There were more early contests in the NCAA and NIT men’s basketball tournaments last night… and now both pictures are a bit more clear. Are your brackets still holding up?
In the Big Dance, the NCAA, one of the “First 4” games played at Dayton, Ohio saw Grambling knock off Montana State 88-81 in overtime Wednesday, to become the 16th seed in the Midwest region, and sending the Tigers up against Number 1 Purdue tomorrow.
The National Invitation Tournament, the NIT, is actually the older event than the NCAA, but it’s underway at the same time, with more of our local teams participating. Its biggest contest Wednesday saw the top-seeded Indiana State Sycamores come from behind to beat Southern Methodist 101-92. That result means the Fighting Trees take on Minnesota’s Golden Gophers next, after Minnesota slipped past Butler’s Bulldogs by a single point in Indy Tuesday.
Just below Indiana State on the NIT bracket, UC’s Bearcats needed overtime last night to edge the Dons of San Francisco, 73-72. That pits Cincinnati against Bradley from Peoria, Illinois this coming weekend. The Braves ended Loyola of Chicago’s season by 12 points Wednesday.
And across the NIT bracket, Ohio State got past the Ivy League’s Cornell Big Red by 5 points, 88-83. The Buckeyes will next face Virginia Tech’s Hokies, who eliminated the Richmond Spiders.
N-C-Double-A women’s tournament play has Ohio State taking on Maine Friday in Columbus, and Indiana’s Hoosier women going up against Fairfield of Connecticut Saturday at Assembly Hall. And hey, sorry to forget you Ball State Cardinals fans… The Cards play the Belmont Bruins from Nashville today, in the ladies’ edition of the NIT, now known as the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament. The Cards’ record going into their WBIT game is 28 & 5, Belmont’s 25 & 8, and they’ll tip at 4:00 this afternoon, on ESPN.
These spring training warmups to the baseball season haven’t gone as well as the Reds would probably like. Cincinnati lost again, for a 6th straight time Wednesday, 8-1 to the Rangers in split squad action. The other half of the Reds actually got by the White Sox, 3-1. Tonight, Cincy will go to really late-night play, against the Mariners. A week before the regular season starts, our pregame network coverage will come to you starting at 9:25 tonight, only on the Sports Voice, 103.9 FM, WRBI.