PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Sunday, February 26, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Bradley	Drake	1.7
Canisius	Fairfield	0.9
Colorado	UCLA	-6.6
Duquesne	Davidson	5.1
Georgetown	Providence	-9.4
Illinois Chicago	Southern Illinois	-7.2
Illinois St.	Evansville	9.1
Indiana St.	Missouri St.	7.3
Iona	Siena	10.3
Maryland	Northwestern	5.5
Memphis	Cincinnati	5.6
Michigan	Wisconsin	5.2
Murray St.	Valparaiso	5.5
Niagara	Saint Peter’s	5.5
Northern Iowa	Belmont	-2.2
Ohio St.	Illinois	-0.8
Penn St.	Rutgers	0.6
Quinnipiac	Manhattan	9.5
Rider	Mount St. Mary’s	8.1
St. Bonaventure	Saint Joseph’s	3.8
Stanford	Washington	4.0
Stephen F. Austin	Cal Baptist	4.0
Tulane	Wichita St.	6.0
Tulsa	Central Florida	-12.5

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Sunday, January 29, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Belmont	Drake	-0.2
Canisius	Manhattan	5.1
Cleveland St.	IUPUI	19.8
East Carolina	Wichita St.	-1.8
Fairfield	Rider	1.6
George Mason	Saint Joseph’s	6.6
Illinois Chicago	Bradley	9.8
Illinois St.	Southern Illinois	-5.3
Iona	Quinnipiac	7.7
Iowa	Rutgers	1.2
Lehigh	Boston U.	1.9
Marist	Siena	-4.5
Penn St.	Michigan	3.6
Purdue	Michigan St.	8.7
Robert Morris	Oakland	2.8
SMU	South Florida	1.1
St. John’s	Georgetown	13.2
Tulsa	Memphis	-13.1
UNC Greensboro	Furman	0.4
Villanova	Providence	-0.6
Youngstown St.	Detroit	8.3

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Friday, March 4, 2022

Friday’s Conference Tournaments

Big South Conference–Quarterfinals
Charlotte
Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
Longwood	North Carolina A&T	10.3
USC Upstate	Charleston Southern	9.2
Winthrop	High Point	6.0
Gardner-Webb	Campbell	3.4
MIssouri Valley Conference–Quarterfinals
St. Louis (Arch Madness)
Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
Northern Iowa	Illinois St.	8.7
Loyola (Chi.)	Bradley	6.8
Missouri St.	Valparaiso	12.5
Drake	Southern Illinois	4.1
Ohio Valley Conference–Semifinals
Evansville, IN
Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
Murray St.	Southeast Missouri	19.6
Belmont	Morehead St.	6.1
Southern Conference–1st Round
Asheville, NC
Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
East Tennessee St.	The Citadel	6.0
Mercer	Western Carolina	7.4
West Coast Conference–2nd Round
Las Vegas
Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
BYU	Loyola Marymount	12.2
Portland	San Diego	1.4

Friday’s Regular Season Games

Home	Visitor	Spread
St. Bonaventure	Richmond	3.7
Western Michigan	Ball St.	-4.6
Kent St.	Buffalo	0.4
Toledo	Bowling Green	19.2
Miami (O)	Eastern Michigan	7.9
Akron	Central Michigan	18.4
Northern Illinois	Ohio	-12.6
San Jose St.	Utah St.	-17.8

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	2/7/2022
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Gonzaga	Auburn	Purdue	Kentucky
2	Kansas	Arizona	Baylor	Duke
3	Texas Tech	Houston	Illinois	Providence
4	Michigan St.	Wisconsin	UCLA	Villanova
5	Marquette	Tennessee	Texas	Ohio St.
6	Xavier	LSU	Connecticut	Alabama
7	USC	Indiana	Saint Mary’s	Iowa St.
8	Arkansas	TCU	Iowa	Boise St.
9	Wake Forest	Murray St.	San Francisco	Wyoming
10	Loyola (Chi.)	BYU	Davidson	Seton Hall
11	Colorado St.	Oregon	Miami (Fla.)	North Carolina
12	Iona	North Texas	Notre Dame	Creighton	Florida	Belmont
13	Ohio	Chattanooga	Vermont	South Dakota St.
14	New Mexico St.	Wagner	Weber St.	Cal St. Fullerton
15	Longwood	Jacksonville St.	Cleveland St.	Yale
16	Colgate	UNC Wilmington	Norfolk St.	Appalachian St.	New Orleans	Southern

