Last year’s NCAA tournament was played in a “bubble” at sites throughout Indiana to minimize travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so there were no First Four games in Dayton as it normally happens. There was no tournament in 2020.
The Raiders punched their March Madness ticket by winning the Horizon League title against Northern Kentucky, but now they are seeking their first NCAA tournament win in their fourth try. They last made an appearance in 2018 but lost to Tennessee in the first round.
Bryant, which made the transition to Division I in 2010-11, is making its first ever NCAA tournament appearance. The Bulldogs won the NEC regular-season and tournament titles to earn their first berth into the big dance, and Peter Kiss leads the nation with 25.1 points per game.
CBS Sports analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis said on the CBS Selection Show broadcast that the matchup between Wyoming and Indiana could be the most intriguing game at the First Four, but the winner would face the East’s No. 5-seeded St. Mary’s (25-7) team “that’s pretty solid,” according to Kellogg, in Portland, Oregon on Thursday.
Wyoming (25-8) earned its highest win total since 1952 this season and faces an Indiana (20-13) team that made tremendous progress in Mike Woodson’s first season as coach after he replaced former Dayton coach Archie Miller. The Hoosiers lost to Iowa State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday and earned one of the last two spots into the NCAA Tournament field alongside Wyoming.
Rutgers (18-13) and Notre Dame (22-10) were the other two teams on the bubble that were among the last four at-large bids into the tournament. The winner of their matchup advances as the No. 11 seed in the West and will face No. 6-seeded Alabama in San Diego on Friday in the West region bracket.
The Scarlet Knights lost to Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals, but they had a stretch of four straight wins over Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Illinois and split games with a strong Purdue team. Notre Dame lost its first-round game in the ACC tournament against Virginia Tech, but earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 2017.
The other Tuesday game, likely preceding the Wyoming-Indiana matchup, pits two Texas teams against one another. Texas Southern (18-12) is making its 10th tournament appearance after winning the SWAC tournament title against Alcorn State. Texas A&M Corpus Christi defeated Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland tournament final to punch their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2006-07.
The winner of that game earns the No. 16 seed in the Midwest and advances to face top-seeded Kansas (28-6).
FIRST FOUR
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Texas Southern vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 6:40 p.m. truTV
Indiana vs. Wyoming, 9:10 p.m., truTV
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Wright State vs. Bryant, 6:40 p.m., truTV
Notre Dame vs. Rutgers, 9:10 p.m., truTV
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