WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 11: Will Leviton #4 of the Rhode Island Rams celebrates a point against the Davidson Wildcats during the first half in the Championship of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 11: Will Leviton #4 of the Rhode Island Rams celebrates a point against the Davidson Wildcats during the first half in the Championship of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Rhode Island Basketball

NCAA Selection Sunday 2018: Rhode Island Earns Seven Seed

by Dave Ascoli

For the second-straight year, the Rhode Island Rams heard their name called on Selection Sunday. URI will be the seven seed in the Midwest regional.

Let’s dance. Rhody is going back to the NCAA Tournament as Dan Hurley and Co. have made it two trips in as many years. The Rams earned an at-large bid this season as they’re the seven seed in the Midwest Region. That’s the best seed in program history, for those scoring at home — another accomplishment to add to the 2017-18 season. URI will be matched up against 10 seed Oklahoma on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

To the reaction videos!

The Selection Sunday format was… different this year. Some may say it wasn’t great, and they would be correct. The show opened with TBS rattling off all 68 teams. That’s it — just team names in alphabetical order. No seeding, no bracket, no match-ups, and no locations. Anyway, here’s how the Rams responded when their name was called.

Once that was out of the way, they got to the actual bracket. Here’s how Rhody reacted when they saw their seed, location, and opponent.

Geography-wise, Pittsburgh is clearly the best option for Rhode Island fans. The next closest first round site to the Ocean State was either Charlotte or Detroit. Two seed Duke and 15 seed Iona round out the Pittsburgh subset of the Midwest. Here’s the full region.

And why not, here’s a link to the full bracket.

Tip-off time for Thursday is TBD, and we’ll update this post when it’s known.

EDIT: URI and Oklahoma will kick off the NCAA Tournament. The Rams and Sooners will tip at 12:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, and the game will air on CBS.