PiRate Ratings College Basketball Spreads

Monday, March 8, 2021

Home	Visitor	Spread
Hofstra	Elon	2.9
Northeastern	Drexel	0.1
Cleveland St.	Milwaukee	3.3
Oakland	Northern Kentucky	-1.7
Canisius	Rider	4.8
UNC Greensboro	Mercer	2.5
South Dakota St.	Oral Roberts	3.8
South Dakota	North Dakota St.	-1.3
Georgia St.	Appalachian St.	4.8
Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s	20.1
BYU	Pepperdine	10.1

This Week’s PiRate Ratings

Rk.	Team	Ratings
1	Gonzaga	128.0
2	Baylor	122.4
3	Illinois	121.5
4	Michigan	121.4
5	Iowa	121.3
6	Houston	118.9
7	Alabama	118.6
8	Ohio St.	117.5
9	Arkansas	116.7
10	Florida St.	116.7
11	Creighton	115.9
12	Loyola Chicago	115.9
13	Purdue	115.8
14	USC	115.8
15	Villanova	115.7
16	Wisconsin	115.6
17	Colorado	115.6
18	BYU	115.0
19	Kansas	114.9
20	San Diego St.	114.9
21	West Virginia	114.8
22	Texas	114.7
23	Tennessee	114.6
24	Virginia	114.4
25	Texas Tech	114.4
26	Connecticut	114.4
27	LSU	114.3
28	North Carolina	113.9
29	St. Bonaventure	113.7
30	Oklahoma St.	113.4
31	Florida	113.4
32	Penn St.	113.3
33	Georgia Tech	113.1
34	Rutgers	113.0
35	Maryland	112.8
36	Oregon	112.7
37	Memphis	112.5
38	Oklahoma	112.3
39	VCU	111.9
40	Duke	111.9
41	Indiana	111.7
42	Utah St.	111.6
43	Clemson	111.4
44	Missouri	111.4
45	Arizona	111.3
46	Kentucky	111.3
47	Saint Louis	111.2
48	UCLA	111.1
49	Syracuse	111.0
50	Virginia Tech	110.9
51	SMU	110.8
52	Seton Hall	110.6
53	Michigan St.	110.6
54	Louisville	110.5
55	Boise St.	110.5
56	Mississippi	110.4
57	St. John’s	110.4
58	Drake	110.4
59	Colorado St.	110.3
60	Toledo	110.3
61	Xavier	110.2
62	Minnesota	110.2
63	Auburn	110.1
64	Buffalo	109.9
65	Wright St.	109.9
66	N.C. State	109.5
67	Richmond	109.5
68	Davidson	109.4
69	Notre Dame	109.3
70	Northwestern	109.2
71	Wichita St.	109.0
72	Mississippi St.	108.8
73	Providence	108.7
74	Marquette	108.6
75	Stanford	108.6
76	Utah	108.5
77	UC Santa Barbara	108.2
78	Louisiana Tech	108.1
79	Marshall	107.9
80	Saint Mary’s	107.9
81	Dayton	107.9
82	North Texas	107.5
83	Pittsburgh	107.4
84	Missouri St.	107.2
85	Winthrop	107.2
86	Georgia	107.2
87	Georgetown	107.1
88	Colgate	107.1
89	Nebraska	106.9
90	Kent St.	106.8
91	Furman	106.7
92	Abilene Christian	106.5
93	Nevada	106.5
94	Vanderbilt	106.4
95	Belmont	106.2
96	UAB	106.2
97	Western Kentucky	106.1
98	Rhode Island	106.1
99	Liberty	106.1
100	UCF	106.0
101	UNC Greensboro	105.9
102	San Francisco	105.8
103	Loyola Marymount	105.8
104	Akron	105.7
105	Oregon St.	105.7
106	Ohio	105.7
107	Washington St.	105.6
108	UC Riverside	105.4
109	South Carolina	105.3
110	Massachusetts	105.2
111	UC Irvine	105.2
112	Cincinnati	105.1
113	Arizona St.	105.0
114	Butler	104.9
115	Pepperdine	104.9
116	South Dakota St.	104.9
117	Bowling Green	104.5
118	Eastern Washington	104.5
119	Duquesne	104.5
120	Indiana St.	104.4
121	Tulsa	104.3
122	Pacific	103.8
123	Wofford	103.7
124	Weber St.	103.7
125	Mercer	103.4
126	DePaul	103.4
127	East Tennessee St.	103.3
128	TCU	103.3
129	Morehead St.	103.2
130	Vermont	103.2
131	Boston College	103.2
132	Texas A&M	103.1
133	George Mason	103.0
134	Grand Canyon	102.9
135	UTEP	102.7
136	Temple	102.7
137	Georgia St.	102.2
138	Southern Utah	102.1
139	Cal St. Bakersfield	102.1
140	Bradley	102.0
141	Miami FL	102.0
142	Ball St.	102.0
143	Miami OH	101.9
144	Detroit	101.8
145	North Dakota St.	101.7
146	VMI	101.7
147	Tulane	101.6
148	Stephen F. Austin	101.4
149	Old Dominion	101.4
150	East Carolina	101.3
151	Santa Clara	101.3
152	Chattanooga	101.3
153	Northeastern	101.1
154	Cleveland St.	101.1
155	Jacksonville St.	101.1
156	New Mexico St.	101.1
157	Oral Roberts	101.1
158	Drexel	101.0
159	Northern Iowa	101.0
160	Navy	100.9
161	California	100.8
162	UTSA	100.8
163	UMBC	100.7
164	Murray St.	100.7
165	Bryant	100.7
166	Eastern Kentucky	100.6
167	Coastal Carolina	100.6
168	Wake Forest	100.5
169	UNLV	100.5
170	South Dakota	100.4
171	James Madison	100.3
172	Sam Houston St.	100.2
173	Hofstra	100.2
174	Washington	100.2
175	Gardner Webb	100.1
176	South Florida	100.1
177	Iowa St.	99.9
178	Bellarmine	99.9
179	Siena	99.9
180	Wyoming	99.7
181	Kansas St.	99.7
182	Texas St.	99.7
183	Fresno St.	99.4
184	Florida Atlantic	99.2
185	Northern Kentucky	99.1
186	Army	99.0
187	Valparaiso	98.9
188	Montana	98.8
189	Southern Illinois	98.8
190	Nicholls St.	98.7
191	La Salle	98.6
192	Hawaii	98.4
193	Rice	98.4
194	Hartford	98.3
195	Illinois St.	98.3
196	Saint Joseph’s	98.3
197	Evansville	98.1
198	Iona	98.0
199	Louisiana	97.9
200	Monmouth	97.8
201	Utah Valley	97.8
202	Campbell	97.8
203	Milwaukee	97.8
204	San Diego	97.7
205	Saint Peter’s	97.5
206	Oakland	97.4
207	South Alabama	97.4
208	Appalachian St.	97.4
209	Austin Peay	97.4
210	Wagner	97.4
211	UMKC	97.4
212	Elon	97.3
213	The Citadel	97.1
214	Loyola MD	97.0
215	UMass Lowell	97.0
216	Delaware	96.9
217	George Washington	96.9
218	Charlotte	96.8
219	Charleston	96.8
220	Mount St. Mary’s	96.7
221	UC Davis	96.7
222	Stony Brook	96.6
223	Youngstown St.	96.4
224	Albany	96.2
225	Radford	96.2
226	Longwood	96.2
227	Cal Baptist	96.1
228	Canisius	96.1
229	Norfolk St.	96.0
230	UNC Asheville	96.0
231	Little Rock	96.0
232	Montana St.	96.0
233	Lipscomb	95.9
234	Seattle	95.9
235	Western Carolina	95.9
236	UC San Diego	95.9
237	Niagara	95.8
238	Green Bay	95.8
239	UNC Wilmington	95.8
240	Prairie View A&M	95.7
241	Stetson	95.6
242	Northern Colorado	95.4
243	Portland St.	95.3
244	Arkansas St.	95.3
245	UT Arlington	95.1
246	Southern Miss	95.1
247	Sacramento St.	95.1
248	Boston University	95.0
249	Morgan St.	94.9
250	Marist	94.8
251	Lafayette	94.8
252	Cal St. Fullerton	94.8
253	Texas Southern	94.7
254	IUPUI	94.6
255	American	94.5
256	New Hampshire	94.5
257	Tarleton St.	94.4
258	Idaho St.	94.4
259	Western Michigan	94.4
260	Cal St. Northridge	94.3
261	Georgia Southern	94.1
262	Samford	94.0
263	Southeast Missouri St.	93.9
264	Bucknell	93.9
265	Purdue Fort Wayne	93.7
266	LIU	93.7
267	Florida A&M	93.7
268	Merrimack	93.6
269	Jackson St.	93.6
270	Quinnipiac	93.5
271	Illinois Chicago	93.5
272	Eastern Michigan	93.4
273	High Point	93.4
274	Long Beach St.	93.4
275	Central Michigan	93.3
276	UT Rio Grande Valley	93.2
277	New Mexico	93.1
278	North Carolina A&T	93.1
279	North Alabama	93.0
280	Robert Morris	92.9
281	Fordham	92.9
282	North Dakota	92.8
283	Towson	92.8
284	Florida Gulf Coast	92.7
285	NJIT	92.7
286	New Orleans	92.7
287	Fairleigh Dickinson	92.4
288	William & Mary	92.4
289	Louisiana Monroe	92.4
290	Holy Cross	92.3
291	FIU	92.3
292	Jacksonville	92.3
293	St. Francis NY	92.2
294	North Florida	92.2
295	Troy	92.2
296	St. Francis PA	92.1
297	Middle Tennessee	92.0
298	Eastern Illinois	91.7
299	Southern	91.7
300	Western Illinois	91.7
301	Coppin St.	91.4
302	Lamar	91.4
303	Howard	91.4
304	North Carolina Central	91.4
305	Tennessee Tech	91.3
306	Rider	91.3
307	Manhattan	91.2
308	Sacred Heart	91.0
309	Air Force	91.0
310	Nebraska Omaha	90.9
311	Fairfield	90.9
312	Binghamton	90.8
313	USC Upstate	90.7
314	SIU Edwardsville	90.7
315	Presbyterian	90.6
316	Northwestern St.	90.5
317	Tennessee St.	90.5
318	San Jose St.	90.0
319	Grambling St.	90.0
320	Hampton	89.7
321	Northern Illinois	89.3
322	Northern Arizona	89.3
323	Central Arkansas	89.0
324	Portland	89.0
325	Lehigh	88.9
326	Southeastern Louisiana	88.7
327	Incarnate Word	88.5
328	Dixie St.	88.5
329	Kennesaw St.	88.2
330	Cal Poly	88.1
331	Maine	88.1
332	McNeese St.	88.0
333	Charleston Southern	88.0
334	Alcorn St.	87.6
335	Central Connecticut	87.5
336	Texas A&M Corpus Chris	87.0
337	Tennessee Martin	86.6
338	Denver	86.5
339	Houston Baptist	86.4
340	Alabama A&M	86.1
341	Arkansas Pine Bluff	84.6
342	Idaho	83.5
343	South Carolina St.	82.9
344	Delaware St.	82.0
345	Alabama St.	81.8
346	Chicago St.	80.8
347	Mississippi Valley St.	70.8

