Under The Radar Postseason News, Notes and NIT Championship – Thursday, March 30

Thanks to Wyoming’s win over Coastal Carolina last night, we are now assured of 3 more under-the-radar games remaining in the 2016-17 college basketball season. The Cowboys went into halftime with a modest 33-27 halftime lead, but they kicked into another gear in the 2nd half and ended up with a blowout 81-57 win at home over the Chanticleers last night. Justin James led Wyoming with 21 points and Alex AkaGorski also added 17 points off the bench. Friday night’s game will be a winner-take-all affair for the CBI Championship on Wyoming’s home floor.

In the CIT last night, Rashawn Thomas became the first 2,000-point scorer in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s program history. The Islanders got a decisive 79-61 victory last night over UMBC. They will play host to the CIT Championship on Friday night against Saint Peter’s – the Peacocks also had a comfortable 77-51 victory at home last night against Furman.

As we type this article this morning, Dayton has announced that Anthony Grant will return home as their next head coach. He played for the Flyers under legendary head coach Don Donoher in the mid-80s and was part of a team that went to the Elite 8 in 1984. He spent 3 years as a head coach at VCU and 6 seasons at Alabama in the collegiate coaching ranks. Right now, he is an assistant coach on Billy Donovan’s staff for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic 10, former Chattanooga head coach Matt McCall will officially become the new head coach at UMass. The job was originally going to go to Pat Kelsey, but he did a 180 just prior to being announced as their new head coach at the time. Former Purdue associate head coach Jack Owens will become the new head coach for the (Mother) Miami RedHawks as well.

NIT (Championship)

(6) GEORGIA TECH vs. (4) TCU (8:00 PM, ESPN). Regardless of who wins tonight’s game, we are assured of at least one feel-good story in the coaching ranks in terms of rapidly rebuilding a moribund program. Will it be Josh Pastner’s Georgia Tech team – a team picked by some pundits to not win a single game in ACC play all year? Or will it be Jamie Dixon and TCU – a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since the run-and-gun days of Billy Tubbs in the late 1990s?