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SHOUTOUT TIME! College of Charleston, you’re in the NCAA tournament! Wright State! You’re repping the Horizon League in the Big Dance! LIU-Brooklyn! The Blackbirds are in the tourney, knocking off NEC #1 seed Wagner in Wagner’s gym! South Dakota State! Mike Daum did Mike Daum things and the Jackrabbits are dancing! And finally, yes, Gonzaga is in the field, because of course they won the WCC tourney.
That’s 12 teams with automatic bids officially locked into the field. We’re only up to five teams into the NIT through their automatic bids, which means we might get a pretty heavy major conference presence in the NCAA’s secondary tournament, as there are still 27 spots available.
Or maybe the next five days will be totally bananas. We’ll find out!
The schedule for today is bananas, that’s for sure. After today, we’re just waiting for the start of the AAC, Big West, Ivy, and WAC tournaments. In other words, we’re officially into the meat of Championship “Week.” There’s just one championship game tucked into all of the excitement, and it’s a 1 vs 2 matchup in the Patriot League. Keep your eyes open for that tonight after you gorge yourself on four conferences’ worth of Daytime Basketball. Well, three, unless you’re a magical creature that actually gets Pac-12 Network on your cable package.
If you’re wondering who you should be cheering for in terms of what’s best for Marquette, be sure to check out the T-Rank Rooting Guide. Go Iowa State.
NCAA AUTOMATIC BIDS
College of Charleston (CAA)
Gonzaga (WCC)
Iona (MAAC)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
LIU-Brooklyn (NEC)
Loyola-Chicago (Missouri Valley)
Michigan (Big Ten)
Murray State (OVC)
UNC-Greensboro (SoCon)
Radford (Big South)
South Dakota State (Summit League)
Wright State (Horizon League)
NIT AUTOMATIC BIDS
Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)
Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
UNC-Asheville (Big South)
Rider (MAAC)
Wagner (NEC)
All times Central.
ATLANTIC 10 FIRST ROUND (Stadium)
5pm: #12 La Salle vs #13 UMass
7:30pm: #11 George Washington vs #14 Fordham
ACC SECOND ROUND
11am: #8 Florida State vs #9 Louisville (ESPN)
1:30pm: #5 NC State vs #12 Boston College (ESPN)
6pm: #7 Virginia Tech vs #10 Notre Dame (ESPN2)
8:30pm: #6 North Carolina vs #11 Syracuse (ESPN2)
BIG 12 FIRST ROUND (ESPNU)
6pm: #8 Oklahoma State vs #9 Oklahoma
8:30pm: #7 Texas vs #10 Iowa State
BIG EAST FIRST ROUND (FS1)
6pm: #8 Georgetown vs #9 St. John’s
8:30pm: #7 Marquette vs #10 DePaul
CONFERENCE USA FIRST ROUND (Stadium/Facebook Live)
6pm: #8 FIU vs #9 Southern Miss
6:30pm: #5 UT-San Antonio vs #12 UTEP
8:30pm: #7 North Texas vs #10 Louisiana Tech
9pm: #6 UAB vs #11 FAU
MEAC QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)
5pm: #1 Hampton vs #9 Florida A&M
7:30pm: #2 Bethune-Cookman vs #7 Morgan State
MOUNTAIN WEST FIRST ROUND (Stadium/Facebook Live)
1pm: #8 UNLV vs #9 Air Force
3:30pm: #7 Utah State vs #10 Colorado State
6pm: #6 Wyoming vs #11 San Jose State
PAC-12 FIRST ROUND (Pac-12 Network)
2pm: #8 Colorado vs #8 Arizona State
4:30pm: #5 Stanford vs #12 California
8pm: #7 Washington vs #10 Oregon State
10:30pm: #6 Oregon vs #11 Washington State
PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS Sports Network)
6:30pm: #2 Colgate at #1 Bucknell
SEC FIRST ROUND (SEC Network)
6pm: #12 Georgia vs #13 Vanderbilt
8:30pm: #11 South Carolina vs #14 Ole Miss
SOUTHLAND FIRST ROUND (WatchESPN)
5pm: #5 New Orleans vs #8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
7:30pm: #7 Central Arkansas vs #6 Lamar
SUN BELT FIRST ROUND (WatchESPN)
11:30am: #8 Coastal Carolina vs #9 Texas State
2pm: #5 Appalachian State vs #12 Little Rock
5pm: #7 Troy vs #10 South Alabama
7:30pm: #6 Louisiana-Monroe vs #11 Arkansas State