NBK 2023: Championship Week – Saturday

Busy times at WAB HQ means we are late getting started with this year’s effort to track the fates of those schools who have never made the Sweet Sixteen — Never Been Kissed (NBK) — since the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament expanded to 64 teams back in 1985. What’s a Billiken favorites Saint Louis could play their way onto this list with a win in the A-10 semifinal this afternoon over tormentor VCU.

Five NBKers have made it to their conference tournament championship game today. They’re on the edge (the edge) of glory:

#1 Utah St (45%) vs San Diego St – 5 PM CST
#3 Florida Atlantic (59%) vs UAB – 7:30 PM CST
#11 Iona (89%) vs Marist – 6:30 PM CST
#12 Toledo (47%) vs Kent St. – 6:30 PM CST
#17 Vermont (66%) vs UMass Lowell – 10 AM CST

Utah St, Boise St, Yale, and Tulane will play today in the semifinals. Enjoy the action.

NBK standings & KenPom rankings through 3/10/2023. KenPom Conf Tourney odds via Ken’s Twitter, until the conference championship game, where they are the KenPom odds ($) of winning that showdown (Utah St, Florida Atlantic, Iona, Toledo, Vermont) . ESPN Bracketology as of 3/11/2023 at 2:30 AM EST.

Data courtesy Kenpom.com and ESPN Bracketology and ESPN Bubble Watch