Tuesday Night First Four Games - An Off Tackle Republic Open Thread

It's time to dance!

16 Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers (America East auto bid, 24-8) v. 16 Howard Bison (MEAC auto bid, 23-10)

6:40 ET, truTV

BoilerUp89: I'm mildly intrigued by this game.

I'm not entirely sure UMBC deserved to be a 16 seed let alone in the play-in game, but they did have the nation's weakest schedule (yes, worst than Miami's). The offensive numbers are more than respectable - low turnovers, good shooting, but the Retrievers don't attempt any offensive rebounds and struggle to get to the free throw line. The defense in turn is actually really good at keeping opponents away from the charity stripe and limiting second chance points, but despite solid opposing shooting numbers UMBC doesn't cause turnovers and that results in a middling defensive profile.

Howard makes their third tournament appearance in four seasons. Kenny Blakeney is the best coach in the MEAC right now. The Bison haven't yet won a Tournament game under Blakeney yet so they will be looking to change that here. The defense is solid, the offense atrocious outside of the rebounding perspective.

Honestly, I'm hoping for a close and entertaining game as I write up previews for the main event.

HoustonBoiler: I'm looking for the winner of this game to declare that they WANT Michigan. Of course, wanting and actually beating are two very different things.

11 Texas Longhorns (SEC at-large, 18-14) v. 11 North Carolina State Wolfpack (ACC at-large, 20-13)

9:15 ET, truTV

BoilerUp89: Nephew #2 wanted to go to a First Four session this year. Originally he wanted to go see Miami. When I told him I wasn't paying $100/ticket to see Miami get waxed, he set his sights on the Tuesday night game and a chance to boo Sean Miller. While that's an admirable goal, it's not like Will Wade is much better. This is a battle of two slimy head coaches running programs that think they should be much better than they are.

We aren't going because I already watched this game this season back in November when these two teams played in Maui. It was a shitty game then and I can't imagine it will be much better now. Texas won 102-97 and despite the high scoring game what I remember the most was just how unappealing the style of basketball being played was. The two teams shot 47% and 50% from three but combined for 61 free throw attempts. No defense was attempted.

Texas has former Boilermaker Cam Heide. NC State has former Spartan Tre Holloman.

HoustonBoiler: A solid meh!