Two bad things happened for Marquette's postseason outlook last night.
The obvious one is the Golden Eagles losing their quarterfinal game to Xavier. The margin of the game doesn't really matter all that much, as "not losing" was more important to getting Marquette to the NIT anyway. The other lousy thing was #1 seed UAB losing in the Conference USA quarterfinals. That'll send the Blazers to the NIT with the regular season champion autobid, which means one less space for Marquette.
For the record, NYC Buckets no longer has Marquette in the NIT field, and the Bracket Matrix NIT projection was last updated on March 9th and had Marquette slotted as a seven seed with only eight seeds in each bracket.
Onwards to today's action. Remember how there was 18 conferences in action yesterday? Yeah, well, no one handed out any automatic bids, so we're back to that same number again today. Crazy how that works. There are fewer games though, since a number of leagues have moved on to the semifinal round.
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), UAB (Conference USA), Wagner (NEC)
Regular Season Champs Forced To Wait: Wichita State (MVC), Monmouth (MAAC), Saint Mary's (WCC), Valparaiso (Horizon League)
All times Central
AAC QUARTERFINALS
11am: #1 Temple vs #9 USF (ESPN2)
1:30pm: #4 Cincinnati vs #5 Connecticut (ESPN2)
6pm: #2 Houston vs #10 Tulane (ESPNU)
8:30pm: #3 Tulsa vs #6 Memphis (ESPNU)
ATLANTIC 10 QUARTERFINALS (NBC Sports Network)
11am: #1 Dayton vs #9 Richmond
1:30pm: #4 Saint Joseph's vs #5 George Washington
5:30pm: #2 VCU vs #10 UMass
8pm: #3 St. Bonaventure vs #6 Davidson
ACC SEMIFINALS (ESPN)
6pm: #1 North Carolina vs #4 Notre Dame
8:30pm: #2 Virginia vs #3 Miami
BIG 12 SEMIFINALS (ESPN2)
6pm: #1 Kansas vs #5 Baylor
8:30pm: #2 West Virginia vs #3 Oklahoma
BIG EAST SEMIFINALS (FS1)
5:30pm: #1 Villanova vs #4 Providence
8pm: #2 Xavier vs #3 Seton Hall
BIG SKY SEMIFINALS (Eversport.tv)
7:30pm: #1 Weber State vs #5 North Dakota
10pm: #2 Montana vs #3 Idaho
BIG TEN QUARTERFINALS
11am: #1 Indiana vs #8 Michigan (ESPN)
1:30pm: #4 Purdue vs #12 Illinois (ESPN)
5:30pm: #2 Michigan State vs #7 Ohio State (BTN)
8pm: #3 Maryland vs #11 Nebraska (BTN)
BIG WEST SEMIFINALS
8:30pm: #1 Hawaii vs #4 UC Santa Barbara (WatchESPN)
11pm: #2 UC Irvine vs #3 Long Beach State (ESPNU)
CONFERENCE USA SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)
3pm: #5 Old Dominion vs #8 Western Kentucky
5:30pm: #2 Middle Tennessee vs #3 Marshall
MAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)
5:30pm: #1 Akron vs #12 Bowling Green
8pm: #2 Ohio vs #3 Buffalo
MEAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)
5pm: #1 Hampton vs #5 Savannah State
7:30pm: #2 Norfolk State vs #3 South Carolina State
MOUNTAIN WEST SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)
8pm: #1 San Diego State vs #5 Nevada
10:30pm: #2 Fresno State vs #6 Boise State
PAC 12 SEMIFINALS
8pm: #1 Oregon vs #4 Arizona (Pac 12 Networks)
10:30pm: #2 Utah vs #3 California (FS1)
SEC QUARTERFINALS (SEC Network)
12pm: #1 Texas A&M vs #8 Florida
2:30pm: #4 LSU vs #12 Tennessee
6pm: #2 Kentucky vs #10 Alabama
8:30pm: #3 South Carolina vs #6 Georgia
SOUTHLAND SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)
5pm: #1 Stephen F. Austin vs #4 Houston Baptist
7:30pm: #2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs #3 Sam Houston State
SWAC SEMIFINALS (SWAC Digital Network)
2:30pm: #3 Jackson State vs #7 Mississippi Valley State
8:30pm: #1 Texas Southern vs #4 Southern
SUN BELT QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)
5pm: #4 Louisiana-Lafayette vs #8 South Alabama
7:30pm: #3 UT-Arlington vs #7 Texas State
WAC SEMIFINALS (WAC Sports Network)
8pm: #1 New Mexico State vs #5 UMKC
10:30pm: #2 Cal State Bakersfield vs #3 Seattle