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The NCAA Tournament brackets came out—and we’ve got your Big Ten reactions here—but, for three of the Big Ten’s mediocre-est, there’s still hope!
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Michigan, Rutgers, and wisconsin join the illustrious ranks of Bradley, Eastern Washington, and Morehead State in the NIT, which tips off tonight! We’ve got some brief region-by-region previews, and a game thread for tonight is breathing down my neck. Here goes!
Kind of...: First off, the reveal show last night reversed all the #2 and #3 seeds, so Wisconsin is, indeed, a 2-seed, and wouldn’t be heading to Liberty if both win. This is also important because last night Michigan was listed as a 2-seed, but is, actually, a 3-seed. So we have definitive proof that Wisconsin is indeed better than Michigan, and that Hunter Dickinson is truly a miserable person (as if additional proof were needed).
The Oklahoma State Region
Seeds in this region:
- Oklahoma State Cowboys (18-15, at-large) — host Youngstown State (24-9, Horizon League regular-season champs)
- North Texas Mean Green (26-7, at-large) — host Alcorn State (18-13, SWAC regular-season champs)
- Sam Houston State Bearkats (25-7, at-large) — host Santa Clara (23-9, at-large)
- Washington State (17-16, at-large) — host Eastern Washington (22-10, Big Sky champs)
Kind of...: Now that that’s out of the way, it’s hard to see Okie State not coming out of the bracket with no B1G teams, but don’t sleep on North Texas.
MNW: If we get the UNT-SHSU second-round matchup, do some speed to stay awake—Grant McCausland’s bunch are good, but they’re the slowest team in the NCAA...and Sam Houston is little faster. A very defense-heavy region. I will take the Mean Green to advance.
Poll
Who wins Oklahoma State’s region?
This poll is closed
-
35%
Okie Lite
(7 votes) -
40%
North Texas
(8 votes) -
0%
Sam Houston
(0 votes) -
10%
Wazzu
(2 votes) -
15%
Someone else
(3 votes)
The Rutgers Region
[1] Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Hofstra Pride
March 14, 6pm | ESPNU/ESPN+
Other seeds in this region:
2. New Mexico Lobos (22-11, at-large) — host Utah Valley Wolverines (26-8, WAC regular-season champions) — March 15, 9pm on ESPN+
3. Colorado Buffaloes (17-16, at-large) — host Seton Hall Pirates (17-15, at-large) — March 14, 10pm on ESPN2
4. Cincinnati Bearcats (21-12, at-large) — host Virginia Tech Hokies (19-14, at-large) — March 15, 8pm on ESPN2
Kind of...: RUTGERS: 1-seed. But Hofstra is better than some teams Rutgers loses to in Nov./Dec. Virginia Tech’s efficient offense (good shooting, low TOs) would make for an interesting matchup in the second round. Cincy, who is now actually reasonably up temp, would too. Neither gets to the line much anyway, though, so expect Rutgers to grind them into pulp.
Like UW, if Rutgers wins their opener, they should win the next game too. The Scarlet Knights lost to Seton Hall in December (98 total points!!!), but the Pirates would likely need to win road games in the altitude of Boulder and Albuquerque, so let’s put Rutgers in the Final Four.
MNW: The kindness here is Rutgers getting home games. Tough to pass up the RACtion Advantage here, though Cincinnati brings a formidable offense that takes and makes a LOT of threes.
A Rutgers-New Mexico matchup in the title game would be really interesting — watching Jamal Mashburn Jr. and the Lobos try to get around the clang-and-bang in the RAC would be really interesting and give us some great Richard Pitino reacts. Overall, though, I’ll take the Knights.
And by the way, if you want to experience the equivalent of rubbing cocaine in your eyes—or so I’m told—tune in for New Mexico/Utah Valley tomorrow. The Lobos and Wolverines both love to run, and the O/U should be well over 160.
Poll
Rutgers Region. Who wins?