PiRate Ratings By Conference

Atlantic 10
Team	Rating
St. Bonaventure	113.7
VCU	111.9
Saint Louis	111.2
Richmond	109.5
Davidson	109.4
Dayton	107.9
Rhode Island	106.1
Massachusetts	105.2
Duquesne	104.5
George Mason	103.0
La Salle	98.6
Saint Joseph’s	98.3
George Washington	96.9
Fordham	92.9
American
Team	Rating
Houston	118.9
Memphis	112.5
SMU	110.8
Wichita St.	109.0
UCF	106.0
Cincinnati	105.1
Tulsa	104.3
Temple	102.7
Tulane	101.6
East Carolina	101.3
South Florida	100.1
Atlantic Coast
Team	Rating
Florida St.	116.7
Virginia	114.4
North Carolina	113.9
Georgia Tech	113.1
Duke	111.9
Clemson	111.4
Syracuse	111.0
Virginia Tech	110.9
Louisville	110.5
N.C. State	109.5
Notre Dame	109.3
Pittsburgh	107.4
Boston College	103.2
Miami FL	102.0
Wake Forest	100.5
America East
Team	Rating
Vermont	103.2
UMBC	100.7
Hartford	98.3
UMass Lowell	97.0
Stony Brook	96.6
Albany	96.2
New Hampshire	94.5
NJIT	92.7
Binghamton	90.8
Maine	88.1
Atlantic Sun
Team	Rating
Liberty	106.1
Bellarmine	99.9
Lipscomb	95.9
Stetson	95.6
North Alabama	93.0
Florida Gulf Coast	92.7
Jacksonville	92.3
North Florida	92.2
Kennesaw St.	88.2
Big 12
Team	Rating
Baylor	122.4
Kansas	114.9
West Virginia	114.8
Texas	114.7
Texas Tech	114.4
Oklahoma St.	113.4
Oklahoma	112.3
TCU	103.3
Iowa St.	99.9
Kansas St.	99.7
Big East
Team	Rating
Creighton	115.9
Villanova	115.7
Connecticut	114.4
Seton Hall	110.6
St. John’s	110.4
Xavier	110.2
Providence	108.7
Marquette	108.6
Georgetown	107.1
Butler	104.9
DePaul	103.4
Big Sky
Team	Rating
Eastern Washington	104.5
Weber St.	103.7
Southern Utah	102.1
Montana	98.8
Montana St.	96.0
Northern Colorado	95.4
Portland St.	95.3
Sacramento St.	95.1
Idaho St.	94.4
Northern Arizona	89.3
Idaho	83.5
Big South
Team	Rating
Winthrop	107.2
Gardner Webb	100.1
Campbell	97.8
Radford	96.2
Longwood	96.2
UNC Asheville	96.0
High Point	93.4
USC Upstate	90.7
Presbyterian	90.6
Hampton	89.7
Charleston Southern	88.0
Big Ten
Team	Rating
Illinois	121.5
Michigan	121.4
Iowa	121.3
Ohio St.	117.5
Purdue	115.8
Wisconsin	115.6
Penn St.	113.3
Rutgers	113.0
Maryland	112.8
Indiana	111.7
Michigan St.	110.6
Minnesota	110.2
Northwestern	109.2
Nebraska	106.9
Big West
Team	Rating
UC Santa Barbara	108.2
UC Riverside	105.4
UC Irvine	105.2
Cal St. Bakersfield	102.1
Hawaii	98.4
UC Davis	96.7
UC San Diego	95.9
Cal St. Fullerton	94.8
Cal St. Northridge	94.3
Long Beach St.	93.4
Cal Poly	88.1
Colonial
Team	Rating
Northeastern	101.1
Drexel	101.0
James Madison	100.3
Hofstra	100.2
Elon	97.3
Delaware	96.9
Charleston	96.8
UNC Wilmington	95.8
Towson	92.8
William & Mary	92.4
Conference USA
Team	Rating
Louisiana Tech	108.1
Marshall	107.9
North Texas	107.5
UAB	106.2
Western Kentucky	106.1
UTEP	102.7
Old Dominion	101.4
UTSA	100.8
Florida Atlantic	99.2
Rice	98.4
Charlotte	96.8
Southern Miss	95.1
FIU	92.3
Middle Tennessee	92.0
Horizon
Team	Rating
Wright St.	109.9
Detroit	101.8
Cleveland St.	101.1
Northern Kentucky	99.1
Milwaukee	97.8
Oakland	97.4
Youngstown St.	96.4
Green Bay	95.8
IUPUI	94.6
Purdue Fort Wayne	93.7
Illinois Chicago	93.5
Robert Morris	92.9
Metro Atlantic
Team	Rating
Siena	99.9
Iona	98.0
Monmouth	97.8
Saint Peter’s	97.5
Canisius	96.1
Niagara	95.8
Marist	94.8
Quinnipiac	93.5
Rider	91.3
Manhattan	91.2
Fairfield	90.9
Mid-American
Team	Rating
Toledo	110.3
Buffalo	109.9
Kent St.	106.8
Akron	105.7
Ohio	105.7
Bowling Green	104.5
Ball St.	102.0
Miami OH	101.9
Western Michigan	94.4
Eastern Michigan	93.4
Central Michigan	93.3
Northern Illinois	89.3
Mideastern Athletic
Team	Rating
Norfolk St.	96.0
Morgan St.	94.9
Florida A&M	93.7
North Carolina A&T	93.1
Coppin St.	91.4
Howard	91.4
North Carolina Central	91.4
South Carolina St.	82.9
Delaware St.	82.0
Missouri Valley
Team	Rating
Loyola Chicago	115.9
Drake	110.4
Missouri St.	107.2
Indiana St.	104.4
Bradley	102.0
Northern Iowa	101.0
Valparaiso	98.9
Southern Illinois	98.8
Illinois St.	98.3
Evansville	98.1
Mountain West
Team	Rating
San Diego St.	114.9
Utah St.	111.6
Boise St.	110.5
Colorado St.	110.3
Nevada	106.5
UNLV	100.5
Wyoming	99.7
Fresno St.	99.4
New Mexico	93.1
Air Force	91.0
San Jose St.	90.0
Northeast
Team	Rating
Bryant	100.7
Wagner	97.4
Mount St. Mary’s	96.7
LIU	93.7
Merrimack	93.6
Fairleigh Dickinson	92.4
St. Francis NY	92.2
St. Francis PA	92.1
Sacred Heart	91.0
Central Connecticut	87.5
Ohio Valley
Team	Rating
Belmont	106.2
Morehead St.	103.2
Jacksonville St.	101.1
Murray St.	100.7
Eastern Kentucky	100.6
Austin Peay	97.4
Southeast Missouri St.	93.9
Eastern Illinois	91.7
Tennessee Tech	91.3
SIU Edwardsville	90.7
Tennessee St.	90.5
Tennessee Martin	86.6
Pac-12
Team	Rating
USC	115.8
Colorado	115.6
Oregon	112.7
Arizona	111.3
UCLA	111.1
Stanford	108.6
Utah	108.5
Oregon St.	105.7
Washington St.	105.6
Arizona St.	105.0
California	100.8
Washington	100.2
Patriot
Team	Rating
Colgate	107.1
Navy	100.9
Army	99.0
Loyola MD	97.0
Boston University	95.0
Lafayette	94.8
American	94.5
Bucknell	93.9
Holy Cross	92.3
Lehigh	88.9
Southeastern
Team	Rating
Alabama	118.6
Arkansas	116.7
Tennessee	114.6
LSU	114.3
Florida	113.4
Missouri	111.4
Kentucky	111.3
Mississippi	110.4
Auburn	110.1
Mississippi St.	108.8
Georgia	107.2
Vanderbilt	106.4
South Carolina	105.3
Texas A&M	103.1
Southern
Team	Rating
Furman	106.7
UNC Greensboro	105.9
Wofford	103.7
Mercer	103.4
East Tennessee St.	103.3
VMI	101.7
Chattanooga	101.3
The Citadel	97.1
Western Carolina	95.9
Samford	94.0
Southland
Team	Rating
Abilene Christian	106.5
Stephen F. Austin	101.4
Sam Houston St.	100.2
Nicholls St.	98.7
New Orleans	92.7
Lamar	91.4
Northwestern St.	90.5
Central Arkansas	89.0
Southeastern Louisiana	88.7
Incarnate Word	88.5
McNeese St.	88.0
Texas A&M Corpus Chris	87.0
Houston Baptist	86.4
Summit
Team	Rating
South Dakota St.	104.9
North Dakota St.	101.7
Oral Roberts	101.1
South Dakota	100.4
UMKC	97.4
North Dakota	92.8
Western Illinois	91.7
Nebraska Omaha	90.9
Denver	86.5
Southwestern Athletic
Team	Rating
Prairie View A&M	95.7
Texas Southern	94.7
Jackson St.	93.6
Southern	91.7
Grambling St.	90.0
Alcorn St.	87.6
Alabama A&M	86.1
Arkansas Pine Bluff	84.6
Alabama St.	81.8
Mississippi Valley St.	70.8
Sun Belt
Team	Rating
Georgia St.	102.2
Coastal Carolina	100.6
Texas St.	99.7
Louisiana	97.9
South Alabama	97.4
Appalachian St.	97.4
Little Rock	96.0
Arkansas St.	95.3
UT Arlington	95.1
Georgia Southern	94.1
Louisiana Monroe	92.4
Troy	92.2
Western Athletic
Team	Rating
Grand Canyon	102.9
New Mexico St.	101.1
Utah Valley	97.8
Cal Baptist	96.1
Seattle	95.9
Tarleton St.	94.4
UT Rio Grande Valley	93.2
Dixie St.	88.5
Chicago St.	80.8
West Coast
Team	Rating
Gonzaga	128.0
BYU	115.0
Saint Mary’s	107.9
San Francisco	105.8
Loyola Marymount	105.8
Pepperdine	104.9
Pacific	103.8
Santa Clara	101.3
San Diego	97.7
Portland	89.0

PiRate Ratings Alphabetically

Rk	Team	Rating
92	Abilene Christian	106.5
309	Air Force	91.0
104	Akron	105.7
7	Alabama	118.6
340	Alabama A&M	86.1
345	Alabama St.	81.8
224	Albany	96.2
334	Alcorn St.	87.6
255	American	94.5
208	Appalachian St.	97.4
45	Arizona	111.3
113	Arizona St.	105.0
9	Arkansas	116.7
341	Arkansas Pine Bluff	84.6
244	Arkansas St.	95.3
186	Army	99.0
63	Auburn	110.1
209	Austin Peay	97.4
142	Ball St.	102.0
2	Baylor	122.4
178	Bellarmine	99.9
95	Belmont	106.2
312	Binghamton	90.8
55	Boise St.	110.5
131	Boston College	103.2
248	Boston University	95.0
117	Bowling Green	104.5
140	Bradley	102.0
165	Bryant	100.7
264	Bucknell	93.9
64	Buffalo	109.9
114	Butler	104.9
18	BYU	115.0
227	Cal Baptist	96.1
330	Cal Poly	88.1
139	Cal St. Bakersfield	102.1
252	Cal St. Fullerton	94.8
260	Cal St. Northridge	94.3
161	California	100.8
202	Campbell	97.8
228	Canisius	96.1
323	Central Arkansas	89.0
335	Central Connecticut	87.5
275	Central Michigan	93.3
219	Charleston	96.8
333	Charleston Southern	88.0
218	Charlotte	96.8
152	Chattanooga	101.3
346	Chicago St.	80.8
112	Cincinnati	105.1
43	Clemson	111.4
154	Cleveland St.	101.1
167	Coastal Carolina	100.6
88	Colgate	107.1
17	Colorado	115.6
59	Colorado St.	110.3
26	Connecticut	114.4
301	Coppin St.	91.4
11	Creighton	115.9
68	Davidson	109.4
81	Dayton	107.9
216	Delaware	96.9
344	Delaware St.	82.0
338	Denver	86.5
126	DePaul	103.4
144	Detroit	101.8
328	Dixie St.	88.5
58	Drake	110.4
158	Drexel	101.0
40	Duke	111.9
119	Duquesne	104.5
150	East Carolina	101.3
127	East Tennessee St.	103.3
298	Eastern Illinois	91.7
166	Eastern Kentucky	100.6
272	Eastern Michigan	93.4
118	Eastern Washington	104.5
212	Elon	97.3
197	Evansville	98.1
311	Fairfield	90.9
287	Fairleigh Dickinson	92.4
291	FIU	92.3
31	Florida	113.4
267	Florida A&M	93.7
184	Florida Atlantic	99.2
284	Florida Gulf Coast	92.7
10	Florida St.	116.7
281	Fordham	92.9
183	Fresno St.	99.4
91	Furman	106.7
175	Gardner Webb	100.1
133	George Mason	103.0
217	George Washington	96.9
87	Georgetown	107.1
86	Georgia	107.2
261	Georgia Southern	94.1
137	Georgia St.	102.2
33	Georgia Tech	113.1
1	Gonzaga	128.0
319	Grambling St.	90.0
134	Grand Canyon	102.9
238	Green Bay	95.8
320	Hampton	89.7
194	Hartford	98.3
192	Hawaii	98.4
273	High Point	93.4
173	Hofstra	100.2
290	Holy Cross	92.3
6	Houston	118.9
339	Houston Baptist	86.4
303	Howard	91.4
342	Idaho	83.5
258	Idaho St.	94.4
3	Illinois	121.5
271	Illinois Chicago	93.5
195	Illinois St.	98.3
327	Incarnate Word	88.5
41	Indiana	111.7
120	Indiana St.	104.4
198	Iona	98.0
5	Iowa	121.3
177	Iowa St.	99.9
254	IUPUI	94.6
269	Jackson St.	93.6
292	Jacksonville	92.3
155	Jacksonville St.	101.1
171	James Madison	100.3
19	Kansas	114.9
181	Kansas St.	99.7
329	Kennesaw St.	88.2
90	Kent St.	106.8
46	Kentucky	111.3
191	La Salle	98.6
251	Lafayette	94.8
302	Lamar	91.4
325	Lehigh	88.9
99	Liberty	106.1
233	Lipscomb	95.9
231	Little Rock	96.0
266	LIU	93.7
274	Long Beach St.	93.4
226	Longwood	96.2
199	Louisiana	97.9
289	Louisiana Monroe	92.4
78	Louisiana Tech	108.1
54	Louisville	110.5
12	Loyola Chicago	115.9
103	Loyola Marymount	105.8
214	Loyola MD	97.0
27	LSU	114.3
331	Maine	88.1
307	Manhattan	91.2
250	Marist	94.8
74	Marquette	108.6
79	Marshall	107.9
35	Maryland	112.8
110	Massachusetts	105.2
332	McNeese St.	88.0
37	Memphis	112.5
125	Mercer	103.4
268	Merrimack	93.6
141	Miami FL	102.0
143	Miami OH	101.9
4	Michigan	121.4
53	Michigan St.	110.6
297	Middle Tennessee	92.0
203	Milwaukee	97.8
62	Minnesota	110.2
56	Mississippi	110.4
72	Mississippi St.	108.8
347	Mississippi Valley St.	70.8
44	Missouri	111.4
84	Missouri St.	107.2
200	Monmouth	97.8
188	Montana	98.8
232	Montana St.	96.0
129	Morehead St.	103.2
249	Morgan St.	94.9
220	Mount St. Mary’s	96.7
164	Murray St.	100.7
66	N.C. State	109.5
160	Navy	100.9
89	Nebraska	106.9
310	Nebraska Omaha	90.9
93	Nevada	106.5
256	New Hampshire	94.5
277	New Mexico	93.1
156	New Mexico St.	101.1
286	New Orleans	92.7
237	Niagara	95.8
190	Nicholls St.	98.7
285	NJIT	92.7
229	Norfolk St.	96.0
279	North Alabama	93.0
28	North Carolina	113.9
278	North Carolina A&T	93.1
304	North Carolina Central	91.4
282	North Dakota	92.8
145	North Dakota St.	101.7
294	North Florida	92.2
82	North Texas	107.5
153	Northeastern	101.1
322	Northern Arizona	89.3
242	Northern Colorado	95.4
321	Northern Illinois	89.3
159	Northern Iowa	101.0
185	Northern Kentucky	99.1
70	Northwestern	109.2
316	Northwestern St.	90.5
69	Notre Dame	109.3
206	Oakland	97.4
106	Ohio	105.7
8	Ohio St.	117.5
38	Oklahoma	112.3
30	Oklahoma St.	113.4
149	Old Dominion	101.4
157	Oral Roberts	101.1
36	Oregon	112.7
105	Oregon St.	105.7
122	Pacific	103.8
32	Penn St.	113.3
115	Pepperdine	104.9
83	Pittsburgh	107.4
324	Portland	89.0
243	Portland St.	95.3
240	Prairie View A&M	95.7
315	Presbyterian	90.6
73	Providence	108.7
13	Purdue	115.8
265	Purdue Fort Wayne	93.7
270	Quinnipiac	93.5
225	Radford	96.2
98	Rhode Island	106.1
193	Rice	98.4
67	Richmond	109.5
306	Rider	91.3
280	Robert Morris	92.9
34	Rutgers	113.0
247	Sacramento St.	95.1
308	Sacred Heart	91.0
196	Saint Joseph’s	98.3
47	Saint Louis	111.2
80	Saint Mary’s	107.9
205	Saint Peter’s	97.5
172	Sam Houston St.	100.2
262	Samford	94.0
204	San Diego	97.7
20	San Diego St.	114.9
102	San Francisco	105.8
318	San Jose St.	90.0
151	Santa Clara	101.3
234	Seattle	95.9
52	Seton Hall	110.6
179	Siena	99.9
314	SIU Edwardsville	90.7
51	SMU	110.8
207	South Alabama	97.4
109	South Carolina	105.3
343	South Carolina St.	82.9
170	South Dakota	100.4
116	South Dakota St.	104.9
176	South Florida	100.1
263	Southeast Missouri St.	93.9
326	Southeastern Louisiana	88.7
299	Southern	91.7
189	Southern Illinois	98.8
246	Southern Miss	95.1
138	Southern Utah	102.1
29	St. Bonaventure	113.7
293	St. Francis NY	92.2
296	St. Francis PA	92.1
57	St. John’s	110.4
75	Stanford	108.6
148	Stephen F. Austin	101.4
241	Stetson	95.6
222	Stony Brook	96.6
49	Syracuse	111.0
257	Tarleton St.	94.4
128	TCU	103.3
136	Temple	102.7
23	Tennessee	114.6
337	Tennessee Martin	86.6
317	Tennessee St.	90.5
305	Tennessee Tech	91.3
22	Texas	114.7
132	Texas A&M	103.1
336	Texas A&M Corpus Chris	87.0
253	Texas Southern	94.7
182	Texas St.	99.7
25	Texas Tech	114.4
213	The Citadel	97.1
60	Toledo	110.3
283	Towson	92.8
295	Troy	92.2
147	Tulane	101.6
121	Tulsa	104.3
96	UAB	106.2
221	UC Davis	96.7
111	UC Irvine	105.2
108	UC Riverside	105.4
236	UC San Diego	95.9
77	UC Santa Barbara	108.2
100	UCF	106.0
48	UCLA	111.1
215	UMass Lowell	97.0
163	UMBC	100.7
211	UMKC	97.4
230	UNC Asheville	96.0
101	UNC Greensboro	105.9
239	UNC Wilmington	95.8
169	UNLV	100.5
14	USC	115.8
313	USC Upstate	90.7
245	UT Arlington	95.1
276	UT Rio Grande Valley	93.2
76	Utah	108.5
42	Utah St.	111.6
201	Utah Valley	97.8
135	UTEP	102.7
162	UTSA	100.8
187	Valparaiso	98.9
94	Vanderbilt	106.4
39	VCU	111.9
130	Vermont	103.2
15	Villanova	115.7
24	Virginia	114.4
50	Virginia Tech	110.9
146	VMI	101.7
210	Wagner	97.4
168	Wake Forest	100.5
174	Washington	100.2
107	Washington St.	105.6
124	Weber St.	103.7
21	West Virginia	114.8
235	Western Carolina	95.9
300	Western Illinois	91.7
97	Western Kentucky	106.1
259	Western Michigan	94.4
71	Wichita St.	109.0
288	William & Mary	92.4
85	Winthrop	107.2
16	Wisconsin	115.6
123	Wofford	103.7
65	Wright St.	109.9
180	Wyoming	99.7
61	Xavier	110.2
223	Youngstown St.	96.4