Best of the Rest

69	San Diego St.
70	Saint Louis
71	Mississippi State
72	SMU
73	Washington St.
74	Michigan
75	Florida State
76	Oklahoma

PiRate Ratings College Basketball Spreads

Saturday, March 6, 2021

Home	Visitor	Spread
St. Bonaventure	Saint Louis	0.3
VCU	Davidson	3.9
Notre Dame	Florida St.	-6.7
Clemson	Pittsburgh	5.1
Louisville	Virginia	-0.9
North Carolina	Duke	3.1
UMBC	UMass-Lowell	6.5
Vermont	Hartford	8.7
Wichita St.	South Florida	10.0
West Virginia	Oklahoma St.	4.3
Kansas St.	Iowa St.	1.4
Connecticut	Georgetown	8.6
Providence	Villanova	-5.8
Creighton	Butler	12.5
St. John’s	Seton Hall	0.9
Marquette	Xavier	-0.2
Montana St.	Sacramento St.	3.8
Weber St.	Northern Colorado	10.0
Portland St.	Southern Utah	-2.8
Minnesota	Rutgers	-0.4
Purdue	Indiana	5.9
Ohio St.	Illinois	-1.7
UC Davis	Hawaii	0.3
Cal St. Northridge	UC-Riverside	-10.2
Long Beach St.	UC-Irvine	-9.8
UC San Diego	Cal St. Fullerton	3.2
UCSB	Cal Poly	22.6
Marshall	Charlotte	14.2
Western Kentucky	Old Dominion	8.3
North Texas	UAB	6.4
Elon	Towson	4.2
William & Mary	UNC-Wilmington	-2.9
Delaware St.	Morgan St.	-11.3
Loyola (Chi.)	Indiana St.	10.8
Drake	Missouri St.	3.9
Fresno St.	Utah St.	-10.5
Wyoming	UNLV	0.2
Bryant	Sacred Heart	9.7
Wagner	Mount St. Mary’s	3.4
Belmont	Morehead St.	4.8
Utah	Arizona St.	2.8
UCLA	USC	-2.8
Navy	Loyola (MD)	7.1
Colgate	Boston U	14.3
Lafayette	Bucknell	3.6
Army	American	4.4
Kentucky	South Carolina	6.4
Auburn	Mississippi St.	2.8
Georgia	Alabama	-9.4
Missouri	LSU	-0.5
Arkansas	Texas A&M	16.1
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	5.8
Prairie View	Alcorn St.	9.9
Jackson St.	Alabama St.	12.6
Texas Southern	Southern	4.9
Grambling	Alabama A&M	5.7
UNCG	The Citadel	9.7
Chattanooga	East Tennessee St.	-1.7
Wofford	Mercer	1.7
Furman	VMI	5.0
Northwestern St.	Central Arkansas	2.9
Abilene Christian	Incarnate Word	19.5
McNeese St.	Lamar	-0.2
Houston Baptist	Texas A&M-CC	4.2
Sam Houston St.	Stephen F. Austin	1.6
New Orleans	Southeast Louisiana	6.2
South Dakota St.	Omaha	16.2
South Dakota	Western Illinois	10.3
Louisiana	South Alabama	2.6
Georgia St.	Arkansas St.	8.5
Coastal Carolina	Troy	10.3
Texas St.	Appalachian St.	5.8
UT Rio Grande Valley	Tarleton St.	5.3
Dixie St.	New Mexico St.	-10.4
Grand Canyon	Utah Valley	8.3
California Baptist	Seattle	2.3
Saint Mary’s	Loyola Marymount	0.1
Pepperdine	Santa Clara	3.2

Conference Tournament Update

Today’s Conference Tournament Games

America East Semifinals

6 U Mass-Lowell at 1 Maryland-Baltimore Co.

4 Hartford at 2 Vermont

Atlantic 10 Semifinals (Richmond)

1 St. Bonaventure vs. 4 Saint Louis

2 VCU vs. 3 Davidson

Colonial Athletic 1st Round (@ James Madison)

8 Elon vs. 9 Towson

7 William & Mary vs. 10 UNC-Wilmington

Missouri Valley Semifinals at Saint Louis

1 Loyola (Chi.) vs. 4 Indiana St.

2 Drake vs. 3 Missouri St.

Northeast Semifinals

4 Mount St. Mary’s at 1 Wagner

3 Sacred Heart at 2 Bryant

Ohio Valley Championship Game at Evansville

1 Belmont vs. 2 Morehead St. — 8 PM EST on ESPN2

Southern Quarterfinals at Asheville

1 UNC-Greensboro vs. 8 The Citadel

4 Chattanooga vs. 5 East Tennessee St.

2 Wofford vs. 7 Mercer

3 Furman vs. 6 VMI

Summit Quarterfinals 1st 2 Games at Sioux Falls

1 South Dakota St. vs. 8 Omaha

2 South Dakota vs. 7 Western Illinois

Sun Belt Quarterfinals at Pensacola

1E Georgia St. vs. 4W Arkansas St.

2W Louisiana vs. 3E South Alabama

1W Texas St. vs. 4E Appalachian St.

