2018 Championship “Week” Update: March 4

Congratulations to Murray State, the first team officially into the NCAA tournament! The top seeded Racers beat Belmont, 68-51, to earn the automatic bid out of the Ohio Valley Conference.

We lost some #1 seeds yesterday, too. Michigan State is getting an at-large bid to the Big Dance, so we’re not going to add them to the NIT list here. Northern Kentucky went down to Cleveland State in the Horizon League quarterfinals, 89-80, so they do go on the list. We’re also adding UNC-Asheville to the list, because we totally missed the Fightin’ Andrew Rowseys getting dropped by the Fightin’ John Dawsons in the semifinals two days ago. My bad, Liberty. 29 spots in the NIT remain.

That brings us today, and BOY HOWDY, is it going to be fun. FOUR NCAA tournament bids are being handed out today. Starting at noon Central, there’s going to be a tournament championship game on all the way through to 5:30 this evening. The Big South gets us started, followed by Missouri Valley, Atlantic Sun, and finally, The Rutgers Invitational. There’s five other leagues in some stage of their tournament along the way, so poke your head on in there as needed to check those out.

Also, don’t forget to fire up FS2 or Fox Sports Go at noon, as the top seeded Marquette women’s team kicks off their Big East tournament title defense against #8 Butler. AE will be there in the building, so be sure to keep your Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook feeds updated.

NCAA AUTOMATIC BIDS

Murray State (OVC)

NIT AUTOMATIC BIDS

Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
UNC-Asheville (Big South)
Rider (MAAC)

ATLANTIC SUN CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN)

2pm: #2 Lipscomb at #1 Florida Gulf Coast

BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN)

12pm: #5 Liberty at #2 Radford

THE RUTGERS INVITATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS)

3:30pm: #3 Purdue vs #5 Michigan

CAA QUARTERFINALS (CAA.tv)

11am: #1 College of Charleston vs #8 Drexel
1:30pm: #4 William & Mary vs #5 Towson
5pm: #2 Northeastern vs #7 Delaware
7:30pm: #3 Hofstra vs #6 UNC Wilmington

HORIZON LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

4pm: #3 Illinois-Chicago vs #6 Milwaukee
6:30pm: #4 Oakland vs #5 IUPUI

MAAC SEMIFINALS

6pm: #4 Iona vs #9 Saint Peter’s (WatchESPN)
8:30pm: #6 Fairfield vs #7 Quinnipiac (ESPNU)

MISSOURI VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS)

1pm: #1 Loyola-Chicago vs #3 Illinois State

PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

11am: #6 Holy Cross at #2 Colgate
1pm: #5 Boston University at #1 Bucknell

SOCON SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

4pm: #1 UNC Greensboro vs #5 Wofford
6:30pm: #1 East Tennessee State vs #3 Furman

SUMMIT LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

6pm: #4 Fort Wayne vs #5 North Dakota State
8:30pm: #3 Denver vs #6 Oral Roberts