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NIT

David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, Hempstead, NY

Streaming: ESPN+

Hofstra +110 over Cincinnati

2:00 PM EST. We’re not convinced that the Bearcats should be favored here but Cinci has pedigree and they reside in the American Conference where they had to play and compete against the likes of Houston, Memphis, Temple, UCF, Tulane and Wichita State for example. Meanwhile, Hofstra resides in the Colonial, where only one team, Charleston, made it to the dance. Still, Hofstra could just as easily punched its ticket to the Main Event.

Cincinnati did not record a Quadrant 1 win all year. This is a Bearcats’ squad that lost to every good team it played and got crushed in most of them. They lost to Arizona and they lost to Ohio State by 28. The Bearcats also lost to Houston twice, once by 21 and the other by 12. They lost to Temple and to Xavier too. Cinci’s best win this year came against whom? SMU? East Carolina? We don’t even know who, as their non-conference Strength of Schedule ranked 258th in the country.

Hofstra’s non-conference Strength of Schedule ranked 22nd in the country. The Pride played and beat Iona, Princeton and Charleston. If not for a very unlucky OT loss in the CAA tournament to UNC Wilmington, Hoifstra would have very likely punched its ticket to the dance. This is a battle tested Hofstra squad that already beat a very good Rutgers’ team in the first round of this event while Cinci has not beaten a legit squad all year. Wrong side favored.

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