Tourney Central 3/4/2008 (Day 1)

On Tap Tonight

Big South

UNC Asheville, led by BSC Coach of the Year Eddie Biedenbach, comes into the event with its first top seed in 10 years. But throw out that chalk, folks. The first round BSC tournament has traditionally been a low-seed uprising; for six straight seasons, a seed with a No. 6 seed or lower has advanced to the semifinals. And consider that the No. 6 seed, Coastal Carolina, swept No. 3 High Point during the regular season. Our 4-5 game tonight features a replay of last year's 3-6; hyper-speed VMI slowed down to surprise the Flames last year.

[8] Charleston Southern 10-19 (4-10) at [1] North Carolina-Asheville 21-8 (10-4) | Preview
Recent: 02/23/2008 CHSO 73 @UNCA 85 01/26/2008 UNCA 86 @CHSO 73

[6] Coastal Carolina 13-14 (6-8) at [3] High Point 16-13 (8-6) | Preview
Recent: 02/18/2008 HP 55 @CCU 56 01/19/2008 CCU 66 @HP 61

[7] Radford 10-19 (5-9) at [2] Winthrop 19-11 (10-4) | Preview
Recent: 02/16/2008 RAD 59 @WINT 74 01/19/2008 WINT 77 @RAD 59

[5] Virginia Military Institute 14-14 (6-8) at [4] Liberty 15-15 (7-7) | Preview
Recent: 02/26/2008 VMI 81 @LIB 79 01/28/2008 LIB 87 @VMI 81

Horizon League

The winners of two of tonight's games will meet in Indianapolis on Friday to see which will end up as Butler's initial opponent on Saturday, and none of the four teams in the mini-bracket found a way to overcome the Bulldogs. If Valpo can beat UWM for its fifth straight win, that'll set up a rematch of last weekend's nationally televised Crusader shocker over Wright State.

[10] Detroit 7-22 (3-15) at [3] Wright State 20-9 (12-6) | Preview
Recent: 02/20/2008 UDM 58 @WRIG 59 01/26/2008 WRIG 66 @UDM 57

[8] Loyola (Ill.) 11-18 (6-12) at [5] Wisconsin-Milwaukee 14-15 (9-9) | Preview
Recent: 02/28/2008 LOYO 53 @UWM 68 12/08/2007 UWM 68 @LOYO 73

[7] Wisconsin-Green Bay 15-14 (9-9) at [6] Valparaiso 19-12 (9-9) | Preview
Recent: 02/07/2008 VALPO 71 @UWGB 76 01/12/2008 UWGB 73 @VALPO 82

[9] Youngstown State 9-20 (5-13) at [4] Illinois-Chicago 16-14 (9-9) | Preview
Recent: 02/02/2008 YSU 72 @UIC 86 01/03/2008 UIC 68 @YSU 80

Ohio Valley

Here in the first round, we already have a rematch of last season's title game in the 1-8 matchup. Seeds Nos. 5 through 8 were stuck in a 10-10 tie and untangled with tiebreakers. Morehead and UTM had eight and five league wins, respectively, last season. This is also an 11-team league, so Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State and Southeast Missouri were left at home, their seasons finished. SEMO (12-19, 7-13) lost eight straight to fall out of the final eight; they were in first place at 6-0 back on Jan. 5.

[8] Eastern Kentucky 14-15 (10-10) at [1] Austin Peay 21-10 (16-4) | Preview
Recent: 02/28/2008 APSU 65 @EKU 59 12/22/2007 EKU 67 @APSU 75

[5] Samford 14-15 (10-10) at [4] Tennessee-Martin 16-15 (11-9) | Preview
Recent: 01/24/2008 TENNM 61 @SAMF 43 01/05/2008 SAMF 49 @TENNM 63

[6] Tennessee State 13-16 (10-10) at [3] Morehead State 15-14 (12-8) | Preview
Recent: 02/28/2008 TSU 76 @MORE 84 01/03/2008 MORE 53 @TSU 59

[7] Tennessee Tech 13-18 (10-10) at [2] Murray State 17-12 (13-7) | Preview
Recent: 02/28/2008 MURR 66 @TTECH 71 01/24/2008 TTECH 67 @MURR 81