Game Preview: (9) Cincinnati Bearcats vs (8) Saint Joseph's Hawks

Cincinnati plays Saint Joseph's in the first round of the 2016 NCAA basketball tournament.

Cincinnati opens their sixth straight NCAA tournament showing with a showdown involving the No. 8 seed Saint Joseph's Hawks.

The final NCAA tournament game of Friday night is a West Region matchup between UC and St. Joseph's on TruTV. The winner of this will likely play No.1 seed Oregon, who faces off with Holy Cross earlier in the day. In terms of history, UC and Saint Joseph's have the same tournament history giving a slight edge to Cincinnati for Final 4 appearances. The spread currently sits at -1.5 Cincinnati.

THE OPPONENT:

Saint Joseph's (27-7, 22-10-1) ended up with a 13-5 league record in the A10…