Coming Later Today

1. Conference Tournament Update
2. Updated Bracketology

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For March 10, 2020

Tuesday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Delaware St.	Maryland Eastern Shore	0.4
Fairfield	Manhattan	-0.4
Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s	9.8
Hofstra	Northeastern	1.6
Ioina	Canisius	2.1
Jackson St.	Grambling	3.8
Niagara	Marist	1.2
North Dakota St.	North Dakota	6.0
Northern Kentucky	Illinois Chicago	4.3
Prairie View	Alabama A&M	13.9
Robert Morris	St. Francis (PA)	0.1
South Carolina St.	Howard	6.5
Southern	Alabama St.	9.3
Stony Brook	Hartford	8.2
Texas Southern	Alcorn St.	5.8
Vermont	UMBC	16.2
Virginia Tech	North Carolina	-3.1
Wake Forest	Pittsburgh	0.7

 

Tuesday’s TV Schedule

 

Time (EST)	Network	Team	Team
4:30 PM	ACCN	Wake Forest	Pittsburgh
5:00 PM	ESPN3	Fairfield	Manhattan
6:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)	Delaware St.	Maryland Eastern Shore
6:30 PM	ESPN3	Prairie View	Alabama A&M
7:00 PM	ESPN3	Stony Brook	Hartford
7:00 PM	CBSSN	Hofstra	Northeastern
7:00 PM	ESPN	Northern Kentucky	Illinois Chicago
7:00 PM	ACCN	Virginia Tech	North Carolina
7:00 PM	ESPN3	Vermont	UMBC
7:00 PM	ESPN3	Iona	Canisius
7:00 PM	ESPN2	Robert Morris	St. Francis (PA)
8:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)	South Carolina St.	Howard
8:30 PM	ESPN3	Southern U.	Alabama St.
8:30 PM	ESPN3	Texas So.	Grambling
9:00 PM	ESPN2	North Dakota St.	North Dakota
9:00 PM	ESPN3	Jackson St.	Alcorn St.
9:00 PM	ESPN3	Niagara	Marist

 

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS UPDATE

Color Code

Purple–Results From Yesterday

Red–Tournament Champion earned Automatic Bid

Brown–Tournament Games Scheduled Today

Blue–Next Round Scheduled After Today

 

America East Tournament
Semifinals	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Vermont (25-7)	4 UMBC (16-16)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
2 Stony Brook (20-12)	3 Hartford (17-15)	7:00 PM	ESPN+

 

 

Atlantic Coast Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
12 Wake Forest (13-17)	13 Pittsburgh (15-16)	4:30 PM	ACCN
11 Virginia Tech (16-15)	14 North Carolina (13-18)	7:00 PM	ACCN

 

 

Colonial Athletic Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Hofstra	75	Delaware	61
Northeastern	68	William & Mary	60

 

Championship	March 10	Washington, D.C. (Entertainment & Sports Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Hofstra (25-8)	6 Northeastern (17-15)	8:00 PM	CBSSN

 

 

Horizon League Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Illinois Chicago	73	Wright St.	56
Northern Kentucky	80	Green Bay	69

 

CHAMPIONSHIP	March 10	Indianapolis
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
2 Northern Kentucky (22-9)	Illinois Chicago (17-17)	7:00 PM	ESPN

 

 

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Atlantic City, NJ (Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Fairfield (12-19)	9 Manhattan (12-17)	5:00 PM	ESPN3
7 Iona (11-16)	10 Canisius (12-19)	7:00 PM	ESPN3
6 Niagara (11-20)	11 Marist (7-22)	9:00 PM	ESPN3

 

 

 

Mid-American Tournament (MACtion)
1st Round
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Ohio U	85	Central Michigan	65
Miami (O)	85	Buffalo	79
Toledo	76	Western Michigan	73
Kent St.	86	Eastern Michigan	76

Quarterfinals	March 12	Cleveland (Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Akron (24-7)	8 Ohio U (17-15)	12:00 PM	ESPN+
4 Northern Illinois (18-13)	12 Miami (O) (13-19)	2:30 PM	ESPN+
2 Bowling Green (21-10)	7 Toledo (17-15)	6:30 PM	ESPN+
3 Ball St. (18-13)	6 Kent St. (20-12)	9:00 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

Mid-Eastern Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Norfolk, VA (Scope Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Delaware St. (5-25)	9 Maryland Eastern Shore (5-26)	6:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)
7 South Carolina St. (11-17)	10 Howard (3-28)	8:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)

 

 

Northeast Tournament
Championship	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Robert Morris (19-14)	2 St. Francis (PA) (22-9)	7:00 PM	ESPN2

 

 

Southern Tournament
Championship
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
East Tennessee St.	72	Wofford	58

 

 

 

Southwestern Athletic Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Prairie View (18-13)	8 Alabama A&M (8-21)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
4 Jackson St. (14-17)	5 Grambling (17-14)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
2 Southern (16-15)	7 Alabama St. (8-23)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
3 Texas Southern (16-14)	6 Alcorn St. (14-14)	9:00 PM	ESPN3

 

 

 

Summit Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
North Dakota St.	75	Oral Roberts	69
North Dakota	73	Purdue Fort Wayne	56

 

Championship	March 10	Sioux Falls, SD (Sanford Premier Center)
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 North Dakota St. (24-8)	6 North Dakota (15-17)	9:00 PM	ESPN2

 

 

West Coast Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Gonzaga	81	San Francisco	77
Saint Mary’s	51	BYU	50

 

Championship	March 10	Las Vegas (Orleans Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Gonzaga (30-2)	3 Saint Mary’s (26-7)	9:00 PM	ESPN

 

Tickets Punched

Automatic Bids Earned
Team	Conference	Record
Utah St.	Mountain West	26-8
Belmont	Ohio Valley	26-7
Winthrop	Big South	24-10
Bradley	Missouri Valley	23-11
Liberty	Atlantic Sun	29-4
Southern	East Tennessee St.	30-4

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For March 9, 2020

Monday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Appalachian St.	Coastal Carolina	3.5
Buffalo	Miami (O)	8.4
BYU	Saint Mary’s	4.3
East Tennessee St.	Wofford	7.0
Georgia Southern	Louisiana	8.9
Gonzaga	San Francisco	13.4
Hofstra	Delaware	3.9
Kent St.	Eastern Michigan	7.9
North Dakota	Purdue Fort Wayne	1.8
North Dakota St.	Oral Roberts	0.1
Northeastern	Elon	8.7
Northern Kentucky	Green Bay	4.1
Ohio	Central Michigan	4.9
Toledo	Western Michigan	9.3
Wright St.	Illinois Chicago	6.7

 

Monday’s Key Games On TV

 

Time (EDT)	Network	Team	Team
6:00 PM	CBSSN	Hofstra	Delaware
6:00 PM	ESPN+	North Dakota St.	Oral Roberts
7:00 PM	ESPN	Appalachian St.	Coastal Carolina
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Buffalo	Miami (O)
7:00 PM	ESPN+	East Tennessee St.	Wofford
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Georgia Southern	Louisiana
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Kent St.	Eastern Michigan
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Ohio	Central Michigan
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Toledo	Western Michigan
7:00 PM	ESPNU	Wright St.	Illinois Chicago
7:30 PM	CBSSN	Northeastern	Elon
8:30 PM	ESPN	Gonzaga	San Francisco
9:00 PM	ESPN+	North Dakota	Purdue Fort Wayne
9:30 PM	ESPN2	Northern Kentucky	Green Bay
11:30 PM	ESPN2	BYU	Saint Mary’s

 

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS UPDATE

 

Color Code

Blue–Tournament Begins Later This Week

Green–Tournament Concluded Yesterday

Red–Conference Tournament Champion Has Earned NCAA Automatic Bid

Purple–Yesterday’s Results of Tournaments Still Underway & Next Round Schedule

Brown–Tournament Action Scheduled Today

 

America East Tournament
Semifinals	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Vermont (25-7)	4 UMBC (16-16)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
2 Stony Brook (20-12)	3 Hartford (17-15)	7:00 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

American Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 12	Forth Worth, TX (Dickies Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Central Florida (16-14)	9 South Florida (14-17)	1:00 PM	ESPNU
5 Connecticut (19-12)	12 Tulane (12-18)	3:00 PM	ESPNU
7 SMU (19-11)	10 Temple (14-17)	8:00 PM	ESPNU
6 Memphis (21-10)	11 East Carolina (11-20)	10:00 PM	ESPNU

 

 

Atlantic 10 Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Brooklyn (Barclays Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
12 George Mason (16-15)	13 Saint Joseph’s (6-25)	1:00 PM	ESPN+
11 Geo. Washington (12-19)	14 Fordham (8-22)	3:30 PM	ESPN+

 

 

Atlantic Coast Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
12 Wake Forest (13-17)	13 Pittsburgh (15-16)	4:30 PM	ACCN
11 Virginia Tech (16-15)	14 North Carolina (13-18)	7:00 PM	ACCN

 

 

 

Atlantic Sun Tournament Results
Championship
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Liberty	73	Lipscomb	57

 

 

 

Big 12 Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Kansas City (Sprint Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Oklahoma St. (17-14)	9 Iowa St. (12-19)	7:00 PM	ESPNU
7 TCU (16-15)	10 Kansas St. (10-21)	9:00 PM	ESPNU

 

 

 

Big East Tournament
1st Round	March 11	New York (Madison Square Garden)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Georgetown (15-16)	9 St. John’s (16-15)	7:00 PM	FS1
7 Xavier (19-12)	10 DePaul (15-16)	9:30 PM	FS1

 

 

 

Big Sky Tournament
1st Round	March 9	Boise, ID (Century Link Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Weber St. (12-19)	9 Sacramento St. (15-14)	11:30 AM	watchbigsky.com
7 Southern Utah (16-15)	10 Idaho (8-23)	2:00 PM	watchbigsky.com
6 Northern Arizona (16-13)	11 Idaho St. (7-22)	4:30 PM	watchbigsky.com

The Big Sky Conference Network is also available on Pluto TV Channel 530

 

 

 

Big South Tournament Results
Championship
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Winthrop	76	Hampton	68

 

 

 

Big Ten Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Indianapolis (Bankers Life Fieldhouse)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
12 Minnesota (14-16)	13 Northwestern (8-22)	6:00 PM	Big Ten Network
11 Indiana (19-12)	14 Nebraska (7-24)	8:30 PM	Big Ten Network

 

 

Big West Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 12	Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
2 Cal St. Northridge (15-17)	7 Cal St. Fullerton (11-20)	3:00 PM	ESPN3
3 UC Santa Barbara (21-10)	6 UC Riverside (17-15)	5:30 PM	ESPN3
1 UC Irvine (21-11)	8 Long Beach St. (11-21)	9:00 PM	ESPN3
4 Hawaii (17-13)	5 UC Davis (14-18)	11:30 PM	ESPN3

 

 

Colonial Athletic Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Hofstra	61	Drexel	43
Delaware	79	Charleston	67
Elon	68	William & Mary	63
Northeastern	72	Towson	62

 

Semifinals	March 9	Washington, D.C. (Entertainment & Sports Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Hofstra (24-8)	4 Delaware (22-10)	6:00 PM	CBSSN
2 William & Mary (22-10)	6 Northeastern (16-15)	8:30 PM	CBSSN

 

 

 

Conference USA Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Frisco, TX (Ford Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Old Dominion (13-18)	9 Florida Atlantic (16-15)	7:00 PM Court A	ESPN+
5 Florida Intl. (18-13)	12 Rice (15-16)	7:30 PM Court B	ESPN+
7 UAB (18-13)	10 UTSA (13-18)	9:30 PM Court A	ESPN+
6 Marshall (16-15)	11 UTEP (17-14)	10:00 PM Court B	ESPN+

 

 

 

Ivy League Tournament (Ivy Madness)
Semifinals	March 14	Boston (Lavietes Pavilion–Harvard)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Yale (23-7)	4 Penn (16-11)	11:00 AM	ESPNU
2 Harvard (21-8)	3 Princeton (14-13)	2:00 PM	ESPNU

 

 

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Atlantic City, NJ (Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Fairfield (12-19)	9 Manhattan (12-17)	5:00 PM	ESPN3
7 Iona (11-16)	10 Canisius (12-19)	7:00 PM	ESPN3
6 Niagara (11-20)	11 Marist (7-22)	9:00 PM	ESPN3

 

 

 

Mid-American Tournament (Get Some MACtion)
1st Round	March 9	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Ohio U (16-15)	9 Central Michigan (14-17)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
5 Buffalo (20-11)	12 Miami (O) (12-19)	7:30 PM	ESPN+
7 Toledo (16-15)	10 Western Michigan (13-18)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
6 Kent St. (19-12)	11 Eastern Michigan (16-15)	7:00 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

Mid-Eastern Athletic Tournament
1st Round	March 10	Norfolk, VA (Scope Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Delaware St. (5-25)	9 MD Eastern Shore (5-26)	6:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)
7 South Carolina St. (11-17)	10 Howard (3-28)	8:00 PM	Flohoops (pay)

 

 

 

Missouri Valley Tournament (Arch Madness)
Championship
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Bradley	80	Valparaiso	66

 

 

 

Northeast Tournament
Championship	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Robert Morris (19-14)	2 St. Francis (PA) (22-9)	7:00 PM	ESPN2

Pac-12 Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Las Vegas (T-Mobile Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
8 Oregon St. (17-13)	9 Utah (16-14)	3:00 PM	Pac-12 Network
5 Arizona (20-11)	12 Washington (15-16)	5:30 PM	Pac-12 Network
7 Stanford (20-11)	10 California (13-18)	9:00 PM	Pac-12 Network
6 Colorado (21-10)	11 Washington St. (15-16)	11:30 PM	Pac-12 Network

 

 

 

Patriot League Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Boston U	64	Bucknell	61
Colgate	89	Lafayette	64

Championship	March 11	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Colgate (25-8)	3 Boston U (20-13)	7:30 PM	CBSSN

 

 

