We are giving our 32 expert Bracketologists the morning off to recover from last night’s marathon that went well past Midnight in the Eastern Time Zone, so that they can be fully charged and ready to present you with the most accurate Bracket tomorrow. Last year, these guys nailed 67 of 68 teams in their final Bracketology report, when most others could only muster 65 or 66, including the big-names that then spent 3 hours on Selection Sunday trying to tell the Selection Committee how to do their job rather than admit their inaccuracies.
If you are a basketball junkie, then today is the day you do not venture outside your home, unless you are headed to a sports bar. Beginning at 11 AM Eastern and continuing until past Midnight once again, you can watch round the clock games, often times on more than one network at the same time, and you won’t be finished until it is time to lose an hour and turn up your clock.
Not only are today’s slate of games continual, this may be the best Championship Saturday in years with games that might be better than the first two rounds of the Big Dance!
Without further adieu, here is the breakdown for the day.
| Teams Earning Automatic Bids |
| Ohio Valley: Austin Peay (18-17) |
| Ivy League: Yale (22-6) |
| Atlantic Sun: Florida Gulf Coast (20-13) |
| Big South: UNC-Asheville (22-11) |
| Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa (22-12) |
| Colonial Athletic: UNC-Wilmington (25-7) |
| Metro Atlantic: Iona (22-10) |
| Southern: Chattanooga (29-5) |
| Horizon: Green Bay (23-12) |
| Northeast: Fairleigh-Dickinson (18-14) |
| Summit: South Dakota St. (26-7) |
| West Coast: Gonzaga (26-7) |
| Patriot: Holy Cross 14-19 |
| Automatic Bids Awarded Today |
| America East Conference Tournament |
| 11:00 AM on ESPN2 |
| #3 Vermont (21-12) at #1 Stony Brook (25-6) |
| Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament |
| Sites: Washington, DC |
| 9:00 PM on ESPN |
| #1 North Carolina (27-6) vs. #2 Virginia (26-6) |
| Big 12 Conference Tournament |
| Site: Kansas City |
| 6:00 PM on ESPN |
| #1 Kansas (29-4) vs. #2 West Virginia (26-7) |
| Big East Conference Tournament |
| Site: New York |
| 5:30 PM on Fox |
| #1 Villanova (29-4) vs. #3 Seton Hall (24-8) |
| Big Sky Conference Tournament |
| Site: Reno, NV |
| 8:45 PM on ESPNU |
| #1 Weber St. (25-8) vs. #2 Montana (21-10) |
| Big West Conference Tournament |
| Site: Anaheim |
| 11:30 PM on ESPN2 |
| #1 Hawaii (26-5) vs.#3 Long Beach St. (20-13) |
| Conference USA Tournament |
| Site: Birmingham |
| 2:30 PM on Fox Sports 1 |
| #2 Middle Tennessee (23-9) vs. #5 Old Dominion (22-12) |
| Mid-American Conference Tournament |
| Site: Cleveland |
| 7:30 PM on ESPN |
| #1 Akron (26-7) vs. #3 Buffalo (19-14) |
| Mid-eastern Athletic Conference Tournament |
| Site: Norfolk, VA |
| 1:00 PM on ESPN2 |
| #1 Hampton (20-10) vs. #3 South Carolina St. (19-13) |
| Mountain West Conference Tournament |
| Site: Las Vegas |
| 5:00 PM on CBS |
| #1 San Diego St. (25-8) vs. #2 Fresno St. (24-9) |
| Pac-12 Conference Tournament |
| Site: Las Vegas |
| 10:15 PM on FS1 |
| #1 Oregon (27-6) vs. #2 Utah (26-7) |
| Southland Conference Tournament |
| Site: Katy, TX |
| 9:30 PM on ESPN2 |
| #1 Stephen F. Austin (26-5) vs. #2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (25-6) |
| Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament |
| Site: Houston |
| 6:30 PM on ESPNU |
| #3 Jackson St. (19-14) vs. #4 Southern (21-12) |
| Western Athletic Conference Tournament |
| Site: Las Vegas |
| 11:00 PM on ESPNU |
| #1 New Mexico St. (23-9) vs. #2 Cal St. Bakersfield (23-8) |
| Other Tournaments In Action Today |
| American Athletic Conference Tournament |
| Site: Orlando |
| Semifinal Round |
| Both Games on ESPN2 |
| #1 Temple (21-10) vs. #5 Connecticut (22-10) 3:00 PM |
| #6 Memphis (18-14) vs. #10 Tulane (12-21) 5:15 PM |
| Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament |
| Site: Brooklyn |
| Semifinal Round |
| Both Games on CBS Sports Network |
| #1 Dayton (25-6) vs. #4 St. Joseph’s (25-7) 1:30 PM |
