It's that time of year again...

Say what you want about the holidays, but this is the most wonderful time of the year. In November and December you have your three holidays, but in this one month, you have so many memorable days and nights that cannot be found in any other sport.

The first jewel of March, Championship Week (plus a few days), started in earnest two days ago as the first set of conference tournaments got underway. For the most part, things have held to form, except for Army defeating Lehigh in the Bucknell-Holy Cross League and VMI beating Liberty in the Big South in a slow-for-the-Keydets 79-78 game.

And right now, VMI is beating No. 2 seed High Point, with under eight to go.

More after the jump (to use a trite blog phrase that I've never understood).

Bracket Time 2-26

West
1) UCLA (1) v. 16) Weber St.
8) Air Force v. 9) Creighton

4) Maryland v. 13) Vermont
5) Vanderbilt v. 12) Syracuse

2) Georgetown v. 15) South Alabama
7) UNLV v. 10) Texas Tech

3) Memphis v. 14) Oral Roberts
6) Oregon v. 11) Illinois

South
1) Florida (4) v. 16) East Tennessee St.
8) Butler v. 9) Arizona

4) Pittsburgh v. 13) Wright St.
5) Boston College v. 12) West Virginia

2) Wisconsin v. 15) Austin Peay
7) Louisville v. 10) Old Dominion

3) Virginia Tech v. 14) Penn
6) Texas v. 11) Purdue

Midwest
1) Ohio St. (2) v. 16) Jackson St./Central Connecticut St.
8) Kentucky v. 9) Stanford

4) Duke v. 13) Holy Cross
5) Southern Cal v. 12) Virginia Commonwealth

2) Texas A&M v. 15) Sam Houston St.
7) Michigan St. v. 10) Xavier

3) Southern Illinois v. 14) Toledo
6) Tennessee v. 11) Villanova

East
1) North Carolina (3) v. 16) Delaware St.
8) Indiana v. 9) BYU

4) Nevada v. 13) Santa Clara
5) Notre Dame v. 12) Winthrop

2) Kansas v. 15) Long Beach St.
7) Marquette v. 10) Missouri St.

3) Washington St. v. 14) Marist
6) Virginia v. 11) Davidson

Seedings 2-20

1: UCLA, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida
2: Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Ohio St.
3: Washington St., Georgetown, Memphis, Southern Illinois
4: Duke, Virginia Tech, Air Force, Nevada
5: Butler, Virginia, Vanderbilt, Marquette
6: Stanford, Indiana, Kentucky, Boston College
7: Texas, Southern Cal, BYU, Tennessee
8: Maryland, Notre Dame, Arizona, Oregon
9: Louisville, UNLV, Alabama, West Virginia
10: Villanova, Oklahoma St., Creighton, Xavier
11: Purdue, Clemson, Winthrop, Clemson
12: Virginia Comm., Akron, Davidson, Syracuse
13: Wright St., Santa Clara, Rhode Island, Holy Cross
14: Penn, Vermont, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Oral Roberts
15: Marist, Long Beach St., South Alabama, Austin Peay
16: Jackson St., Central Conn. St., Delaware St., Weber St., East Tennessee St.

Random-ness, Why I Don't Have Seedings/a Bracket here

To answer the second part first, it's because I'm simply waiting for the Kansas-Kansas State game tonight. If K-State wins, they are in for this week. The Wildcats lose and they are out and Purdue jumps in to take their place. I also ended up having to do something this week that I absolutely hate doing, and that is replacing a team in the bracket after they haven't lost during the week (Illinois in this case). But I refuse to ignore an 8-5 team in the Big East (Syracuse). This is also the time of year where "if the season ended today" plays a gi-normous role.

Look at Purdue's remaining schedule: @ Iowa, @ Northwestern, Minnesota, Northwestern again. Very real possibility to go 4-0 in that stretch (although I think I jinxed them there)

Syracuse has @ Providence, G-Town and @ Villanova. Very real chance to go 0-3 right there.