Southeastern Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Nashville (Bridgestone Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
12 Ole Miss (15-16)	13 Georgia (15-16)	7:00 PM	SEC Network
11 Arkansas (19-12)	14 Vanderbilt (11-20)	9:30 PM	SEC Network

 

 

 

Southern Tournament
Semifinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
East Tennessee St.	97	Western Carolina	75
Wofford	72	Chattanooga	70

Championship	March 9	Asheville, NC (Harrah’s Cherokee Center)
Team	Team	Time ET	TV
1 East Tennessee St. (29-4)	7 Wofford (19-15)	7:00 PM	ESPN

 

 

Southland Tournament
1st Round	March 11	Katy, TX (Leonard E. Merrell Center)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
5 Northwestern St. (14-15)	8 Texas A&M-CC (14-17)	6:00 PM	ESPN+
6 Lamar (16-15)	7 McNeese St. (15-16)	8:30 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

 

Southwestern Athletic Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 10	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 Prairie View (18-13)	8 Alabama A&M (8-21)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
4 Jackson St. (14-17)	5 Grambling (17-14)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
2 Southern (16-15)	7 Alabama St. (8-23)	8:30 PM	ESPN3
3 Texas Southern (16-14)	6 Alcorn St. (14-14)	9:00 PM	ESPN3

 

 

 

Summit Tournament
Quarterfinals
Winner	Score	Loser	Score
Oral Roberts	79	Omaha	52
North Dakota	74	South Dakota	71
North Dakota St.	71	Denver	69
Purdue Fort Wayne	77	South Dakota St.	74

Summit Tournament
Semifinals	March 9	Sioux Falls, SD (Sanford Premier Center)
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
1 North Dakota St. (23-8)	4 Oral Roberts (17-13)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
7 Purdue Ft. Wayne (14-18)	6 North Dakota (14-17)	9:30 PM	ESPN+

 

 

Sun Belt Tournament
2nd Round	March 9	at Higher Seed’s Home Court
Home	Visitor	Time (ET)	TV
5 Georgia Southern (18-13)	8 Louisiana (14-18)	7:00 PM	ESPN+
6 Appalachian St. (17-14)	10 Coastal Carolna (16-16)	7:00 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

Western Athletic Tournament
Quarterfinals	March 12	Las Vegas (Orleans Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 New Mexico St. (25-6)	8 Chicago St. (4-25)	3:00 PM	ESPN+
4 Grand Canyon (12-17)	5 Seattle (14-15)	5:30 PM	ESPN+
2 UT RGV (14-16)	7 Utah Valley (11-19)	9:00 PM	ESPN+
3 Kansas City (16-14)	6 Cal St. Bakersfield (12-18)	11:30 PM	ESPN+

 

 

 

West Coast Tournament
Semifinals	March 9	Las Vegas (Orleans Arena)
Team	Team	Time (ET)	TV
1 Gonzaga (29-2)	5 San Francisco (22-11)	9:00 PM	ESPN
2 BYU (24-7)	3 Saint Mary’s (25-7)	11:30 PM	ESPN2

 

Dance Tickets Punched

Automatic Bids Earned
Team	Conference	Record
Utah St.	Mountain West	26-8
Belmont	Ohio Valley	26-7
Winthrop	Big South	24-10
Bradley	Missouri Valley	23-11
Liberty	Atlantic Sun	29-4

 

Coming Later Today–Updated Bracketology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 29, 2020

Saturday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Abilene Christian	Central Arkansas	9.4
Alabama	South Carolina	6.1
Albany	Stony Brook	-3.1
Alcorn St.	Southern	-0.5
Appalachian St.	Coastal Carolina	4.4
Boston U	Bucknell	8.1
Bradley	Loyola (Chi.)	1.9
Brown	Pennsylvania	-1.8
Buffalo	Akron	-1.0
Butler	DePaul	9.4
Cal St. Bakersfield	New Mexico St.	-6.7
Cal St. Northridge	Cal St. Fullerton	3.7
California	Utah	-0.2
California Baptist	Seattle	5.3
Campbell	UNC Asheville	5.2
Canisius	Saint Peter’s	-0.9
Central Connecticut	St. Francis (NY)	-4.9
Charleston	Drexel	8.6
Chattanooga	UNC Greensboro	-3.3
Clemson	Florida St.	-3.3
Colgate	Army	11.3
Colorado St.	Air Force	10.4
Columbia	Dartmouth	-0.8
Cornell	Harvard	-7.5
Denver	Western Illinois	5.5
Drake	Northern Iowa	-5.7
Duquesne	George Mason	8.3
East Carolina	Connecticut	-7.3
East Tennessee St.	Western Carolina	11.0
Eastern Kentucky	Morehead St.	4.1
Eastern Michigan	Central Michigan	4.4
Evansville	Illinois St.	-0.4
Florida Gulf Coast	North Alabama	2.0
Fresno St.	Wyoming	10.9
Furman	Citadel	21.7
Georgia	Arkansas	-1.7
Georgia Tech	Miami	6.6
Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s	13.3
Grambling	Arkansas-Pine Bluff	10.9
Grand Canyon	UT Rio Grande Valley	3.6
Green Bay	Cleveland St.	8.3
Hampton	South Carolina Upstate	4.4
Hawaii	UC Riverside	4.0
Hofstra	James Madison	14.3
Holy Cross	American	-8.4
Houston Baptist	McNeese	-5.7
Illinois Chicago	Oakland	3.8
Indiana St.	Valparaiso	4.5
Iowa	Penn St.	2.9
IUPUI	Detroit	-0.1
Jackson St.	Mississippi Valley St.	17.1
Jacksonville St.	Tennessee Tech	8.5
Kansas St.	Kansas	-12.9
Kennesaw St.	NJIT	-7.8
Kentucky	Auburn	5.3
La Salle	St. Bonaventure	-1.3
Lafayette	Navy	5.1
Lipscomb	Liberty	-9.6
Little Rock	Louisiana	9.4
Loyola (MD)	Lehigh	5.3
Loyola Marymount	San Francisco	-4.8
LSU	Texas A&M	12.3
Maine	UMBC	-2.7
Marquette	Seton Hall	2.4
Maryland	Michigan St.	1.6
Maryland-Eastern Shore	Delaware St.	5.1
Mercer	Wofford	-0.1
Miami (O)	Bowling Green	-2.5
Milwaukee	Youngstown St.	1.4
Missouri	Mississippi St.	-0.2
Missouri St.	Southern Illinois	5.1
Morgan St.	Coppin St.	5.9
Mount St. Mary’s	Fairleigh Dickinson	3.5
Murray St.	Austin Peay	4.6
Nevada	San Diego St.	-5.8
New Hampshire	Binghamton	9.6
New Mexico	Utah St.	-6.7
Niagara	Iona	-2.4
Nicholls	New Orleans	9.9
Norfolk St.	Howard	14.8
North Carolina St.	Pittsburgh	8.5
North Dakota St.	Omaha	7.8
Northern Arizona	Montana St.	4.6
Northern Colorado	Eastern Washington	6.4
Oklahoma St.	Iowa St.	4.2
Ole Miss	Vanderbilt	9.1
Oral Roberts	Purdue Fort Wayne	10.8
Pepperdine	BYU	-9.5
Prairie View A&M	Alabama St.	12.4
Presbyterian	Charleston Southern	0.5
Radford	Gardner-Webb	6.9
Richmond	Massachusetts	12.2
Robert Morris	St. Francis (PA)	0.2
Sacramento St.	Montana	0.5
Sacred Heart	Long Island	6.3
Saint Joseph’s	Fordham	2.8
Samford	VMI	-0.4
San Diego	Pacific	-2.8
San Jose St.	UNLV	14.2
Santa Clara	Portland	11.2
SIU-Edwardsville	Eastern Illinois	-4.1
South Alabama	Troy	10.4
South Carolina St.	North Carolina Central	-1.9
South Dakota	North Dakota	6.8
Southeast Louisiana	Northwestern St.	-0.9
Southern Utah	Idaho	13.0
Stephen F. Austin	Lamar	12.0
Stetson	Jacksonville	0.1
Syracuse	North Carolina	5.4
TCU	Baylor	-8.3
Tennessee	Florida	-0.5
Tennessee St.	Belmont	-8.0
Texas A&M-CC	Incarnate Word	10.3
Texas Southern	Alabama A&M	10.7
Texas Tech	Texas	9.6
Toledo	Ball St.	1.9
Tulane	Memphis	-6.9
Tulsa	Central Florida	6.5
UC Davis	Long Beach St.	8.3
UC Irvine	UC Santa Barbara	6.7
UCLA	Arizona	-5.6
UMass Lowell	Vermont	-10.6
UMKC	Chicago St.	22.5
UNC Wilmington	Delaware	-3.3
USC	Arizona St.	3.3
UT Martin	Southeast Missouri	3.7
VCU	George Washington	14.4
Villanova	Providence	8.2
Virginia	Duke	-6.3
Wagner	Bryant	-3.4
Wake Forest	Notre Dame	0.2
Weber St.	Portland St.	-1.4
West Virginia	Oklahoma	7.7
Western Michigan	Northern Illinois	-1.8
William & Mary	Elon	9.2
Winthrop	High Point	17.9
Yale	Princeton	12.1

 

Saturday’s Important TV Games

 

Games in which both teams are competing for an at-large NCAA Tournament Bid or a regular conference championship in a one-bid league

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
12:00 PM	Fox	Villanova	Providence
12:00 PM	BTN	Iowa	Penn St.
12:00 PM	ESPN	Texas Tech	Texas
2:00 PM	ESPN	TCU	Baylor
2:00 PM	ACCN	Clemson	Florida St.
2:30 PM	Fox	Marquette	Seton Hall
3:45 PM	CBS	Kentucky	Auburn
4:00 PM	ESPN2	West Virginia	Oklahoma
6:00 PM	ESPN	Virginia	Duke
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Brown	Penn
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Yale	Princeton
8:00 PM	ESPN	Maryland	Michigan St.
8:00 PM	ESPN+	Murray St.	Austin Peay
8:00 PM	ESPNU	USC	Arizona St.
8:30 PM	SECN	Alabama	South Carolina
10:00 PM	ESPN2	Gonzaga	Saint Mary’s
10:00 PM	ESPN	UCLA	Arizona

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 27, 2020

Thursday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Austin Peay	Morehead St.	12.3
Belmont	Tennessee Tech	21.1
Cal Poly	UC Irvine	-11.5
Cal St. Bakersfield	UT Rio Grande Valley	2.3
California	Colorado	-9.9
Canisius	Iona	1.7
Charleston	Delaware	4.7
Charleston Southern	Gardner-Webb	-2.2
Fairleigh Dickinson	Bryant	0.4
Florida Atlantic	UTSA	2.7
Florida Gulf Coast	Jacksonville	-0.2
Florida Intl.	North Texas	-2.7
Gonzaga	San Diego	26.3
Grand Canyon	New Mexico St.	-5.9
Green Bay	Youngstown St.	3.5
Hampton	Radford	-7.2
Hawaii	Cal St. Fullerton	7.9
High Point	UNC Asheville	-2.0
Hofstra	Towson	6.9
Idaho St.	Portland St.	-3.2
Illinois Chicago	Detroit	7.1
IUPUI	Oakland	-4.4
Kennesaw St.	Liberty	-23.0
Little Rock	UL Monroe	10.3
Long Island	Wagner	9.1
Loyola Marymount	Pacific	-1.4
Merrimack	Central Connecticut	16.0
Miami (O)	Central Michigan	-0.6
Michigan	Wisconsin	6.6
Milwaukee	Cleveland St.	6.2
Murray St.	Eastern Kentucky	12.5
Nebraska	Ohio St.	-9.8
Niagara	Saint Peter’s	-4.1
North Alabama	NJIT	4.1
North Dakota St.	South Dakota St.	2.2
Northeastern	James Madison	12.5
Northern Arizona	Montana	-0.7
Northern Colorado	Idaho	17.4
Northwestern	Illinois	-6.8
Oral Roberts	Western Illinois	15.1
Oregon	Oregon St.	10.4
Presbyterian	Longwood	0.1
Purdue	Indiana	4.7
Sacramento St.	Montana St.	4.3
Sacred Heart	St. Francis (NY)	9.9
San Francisco	Portland	15.8
Santa Clara	Saint Mary’s	-6.3
South Carolina Upstate	Winthrop	-9.7
Southeast Missouri	Eastern Illinois	-5.0
Southern Utah	Eastern Washington	2.2
St. Francis (PA)	Mount St. Mary’s	9.2
Stetson	North Florida	-5.6
Tennessee St.	Jacksonville St.	2.8
UAB	Marshall	0.7
UC Riverside	UC Santa Barbara	-0.5
UCLA	Arizona St.	0.6
UNC Wilmington	Drexel	-0.5
USC	Arizona	-3.9
UT Martin	SIU-Edwardsville	4.5
Western Kentucky	Louisiana Tech	0.1
Wichita St.	Temple	9.7

 

Key TV Games On Thursday

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
7:00 PM	ESPN2	Michigan	Wisconsin
7:00 PM	FS1	Purdue	Indiana
8:00 PM	ESPN+	Murray St.	Eastern Kentucky
9:00 PM	ESPN+	North Dakota St.	South Dakota St.
10:00 PM	ESPN	USC	Arizona
11:00 PM	Pac12	UCLA	Arizona St.

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 20, 2020

Thursday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Albany	UMBC	5.4
Appalachian St.	South Alabama	4.0
Arizona	Oregon St.	12.8
Arizona St.	Oregon	-0.6
Binghamton	UMass Lowell	-2.6
BYU	Santa Clara	16.4
Cal Poly	UC Davis	-2.7
Cal St. Fullerton	UC Santa Barbara	-2.9
Charleston Southern	Campbell	0.9
Cleveland St.	Northern Kentucky	-6.7
Coastal Carolina	Troy	7.9
Colorado	USC	8.6
Delaware	Northeastern	-0.3
Denver	Oral Roberts	-8.2
Drexel	Hofstra	-4.4
Eastern Illinois	Murray St.	-4.6
Eastern Kentucky	Tennessee St.	-0.4
Eastern Washington	Sacramento St.	7.0
Gonzaga	San Francisco	18.1
Hampton	Gardner-Webb	-4.5
High Point	Presbyterian	0.5
Idaho	Northern Arizona	-2.2
Indiana St.	Northern Iowa	-3.3
Iowa	Ohio St.	1.6
Jacksonville	Lipscomb	4.0
Jacksonville St.	Southeast Missouri	9.8
James Madison	Elon	3.1
Liberty	North Florida	9.6
Morehead St.	Belmont	-11.9
Nebraska	Michigan St.	-10.9
New Hampshire	Hartford	3.4
NJIT	Stetson	2.7
North Alabama	Kennesaw St.	14.7
Northern Colorado	Southern Utah	7.2
Portland	Pepperdine	-5.3
Portland St.	Montana St.	3.7
Purdue Fort Wayne	Omaha	-0.5
Radford	UNC Asheville	11.3
Saint Mary’s	Loyola Marymount	16.1
Seattle	Grand Canyon	4.1
SIU-Edwardsville	Austin Peay	-9.9
South Carolina Upstate	Longwood	1.5
Southern Illinois	Evansville	9.4
Stony Brook	Vermont	-3.7
Temple	Connecticut	0.2
Tennessee Tech	UT Martin	0.7
Texas St.	Georgia Southern	6.1
Towson	William & Mary	5.2
UC Riverside	Hawaii	2.0
UT Arlington	Georgia St.	1.8
Utah	UCLA	2.3
Utah Valley	Cal St. Bakersfield	1.7
Washington	Stanford	2.7
Wichita St.	South Florida	11.1
Youngstown St.	Wright St.	-5.8

 

Thursday’s Key Games

Maybe the best top games of the week

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
7:00 PM	ESPN	Iowa	Ohio St.
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Liberty	North Florida
7:00 PM	ESPNU	Stony Brook	Vermont
8:00 PM	ESPN+	Texas St.	Georgia Southern
9:00 PM	ESPN	Arizona St.	Oregon
9:00 PM	ESPN2	Colorado	USC

 

The Big Three Mid-Major Conference Games on TV Tonight

Liberty vs. North Florida–The winner most likely will end up with the number one seed in the Atlantic Sun Conference.  North Florida won the first contest 71-70 in a tight game that stayed close for 40 minutes.  At the time, Liberty was 19-1 and on the cusp of becoming ranked in the top 25.

