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

It's First-Round Thursday, which is always the best day.

Zak Ervin's late three powered down the Hurricane.
Zak Ervin's late three powered down the Hurricane.
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday always seems to be better than Friday on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. There's probably a reason for it, but whatever that reason may be it's usually Thursday where chaos reigns. It seems like every year, everything goes nuts on Thursday, and we're sitting here thinking "man, this could get out of hand quickly", and Friday everything settles down for the most part.

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.

NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
PI (16) Holy Cross 59, (16) Southern 55 Robert Champion (CHC), 19
PI (11) Michigan 67, (11) Tulsa 62 Shaquille Henderson (TUL), 23
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
SBU QF (8) Wagner 79, (1) Saint Bonaventure 75 Jaylen Adams (SBU), 24
VAL QF (3) Georgia 93, (6) Belmont 84 Yante Maten (UGA), 33
MON QF (1) Monmouth (NJ) 90, (8) Bucknell 80 Justin Robinson (MON), 23
MON QF (4) George Washington 82, (5) Hofstra 80 Juan'ya Green (HOF), 26
SBU QF (3) Virginia Tech 86, (6) Princeton 81 (OT) Zach LeDay (VT), 29
SC QF (4) Georgia Tech 81, (5) Houston 62 Devonta Pollard (HOU), 21
SBU QF (2) Brigham Young 97, (7) Alabama-Birmingham 79 Robert Brown (UAB), 29
COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
R1 Duquesne 120, Nebraska-Omaha 112 Devin Patterson (UNO), 37
R1 Ohio 94, Albany 90 (OT) Treg Setty (OHIO), 30
R1 Vermont 79, Western Carolina 74 Kurt Steidl (UVM), 20
Torrion Brummitt (WCU), 20
R1 North Carolina-Greensboro 69, Houston Baptist 65 Francis Alonso (UNCG), 17
R1 Eastern Washington 79, Pepperdine 72 Bogdan Bliznyuk (EWU), 25
R1 Nevada 79, Montana 75 D.J. Fenner (UNR), 24
R1 Seattle 68, Idaho 63 Brendan Westerdorf (SEA), 21
COLLEGEINSIDER.COM TOURNAMENT
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
R1 Texas-Arlington 75, Savannah State 59 Jalen Jones (UTA), 19
R1 Boston University 69, Fordham 66 John Papale (BU), 22
R1 Columbia 86, Norfolk State 54 Luke Petrasek (COL), 18
R1 New Hampshire 77, Fairfield 62 Jaleen Smith (UNH), 22
R1 New Jersey Tech 79, Army 65 Terrence Smith (NJIT), 18
R1 Tennessee-Martin 76, Central Michigan 73 Braylon Rayson (CMU), 24
R1 Cal-Irvine 89, North Dakota 86 (OT) Mike Best (UCI), 22
Geno Crandall (UND), 22
R1 Louisiana-Lafayette 96, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 72 Kasey Shepherd (ULL), 28

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.

NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
ROUND TIME (CT) TEAM - TEAM LOCATION NETWORK
WEST R1 11:15am (13) North Carolina-Wilmington (4) Duke Providence RI CBS
MW R1 11:40am (9) Butler (8) Texas Tech Raleigh NC truTV
SOUTH R1 12:30pm (9) Connecticut (8) Colorado Des Moines IA TNT
MW R1 1:00pm (13) Iona (4) Iowa State Denver CO TBS
WEST R1 1:45pm (12) Yale (5) Baylor Providence RI CBS
MW R1 2:20pm (16) Hampton (1) Virginia Raleigh NC truTV
SOUTH R1 3:00pm (16) Austin Peay (1) Kansas Des Moines IA TNT
MW R1 3:30pm (12) Arkansas-Little Rock (5) Purdue Denver CO TBS
SOUTH R1 5:50pm (14) Buffalo (3) Miami (FL) Providence RI TNT
EAST R1 6:10pm (12) Tennessee-Chattanooga (5) Indiana Des Moines IA CBS
EAST R1 6:20pm (16) Florida Gulf Coast (1) North Carolina Raleigh NC TBS
MW R1 6:27pm (14) Fresno State (3) Utah Denver CO truTV
SOUTH R1 8:20pm (11) Wichita State (6) Arizona Providence RI TNT
EAST R1 8:40pm (13) Stony Brook (4) Kentucky Des Moines IA CBS
EAST R1 8:50pm (9) Providence (8) Southern California Raleigh NC TBS
MW R1 8:57pm (11) Gonzaga (6) Seton Hall Denver CO truTV
NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
ROUND TIME (CT) TEAM - TEAM LOCATION NETWORK
VAL SF 6:00pm (4) Florida State (1) Valparaiso Valparaiso IN ESPNN
COLLEGEINSIDER.COM TOURNAMENT
ROUND TIME (CT) TEAM - TEAM LOCATION NETWORK
R2 9:00pm Jackson State at Grand Canyon Phoenix AZ College Insider