Now on to notes:
-This past Saturday with the BracketBusters is just so awesome. I started watching games at 11 am (Central) and didn't stop until New Mexico State had defended their seemingly impenetrable homecourt against Ohio around 1:10 the next morning. I will be doing the same thing in three weeks on the eve of Selection Sunday. Except I will be blogging the entire day for that. (Event brought to you by Full Throttle energy drink)

-Missouri State fans must be thinking, "Please don't let this come down to those 10 guys again." Bears fans, DO NOT look at this image.

-A ridiculous stat from that Missouri St.-Winthrop: The Eagles shot 67.4% in eFG for the game. Yes, including the first 10 minutes of the game.

-A team that started 17-0 has a very real possibility of not making the NCAA Tournament, and it hasn't shocked very many people.

-Andy Glockner on ESPN.com had a great point about Vandy beating Florida, and that is that the Commodores decided to throw the milk-the-clock logic out the window in the second half and just play the way they had been. All teams should take a pointer from Kevin Stallings with a decent second half lead. Sure, if you lose playing your offense, you're going to get burned for not clock-milking, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than losing after taking awkward 30-second possessions.

-I love Butler, but I have had this feeling ever since they had that first conference loss to UIC that this team will get screwed in seedings by the committee (eg Gonzaga in 2002, when they were still a borderline mid-major)

-Under the radar BYU, who might be in position to get as high as a 5 seed, is scoring an unbelievable 1.18 points per possession in Mountain West play. If they had been doing that in non-conference play, the Cougars would lead the nation in that stat.

The Xavier Corollary

To be fair, this "theory" could just as easily be named after West Virginia from two years ago or Bradley from last year.

But if you remember the seasons that the aforementioned two teams had, you know what I am talking about. So, The Xavier Corollary is a team that was once left for dead as far as tournament hopes go, but catches fire in the last month or so to end up not only making the dance, but makes a Sweet 16 run.

The best example, and the name sake of this self-created term comes from a 2004 Xavier team that was 10-9 going into their annual Crosstown Shootout against Cincinnati on February 3. At that point, the Musketeers were on the outside of the NIT bubble with a 2-5 A10 record. Eighteen games later, they were thisclose to beating Duke in the Elite Eight and going to the Final Four.

Last year's Sweet 16 Bradley club was 13-9 and 7-7 in the MVC after a February 8 loss against Indiana State. Two years ago, West Virginia was 12-7 and 2-6 in the Big East after February 1 and made it to the Elite Eight and lost in overtime to Louisville.

Prime candidates to keep the yearly Xavier Corollary going this season include San Diego State, Ole Miss, Old Dominion and DePaul. Or maybe none of those teams. You just never know in college basketball.

Updating the Bracket 2-12

South
1. Florida v. 16. East Tennessee State
8. UNLV v. 9. Missouri St.

4. Indiana v. 13. Akron
5. Nevada v. 12. Maryland

2. Kansas v. 15. Long Beach St.
7. BYU v. 10. Notre Dame

3. Washington St. v. 14. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
6. Virginia v. 11. Vanderbilt

West
1. UCLA v. 16. Weber St.
8. Duke v. 9. Texas

4. Southern Illinois v. 13. Oral Roberts
5. Air Force v. 12. Gonzaga

2. Ohio St. v. 15. Austin Peay
7. Stanford v. 10. Florida St.

3. Georgetown v. 14. Vermont
6. Butler v. 11. Alabama

East
1. North Carolina v. 16. Delaware St.
8. Oklahoma St. v. 9. West Virginia

4. Kentucky v. 13. Davidson
5. Oregon v. 12. Winthrop

2. Pittsburgh v. 15. Penn
7. Tennessee v. 10. Kansas St.

3. Memphis v. 14. South Alabama
6. Virginia Tech v. 11. Virginia Commonwealth

Midwest
1. Wisconsin v. 16. Miss. Valley St./Central Conn. St.
8. Villanova v. 9. Creighton

4. Boston College v. 13. Holy Cross
5. Arizona v. 12. Illinois

2. Texas A&M v. 15. Marist
7. Southern Cal v. 10. Xavier

3. Marquette v. 14. Wright St.
6. Clemson v. 11. Georgia

Climbing up the Ivy

The Ivy League, from the perspective of someone who also follows European soccer, is a lot like the Scottish Premier League. Two teams dominate it (Celtic FC and Rangers FC in our Penn and Princeton roles), and you know that one of them is going to win that league's title every year.