2E Coastal Carolina vs. 6E Troy

West Coast Quarterfinals at Las Vegas

4 Saint Mary’s vs. 5 Loyola Marymount

3 Pepperdine vs. 7 Santa Clara

Automatic Qualifiers

Liberty — Atlantic Sun 22-5

PiRate Ratings College Basketball Tournament Update

Friday, March 5, 2021 (Prior to start of A-10 Games today)

Atlantic Sun

Semifinals, Today

1 Liberty vs. 7 Stetson

5 North Alabama vs. 6 Florida Gulf Coast

Note: If North Alabama wins the tournament, Liberty is the automatic NCAA Tournament qualifier.

Atlantic 10

Quarterfinals, Today, Richmond, VA

1 St. Bonaventure vs. 9 Duquesne

4 Saint Louis vs. 5 Massachusetts

2 VCU vs. 7 Dayton

3 Davidson vs. George Mason

Big South

Championship Game, Sunday at Winthrop

1 Winthrop vs. 3 Campbell

Colonial Athletic

1st Round, Saturday at James Madison

8 Elon vs. 9 Towson

7 William & Mary vs. 10 UNC-Wilmington

Horizon

Semifinals, Monday at Indianapolis

1 Cleveland St. vs. 8 Milwaukee

3 Oakland vs. 4 Northern Kentucky

Missouri Valley (Arch Madness)

Quarterfinals, Today, at Saint Louis

1 Loyola (Chi.) vs. 9 Southern Illinois

4 Indiana St. vs. 5 Evansville

2 Drake vs. 7 Northern Iowa

3 Missouri St. vs. 6 Valparaiso

Northeast

Semifinals, Saturday at Higher Seed

1 Wagner vs. 4 Mount St. Mary’s

2 Bryant vs. 3 Sacred Heart

Ohio Valley

Semifinals, Friday at Evansville

1 Belmont vs. 4 Jacksonville St.

2 Morehead St. vs. 3 Eastern Kentucky

Patriot

Quarterfinals, Saturday at Higher Seeds

1 Navy vs. Loyola (MD)

4 Army vs. 5 American

2 Colgate vs. 7 Boston U

3 Lafayette vs. 6 Bucknell

Southern

1st Round, Today at Asheville, NC

8 The Citadel vs. 9 Western Carolina

7 Mercer vs. 10 Samford

Summit

Quarterfinals, Saturday & Sunday, Sioux Falls, SD

1 South Dakota St. vs. 8 Omaha

4 Oral Roberts vs. 5 North Dakota

2 South Dakota vs. 7 Western Illinois

3 North Dakota St. vs. Kansas City

Sun Belt

1st Round, Today at Pensacola, FL

4W Arkansas St. vs. 5E Georgia Southern

3E South Alabama vs. 6W Louisiana-Monroe

4E Appalachian St. vs. 5W Little Rock

3W UT-Arlington vs. 6E Troy

West Coast

2nd Round, Today at Las Vegas

5 Loyola Marymount vs. 8 San Francisco

6 Pacific vs. 7 Santa Clara

PiRate Ratings College Basketball Spreads

Friday, March 5, 2021

Home	Visitor	Spread
St. Bonaventure	Duquesne	7.3
Saint Louis	Massachusetts	6.2
VCU	Dayton	4.6
Davidson	George Mason	4.4
Miami (Fla.)	Boston College	0.4
Wake Forest	Georgia Tech	-10.3
Liberty	Stetson	10.6
North Alabama	Florida Gulf Coast	-1.4
Montana St.	Sacramento St.	3.8
Eastern Washington	Idaho State	11.8
UC Davis	Hawaii	0.3
Cal St. Northridge	UC Riverside	-10.2
Long Beach St.	UC Irvine	-9.8
UC San Diego	Cal St. Fullerton	3.2
UC Santa Barbara	Cal Poly	22.6
Florida Atlantic	Middle Tennessee	9.1
Marshall	Charlotte	14.2
Western Kentucky	Old Dominion	8.3
North Texas	UAB	6.4
Quinnipiac	Saint Peter’s	-2.0
Rider	Monmouth	-4.7
Manhattan	Fairfield	4.7
Siena	Canisius	6.8
Central Michigan	Northern Illinois	7.1
Buffalo	Kent St.	4.3
Akron	Miami (O)	5.8
Toledo	Ball St.	9.7
Western Michigan	Eastern Michigan	3.2
Delaware St.	Morgan St	-11.3
Loyola (Chi.)	Southern Illinois	16.3
Indiana St.	Evansville	6.1
Drake	Northern Iowa	9.7
Missouri St.	Valparaiso	7.8
Nevada	Colorado St.	-2.0
Belmont	Jacksonville St.	6.2
Morehead St.	Eastern Kentucky	1.9
Arkansas St.	Georgia Southern	1.5
South Alabama	Louisiana Monroe	4.6
Appalachian St.	Little Rock	-0.1
UT Arlington	Troy	3.9
The Citadel	Western Carolina	-0.5
Mercer	Samford	7.3
Mississippi Valley St.	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	-10.3
UT Rio Grande Valley	Tarleton	5.3
Dixie St.	New Mexico St.	-10.4
Grand Canyon	Utah Valley	8.3
California Baptist	Seattle	2.3
Loyola Marymount	San Francisco	-0.5
Pacific	Santa Clara	2.9

