Are you excited yet? If not you should probably check your pulse, because this is a pretty awesome time to follow the Mustangs.

No.20 SMU will be squaring off against East Carolina at noon.

The Mustangs faced ECU earlier this season and won easily 77-54. The Pirates will be looking to avenge that loss and SMU will be looking to atone for last season’s first round exit in the AAC tourney.

The all-time series sits at 6-4 with SMU in the lead . The programs are dead locked at 2-2 when they play on the road, but the Mustangs have a 3-2 edge at home and 1-0 advantage when playing at a neutral site

It should be noted that ECU narrowly escaped the first round of this years tourney with an 81-80 overtime win over UCF.

That the Pirates let the Knights stick around and force and overtime period is biggest take away from that game.

Anytime a game goes into overtime, the likelihood that both teams will be exhausted the next day is very high.

Many think SMU is already a lock for the NCAA tournament, but the Mustangs aren’t pulling any punches. Can you blame them? After being snubbed last season, SMU isn’t taking any chances.

Tip-off is set for noon on Friday and be sure to go to j.mp/mustangmadness for our live-coverage.

Three on Three

The Knights

1. Guard- BJ Tyson
   The freshman scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Pirates over UCF on Thursday. He may only be a freshman, but he doesn’t play like one. Tyson makes his money by getting to the rim- he can shoot okay, but forcing him to take outside shots would limit his effectiveness some.
2. Forward- Marshall Guilmette
   The sophomore’s ability to knock down long range shots creates problems for opposing teams. He shot 30 percent from three-point range this season and hit three big threes in Thursday’s win.
3. Guard- Caleb White
   The sophomore is another outside shooting threat for ECU- he made three threes on Thursday and finished with 13 total points.

The Mustangs

1. Guard-Nic Moore
   The recently crowned Player of the Year and unanimous all-conference first teamer will be looking to make up for his dismal performance in last years conference tournament. IN 2014 Moore went 0-11 from the field and finished with only eight points (all free throws).
2. Forward- Markus Kennedy
   Kennedy has been coming off the bench this season and it has been working. In fact, it has been working so well that he was named the AAC’s Sixth Man of the Year. His fire and toughness has given this team a much need spark down the stretch. We can expect to see the same chest thumping, death staring, ball crushing Kennedy we saw against Tulsa last week.
3. Center- Yanick Moreira
   After struggling with a leg injury last season Moreira saw his minutes and his production increase. The rest of the league saw it too, and they named the senior center the Most Improved Player of the year. He will be the biggest player on the court Friday, and he’ll probably play like it.