Selection Sunday is fast approaching, when the top men’s and women’s basketball teams in the country will be invited to the annual NCAA Tournament, better known as March Madness.
Will Rhode Island’s Division I teams be among those going dancing? Here’s a quick breakdown of where teams from the Ocean State stand ahead of the 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Selection Shows on March 15. The men’s 68-team bracket reveal starts at 6 p.m. and will air on CBS. Then the women’s bracket will be revealed beginning at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Where do RI’s women’s basketball teams stand?
One team will be dancing for sure, and another is still to be determined.
The University of Rhode Island women’s basketball team entered the Atlantic 10 Tournament as the top seed after ending the regular season as a co-champion of the conference. The Rams took care of business in Henrico, Virginia, beating Loyola Chicago on March 6, Davidson on March 7, and then topping No. 2 seed George Mason 53-51 in the title game on March 8 to claim the conference tournament crown and punch their ticket to March Madness. URI will learn its first-round opponent on Sunday night.
According to the NCAA, the first-round games in the NCAA Women’s Tournament will begin March 20 (after the First Four games are played on Wednesday, March 18, and Thursday, March 19). The top 16 seeds will host the first and second rounds of tournament games, as well as the First Four. The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will take place in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California, with the Final Four and National Championship Game in Phoenix on April 5.
The only other women’s team from Rhode Island that’s still in the mix is Brown University. The Bears tip off in the Ivy Madness opener this afternoon – Friday, March 13 – at 4:30 p.m. against the tournament’s top seed, Princeton. If Brown can upset the Tigers at Cornell University, the site of this year’s Ivy Madness, the Bears would advance to Saturday’s championship against either Harvard or Columbia, with the winner getting an NCAA berth.
Both Providence and Bryant women’s teams were eliminated early in their conference tournament runs – the Friars falling to Villanova on March 7 after beating DePaul in the tournament opener; and the Bulldogs losing to Binghamton on March 5.
Where do RI’s men’s basketball teams stand?
No Division I men’s basketball team from Rhode Island will be part of this year’s big dance. They only path Providence, Rhode Island, Bryant or Brown had was to win their respective conference tournaments. Providence and URI’s postseason run ended on Thursday, March 12, with losses to St. John’s (Big East) and Duquesne (Atlantic 10), respectively. On March 13, Providence fired its head men’s basketball coach, Kim English, after three seasons.
The Bryant Bulldogs lost their America East Tournament opener to Vermont (77-57) on March 7, and Brown failed to qualify for Ivy Madness – the Ivy League’s version of a conference tournament, which only permits the top four teams to compete for the automatic bid to the NCAAs.
There are 31 automatic-bid teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which are secured by the winners of each of the Division I conference tournaments. The remaining 37 spots in the 68-team field are at-large teams selected by the NCAA Selection Committee, but no Rhode Island men’s team finished with a strong enough record to be considered for an at-large bid.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Which RI teams will be part of March Madness? Here’s what to know