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Over the next 11 days, I’ll continue to focus exclusively on this season’s exempt, mostly bracketed, tournaments in my coverage. For a full lineup of games, check out MattSarzSports.com’s Daily Schedule.
Before I go into each tournament’s schedule individually, I’ve put together a table that lists the matchups chronologically. I’ve also included the KenPom.com FanMatch ranking for each contest—the top two games of the day are both non-exempt, so they don’t make this particular list.
I plan to use a similar chronological schedule during conference tournament season.
Chronological Schedule
| Tip Time (ET) | Event | Round | Matchup | Outlet | KenPom Fan Match Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tip Time (ET) | Event | Round | Matchup | Outlet | KenPom Fan Match Rank |
| 11:30 a.m. | Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach | Quarterfinal | Illinois State vs. South Carolina | ESPN2 | 4 |
| 11:30 a.m. | Gildan Charleston Classic | Quarterfinal | Auburn vs. Indiana State | ESPNU | 15 |
| 2 p.m. (approx.) | Gildan Charleston Classic | Quarterfinal | Old Dominion vs. Temple | ESPN3 | 3 |
| 2 p.m. (approx.) | Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach | Quarterfinal | Boise State vs. UTEP | ESPN2 | 8 |
| 5 p.m. | Gildan Charleston Classic | Quarterfinal | Clemson vs. Ohio | ESPN2 | 12 |
| 5:30 p.m. | Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach | Quarterfinal | Iowa State vs. Appalachian State | ESPNU | 23 |
| 7 p.m. | 2K Classic Benefitting WWP | Semifinal | Virginia Tech vs. Saint Louis | ESPN2 | 14 |
| 7:30 p.m. (approx.) | Gildan Charleston Classic | Quarterfinal | Dayton vs. Hofstra | ESPNU | 5 |
| 8 p.m. (approx.) | Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach | Quarterfinal | Tulsa vs. Western Michigan | ESPNews | 6 |
| 9:30 p.m. (approx.) | 2K Classic Benefitting WWP | Semifinal | Providence vs. Washington | ESPN2 | 10 |
Naturally, the highest-ranked tournament game of the day in FanMatch is the lone ESPN3 exclusive. (fail horn)
Puerto Rico Tip-Off At Myrtle Beach Quarterfinals (Primer)
Illinois State Redbirds (0-1) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (2-0), 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
Boise State Broncos (2-0) vs. UTEP Miners (1-0), approx. 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
Iowa State Cyclones (0-2) vs. Appalachian State Mountaineers (2-0), 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-1) vs. Western Michigan Broncos (1-1), approx. 8 p.m. (ESPNews)
I’m not necessarily going to discuss each team’s pre-tournament results on an event’s opening day, but the relocated Puerto Rico Tip-Off, set for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers’ home building in Conway, S.C., features a group of eight teams that have all had rather interesting opening weeks.
- Illinois State lost its opener at FGCU by 11 on Saturday, thanks in no small part to a massive free throw discrepancy—20 extra made foul shots on 21 extra attempts allowed an Eagle squad that went cold from three (7-23) to overcome the Redbirds 14-29 afternoon behind the arc.
- South Carolina, coming off its first Final Four appearance, ruined the opening of Wofford‘s new arena—Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium—73-52 on Friday, then took down WMU by in a non-bracketed game on Monday, 78-60.
- Boise State and UTEP have three total wins, but only the Broncos’ victory over Southern Utah, currently the 333rd-ranked team in KenPom, came against D1 opposition.
- It’s a similar story for Appalachian State, which followed up a 101-point win over Toccoa Falls on Saturday by beating Bridgewater by a mere 38 on Sunday in the Mountaineers’ non-bracketed game.
- Iowa State would love to taste victory at this point, as the Cyclones followed up a 15-point loss at Missouri on Opening Night with an 18-point loss to Milwaukee on Monday in Ames.
- Tulsa dropped its opener to Southland contender Lamar on Friday afternoon—back in the day, the Golden Hurricane would have been considered the first Red Line Upset victim of the season. (RIP, Mid-Majority.) But the Golden Hurricane throttled cross-town rival Oral Roberts on Monday.
- Like Appalachian State and UTEP, Western Michigan has a victory, but not one over a Division I foe. Before falling in Columbia on Monday, the Broncos defeated Siena Heights on Saturday.
Gildan Charleston Classic Quarterfinals (Primer)
Auburn Tigers (1-0) vs. Indiana State Sycamores (1-0), 11:30 a.m. (ESPNU)
Old Dominion Monarchs (2-0) vs. Temple Owls (0-0), approx. 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
Clemson Tigers (2-0) vs. Ohio Bobcats (1-0), 5 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dayton Flyers (1-0) vs. Hofstra Pride (2-0), approx. 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Every single team in this field heads to TD Arena undefeated. Of course, there’s a major qualifier in the case of the Owls, whose quarterfinal against the Monarchs will be their very late season opener. Not only have all seven teams who have taken the court managed to win a total of 10 games already, each and every one of those victories came against Division I opposition. The most noteworthy is undoubtedly the Sycamores’ 90-69 Opening Night win over Indiana—that could be an important confidence boost to a team that went 0-3 in last season’s AdvoCare Invitational, with each loss coming in heartbreaking fashion.
2K Classic Benefitting Wounded Warrior Project Semifinals (Primer)
Virginia Tech Hokies (2-0) vs. Saint Louis Billikens (2-0), 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Providence Friars (1-1) vs. Washington Huskies (2-0), approx. 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
The teams involved in this evening’s nightcap at Madison Square Garden are just slightly more battle-tested than those in the opener. While the Hokies and Billikens four wins came over three teams ranked outside of KenPom’s top 250 and Division II Rockhurt, the Friars lost at home to Minnesota s in an early Gavitt Game, while Belmont pushed the Huskies in the first of their on-campus games in this event. UW only managed to win Mike Hopkins’s debut on the Husky sidelines by an 86-82 score.
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