3.10.16 Championship "Week" Update

Holy Cross won the Patriot League tournament.

Holy Cross is 14-19 on the season NOW, after beating Lehigh last night.

Holy Cross entered the PL tourney with a 5-13 record in Patriot League games, with all five wins coming at home.  In the process of winning four games to get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the Crusaders won four road games: at Loyola, at Bucknell, at Army, at Lehigh.

This is your reminder that your pick to win the NCAA tournament is wrong.

There are EIGHTEEN conferences playing today.  EIGHTEEN.  Four of them are playing their first round of games.  There's a bunch of #1 seeds playing, but five conferences that can be expected to get just one bid have their regular season champ in action : Big Sky (Weber State), Big West (Hawaii), Conference USA (UAB), MAC (Akron), and Mountain West (San Diego State).  Keep your eyes on all of those, as Marquette is still hanging dangerously close to the NIT cut line.

NCAA Automatic Bids: Austin Peay (OVC), Chattanooga (SoCon), Fairleigh Dickinson (NEC), Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun), Gonzaga (WCC), Green Bay (Horizon League), Holy Cross (Patriot League), Iona (MAAC), UNC-Asheville (Big South), UNC-Wilmington (CAA), Northern Iowa (MVC), South Dakota State (Summit League), Yale (Ivy)

NIT Automatic Bids: Belmont (OVC), Bucknell (Patriot League), High Point (Big South), IPFW (Summit League), Hofstra (CAA), North Florida (Atlantic Sun), Wagner (NEC)

Regular Season Champs Forced To Wait: Wichita State (MVC), Monmouth (MAAC), Saint Mary's (WCC), Valparaiso (Horizon League)

All times Central

AAC OPENING ROUND

2:30pm: #8 East Carolina (12-19) vs #9 South Florida (7-24) (ESPNU)
5pm: #7 UCF (12-17) vs #10 Tulane (10-21) (ESPN News)

ATLANTIC 10 SECOND ROUND (NBC Sports Network)

11am: #8 Fordham (17-12)  vs #9 Richmond (15-15)
1:30pm: #5 George Washington (22-9) vs #13 Saint Louis (11-20)
5:30pm: #7 Rhode Island (17-14) vs #10 UMass (13-17)
8pm: #6 Davidson (18-11) vs #14 La Salle (9-21)

ACC QUARTERFINALS (ESPN)

11am: #1 North Carolina (25-6) vs #8 Pittsburgh (21-10)
1:30pm: #4 Notre Dame (20-10) vs #5 Duke (23-9)
6pm: #2 Virginia (24-6)  vs #10 Georgia Tech (19-13)
8:30pm: #3 Miami (24-6) vs #6 Virginia Tech (19-13)

BIG 12 QUARTERFINALS

11:30am: #4 Texas (20-11) vs #5 Baylor (21-10) (ESPN2)
2pm: #1 Kansas (27-4) vs #8 Kansas State (17-15) (ESPN2)
6pm: #2 West Virginia (24-7) vs #10 TCU (12-20) (ESPNU)
8:30pm: #3 Oklahoma (24-6) vs #6 Iowa State (21-10) (ESPNU)

BIG EAST QUARTERFINALS (FS1)

11am: #1 Villanova (27-4) vs #8 Georgetown (15-17)
1:30pm: #4 Providence (22-9) vs #5 Butler (21-9)
6pm: #2 Xavier (26-4) vs #7 Marquette (20-12)
8:30pm: #3 Seton Hall (22-8) vs #6 Creighton (18-13)

BIG SKY QUARTERFINALS (Eversport.tv)

2pm: #1 Weber State (23-8) vs #8 Portland State (13-17)
4:30pm: #4 Idaho State (16-14) vs #5 North Dakota (16-14)
7:30pm: #2 Montana (19-10) vs #10 Sacramento State (14-16)
10pm: #3 Idaho (20-11) vs #6 Eastern Washington (17-14)

