Before we look to Thursday action in the NBK – those schools who have Never Been Kissed, never made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the years since the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985 – let’s review what happened on Wednesday:
Colgate beat Navy 74-58 to win the Patriot and punch their ticket. With some other upsets in conference tourneys Joey Brackets bumped them up to a 14-seed in his latest projections.
Iona lost their semifinal to Rider in their MAAC opener. The Gaels started the year at #162 KenPom and sprinted out to a 19-3 record and #67, including a neutral-site win over #22 Alabama. Four losses since then to inauspicious Niagara, Siena, Manhattan, and now Rider mean the Gaels and Rick Pitino will be lucky to secure an NIT bid.
Utah St handled Air Force 83-56, setting up an NBK clash Thursday against Colorado St. The Aggies lost both games to CSU this year and will have an uphill battle to keep their tournament hopes alive. CSU can afford to lose this one; USU cannot.
Staying in the Mountain West with teams currently on the outside looking into the bubble, Fresno St needed overtime to do it but finally outlasted San Jose St 69-67. They’ll take on San Diego St on Thursday and the USU/CSU winner on Friday, should they advance.
Vermont continued their rumble through the America East tournament aka Vermont Invitational with a shellacking of Binghamton 74-42, and will look to steamroll UMBC on Saturday in the championship game on their home floor.
THURSDAY
#15 Toledo (94%) vs Central Michigan – 10 AM CST
#5 TCU (36%) vs Texas – 11:30 AM CST
#9 Saint Louis (85%) vs LaSalle – 1:30 PM CST
#3 Boise St (76%) vs Nevada – 2 PM CST
#21 UC Irvine (52%) vs UC Santa Barbara – 4:30 PM CST
#6 North Texas (84%) vs Rice – 5:30 PM CST
#7 Utah St (46%) vs #4 Colorado St (54%) – 8 PM CST
#11 Fresno St (37%) vs San Diego St – 10:30 PM CST
Data courtesy Kenpom.com and ESPN Bracketology and ESPN Bubble Watch and NCAA.com