College Basketball Championship Week: UNC-Wilmington, Iona, Chattanooga earn bids

Yesterday's Men's Results

Chattanooga held serve, parlaying their regular-season SoCon title into an NCAA bid, while UNC-Wilmington also played their way in last night, winning the Colonial in an overtime thriller and sending regular-season champion Hofstra to the NIT. Valparaiso is also NIT-bound after both top seeds were upset in the Horizon League semifinals; gone are the days when the Horizon regular-season crown was good enough. (Miss you, Butler.)

Also now headed to the NIT: IUPU-Fort Wayne, upended by North Dakota State in the Summit League semifinals. The Bison were led by Carlin Dupree with 22, who also scored the game-winner with just ticks left; Dupree had quit the team in January in a snit over usage patterns, but was allowed to come back a couple of weeks later. Good thing, huh?

There were quite a few upsets in the MAC and MEAC today as they finally got underway, including Coppin State sending North Carolina Central home after a double-overtime tussle. Full results, SB Nation colleague recaps linked in green:

Yesterday's Women's Results

In a shocking and unexpected development, Connecticut and Baylor won the American and Big 12 tournaments. Surely the earth will cease its revolution around the sun in the face of such bizarre and inexplicable events.

When the men beat Monmouth, it meant Iona had won the double; the women dispatched Quinnipiac earlier in the day to secure an autobid themselves.

The Big East semifinals were completely turned upside down. Saint John's knocked off top-seeded DePaul, while Creighton is on a roll after absolutely destroying Seton Hall. In the WCC, Saint Mary's was stunned by San Francisco, while BYU got past Santa Clara thanks to 25 points from Lexi Eaton Rydalch. That gave her 2,490 points for her career; she was already the WCC record-holder for women, but the men's record also just happens to be exactly 2,490 points... held by a guy named Hank Gathers.

Everywhere else, things were mostly to form aside from Howard's upset win over Maryland-Eastern Shore. The skinny:

Today's Men's Schedule

Except for the MEAC, which is still in the first round, very tournament with action tonight is either beginning or ending. The ACC, Big Sky, CUSA, and SWAC get underway, with little in the way of compelling viewing to distract from the finals of the Horizon, Northeast, Summit, and WCC.

It appears that both Gonzaga and Saint Mary's are in no matter what, although it would be a mistake to assume the WCC final is irrelevant. In the NEC, though, Wagner will have to win to avoid being sent down to the NIT. As for the Horizon and Summit, their top seeds are already gone. Still, the battle between North and South Dakota States is worth some attention, as the rivalry between the schools has started to eclipse both schools' rivalries with their in-state flagships. Your schedule:

Today's Women's Schedule

Like the men, four tournaments kick off today: the Big West, C-USA, Mountain West, and SWAC. The MEAC, likewise, continues its two-day first round. The Big East, Summit, and WCC wrap things up. The Big East final is underwhelming and the WCC final should be a walkover. But the Summit pits South Dakota and Nicole Seekamp against South Dakota State and Macy Miller. That'll be a good one.