2014 March Madness Thread (NCAA, NIT, CBI, CIT)

[bonarae]

This thread is for all things postseason.

FCS teams in the Dance:
#2 Villanova - East
#11 Dayton - South (more importantly, not as a play-in participant)
#12 Harvard - East
#12 NDSU - West
#12 SFA - South
#13 Delaware - East
#14 NCCU - East
#14 Mercer - Midwest
#15 EKU - South
#15 Wofford - Midwest
#16 Coastal Carolina - East
#16 Weber State - West

Play-in game:
#16 Cal Poly / Texas Southern - Midwest
#16 Albany - South


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[bonarae]

BTW, Harvard faces Cincy. As usual, we are shipped West again. Last year, we were in SLC. This time, we're in Zags country. xlolx


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[FargoBison]

Really happy about the draw NDSU got. Oklahoma is tough but far from unbeatable.

[darell1976]

Is this the first year the play-in games will feature non 16 seed teams? IMO I think the play-in games should be bubble teams instead of conference tournament winners.

[FargoBison]

Is this the first year the play-in games will feature non 16 seed teams? IMO I think the play-in games should be bubble teams instead of conference tournament winners.

It is always the four worst at-larges and four worst autobids, at least for as long as it's been a 68 team field. At one point there was just one play-in between the two worst autos.

I do agree, make the at-large teams play in.

[darell1976]

It is always the four worst at-larges and four worst autobids.

Ok, thanks...and good luck against the Sooners, it will be a tough game as they play in a very tough conference but in Spokane anything is possible.

[FargoBison]

Ok, thanks...and good luck against the Sooners, it will be a tough game as they play in a very tough conference but in Spokane anything is possible.

Thanks and good luck to your women's squad.

[darell1976]

UND at Omaha in the first round of the CIT.

[bonarae]

CBI Field:

Wyoming at Texas A&M
Morehead State at Illinois State

Fresno State at UTEP
Princeton at Tulane

Radford at Oregon State
South Dakota State at ODU

Hampton at Penn State
Stony Brook at Siena xconfusedx (Why is Stony Brook not in the NIT despite it being a regular-season champion of America East?)

CIT Field:
Holy Cross at Brown
VMI at Canisius
Wright State at East Carolina
Norfolk State at Eastern Michigan
Chattanooga at ETSU
Columbia at Valparaiso
Alabama State at Sam Houston State
Portland State at San Diego
Quinnipiac at Yale
Towson at USC Upstate (South Carolina)
Cleveland State at Ohio U
Akron at IPFW
Murray State at Missouri State
UND at Omaha
Texas A&M-CC at Northern Colorado
Pacific at Grand Canyon

Still awaiting the NIT field.

[bonarae]

NIT (only found it through NCAA championships website as a news article): - no seeding and bracket yet.

Vermont
Florida Gulf Coast
High Point
UC Irvine
Louisiana Tech
Green Bay
Iona
Robert Morris
Belmont
Davidson
Boston U
Georgia State
Utah Valley

Arkansas
Cal
Clemson
Florida State
Georgetown
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana State
LSU
Minnesota
Missouri
San Francisco
SMU
Southern Miss
St. John's
St. Mary's
Toledo
Utah
West Virginia

[OhioHen]

BTW, Harvard faces Cincy. As usual, we are shipped West again. Last year, we were in SLC. This time, we're in Zags country. xlolx


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All four teams in that sub-bracket of the "East" Region being played in Spokane are from the Eastern time zone. Guess the committee got it half right.

[NHwildEcat]

CBI Field:

Wyoming at Texas A&M
Morehead State at Illinois State

Fresno State at UTEP
Princeton at Tulane

Radford at Oregon State
South Dakota State at ODU

Hampton at Penn State
Stony Brook at Siena xconfusedx (Why is Stony Brook not in the NIT despite it being a regular-season champion of America East?)

