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#13 Belmont vs #4 Wisconsin

#13 Morehead St vs #4 Louisville

#13 Oakland vs #4 Texas

#13 Princeton vs #4 Kentucky

Recently CHN writer Jon Teitel spoke with two key members of the OVC champion Morehead State Eagles, forward/center Kenneth Faried and shooting guard Demonte Harper. Faried has won both the Player and Defensive Player awards in the OVC the last two seasons, and all Harper did last week was win the tournament MVP for his play in three Morehead State wins. Look for the Eagles to be a tough matchup for anyone they draw next week.

Jon Teitel: You declared for the draft last spring before returning to school. Why did you decide to declare, and why did you decide to return?

By this time next Sunday there will be more than 20 teams guaranteed inclusion in the 2011 NCAA Tournament and the first three tickets were punched on Saturday. UNC Asheville (Big South), Belmont (Atlantic Sun) and Morehead State (Ohio Valley) all won their conference tournament finals while Princeton (Ivy) missed out on a chance to join the fun with their loss at Harvard. Now the Tigers need to beat rival Penn at the Palestra to forge a tie atop the standings, forcing a one-game playoff with Harvard for the Ancient Eight's automatic bid.

With three NCAA Tournament tickets assured of being punched (that number becomes four if Princeton wins at Harvard in a crucial Ivy League tilt), it makes sense to touch on each of those games as opposed to the usual daily preview. The title game in the Atlantic Sun provides a matchup of the prohibitive favorite taking on the underdog, a storyline that usually doesn't come into play for another two weeks.

You know it's March where there's midday college basketball to be discussed. Friday afternoon delivered just six games (one in progress) but there hasn't been a lack of drama. The Colonial, Missouri Valley and Southern conferences all had afternoon doubleheaders in their tournaments, with the MVC in the quarterfinals while the other two leagues are playing first round games today. 

Colonial

(8) Georgia State 58, (9) UNC Wilmington 52

There was the question about how BYU would get along without the suspended Brandon Davies, who was their third-leading scorer and leading rebounder before his dismissal. But while the early returns certainly don't look good, keep in mind the fact that New Mexico beat BYU in their first meeting with Davies on the floor. But they weren't beaten on the boards in that contest as they were tonight, as the Lobos out-rebounded BYU 45-29 on their way to an impressive 82-64 win at the Marriott Center.

Just two games remain for teams in the middle of the Big East pack to separate themselves and earn a first round bye, a fact that makes the game between Connecticut (21-7, 9-7) and West Virginia (18-10, 9-7) all the more important to both. Kemba Walker's been the player whose received the lion's share of the attention for the Huskies and rightfully so as he's one of the top candidates for Big East Player of the Year.

The college basketball fan's favorite month of the year is finally upon us, as 346 teams are narrowed down to 68 before the process of determining a national champion begins. The first week is primarily a time for leagues that traditionally get just one bid to the NCAA Tournament to sort themselves out, with some of the most indelible images of "Championship Week" coming during this time. Below are the schedules for the tournaments that begin this weekend (the Big Sky still has games to play and the Sun Belt has yet to release their bracket) with some notes and predictions.

Just a month ago the question was not just whether or not Gonzaga would get to the NCAA Tournament but also if their run atop the West Coast Conference was coming to an end. But what's said on the outside doesn't have to be accepted inside of a locker room, that's been the case for Mark Few's team as they've hung around. The end result was the chance to pull into a tie for first place, an opportunity the Bulldogs took full advantage of in their 89-85 overtime win at Saint Mary's.