Welcome to March, everyone!
We can officially call all of the college basketball that happens from this point out a part of March Madness. The amount of conference tournament games happening every day continues to grow. We have the start of the America East, Missouri Valley, and NEC tournaments today, as well as continuing action in the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Ohio Valley, and WCC. The most notable news that we have so far is that #6 Winthrop and #7 VMI both played their way into the Big South semifinals, and because this is how things like this go, they are playing each other in the semifinals. One of them will get the opportunity to play for the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. I think it's safe to say Marquette fans would be thrilled if Winthrop could pull this one off.
Hit the jump and we'll get to today's games!
America East Opening Round:
#8 Maryland-Baltimore County (4-25) vs #9 Binghamton (1-28), 7:15 pm Central
Atlantic Sun Quarterfinals (on ESPN3):
#4 Eastern Tennessee State (16-13) vs #5 North Florida (16-15), 1:30pm
#3 South Carolina Upstate (20-11) vs #6 Florida Gulf Coast (13-16), 7:30pm
Big South Semifinals (all games at UNC-Asheville & on ESPNU):
#4 Charleston Southern (19-11) at #1 UNC-Asheville (22-9), 7pm
#6 Winthrop (12-19) vs #7 VMI (16-15), 5pm
Missouri Valley Opening Round:
#8 Indiana State (17-13) vs #9 Southern Illinois (8-22), 6:05pm
#7 Drake (16-14) vs #10 Bradley (7-24), 8:35pm
NEC Quarterfinals (all games at higher seeds):
#8 Sacred Heart (14-17) at #1 LIU-Brooklyn (22-8), 6pm
#5 Quinnipiac (17-12) at #4 St. Francis (15-14), 6pm
#6 Monmouth (12-19) at #3 Robert Morris (22-9), 6pm
#7 Central Connecticut State (13-15) at #2 Wagner (24-5), 6pm
Ohio Valley Quarterfinals:
#4 Tennessee Tech (18-12) vs #5 Southeast Missouri St. (15-15), 6pm
#3 Morehead State (17-14) vs #7 Jacksonville St. (15-17), 8pm
West Coast Second Round (on ESPN3):
#7 Pepperdine (10-18) vs #6 San Diego (12-17), 10am
#5 San Francisco (18-12) vs #8 Portland (7-23), 8pm