First Four winners Presbyterian, Vanderbilt, Arizona and Holy Cross will round out the field of 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Now, things begin to get mad!
Sixteen games are on schedule for Friday, Mar. 22, beginning with No. 9-seed Michigan State vs. No. 8-North Carolina at 11:30 a.m. ET (ESPN2). No. 1 overall-seed South Carolina begins their expected march toward Cleveland at 2 p.m. ET (ESPN), taking on fellow South Carolinians in No. 16-seed Presbyterian. No. 3-seed LSU’s national title defense starts with a matchup against No. 14-seed Rice at 4 p.m. ET (ESPN).
Amongst all the action, here are three things to keep a closer eye on:
Will the Thundering Herd run over the Hokies?
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Virginia Tech grad center Elizabeth Kitley will miss the NCAA Tournament with a torn ACL. Kitley shared the news on Instagram.
As Eric Nemchock emphasized when highlighting four key tournament storylines, Kitley gave Virginia Tech their offensive identity. During the ACC Tournament, the Hokies were adrift without her. The question now is not whether Virginia Tech can return to the Final Four, but if they can win their first-round matchup against a sneaky-tough No. 13 seed in Marshall, the Sun Belt regular season and tournament champs who are on 10-game…
