Clemson joined automatic qualifiers Wofford and Winthrop as part of the 65 team field for the NCAA Basketball Tournament Sunday night when the first round pairings were announced. The Tigers received an at-large bid and will be the seventh seed in the East Regional. The Tigers will face Missouri Friday at 2:45 PM in Buffalo. The winner will play either West Virginia or Morgan State in the second round. The East Region feeds into Syracuse.
Wofford is in the tournament for the first time after winning the Southern Conference Tournament championhip last Monday night. The Terriers also will play in the East Region as the #13 seed. They will face the fourth seed Wisconsin Badgers Friday in Jacksonville, FL at 3:00 PM. The winner will face the winner of the Temple-Cornell game in round two.
Winthrop will be the first team from the state to play in the tournament. The Eagles were assigned to the play-in game Tuesday night in Dayton against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That game will tipoff at 7:30 PM on ESPN. The winner moves into the first round of the main tournament and will play Duke Friday at 7:25 PM in Jacksonville.
Two other state teams are in the post season. Coastal Carolina will play at UAB Tuesday night at 8:30 in an opening round game of the NIT. The Chanticleers are making their first ever NIT appearance. They are the #7 seed in their part of the bracket. The winner of the Coastal-UAB game will face either NC State or South Florida in the second round.
And The College of Charleston is in the College Basketball Inviational Tournament for the second year in a row. The Cougars got the word just after midnight that they will play at Eastern Kentucky Wednesday night. The Cougars are 21-11. Last season they beat Troy in the opening round and then lost to Richmond.
