It’s Hard Out There for a Mid-Major

So tonight the tournament officially “kicks off,” even though my feelings about the play-in game are summarized nicely here.  Mount St. Mary’s deserves a legitimate seed in the tournament; all the conferences winners do (whether by regular season or conference tourney, that’s a whole different issue), even 20-loss Coppin St. because they won their conference tourney.  I’ve always been in favor of the idea that if we HAVE to have a play-in game, why not make it between 2 teams from major conferences who have questionable resumes?  Make Arizona and Syracuse battle it out.  Anyway, the madness begins tonight at 7 pm EDT on ESPN, so here are some Play-in Hotties:

Coppin State
Ernest Hargett (and a little something for SA)

Unfortunately, Coppin State’s website has teeny pictures of their players, but you can still tell he’s a cutie.
Brian Chestnut

Mount St. Mary’s
Kelly Beidler.  I like his smirk.  He’s like, “Yeah, I’m hot.  Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Josh Schwarz.  I like to imagine that if he smiles, he’s pretty cute.  I can see his potential.

Sam Atupem.  His brother plays on the team too, but clearly Sam got the looks in the family.