CIT Field:
Holy Cross at Brown
VMI at Canisius
Wright State at East Carolina
Norfolk State at Eastern Michigan
Chattanooga at ETSU
Columbia at Valparaiso
Alabama State at Sam Houston State
Portland State at San Diego
Quinnipiac at Yale
Towson at USC Upstate (South Carolina)
Cleveland State at Ohio U
Akron at IPFW
Murray State at Missouri State
UND at Omaha
Texas A&M-CC at Northern Colorado
Pacific at Grand Canyon

Still awaiting the NIT field.

Stony Brook was not the regular season champs...they finished second to Vermont.

[Laker]

Is this the first year the play-in games will feature non 16 seed teams? IMO I think the play-in games should be bubble teams instead of conference tournament winners.

No, they have had seeds as high as 11 since back in 2011 when they first expanded it to 68. VCU beat USC for the 11th spot. Tell me why they shouldn't all be the 16 spots? Tell me why they expanded it to 68 at all? Just so some big name teams could make the tourney. They didn't do it for the little guys. I see that the Gophers got the 1 seed for the NIT. Good for them, but they didn't deserve to go to the NCAAs this year anyway.

[darell1976]

No, they have had seeds as high as 11 since back in 2011 when they first expanded it to 68. VCU beat USC for the 11th spot. Tell me why they shouldn't all be the 16 spots? Tell me why they expanded it to 68 at all? Just so some big name teams could make the tourney. They didn't do it for the little guys. I see that the Gophers got the 1 seed for the NIT. Good for them, but they didn't deserve to go to the NCAAs this year anyway.

Its not fair for a team to get an autobid only to play a "play-in" game to be part of the field of 64. I agree it should have been left at 64.

[Professor Chaos]

I was pretty happy when the decided to "only" expand to 68. If I recall correctly there was strong sentiment out there to expand the men's tournament to 80 or 92 teams. 64 is still the best number IMO but 68 is better than 80 or 92.

Onto my Bison, I really like the matchup with Oklahoma. They start 4 guards and only one is taller than 6'4" so either Taylor Braun or Trayvonn Wright (both are 6'7" and athletic) will have a 3-4" height advantage on their defender. My biggest fear was a matchup against a team with a long and athletic frontline or a monster center (like KU had with Cole Aldrich in 2009). I think Marshall Bjorklund will be the key for NDSU, when the offense goes through him the entire team is so much more efficient. If OU chooses not to double him they're going to have a hard time stopping the Bison. This will be a high scoring game I think with the winner needing to put up 80+.

[Laker]

Its not fair for a team to get an autobid only to play a "play-in" game to be part of the field of 64. I agree it should have been left at 64.

That reminds me of when the Minnesota high school basketball had their first round games outstate. They seemed more like a super regional game-only the final four made it to the Twin Cities. It just didn't seem right. If you earn your way to the Big Dance you shouldn't have to be treated like the junior varsity by a play in game.

[darell1976]

UND women got a 14 seed and will play at 3 seed Texas A&M.

[bonarae]

Yeah, time for us to support a hated Ivy rival - for their women's team. The Quacker women (#12 seed also like our men) face Texas on Sunday afternoon at Maryland's home court. Hope we're still alive by that time...

[bonarae]

As for Harvard, both we and Cincy are defensive-minded teams, but Cincy has the better set of defensive players - an All-American in Sean Kilpatrick and the AAC Defensive Player of the Year in Justin Jackson. However, these two players are the only ones scoring in double figures for the Bearcats; while Harvard has 5 who score in double figures per game (and a sixth, when rounded off, joins the party.) Harvard also has two rebounders who lead the team in rebounding (they are both part of the Magic Scoring 5.)

We were picked as the most popular upset of the second round - even explicitly being proclaimed on the Selection Show. Cincy has been inconsistent in the past several games against good teams, while we are riding on a 8 game winning streak against Ivy competition (our last OOC was a really really bad loss, and we lost both opportunities against fellow Dance teams in UConn and Colorado. Our games against Green Bay, had they not choked against Milwaukee; Vermont, had Albany not showed their postseason swagger against them; and Boston U, had American not dominated them, were wins that could've improved our resume for the Dance. These wins, aside from the Ivy clincher and Holy Cross, were the best of our bunch...)

