College Basketball Viewing Guide For Tuesday, 11/19/2013

As anticipated yesterday, Duke and Arizona should be in good shape to reach New York, but qualifying for next week may be a stiff challenge for Alabama and Rutgers.

Thanks to the exempt tournament rule, Tuesday's slate also features the first of two possible meetings between the same pair of Final Four contenders in the span of a week and a half.

All TV info is courtesy Matt's College Sports on TV site. He has many more games listed, and you'll also want to check out his listings for information on which ACC and SEC regional contests and CSN and FSN games (all games listed here marked with a *) are available on which affiliates.

All times are Eastern.

NIT Season Tip-Off Regional Finals

East

East Carolina Pirates (4-0) at Duke Blue Devils (3-1), 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Norfolk State Spartans (2-2) vs. UNC Asheville Bulldogs (1-3), approx. 8:30 p.m. (no TV)
Duke blew by UNC Asheville to reach tonight's regional final, while Paris Roberts-Campbell (and a missed NSU jumper by Pendarvis Williams with a single second left) pushed ECU past the defending MEAC regular season champs.

South

McNeese State Cowboys (1-3) vs. Stillman Tigers (1-3), 5:30 p.m. ET (no TV)
Georgia State Panthers (2-1) at Alabama Crimson Tide (2-1), approx. 8 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
The Tide rolled past the SIAC's standard bearers in this event, but they'll need to be prepared to defend the perimeter tonight to avoid hosting a consolation round at Coleman Coliseum. Four Georgia State guards hit double figures last night, including Kentucky transfer Ryan Harrow and R.J. Hunter (as expected), as the Panthers shot nearly 56% from the field and hit nearly 53% of their three-point attempts.

North

Elon Phoenix (2-2) vs. Canisius Golden Griffins (1-2), 5 p.m. ET (no TV)
Drexel Dragons (2-1) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-1), approx. 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
The Scarlet Knights trailed Canisius at the half, but put things together in the second to earn a finals place opposite the Dragons. Drexel, who held off future conference mate Elon last night, is aiming to become the third CAA team in four seasons to book a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Manhattan.

West

Metro State Roadrunners (2-1) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (1-3), 8 p.m. ET (no TV)
Rhode Island Rams (3-1) at Arizona Wildcats (4-0), 11 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Let's see. Last night, the Rams struggled mightily with Division 2's top team, while the Wildcats doubled up FDU. Tonight, I figure Arizona makes it to the Big Apple while Metro State grabs a win against a (very poor) D1 team.

Early Evening Window

Vanderbilt Commodores (2-0) vs. Butler Bulldogs (2-0), 6 p.m. (FS1)
In their first two games, these squads each have handled teams that don't figure to play much of a role in their respective conference races and struggled to defeat teams that will. Vandy may have a bit too much offense for the Bulldogs, who haven't really missed the injured Roosevelt Jones yet. They might tonight.

La Salle Explorers (2-1) at Penn State Nittany Lions (2-1), 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
This one could be a struggle for the Nittany Lions, unless they take control of the boards from an Explorer team that hasn't shot all that well in its first three (not likely). La Salle might be the second 2013 NCAA team to win at the Bryce Jordan Center this season. Bucknell won in State College on November 13th.

Memphis Tigers (1-0) at Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-0) (Old Spice Classic), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
This is one of the two designated campus site games for the Old Spice Classic, which means the Tigers and Cowboys each will play four games -- the maximum allowed under the exempt tournament rule -- as part of the event. Just think, you might see these two play again in fabulous Lake Buena Vista on December 1st (and I plan on being there). Tonight's matchup is a major step up in competition for Memphis and Oklahoma State who thus far have managed to defeat a group of teams -- Austin Peay, VSU, Utah Valley, and UAPB-- that isn't exactly Murderers' Row.

Late Evening Window

Bucknell Bison (2-1) at St. John's Red Storm (1-1), 8:30 p.m. (FS1)
It's time for Fun with the Transitive Property, a meaningless, but none the less interesting exercise that relates to this game! The Bison won at Penn State, who happened to defeat Wagner by eight at home. The young, talented Red Storm just defeated the Seahawks by 16 on Friday, a week after falling to Wisconsin in Sioux Falls.

In short, I expect this one to be close and worth a watch, combination of common results aside.

Arizona State Sun Devils (3-0) at UNLV Runnin' Rebels (2-1), 10 p.m. (CBS SN)
The Runnin' Rebels haven't looked all that great this November. UC Santa Barbara won at the Thomas & Mack for the second time in three seasons a week ago, and they didn't need a pair of OTs to get the win this time. Making matters worse, UNLV struggled to beat transitional school Omaha on Friday. Omaha! The Sun Devils, on the other hand, have wiped out three overmatched opponents. Their smallest margin of victory is 28, which came against Idaho State on Friday night. ASU was hoping this road trip would result in a quality win, but UNLV will have to step up as the season progresses to make that a possibility.

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