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

2/15/2021

Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Gonzaga	Baylor	Michigan	Ohio St.
2	Illinois	Houston	Alabama	Villanova
3	Virginia	Oklahoma	Iowa	West Virginia
4	Tennessee	Texas Tech	Texas	Florida St.
5	USC	Kansas	Missouri	Virginia Tech
6	Wisconsin	Creighton	Rutgers	Clemson
7	Florida	Oklahoma St.	Purdue	Arkansas
8	Colorado	UCLA	Louisville	Xavier
9	Minnesota	BYU	San Diego St.	LSU
10	Loyola (Chi.)	North Carolina	Boise St.	Oregon
11	Seton Hall	Drake	St. Bonaventure	Utah St.
12	Belmont	Winthrop	Colorado St.	Indiana	Stanford	Connecticut
13	Toledo	Western Ky.	UCSB	Wright St.
14	Liberty	UNCG	S.F. Austin	Colgate
15	Vermont	Siena	Texas St.	Grand Canyon
16	James Madison	S. Dakota St.	E. Washington	Prairie View	Mt. St. Mary’s	N. C. A&T

First 8 Teams Out

69	VCU
70	Saint Louis
71	Richmond
72	SMU
73	Maryland
74	Wichita St.
75	Georgia Tech
76	Pittsburgh

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For March 7, 2020

Saturday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Alabama A&M	Jackson St.	-3.9
Alabama St.	Grambling	-0.1
Alcorn St.	Texas Southern	-0.8
Arizona	Washington	10.0
Arizona St.	Washington St.	9.9
Arkansas Pine Bluff	Mississippi Valley St.	8.3
Belmont	Murray St.	2.9
Bradley	Drake	3.0
Cal St. Fullerton	Long Beach St.	4.1
Cal St. Northridge	Hawaii	1.4
Central Arkansas	Northwestern St.	4.7
Cincinnati	Temple	9.8
Creighton	Seton Hall	3.0
Dartmouth	Brown	5.2
Dayton	George Washington	23.8
Drexel	UNC Wilmington	3.1
Duke	North Carolina	12.5
East Tennessee St.	VMI	13.9
Eastern Washington	Weber St.	12.0
Elon	James Madison	1.0
Florida	Kentucky	2.7
Florida Intl.	Western Kentucky	-0.4
Florida St.	Boston College	17.8
Fordham	George Mason	-2.1
Furman	Wofford	6.3
Georgetown	Villanova	-2.2
Grand Canyon	Cal St. Bakersfield	3.0
Hartford	UMass Lowell	3.0
Harvard	Yale	-1.6
Idaho	Idaho St.	-1.0
Incarnate Word	Abilene Christian	-11.7
Indiana	Wisconsin	2.1
Kansas St.	Iowa St.	2.1
Lamar	McNeese	3.5
Louisiana	Arkansas St.	1.7
Louisiana Tech	Charlotte	9.1
LSU	Georgia	8.8
Massachusetts	Rhode Island	-5.2
Mercer	Western Carolina	-2.2
Miami (Fla.)	Syracuse	-0.5
Middle Tennessee	Southern Miss.	2.6
Mississippi St.	Ole Miss	5.3
Missouri	Alabama	-0.8
Missouri St.	Valparaiso	2.1
Montana	Southern Utah	4.2
Montana St.	Northern Colorado	-5.8
New Orleans	Southeastern Louisiana	5.4
North Dakota St.	Denver	11.7
Northwestern	Penn St.	-8.2
Notre Dame	Virginia Tech	6.1
Oregon	Stanford	7.0
Oregon St.	California	9.6
Pacific	San Francisco	-3.4
Penn	Columbia	12.2
Portland St.	Sacramento St.	3.8
Princeton	Cornell	10.9
Providence	DePaul	7.9
Purdue	Rutgers	4.5
Rice	UTEP	2.3
Robert Morris	Long Island	5.0
Saint Joseph’s	La Salle	-3.4
Saint Louis	St. Bonaventure	6.3
Saint Mary’s	Pepperdine	8.5
San Diego St.	Utah St.	5.2
South Dakota St.	Purdue Fort Wayne	9.9
South Florida	SMU	0.6
Southern	Prairie View	0.1
St. Francis (PA)	Sacred Heart	4.6
St. John’s	Marquette	-1.6
Stephen F. Austin	Sam Houston	10.0
Stony Brook	Albany	9.0
TCU	Oklahoma	-0.7
Tennessee	Auburn	1.1
Texas	Oklahoma St.	4.1
Texas A&M	Arkansas	-4.5
Texas A&M-CC	Houston Baptist	9.8
Texas Tech	Kansas	-4.0
UAB	Old Dominion	1.2
UC Santa Barbara	Cal Poly	13.2
UMBC	New Hampshire	2.2
UNC Greensboro	Chattanooga	5.9
USC	UCLA	3.8
UT Rio Grande Valley	California Baptist	-0.9
UT-Arlington	Coastal Carolina	6.8
Utah	Colorado	-4.8
UTSA	Marshall	-0.4
Vanderbilt	South Carolina	-5.1
Vermont	Maine	20.3
Virginia	Louisville	-2.3
West Virginia	Baylor	0.4
Xavier	Butler	1.4

