The Little Dances: Day 6

We all know that March Madness is all about the real NCAA tournament. But while those lucky souls that managed to earn themselves a bid to the Big Dance sit back and wait for Thursday, the rest of the country takes part in what I like to call the Little Dances -- the NIT, the CBI, and the CIT.

The Atlantic-10 dominated Wednesday night. Rhode Island and Dayton went on the road, into more-than hostile conditions, and squeezed out victories to ensure bids in the Final-4 at MSG. Plus, let's not forget about mighty St. Louis. The team with the bulbous head coach who wants his team to be in a different conference beat Princeton, the team that once almost beat a number one seed as a number-16 seed but didn't, and in the process earned themselves a right in the best-of-3 bizarro championship series of the College Basketball Invitational.

Here's what happened on Wednesday:


N.I.T
Quarterfinals

#2 Rhode Island 79, #1 Virginia Tech 72
The Rams trailed by as many as nine in the second half, but made a late push to defeat the hokies on Tech's home court. Lamont Ulmer had 13 points for the Rams, including the final two, a put-back off of his own miss, that won the game. Rhode Island's reward for a victory in Blacksburg? A semifinal date with the defending national champion North Carolina Tar heels in New York City.

#3 Dayton 77, #1 Illinois 71
The Dayton Flyers pulled ahead of the Fightin' Illini early in the game and never looked back. The Flyers trailed 3-0 before two consecutive trips down court resulted in baskets gave them the lead for the first and only time of the night. Illinois' Dimitri McCamey was two rebounds shy of a triple-double (13pt, 8reb, 10ast) but as a team the Illini shot below 30% and despite a late comeback, could never take the lead back. The Flyers move on to New York City to tangle with the #2-seeded Runnin' Rebels of Ole Miss.

Semifinals
Tuesday, March 30
7:00PM - ESPN2 - #2 Ole Miss vs. #3 Dayton
9:00PM - ESPN2 - #2 Rhode Island vs. #4 North Carolina


C.B.I

Semifinals
Virginia Commonwealth 88, Boston 75
St. Louis 69, Princeton 59

Finals (Best of 3)

Game 1
Monday, March 29
7:00PM - St. Louis at Virginia Commonwealth

Game 2
Wednesday, March 31
8:00PM - Virginia Commonwealth at St. Louis


C.I.T

Semifinals
Missouri State 67, Creighton 61

Thursday, March 25
8:00PM - Pacific at Appalachian State