But what if...one of them doesn't win? Wouldn't that just tear a hole in the fabric in both universes?

Well, I'm here to tell you no, and this is part of the reason why the Ivy League needs to have a conference tournament.

Among college basketball super-nuts, I feel like the consensus with the Ivy is something along the lines of, "Well, who cares if they have a conference tournament, Penn or Princeton will win it anyway." And justly so. This year, however, I am paying far more attention than would usually be the case, and that is because of Yale.

The school that brought us the skull and bones is leading the Ivy League with a 6-1 record and is right up there with Penn in overall efficiency in the Ivy. And hopefully, if this stays true, and Yale does the nearly unthinkable, it will push this conference into a tournament.

I know exactly what the Ivy brass would tell me, "The Ivy League does not award athletic scholarships and therefore would not deem it appropriate to have a postseason moneymaking venture." (Or something more lawyerspeak than that.)

Two words for all that crap: Patriot. League.

They only started allowing a limited amount of scholarships a couple years ago and even had a tourney when they were exclusively non-scholarship athletes. And they do it by playing all games at campus sites.

And that is why I will, for the at least the next month, be rooting for the Bulldogs to break this mold in hopes of them joining all of us less-intelligent folk in the greatness, fun, tension and heartbreak that is Championship Week. And the double-layered underdog thing is cool too.

Seedings after February 8

The aforemention Ivy League rant will have to wait for later tonight, as will my first bracket matchups and site pairings. But here are the seeds after I adjusted my S-Curve to eliminate intra-conference matchups.

No. 1: Florida, UCLA, North Carolina, Wisconsin
No. 2: Pittsburgh, Marquette, Ohio St., Texas A&M
No. 3: Washington St., Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon
No. 4: Georgetown, Butler, Memphis, Boston College
No. 5: Duke, Southern Illinois, Indiana, Air Force
No. 6: Nevada, Arizona, Virginia, Clemson
No. 7: Florida St., Virginia Tech, Stanford, Southern Cal
No. 8: BYU, Villanova, Oklahoma St., Creighton
No. 9: Missouri St., Texas, UNLV, Notre Dame
No. 10: Vanderbilt, Alabama, Gonzaga, Tennessee
No. 11: Kansas St., Illinois, West Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth
No. 12: Texas Tech, Winthrop, Xavier, Arkansas
No. 13: Davidson, UMass, Holy Cross, Akron
No. 14: Long Beach State, Tex. A&M-Corpus Christi, South Alabama, Oral Roberts
No. 15: Marist, Vermont, East Tennessee State, Austin Peay
No. 16: Yale, Central Conn. State, Delaware St., Jackson St., Weber St.

Fun Time Stat-ness!

I don't give nearly enough creedence as I should to the genius of tempo-free stats. Let me just sum it up like this: these things don't lie.

Most of the time a TV presentation will tell you how well how well a team is shooting with just a percent number. But the most important statistic(s) in my oh-so-very humble opinion (IMOSVHO?) is (offensive and defensive) points per possession.

Let's take the small sample of two Big 12 teams. First, Texas Tech, which is in a freefallin' tailspin, losing four in a row, after once upon a two weeks ago co-leading the Big 12 (including one of the biggest kick-in-the-nads games against Nebraska on Tuesday). In all four losses, they have fallen below the recognized average point of one in the offensive category and allowed more than the one defensively.

