Friar Basketball

Selection Sunday Countdown

selectionsunday

Selection Sunday is finally upon us, and like last season, there is no doubt that the Providence College Friars will find themselves in the NCAA Tournament. Unlike a year ago, this edition of the Friars will not rely on an automatic bid as a result of winning the Big East Tournament. This year’s team has strung together an impressive resume that undoubtedly deserves an at-large bid. With a 22-11 record, an RPI of 23, the fifth strongest schedule in the country and twelve wins versus the RPI top 100, the Friars are ready to dance.

At 6 PM, the NCAA Tournament Committee will unveil the field of 68 teams, outlining the road ahead for the Friars. Televised on CBS, PC will likely find themselves somewhere in the vicinity of a 6 seed. Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Jerry Palm of CBS and Stewart Mandel of Fox all have the Friars as a 6 seed in their most recent bracket predictions.

At the same time CBS airs the Selection Show, Cox Sports will be televising the Friar Selection Show Watch Party from 6-7 p.m. live on OSN. Taking place in Alumni Hall, Cox will be providing complete coverage from the seeding announcement to the reaction afterwards. The first 1000 fans to arrive, will receive a free t-shirt that features the dynamic duo of both Kris Dunn and LaDontae Henton.

While it seems fairly certain where PC will land seed wise, where they will be playing their first NCAA Tournament game since losing to North Carolina in San Antonio, TX a year prior, is the bigger question. Of the eight locations, for the second and third rounds (First round for play-in games, PC will not need to participate in a play-in game) the most favorable venue for Friar fans would be the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Here are a list of potential arenas/cities that PC could end up playing in:

March 19, 21
Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
KFC Yum! Center (Louisville)
Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)
Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.)

March 20, 22
Time Warner Cable Arena (Charlotte, N.C.)
Nationwide Arena (Columbus, Ohio)
CenturyLink Center (Omaha, Neb.)
KeyArena (Seattle)

As a 5, 6 or 7 seed here are a list of potential schools that PC could expect to play in their first game:

Stephen F. Austin, 26-4
Buffalo, 23-9
Harvard, 20-7
Wofford, 26-6
Texas, 20-13
Ole Miss, 20-12
Temple, 23-10
Colorado St., 26-6
Boise St., 23-8
LSU, 22-10
Davidson, 23-7
Purdue, 21-12
BYU, 23-9
Georgia, 21-11

While it is fun to project where and when PC will play, only hours stand in front of finding out for sure. With three games left to play today, a lot can happen in terms of the above list of potential opponents. UConn, for example, will face SMU this afternoon in the American Tournament Championship game. With a win, the Huskies would snag a highly sought after bid from one of the many “Bubble” teams. Same scenario that was seen on Friday night when Wyoming took down Boise St. in the Mountain West Conference Final.

Where do you think PC will wind up in the field of 68? Share your opinions by casting a vote in the below polls:

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Email Craig – craig.belhumeur@friarbasketball.com
On Twitter – @Craig_Belhumeur

4 Comments

  1. Chris Primini

    March 15, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    I’m ready but we all know we are getting screwed. 7 seed in Arizona’s bracket. They already assigned the Villanova game refs too our region.

  2. Derec Lamendola

    March 15, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    CRIAG LEGHTION DEREC LAMENDOLA WHAT SHRD I DO LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THIS Finele NCAA What SHRD DEREC LAMENDOLA DUS THE Team Need Me TONIGHT NCCAA And WE CRD GO SMTATCH THIS CONNTERY LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ThIS SEASON IS NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT OVER TIHIS ARE TIME And PROVIDENCE COLLLLEGE FRIARS MENS BASKET BALLLL DO NEED DEREC LAMENDOLA

  3. Christopher William Raymond

    March 15, 2015 at 4:29 pm

    I hope it’s on the west coast so I can go to it

  4. David Avedisian

    March 15, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    BEAST OF EAST!

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