Feel free to use this story's comments section as a gathering place to discuss the early afternoon NCAA Tournament action, especially if you were clever like me and took a vacation day today.
I'll recap Wednesday night's NIT action in seed order, starting with the two No. 1 seeds, Colorado and Virginia Tech.
Either squad would have been justified in showing up without caring, considering the snubs they suffered, but CU seems to have a little more pride than that and VPI has to be getting used to this by now.
The Buffaloes easily dispatched a familiar opponent, Texas Southern, which ended its historical season on a disappointing two-game losing streak and with no postseason hardware.
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, crushed upstart Bethune-Cookman, which had an equally surprising season behind hits father-son/head coach-star player tandem.
No. 2 seed Washington State defeated Long Beach State and will advance to play Oklahoma State, which was a winner at home Tuesday night. I'll be curious to see what happens in that game in Pullman.
Finally, No. 4 seed Wichita State just manhandled some crappy Big Ten team by 27 points. I sure would hate to be a fan of a school that exhibited that pathetic of a performance.
The Shockers now will fly to Blacksburg, Va., to take on the Hokies.
Associated Press Ranking = 21
ESPN/USA Today Ranking = 24
Overall Record = 22-10
Big 12 Record = 10-6
Top 50 Record = 3-6
Big 12 Seed = 4
NCAA Seed = 5
RPI = 23
SOS = 11
Region (Site) = Southeast (Tucson)
Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = Kansas, Texas
Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = James Madison, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Washington State, Baylor, Nebraska (2), Missouri
Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none
- James Madison (21-12, 10-8 CAA) | RPI = 88
- No. 1* seed Virginia Tech (22-11, 9-7 ACC) | RPI = 62: Win over No. 8* seed Bethune-Cookman (79-54 in the NIT)
- Presbyterian (13-18, 7-11 Big South) | RPI = 204
- No. 11 seed Gonzaga (23-9, 11-3 WCC) | RPI = 56
- No. 1 seed Duke (30-4, 13-3 ACC) | RPI = 4
- No. 8* seed Texas Southern (19-13, 16-2 SWAC) | RPI = 192: Loss at No. 1* seed Colorado (74-88 in the NIT)
- Emporia State (16-14, 12-10 MIAA**)
- No. 2* seed Washington State (20-12, 9-9 Pac-10) | RPI = 82: Win over No. 7* seed Long Beach State (85-74 in the NIT)
- Alcorn State (4-24, 4-14 SWAC) | RPI = 337
- Loyola-Chicago (16-15, 7-11 Horizon League) | RPI = 197
- No. 2 seed Florida (26-7, 13-3 SEC) | RPI = 8
- No. 8 seed UNLV (24-8, 11-5 Mountain West) | RPI = 25
- UMKC (16-14, 9-9 Summit League) | RPI = 212
- North Florida (15-19, 10-10 Atlantic Sun) | RPI = 149
- Savannah State (12-18) | RPI = 252
- No. 3* seed Oklahoma State (20-13, 6-10 Big 12) | RPI = 61
- No. 1* seed Colorado (22-13, 8-8 Big 12) | RPI = 65: Win over No. 8* seed Texas Southern (88-74 in the NIT)
- Texas Tech (13-19, 5-11 Big 12) | RPI = 165
- No. 11 seed Missouri (23-10, 8-8 Big 12) | RPI = 37
- No. 7 seed Texas A&M (24-8, 10-6 Big 12) | RPI = 30
- Baylor (18-13, 7-9 Big 12) | RPI = 94
- No. 1 seed Kansas (32-2, 14-2 Big 12) | RPI = 1
- No. 5* seed Nebraska (19-13, 7-9 Big 12) | RPI = 89: Loss at No. 4* seed Wichita State (49-76 in the NIT)
- Iowa State (16-16, 3-13 Big 12) | RPI = 138
- Oklahoma (14-18, 5-11 Big 12) | RPI = 126
- No. 4 seed Texas (27-7, 13-3 Big 12) | RPI = 11
*NIT
**Division II