The same exact thing has happened to Oklahoma State in their four conference losses. And if I talked about all the examples of this, I would not only kill my own bandwidth, but all of Blogger's as well.

Also, one of the things that I love that Big Ten Wonk does along the O-PPP/D-PPP lines has been expanded by the great K-Dub. Now, I just need to figure out how to sneak in these kind of stats into my write-ups on Dallas-Ft. Worth area high school games I cover without having to go on a 15-minute explain-a-stat lecture to them.

Look for a new bracket and an Ivy League rant coming tomorrow.

Tourney Projected Seeds after Jan. 29

No. 1: Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, UCLA
No. 2: Kansas, Oregon, Ohio St., Pittsburgh
No. 3: Duke, Oklahoma St., Marquette, Texas A&M
No. 4: Memphis, Air Force, Virginia Tech, Butler
No. 5: Washington St., Nevada, Kentucky, Clemson
No. 6: Southern Illinois, Arizona, Texas Tech, Indiana
No. 7: Stanford, Notre Dame, Texas, Georgetown
No. 8: Creighton, Tennessee, Boston College, USC
No. 9: UNLV, Michigan St., Vanderbilt, Georgia
No. 10: Alabama, Villanova, Arkansas, Maryland
No. 11: Missouri St., Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga
No. 12: George Washington, New Mexico St., Virginia Commonwealth, Xavier
No. 13: Davidson, Winthrop, Toledo, Holy Cross
No. 14: South Alabama, Penn, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Oral Roberts
No. 15: Vermont, Cal St.-Fullerton, East Tennessee St., Austin Peay
No. 16: Central Conn. St., Loyola(MD), Weber St., Delaware St., Jackson St.

The First Seedings of the Year

1: UCLA, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina
2: Texas A&M, Ohio State, Oregon, Pittsburgh
3: Duke, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Washington St.
4: Butler, Arizona, Air Force, Kansas
5: Virginia Tech, Marquette, Tennessee, Indiana
6: Nevada, Texas Tech, Alabama, Memphis
7: Kentucky, Boston College, Southern Illinois, USC
8: Florida St., Texas, LSU, Notre Dame
9: Michigan St., Villanova, Georgia Tech, Arkansas
10: Creighton, Northern Iowa, Georgetown, UNLV
11: Gonzaga, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Missouri St.
12: Drexel, New Mexico St., Davidson, Virginia Comm.
13: Holy Cross, Winthrop, Toledo, Western KY
14: Rhode Island, TAMU-CC, Oral Roberts, Penn
15: East Tennessee St., Long Beach State, Idaho St., Vermont
16: Jackson State, Loyola (MD), Sacred Heart, Delaware St., Austin Peay

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for... Jan. 22-26

In my early Sunday morning post, I forgot to give props to Southern Illinois on a clutch win at Creighton and finishing the job at the Qwest Center where MO State couldn't.

And here are the weekday games to keep an eye on. With an addendum to the national TV part. I simply can't ignore the games that end up on ESPNU and Versus. I will still ignore CSTV because Conference USA is crap.

Monday
High Point at Coastal Carolina
-One of these two teams should be playing at Winthrop on March 3 for the Big South title.

Chicago State at Kansas State
-Don't keep an eye on this, actually. But let me stand up in the Stephen A. Smith Memorial Speaker's Circle and ask WHAT BUSINESS KANSAS STATE HAS PLAYING THIS GAME IN JANUARY????

Norfolk State at Delaware State
-Top two teams in the MEAC standing and the only ones with records at .500 or better.

Tuesday
Florida State at Boston College
-Seminoles have a drop-dead gorgeous RPI, but they need more marquee wins that just the Florida one for Al Thornton to make his first trip to the Big Dance.

Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois
-Not one guy on Northern Iowa is a complete standout, but there are a bunch of good players and their level of teamwork is up there with anyone in the country.

San Diego State at UNLV
-The Aztecs are underachieving at need this kind of win to get back into the MWC/at-large race.

