2017 Championship “Week” Update: March 10

The big news of the day from Thursday was TCU coming up from the #8 seed and bumping off regular season champion Kansas in the Big 12 quarterfinals. The Horned Frogs aren’t really a danger to swipe an at-large bid at this point, but if they can beat Kansas, they sure as hell can win the B12 tournament at this point. That would shove someone off the bubble for sure.

As Marquette fans, we’ve got to keep an eye on those type of games juuuuuuuust to be on the safe side. Here’s a list of potential bid-stealing games today:

SMU vs East Carolina; Cincinnati vs Tulsa; Dayton vs Davidson; VCU vs George Mason; Iowa State vs TCU; West Virginia vs Kansas State; Wisconsin vs Indiana; Middle Tennessee vs UTEP; Oregon vs California; Kentucky vs Georgia; South Carolina vs Alabama; Arkansas vs Ole Miss; Texas-Arlington vs Coastal Carolina

That Kentucky/Georgia game is a bit of a conundrum for Marquette fans. On one side, it would be very helpful for Marquette’s profile if the Bulldogs (who lost to Marquette) pull an upset over Kentucky. On the flip side, beating the Wildcats miiiiiiight throw Georgia back into the at-large picture ever so slightly. MU fans should also pay attention to the Purdue/Michigan game, as well as Wisconsin/Indiana and Florida/Vanderbilt.

There are two interesting situations developing on the edges of the bracket. Middle Tennessee is holding onto a #11 seed in Bracket Matrix’s most recent update, and there are three teams between them and the at-large cutline. The question is thus: Can the Blue Raiders absorb a loss in the C-USA tournament and still get an at-large berth? If they can and they have to do that, they are definitely shoving someone out of the tournament. They play UTEP Miners today, and the Miners are barely a top 200 KenPom team. If Middle Tennessee gets to the final and loses to Louisiana Tech, a top 100 KenPom team, maybe they’ll survive. Keep an eye on it.

There’s also the situation in the SWAC. Alcorn State is not eligible for the NCAA tournament due to APR issues, but they are the #2 seed in the SWAC tournament and they’re alive in the semifinals. If the Braves advance to the title game, then we have to figure out who gets the automatic bid because they can’t. If it’s Texas Southern opposite them, no big deal, since they’re the #1 seed. What happens if Texas Southern gets clipped by Grambling State in the semifinals today? Does Grambling get in automatically or does the auto-bid default to Texas Southern? Maybe we should just cheer for Southern to win and thus eliminate these questions.

NCAA Automatic Bids: Bucknell (Patriot League), East Tennessee State (SoCon), Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun), Gonzaga (WCC), Iona (MAAC), Jacksonville State (OVC), Mount St. Mary’s (NEC), UNC Wilmington (CAA), Northern Kentucky (Horizon League), South Dakota State (Summit League), Wichita State (MVC), Winthrop (Big South)

NIT Automatic Bids: Belmont (OVC), Illinois State (MVC), Oakland (Horizon League), Monmouth (MAAC), UNC Greensboro (SoCon), South Dakota (Summit League)

All times Central

AAC QUARTERFINALS

11am: #1 SMU vs #9 East Carolina (ESPN2)
1:30pm: #4 UCF vs #5 Memphis (ESPN2)
6pm: #2 Cincinnati vs #7 Tulsa (ESPNU)
8:30pm: #3 Houston vs #6 Connecticut (ESPNU)

ATLANTIC 10 QUARTERFINALS (NBC Sports Network)

11am: #1 Dayton vs #9 Davidson
1:30pm: #4 Rhode Island vs #5 St. Bonaventure
5:30pm: #2 VCU vs #7 George Mason
8pm: #3 Richmond vs #6 George Washington

ACC SEMIFINALS (ESPN)

6pm: #1 North Carolina vs #5 Duke
8:30pm: #2 Florida State vs #3 Notre Dame

BIG 12 SEMIFINALS (ESPN2)

6pm: #4 Iowa State vs #8 TCU
8:30pm: #2 West Virginia vs #6 Kansas State

BIG EAST SEMIFINALS (FS1)

5:30pm: #1 Villanova vs #5 Seton Hall
8pm: #7 Xavier vs #6 Creighton

BIG SKY SEMIFINALS (Eversport.tv)

7:30pm: #1 North Dakota vs #4 Idaho
10pm: #2 Eastern Washington vs #3 Weber State

BIG TEN QUARTERFINALS

11am: #1 Purdue vs #8 Michigan (ESPN)
1:30pm: #4 Minnesota vs #5 Michigan State (ESPN)
5:30pm: #2 Wisconsin vs #10 Indiana (Big Ten Network)
8pm: #3 Maryland vs #6 Northwestern (Big Ten Network)

BIG WEST SEMIFINALS

8:30pm: #1 UC Irvine vs #5 Long Beach State (WatchESPN)
11pm: #2 UC Davis vs #3 Cal State Fullerton (ESPNU)

CONFERENCE USA SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

11:30am: #1 Middle Tennessee vs #4 UTEP
2pm: #2 Louisiana Tech vs #6 Marshall

MAC SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

4:30pm: #1 Akron vs #4 Ball State
7pm: #2 Ohio vs #6 Kent State

MEAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #1 North Carolina Central vs #5 Maryland-Eastern Shore
7:30pm: #2 Norfolk State vs #11 Howard

MOUNTAIN WEST SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

9pm: #1 Nevada vs #4 Fresno State
11:30pm: #2 Colorado State vs #6 San Diego State

PAC-12 SEMIFINALS

8pm: #1 Oregon vs #5 California (Pac-12 Network)
10:30pm: #2 Arizona vs #3 UCLA (ESPN)

SEC QUARTERFINALS (SEC Network)

12pm: #1 Kentucky vs #8 Georgia
2:30pm: #4 South Carolina vs #5 Alabama
6pm: #2 Florida vs #7 Vanderbilt
8:30pm: #3 Arkansas vs #6 Ole Miss

SOUTHLAND SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #1 New Orleans vs #5 Sam Houston State
7:30pm: #2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs #3 Stephen F. Austin

SWAC SEMIFINALS

2:30pm: #1 Texas Southern vs #5 Grambling State
8:30pm: #2 Alcorn State vs #3 Southern

SUN BELT QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

11:30am: #1 UT-Arlington vs #8 Coastal Carolina
2pm: #4 Texas State vs #12 Louisiana-Monroe
5pm: #2 Georgia State vs #7 Louisiana-Lafayette
7:30pm: #3 Georgia Southern vs #6 Troy

WAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

8pm: #1 Cal State Bakersfield vs #4 Utah Valley
10:30pm: #2 New Mexico State vs #3 UMKC