 

Saturday’s Key Games on TV

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
12:00 PM	ESPN	Indiana	Wisconsin
12:00 PM	ESPN2	Tennessee	Auburn
12:00 PM	ESPN3	St. Francis (PA)	Sacred Heart
1:00 PM	CBS	Florida	Kentucky
1:00 PM	ESPN+	West Virginia	Baylor
2:00 PM	ESPN	Texas Tech	Kansas
2:00 PM	ESPN3	Robert Morris	Long Island
2:30 PM	Fox	Creighton	Seton Hall
3:15 PM	CBS	USC	UCLA
3:35 PM	CBSSN	Bradley	Drake
4:00 PM	ESPN	Virginia	Louisville
5:30 PM	CBS	San Diego St.	Utah St.
5:30 PM	ESPN3	Stephen F. Austin	Sam Houston St.
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Penn	Columbia
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Princeton	Cornell
6:00 PM	ESPN2	TCU	Oklahoma
6:05 PM	CBSSN	Missouri St.	Valparaiso
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Harvard	Yale
8:00 PM	ESPN2	Belmont	Murray St.
8:30 PM	ESPN+	UNC Greensboro	Chattanooga
8:30 PM	FS1	Xavier	Butler
11:00 PM	FS1	Oregon	Stanford
12:00 AM	ESPN2	Saint Mary’s	Pepperdine

 

CONFERENCE  TOURNAMENTS  UPDATE

 

America East Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 7	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Vermont (24-7)	8 Maine (9-21)	7:00 PM	ESPN3
2 Stony Brook (19-12)	7 Albany (14-17)	7:00 PM	ESPN3
3 Hartford (16-15)	6 UMass Lowell (13-18)	5:00 PM	ESPN3
4 UMBC (15-16)	5 New Hampshire (15-14)	1:00 PM	ESPN3

Vermont is the heavy favorite to repeat as AEC Champions.  The Catamounts will host every game they play in this tournament, and while Vermont’s two conference losses did come at home, it would be a major upset if another team represented the league in the NCAA Tournament.  Vermont is certainly an upset-worthy double-digit seed in the Big Dance, while no other team in this league is talented enough to win anything other than a play-in game in Dayton.

 

 

 

Big South Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Winthrop	78	Gardner-Webb	66
Hampton	86	Radford	78

With top seed Radford losing to Hampton, Winthrop now becomes host team for Sunday’s Big South Championship Game.  The Eagles will host the surprise Hampton Pirates at 1:00 PM tomorrow in a game televised on ESPN.

 

 

 

Colonial Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 7	Washington, D.C. (Entertainment & Sports Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Drexel (13-18)	9 UNC Wilmington (10-21)	4:00 PM	FloHoops (Subscrip.)
7 Elon (11-20)	10 James Madison (9-20)	6:30 PM	FloHoops (Subscrip.)

 

Five CAA Teams finished with double-digit conference wins, and none of them play today, as they received byes to the quarterfinals.  We don’t expect any of today’s combatants to be around by the semifinals.  

The #’s 5 & 6 seeds in this tournament, Delaware and Northeastern, are the two dark horses that could create some havoc during the the next few days.  Hofstra and William and Mary are the top two seeds, but neither is a shoo-in to make the conference championship game.

 

 

 

Missouri Valley Tournament (Arch Madness)
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Drake	77	Northern Iowa	56
Bradley	64	Southern Illinois	59
Valparaiso	74	Loyola (Chi.)	73 ot
Missouri St.	78	Indiana St.	51

 

Missouri Valley Tournament (Arch Madness)
Semifinals	March 7	St. Louis (Enterprise Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
4 Bradley (21-11)	8 Drake (20-13)	3:30 PM	CBSSN
6 Missouri St. (16-16)	7 Valparaiso (18-15)	6:00 PM	CBSSN

 

As we mentioned in our first preview of Arch Madness, this tournament has been won by a team coming from back in the pack as often as it has been won by the top seed.  Well, after yesterday, you can kiss the top three seeds good bye!  Northern Iowa, Loyola of Chicago, and Indiana State all went home, and we are left with a 4, 6, 7, and 8 seed.  And, the 8-seeded Drake Bulldogs looked the most impressive by far in the quarterfinal shellacking of UNI.  

