2018 Championship “Week” Update: March 9

Without any automatic bids handed out on Thursday, we don’t have all that much to talk about this morning as we head into what could loosely be called Semifinals Friday.

We did lose Middle Tennessee State yesterday, though, as the #1 seed in Conference USA fell to Southern Miss, 71-68, in overtime. It was probably a bad sign that it was MTSU that needed the bucket to tie the game in the first place, but that’s how things go sometimes. As of first thing Friday morning, the Blue Raiders are T-Rank’s First Team Out, so they go into the NIT Automatic Bid list. They could possibly still make the NCAA tournament as an at-large squad, so we’ll have to wait and see if they’re a bid thief. They were the only one of the 10 #1 seeds to lose yesterday, which means we’ll have to keep an eye on the other nine again today. Thanks to four leagues having quarterfinals today as well as other leagues giving byes to their top seeds, we’re up to — believe it or not — 18 #1 seeds in action today, so maybe we’ll get some really crazy bananas stuff happening.

Circling back to the T-Rank projection.... welll... Marquette is the second team out. Here’s the Rooting Guide for the Golden Eagles, although there’s always the possibility that it doesn’t matter. Eat at Arby’s.

Enjoy!

NCAA AUTOMATIC BIDS

Bucknell (Patriot League)
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)
Middle Tennessee State (C-USA)
Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
UNC-Asheville (Big South)
Rider (MAAC)
Wagner (NEC)

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All times Central.

AAC QUARTERFINALS

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

ATLANTIC 10 QUARTERFINALS (NBC Sports Network)

11am: #1 Rhode Island vs #8 VCU
1:30pm: #4 Saint Joseph’s vs #5 George Mason
6pm: #2 St. Bonaventure vs #7 Richmond
8:30pm: #3 Davidson vs #6 Saint Louis

ACC SEMIFINALS

6pm: #1 Virginia vs #4 Clemson (ESPN2)
8:30pm: #2 Duke vs #6 North Carolina (ESPN)

BIG 12 SEMIFINALS

6:15pm: #1 Kansas vs #4 Kansas State (ESPN)
8:45pm: #2 Texas Tech vs #3 West Virginia (ESPN2)

BIG EAST SEMIFINALS (FS1)

5:30pm: #1 Xavier vs #5 Providence
8pm: #2 Villanova vs #6 Butler

BIG SKY SEMIFINALS (BigSkyConf.com)

7:30pm: #1 Montana vs #5 Northern Colorado
10pm: #3 Eastern Washington vs #10 Southern Utah

BIG WEST SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

8:30pm: #1 UC Davis vs #4 Cal State Fullerton
11pm: #2 UC Santa Barbara vs #3 UC Irvine

CONFERENCE USA SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

12:30pm: #4 Marshall vs #9 Southern Miss
3pm: #2 Old Dominion vs #3 Western Kentucky

MAC SEMIFINALS

5:30pm: #1 Buffalo vs #5 Kent State (CBS Sports Network)
8pm: #2 Toledo vs #3 Eastern Michigan (CBSSports.com)

MEAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #1 Hampton vs #4 North Carolina A&T
7:30pm: #6 North Carolina Central vs #7 Morgan State

MOUNTAIN WEST SEMIFINALS (CBS Sports Network)

8pm: #1 Nevada vs #5 San Diego State
10:30pm: #3 New Mexico vs #7 Utah State

PAC-12 SEMIFINALS

8pm: #1 Arizona vs #4 UCLA (Pac-12 Network)
10:30pm: #2 USC vs #6 Oregon (FS1)

SEC QUARTERFINALS

12pm: #1 Auburn vs #9 Alabama (ESPN)
2:30pm: #4 Kentucky vs #12 Georgia (ESPN)
6pm: #2 Tennessee vs #7 Mississippi State (SEC Network)
8:30pm: #3 Florida vs #6 Arkansas (SEC Network)

SOUTHLAND SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

5pm: #1 Southeastern Louisiana vs #4 Sam Houston State
7:30pm: #2 Nicholls State vs #3 Stephen F. Austin

SWAC SEMIFINALS

2:30pm: #1 Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs #4 Southern
8:30pm: #2 Prairie View A&M vs #3 Texas Southern

SUN BELT QUARTERFINALS (WatchESPN)

11:30am: #1 Louisiana-Lafayette vs #9 Texas State
2pm: #4 UT Arlington vs #5 Appalachian State
5pm: #2 Georgia State vs #7 Troy
7:30pm: #3 Georgia Southern vs #6 Louisiana-Monroe

WAC SEMIFINALS (WatchESPN)

8pm: #2 Utah Valley vs #3 Grand Canyon
10:30pm: #1 New Mexico State vs #4 Seattle