North Florida’s starting lineup all average double figure points per game.  The Ospreys are by far the best shooting team in the A-Sun, both inside and outside the 3-point line and at the foul line.

Liberty has the best defense in the A-Sun, and the Flames go seven deep with little drop in talent.  With the A-Sun Tournament played on the home courts of the higher seeds, and with these two teams being the two powers of the league, the NCAA Tournament bid will be decided when these two probably play for a third time.  Home court advantage will probably decide it.  Liberty has the edge tonight, which should give the Flames the edge when they play again in a couple weeks.

 

Stony Brook vs. Vermont–Vermont has a 2 1/2 game lead over second place Stony Brook, so this is a must win for Stony Brook as far as the regular season conference race goes.  The conference tournament is played on the home courts of the higher seeds, so getting the #1 seed means home court advantage all the way to the Championship.

These are the top two programs in the league.  Vermont has won 14 of their last 15 games, and they have a conference scoring margin of +15.8 points per game.  The Catamounts dominate every important analytic statistic in the America East Conference.  

On paper, Stony Brook doesn’t have the resume of a team that looks capable of beating Vermont.  The Seawolves barely hold control of the number two spot in the league, but they have done something no other A-East team has done–they beat Vermont, and they did it in Burlington no less.

 

Texas St. vs. Georgia Southern–These two teams are still in contention for the regular season Sun Belt Conference Championship, as they are tied for third with 10-6 SBC records, just two games behind league leader Little Rock and one game behind second place Georgia St.  

Texas St. has one of the top players in the league in senior guard Nijel Pearson.  Pearson combines excellent long range shooting with the ability to get inside and score on the offensive side and fight for rebounds on the defensive end.  Earlier this season, he almost single-handily kept Texas St. in the game at Baylor, and the Bobcats scared the top-ranked team in Waco before finally losing by nine points.

Georgia Southern has a small but quick lineup, and the Eagles are fun to watch play.  This could be the most exciting game of the night.

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For February 8, 2020

Saturday’s Games

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Abilene Christian	Lamar	6.0
Air Force	San Diego St.	-14.6
Akron	Eastern Michigan	13.4
American	Army	6.1
Appalachian St.	Texas St.	-1.0
Arizona	UCLA	16.3
Arizona St.	USC	3.9
Arkansas-Pine Bluff	Alabama A&M	0.3
Auburn	LSU	4.4
Baylor	Oklahoma St.	13.8
Belmont	Austin Peay	7.8
Bethune-Cookman	North Carolina A&T	2.8
Binghamton	Maine	2.6
Boston University	Holy Cross	17.4
Bowling Green	Toledo	1.7
Brown	Harvard	-4.6
Bryant	Central Connecticut St.	17.3
BYU	San Francisco	11.6
Cal St. Fullerton	UC Davis	1.5
Cal St. Northridge	UC Riverside	1.0
California Baptist	Grand Canyon	7.3
Campbell	Presbyterian	7.2
Charleston	Elon	14.3
Charleston Southern	Hampton	5.0
Charlotte	UTSA	5.4
Chicago St.	UT Rio Grande Valley	-15.6
Citadel	VMI	-0.1
Coastal Carolina	UT Arlington	-2.4
Colgate	Navy	10.4
Colorado	Stanford	6.8
Columbia	Pennsylvania	-4.6
Coppin St.	North Carolina Central	-1.7
Cornell	Princeton	-3.2
Creighton	St. John’s	8.6
Dayton	Saint Louis	15.8
Delaware	James Madison	9.4
Denver	Purdue Fort Wayne	0.4
Drexel	Towson	-0.7
Duquesne	St. Bonaventure	5.4
Eastern Illinois	Morehead St.	7.0
Eastern Washington	Montana St.	6.7
Florida A&M	Howard	11.8
Florida Atlantic	Florida Intl.	1.2
Florida Gulf Coast	North Florida	-6.2
Florida St.	Miami (Fla.)	13.7
Fordham	Richmond	-10.3
George Washington	Rhode Island	-8.9
Georgetown	DePaul	6.0
Georgia	Alabama	-0.7
Grambling	Southern	2.4
Hartford	Vermont	-10.8
High Point	Radford	-10.3
Hofstra	Northeastern	4.2
Houston Baptist	Northwestern St.	-1.8
Idaho	Montana	-5.8
Idaho St.	Sacramento St.	-1.3
Illinois Chicago	Green Bay	1.7
Illinois St.	Indiana St.	-5.3
Incarnate Word	Southeast Louisiana	-0.2
Indiana	Purdue	1.3
Iowa	Nebraska	14.0
Iowa St.	Kansas St.	4.8
IUPUI	Milwaukee	-3.3
Jackson St.	Alcorn St.	1.2
Kennesaw St.	Lipscomb	-10.2
La Salle	Saint Joseph’s	6.2
Lafayette	Lehigh	11.2
Little Rock	Arkansas St.	8.3
Long Island	Merrimack	2.1
Longwood	Winthrop	-10.4
Louisiana	Georgia Southern	-2.1
Louisville	Virginia	11.0
Loyola (MD)	Bucknell	1.1
Marshall	Louisiana Tech	-3.6
McNeese	Central Arkansas	6.7
Memphis	South Florida	10.2
Mercer	East Tennessee St.	-9.3
Michigan	Michigan St.	-3.7
Middle Tennessee	Rice	-0.3
Mississippi St.	Vanderbilt	14.3
Mississippi Valley St.	Alabama St.	-8.4
Missouri	Arkansas	-4.1
Missouri Kansas City	New Mexico St.	-6.3
Morgan St.	MD Eastern Shore	12.3
Nevada	San Jose St.	18.5
New Hampshire	Stony Brook	-5.3
New Mexico	Wyoming	12.4
Nicholls St.	Sam Houston St.	1.9
NJIT	Jacksonville	1.1
Norfolk St.	Delaware St.	16.8
North Alabama	Liberty	-10.4
North Carolina	Duke	-12.7
North Dakota	South Dakota	-0.5
North Dakota St.	Oral Roberts	4.4
Northern Iowa	Drake	11.4
Northern Kentucky	Detroit	12.4
Ohio	Miami (O)	4.6
Oklahoma	West Virginia	-3.9
Old Dominion	UTEP	3.4
Ole Miss	Florida	-3.1
Oregon St.	Oregon	-3.5
Pacific	Pepperdine	4.0
Penn St.	Minnesota	6.2
Pittsburgh	Georgia Tech	2.6
Prairie View A&M	Texas Southern	6.5
Sacred Heart	Robert Morris	4.6
Saint Mary’s	Gonzaga	-4.9
San Diego	Portland	7.0
SIU Edwardsville	Eastern Kentucky	-2.1
South Carolina	Texas A&M	8.5
South Dakota St.	Omaha	8.8
Southeast Missouri	Tennessee Tech	3.7
Southern Illinois	Missouri St.	3.3
Southern Utah	Portland St.	6.1
St. Francis (NY)	Mount St. Mary’s	0.2
Stephen F. Austin	New Orleans	16.3
Syracuse	Wake Forest	7.7
TCU	Kansas	-10.3
Temple	SMU	1.5
Tennessee	Kentucky	-0.7
Tennessee St.	Murray St.	-3.7
Texas	Texas Tech	-1.9
Tulane	East Carolina	6.1
UAB	North Texas	-4.2
UCSB	UC-Irvine	-0.8
UL Monroe	Georgia St.	-7.7
UMass Lowell	UMBC	3.9
UNC Wilmington	William & Mary	-5.4
UNLV	Fresno St.	4.7
USC Upstate	Gardner-Webb	-0.8
UT Martin	Jacksonville St.	-0.8
Utah	California	7.5
Utah St.	Boise St.	7.5
Utah Valley	Seattle	0.1
Villanova	Seton Hall	2.1
Virginia Tech	Boston College	8.6
Wagner	St. Francis (PA)	-5.9
Weber St.	Northern Arizona	-0.1
Western Carolina	Furman	-3.3
Western Kentucky	Southern Miss.	13.4
Western Michigan	Ball St.	-6.0
Wofford	Chattanooga	5.5
Wright St.	Oakland	10.7
Xavier	Providence	4.5
Yale	Dartmouth	15.1
Youngstown St.	Cleveland St.	7.3

 

Saturday’s Best TV Games

 

Time (EST)	Network	Home	Visitor
12:00 PM	ESPN2	TCU	Kansas
12:00 PM	ACCN	Florida St.	Miami (Fla.)
12:00 PM 12:00 PM	ESPN Fox	Auburn Michigan	LSU Michigan St.
1:00 PM	CBS	Tennessee	Kentucky
2:00 PM	CBSSN	Dayton	Saint Louis
2:00 PM	ESPNU	Oklahoma	West Virginia
2:00 PM	ESPN	Indiana	Purdue
2:30 PM	Fox	Villanova	Seton Hall
3:00 PM	NBCSN	Duquesne	Saint Bonaventure
4:00 PM	ESPN	Louisville	Virginia
4:00 PM	BTN	Penn St.	Minnesota
4:00 PM	ESPN2	Texas	Texas Tech
4:00 PM	ESPN3	Northern Iowa	Drake
4:30 PM	ESPN+	Mercer	East Tennessee St.
6:00 PM	ESPN	North Carolina	Duke
6:00 PM	CBSSN	Creighton	St. John’s
6:00 PM	Pac12	Colorado	Stanford
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Belmont	Austin Peay
6:00 PM	ESPN+	Brown	Harvard
7:00 PM	ESPN+	Hartford	Vermont
8:00 PM	FS1	Xavier	Providence
8:30 PM	ESPN+	Tennessee St.	Murray St.
10:00 PM	ESPN	Saint Mary’s	Gonzaga
10:00 PM	ESPN2	Arizona	UCLA
10:00 PM	ESPNU	UCSB	UC-Irvine

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For January 9, 2020

Power Conference Games & Top 25 Teams Playing Thursday

 

Home	Visitor	Spread
Michigan	Purdue	5.1
Wichita St.	Memphis	2.5
Michigan St.	Minnesota	12.1
Oregon	Arizona	1.2
Stanford	Washington	1.7
California	Washington St.	-0.1
Oregon St.	Arizona St.	4.7
Saint Mary’s	BYU	2.3

 

Coming Tomorrow–Updated Ratings and Bracketology

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Monday, March 11, 2019

Today’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Savannah State	85.2	0.0	Delaware State	79.5	5.7
Hofstra	106.3	0.0	Delaware	95.0	11.3
Wofford	113.2	0.0	UNC Greensboro	105.8	7.4
North Dakota State	97.8	0.0	Western Illinois	92.6	5.2
Central Michigan	101.9	2.5	Western Michigan	94.6	9.8
Wright State	102.9	0.0	Green Bay	97.8	5.1
Eastern Michigan	100.3	3.0	Ball State	102.8	0.5
Akron	103.5	2.5	Miami (OH)	101.2	4.8
Charleston	103.4	1.5	Northeastern	105.8	-0.9
Gonzaga	124.4	0.0	Pepperdine	100.6	23.8
Iona	98.0	0.0	Monmouth	93.9	4.1
Northern Illinois	101.1	2.5	Ohio	98.4	5.2
Northern Kentucky	104.4	0.0	Oakland	98.3	6.1
Omaha	100.1	0.0	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.5	0.6
Saint Mary’s	110.4	0.0	San Diego	105.5	4.9

 

PiRate Ratings  (1-353)