Missouri State vastly played beneath the level of its talent in the regular season, so it would not be surprising to see the Bears playing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament tomorrow.  MSU coach Dana Ford comes from the Gregg Marshall coaching tree, and his team plays a similar style, which tends to bring teams to their peak performance in March.

 

 

 

Mountain West Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
San Diego St.	81	Boise St.	68
Utah St.	89	Wyoming	82

 

Mountain West Tournament
Championship	March 7	Las Vegas (Thomas & Mack Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 San Diego St. (30-1)	2 Utah St. (25-8)	5:30 PM	CBS

 

With the top two teams making it to the Championship Game, the league is now guaranteed to have two Dance tickets punched.  Utah St. has now moved off the Bubble into the safe part of the projected field.  

San Diego State started cold last night and trailed by 16 points before a barrage of three-pointers brought the Aztecs back and allowed them to tie the game at the half and then run away in the second half in a similar manner to their blowout of Iowa across town in a mid-season tournament in Vegas.  A win today could secure a number one seed for SDSU, as they are locked in a fierce battle with Dayton for the fourth number one seed as of this moment.

 

 

 

Northeast Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Robert Morris	59	St. Francis (NY)	58
St. Francis (PA)	87	Bryant	61
Sacred Heart	61	Mount St. Mary’s	59
Long Island	73	Fairleigh-Dickinson	72

Northeast Tournament
Semifinals	March 7	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
2 St. Francis (PA) (21-9)	3 Sacred Heart (20-12)	12:00 PM	ESPN3
1 Robert Morris (18-14)	4 Long Island (15-17)	2:00 PM	ESPN3

 

 

 

Ohio Valley Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Belmont	60	Eastern Kentucky	50
Murray St.	73	Austin Peay	61

 

Ohio Valley Tournament
Championship	March 7	Evansville, IN (Ford Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Belmont (25-7)	2 Murray St. (23-8)	8:00 PM	ESPN2

 

This tournament can almost schedule this game as part of its regular season package.  Belmont and Murray State have met in the OVC Title Game numerous times since the Bruins entered the league.  Last year, both teams made the NCAA Tournament and won their first games.  Neither are as strong as they were last year, but that doesn’t mean that the winner of this game must be taken lightly in the Big Dance.  The champion will receive a #14 or #15 seed in the field, and some #2 or 3 seed will be in for a real fight.

 

 

Southern Tournament
1st Round
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
VMI	96	Samford	78
Wofford	93	The Citadel	76

Southern Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 7	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
1 East Tennessee St. (27-4)	9 VMI (9-23)	12:00 PM	ESPN+
4 Mercer (17-14)	5 Western Carolina (18-11)	2:30 PM	ESPN+
2 Furman (25-6)	7 Wofford (17-15)	6:00 PM	ESPN+
3 UNC Greensboro (23-8)	6 Chattanooga (19-12)	8:30 PM	ESPN+

East Tennessee coach Steve Forbes doesn’t let his troops rest on their laurels.  When Northern Iowa was upset yesterday in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, you can bet he used this to make sure his team knew it better come ready to play against VMI today.  The Keydets can score points in a hurry, and if ETSU comes out flat thinking they can walk over VMI like Sherman marched through Atlanta, the Bucs may find themselves in a big hole.

All four of these games are worth watching.  Any of the remaining eight teams are strong enough and talented enough to win three games in the next three days.  Even the lowest remaining seed, Wofford, can cut the nets, as they did last year.  

If East Tennessee wins two games in this tournament and then loses to a Furman or UNC Greensboro, the Buccaneers could still receive an at-large bid, but it isn’t a sure thing.  The chances that two SoCon teams get bids are rather slim, which makes this tournament so exciting with eight quality teams remaining.  If you like contrasting styles of play, this is a tournament you want to watch even if you have no dog in the fight.

 

 

 

Summit Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 7 & 8	Sioux Falls, SD (Sanford Premier Center)
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 North Dakota St. (22-8)	8 Denver (7-23)	7:00 PM 3/7	ESPN+
4 Oral Roberts (16-13)	5 Omaha (16-15)	7:00 PM 3/8	ESPN+
2 South Dakota St. (22-9)	7 Purdue Fort Wayne (13-18)	9:30 PM 3/7	ESPN+
3 South Dakota (20-11)	6 North Dakota (13-17)	9:30 PM 3/8	ESPN+

 

Depending on which way you drive into the Denny Sanford Premier Center, you might think the building is a giant cylinder or you might think it is a long rectangular complex.  Take it from somebody that was there and mistook the building for something else because he arrived on the back side of the arena rather than the front.

This year’s Summit League Tournament may have the same feeling.  On the front side of the league, South Dakota State and North Dakota State look like potent teams destined to make the championship round.  But, on the back side of the league, teams like Omaha and Oral Roberts might look like they belong in a different league, but when the front end and back end are brought together (the venue looks like a giant barge), the tournament takes on a different style with some potentially interesting games.  Don’t put the top two seeds in the Championship Game bracket in pen.  

