March 17 NCAA Tournament Schedule and Open Thread (and everything else too)

Of course, this year it feels like there will be no chaos. Part of this is because the agents of chaos mostly found themselves in the NIT. It's an exceptionally heavy field in terms of Power-5 also-rans, and all the non-P5 at-large bids went to teams we don't really think of as "mid-majors", like Wichita State and Cincinnati.

So with that, let's all settle in to enjoy a crazy Thursday of baseball -- one which includes more than just the 16 NCAA Tournament games, although that's where about 95% of everyone's attention will be.

Wednesday's Men's Results

We're going to have to wait to see how Michigan fares against Notre Dame to make a final judgement on whether Tulsa really was a mistake, as the Golden Hurricane gave the Wolverines everything they could handle last night. Holy Cross, meanwhile, survived yet again, continuing a miracle run and earning their first NCAA tournament win since 1953. The Crusaders, who won the NCAA title way back in 1947, will now face a team that hasn't won it since 1939 (the very first one): Oregon.

In the NIT, eighth-seeded Wagner turned the Saint Bonaventure bracket into the BYU bracket by upsetting the top-seeded Bonnies, but the rest of the night's results were all chalk (although Virginia Tech did need overtime to dispose of always-pesky Princeton).

The CBI was kinda nuts. You thought Tuesday night's Washington-Long Beach game was fast? Nebraska-Omaha's Devin Patterson poured in 37, his team scored 112... and they still lost, because Duquesne scored a buck-twenty. Duquesne's eight-point win was the tournament's largest win of the night. Ohio and Albany only managed 184, and they needed overtime to get there. Only two of the seven games were won by more than two possessions, Eastern Washington's 7-point win over Pepperdine joining Duquesne. Also, we had the rare Catamount vs. Catamount battle; Vermont topped Western Carolina.

The CIT, which had a really nice second day, calmed down a bit last night. There were a handful of good games, highlighted by Cal-Irvine escaping North Dakota in overtime, but most games last night were blowouts.

The full results; as always, recaps from SB Nation colleagues are linked in green.

Thursday's Men's Schedule

There are only two men's games aside from day one of the first round of the NCAA tournament, as the second round of the NIT and CIT tip off. Our take on the most interesting games in each time slot: Iona-Iowa State in the early fight seems like the most likely candidate, while UALR-Purdue might be the best of the afternoon batch. Early evening is actually sort of soft; maybe Dunk City will pull that first 16-1 upset, but odds are Tennessee-Chattanooga/Indiana is your bet. The night shift makes up for the soft dinner hour, as a pair of intriguing 6-11 matchups are on tap: Wichita State-Arizona and Gonzaga-Seton Hall.

Wednesday's Women's Results

Minnesota scored 87 points last night. A whopping 55% of those came from one hand, as Rachel Banham broke the all-time WNIT record with a 48-point explosion to lead the Gophers to an 87-80 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Banham blasted 35 points in the second half, and went on a personal 21-0 run in the third quarter. Absolutely insane.

Tulane pipped Bama by a single point, and Nicole Seekamp led South Dakota to a Sunday faceoff with Minnesota. The WBI... happened. None of the three games were particularly tense, although seventh-seed Weber State did dump #2 New Mexico out of the event.

Thursday Women's Schedule

Thursday is the day of slaughter for the women's teams outside the NCAA tournament, as there are a whopping 23 WNIT games alongside the other five first-round WBI contests. There are some high-profile matchups in here: Georgetown-Rutgers, Virginia-VCU, and Dayton-WKU lead the way.