The three early season losses dont look as bad now

Troy finished third in the 14-team Sun Belt but were upset by Texas State in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals.  Troy was the only top four team to lose in the Sun Belt Quarterfinals.

Appy State went 27-6 and won the Sun Belt, going 16-2 in the Sun Belt, only losing to Texas State in San Marcos and Troy in Troy.  Appy State was nipped by two points by Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Semifinal.  Appy State plays Wake in Winston-Salem on Wednesday.

Nebraska went 9-40 in Big Ten play and 24-67 overall from 2019-2022, but Nebraska took a big step forward with a 9-11 and 16-16 overall finish in 2022-23.  Nebraska fans were rewarded for their patience with Nebraska's best basketball season since the 1990-91 Cornhuskers went 26-8.  Nebraska finished third in the Big Ten, losing to Illinois in the Big Ten Semifinals.  Nebraska was awarded with the #8 seed in the South, playing against Texas A&M in Memphis on Friday.  The winner plays the Houston-Longwood winner in the Second Round on Sunday.

Baylor finished third in the Big 12 and lost to eventual Big 12 Champion Iowa State in the Semifinals.  Baylor was given the #3 seed in the West and will play Colgate in Memphis on Friday.  The winner will paly the winner of Clemson and New Mexico on Sunday.

Pitt finished fourth in the ACC and lost to North Carolina in the Semifinals.  Pitt was snubbed in favor of Virginia, even though Pitt finished with a better NET and beat Virginia by 11 in Charlottesville.  Pitt was cited as having a weak nonconference schedule with Oregon State being the team with the third-highest NET that Pitt beat in nonconference play.  Pitt was invited to the NIT but declined the invitation.

Davis finished second in the 11-team Big West and played in the Big West Championship Game.  However, just like the regular season champion, Irvine, Davis lost to four-seed Long Beach State by four.  Long Beach State is the fifteen-seed in the West Region, playing Arizona in Salt Lake City on Thursday.  Irvine plays Utah in the First Round of the NIT tomorrow.  Davis was left out of all of the Tournaments.

It must be remembered that Michael Rataj did not start for the first seven games.  Rataj's first start was against Cal Poly.  Rataj finished with a double-double, 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Oregon State was a ridiculous 0/10 from beyond the arc versus Cal Poly's 6/23 shooting.  Cal Poly lost stars Kob Sanders and Jarred Hyder in January and fired their coach two-and-a-half weeks ago.  Cal Poly finished 10th in the Big West.

Utah Valley finished fifth in the 13-team WAC.  Utah Valley was upset by the #8 seed California Baptist in overtime in the Octofinals, despite beating California Baptist in both regular season games.

Oregon State was scheduled to have seven days off after Utah Valley to concentrate on finals, playing again against UTSA.  Adante' Holiman for UTSA was once a four-star prospect, the best player in Oklahoma.  Arizona, Arizona State, Ole Miss, etc. offered him, but he wound up at Rio Grande Valley for some reason before transferring into UTSA.  Holiman was hurt for more than a month in January-February and again at the end of February to close out the season.  UTSA finished tied for 10th in the American Athletic Conference but finished 14th with tiebreakers, losing to Temple by three in the First Round.  UTSA had two shots to tie the game at 64 with less than 18 seconds but missed both.  Temple would end up playing in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game.

Oregon State beat Idaho State by 19, so I am uncertain how the game was "close."  Idaho State finished eighth in the Big Sky and upset #7 seed Northern Arizona and #2 seed Northern Colorado before bowing out to the # 3 seed, Montana, in the Big Sky Semifinals.