Having no connection to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, let me highly endorse visiting this beautiful city.  The Falls here are nothing like those in Niagara, but they are incredibly wonderful in their own way.  There is a traquilizing effect to seeing multiple falls at the level of the falls as opposed to being well above in Niagara or in the Maid of the Mist in the water.  While Niagara is a power plant of water flow, Sioux Falls has more peaceful water.  Consider Sioux Falls in a future Summer Vacation when you plan a visit to Mount Rushmore.

 

 

 

Sun Belt Tournament
1st Round	March 7	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
8 Louisiana (13-18)	9 Arkansas St. (16-15)	12:00 PM	ESPN+
7 UT-Arlington (14-17)	10 Coastal Carolina (15-16)	3:00 PM	ESPN+

 

The Sun Belt Conference plays its tournament in a similar manner to the Ohio Valley and West Coast Conferences.  The bottom four teams play in the first round with the two winners advancing to play the next two teams above them in the seed line.  Then, the two winners in the second round advance to play the next two teams above them in the seed line.  Meanwhile, the top two seeds receive byes to the Semifinal Round.

Unlike the OVC and WCC, the first three rounds are played on the home courts of the higher-seeded teams, so it really makes the regular season standings meaningful.

This format gives the top two seeds, Little Rock and South Alabama, huge advantages over the rest of the field, since they can plan to be in Le Vieux Carre while the other teams must earn their way to the Smoothie King Center.

In this tournament, the 3rd-seeded Texas State Bobcats are probably the best team, and they should make it to New Orleans to face 2nd-seed South Alabama.  If they beat the Jaguars in the semifinal round, they stand a better than 50-50 chance of knocking off Little Rock if the Trojans knock of 4th-seed Georgia Southern or an upset winner in the prior rounds.

 

 

 

West Coast Tournament
2nd Round
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
San Francisco	82	Loyola Marymount	53
Pepperdine	84	Santa Clara	73

West Coast Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 7	Las Vegas (Orleans Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
4 Pacific (23-9)	5 San Francisco (21-11)	10:00 PM	ESPN2
3 Saint Mary’s (24-7)	6 Pepperdine (16-15)	12:30 AM	ESPN2

The two winners last night looked very impressive beating teams they were favored to beat.  Now, the competition gets a little tougher, and tonight’s games should be tense and close.  Gonzaga faces the winner of the Pacific-San Francisco game, while BYU faces the winner of the SMC-Pepperdine game.  The remainder of this tournament is going to be uber interesting, and you should stay up late and catch all the action.  Hopefully, the zebras won’t become too much of a factor like last night’s Pepperdine-Santa Clara game, when they whistled more technical fouls in a three-minute stretch than most conference tournaments have in the entire meet.

 

Don’t Forget–Spring Forward Tonight Before Bedtime–Turn up your clocks one hour for daylight savings time and realize you are “losing an hour of sleep.”  I’ve heard about that thing called sleep; maybe some time, I will try it out.

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For March 6, 2020

Friday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Akron	Kent St.	6.7
Belmont	Eastern Kentucky	9.7
Bowling Green	Buffalo	1.6
Bradley	Southern Illinois	4.1
Canisius	Niagara	5.8
Central Michigan	Western Michigan	4.6
Clemson	Georgia Tech	3.1
Dartmouth	Yale	-6.5
Davidson	VCU	2.0
Duquesne	Richmond	-0.7
Harvard	Brown	12.0
Indiana St.	Missouri St	0.9
Loyola (Chi.)	Valparaiso	3.7
Manhattan	Fairfield	4.9
Miami (O)	Ohio	-0.1
Monmouth	Siena	1.3
Murray St.	Austin Peay	2.1
North Carolina St.	Wake Forest	7.0
Northern Illinois	Ball St.	0.4
Northern Iowa	Drake	9.8
Pennsylvania	Cornell	11.4
Pepperdine	Santa Clara	0.6
Princeton	Columbia	10.7
Radford	Hampton	12.3
Saint Peter’s	Iona	4.5
Samford	VMI	-3.1
San Diego St.	Boise St.	8.9
San Francisco	Loyola Marymount	7.2
Toledo	Eastern Michigan	5.7
Utah St.	Wyoming	16.2
Winthrop	Gardner-Webb	4.5
Wofford	Citadel	12.6

 

Key TV Games on Friday

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
1:00 PM	ESPN+	Northern Iowa	Drake
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Winthrop	Gardner-Webb
6:00 PM	ESPNU	Bowling Green	Buffalo
6:30 PM	CBSSN	Akron	Kent St.
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Duquesne	Richmond
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Monmouth	Siena
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Harvard	Brown
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Penn	Cornell
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Princeton	Columbia
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Dartmouth	Yale
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Loyola (Chi.)	Valparaiso
8:00 PM	ESPNU	Belmont	Eastern Kentucky
8:00 PM	ESPN+	Radford	Hampton
9:00 PM	CBSSN	San Diego St.	Boise St.
10:00 PM	ESPNU	Murray St.	Austin Peay
11:30 PM	CBSSN	Utah St.	Wyoming

 

Conference Tournament Updates

 

Atlantic Sun Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Liberty	66	Stetson	62
Lipscomb	73	North Florida	71

Liberty will now host Lipscomb for the Atlantic Sun Championship on Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT.  The game will be televised on ESPN.