Wednesday
Drexel at UNC-Wilmington
-Again, you don't really have to keep an eye on it, but I have to make a point. A lot of people criticized Brad Brownell for leaving UNCW for Wright State last spring, and now it looks like he knew exactly what he was doing. Wright State is second in the Horizon (bid stealers, possibly) while UNCW is 4-13. The Raiders also have a possible HL 2008 POY in 5-11 guard Dashaun Wood.

Kentucky at Georgia
-Georgia must have been so pissed to let that game against Alabama get away from them. what better way to get that taste out of their mouth than by giving Kentucky a second straight unexpected loss.

Creighton at Missouri State
-Think there's just a little bit of an element of revenge here?

Michigan at Wisconsin
-I feel like the same script goes on with Michigan every single year. Hot start, big marquee win, then collapse.

Winthrop at High Point
-If Winthrop doesn't drop this game, they should go undefeated in conference.

East Tennessee State at Belmont
-Due to possibly the nation's biggest example of Ewing Theory this season (ETSU graduating shot-loving Tim Smith), the two-team A-Sun Battle of Nashville has officially turned into a three-way Tennessee Tussle.

Oakland at Oral Roberts
-First of three meetings, anybody?

Saturday Observations

-You can officially move Washington to the "Left for Dead" column after their latest version of Leave Everybody Open On Defense against Washington State for all the apples.

-Wichita State is real close to that same column, but something just gives me the feeling this team will make a late-season run. There's just too much talent there to stay in their current Valley spot.

-Poor Iona.

-Appalachian State got a gorilla-sized win at Davidson and showed the rest of the SoCon that they will be in this race for the long haul.

-If this UConn team had South Florida or Baylor across their chests, they wouldn't even be considered on the bubble at this time.

-I have no idea which Alabama or LSU team will show up at what time and for how long during the course of any game and/or week.

-The AP headline for the New Mexico State-Nevada game said, "...NMSU stuns [national ranking censored] Nevada". That game is not a stunner in the least bit. The Land of Enchantment State Aggies have the best team speed in the conference and are an excellent team that has won 14 of 15 (the one a head-scratcher against LA Tech).

Games to keep an eye on, Weekend Edition

Saturday
Providence at Louisville
-A team possibly underrated and a team possibly overrated

Florida at South Carolina
-If you remember, the NIT champs were the only team to beat the NCAA champs twice last season

Virginia at Boston College
-BC is off to a quiet 3-0 ACC start, while Virginia is constantly up-and-down

South Dakota State at Butler
-I would have said this was an upset possibility at the beginning of the week, but I can't see Butler losing again after the loss to UIC.

Albany at Vermont
-The two best teams in the AmEast square off

Missouri State at Southern Illinois
-It'll be interesting to see if the Bears can keep up their uber-offense against the Salukis' uber-defense

Colorado State at San Diego State
-Remember when I said that Utah was the only easy out in the Mountain West earlier in the week? Well, I forgot TCU.

South Carolina State at Florida A&M
-Two teams breathing right down Delaware State's neck in the MEAC standings

Kansas State at Missouri
-Oh-fer teams in Big 12 play that didn't expect to start that way

Drexel at Old Dominion
-The CAA is becoming like the Valley in that there are two or three games every week that have two quality teams playing

Air Force at Wyoming
-The Falcons are so damn good, but then again, so is Brandon Ewing

Tennessee-Martin at Morehead State
-Morehead State has surely been the surprise story of the OVC so far this year

Loyola(IL) at Illinois-Chicago
-UIC doesn't get an easy day after the giant win over Butler

Washington at Cal
-The Huskies have time to turn around their 1-4 Pac-10 start, but they've got to find ways to play good defense and perform in crunch time. Also, of all the highly touted frosh this year, Spencer Hawes is the most overrated.

Robert Morris at Fairleigh Dickinson
-RMU has the best overall record in the NEC by far, but they are just 2-3 in conference to FDU's 3-0.

