After Sunday night’s ASUN Championship win, Lipscomb is going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time! College basketball’s Bracketology wizards will offer predictions about the final tournament bracket throughout the week. This post will be updated daily with the latest news about the Bisons’ seeding and potential opponents.
The official tournament bracket will be revealed on March 11, Selection Sunday, at 5:00 PM on TBS. Lipscomb Athletics is hosting a Selection Show watch party beginning at 4:00 PM Sunday.
The games begin March 13 with the First Four. The First Round begins March 15.
March 6
Yahoo Sports: Bracket Brad’s Big Board has the Bisons penciled in as a 15-seed.
Potential opponent updates:
Arkansas-Pine Bluff plays Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC Tournament Championship at 7:30 tonight for a ticket to the Big Dance.
Duke is off until the ACC Tournament tips off Thursday. The Blue Devils are fighting for a 1-seed. The ACC could send ten or more teams to the NCAAs this year.
Auburn is awaiting its opponent in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers earned the 1-seed and a double-bye in the conference tournament.
March 5
ESPN: Bracketologist Joe Lunardi at ESPN has Lipscomb squaring off in the First Four with the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions for a 16-seed and the right to play the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers.
The Golden Lions (12-20) haven’t won a game outside of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, but their 12-6 record in conference play was good for second place in the regular season.
That matchup would take place March 13 or 14 in Dayton, Ohio at the University of Dayton Arena, less than six hours from Lipscomb. Tickets start at $44. That price will skyrocket once the official bracket is announced Sunday.
The winner of that game, according to Lunardi’s bracket predictions, will take on the top-ranked team in the NCAA, the Virginia Cavaliers (28-2) in Charlotte, N.C., about six and a half hours from Nashville.
Virginia received every first-place vote in the Associated Press ranking poll and holds opponents to just 52.8 points per game, the lowest in the nation.
A 16-seed has never defeated a 1-seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
Fox Sports: Fox’s “Bracketeer” Howie Schwab predicts that the Bisons will draw a 15-seed and face the 2-seed Auburn Tigers (25-6) at Bridgestone Arena here in Nashville.
Eight 15-seeded teams have knocked off 2-seeds in 132 tries, most recently in 2016, when Middle Tennessee State shocked second-seeded Michigan State.
The Tigers are the top seed in the Southeastern Conference and will tip off the SEC Tournament Friday. They’ve already knocked down 304 three-pointers this season, a school record.
Tickets to the March 16 and March 18 tournament games in Nashville start at $70.
CBS Sports: Jerry Palm at CBS Sports thinks Lipscomb will end up with a 15-seed in Charlotte, with a different second-seeded opponent: the Duke Blue Devils (25-6), led by future NBA players Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter and Trevon Duvall.
The Blue Devils fell to 15th-seeded Lehigh in 2012.
Tickets to the First Round in Charlotte start at $50.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics