NIT Tournament 2017: Updated Bracket and Schedule for Round 2 Contests

March is simply chock-full of basketball. The NCAA tournament itself can feel overwhelming at times, with the upsets and beatdowns and wall-to-wall action. When you consider that the National Invitation Tournament is going strong simultaneously, it can seem downright impossible to keep up. 

The 2017 NIT is on to its second round, with just 16 teams remaining.

The competition has featured it's own set of upsets, the most notable of them No. 8 Cal State Bakersfield knocking off No. 1 California. Three No. 7 seeds also won over their second-seeded counterparts. 

The NIT is an underdog tournament unto itself, and the second round is replete with underdog programs, not often reaching any sort of spotlight other than in their own conferences or localities. 

If you need some extra college basketball in your life, here are the matchups and schedule for the second round.

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup	TV
March 18	11 a.m.	(1) Syracuse vs. (5) Mississippi	ESPN
March 19	12 p.m.	(6) Georgia Tech vs. (7) Belmont	ESPN
March 19	5 p.m.	(6) Richmond vs. (7) Oakland	ESPN2
March 19	7:30 p.m.	(1) Iowa vs. (4) TCU	ESPNU
March 20	7 p.m.	(1) Illinois State vs. (4) UCF	ESPN
March 20	8 p.m.	(6) UT Arlington vs. (7) Akron	ESPNU
March 20	9 p.m.	(2) Illinois vs. (6) Boise State	ESPN
March 20	11 p.m.	(4) Colorado State vs. (8) CS Bakersfield	ESPN2

And here is the updated bracket, courtesy of Illini Basketball:

The top team remaining in terms of ESPN.com RPI is Illinois State, tied for a robust 32nd with Maryland and Wisconsin, the latter of which is in the second round of March Madness. 

The Redbirds took out their NCAA tournament snub frustrations on UC-Irvine in the first round, trouncing the Anteaters 85-71. Senior forward Deontae Hawkins hit six three-pointers on his way to 22 points, five rebounds and one assist. 

Hawkins had no problem launching his shots from alternate zip codes, per MVC Basketball:

Illinois State takes on No. 4 Central Florida on Sunday. UCF is ranked 69th in RPI and squeaked by No. 5 Colorado 79-74 in the first round, behind 26 points from sophomore guard B.J. Taylor. The Knights also get significant contributions from 7'6" sophomore Tacko Fall, who had 10 points eight boards and three blocks against the Buffaloes. 

In terms of marquee programs, the matchup between No. 1 Syracuse and No. 5 Ole Miss is an intriguing one. It's the first matchup ever between the two programs, which is surprising since neither program is stranger to the NCAA tournament or taking on tough competition during the regular season. 

It will also reunite former high school teammates in Tyus Battle (Syracuse) and Breein Tyree (Ole Miss). Both players should figure prominently into the game, and both are looking forward to facing off against each other.

"We definitely have like a brother bond,'' Battle said, per Syracuse.com's Mike Waters. "We became really good friends. We talk about everything with each other.''

As for Cal State Bakersfield, they will look to score another upset against No. 4 Colorado State in the final game of the second round. Bakersfield had it a bit easy against Cal, as the latter school was missing it's two top scorers in Ivan Rabb and Jabari Bird. 

Still, the Roadrunners didn't just scrape by a talented team from a major conference; they were up 44-19 at the half before eventually winning by seven—not an even performance, but an impressive one nonetheless. 

That first-half scoreline was exactly as bad as it sounded, per CSN Bay Area's Ben Ross: 

Senior guard Dedrick Basile led the Roadrunners with 18 points, while Shon Briggs and Damiyne Durham contributed 17 and 13 off the bench, respectively. Bakersfield also shot 42.9 percent from three-point range in the winning effort. 

Colorado State is coming into this game red-hot, having won 10 of their last 12 contests. They will also be hosting the game, which should put the Roadrunners at a serious disadvantage. If Cal State Bakersfield doesn't get another hot start and strong contributions off the bench, the Rams could end their NIT hopes in quick fashion.