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The day before Selection Sunday is finally here, which means that a number of conferences will determine their winners throughout the course of the day. Thirteen automatic bids are up for grabs and a 14th, the battle between South Dakota and North Dakota in the Great West, will be for an automatic bid in the College Insider Tournament. The Big 12 and Big East title games may receive a great deal of attention (and rightfully so), but the first meeting between teams with 30 victories will take place in the Mountain West final.

Saturday night's matchup between Illinois and Michigan State didn't set up to be the marquee meeting expected when the season began, but it definitely didn't lack for importance with both teams needing wins to ensure an NCAA Tournament appearance. And in a battle of seniors who needed to step up it was Kalin Lucas who came through, scoring 25 points in Michigan State's 71-67 win over the Illini.

Score two wins for the Colonial Athletic Association, with VCU winning at Wichita State and Drexel defending their home floor with a win over Kent State in Friday's Sears BracketBusters contests. VCU needed a pair of Joey Rodriguez free throws with eight tenths of a second remaining to win a game they nearly handed over after leading by nine at the half. Rodriguez racked up 11 assists to go along with 15 points. Bradford Burgess scored 17 to lead the Rams, and Joe Ragland scored 15 to lead the Shockers.

The question going into Wednesday's matchup between rivals North Carolina and Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium was how the young Tar Heels would respond to the atmosphere. They responded quite well in the first half, scoring the first seven points of the game and leading by as many as 16 points before taking a 43-29 lead into the locker room. If anything the first half was a case of the more experienced Blue Devils being caught up in the moment, as getting away from the things they do best in addition to failing to truly compete inside landed them in the early hole.

Monday was an important day for a number of teams in non-BCS conferences as the eleven televised matchups for the ESPNU BracketBusters event were announced. The remainder of the teams in participating leagues will find out their assignments later this week but there are some very good matchups on the televised schedule, beginning on Friday, February 18th. The eleven matchups are as follows:

Fri., 2/18
7 p.m. VCU at Wichita State (ESPN2)
9 p.m. Kent State at Drexel (ESPNU)
Sat., 2/19
11 a.m. Hofstra at Wright State (ESPNU)

The Non-BCS Top 25 is a weekly follow-up to the popular CHN Top 50 ranking. Using the power-conference teams ranked in the CHN Top 50 as a base, an in-depth look at the world of "mid-major" basketball is pieced together. The Non-BCS Top 25 will be released early Monday morning following the Top 50..

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Louisiana Tech head coach Andy Russo. In six seasons at the school Russo led the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and coached future Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone.

Jon Teitel: In 1970 you were co-captain of the Lake Forest HS team along with legendary computer magnate Mike Maiman. How good a player were you back in the day, and did you ever think that Mike would turn out to be so successful?

In the most recent installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Utah State great Jaycee Carroll. A prolific scorer in high school, Carroll took his talents to the next level and as a result is the all-time leading scorer in USU history. He also helped lead the program to two NCAA Tournament and three postseason appearances during his time in Logan, and now plays professionally in Spain. 

The question that's dominated discussion for many in regards to the Gonzaga Bulldogs has been what's up with Elias Harris. One of the best freshmen in America last season, Harris has been dealing with shoulder and knee injuries in the Bulldogs' 4-2 start. Can he increase his production on Saturday when the Bulldogs take on Illinois in Seattle? Whether or not the swingman is healthy enough to make a significant impact will determine whether or not the Bulldogs are able to knock off the Illini in an environment that while defined as "neutral" will be anything but.

Looking at the semifinals of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic on paper many expected Duke and Kansas State to advance to Tuesday's title game, and they took care of business at the Spirit Center in Kansas City. But while the Wildcats had some perimeter shooters other than the explosive Jacob Pullen step up in their 81-64 whipping of Gonzaga, Duke had to rely on a change from last season's title team to get past Marquette.