Bradley at Indiana State
-Two teams in The Valley that are dark-horse NCAA possibilities, and are both coming off huge wins

Xavier at Saint Louis
-Musketeers are finally starting to realize some of that preseason potential

BYU at UNLV
-UNLV is only 1-2 in the MWC, but has a super-high RPI of 19. Meanwhile, BYU is riding a seven-game winning streak

Nevada at Hawaii
-This trip is normally hell for Nevada, and they won't have Fazekas. However, Sessions and Kemp have emerged to be big-time players in his absence

Sunday
Samford at Tennesee Tech
-All three of the Tennessee OVC teams are doing worse than I thought they would be doing. Samford is leading the conference, meanwhile.

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for...January 8-12

As always, no national TV games on here.

Monday
Old Dominion at Hofstra
Two of the top four team in the CAA with Drexel and surprising VCU.

Tuesday
Clemson at NC State
NC State is probably one of the two worst teams in the ACC, and they're not an easy out.

Loyola(MD) at Siena
Siena is leading the MAAC at 4-0, with the east coast Loyola at 3-1 after Gerald Brown and company beat Marist last week.

Wednesday
Pittsburgh at DePaul
DePaul is just an awful team away from home. At Allstate Arena, though, they haven't been beaten.

Loyola(IL) at Wright State
Both of these teams have a good shot to be first runner-up to Butler in the Horizon.

Hofstra at Drexel
Talent wise, the two best teams in the CAA.

Southern Illinois at Bradley
The theme early on in The Valley is that the top six teams are protecting their home court against each other. At Bradley is a game that the eventual conference winner will probably snatch.

UNLV at Wyoming
Utah is truly the only bad team in the Mountain West.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Northwestern State
This, I believe, will end up as a "passing of the torch game" in the Southland when all is said and done.

Thursday
Washington State at Cal
This Cal team has the potential to lose or win by 25 to just about anybody. The latter won't happen. This Wazzu team finds ways to stay in (and win) games.

Friday
Lipscomb at Belmont
The first round of the Nashville A-Sun supremacy fight. There's going to end up being three rounds.

Creighton at Northern Iowa
In an unrelated Valley note, does anyone realize that Indiana State's RPI is higher that Wichita State's now? And that they have wins over Butler, Purdue and Creighton?

It's time for everyone's favorite feature...

Which until bracket projection time comes around (mid-January, folks) is the only feature.

To refresh your memory, this is Games to keep an eye on the ticker for, with the restriction of nothing on the national tube.

Tonight
Davidson at Chattanooga
-Two upper-division SoCon teams that are likely to have top conference tourney seeds
UAB at Old Dominion
-UAB has not been impressing anyone, but is 25th in RPI
South Florida vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Las Vegas
-USF: 7-1 and loving the cupcakes; TAMU-CC: 4-3 with less sweetening to their slate.
Missouri State at Saint Louis
-Why is Missouri State not getting any Wichita State-style love? They beat Wisconsin on a neutral floor you national hacks!!!
Charleston vs. Coastal Carolina at Myrtle Beach
-I'm a South Carolina native, so from now on, all in-Palmetto state games go in this space. The Cougars and Chanticleers should make for a decent game, though.

Tuesday
Appalachian State vs. Virginia at San Juan, Puerto Rico
-Will Appalachian stay Hot! Hot! Hot! after their national championship in football?
Drexel at Syracuse
-I correctly predicted one upset for Drexel, but I'm not as confident on this one.
North Texas at Western Kentucky
-My Mean Green are so completely schizo that it wouldn't surprise me if they lose by 30 or win by 15.
Illinois-Chicago at Mississippi
-Rebels are 9-2, but only against the teams they should obviously beat. This isn't that obvious a win.
Stanford at Fresno State
-Fresno State is showing how good UCSB could be (that's their only loss on a slate that saw Creighton last Saturday)

Wednesday
Savannah State at Louisvile
-These two teams have the same number of wins. (That's a true statement, now stop laughing.)
Wyoming vs. Nebraska at Honolulu
-Cowboys have a starting backcourt that is averaging over 40 a game