[813Jag]

As for Harvard, both we and Cincy are defensive-minded teams, but Cincy has the better set of defensive players - an All-American in Sean Kilpatrick and the AAC Defensive Player of the Year in Justin Jackson. However, these two players are the only ones scoring in double figures for the Bearcats; while Harvard has 5 who score in double figures per game (and a sixth, when rounded off, joins the party.) Harvard also has two rebounders who lead the team in rebounding (they are both part of the Magic Scoring 5.)

We were picked as the most popular upset of the second round - even explicitly being proclaimed on the Selection Show. Cincy has been inconsistent in the past several games against good teams, while we are riding on a 8 game winning streak against Ivy competition (our last OOC was a really really bad loss, and we lost both opportunities against fellow Dance teams in UConn and Colorado. Our games against Green Bay, had they not choked against Milwaukee; Vermont, had Albany not showed their postseason swagger against them; and Boston U, had American not dominated them, were wins that could've improved our resume for the Dance. These wins, aside from the Ivy clincher and Holy Cross, were the best of our bunch...)
Cincy is gonna try to make that game really ugly and throw the Crimson off of their rhythm.

[bonarae]

Albany advances to face Florida... they beat Mount St. Mary's 71-64. Meanwhile, in the other play-in for the day, NC State beat Xavier 74-59.

[bonarae]

In the "other three"... (FCS games only)

NIT:
Sam Houston beat Alabama State, 71-49
Robert Morris continues their NIT first-round success in beating St. John's, 89-78
Georgetown put down West Virginia 77-65
Davidson lost to Mizzou 85-77
The Trees were cut down by Arkansas 91-71

CBI:
Stony Brook lost to Siena 66-55

CIT:
Columbia nipped Valpo 58-56
VMI put Canisius down 111-100
Chattanooga lost to ETSU 79-66
San Diego eliminated Portland State 87-65

[Bisonoline]

How many teams in D1 ARENT playing in some sort of tournament?

[citdog]

How many teams in D1 ARENT playing in some sort of tournament?

rub it in

[WWII]

How many teams in D1 ARENT playing in some sort of tournament?

about 150

[bonarae]

How many teams in D1 ARENT playing in some sort of tournament?

There are 351 teams playing D1 basketball right now. Subtract 68 (NCAA), 32 x 2 (NIT, CIT) and 16 (CBI). There are 203 teams staying home, for voluntary reasons (Miami Hurricanes, the Hoosiers, UNLV, Marquette, Washington, Maryland, among others didn't want to play in the CBI) or for bad W-L records, have bad APR scores or are transitioning from Division II.

[TheRevSFA]

In the "other three"... (FCS games only)

NIT:
Sam Houston beat Alabama State, 71-49
Robert Morris continues their NIT first-round success in beating St. John's, 89-78
Georgetown put down West Virginia 77-65
Davidson lost to Mizzou 85-77
The Trees were cut down by Arkansas 91-71

CBI:
Stony Brook lost to Siena 66-55

CIT:
Columbia nipped Valpo 58-56
VMI put Canisius down 111-100
Chattanooga lost to ETSU 79-66
San Diego eliminated Portland State 87-65

Sam is in the CIT, not NIT.

[813Jag]

FSU held Dunk City to 0 dunks last night, but still needed a late steal to escape and continue their annoyingly inconsistent season.