Rk	Team	PiRate	Conf
1	Gonzaga	124.4	West Coast
2	Virginia	123.3	ACC
3	Duke	123.2	ACC
4	North Carolina	121.0	ACC
5	Michigan St.	120.5	Big Ten
6	Tennessee	118.9	SEC
7	Kentucky	118.3	SEC
8	Texas Tech	118.3	Big 12
9	Michigan	118.1	Big Ten
10	Purdue	117.6	Big Ten
11	Virginia Tech	116.5	ACC
12	Wisconsin	115.7	Big Ten
13	Auburn	115.7	SEC
14	Nevada	115.0	Mtn West
15	Houston	115.0	AAC
16	Kansas	114.9	Big 12
17	Florida St.	114.7	ACC
18	Iowa St.	114.1	Big 12
19	Louisville	114.0	ACC
20	LSU	114.0	SEC
21	Buffalo	113.6	MAC
22	Maryland	113.4	Big Ten
23	Mississippi St.	113.4	SEC
24	Villanova	113.3	Big East
25	Kansas St.	113.2	Big 12
26	Wofford	113.2	SoCon
27	North Carolina St.	112.9	ACC
28	Marquette	112.6	Big East
29	Clemson	112.2	ACC
30	Texas	112.0	Big 12
31	Florida	111.7	SEC
32	Cincinnati	111.4	AAC
33	Oklahoma	111.3	Big 12
34	Syracuse	111.3	ACC
35	Virginia Commonwealth	111.1	Atl 10
36	Iowa	110.9	Big Ten
37	Indiana	110.6	Big Ten
38	Baylor	110.6	Big 12
39	Central Florida	110.6	AAC
40	Nebraska	110.5	Big Ten
41	Saint Mary’s	110.4	West Coast
42	Ohio St.	110.3	Big Ten
43	Penn St.	110.2	Big Ten
44	Mississippi	110.1	SEC
45	Creighton	110.0	Big East
46	Utah St.	110.0	Mtn West
47	TCU	110.0	Big 12
48	Minnesota	109.3	Big Ten
49	Oregon	109.3	Pac-12
50	Belmont	109.0	Ohio Val
51	Murray St.	109.0	Ohio Val
52	Lipscomb	108.8	A-Sun
53	Arkansas	108.7	SEC
54	Seton Hall	108.4	Big East
55	Dayton	108.4	Atl 10
56	Arizona St.	108.4	Pac-12
57	Butler	108.2	Big East
58	Alabama	108.0	SEC
59	Toledo	107.9	MAC
60	Furman	107.8	SoCon
61	St. John’s	107.8	Big East
62	New Mexico St.	107.7	WAC
63	Miami (Fla)	107.5	ACC
64	Fresno St.	107.5	Mtn West
65	Northwestern	107.2	Big Ten
66	Temple	107.2	AAC
67	Xavier	107.2	Big East
68	San Francisco	107.0	West Coast
69	Colorado	107.0	Pac-12
70	Davidson	106.8	Atl 10
71	Memphis	106.8	AAC
72	South Carolina	106.8	SEC
73	Providence	106.7	Big East
74	Hofstra	106.3	Colonial
75	East Tennessee St.	106.3	SoCon
76	Georgetown	106.3	Big East
77	Liberty	106.2	A-Sun
78	Illinois	106.2	Big Ten
79	Oregon St.	106.2	Pac-12
80	Missouri	106.1	SEC
81	Rutgers	106.0	Big Ten
82	Yale	106.0	Ivy
83	Vermont	106.0	Amer East
84	Notre Dame	105.9	ACC
85	Arizona	105.9	Pac-12
86	UNC Greensboro	105.8	SoCon
87	Northeastern	105.8	Colonial
88	USC	105.7	Pac-12
89	South Dakota St.	105.6	Summit
90	BYU	105.6	West Coast
91	Washington	105.5	Pac-12
92	UC Irvine	105.5	Big West
93	San Diego	105.5	West Coast
94	Texas A&M	105.4	SEC
95	Connecticut	105.2	AAC
96	Pittsburgh	105.1	ACC
97	West Virginia	104.9	Big 12
98	DePaul	104.9	Big East
99	UCLA	104.9	Pac-12
100	Oklahoma St.	104.8	Big 12
101	Wichita St.	104.8	AAC
102	Grand Canyon	104.7	WAC
103	Georgia Tech	104.6	ACC
104	Georgia Southern	104.6	Sun Belt
105	Northern Kentucky	104.4	Horizon
106	Boston College	104.3	ACC
107	SMU	104.2	AAC
108	Utah	104.2	Pac-12
109	Utah Valley	104.0	WAC
110	Stanford	103.9	Pac-12
111	San Diego St.	103.8	Mtn West
112	Loyola (Chi)	103.8	Missouri Val
113	Old Dominion	103.8	CUSA
114	Penn	103.6	Ivy
115	Georgia St.	103.6	Sun Belt
116	Georgia	103.5	SEC
117	Akron	103.5	MAC
118	Charleston	103.4	Colonial
119	Southern Miss	103.4	CUSA
120	Saint Louis	103.3	Atl 10
121	South Florida	103.2	AAC
122	Texas St.	103.2	Sun Belt
123	Jacksonville St.	103.2	Ohio Val
124	Tulsa	103.2	AAC
125	Western Kentucky	103.1	CUSA
126	Austin Peay	103.0	Ohio Val
127	Bowling Green	103.0	MAC
128	Harvard	102.9	Ivy
129	St. Bonaventure	102.9	Atl 10
130	Wright St.	102.9	Horizon
131	Ball St.	102.8	MAC
132	Drake	102.8	Missouri Val
133	Montana	102.8	Big Sky
134	Boise St.	102.6	Mtn West
135	Rhode Island	102.4	Atl 10
136	Radford	102.4	Big South
137	Loyola Marymount	102.2	West Coast
138	Colgate	102.1	Patriot
139	Bucknell	102.0	Patriot
140	Vanderbilt	102.0	SEC
141	Central Michigan	101.9	MAC
142	Louisiana Tech	101.8	CUSA
143	Southern Illinois	101.6	Missouri Val
144	Washington St.	101.6	Pac-12
145	Kent St.	101.5	MAC
146	Brown	101.4	Ivy
147	George Mason	101.4	Atl 10
148	Louisiana Monroe	101.3	Sun Belt
149	Miami (O)	101.2	MAC
150	UNLV	101.1	Mtn West
151	Northern Illinois	101.1	MAC
152	UC Santa Barbara	101.0	Big West
153	North Texas	100.9	CUSA
154	Abilene Christian	100.9	Southland
155	Coastal Carolina	100.7	Sun Belt
156	Pepperdine	100.6	West Coast
157	Samford	100.5	SoCon
158	Northern Colorado	100.4	Big Sky
159	Wake Forest	100.3	ACC
160	Eastern Michigan	100.3	MAC
161	Stony Brook	100.1	Amer East
162	UAB	100.1	CUSA
163	Gardner Webb	100.1	Big South
164	Omaha	100.1	Summit
165	Duquesne	100.1	Atl 10
166	Bradley	99.9	Missouri Val
167	UT Arlington	99.8	Sun Belt
168	Lehigh	99.8	Patriot
169	UTSA	99.8	CUSA
170	Louisiana	99.7	Sun Belt
171	Marshall	99.7	CUSA
172	Missouri St.	99.6	Missouri Val
173	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.5	Summit
174	Saint Joseph’s	99.4	Atl 10
175	Charleston Southern	99.4	Big South
176	Princeton	99.3	Ivy
177	Northern Iowa	99.3	Missouri Val
178	New Mexico	99.3	Mtn West
179	Sam Houston St.	99.2	Southland
180	Winthrop	99.2	Big South
181	Colorado St.	99.2	Mtn West
182	Richmond	99.0	Atl 10
183	Cal St. Fullerton	98.9	Big West
184	NJIT	98.8	A-Sun
185	Hartford	98.8	Amer East
186	Campbell	98.8	Big South
187	Florida Atlantic	98.7	CUSA
188	Seattle	98.6	WAC
189	Presbyterian	98.5	Big South
190	Weber St.	98.5	Big Sky
191	Ohio	98.4	MAC
192	Hawaii	98.4	Big West
193	Rider	98.4	Metro Atl
194	Oakland	98.3	Horizon
195	Mercer	98.2	SoCon
196	Illinois St.	98.1	Missouri Val
197	Hampton	98.1	Big South
198	Iona	98.0	Metro Atl
199	IUPUI	98.0	Horizon
200	Santa Clara	98.0	West Coast
201	American	98.0	Patriot
202	Lamar	98.0	Southland
203	North Florida	98.0	A-Sun
204	Appalachian St.	97.9	Sun Belt
205	Valparaiso	97.8	Missouri Val
206	Green Bay	97.8	Horizon
207	North Dakota St.	97.8	Summit
208	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.6	WAC
209	California Baptist	97.5	WAC
210	Massachusetts	97.5	Atl 10
211	Florida Int’l.	97.4	CUSA
212	Dartmouth	97.4	Ivy
213	South Alabama	97.4	Sun Belt
214	Illinois Chicago	97.3	Horizon
215	William & Mary	97.3	Colonial
216	La Salle	97.2	Atl 10
217	Indiana St.	97.2	Missouri Val
218	Columbia	97.2	Ivy
219	Pacific	97.1	West Coast
220	Fairleigh Dickinson	97.1	Northeast
221	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.0	Amer East
222	Long Beach St.	96.9	Big West
223	Texas Southern	96.9	SWAC
224	Cal St. Bakersfield	96.7	WAC
225	South Dakota	96.7	Summit
226	Quinnipiac	96.6	Metro Atl
227	Cornell	96.4	Ivy
228	Evansville	96.4	Missouri Val
229	Boston University	96.2	Patriot
230	High Point	96.2	Big South
231	Little Rock	96.1	Sun Belt
232	Prairie View A&M	96.1	SWAC
233	Florida Gulf Coast	96.0	A-Sun
234	Holy Cross	95.9	Patriot
235	St. Francis PA	95.8	Northeast
236	Army	95.8	Patriot
237	UC Davis	95.6	Big West
238	Troy	95.6	Sun Belt
239	Sacred Heart	95.5	Northeast
240	Eastern Washington	95.5	Big Sky
241	Eastern Kentucky	95.4	Ohio Val
242	Middle Tennessee	95.2	CUSA
243	Fordham	95.2	Atl 10
244	Drexel	95.2	Colonial
245	Montana St.	95.2	Big Sky
246	Siena	95.1	Metro Atl
247	Norfolk St.	95.1	MEAC
248	California	95.0	Pac-12
249	Long Island	95.0	Northeast
250	Delaware	95.0	Colonial
251	Missouri Kansas City	95.0	WAC
252	Robert Morris	94.9	Northeast
253	UMass Lowell	94.9	Amer East
254	Air Force	94.8	Mtn West
255	Morehead St.	94.8	Ohio Val
256	Southeastern Louisiana	94.7	Southland
257	Portland St.	94.7	Big Sky
258	Western Michigan	94.6	MAC
259	Canisius	94.6	Metro Atl
260	UNC Wilmington	94.6	Colonial
261	Arkansas St.	94.5	Sun Belt
262	North Dakota	94.5	Summit
263	The Citadel	94.5	SoCon
264	Jacksonville	94.4	A-Sun
265	Detroit	94.4	Horizon
266	Marist	94.4	Metro Atl
267	Rice	94.3	CUSA
268	Chattanooga	94.3	SoCon
269	Sacramento St.	94.2	Big Sky
270	New Orleans	94.0	Southland
271	Towson	94.0	Colonial
272	Albany	94.0	Amer East
273	Loyola (MD)	93.9	Patriot
274	St. Francis (BKN)	93.9	Northeast
275	Monmouth	93.9	Metro Atl
276	James Madison	93.9	Colonial
277	Grambling St.	93.7	SWAC
278	Texas A&M-CC	93.7	Southland
279	East Carolina	93.7	AAC
280	Cal St. Northridge	93.7	Big West
281	Youngstown St.	93.5	Horizon
282	Houston Baptist	93.3	Southland
283	George Washington	93.3	Atl 10
284	Fairfield	93.2	Metro Atl
285	Navy	93.1	Patriot
286	Southern Utah	93.0	Big Sky
287	Tulane	92.9	AAC
288	Western Carolina	92.9	SoCon
289	North Carolina Central	92.8	MEAC
290	Cleveland St.	92.8	Horizon
291	Milwaukee	92.6	Horizon
292	Oral Roberts	92.6	Summit
293	Western Illinois	92.6	Summit
294	UT Martin	92.5	Ohio Val
295	UTEP	92.5	CUSA
296	Bethune Cookman	92.5	MEAC
297	Tennessee St.	92.5	Ohio Val
298	Lafayette	92.4	Patriot
299	North Carolina A&T	92.2	MEAC
300	Longwood	92.2	Big South
301	Charlotte	92.2	CUSA
302	Wagner	92.1	Northeast
303	Stephen F. Austin	92.1	Southland
304	Northern Arizona	92.1	Big Sky
305	Saint Peter’s	92.0	Metro Atl
306	VMI	91.9	SoCon
307	Niagara	91.9	Metro Atl
308	Elon	91.9	Colonial
309	Eastern Illinois	91.7	Ohio Val
310	UC Riverside	91.6	Big West
311	Central Arkansas	91.6	Southland
312	Nicholls St.	91.5	Southland
313	Howard	91.4	MEAC
314	North Alabama	91.2	A-Sun
315	Southeast Missouri St.	91.2	Ohio Val
316	Denver	91.1	Summit
317	Manhattan	90.8	Metro Atl
318	Idaho St.	90.7	Big Sky
319	Wyoming	90.3	Mtn West
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.2	SWAC
321	Central Connecticut	90.0	Northeast
322	Jackson St.	89.9	SWAC
323	Binghamton	89.8	Amer East
324	Mount St. Mary’s	89.7	Northeast
325	Portland	89.6	West Coast
326	Florida A&M	89.6	MEAC
327	Tennessee Tech	89.5	Ohio Val
328	Bryant	89.3	Northeast
329	McNeese St.	88.9	Southland
330	Alabama St.	88.8	SWAC
331	Maine	88.6	Amer East
332	Cal Poly	88.4	Big West
333	SIU Edwardsville	88.0	Ohio Val
334	Stetson	87.9	A-Sun
335	USC Upstate	87.7	Big South
336	Morgan St.	87.6	MEAC
337	Southern	87.3	SWAC
338	South Carolina St.	87.3	MEAC
339	Northwestern St.	86.4	Southland
340	New Hampshire	86.2	Amer East
341	Kennesaw St.	86.1	A-Sun
342	San Jose St.	85.4	Mtn West
343	Savannah St.	85.2	MEAC
344	Idaho	85.0	Big Sky
345	Coppin St.	84.9	MEAC
346	Incarnate Word	84.6	Southland
347	Alabama A&M	84.6	SWAC
348	UNC Asheville	84.1	Big South
349	Alcorn St.	84.0	SWAC
350	Mississippi Valley St.	82.8	SWAC
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.1	MEAC
352	Delaware St.	79.5	MEAC
353	Chicago St.	79.3	WAC

PiRate Ratings (Alphabetical)

