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Congratulations are in order for Florida Gulf Coast, Wichita State, and Winthrop on locking up their automatic bids to the NCAA tournament. Condolences are in order for Illinois State as they have locked up their NIT automatic bid due to holding the #1 seed in the Missouri Valley tournament but failing to win the championship. The Redbirds were holding on to the very last at-large spot in Bracket Matrix’s compilation of fields last night, but a lot of people are going to update on Monday morning, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens to them.
We had a bit of tumult elsewhere in league tournaments, as Lehigh dumped out #2 seeded Boston University in the Patriot League semis, and Illinois-Chicago cracked #3 seed Green Bay in the Horizon League quarters. Things went totally sideways over in the MAAC, as both the #1 seed (Monmouth) and #2 seed (Saint Peter’s) both got bounced in the semifinals. There seems to be a bit of consternation about that in certain corners of MAAC fandom as the tournament was held at the Times Union Center in Albany..... which happens to be the home arena for Siena..... which is the team that beat Monmouth. That’s the second straight year that the Saints have beaten the Hawks in that building in the MAAC tournament, and given how good Monmouth has been over the last two years (54-11 heading into the two losses to Siena), that’s a real kick in the pants for a conference that struggles to get two bids.
We get three more bids up on the board tonight, and sadly, because we’re in the lull before the power conferences kick in, we don’t get any DAYTIME BASKETBALL~! today. Sad! We do, however, get the start of #MACtion as well as the start of the MEAC tournament.
NCAA Automatic Bids: Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun), Jacksonville State (OVC), Wichita State (MVC), Winthrop (Big South)
NIT Automatic Bids: Belmont (OVC), Illinois State (MVC), Oakland (Horizon League)
All times Central
AMERICA EAST SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)
6pm: #4 New Hampshire at #1 Vermont
6pm: #3 Albany at #2 Stony Brook
CAA CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS Sports Network)
6pm: #1 UNC Wilmington vs #2 College of Charleston
HORIZON LEAGUE SEMIFINALS (ESPNU)
6pm: #4 Northern Kentucky vs #9 Youngstown State
8:30pm: #6 Illinois-Chicago vs #10 Milwaukee
MAAC CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN2)
8pm: #3 Iona vs #4 Siena
MAC FIRST ROUND (WatchESPN)
6pm: #9 Northern Illinois at #8 Eastern Michigan
6pm: #11 Central Michigan at #6 Kent State
6:30pm: #12 Miami at #5 Western Michigan
7pm: #10 Bowling Green at #7 Toledo
MEAC FIRST ROUND (WatchESPN)
4pm: #5 Maryland-Eastern Shore vs #12 North Carolina A&T
6:30pm: #6 Coppin State vs #11 Howard
SOCON CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN)
6pm: #1 UNC Greensboro vs #3 East Tennessee State
SUMMIT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)
6pm: #1 South Dakota vs #4 South Dakota State
8:30pm: #3 Nebraska-Omaha vs #7 IUPUI
WEST COAST SEMIFINALS
8pm: #1 Gonzaga vs #4 Santa Clara (ESPN)
10:30pm: #2 Saint Mary’s vs #3 BYU (ESPN2)