[bonarae]

I use NCAA.com for the scoreboards, apologies for not peeking at the brackets of the CIT. xpeacex xoopsx

Results today: (FCS games only)

NCAA:
Cal Poly extends the SWAC's ineptness to win postseason games by beating Texas Southern, 81-69

CBI:
Hampton lost to Penn State 69-65
Princeton nipped Tulane 56-55
Illinois State crushed Morehead State 77-67

CIT:
Yale nipped Quinnipiac 69-68
Towson nipped USC Upstate 63-60
South Dakota State lost to ODU 72-65
Murray State stopped Missouri State 66-63
North Dakota lost to Omaha 91-75
Northern Colorado lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 82-71

[813Jag]

I use NCAA.com for the scoreboards, apologies for not peeking at the brackets of the CIT. xpeacex xoopsx

Results today: (FCS games only)

NCAA:
Cal Poly extends the SWAC's ineptness to win postseason games by beating Texas Southern, 81-69

CBI:
Hampton lost to Penn State 69-65
Princeton nipped Tulane 56-55
Illinois State crushed Morehead State 77-67

CIT:
Yale nipped Quinnipiac 69-68
Towson nipped USC Upstate 63-60
South Dakota State lost to ODU 72-65
Murray State stopped Missouri State 66-63
North Dakota lost to Omaha 91-75
Northern Colorado lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 82-71
The Texas Southern of mid-January/February showed up last night.

[darell1976]

Upset on the first game....Ohio State loses to Dayton. So much for my perfect bracket.xmadx

[BluBengal07]

i come home and i find this.... Dayton upsets OSU and Havard upsets Cinci. wow. what time is the bracket bonfire tonight?

i guess bonarae is taking tomorrow off. lol.

[darell1976]

i come home and i find this.... Dayton upsets OSU and Havard upsets Cinci. wow. what time is the bracket bonfire tonight?

i guess bonarae is taking tomorrow off. lol.

I think everyone (or pretty much everyone) is screwed if Albany upsets Florida. Only a 6 point lead for Florida.

[superman7515]

Big win Harvard! I love it!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Congrats NDSU! I have you guys beating SDSU too!

[bonarae]

So far: (FCS games only)

NCAA:
Harvard upset Cincinnati, 61-57
NDSU beat Oklahoma in OT, 80-75
Dayton nipped Ohio State, 60-59
Albany lost to the Gators, 67-55
Wofford bowed out to Michigan, 57-40
Delaware couldn't handle Michigan State, 93-78

GIP: Villanova-Milwaukee

No games in the Other 3 Tournaments today.

[dewey]

What a great win for NDSU! I thought they were in trouble down 4 with about a minute left. Then a GIANT 3 by the point guard.

Great night to be a Bison! I hope they can knock off either SDSU or New Mexico State on Saturday.

Dewey

[dewey]

I love seeing the smaller schools go and be at the the 'varsity' teams.

Congratulations to Harvard and Dayton as well. I hope Wichita State makes a deep run as well.

Dewey

[bonarae]

To complete the nightcap, Villanova downed Milwaukee, 73-53.

Games involving FCS tomorrow:
NCAA:
12 pm - Mercer vs. Duke
2 pm - Weber State vs. Arizona
4:10 pm - Eastern Kentucky vs. Kansas
7:10 pm - Cal Poly vs. Wichita State
7:27 pm - Stephen F. Austin vs. VCU
9:25 pm - Coastal Carolina vs. Virginia
9:50 pm - NC Central vs. Iowa State

CIT:
7 pm - Towson at ETSU

NIT:
9:30 pm - Robert Morris at Belmont

[BluBengal07]

i went to sleep after that big three in the final seconds, couldn't stay up any longer. LOL. great win NDSU! yall are having a statement year in FCS.




FCS GAME OF THE DAY: 9:50 pm - NC Central vs. Iowa State
http://thegazette.com/2014/03/20/cyclones-facing-hottest-14th-seed-in-history/#ixzz2wZnPBhZQ

Cyclones facing hottest 14th-seed in history

N.C. Central only an 8-point underdog vs. Iowa State

[813Jag]

Great win NDSU!!! I like your chances against San Diego State.

[Nova09]

Congrats Bison! I wanted to see you in Frisco, but Arlington is close enough...