Rk	Team	PiRate
154	Abilene Christian	100.9
254	Air Force	94.8
117	Akron	103.5
58	Alabama	108.0
347	Alabama A&M	84.6
330	Alabama St.	88.8
272	Albany	94.0
349	Alcorn St.	84.0
201	American	98.0
204	Appalachian St.	97.9
85	Arizona	105.9
56	Arizona St.	108.4
53	Arkansas	108.7
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.2
261	Arkansas St.	94.5
236	Army	95.8
13	Auburn	115.7
126	Austin Peay	103.0
131	Ball St.	102.8
38	Baylor	110.6
50	Belmont	109.0
296	Bethune Cookman	92.5
323	Binghamton	89.8
134	Boise St.	102.6
106	Boston College	104.3
229	Boston University	96.2
127	Bowling Green	103.0
166	Bradley	99.9
146	Brown	101.4
328	Bryant	89.3
139	Bucknell	102.0
21	Buffalo	113.6
57	Butler	108.2
90	BYU	105.6
332	Cal Poly	88.4
224	Cal St. Bakersfield	96.7
183	Cal St. Fullerton	98.9
280	Cal St. Northridge	93.7
248	California	95.0
209	California Baptist	97.5
186	Campbell	98.8
259	Canisius	94.6
311	Central Arkansas	91.6
321	Central Connecticut	90.0
39	Central Florida	110.6
141	Central Michigan	101.9
118	Charleston	103.4
175	Charleston Southern	99.4
301	Charlotte	92.2
268	Chattanooga	94.3
353	Chicago St.	79.3
32	Cincinnati	111.4
29	Clemson	112.2
290	Cleveland St.	92.8
155	Coastal Carolina	100.7
138	Colgate	102.1
69	Colorado	107.0
181	Colorado St.	99.2
218	Columbia	97.2
95	Connecticut	105.2
345	Coppin St.	84.9
227	Cornell	96.4
45	Creighton	110.0
212	Dartmouth	97.4
70	Davidson	106.8
55	Dayton	108.4
250	Delaware	95.0
352	Delaware St.	79.5
316	Denver	91.1
98	DePaul	104.9
265	Detroit	94.4
132	Drake	102.8
244	Drexel	95.2
3	Duke	123.2
165	Duquesne	100.1
279	East Carolina	93.7
75	East Tennessee St.	106.3
309	Eastern Illinois	91.7
241	Eastern Kentucky	95.4
160	Eastern Michigan	100.3
240	Eastern Washington	95.5
308	Elon	91.9
228	Evansville	96.4
284	Fairfield	93.2
220	Fairleigh Dickinson	97.1
31	Florida	111.7
326	Florida A&M	89.6
187	Florida Atlantic	98.7
233	Florida Gulf Coast	96.0
211	Florida Int’l.	97.4
17	Florida St.	114.7
243	Fordham	95.2
64	Fresno St.	107.5
60	Furman	107.8
163	Gardner Webb	100.1
147	George Mason	101.4
283	George Washington	93.3
76	Georgetown	106.3
116	Georgia	103.5
104	Georgia Southern	104.6
115	Georgia St.	103.6
103	Georgia Tech	104.6
1	Gonzaga	124.4
277	Grambling St.	93.7
102	Grand Canyon	104.7
206	Green Bay	97.8
197	Hampton	98.1
185	Hartford	98.8
128	Harvard	102.9
192	Hawaii	98.4
230	High Point	96.2
74	Hofstra	106.3
234	Holy Cross	95.9
15	Houston	115.0
282	Houston Baptist	93.3
313	Howard	91.4
344	Idaho	85.0
318	Idaho St.	90.7
78	Illinois	106.2
214	Illinois Chicago	97.3
196	Illinois St.	98.1
346	Incarnate Word	84.6
37	Indiana	110.6
217	Indiana St.	97.2
198	Iona	98.0
36	Iowa	110.9
18	Iowa St.	114.1
199	IUPUI	98.0
322	Jackson St.	89.9
264	Jacksonville	94.4
123	Jacksonville St.	103.2
276	James Madison	93.9
16	Kansas	114.9
25	Kansas St.	113.2
341	Kennesaw St.	86.1
145	Kent St.	101.5
7	Kentucky	118.3
216	La Salle	97.2
298	Lafayette	92.4
202	Lamar	98.0
168	Lehigh	99.8
77	Liberty	106.2
52	Lipscomb	108.8
231	Little Rock	96.1
222	Long Beach St.	96.9
249	Long Island	95.0
300	Longwood	92.2
170	Louisiana	99.7
148	Louisiana Monroe	101.3
142	Louisiana Tech	101.8
19	Louisville	114.0
112	Loyola (Chi)	103.8
273	Loyola (MD)	93.9
137	Loyola Marymount	102.2
20	LSU	114.0
331	Maine	88.6
317	Manhattan	90.8
266	Marist	94.4
28	Marquette	112.6
171	Marshall	99.7
22	Maryland	113.4
221	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.0
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.1
210	Massachusetts	97.5
329	McNeese St.	88.9
71	Memphis	106.8
195	Mercer	98.2
63	Miami (Fla)	107.5
149	Miami (O)	101.2
9	Michigan	118.1
5	Michigan St.	120.5
242	Middle Tennessee	95.2
291	Milwaukee	92.6
48	Minnesota	109.3
44	Mississippi	110.1
23	Mississippi St.	113.4
350	Mississippi Valley St.	82.8
80	Missouri	106.1
251	Missouri Kansas City	95.0
172	Missouri St.	99.6
275	Monmouth	93.9
133	Montana	102.8
245	Montana St.	95.2
255	Morehead St.	94.8
336	Morgan St.	87.6
324	Mount St. Mary’s	89.7
51	Murray St.	109.0
285	Navy	93.1
40	Nebraska	110.5
14	Nevada	115.0
340	New Hampshire	86.2
178	New Mexico	99.3
62	New Mexico St.	107.7
270	New Orleans	94.0
307	Niagara	91.9
312	Nicholls St.	91.5
184	NJIT	98.8
247	Norfolk St.	95.1
314	North Alabama	91.2
4	North Carolina	121.0
299	North Carolina A&T	92.2
289	North Carolina Central	92.8
27	North Carolina St.	112.9
262	North Dakota	94.5
207	North Dakota St.	97.8
203	North Florida	98.0
153	North Texas	100.9
87	Northeastern	105.8
304	Northern Arizona	92.1
158	Northern Colorado	100.4
151	Northern Illinois	101.1
177	Northern Iowa	99.3
105	Northern Kentucky	104.4
65	Northwestern	107.2
339	Northwestern St.	86.4
84	Notre Dame	105.9
194	Oakland	98.3
191	Ohio	98.4
42	Ohio St.	110.3
33	Oklahoma	111.3
100	Oklahoma St.	104.8
113	Old Dominion	103.8
164	Omaha	100.1
292	Oral Roberts	92.6
49	Oregon	109.3
79	Oregon St.	106.2
219	Pacific	97.1
114	Penn	103.6
43	Penn St.	110.2
156	Pepperdine	100.6
96	Pittsburgh	105.1
325	Portland	89.6
257	Portland St.	94.7
232	Prairie View A&M	96.1
189	Presbyterian	98.5
176	Princeton	99.3
73	Providence	106.7
10	Purdue	117.6
173	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.5
226	Quinnipiac	96.6
136	Radford	102.4
135	Rhode Island	102.4
267	Rice	94.3
182	Richmond	99.0
193	Rider	98.4
252	Robert Morris	94.9
81	Rutgers	106.0
269	Sacramento St.	94.2
239	Sacred Heart	95.5
174	Saint Joseph’s	99.4
120	Saint Louis	103.3
41	Saint Mary’s	110.4
305	Saint Peter’s	92.0
179	Sam Houston St.	99.2
157	Samford	100.5
93	San Diego	105.5
111	San Diego St.	103.8
68	San Francisco	107.0
342	San Jose St.	85.4
200	Santa Clara	98.0
343	Savannah St.	85.2
188	Seattle	98.6
54	Seton Hall	108.4
246	Siena	95.1
333	SIU Edwardsville	88.0
107	SMU	104.2
213	South Alabama	97.4
72	South Carolina	106.8
338	South Carolina St.	87.3
225	South Dakota	96.7
89	South Dakota St.	105.6
121	South Florida	103.2
315	Southeast Missouri St.	91.2
256	Southeastern Louisiana	94.7
337	Southern	87.3
143	Southern Illinois	101.6
119	Southern Miss	103.4
286	Southern Utah	93.0
129	St. Bonaventure	102.9
274	St. Francis (BKN)	93.9
235	St. Francis PA	95.8
61	St. John’s	107.8
110	Stanford	103.9
303	Stephen F. Austin	92.1
334	Stetson	87.9
161	Stony Brook	100.1
34	Syracuse	111.3
47	TCU	110.0
66	Temple	107.2
6	Tennessee	118.9
297	Tennessee St.	92.5
327	Tennessee Tech	89.5
30	Texas	112.0
94	Texas A&M	105.4
278	Texas A&M-CC	93.7
223	Texas Southern	96.9
122	Texas St.	103.2
8	Texas Tech	118.3
263	The Citadel	94.5
59	Toledo	107.9
271	Towson	94.0
238	Troy	95.6
287	Tulane	92.9
124	Tulsa	103.2
162	UAB	100.1
237	UC Davis	95.6
92	UC Irvine	105.5
310	UC Riverside	91.6
152	UC Santa Barbara	101.0
99	UCLA	104.9
253	UMass Lowell	94.9
348	UNC Asheville	84.1
86	UNC Greensboro	105.8
260	UNC Wilmington	94.6
150	UNLV	101.1
88	USC	105.7
335	USC Upstate	87.7
167	UT Arlington	99.8
294	UT Martin	92.5
208	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.6
108	Utah	104.2
46	Utah St.	110.0
109	Utah Valley	104.0
295	UTEP	92.5
169	UTSA	99.8
205	Valparaiso	97.8
140	Vanderbilt	102.0
83	Vermont	106.0
24	Villanova	113.3
2	Virginia	123.3
35	Virginia Commonwealth	111.1
11	Virginia Tech	116.5
306	VMI	91.9
302	Wagner	92.1
159	Wake Forest	100.3
91	Washington	105.5
144	Washington St.	101.6
190	Weber St.	98.5
97	West Virginia	104.9
288	Western Carolina	92.9
293	Western Illinois	92.6
125	Western Kentucky	103.1
258	Western Michigan	94.6
101	Wichita St.	104.8
215	William & Mary	97.3
180	Winthrop	99.2
12	Wisconsin	115.7
26	Wofford	113.2
130	Wright St.	102.9
319	Wyoming	90.3
67	Xavier	107.2
82	Yale	106.0
281	Youngstown St.	93.5

 

PiRate Ratings (Conference)

#	America East	PiRate
83	Vermont	106.0
161	Stony Brook	100.1
185	Hartford	98.8
221	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.0
253	UMass Lowell	94.9
272	Albany	94.0
323	Binghamton	89.8
331	Maine	88.6
340	New Hampshire	86.2

 

 

#	American Athletic	PiRate
15	Houston	115.0
32	Cincinnati	111.4
39	Central Florida	110.6
66	Temple	107.2
71	Memphis	106.8
95	Connecticut	105.2
101	Wichita St.	104.8
107	SMU	104.2
121	South Florida	103.2
124	Tulsa	103.2
279	East Carolina	93.7
287	Tulane	92.9

 

 

#	Atlantic 10	PiRate
35	Virginia Commonwealth	111.1
55	Dayton	108.4
70	Davidson	106.8
120	Saint Louis	103.3
129	St. Bonaventure	102.9
135	Rhode Island	102.4
147	George Mason	101.4
165	Duquesne	100.1
174	Saint Joseph’s	99.4
182	Richmond	99.0
210	Massachusetts	97.5
216	La Salle	97.2
243	Fordham	95.2
283	George Washington	93.3

 

 

#	Atlantic Coast	PiRate
2	Virginia	123.3
3	Duke	123.2
4	North Carolina	121.0
11	Virginia Tech	116.5
17	Florida St.	114.7
19	Louisville	114.0
27	North Carolina St.	112.9
29	Clemson	112.2
34	Syracuse	111.3
63	Miami (Fla)	107.5
84	Notre Dame	105.9
96	Pittsburgh	105.1
103	Georgia Tech	104.6
106	Boston College	104.3
159	Wake Forest	100.3

 

 

#	Atlantic Sun	PiRate
52	Lipscomb	108.8
77	Liberty	106.2
184	NJIT	98.8
203	North Florida	98.0
233	Florida Gulf Coast	96.0
264	Jacksonville	94.4
314	North Alabama	91.2
334	Stetson	87.9
341	Kennesaw St.	86.1

 

 

#	Big 12	PiRate
8	Texas Tech	118.3
16	Kansas	114.9
18	Iowa St.	114.1
25	Kansas St.	113.2
30	Texas	112.0
33	Oklahoma	111.3
38	Baylor	110.6
47	TCU	110.0
97	West Virginia	104.9
100	Oklahoma St.	104.8

 

 

#	Big East	PiRate
24	Villanova	113.3
28	Marquette	112.6
45	Creighton	110.0
54	Seton Hall	108.4
57	Butler	108.2
61	St. John’s	107.8
67	Xavier	107.2
73	Providence	106.7
76	Georgetown	106.3
98	DePaul	104.9

 

 

#	Big Sky	PiRate
133	Montana	102.8
158	Northern Colorado	100.4
190	Weber St.	98.5
240	Eastern Washington	95.5
245	Montana St.	95.2
257	Portland St.	94.7
269	Sacramento St.	94.2
286	Southern Utah	93.0
304	Northern Arizona	92.1
318	Idaho St.	90.7
344	Idaho	85.0

 

 

#	Big South	PiRate
136	Radford	102.4
163	Gardner Webb	100.1
175	Charleston Southern	99.4
180	Winthrop	99.2
186	Campbell	98.8
189	Presbyterian	98.5
197	Hampton	98.1
230	High Point	96.2
300	Longwood	92.2
335	USC Upstate	87.7
348	UNC Asheville	84.1

 

 

#	Big Ten	PiRate
5	Michigan St.	120.5
9	Michigan	118.1
10	Purdue	117.6
12	Wisconsin	115.7
22	Maryland	113.4
36	Iowa	110.9
37	Indiana	110.6
40	Nebraska	110.5
42	Ohio St.	110.3
43	Penn St.	110.2
48	Minnesota	109.3
65	Northwestern	107.2
78	Illinois	106.2
81	Rutgers	106.0

 

 

#	Big West	PiRate
92	UC Irvine	105.5
152	UC Santa Barbara	101.0
183	Cal St. Fullerton	98.9
192	Hawaii	98.4
222	Long Beach St.	96.9
237	UC Davis	95.6
280	Cal St. Northridge	93.7
310	UC Riverside	91.6
332	Cal Poly	88.4

 

 

#	Colonial Athletic	PiRate
74	Hofstra	106.3
87	Northeastern	105.8
118	Charleston	103.4
215	William & Mary	97.3
244	Drexel	95.2
250	Delaware	95.0
260	UNC Wilmington	94.6
271	Towson	94.0
276	James Madison	93.9
308	Elon	91.9

 

 

#	Conference USA	PiRate
113	Old Dominion	103.8
119	Southern Miss	103.4
125	Western Kentucky	103.1
142	Louisiana Tech	101.8
153	North Texas	100.9
162	UAB	100.1
169	UTSA	99.8
171	Marshall	99.7
187	Florida Atlantic	98.7
211	Florida Int’l.	97.4
242	Middle Tennessee	95.2
267	Rice	94.3
295	UTEP	92.5
301	Charlotte	92.2

 

 

#	Horizon	PiRate
105	Northern Kentucky	104.4
130	Wright St.	102.9
194	Oakland	98.3
199	IUPUI	98.0
206	Green Bay	97.8
214	Illinois Chicago	97.3
265	Detroit	94.4
281	Youngstown St.	93.5
290	Cleveland St.	92.8
291	Milwaukee	92.6

 

 

#	Ivy	PiRate
82	Yale	106.0
114	Penn	103.6
128	Harvard	102.9
146	Brown	101.4
176	Princeton	99.3
212	Dartmouth	97.4
218	Columbia	97.2
227	Cornell	96.4

 

 

#	Metro Atlantic	PiRate
193	Rider	98.4
198	Iona	98.0
226	Quinnipiac	96.6
246	Siena	95.1
259	Canisius	94.6
266	Marist	94.4
275	Monmouth	93.9
284	Fairfield	93.2
305	Saint Peter’s	92.0
307	Niagara	91.9
317	Manhattan	90.8

 

 

#	Mid-American	PiRate
21	Buffalo	113.6
59	Toledo	107.9
117	Akron	103.5
127	Bowling Green	103.0
131	Ball St.	102.8
141	Central Michigan	101.9
145	Kent St.	101.5
149	Miami (O)	101.2
151	Northern Illinois	101.1
160	Eastern Michigan	100.3
191	Ohio	98.4
258	Western Michigan	94.6

 

 

#	Mideastern Athletic	PiRate
247	Norfolk St.	95.1
289	North Carolina Central	92.8
296	Bethune Cookman	92.5
299	North Carolina A&T	92.2
313	Howard	91.4
326	Florida A&M	89.6
336	Morgan St.	87.6
338	South Carolina St.	87.3
343	Savannah St.	85.2
345	Coppin St.	84.9
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.1
352	Delaware St.	79.5

 

 

#	Missouri Valley	PiRate
112	Loyola (Chi)	103.8
132	Drake	102.8
143	Southern Illinois	101.6
166	Bradley	99.9
172	Missouri St.	99.6
177	Northern Iowa	99.3
196	Illinois St.	98.1
205	Valparaiso	97.8
217	Indiana St.	97.2
228	Evansville	96.4

 

 

#	Mountain West	PiRate
14	Nevada	115.0
46	Utah St.	110.0
64	Fresno St.	107.5
111	San Diego St.	103.8
134	Boise St.	102.6
150	UNLV	101.1
178	New Mexico	99.3
181	Colorado St.	99.2
254	Air Force	94.8
319	Wyoming	90.3
342	San Jose St.	85.4

