North Texas Mean Green (26-7) vs Alcorn State Braves (18-13)
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 8:00 pm
This is a play on the ALCORN ST. BRAVES for our NIT Ultimate Underdog. It was a great season for North Texas which won a program record 26 games but its reward was a trip to the NIT. The Mean Green were the top ranked team in the NET rankings, where they finished No. 35, to not earn an NCAA tournament berth so there is definitely disappointment. This team has the No. 1 scoring defense in the country so they play lockdown on that side of the floor but a lot of that comes with being motivated and they might not be at their best here and yet are being asked to lay a massive number. Alcorn St. also had a great season as the Braves won their second straight SWAC regular season title and were the top seed in the conference tournament before being upset in the first round by Texas Southern which eventually went on to win the SWAC Tournament. Coming from a lower-tier conference, the body of work is not great but the Braves do own a pair of solid wins against Wichita St. and Stephen F. Austin and while it was 0-3 in Quad 1 games, all three of those were against teams currently playing in the NCAA Tournament. 10* (707) Alcorn St. Braves