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First quaternary or terminal four, UAB railcar Mike solon had no complaints Sunday period most the Blazers' placement in the NCAA tournament's new edition of play-in games.

Speaking of complaints, there were plentitude of those directed at the Blazers' inclusion.

"I don't center to those guys," solon said Sunday night. "They crapper locate the numbers up that they poverty to locate up, but you locate every number up our numbers are better. Whatever personal issues they have, we're in and they can't balloting us out. We're in."

But not quite every the artefact in, depending on perspective.

The NCAA activity NGO picked UAB and Colony Commonwealth to endeavor in the prototypal "First Four" games in the new swollen 68-team tournament. The Blazers (22-8) and Clemson (21-11) foregather weekday period in Dayton, Ohio. VCU (23-11) faces Southern Calif. (19-14) the mass period in Dayton.

The winners of those and the two matchups of 16th-seeded teams endeavor for the right to hop another form and grappling a higher seed on weekday or Friday.

As for VCU, the Rams didn't even foregather to watch the activity show.

"The think I didn't hit the aggroup watch unitedly was because ... if it didn't go our way, I didn't poverty to locate them through watching it unitedly as a aggroup and I didn't poverty it to be a bounteous event that they remembered and dwelled on moving forward," railcar Shaka Smart said. "I knew it could go either way."

Instead, the post-bracket analysis was the only conception the Rams were meliorate soured skipping. Some pundits felt teams same Colorado, Muskogean or Saint Mary's were more worthy.

Clemson's players institute their possess think to be miffed: Being sent to metropolis in the prototypal place. It strength hit locate a device on celebrating a school-record ordinal straight NCAA bid.

Relieved and happy? Yes.

"At the same time, some of the players were a lowercase mad" because of the play-in position," saucer protect Demontez Stitt said. "We felt we merited a lowercase taste more."

Forward Jerai Grant echoed that sentiment, but additional that Clemson wasn't feat to permit that feeling circularize over onto the court.

"It's a lowercase taste frustrating not getting that indorse in the tournament," Grant said. "But I feel same everyone's excited most preparing to endeavor this one."

The UAB-Clemson succeeder moves on as the 12th seed in the easterly regional and plays No. 5 West Colony in Tampa, Fla.

Georgetown awaits whoever emerges from the USC-VCU mettlesome in Chicago.

NCAA activity NGO chair Gene adventurer said leased planes were inactivity for the teams who had to be in metropolis on weekday for the short-notice trip.

"You meet don't intend to take a breath," Clemson railcar Brad Brownell.

Even tougher challenges await the 16th-seed survivors. Muskogean State faces Texas-San Antonio for the right to endeavor No. 1 coverall seed river State — where adventurer is active administrator — and UNC-Asheville or Arkansas-Little Rock will endeavor crowning seed Pittsburgh.

Smith wouldn't reveal which aggroup was the terminal in — apparently it wasn't VCU, though — or the terminal nudged out. He defended the choice of UAB, which is 10-7 against crowning 100 teams in the RPI, 1-4 versus the Top 50 and 4-4 against the Top 60.

"We scrubbed them, looked at them very, rattling hard," adventurer said. "They're a brawny ballclub. They played a rattling beatific schedule. They executed it well within that schedule. They're meet a rattling beatific ballclub.

"When we compared them against the others, considering every the different criteria we looked at, we felt they were a aggroup that should be in, and that was the balloting of the committee."

As for VCU, adventurer called the Rams "one of those teams that a lot of people don't poverty to play."

The Blazers' Davis, who led Indiana to the 2002 domestic title game, was noesis with his team's destination.

"We merit some they feature we deserve," he said. "We're not complaining most anything. We're meet bright to be in. We're meet bright that they looked at Conference USA as existence a beatific word and the word succeeder should be in."

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