College Basketball Schedule

Day two of the Big East Championship features four teams looking to improve their chances of reaching the NCAA tournament, with the biggest game of the day being the first. Nine-seed Connecticut, who opener their tournament with an 81-67 win over DePaul on Tuesday, takes on eight-seed West Virginia with the winner likely locking up a tournament berth. These two teams met once during the regular season, a 64-57 UConn victory at the XL Center on January 9th, and with so much change over the nearly two months since that game there may not be a whole lot to take from it.

While there's plenty of conference tournament action on Tuesday's schedule, and three bids to be distributed, there's also a huge game in the Ivy League as Penn (19-11, 11-2) visits rival Princeton (18-11, 9-4). What's on the line for the Quakers? A share of the Ivy League title with Harvard, which would force a one-game playoff between the two teams at a site to be determined.

WCC: #1 Saint Mary's vs. #2 Gonzaga, 9:00 p.m. (ESPN)

Below is a basic schedule of the 2012 NCAA Tournament, including dates and venues. Also check out the 2012 NCAA Tournament TV Schedule, which includes preliminary starting times for CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV.

 

For the second time, all 2012 NCAA Tournament games will be aired live. CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV will cover the games using a plethora of announcing teams. This is a preliminary schedule set before the individual games were announced. After Selection Sunday, visit CollegeHoops.net for a more in-depth schedule.

 

Unless you watch the games on mute or in an extremely loud bar, NCAA Tournament announcers will have a large impact on how you enjoy the games. In fact, by the end of the Tournament (and after watching a whole season of basketball), you'll probably have strong feeling of love or hate towards certain announcing teams.

 

Missouri Valley - Title Game
#4 Illinois State vs. #2 Creighton, 2:00 p.m. (CBS)

Three tickets to the NCAA tournament will be punched on Saturday, beginning with the Big South title game matching seven-seed VMI and regular season champion UNC Asheville. Eddie Biedenbach's Bulldogs have avoided the turmoil on the opposite side of the bracket, which saw both Coastal Carolina and Campbell fall in the quarterfinals. Duggar Baucom's Keydets were the ones who knocked off CCU, as they shot an impressive 14-for-28 from three in their 85-68 win over the Chanticleers.

Saturday's Conference Tournament Primer

Friday will be a busy night in regards to conference tournaments, with eight leagues paring down their respective fields. But there's no team on the slate more in need of a win than BYU, who takes on six-seed San Diego in the second quarterfinal of the night. The uncertainty that surrounds forward Noah Hartsock's knee injury doesn't help matters for Dave Rose's team, but whether or not he's able to play the Cougars need to avoid a misstep agains the Toreros.

Johnny Dee went off on Pepperdine on Thursday night, scoring 30 points to lead San Diego to the 76-54 win.