Drake, UNI Need Championship Week For A Dose Of March Madness

The March Madness Selection Show is still more than two weeks away but don’t kid yourself. The 331-team postseason quest for automatic bids begins Monday.

That’s when some combination of Sacred Heart, Central Connecticut, St. Francis U. and Fairleigh Dickinson will lose an 8-9 opening-round game in the Northeast Conference Tournament.

What does that mean? Since the NEC is a one-bid league, the 331-team field will be reduced to 330 before the calendar even flips to March.

Madness!

Will Drake or Northern Iowa get an NCAA bid?

The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament — Arch Madness — begins Thursday night in St. Louis. A doubleheader featuring the bottom four teams in the standings trims the MVC field from 10 to Friday’s eight quarterfinalists.

• The semifinals are 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, March 5 on CBS Sports Network.
• CBS has the 1 p.m. championship game on Sunday, March 6.

Northern Iowa is tied for first going into its MVC regular-season finale. Drake is tied for third and just a game back of first place. So, both Iowa-based teams are safely into Friday’s Arch Madness quarterfinals no matter how their regular seasons end this weekend.

UNI hosts Loyola-Chicago this Saturday in a game that will break a first-place tie between the teams. The regular-season MVC champion gets an automatic NIT bid (if they don’t get the NCAA Tournament auto-bid), so a win has added value for the Panthers.

Since UNI and Loyola play each other, the best Drake can do is a tie for second place and the No. 2 seed in the MVC Tournament. The Bulldogs host Southern Illinois in another regular-season finale Saturday.

What if a Championship Week loss causes Drake or UNI to miss the NIT?

The Bulldogs and Panthers may not have to clean out their lockers if they miss March Madness or the NIT. Both programs would be attractive candidates for the next two postseason tournaments in the pecking order.

A word of caution: Budget and enthusiasm deficits can prompt some teams to turn away a less-glamorous bid.

College Basketball Invitational (CBI)

The CBI debuted in 2008 and will mark its 14th edition in 2022. For much of its history, the tournament unfolded at campus sites and ended with a distinct best-of-three series to decide its champion.

Pandemic health and safety concerns canceled the CBI in 2000. Organizers opted for a safer, single-location tournament in 2021.

As it turns out, tournament organizers like what they saw. The fully-bracketed 16-team tournament returns to the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL, for all games March 19-23.

The Basketball Classic

The collegeinsider.com Tournament (CIT) is no more. The tournament debuted in 2009 and didn’t return after the sports shutdown of 2020.

The just-announced Basketball Classic will step into its place. Organizers behind the CIT will operate The Basketball Classic as well. Erasism presents the 32-team, on-campus tournament as part of an ongoing dialogue about racial equality.

Teams snubbed by the NIT will have a quick turnaround for the Classic. Some tournament games begin Monday, March 14. Semifinals are March 29 and the championship game is Thursday, March 31.

Will Iowa and Iowa State need Championship Week to make March Madness?

The Big Ten and Big 12 tournaments take place a full week after Arch Madness, but — knock on wood — the Hawkeyes and Cyclones might have their March Madness homework done by then.

• ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi gave Iowa a No. 6 seed going into Friday night’s game at Nebraska. Iowa State has a No. 7 seed going into Saturday afternoon’s game at Kansas State.
• Jerry Palm at CBS also gives Iowa State a No. 7 seed. He likes the Hawkeyes’ resume less, with a No. 10 seed.

The Ohio Valley Conference champion punches the first of 32 March Madness tickets at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 5 on ESPN2.

Here’s a look at the Championship Week schedule. It actually plays out over the two weeks leading up to Selection Sunday.