| #2 VCU (23-9) vs. #6 Davidson (20-11) 4:00 PM |
| Big Ten Conference Tournament |
| Site: Indianapolis |
| Semifinal Round |
| Both Games on CBS |
| #4 Purdue (25-7) vs. #8 Michigan (22-11) 1:00 PM |
| #2 Michigan St. (27-5) vs. #3 Maryland (25-7) 3:30 PM |
| Southeastern Conference Tournament |
| Site: Nashville |
| Semifinal Round |
| Both Games on ESPN |
| #1 Texas A&M (25-7) vs. #4 LSU (19-13) 1:00 PM |
| #2 Kentucky (24-8) vs. #6 Georgia (19-12) 3:15 PM |
| Sun Belt Conference Tournament |
| Site: New Orleans |
| Semifinal Round |
| Both Games on ESPN3 |
| #1 UALR (27-4) vs. #4 UL-Lafayette (17-13) 2:00 PM |
| #2 UL-Monroe (19-12) vs. #3 UT-Arlington (23-9) 4:30 PM |
Today’s Schedule By The Hour
| Time | Network | Conference | Team | vs. | Team |
| 11:00 AM | ESPN-2 | America East | Stony Brook | vs. | Vermont |
| 1:00 PM | CBS | Big Ten | Purdue | vs. | Michigan |
| 1:00 PM | ESPN | SEC | Texas A&M | vs. | LSU |
| 1:00 PM | ESPN-2 | MEAC | Hampton | vs. | S. Carolina St. |
| 1:30 PM | CBS SN | A-10 | Dayton | vs. | St. Joe’s |
| 2:00 PM | ESPN-3 | Sun Belt | UALR | vs. | UL-Lafayette |
| 2:30 PM | Fox Sports 1 | C-USA | Middle Tenn. | vs. | Old Dominion |
| 3:00 PM | ESPN | SEC | Kentucky | vs. | Georgia |
| 3:00 PM | ESPN-2 | American | Temple | vs. | Connecticut |
| 3:30 PM | CBS | Big Ten | Michigan St. | vs. | Maryland |
| 4:00 PM | CBS SN | A-10 | VCU | vs. | Davidson |
| 4:30 PM | ESPN-3 | Sun Belt | UT-Arlington | vs. | UL-Monroe |
| 5:00 PM | ESPN-2 | American | Memphis | vs. | Tulane |
| 5:30 PM | Fox | Big East | Villanova | vs. | Seton Hall |
| 6:00 PM | CBS | Mountain West | San Diego St. | vs. | Fresno St. |
| 6:30 PM | ESPN-U | SWAC | Jackson St. | vs. | Southern |
| 7:30 PM | ESPN-2 | MAC | Akron | vs. | Buffalo |
| 8:45 PM | ESPN-U | Big Sky | Weber St. | vs. | Montana |
| 9:00 PM | ESPN | ACC | North Carolina | vs. | Virginia |
| 9:30 PM | ESPN-2 | Southland | S. F. Austin | vs. | Texas A&M-CC |
| 10:00 PM | Fox Sports 1 | Pac-12 | Oregon | vs. | Utah |
| 11:00 PM | ESPN-U | WAC | New Mexio St. | vs. | CSU-Bakersfield |
| 11:30 PM | ESPN-2 | Big West | Hawaii | vs. | Long Beach St. |
Games Most Affecting The Bubble
The Bubble has been reduced to Don Ho’s favorite size. There are few teams left that can now play their way in to the NCAA Tournament or be ex-communicated after concluding their regular season.
Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Monmouth, Saint Mary’s, Syracuse, Valparaiso, and Tulsa cannot improve their lots, as these seven teams must wait to see what happens in other games, namely:
Michigan playing Purdue–The Wolverines might have earned their spot in the field with the upset of top-seed Indiana yesterday, but a win today guarantees their admittance
Connecticut playing Temple–A Husky win puts UConn in the Dance at one of the above’s expense
LSU playing Texas A&M–The Tigers must win today to even get into the conversation and probably must win the SEC Tournament
Georgia playing Kentucky–The Bulldogs are behind LSU in the fight, so they absolutely must win today and then cut the nets in Nashville tomorrow
Davidson playing VCU–The Wildcats are not in the at-large discussion, but a win today over the Rams puts Steph Curry’s alma mater in the dance automatically and pops a bubble at the bottom
Memphis playing Tulane–One of these dark horse teams will be playing in the American Championship Game tomorrow and saving their coach’s job for an extra day, as word has it that both are ready to fire their coaches
Fresno St. playing San Diego St.–If the Bulldogs pull off the upset, the Aztecs could still be in the mix, but we doubt it
The PiRates believe there are just three Bubble spots left in the NCAA Tournament, so all it takes is for three upset winners to crash the party, and the Bubble has been burst. We would not hold out a lot of hope if your team is one of the seven Bubblers this morning, because there will be some party-crashers disconnecting your Bubbler from the water supply.
Note: If you do not know what are Bubblers, ask somebody from Wisconsin.
The Pi-Rate Ratings 