Fri., 2/18 | 7 p.m. | Virginia Commonwealth at Wichita State | ESPN2 |
Fri., 2/18 | 9 p.m. | Kent State at Drexel | ESPNU |
Sat., 2/19 | 11 a.m. | Hofstra at Wright State | ESPNU |
Sat., 2/19 | 1 p.m. | Austin Peay at Fairfield | ESPNU |
Sat., 2/19 | 3 p.m. | Iona at Liberty | ESPNU |
Sat., 2/19 | 5 p.m. | Missouri State at Valparaiso | ESPN2 |
Sat., 2/19 | 5 p.m. | Vermont at College of Charleston | ESPNU |
Sat., 2/19 | 7 p.m. | George Mason at Northern Iowa | ESPN2 |
Sat., 2/19 | 9 p.m. | No. 21 Utah State at St. Mary’s (CA) | ESPN2 |
Sat., 2/19 | 11 p.m. | Montana at Long Beach State | ESPN2 |
Sun., 2/20 | 1 p.m. | Cleveland State at Old Dominion | ESPN or ESPN2 |
The match-ups are shown above. From yesterday's blog we hit 19 of the 22 teams correct. Missing the ball on Austin Peay, Iona and Liberty. Instead replacing those 3 teams with Morehead St, James Madison and the one I left blank.
We also hit 5 of the 11 match-ups spot on, including all three Horizon League squads (as well as Utah St/St Mary's and Montana/Long Beach St). Were it not for the flip-flop of George Mason and VCU, we would be looking at 7 correct. The two late games on Saturday night were as I expected, those were the only two correct game times.
I can't fault the committee for Austin Peay over Morehead St, I in fact discussed that yesterday. Morehead St beat Austin Peay head to head, but overall Austin Peay has a slightly better resume. However, James Madison got shafted. No TV game and a match-up against an 8-12 Miami of Ohio team. They are the #67 team in RPI, have a better record than both Hofstra and Drexel, yet both of those teams got in on TV. Add to the fact that the Dukes have 4 out of conference wins against RPI Top 100 teams, and it leads to a mistake by the committee.