BIG TEN SECOND ROUND

11am: #8 Michigan (20-11) vs #9 Northwestern (20-11) (BTN)
1:30pm: #5 Iowa (21-9) vs #12 Illinois (14-18) (BTN)
5:30pm: #7 Ohio State (19-12) vs #10 Penn State (16-15) (ESPN2)
8pm: #6 Wisconsin (20-11) vs #1 Nebraska (15-17) (ESPN2)

BIG WEST QUARTERFINALS

2pm: #4 UC Santa Barbara (17-12) vs #5 UC Davis (11-18)
4:30pm: #1 Hawaii (24-5) vs #8 Cal State Fullerton (10-19)
8pm: #2 UC Irvine (24-8) vs #Cal Poly (10-19)
10:30pm: #3 Long Beach State (18-13) vs #6 UC Riverside (14-18)

CONFERENCE USA QUARTERFINALS (ASN)

12pm: #1 UAB (26-5) vs #8 Western Kentucky (17-15)
2:30pm: #4 Louisiana Tech (23-8) vs #5 Old Dominion (20-12)
6pm: #2 Middle Tennessee (21-9) vs #7 Charlotte (14-18)
8:30pm: #3 Marshall (16-15) vs #6 UTEP (19-13)

MAC QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

11am: #1 Akron (24-7) vs #8 Eastern Michigan (18-14)
1:30pm: #4 Central Michigan (17-14) vs #12 Bowling Green (15-17)
5:30pm: #2 Ohio (20-10) vs #7 Northern Illinois (21-11)
8pm: #3 Buffalo (17-14) vs #11 Miami (13-19)

MEAC QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #3 South Carolina State (17-13) vs #11 Coppin State (9-21)
7:30pm: #4 Bethune-Cookman (14-17) vs #5 Savannah State (15-14)

MOUNTAIN WEST QUARTERFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

2pm: #1 San Diego State (23-8) vs #9 Utah State (16-14)
4:30pm: #4 New Mexico (17-14) vs #5 Nevada (18-12)
8pm: #2 Fresno State (22-9) vs #7 UNLV (18-14)
10:30pm: #3 Boise State (20-11) vs #6 Colorado State (17-15)

PAC 12 QUARTERFINALS (mostly Pac 12 Networks)

2pm: #1 Oregon (25-6) vs #8 Washington (18-13)
4:30pm: #4 Arizona (24-7) vs #5 Colorado (22-10)
8pm: #2 Utah (24-7) vs #7 USC (21-11)
10:30pm: #3 California (22-9) vs #6 Oregon State (19-11) (FS1)

SEC SECOND ROUND (SEC Network)

12pm: #8 Florida (18-13) vs #9 Arkansas (16-15)
2:30pm: #5 Vanderbilt (19-12) vs #12 Tennessee (14-18)
6pm: #7 Ole Miss (20-11) vs #10 Alabama (17-13)
8:30pm: #6 Georgia (17-12) vs #11 Mississippi State (14-16)

SOUTHLAND QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #4 Houston Baptist (16-15) vs #5 Southeastern Louisiana (12-20)
7:30pm: #3 Sam Houston State (17-14) vs #7 Nicholls State (11-22)

SWAC QUARTERFINALS (SWAC Digital Network)

3:30pm: #3 Jackson State (17-14) vs #6 Prairie View A&M (7-23)
8:30pm: #4 Alabama State (14-16) vs #5 Southern (19-12)

SUN BELT OPENING ROUND (WatchESPN)

5pm: #5 Georgia Southern (14-16) vs #8 South Alabama (13-18)
7:30pm: #6 Georgia State (16-13) vs #7 Texas State (14-15)

WAC QUARTERFINALS (WAC Sports Network)

4pm: #4 Utah Valley (12-17) vs #5 UMKC (11-18)
6:30pm: #2 Cal State Bakersfield (21-8) vs #7 Chicago State (4-27)
9pm: #3 Seattle (13-15) vs #6 Texas-Rio Grande Valley (8-21)