On Sunday, Georgetown and joined the group of 2010 early season event winners. The Hoyas blew past N.C. State in the second half to claim an 82-67 win in the Charleston Classic final, while Minnesota got by West Virginia in a far closer 74-70 contest. The trophies may soon be forgotten, but the victories won't be, particularly if they help push the Hoyas and Golden Gophers to seasons worthy of high NCAA seeds.
Today, action starts on Maui and in Kansas City and wraps up on St. Thomas, where two teams from outside of the power conferences, Old Dominion and Xavier, will meet for the trophy. More on those games, and the rest of Monday's slate, after the jump.
Paradise Jam Final
Old Dominion vs.Xavier , approx. 8:30 p.m. ET (FSN/Comcast SportsNet): The Monarchs took care of Clemson in what was a pretty ugly, defensive game. The only reason the margin was a single point was a desperation three by Andre Young at the buzzer. Rebounding saved ODU last night, and they'll need to cut down the turnovers (after giving it away 20 times against the Tigers). Another piece of advice for ODU: put someone on Tu Holloway. The Xavier guard put 31 up on Seton Hall last night. The rest of the Musketeers combined for 26. That's a potential trouble spot for a Xavier team battling injury issues.
CBE Classic Semifinals
Duke vs. Marquette, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2): Not surprisingly, this will be the first game away from home for both of these squads (and for their counterparts in game two). The top-ranked Blue Devils are the clear favorites in this one, while the Golden Eagles will look to repeat their stunning 2006 win over Duke in this event. To pull that off, Marquette will need to defend the perimeter, something they've struggled with badly in their first four contests.
Gonzaga vs. Kansas State, approx. 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2): The Bulldogs are the only team in this field to have lost a game so far, dropping a home contest to San Diego State in the game of Marathon Tuesday. They also lost Elias Harris for a bit, after the forward injured his heel--but did NOT tear his Achilles tendon. Reports late last week had Harris out four to five days, and the latest news is that he will indeed play tonight. The Wildcats haven't looked convincing yet this season, following up a decent performance Tuesday against Virginia Tech with a confusing one against transitional team Presbyterian Friday. Like Marquette, K-State has been particularly poor at defending the three, which gives the Bulldogs an opening.
Tournament pick: Duke over a Kansas State team who squeaks out a semifinal win in their own backyard.
Maui Quarterfinals
Connecticut vs. Wichita State, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN2): The Huskies have two wins against America East opponents so far, while the Shockers took out Texas Southern at home. Motivation will be a huge intangible in this one. And on that front, Gregg Marshall's team has the advantage. The Shockers also have the size the create issues for the Huskies inside.
Oklahoma vs. Kentucky, 5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2): If you can't watch Huskies-Shockers live, you may want to DVR it, as the other three quarterfinals have the potential to be stinkers. The Wildcats put on a shooting exhibition at Portland Friday night, looking like they're coming together more quickly as a team than last year's squad. As for the Sooners, three consecutive at times unimpressive home wins over MEAC and SWAC schools don't give much early hope.
Michigan State vs. Chaminade, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU): The only question about this one is the margin. The Spartans are capable of winning this one by 100, but if they lose interest, like they did for a point against South Carolina, it'll be closer to 35.
Virginia vs. Washington, 11:59 p.m. ET (ESPN2): The Cavaliers lost by 21 to a team who's probably not going to contend in the Pac-10. Meanwhile, the Huskies currently rank 1st in the nation in scoring and rebounding, and UVa's in the bottom half of D1 in both statistics. Danger, Tony Bennett, Danger!
Paradise Jam Consolation
7th place: St. Peter's vs. Alabama, 1 p.m. ET (FCS pay streaming): Heading into this event, I never would have imagined the Crimson Tide stood a decent chance at going 0-3. The Peacocks, on the other hand, looked like a clear favorite for the goose egg. Bama's interior presence will allow them to escape St. Thomas with a victory.
5th place: Long Beach State vs. Iowa, 3:30 p.m. ET (FCS pay streaming); The Hawkeyes picked up a nice win against a Crimson Tide team who were likely tired after their Friday track meet against Seton Hall Friday night. Iowa got to the foul line a lot (32 times compared to 9 for the Tide), a strategy that also worked for the 49ers against St. Peter's (41 vs. 12). Not bad for games decided by 8 and 12 points, respectively. This game could be extremely physical.
3rd place: Clemson vs. Seton Hall, 6 p.m. ET (FSN/Comcast SportsNet): While Old Dominion turned it over a bunch, the Tigers 17 giveaways also contributed to their demise, as did going 11 for 18 from the line (It was a one-point game after all.) It would be a good idea of Demontez Stitt got some help after he scored 40% of the Tigers points last night. As for the Pirates, they weren't anywhere near as effective offensively Sunday against Xavier as they were Friday. That's partly down to Jeremy Hazell's injury, but poor overall shooting and getting beaten on the boards didn't help either. If the Hall doesn't improve those stats, they'll head North with a 1-2 mark.
There are only two other nationally televised games on the slate today.
Central Connecticut State at Penn State, 7 p.m. ET (Big Ten Network): This is the final cupcake game for the Nittany Lions before they travel to Mississippi Friday night.
Chattanooga at Louisville, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3): The Cardinals look to move to 2-0 in their round-robin exempt tournament. Funny thing is, the Mocs are as well, after they grabbed a one-point win at Marshall Saturday.
For more broadcast information, visit Matt Sarz's College Sports on TV site. Another good resource is the schedule page at BB State.
Other games of interest tonight to follow online:
- IUPUI vs. Green Bay (CBE Classic "subregional" in Oxford, OH), 4:30 p.m. ET
- San Diego State at Miami (OH), approx. 7 p.m. ET
- Holy Cross at Boston College, 7 p.m. ET
- Princeton at James Madison (CBE Classic "subregional"), 7 p.m. ET
- Cornell at Lehigh, 7 p.m. ET
- Maine at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Detroit at Mississippi State, 8 p.m. ET: The Bulldogs nearly became yet another SEC upset victim Friday at the hands of Appalachian State. Ray McCallum (father and son both) will provide another challenge.
- Lipscomb at Baylor, 8 p.m. ET
- Massachusetts vs. TCU (Hall of Fame Tip-Off), approx. 8 p.m. ET
Please share your thoughts about today and tonight's action in the comments, after you sign up for a free SB Nation account, of course.
Enjoy this post? Follow Blogging the Bracket on Twitter and Like the site on Facebook.