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Hey, congrats to everyone (but especially Villanova) who won an automatic bid on Saturday. Sorry, but I’m not typing them all out. There were approximately nine million of them, and this article is already going to be absurdly long to scroll through because of the Automatic Bid list that’s coming up in a second.
Sweet Christmas, there are still six more championship games to be played today. Why? Well, the answer is presumably television space for the most part. There was a window yesterday afternoon where there were no championship games being played, so I do have to wonder why the Atlantic 10 and the Sun Belt didn’t take advantage of that space, but that’s the way it goes.
Speaking of the Atlantic 10, it’s the silliest of the six games being played today, as it features the #4 and #6 seeds facing off. Those guys had no business coming anywhere near the NCAA tournament and now one of those teams is just 40 minutes away. That’s wild. Congrats to them for hustling through the teams in front of them over the past few days.
I highly recommend you watch the Ivy League title game, not because I know anything about either team, but because Ivy League basketball is underrated. Plus, it’s Harvard vs Yale, and that’s never not fun.
NCAA Tournament Automatic Bids
America East: Vermont
ACC: Duke
Atlantic Sun: Liberty
Big 12: Iowa State
Big East: Villanova
Big Sky: Montana
Big South: Gardner-Webb
Big West: UC-Irvine
CAA: Northeastern
Conference USA: Old Dominion
Horizon League: Northern Kentucky
MAC: Buffalo
MAAC: Iona
MEAC: North Carolina Central
Missouri Valley: Bradley
Mountain West: Utah State
NEC: Fairleigh Dickinson
Ohio Valley: Murray State
Pac-12: Oregon
Patriot League: Colgate
SoCon: Wofford
Southland: Abilene Christian
SWAC: Prairie View A&M
Summit League: North Dakota State
WAC: New Mexico State
WCC: Saint Mary’s
That is a long list.
Here’s your schedule for the day! Enjoy!
All times Central.
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN)
2:15pm: #1 Houston Cougars vs #2 Cincinnati Bearcats
ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS)
12pm: #4 St. Bonaventure Bonnies vs #6 Saint Louis Billikens
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP (CBS)
2:30pm: #1 Michigan State Spartans vs #3 Michigan Wolverines
IVY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN2)
11am: #1 Harvard Crimson vs #2 Yale Bulldogs
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN)
12pm: #3 Tennessee Volunteers vs #5 Auburn Tigers
SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP (ESPN2)
1pm: #1 Georgia State Panthers vs #2 Texas-Arlington Mavericks