northeastern coach Bill Coen joked when asked about possible seeding.

"We're so excited to be included and so excited to play wherever they send us," he said.

It didn't appear Northeastern was heading anywhere but back home with another disappointment when Hofstra opened the second half with a 28-12 run to tie things at 54-all on Jacquil Taylor's two foul shots with more than nine minutes left.

That's when the senior Pusica took charge. His fourth 3-pointer put the Huskies back in front. Pusica added another long-range basket three minutes later for a 66-58 lead. By the time he made his sixth 3, Northeastern led 71-60. Pusica screamed in celebration, one he and his teammates held in for almost a year.

"I'm not sure I have the words to describe tonight," Coen said.

The Pride (26-8) could not recover despite 29 points from the nation's second-leading scorer, Justin Wright-Foreman.

"We have to own it," Pride coach Joe Mihalich said. "Let's cut to the chase, they played two halves, we played one."

Hofstra, as the CAA regular-season champions, has a guaranteed spot in the NIT. The Pride were seeking their first NCAA berth since 2001 when Villanova coach Jay Wright was leading Hofstra's program.

Bolden Brace had 10 points, 10 rebounds and came an assist away from a triple-double for Northeastern, which finished with five players scoring in double figures.

Hofstra came in on a roll with four straight wins and with the CAA's top scorer in Wright-Foreman shooting the lights out. Wright-Foreman set a league tournament record with 42 points in a semifinal overtime win against Delaware on Monday night. But Wright-Foreman and his teammates were mostly cold in the opening half as the Pride fell behind by double-digits 13 minutes in as Huskies pushed the pace for a 19-7 run.

Northeastern hit five 3-pointers in the stretch with Pusica's two in a row from long range getting the run going. By the time Jordan Roland hit a wide-open look from left side of the basket, the Huskies were ahead 23-12 and appeared to be cruising.

Hofstra, the CAA's top scoring and best shooting team this season, shot just 28 percent (9 of 32) in the first period. Wright-Foreman went 3 of 12 overall before the half and made just two of seven attempts from behind the arc.

Taylor had a game-high 15 rebounds for Hofstra.

BIG PICTURE

Northeastern: The Huskies showed they can shoot, finishing 50 percent (26 of 52) from the field and 45.2 percent (14 of 31) from 3-point range. They could prove hard to handle in the NCAAs.

Hofstra: The Pride tied things in the second half behind Wright-Foreman. But it may have taken too much energy to keep things going. Hofstra will be a difficult NIT out for whichever mid-level power conference opponent they draw.

NORTHEASTERN'S NCAA HISTORY

The Huskies have a pair of NCAA victories as double-digit seeds, topping sixth-seeded Fresno State in 1981 and sixth-seeded St. Joseph's a year later. Northeastern is 3-8 all time in tournament play and has lost its last six opening NCAA games.

FAREWELL, CHARLESTON

This game ends the CAA's three-season run at the North Charleston Coliseum. Next year's event will start a three-year stint at the more centrally located Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. Seven of the league's 10 members are located in the state of Virginia or north.

UP NEXT

Northeastern will await its NCAA Tournament matchup.

Hofstra is headed to the NIT as the CAA's regular-season champion.

Northern Kentucky: 2018-19 Horizon Men's Basketball Champions

DETROIT -- Northern Kentucky earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the second time in three years.

And this time, the Norse will not be satisfied with just appearing in college basketball's showcase.

Dantez Walton had 15 points and 14 rebounds for his first double-double, leading second-seeded Northern Kentucky to a 77-66 win Tuesday night over top-seeded Wright State in the Horizon League Tournament final to put the program back in the 68-team field next week.

The Norse had a solid showing two years ago, losing to second-seeded Kentucky 79-70 , and yet they don't plan to simply show up and play in the NCAA Tournament.

"We're going in to win that game just as much as the other team," Horizon League Tournament MVP Drew McDonald said after scoring 13 points, grabbing eight rebounds and making five assists. "We're going to enjoy it, but we're going to go right back to work soon because we're not done yet.

"We have more to accomplish."

The Norse (26-8) had control of the entire league tournament final with four starters and a reserve scoring in double figures, less than 24 hours after McDonald made a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Oakland. Jalen Tate scored 17 points, Zaynah Robinson had 15 points off the bench and Tyler Sharpe, a former Louisville walk-on, added 11 points and two steals.

"The way we played, hopefully we'll be able to catapult that into the NCAA Tournament," Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen said. "Drew said it best, when you have the opportunity to experience something the first time and you don't achieve the ultimate of getting a chance to move on forward and advance, it puts a little bit more emphasis on it the second time.

"And maybe you look at this less as a gift and more as an opportunity."