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.

WOMEN'S NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
R1 Michigan 81, Wright State 53 Katelynn Flaherty (MICH), 22
R1 Minnesota 87, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 80 Rachel Banham (MINN), 48
R1 South Dakota 74, Creighton 68 Audrey Faber (CRE), 25
R1 Tulane 53, Alabama 52 Kolby Morgan (TUL), 19
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
ROUND RESULT HIGH SCORER
R1 (1) Louisiana-Lafayette 69, (8) Northwestern State 54 Keke Veal (ULL), 26
R1 (2) Youngstown State 67, (7) Stony Brook 60 Sarah Cash (YSU), 17
R1 (7) Weber State 75, (2) New Mexico 67 Deeshyra Thomas (WSU), 20

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.

WOMEN'S NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
ROUND TIME (CT) TEAM - TEAM LOCATION NETWORK
R1 6:00pm IUPU-Indianapolis at Central Michigan Mount Pleasant MI ESPN3
R1 6:00pm Bucknell at Akron Akron OH Sidearm
R1 6:00pm Marshall at Ohio Athens OH Stretch
R1 6:00pm Elon at Virgina Tech Blacksburg VA VTAA
R1 6:00pm Liberty at Villanova Philadelphia PA Villanova
R1 6:00pm Harvard at Hofstra Hempstead NY Stretch
R1 6:00pm Georgetown at Rutgers Piscataway NJ BTN Plus
R1 6:00pm Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth Richmond VA A-10 Digital
R1 6:00pm Mercer at Georgia Tech Atlanta GA none
R1 6:00pm Wake Forest at North Carolina-Charlotte Winston-Salem NC UNCC
R1 7:00pm Texas-Rio Grande Valley at Texas Christian Fort Worth TX GoFrogs
R1 7:00pm Southern at Arkansas State Jonesboro AR A-State
R1 7:00pm Northern Iowa at Nebraska Lincoln NE BTN Plus
R1 7:00pm Ball State at Iowa Iowa City IA BTN Plus
R1 7:00pm Arkansas-Little Rock at Saint Louis Saint Louis MO A-10 Digital
R1 7:00pm Sacred Heart at Drake Des Moines IA (audio only?)
R1 7:00pm Tennessee-Martin at Memphis Memphis TN Memphis
R1 7:00pm Dayton at Western Kentucky Bowling Green KY WKU
R1 7:00pm San Diego at Northwestern Evanston IL BTN Plus
R1 8:00pm Cal-Riverside at Gonzaga Spokane WA WCC
R1 8:00pm Long Beach State at Oregon Eugene OR Pac-12 Live
R1 8:05pm Abilene Christian at Texas-El Paso El Paso TX UTEP
R1 9:00pm Eastern Michigan at Saint Mary's (CA) Moraga CA SMCGaels
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL
ROUND TIME (CT) TEAM - TEAM LOCATION NETWORK
R1 6:00pm (8) South Carolina-Upstate at (1) Northern Kentucky Highland Heights KY ESPN3
R1 6:00pm (6) Fairfield at (3) Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore MD AmEast
R1 6:00pm (5) McNeese State at (4) Stetson DeLand FL ESPN3
R1 7:00pm (6) Grand Canyon at (3) North Dakota Grand Forks ND MIDCO (regional)
(audio only)
R1 7:00pm (5) Southern Illinois at (4) Western Illinois Macomb IL (audio only?)