[RabidRabbit]

Go Lehigh Owl :
Congrats NDSU! I have you guys beating SDSU too!

Already did, :p Twice in fact.xrolleyesx

Nice win Bizun. Summit League doing pretty good in post-season play so far. 5-1 in the first round. Only USD (vs Stanford) in WBB to go for the first round.

[melloware13]

Mercer! welcome to the FCS (I'm only 7 months late) and thanks for taking care of pretentious Duke!

[813Jag]

Mercer! welcome to the FCS (I'm only 7 months late) and thanks for taking care of pretentious Duke!
I never mind my bracket getting messed up by a Duke loss xlolx

[jub1982]

Congrats Mercer

[BisonFan02]

Whenever Duke loses, an angel gets its wings.

[bluehenbillk]

Breaking News: Mercer moving to the A-10 #stickthatCoachK

[dewey]

Congratulations Mercer!

Dewey

[eaglewraith]

Good job Mercer. Way to take care of business.

[Laker]

Whenever Duke loses, an angel gets its wings.

Good call, Clarence! :D

[McNeese75]

Great game SFA Jacks!!!!

[bonarae]

Scores So Far For 3/21:

NCAA:
Mercer humiliated Duke 78-71
Cal Poly bowed out to Wichita State 64-37
Weber State couldn't get past Arizona 68-59
Eastern Kentucky couldn't upset Kansas 80-69
Stephen F. Austin got past the HAVOC defense of VCU in OT, 77-75

CIT:
Towson beat ETSU 83-77

GIP: (NIT) Robert Morris at Belmont, (NCAA) Coastal Carolina may make history tonight... and NC Central is keeping pace with Iowa State.

[TheRevSFA]

I may have cried a little

[JSUBison]

Great game SFA Jacks!!!!

Another good win for the FCS teams still alive in the tourney. All FCS 12 seeds won so far. Loving this Coastal game, hope they can keep it up.

[bonarae]

NC Central, Coastal Carolina and Robert Morris are all going home.

FCS teams still alive heading into the weekend:

NCAA:
#2 Villanova
#11 Dayton
#12 Harvard
#12 NDSU
#12 Stephen F. Austin
#14 Mercer

NIT:
Georgetown

CBI:
Illinois State
Princeton

CIT:
Towson
VMI
Yale
Holy Cross
Columbia
San Diego
Sam Houston State
Murray State

[AshevilleApp2]

Great game SFA Jacks!!!!

Gotta love 4 point plays!

[813Jag]

I may have cried a little
A little? I still shed a tear for our only NCAA victory that happened 20 years ago xlolx I know that's pathetic xlolx

[BisonFan02]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HNJ93HCxUA

[NoDak 4 Ever]

Proud as **** of my Bison. The beginning of an era

[BisonFan02]

Proud as **** of my Bison. The beginning of an era

Damn straight....just need to try and reload versus rebuild off of the momentum and get the SHAC done!

[IBleedYellow]

Damn straight....just need to try and reload versus rebuild off of the momentum and get the SHAC done!

Have to keep Coach, too.

[bonarae]

I cry for Harvard... we tried to grab the lead in the 2nd half but fell short. Sparty is way too talented. xsmhx

Meanwhile, Dayton upset Syracuse. Villanova, however, is down to UConn. Looks like Dayton is our last best FCS bet in the NCAA's. Stephen F Austin may face a similar dilemma to us. Mercer can beat the Vols...

[Bisonator]

It was fun while it lasted. Hate to see it end like that for our seniors but they have nothing to hang their heads about. SDSU was just too tough defensively and that Thames kid was lights out. Still a helluva season for our boys. Go Bison!!!

[JayJ79]

tuned into the second half of the Wichita State / Kentucky game after I got home from work.
the announcers spent all their time verbally fellating Kentucky despite them being the lower seed and trailing. ugh.

[bonarae]

The Shockers lost. xbawlingx

We all have to cheer for Dayton now...