The Raiders (21-13) struggled to score, making it difficult to come back in a game they trailed for nearly 39 minutes.

Wright State's All-Horizon League player, Loudon Love, was 2 of 13 and scored nine points.

"We've ridden him all year," Wright State coach Scott Nagy said. "We'll take him any day for sure. He just had a tough game."

Reserve Bill Wampler had 16 points and Mark Hughes and Cole Gentry each scored 15 for the Raiders, who shot 37.5 percent.

Wright State scored first and didn't lead again in a matchup of teams that shared the regular-season title after each team won by four points on its home court. Early on, it didn't look like the series tiebreaker was going to be closely contested.

The Norse led by 18 points with 5:02 left in the first half and led 44-34 at halftime.

"We came out with intense energy and we made everything hard on them," Sharpe said.

Northern Kentucky went on an 11-3 run midway through the second half to lead by 19 points and coasted to victory.

"They had some average players statistically play great and that made it tough to guard their really good offensive players," Nagy said.

BIG PICTURE

Northern Kentucky: Balanced scoring and good passing led to eight players making assists and six players hitting shots in the first half.

"We had good ball movement and when we do that, we're a tough stop," Sharpe said.

Wright State: With a chance to earn consecutive NCAA Tournament bids for the first time in school history, the Raiders simply could not make enough shots inside or beyond the 3-point arc to have a chance to win.

"We didn't make shots and they were a big reason why," Nagy said.

UP NEXT

Northern Kentucky: The team will be able to enjoy its accomplishment before finding out Sunday night who it will be matched up with in the NCAA Tournament. Next season, the deep team should contend for the Horizon title even without McDonald and Robinson.

Wright State: Top seeding in the league tournament gave the program an automatic bid to the NIT.

"There's no one in the NIT that wants to be in the NIT," Nagy said. "There are 36 teams and they all want to be in the NCAA Tournament. I've coached in the NIT before and maybe my best win was in it when South Dakota State had its only Division I postseason win ever. We were ready and that will be our job to get our guys ready."

The Raiders will lose three starters next season, but McDonald will be back along with Jaylon Hall and Grant Basile after both had surgeries.

North Dakota State: 2018-19 Summit Men's Basketball Champions

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Vinnie Shahid heeded his teammates' advice after a rough first half, and helped lead North Dakota State back to the NCAA Tournament.

Shahid scored 20 of his 22 points after halftime, and the Bison beat Omaha 73-63 on Tuesday night in the Summit League Tournament title game to earn their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2015.

"My teammates did a good job of giving me confidence," said Shahid, who was 1-of-4 shooting before the half. "They told me, `Keep being aggressive, keep being aggressive. It's going to fall when we need it to."

The No. 4-seeded Bison (17-15) also got 15 points and seven rebounds from Tyson Ward.

North Dakota State saw a 14-point second-half lead evaporate before securing the win with a late run. Omaha (21-10) tied it at 51 with 8:37 to play and had a chance at the lead, but Matt Pile missed a free throw on a potential three-point play. From there, the Bison went on a 9-0 run and were never threatened again, sealing the win with free throws down the stretch.

"This is a really good, talented Omaha team," North Dakota State coach David Richman said. "We knew they were going to make a push and that push happened. But this group has really grown."

Mitch Hahn scored 16 points and Zach Jackson had 15 for Omaha. Pile finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds while KJ Robinson scored 11 points.

Ward got back on track after scoring a season-low three points in North Dakota State's semifinal win over Western Illinois. He had 25 points in a quarterfinal win over Oral Roberts.

Ward had 11 against Omaha at halftime, and then Shahid took over. Shahid's 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 2:10 remaining lifted the lead back to 10.

The No. 2-seeded Mavericks had gone the final 6:44 of the first half without a field goal. North Dakota State built a 41-27 halftime lead.

"You can't play uphill all night," Omaha coach Derrin Hansen said. "They had the lead for 36 minutes of the game. When you play uphill all night, it takes a lot of energy to overcome that."

BIG PICTURE

North Dakota State: Has a 1/3 record in the NCAA Tournament, including an 80-75, overtime upset of No. 5 seed Oklahoma in 2014. This was the Bison's fifth title game appearance in seven years.

Omaha: This is the second time Omaha has played in the Summit League title game. The program has never played in the NCAA Tournament.

BENCH PLAY

NDSU's Cameron Hunter scored 12 points off the bench and hit all three of his attempts both from 3-point range and from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Omaha got just six bench points, all from Ayo Akinwole.

UP NEXT

North Dakota State: The Bison will find out their NCAA Tournament opponent on Sunday.

Omaha: The 21 wins are the most in the Mavericks' Division I history. They lose one senior in Jackson.