Southland conference tournament

This is part 19 of a 32-part series covering each conference and conference tournament.  These previews are meant to provide every bracketologist with the information they need to make informed projections about the teams of the conference.

The standings:
Stephen F Austin 18-0
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 14-4
Sam Houston St 13-5
Northwestern St 12-6
Nicholls St 10-8
Oral Roberts 10-8
McNeese St 9-9
New Orleans 8-10
SE Louisiana 7-11
Central Arkansas 5-13
Lamar 3-15
Houston Baptist 2-16

Incarnate Word 9-5
Abilene Christian 2-12

What needs to be explained:  this is IW's and ACU's first year in D1.  As a D1 transitional, they don't count as D1 games for their opponents.  Therefore, they only played everyone else in the conference once, plus twice against each other.  This was to avoid dis-advantaging the other conference mates with an additional non-D1 game.

Tournament format:
First, obviously, Incarnate Word (21-6) and Abilene Christian (11-20) are ineligible.  New Orleans (11-15) is also ineligible, getting APR'd.  This leaves 11 eligible teams.

But wait, there's more.  Only 8 of the 11 qualify for the conference tournament.  This means the seasons of Central Arkansas (8-21), Lamar (4-26), and Houston Baptist (6-25) are over.

But wait, there's even MORE quirk.  Instead of a simple 8-team tournament, they use the double bye format.  Since they've been ravaged with upsets in previous years, now the top 2 teams get a double bye to the semifinals.  3rd and 4th seeds get a single bye.

My God, the explanation of the standings and tournament format alone makes this as long as a book.

Katy, Texas is the host.  March 12th-15th are the dates.

The matchups:
5) Nicholls St (13-14) vs. 8) SE Louisiana (12-17)
6) Oral Roberts (16-15) vs. 7) McNeese St (11-19)

4) Northwestern St (16-13) vs. 5/8 winner
3) Sam Houston St (21-9) vs. 6/7 winner

1) Stephen F Austin (29-2) vs. 4/5/8 winner
2) Texas A&M-CC (17-14) vs. 3/6/7/ winner

The stakes:
Stephen F Austin is not in at-large consideration, so the stakes are the same for everyone.  SFA may get to the 14, maybe 13 line, with their shiny record; everyone else is looking at the 16 line, borderline PIG candidates.

Sam Houston St is the one team with a good enough resume to ensure CBI/CIT entry.  TAMU-CC and Nw St are probable for those tourneys as well.  And Oral Bob is eligible.