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Hey wouldn't you know it? Robert Morris did it again!
The Colonials went to St. John's and took out the Red Storm to score their second 8-1 upset in a row in the NIT. Can we just have them do this every year? It will be like the reverse of the selection show. "Which No. 1 seed doesn't want to be matched with Robert Morris?"
You could cut to the coach of the team looking really downtrodden and the players weeping. "Why us? It was bad enough not to make the NCAA Tournament, but now this?"
Here is your complete schedule for Wednesday night's NIT games:
ESPNU
No. 7 Vermont at No. 2 Georgia, 8 p.m. - We helped Dawg Sports preview the game
No. 5 LSU at No. 4 San Francisco, 10 p.m.
ESPN 2
No. 2 Illinois at No. 7 Boston University, 7 p.m.
No. 8 UC-Irvine at No. 1 SMU, 9 p.m.
ESPN3
No. 6 Iona at No. 3 Louisiana Tech, 7:30 p.m. - Preview
No. 6 Toledo at No. 3 Southern Miss, 8:30 p.m.
No. 7 Utah Valley at No. 2 Cal, 10:30 p.m. - Preview
What to Watch For:
I think the most interesting matchup here is between Iona and Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs were starting to gain some momentum as a darling in the media after they lost in the CUSA tournament finals, but I am not sure they had enough time to really earn that mantle fully. They may not have been as shocked when their name wasn't called on Sunday as they might have been had this picked up some more steam over the course of 24 hours. This is a dangerous team that finished in a four-way tie atop the league, and won all the crazy tiebreakers.
Iona is one of those teams that no one wants to be matched with. They are really good shooters and don't make a lot of mistakes for you to take advantage of. You have to be on your game against them at all times.
The other thing to watch here is what effect playing on the road has on Illinois. Going into Boston University is not an easy task. We also know that the Terrier guards are superb at what they do and could use a partisan crowd to power them to an upset here. Illini coach John Groce knows a thing or two about recruiting really good guards. He should have his team ready, but you once Agganis Arena starts rocking, this could be very interesting.