For last night’s Hoops HD Report previewing the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE
For Jon Teitel’s interview with Abilene Christian head coach Joe Golding – CLICK HERE
For today’s News, Notes and Highlighted Games outside the NCAA Tournament – CLICK HERE
Tonight, the NCAA Tournament kicks off in earnest with a pair of games being played in Dayton – the winner of the first opening round game between Prairie View and Fairleigh Dickinson will get a cross-country plane ticket to Salt Lake City to take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday. The feature game will involve Belmont and Temple – the winner advances to Jacksonville in the East Region to play Maryland.
FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON VS. PRAIRIE VIEW A&M (6:40 PM, TruTV). Prairie View accomplished the SWAC double with a regular season championship and the SWAC Tournament championship with a win against Texas Southern in the final game. Their reward is a game against the Knights of FDU – they earned their ticket to Dayton with a win against St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania.
BELMONT VS. TEMPLE (9:10 PM, TruTV). One of the pleasant surprises of Selection Sunday was the announcement of Belmont’s inclusion into the field. The only reason they ended up in Dayton was because three different teams (Saint Mary’s, Oregon and Saint Louis) all stole bids in their conference championship games. They will face a Temple team that had an early exit in the American tournament against SMU. The biggest question mark for this game will be the status of star Belmont freshman Nick Muszynski; he missed the OVC Championship game against Murray State due to injury.