Under The Radar Postseason News, Notes and Highlighted Games – Monday, March 21

Had Florida been able to play like they did on the road for the past two games, they would have had a better chance at making the NCAA Tournament. Their extended road trip in the NIT will extend itself for one more game thanks to their 74-66 wire-to-wire win at Ohio State yesterday. Dorian Finney-Smith led the Gators with 16 points and 12 rebounds; they will play the winner of tonight’s Monmouth-GW game.

We are assured of at least one Under-The-Radar team advancing to Madison Square Garden; St. Mary’s defeated Georgia 77-65 thanks to Emmett Naar’s 15 point/11 assist output and Dane Pineau’s 12 point/11 rebound outing. The Gaels will travel to Valparaiso for a 7 PM game tomorrow night in a postseason revival of the BracketBusters.

For the second game in a row, 40 minutes was not enough to determine Ball State’s fate. Despite trailing by 11 points in the final 2 minutes of regulation, the Cardinals were able to close out regulation with an 11-0 run to force overtime. 5 players ended up in double figures for Ball State; they will hit the road to play Columbia at 7 PM on Wednesday night in the CIT quarterfinals.

NIT

(4) GEORGE WASHINGTON AT (1) MONMOUTH (7:00 PM, ESPN) – While the Colonials had a tougher road to advance to the 2nd round of the NIT after surviving at home against Hofstra, Monmouth had an easier win at home against Bucknell. GW’s last trip to the Garden State involved a game against Rutgers, but this is a big step up in terms of competition, relatively speaking.

(4) GEORGIA TECH AT (1) SOUTH CAROLINA (9:00 PM, ESPN) – Both Georgia Tech and South Carolina had easy victories last week, but the game was much more tenuous for the Gamecocks with 5 players suspended for that game due to team rules violations. The good news here is that Michael Carrera should again be good to go for Angry Frank’s bunch.

(3) SAN DIEGO STATE at (2) WASHINGTON (11:30 PM, ESPN2) – It’s safe to say that Washington is not going to match the 107 points they scored in their win against Long Beach State in the first round, but the Huskies have shown the ability to knock off a couple of the league’s bigwigs at home this season. The Aztecs had an easy win at home against Fort Wayne last week.

CIT (click on the link for a live stream)

BOSTON UNIVERSITY AT NJIT (7:30 PM) – The original Team of the People rebounded from a devastating home loss to Stetson with a win over Army-West Point; Boston U defeated Fordham on the road to set up this matchup at NJIT’s Fleischer Center. This will be the last of the 2nd-round games in the CIT before the quarterfinal matchups will be announced.

CBI (click on the link for all live streams)

DUQUESNE AT MOREHEAD STATE (7:00 PM) – Duquesne broke all sorts of scoring records last week in their 120-112 win at home against Nebraska-Omaha; tonight they hit the road to visit Morehead State. The Eagles pulled off a tough win at Siena, winning 84-80.

UNC-GREENSBORO AT OHIO (7:00 PM) – Despite overtime, Ohio was able to advance to the quarterfinals of the CBI with a 94-90 win against Albany last week. Greensboro beat Houston Baptist for just their 12th win of the season (they are 12-18 overall), but are unlikely to get lucky #13 at Harvard-On-The-Hocking tonight.

EASTERN WASHINGTON AT NEVADA (10:00 PM) – With Fresno State bowing out of the NCAA Tournament early, it’s up to both San Diego State (mentioned above) and Nevada to carry the torch for the Mountain West conference in the postseason. The Wolf Pack beat Montana 79-75; they will face an EWU team that defeated Pepperdine 79-72.

VERMONT AT SEATTLE (10:00 PM) – Vermont’s reward for defeating Western Carolina in the 1st round will be a cross-country flight to Seattle; the Redhawks advanced to the CIT quarters by defeating Idaho 68-63.