The time is here for more of our sparkling CBB picks, as we look at the schedule for basketball for Wednesday night. The Providence Friars and Charlotte 49ers will have it the first round of the NIT, which can be seen on the college basketball TV schedule on ESPN3.com.

Atlantic 10 Tournament Finals Picks: #5 Charlotte 49ers @ #4 Providence Friars
Date: Wednesday, March 20th, 7:15 ET
Location: Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, RI
Charlotte vs. Providence Live TV: ESPN3.com

First Round NIT Betting Lines
#5 Charlotte 49ers +9.5
#4 Providence Friars -9.5
Over/Under 137

Few remember the fact that Charlotte started off this season at 9-0. Most of the wins were suspect at best, and the first time the 49ers ran into a great team, they were crushed by 31 by the Miami Hurricanes. Since then, Charlotte really has been a mixed bag, and we think that the only reason it made it into the NIT was because of that nice opening run of the season. The truth of the matter is that this was barely a .500 team for the rest of the year. This is something that the Friars should really be able to take advantage of. G Bryce Cotton is going to be the most talented scorer far and away in this game, as he is good for 19.4 points per game. Providence has played really solid ball down the stretch of the season, and the only games that have been lost have all been against Big East teams that are in the NCAA Tournament (or would have been in the NCAA Tournament in the case of Connecticut). This is a battle-tested team that isn’t going to take this tournament for granted. If we learned nothing else yesterday by seeing a dead in the water St. John’s team beat St. Joe’s, it’s that the Big East is clearly the superior of these two conferences.

Charlotte vs. Providence Pick: Providence -9.5
First Round NIT Predictions: Providence 76 – Charlotte 63