 

 

Big South Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Winthrop	106	USC Upstate	70
Gardner-Webb	72	UNC Asheville	62
Radford	62	Charleston Southern	48
Hampton	78	Longwood	53

 

Semifinals	March 6	at #1 Seed Radford
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
2 Winthrop (22-10)	3 Gardner-Webb (16-15)	6:00 PM	ESPN+
1 Radford (21-10)	5 Hampton (14-18)	8:30 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

Horizon League Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Green Bay	78	Oakland	63
Illinois Chicago	67	Youngstown	61

The tournament now moves to Indianapolis for the final two rounds.  The top four seeds have advanced.  On Monday night, #1 Wright St. will play #4 Illinois-Chicago at 7:00 PM EDT on ESPNU.  Then 30 minutes after the conclusion of that game, #2 Northern Kentucky will play #3 Green Bay on ESPN2.

 

 

 

Missouri Valley Tournament (Arch Madness)
1st Round
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Drake	75	Illinois St.	65
Valparaiso	58	Evansville	55

 

Quarterfinals	March 6	St. Louis (Enterprise Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Northern Iowa (25-5)	8 Drake (19-13)	1:00 PM	MVC TV Network
4 Bradley (20-11)	5 Southern Illinois (16-15)	3:30 PM	MVC TV Network
2 Loyola (Chi.) (21-10)	7 Valparaiso (17-15)	7:00 PM	MVC TV Network
3 Indiana St. (18-11)	6 Missouri St. (15-16)	9:30 PM	MVC TV Network

 

 

 

Mountain West Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
San Diego St.	73	Air Force	60
Boise St.	67	UNLV	61
Utah St.	75	New Mexico	70
Wyoming	74	Nevada	71

 

Semifinals	March 6	Las Vegas (Thomas & Mack Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 San Diego St. (29-1)	5 Boise St. (20-11)	9:00 PM	CBSSN
2 Utah St. (24-8)	11 Wyoming (9-23)	11:30 PM	CBSSN

 

 

Ohio Valley Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Eastern Kentucky	58	Tennessee St.	48
Austin Peay	76	Eastern Illinois	65

 

Semifinals	March 6	Evansville, IN (Ford Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Belmont (24-7)	4 Eastern Kentucky (16-16)	8:00 PM	ESPNU
2 Murray St. (22-8)	3 Austin Peay (21-11)	10:00 PM	ESPNU

 

 

 

Patriot League Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Bucknell	64	American	59
Boston U	69	Navy	63
Lafayette	73	Army	68
Colgate	83	Lehigh	70

The tournament resumes Sunday with the semifinal round.  Boston U hosts Bucknell at 12:00 PM and Colgate hosts Lafayette at 2:00 PM.  Both games will be televised on CBSSN.

 

 

Southern Tournament
1st Round	March 6	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
8 Samford (10-22)	9 VMI (8-23)	5:00 PM	ESPN+
7 Wofford (16-15)	10 The Citadel (6-23)	7:30 PM	ESPN+
Southern Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 7	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
1 East Tennessee St. (27-4)	Samford/VMI	12:00 PM	ESPN+
4 Mercer (17-14)	5 Western Carolina (18-11)	2:30 PM	ESPN+
2 Furman (25-6)	Wofford/The Citadel	6:00 PM	ESPN+
3 UNC Greensboro (23-8)	6 Chattanooga (19-12)	8:30 PM	ESPN+
Southern Tournament
Semifinals	March 8	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
ETSU/Samford/VMI	Mercer/Western Carolina	4:00 PM	ESPN+
Furman/Wofford/Citadel	UNCG/Chattanooga	6:30 PM	ESPN+
Southern Tournament
Championship	March 9	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
		7:00 PM	ESPN

This tournament has six teams talented enough to win and receive the automatic bid.  East Tennessee has a long winning streak, and the Buccaneers have a chance to earn an at-large bid if they fail to win the tournament.  Furman and UNC-Greensboro appeared to be a little off their peaks as the calendar flipped to March, while Chattanooga and Western Carolina are playing their best ball of the season.

 

 

 

West Coast Tournament
1st Round
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Loyola Marymount	75	San Diego	61
Santa Clara	76	Portland	62

 

2nd Round	March 6	Las Vegas (Orleans Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
5 San Francisco (20-11)	8 Loyola Marymount (11-20)	9:00 PM	BYUtv
6 Pepperdine (15-15)	7 Santa Clara (20-12)	11:30 PM	BYUtv

 

Coming Later Today:  Updated Bracketology