Our St. Louis-based Friday NCAA Tournament schedule got a little less hectic when a terminal case of March Madness struck the Missouri Tigers, who fell 78-63 to the Cincinnati Bearcats in their first second-round matchup in Washington D.C. But I happen to know some St. Louisans who fall on the Illinois basketball side of the Braggin' Rights game, and they'll get the chance to see their historically decontextualized Fighting Illini tip off against eighth-seeded UNLV at 8:20 on TBS. Missouri State fans probably have the NIT on their mind, but the Missouri Valley Conference's auto-bid, the Indiana State Sycamores, find themselves with the last game of the night, a tilt with third-seeded Syracuse that's currently scheduled to hit truTV at 8:57, after a seven-minute-long montage of great Larry Bird moments set to John "Cougar 'John Cougar'" Mellencamp's Small Town.
Before that St. Louis fans have the chance to root on (or presumably against) Kansas on TBS, where they'll be taking on a 16th seed in the annual "Beating Rights" game at 5:50. Some day a 16th seed will beat a one seed, and then I can stop watching the NCAA Tournament forever. For a full March Madness TV schedule, along with a seven-minute montage of great Larry Bird moments set to "Cougar John" Mellencougar's Small Town, check out SBNation.com.
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