The Green Wave is set to face Rice to end the regular season.
Nobody wanted the Tulane Green Wave to be fighting for a spot in the American Conference Tournament heading into the final series of the regular season... but that's exactly what's happening.
The Sluggerbirds picked up a key series win over the South Florida Bulls over the weekend to give them some momentum. Now, they have to find a way to keep that going against the red-hot Rice Owls.
Only the top eight teams will make the league tournament, and Tulane is currently tied for eighth place with the Charlotte 49ers: both teams have a 10-14 conference record. However, since the 49ers swept the Green Wave just a few weeks ago, they hold the tiebreaker, putting Tulane on the outside looking in.
The Olive Green and Sky Blue doesn't control its own destiny, and it will need some help getting into the tournament. But... what exactly needs to happen?
For starters, Tulane can't afford to get swept. If it does, then the season ends just like that. On top of this, Charlotte will face the Memphis Tigers, and South Florida will take on the Wichita State Shockers. The bottom half of the league is going to be thrown into chaos.
If the Green Wave manages to win even just one game, they can technically still get in with an 11-16 record -- it's just going to take some drastic measures. The easiest path would be for Charlotte to be swept by Memphis to fall to 10-17, and the Bulls to lose at least one game to Wichita State to stay in last place. At the same time, if both the 49ers and Shockers are swept, Tulane can still make it to the postseason with one win since it has the tiebreaker over Wichita State.
What about two games? Winning two games gives the boys from Uptown a little bit more wiggle room. On top of the aforementioned scenarios, if Memphis is swept by Charlotte, then Tulane holds the tiebreaker over the Tigers.
Lastly, if the Green Wave manages to shock the American and pull off a massive sweep, then they will undoubtedly be in. They'd be ahead of South Florida no matter what, and they'd hold a tiebreaker with Rice. There are a million other things that could cause the team to fluctuate somewhere between fifth and eighth place in the league.
Of course, none of the "what-ifs" matter unless Tulane manages to get the job done. The team will have a bit of a short week as it starts its weekend series against Rice on Thursday at 6:35 p.m.