 

 

#	Northeast	PiRate
220	Fairleigh Dickinson	97.1
235	St. Francis PA	95.8
239	Sacred Heart	95.5
249	Long Island	95.0
252	Robert Morris	94.9
274	St. Francis (BKN)	93.9
302	Wagner	92.1
321	Central Connecticut	90.0
324	Mount St. Mary’s	89.7
328	Bryant	89.3

 

 

#	Ohio Valley	PiRate
50	Belmont	109.0
51	Murray St.	109.0
123	Jacksonville St.	103.2
126	Austin Peay	103.0
241	Eastern Kentucky	95.4
255	Morehead St.	94.8
294	UT Martin	92.5
297	Tennessee St.	92.5
309	Eastern Illinois	91.7
315	Southeast Missouri St.	91.2
327	Tennessee Tech	89.5
333	SIU Edwardsville	88.0

 

 

#	Pac-12	PiRate
49	Oregon	109.3
56	Arizona St.	108.4
69	Colorado	107.0
79	Oregon St.	106.2
85	Arizona	105.9
88	USC	105.7
91	Washington	105.5
99	UCLA	104.9
108	Utah	104.2
110	Stanford	103.9
144	Washington St.	101.6
248	California	95.0

 

 

#	Patriot	PiRate
138	Colgate	102.1
139	Bucknell	102.0
168	Lehigh	99.8
201	American	98.0
229	Boston University	96.2
234	Holy Cross	95.9
236	Army	95.8
273	Loyola (MD)	93.9
285	Navy	93.1
298	Lafayette	92.4

 

 

#	Southeastern	PiRate
6	Tennessee	118.9
7	Kentucky	118.3
13	Auburn	115.7
20	LSU	114.0
23	Mississippi St.	113.4
31	Florida	111.7
44	Mississippi	110.1
53	Arkansas	108.7
58	Alabama	108.0
72	South Carolina	106.8
80	Missouri	106.1
94	Texas A&M	105.4
116	Georgia	103.5
140	Vanderbilt	102.0

 

 

#	Southern	PiRate
26	Wofford	113.2
60	Furman	107.8
75	East Tennessee St.	106.3
86	UNC Greensboro	105.8
157	Samford	100.5
195	Mercer	98.2
263	The Citadel	94.5
268	Chattanooga	94.3
288	Western Carolina	92.9
306	VMI	91.9

 

#	Southland	PiRate
154	Abilene Christian	100.9
179	Sam Houston St.	99.2
202	Lamar	98.0
256	Southeastern Louisiana	94.7
270	New Orleans	94.0
278	Texas A&M-CC	93.7
282	Houston Baptist	93.3
303	Stephen F. Austin	92.1
311	Central Arkansas	91.6
312	Nicholls St.	91.5
329	McNeese St.	88.9
339	Northwestern St.	86.4
346	Incarnate Word	84.6

 

 

#	Southwestern Athletic	PiRate
223	Texas Southern	96.9
232	Prairie View A&M	96.1
277	Grambling St.	93.7
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.2
322	Jackson St.	89.9
330	Alabama St.	88.8
337	Southern	87.3
347	Alabama A&M	84.6
349	Alcorn St.	84.0
350	Mississippi Valley St.	82.8

 

 

#	Summit	PiRate
89	South Dakota St.	105.6
164	Omaha	100.1
173	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.5
207	North Dakota St.	97.8
225	South Dakota	96.7
262	North Dakota	94.5
292	Oral Roberts	92.6
293	Western Illinois	92.6
316	Denver	91.1

 

 

#	Sun Belt	PiRate
104	Georgia Southern	104.6
115	Georgia St.	103.6
122	Texas St.	103.2
148	Louisiana Monroe	101.3
155	Coastal Carolina	100.7
167	UT Arlington	99.8
170	Louisiana	99.7
204	Appalachian St.	97.9
213	South Alabama	97.4
231	Little Rock	96.1
238	Troy	95.6
261	Arkansas St.	94.5

 

 

#	West Coast	PiRate
1	Gonzaga	124.4
41	Saint Mary’s	110.4
68	San Francisco	107.0
90	BYU	105.6
93	San Diego	105.5
137	Loyola Marymount	102.2
156	Pepperdine	100.6
200	Santa Clara	98.0
219	Pacific	97.1
325	Portland	89.6

 

 

#	Western Athletic	PiRate
62	New Mexico St.	107.7
102	Grand Canyon	104.7
109	Utah Valley	104.0
188	Seattle	98.6
208	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.6
209	California Baptist	97.5
224	Cal St. Bakersfield	96.7
251	Missouri Kansas City	95.0
353	Chicago St.	79.3

 

Conference Tournaments Update

Atlantic Sun Conference
*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 ***
Liberty	74	Lipscomb	68

 

 

Big South Conference
*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 (at Radford) ***
Gardner-Webb	76	Radford	65

 

 

Colonial Athletic Association
Site: North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, SC
Quarterfinals–Sunday, March 10
Hofstra	76	James Madison	67
Delaware	85	William & Mary	79
Northeastern	80	UNC Wilmington	59
Charleston	73	Drexel	61

 

Semifinals–Monday, March 11
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Hofstra (26-6)	5	Delaware (17-15)
2	Northeastern (21-10)	3	Charleston (24-8)

 

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Site: Times Union Center, Albany, NY (Siena)
Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Iona	73	Siena	57
Monmouth	73	Canisius	59

Championship Game–Monday, March 11
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Iona (16-15)	6	Monmouth (14-20)

 

 

Mid-American Conference (MACtion)
Site: 1st Rd @ Higher Seeds/ Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
First Round–Monday, March 11
Seed	Home Team	Seed	Visitors
8	Akron (16-15)	9	Miami (O) (15-16)
5	Central Michigan (21-10)	12	Western Michigan (8-23)
7	Northern Illinois (15-16)	10	Ohio (14-16)
6	Eastern Michigan (15-16)	11	Ball St. (15-16)

 

 

Missouri Valley Conference (Arch Madness)
Site: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO
*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 ***
Bradley	57	Northern Iowa	54

 

 

Patriot League
All games at home floor of higher seeds
Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Colgate	80	Navy	70
Bucknell	97	Lehigh	75

 

*** Championship Game–Wednesday, March 13 ***
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Colgate (23-10)	2	Bucknell (21-10)

 

 

Southern Conference
Site: US Cellular Center, Asheville, NC
Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Wofford	81	East Tennessee St.	72
UNC Greensboro	66	Furman	62

 

*** Championship Game–Monday, March 11 ***
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Wofford (28-4)	2	UNC Greensboro (28-5)

 

 

Summit League
Site: Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, SD
Quarterfinals
North Dakota St.	86	Oral Roberts	73
Purdue Ft. Wayne	96	South Dakota	70

 

Semifinals–Monday, March 11
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
8	Western Illinois (10-20)	4	North Dakota St. (16-15)
2	Omaha (20-10)	3	Purdue Ft. Wayne (18-14)

 

West Coast Conference

Site: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

Semifinals–Monday, March 11
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
2	Saint Mary’s (20-11)	6	San Diego (21-13)
1	Gonzaga (29-2)	8	Pepperdine (16-17)

 

Teams With Automatic Bids

Team	Conf	W-L
Liberty	Atlantic Sun	28-6
Gardner-Webb	Big South	23-11
Murray St.	Ohio Valley	27-4
Bradley	Missouri Valley	20-14

 

Selection Committee Got It Right–Only Because The Criteria Was Wrong

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee is under fire today for how teams like Oklahoma, Arizona State,  and Syracuse made the tournament, while teams like Saint Mary’s, Middle Tennessee State, and USC did not.

Don’t blame this Committee.  They did not create the criteria that they use to select the teams.  You wouldn’t blame a jury if the judge orders them not to consider the most convincing evidence in a trial, and it produces the opposite verdict.

We are hearing interesting rumors that Louisville and USC received punitive treatment due to the impending FBI probe, but we do not buy into this rumor.

The reality is that Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Syracuse are in the field, and USC, Saint Mary’s, and Middle Tennessee are not.

The PiRate Bracket Gurus correctly picked 67 of the 68 teams, missing on USC versus Syracuse.  They don’t want to make this sound like sour grapes here, and they are not responsible in the least for our comments, but we find it a laughing joke that the Trojans did not make the tournament, while Arizona State did make the tournament.

Again, it is not the Committee’s fault that the most convincing evidence that would show the superior team was not admissible in this case.  USC finished in 2nd place in the Pac-12, while Arizona State finished tied for 8th place, with only three teams below the Sun Devils in the standings.  USC bested ASU by four games in the conference standings!

How can a team finish 22.2% better in the majority part of an identical schedule than another team and see the weaker team make the tournament, while they did not?  This is why March Madness is more mad due to inferior selection criteria.

We repeat a comparison we made earlier this season.  Take the NFL Playoffs.  Let’s say that during the first month of the season, The New York Giants beat Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh and lead the NFC East at 4-0, while The Eagles are 2-2, with victories over Washington and Tampa Bay.

At this point in the season, the Giants are the best team in the NFL, while Philly is in the bottom half.  Now, from this point on, the Giants finish 5-7 for a 9-7 record.  The Eagles go 9-3 for an 11-5 record.

So, in the playoffs, the Giants are selected by the NFL Selection Committee due to their Quadrant 1 NFL wins in September, while the Eagles have to go to the Bert Bell Playoff Bowl in Miami (Google It–There really was a bowl game in the NFL).

If the NFL stages its playoffs this way, the league would be the laughingstock of sports.  The playoffs would be a big joke.  Yet, in college basketball, the public is brainwashed into believing that this giant tournament of mostly mediocrity is can’t miss entertainment.

The PiRates can easily miss seeing almost all these games where one or more of the combatants fared so poorly in the regular season that in decades past, their coaches might have been fired or put on a hot seat.

Allowing the 8th best team in a rather weak conference to have a chance to play for the national championship is par for the course in this everybody gets a trophy society.  When it comes down to it, neither USC nor Arizona State should have been invited to the NCAA Tournament.  Likewise, no team that did not win a conference championship should have been invited.  There are 32 conferences.  There should be 32 teams invited to the tournament, the 32 champions.

Before you say, “Hey Bucakroo, you cannot be serious about including Radford but not Duke,” let us preface that we favor just the 32 conference champions, but we also would favor handicapping the tournament so that the top 10 conference champions would receive byes to the Sweet 16, while the other 22 conference champions would have to compete in a play-in tournament to narrow from 22 to 12 to 6.  The 6 play-in winners would fill out the Sweet 16.

This is exactly how the NCAA Tournament used to be conducted.  Back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, six to eight conference champions received automatic byes to the Sweet 16, while 14 to 18 other conference champions (and top Independents) were forced to play-in to the Sweet 16.  The bye conferences were determined by the past 5 years results in prior NCAA Tournaments.

Four plus decades ago, over half of the division 1 teams in the East were independents, playing in a loosely-knit organization called the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference).  Prior to 1975, the ECAC was guaranteed two spots in the NCAA Tournament, while other Independents from the South, Midwest, and West could only be selected as at-large entries if and when the NCAA determined they were worthy.

Usually, 24 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament.  There were eight teams that received byes and 16 teams that played into the Sweet 16.  On the third Saturday of March, the play-in games were played on neutral sites.  Then, on the following Thursday night (Friday night until 1968), the Sweet 16 Round was played, and the Elite 8 Round was played on Saturday.  There were regional consolation games to give each region four total games.

Then, the Final Four was played the following Thursday night with a consolation game and National Championship Game played on Saturday afternoon.  Starting in 1973, the Final Four moved to its present Saturday afternoon-Monday night format.

The explanation that the tournament became huge when it moved to 64 and then 68 teams is not actual fact.  The tournament was already big before it began to expand.  It would have continued to gain fan support if it had stayed exactly the same, and it is our opinion that it would be even bigger than it is today had it remained a tournament of conference champions.

With today’s format, a lot of really fantastic marquee games never happen.  The so-called media darling long shots that pull off a first round upset or sneak into the Sweet 16 eventually get blown out by a power conference team, giving the power conference team somewhat of a breather to the next round.  With 32 first round games, there are going to be a handful of upsets when a power team either overlooks the smaller school or comes out flat, while the other team plays the game of its lives.

The 1927 New York Yankees occasionally had an off day and lost to the Washington Senators (8 times that year).  They even lost a game to the St. Louis Browns.  There is always that odd day or night where things just don’t go the way they should 99% of the time.  It actually hurts the tournament when a #2 seed loses to a #15 seed, because the #15 seed isn’t going anywhere, while the #2 seed could have given the public a really incredible Elite 8 game against a #1 seed.

With that in mind, the PiRates have two separate ideas that would make the NCAA Basketball Tournament much better than it is now.  It would still give the Radford’s a real chance to compete for the title, and it would eliminate the ridiculous, human-error-laced, Selection Committee trying to create a reason why the 12-6 number two team from a power conference stays home, while the 8-10 number eight place (tied for 8th) team from that same conference makes the field.

Option A: Split Division 1 into D1 Large and D1 Small.  D1 Large would be the top 16 conferences, while D1 Small would be the bottom 16 conferences.

Conduct separate 16-team playoffs in the same manner that the NBA now uses.  4 rounds of best of 7 playoffs with the higher-ranked team getting home court advantage.  This option allows the home town fans a chance to see their team play on its home court, whereas only a handful of fans can afford to travel all over the map to watch them play in far away outposts.  How many Buffalo Bulls fans will make the trip to Boise, Idaho?

You could add a twist to the playoff formats and incorporate the relegation and promotion rules from soccer, where the conference of the Small Champion is promoted to Large, and the conference with the weakest-rated Large Champion being relegated to Small.

Imagine a Final Four with Arizona playing Kansas in a best of 7, and Virginia playing Michigan State in a best of 7.  What would the TV ratings be on these series rather than seeing a Sweet 16 game between one of these powers and a long shot low-major team that will lose by 20+ in the Sweet 16?  The two series would dwarf the ratings of today’s earlier rounds where teams are forced to play in the mornings and afternoons of weekdays.

Option B would be to revert back to how the tournament was conducted in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Take the 22 weakest conferences and send their champions to a 22 to 12 to 6 play-in.  Send the other 10 top conference champions expressly to the Sweet 16.

Sure, teams like North Carolina, Villanova, and Michigan would not be in the tournament, but then neither would be 8-10 Arizona State or 8-10 Syracuse.  Villanova, Michigan, Purdue, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and USC among others would give the 16-team (like it was when it was great) NIT a great group of teams, so great that they could return to playing all 15 games at Madison Square Garden.

Most of you reading this today are wondering what our schedule will be for the NCAA Tournament.  Usually, today is the day we release our annual Bracketnomics report showing what back-tested data has been successful in isolating past NCAA Tournament winners.

The PiRates have made some sweeping changes this year, as advanced metrics have made our past bracket-picking criteria somewhat obsolete.  We still have our exceptional R+T weighted rating, and it still represents a huge chunk of what works for us, but we have dropped a lot of the other former data.  With advanced metrics like true shooting% and a better way to compare teams based on strength of schedule, we will be releasing an all-inclusive, somewhat explanatory reveal Tuesday afternoon.