This poll is closed
-
25%
Rutgers
(8 votes) -
6%
Colorado
(2 votes) -
9%
New Mexico
(3 votes) -
18%
Cincinnati
(6 votes) -
12%
VaTech
(4 votes) -
9%
Seton Hall
(3 votes) -
0%
Utah Valley
(0 votes) -
18%
Hofstra
(6 votes)
The Clemson Region
[3] Michigan Wolverines vs. Toledo Rockets
March 14, 6pm | ESPN2 | Mich -6 | O/U 162.5
Other seeds in this region:
- Clemson Tigers (23-10, at-large) vs. Morehead State Eagles (21-11, OVC regular-season champs) — March 15, 6pm, ESPN+
- Vanderbilt Commodores (20-14, at-large) vs. Yale Bulldogs (21-8, Ivy regular-season champs) — March 14, 8pm, ESPNU
- See above
- UAB Blazers (26-8, at-large) vs. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (26-7, Sun Belt regular-season champs) — March 14, 6:30pm, ESPN+
Kind of...: MICHIGAN: Struggled with Eastern Michigan. Lost to Central Michigan. Any good reason to just assume a win over Toledo, the regular season MAC champs?
Even if they do win that one, a second round matchup with Vandy is likely to end with both coaches being tossed and multiple suspensions once Howard reminds Stackhouse about Kobe beating him 1-on-1 when he was still in high school, and Stack respond that his UNC Final Four banner is still hanging.
MNW: The Rockets have a deep and experienced lineup and shoot the ball better than all but 2 teams in the country—Rayj Dennis, Setric Millner, JT Shumate, and Dante Maddox can all hurt you from deep (and all shoot four threes a game at no worse than a 37% clip). I’d be surprised if Breslin was up for this one, and it’s a brutal road to Orleans Arena.
Poll
Clemson Region. Who wins it?
This poll is closed
-
8%
Clemson
(2 votes) -
56%
Vanderbilt
(13 votes) -
13%
Michigan
(3 votes) -
4%
UAB
(1 vote) -
0%
Yale
(0 votes) -
13%
Toledo
(3 votes) -
0%
Southern Miss
(0 votes) -
4%
More Head
(1 vote)
The Oregon Region
[2] Wisconsin Badgers vs. Bradley Braves
March 14, 8:30pm | ESPN | wisc -3 | O/U 127
Other seeds in this region:
- Oregon Ducks (19-14, at-large) vs. UC Irvine Anteaters (23-11, Big West regular-season champs) — March 15, 10pm, ESPN2
- badger
- Fucking Falwells (26-8, at-large) vs. Villanova Wildcats (17-16, at-large) — March 14, 8pm, ESPN2
- Florida Gators (16-16, at-large) vs. UCF Knights (18-14, at-large) — March 15, 6pm, ESPN2
MNW: wisconsin is a slightly-better, slightly-slower Bradley. They’re a slightly-worse, slightly-faster Liberty. Neither of those are things you want to be.
Also, this is the region where Nebraska should’ve gone, but nooooooo you had to have that Florida-UCF matchup. Yuck.
Kind of...: WISCONSIN: When last seen, Bradley was getting absolutely pile-driven by Drake. But before that, they had won 12 straight and surged to the MVC regular-season crown.
People will talk about Rienk Mast, but he’s not the type of big to give UW a ton of trouble. Additionally, Bradley’s best road win of the year is probably Indiana State, who they probably should’ve lost to in the MVC semis.
It’s UW’s game to lose. The Badgers were clearly shot by the end of the year, so it’s a matter of how excited they are to keep playing. If they’re up for it, they should at least head to Eugene for the quarters (or host if Oregon loses). If not, Bradley will out-fundamental them to death, and Gard will regret accepting the invite.
MC ClapYoHandz: We haven’t been to the NIT since before Pokemon and 9/11 so I’m still getting used to this tournament and its ways. I don’t really care how this goes outside of the team getting a home game or two and getting to practice more if they keep winning, which isn’t the worst thing in the world for them.
Also I thought I was done hating Brian Wardle not too long after said previous NIT cameo, but here we are.
Poll
Oregon Region. Your thoughts?
This poll is closed
-
20%
Quacka
(6 votes) -
58%
badger
(17 votes) -
3%
Florida
(1 vote) -
13%
Villanova
(4 votes) -
0%
UCF
(0 votes) -
0%
Bradley
(0 votes) -
3%
Irvine
(1 vote)
Gamethread and the evening’s full previews coming in just a half hour.
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