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Yesterday, there was one game played across the entire college basketball landscape as the calendar shifted to April – that would be Game 1 of the CBI Championship Series between DePaul and South Florida. USF led most of the way, but a 3-pointer by Eli Cain tied the game up for DePaul with under 10 seconds remaining. David Collins hit the game-winning drive for South Florida with 1.7 seconds remaining as the Bulls take a 1-0 lead in the series with a 63-61 victory. Game 2 will be played on Wednesday at DePaul.
In terms of coaching news, the big story yesterday was that John Calipari was able to parlay an offer from UCLA into a contract extension at Kentucky that is being deemed a “lifetime” contract – he will permanently be serving as an “ambassador” for Kentucky if and when he does retire from coaching.
Another big story yesterday was Rick Byrd’s retirement at Belmont – he finished his career with 805 career victories with the Bruins and had been their only head coach since they transitioned up to Division 1. Belmont also defeated Temple in the NCAA Tournament for the Bruins’ first-ever NCAA Tournament victory back in March.
Elsewhere, Jerry Stackhouse has now emerged as the leading candidate for head coach at Vanderbilt. He hasn’t officially been named their head coach yet, but that is expected to become a formality any day now.
(6) WICHITA STATE VS (5) LIPSCOMB (7:00 PM, ESPN) – Both teams made it to Madison Square Garden without the benefit of a single home game throughout the tournament – the Shockers made it here with wins at Furman, at Clemson and at Indiana (the top 3 seeds in their subregion). Lipscomb won at Davidson, at UNC-Greensboro along with a last-second game-winner at NC State to advance to the semifinals. The Bisons’ Garrison Matthews may well be the best overall player remaining in the NIT.
(2) TEXAS VS (1) TEXAS CHRISTIAN (approx. 9:30 PM, ESPN) – Both Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) and Jamie Dixon (TCU) have won the NIT title as head coach at their current schools; Dixon will be looking for the rare and somewhat dubious distinction of a second title with a pair of wins this week. Texas finally won a breather against Colorado after a pair of tightrope victories against South Dakota State and Xavier.
CIT
HAMPTON AT MARSHALL (7:00 PM, WatchCIT.com) – Hampton advanced to the CIT semifinals for the first time with a decisive win against NJIT last Thursday night; Marshall has had a week to rest after their quarterfinal win against Presbyterian last Tuesday. Marshall is also the only team that had a bye in the 2nd round (as one of the top 3 seeds) to still remain in the tournament.
TEXAS SOUTHERN AT GREEN BAY (9:00 PM, WatchCIT.com) – Texas Southern has not only had to win three games on the road just to advance to the semifinals of the CIT, but they’ve also had to go to overtime in two of those games, including a triple-overtime affair in their last game at Louisiana-Monroe last Thursday. Green Bay has ridden the hot hand of Sandy Cohen III to 3 home victories so far in the postseason, but they will have a tall order if they wish to advance to the CIT Championship game on Thursday night.