[darell1976]

In the NCAA Women's Tournament 70-55 UND falls to Texas A&M in College Station. Great season by second year head coach Travis Brewster. Great job ladies representing the Big Sky and North Dakota.

[TheRevSFA]

What a season and what a ride. Couldn't be any more prouder of SFA than I am now

[bonarae]

Updated FCS survivor list:

NCAA:
#11 Dayton (plays against Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen Thursday)

NIT:
Georgetown (plays against the Noles tomorrow)

CBI:
Princeton (plays at Fresno State tomorrow)
Illinois State (plays against Texas A&M at home tomorrow)

CIT:
Towson (opponent TBD, won Saturday)

Murray State (plays Omaha tomorrow)
Yale and Columbia (play each other at Levien Wednesday)
VMI (at Ohio U Wednesday)
San Diego (at Pacific Wednesday)

[Model Citizen]

Go Flyers!

18899

[813Jag]

Updated FCS survivor list:

NCAA:
#11 Dayton (plays against Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen Thursday)

NIT:
Georgetown (plays against the Noles tomorrow)

CBI:
Princeton (plays at Fresno State tomorrow)
Illinois State (plays against Texas A&M at home tomorrow)

CIT:
Towson (opponent TBD, won Saturday)

Murray State (plays Omaha tomorrow)
Yale and Columbia (play each other at Levien Wednesday)
VMI (at Ohio U Wednesday)
San Diego (at Pacific Wednesday)
Go Noles!!

[citdog]

Go Noles!!


they better be getting that football team ready. The 'Dogs will be THRUSTING!

[bonarae]

FCS survivor list (purged again):

NCAA:
#11 Dayton

NIT:
(all FCS have been eliminated.)

CBI:
Illinois State (faces Siena on the road in the Semifinals)

CIT:
Towson
Murray State

Yet to play:
Yale and Columbia
VMI
San Diego

[813Jag]

they better be getting that football team ready. The 'Dogs will be THRUSTING!
I expect a bigger challenge from you guys than I do Clempsun xlolx

[bonarae]

FCS Survivor List (updated today, only 3 remain):

NCAA:
#11 Dayton

CIT:
Yale
VMI

[FargoBison]

FCS Survivor List (updated today, only 3 remain):

NCAA:
#11 Dayton

CIT:
Yale
VMI

I think Towson and Murray are still alive.

[bonarae]

I think Towson and Murray are still alive.

Because those two teams played earlier in the week, I forgot them... xoopsx

5 survivors now:

NCAA:
#11 Dayton

CIT:
Towson
Murray State
VMI
Yale

[Bisonator]

Dayton has to be this years Cindarella. Does the glass slipper break against the Gators??? If not my bracket will officially be dead!

[dewey]

Dayton has to be this years Cindarella. Does the glass slipper break against the Gators??? If not my bracket will officially be dead!

The big thing is that anyone else has Florida their bracket will be dead to.

Go Dayton.

Dewey

[bonarae]

Thank you for the memories, Dayton. xsmhx

CIT:
Murray State vs. Pacific
VMI vs. Yale

Only 3 FCS playing teams remain in any postseason tournament. The CIT semifinals is on Tuesday, April 1.

[Twentysix]

Thank you for the memories, Dayton. xsmhx

CIT:
Murray State vs. Pacific
VMI vs. Yale

Only 3 FCS playing *men's* teams remain in any postseason tournament. The CIT semifinals is on Tuesday, April 1.

FIFY, pretty sure the SDSU women are still alive.

[Thumper76]

FIFY, pretty sure the SDSU women are still alive.

Correct sir. In semi's of the WNIT playing at UTEP wed.

[bonarae]

It's Yale vs. Murray State for the CIT Championship on Thursday, 7 pm EDT on CBSSN.

[Twentysix]

The goofs just won the NIT.

[bonarae]

The Racers win the CIT, finally ending the Ivies' season and the drought of titles continues...

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