Thursday
North Carolina A&T at Arizona State
-This game is only on here because it is called the "ASU Sleep America Classic". Worst. Promo. Ever.
Charlotte vs. Houston in Honolulu
-Oh, two teams whose hype I fall into every year! Joy!
San Diego State vs. Washington State in Seattle
-These two teams are great in the efficiency margin statistic
Valparaiso vs. Creighton in Honolulu
-A poll of the same Valley media might not even have Creighton as even the fourth-best team today. Shooting, something that was assumed to be solid for Creighton before the season, has been below average and is why they are only 4-3.

Friday
Georgia at Georgia Tech
-Right now, of these two teams, Georgia is playing the better basketball.
Massachusetts at Kentucky
-If UMass can win this game, they establish themselves as the team to beat in the A-10 when conference play starts.
Hofstra at Syracuse
-Hofstra can surely put those struggles of November away if they can win this one.
Drexel at Temple
-When was the last time we could say that Drexel was the better team of these two?
Nevada at Akron
-This would be a great game for BracketBuster Saturday, but the Zips have been struggling too much on defense to make this matchup happen again.
Evansville at Butler
-Matt Webster! A.J. Graves! It's the White Scorers Bowl brought to you by Daisy Sour Cream! Live from beautiful Hinkel Fieldhouse!
Oral Roberts at Arkansas
-For the Eagles, there was really no where to go but down after winning at Allen Fieldhouse. But not one of their five losses has been horrible.
Wichita State vs. New Mexico in Las Vegas
-Do the Shox play any non-conference home games?
Cal at DePaul
-Cal shot better than and outrebounded San Diego. But lost. How? You got it. Turnovers.
Dayton at Pittsburgh
-"at Pittsburgh" is always a daunting assignment, but Dayton is playing amazing defensively and will keep this game close

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for...

There's a light schedule this week, and that's because of good ol' finals week at most schools.

Monday
Mississippi State at Miami FL
-Two teams very likely to be in the three letter tournament
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at New Mexico State
-UAPB could be a top 3 SWAC team, but that won't get into NMSU's level

Wednedsay
UMass at Louisville
-Very interesting matchup in a game named for Rick Pitino's late best friend and brother-in-law, Billy Minardi
Belmont at Arkansas-Little Rock
-Road game where the so-called "low-major" should win comfortably

Friday
Eastern Washington at Oregon
-First big upset for Stuckey and Co.? Probably not.

Saturday
Purdue vs. Butler at Conseco Fieldhouse
-Let's see if the Indiana State game was an abberation for the non-power conference media sensation of the first month of the season
Temple at Towson
-Pat Kennedy's team will make things tough for a Temple team in a down year
DePaul at Rhode Island
-Which of these wins doesn't belong: Eastern Illinois, Chaminade, Kansas or Chicago State?
Akron at Illinois-Chicago
-Some nice "mid-major on mid-major action" as Kyle Whelliston would put it
Western Kentucky at Tennessee
-Should be some good offense put up in this one
Utah State at BYU
-A surprising Utah State team takes on a good BYU team
Northern Iowa at Loyola-Chicago
-See Akron-UIC
Indiana State at Missouri State
-If that Butler game wasn't the fluke I think it was, Missouri State will need to play up to the standard that they beat Wisconsin with
Alabama vs. Southern Miss at Mobile
-Does anybody realize Southern Miss is undefeated? No...well, they won't be after this game
Loyola Marymount at San Diego State
-Two good SoCal teams, one of which is likely to play the annual "WCC Runner-Up to Gonzaga" role in the college basketball play
Creighton at Fresno State
-The Xavier win was a good way for the Bluejays to get back on track, and this road win would surely put them squarely back on that track

Never in a million years...

did I think that Jim Nantz and Billy Packer would be doing a game involving Texas A&M.

Winthrop: Princeton of the New Millenium?

