For those of you desperately looking for your college basketball fix, there is not much left for you. But the Lunatic will do his best to help you.
Obviously, the Lunatic will eventually get to previewing the games on Saturday in Houston. But there are three other tournaments if you need extra games to watch.
Starting tonight, is the semifinals of the men’s NIT in Las Vegas. At 7 pm, we have Wisconsin against North Texas and 9:30 pm, we have UAB against Utah Valley. Special props need to go to Conference USA. Not only did FAU get to the Final Four, but Charlotte won the CBI championship last week and both UAB and North Texas are still playing in the NIT. This conference probably deserved more bids in the dance – but they have shown how good they are in March. They will also have the stage to themselves on Thursday for the NIT championship.
Tomorrow night, the women’s NIT takes the stage. At 6 pm, Bowling Green will host Columbia, and at 7:30 pm, Kansas will host Washington. A little disappointing that you have to go to ESPN3 or the Big 12 network to find these games – you probably will have to stream them on ESPN+ to see them. I totally understand putting at home courts to get more fans, but couldn’t they move the Kansas game to 8:30 so that fans could watch both games – ridiculous. Also super disappointed in the placement of the final – it is Saturday at 5:30 pm on CBS Sports Network. For good reason, there are a lot of complaints against the NCAA for how they unequally market the men’s and women’s game. Whatever idiot thought it was a good idea to showcase that championship game at the same time that San Diego State and Florida Atlantic are playing in the Final Four should probably not be making any more decisions for the women’s game.
Of course, you shouldn’t miss the women’s NCAA Final Four!!!! On Friday night in Dallas, Texas, ESPN will show two great games! At 7 pm, local favorite and 1 seed Virginia Tech (31-4) will be playing 3 seed LSU (32-2). And at 9 pm (suspect closer to 9:30 pm since it will be 30 minutes after the first game), 1 seed South Carolina (36-0) continue their search not only to defend their championship from last year but do it with an undefeated season, as they will play 2 seed Iowa (30-6). There are great stories for all 4 teams – I probably owe them a separate blog post. If you want to watch some basketball, you should stay glued to your TV on Friday night and return to ABC on Sunday at 3:30 pm for the championship! Go Hokies!!!!