Every time I see Winthrop just nearly miss out on upsetting a giant, I can't help but think of those Princeton teams that gave Georgetown, Arkansas, Villanova and Syracuse edge-of-your-seat near-upsets in succession the 1989-1992 NCAA Tournaments. I wasn't too old then, so the only real recollection I have of those games are watching the old highlight shows where an announcer says something like, "Everyone's underdog Princeton came close once again in 19__, but it was not to be as ______ beat them (some score in the 50s to 40s)."

These words were accompanied by an image of Jim Boeheim one of the other great coaches (Thompson, Richardson, Rollie) with a look that said, "Oh my god, we just barely beat Princeton. I'm glad that's over."

But eventually, Princeton had their amazing 1996 and all that heartbreak was essentially forgotten. You really have to think that a huge win like that has to come for Winthrop one of these years.

Another thing that I have heard asked about Winthrop is what it will take for them to get an at-large bid, should they lose in their conference tournament. Three things must happen in order for the Eagles to be one of the 34 non-champions:
1. Win at Old Dominion on December 29
2. Run the table in the Big South
3. Win in their BracketBuster game

This is assuming, however, that Winthrop beats Mt. St. Mary's and East Carolina, but loses at Texas A&M (a game which I will be attending). The only real precedent set here in recent memory is Pacific two years ago, who went 18-0 in the Big West, but lost in the Big West final to a hot shooting (and now departed from the conference) Utah State team. That team finished 24-3 against D1 teams, while Winthrop would be 22-4 assuming all of the above. The four defeats would be high-quality road losses with marquee wins over ODU and their BracketBuster opponent. That would, in my opinion do it, but the Big South is not as good a conference as 2005's version of the Big West, making all three of the scenarios very important.

Enough with speculation for tonight, though. Time to watch the Jimmy V games.

Games to keep an eye on the ticker for...

Tuesday
Loyola-Chicago at Purdue
-Once Horizon League favorites would love to notch up BCS-conference road win
Charleston at South Carolina
-In-state rivals each looking to turn things around
Northern Iowa at Iowa
-What kind of backwards world do we live in when you could make a strong case of UNI being completely better going into this one?
Texas A&M at LSU
-Only on ESPN FC...
New Mexico at New Mexico State
-I guess rematches come early for these two
Gonzaga at Washington State
-Interesting clash of tempos here

Wednesday
Providence at Florida
-Note to Florida: Don't wear those atrocious black unis and you might win. Oh, that and foul trouble.
Old Dominion at Virginia Tech
-Both will be, at very least, NIT teams
NC State at West Virginia
-Would have been just a little more attractive last year
Utah at Utah State
-USU might not be head for that lull after all...
Fresno State at Cal-Santa Barbara
-Two very underrated teams

Friday
Ohio at Louisville
-Louisville has no excuse to lose to another Ohio team this early (Dayton, if you were wondering)

Saturday
Oral Roberts at Georgetown
-Maybe my Big East pick won't disappoint...AGAIN
Missouri at Purdue
-Didn't expect even Mike Anderson to have it turned around this quickly.
Nebraska vs. Oregon in Portland
-Oregon is better, but still an interesting matchup
George Washington vs. USC in Anaheim
-USC is currently hanging in there at Kansas as we...uhh...write?
Wichita State at Wyoming
-What's another long road trip for the Shockers anyway at this point?
South Carolina at Baylor
-Baylor should not be underestimated under any circumstances
Charlotte at Davidson
-2-4 is definitely not what the Niners had planned right now
Drexel at Villanova
-Fire off the upset alerts...
Southern Illinois at Western Kentucky
-Two mids whose names should be called out on March 11
Kansas State at North Dakota State
-First, Marquette, now, K-State?
Xavier at Creighton
-Really solid matchup between two excellent teams without numbers next to their names
Arizona at San Diego State
-Great clash of big men in this one
Washington at Gonzaga
-Might be the last time we see this normally excellent matchup for a while