America East

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.

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.

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 game between Purdue and Wisconsin was a big one as the two teams were tied for second place in the Big Ten with matching 9-3 league records. Add in Wisconsin's 66-59 win over the Boilermakers just 15 days prior and the rematch in West Lafayette was even more important for Matt Painter's team. And they rose to the occasion, turning the ball over just four times and limiting the Badgers to 3-for-19 from beyond the arc in winning 70-62.

Before the season began it was tough to find anyone who picked the Vermont Catamounts to repeat as America East champions. Having to replace four starters, most notably the conference's best player in Marqus Blakely, would make nearly any team a tough sell. But Mike Lonergan's Catamounts have found a way to not only survive but thrive, and a win over Maine tomorrow night would clinch the regular season title and at the very least a berth in the NIT.

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series, CHN writer spent some time with former Boston University head coach Dennis Wolff. Coach Wolff, who is now the Director of Operations at Virginia Tech, was let go by the school after fifteen seasons and the most wins in school history. Under Coach Wolff the Terriers won five conference titles and made two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Jon Teitel: You played two years at LSU and then two at Connecticut. Why did you decide to go to LSU and why did you decide to transfer to Connecticut?

In the most recent installment of his "Forgotten Legends" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time talking with Albany legend Jamar Wilson. Wilson led the Great Danes to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, the first of which came in 2006 when he and his teammates controlled the flow of play for 30 minutes against top-seed UConn in 2006. The school's all-time leading scorer, Wilson is now playing in Europe.

Jon Teitel: You were named All-America East during each of your 4 years at Albany.

Overall Rank: #111

Overall Rank: #115

In his latest coaches interview, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Vermont head coach Tom Brennan, one of the more personable figures in college basketball. Brennan led the Catamounts to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (2003-05), including the first Tournament win in school history when Vermont knocked off Syracuse in 2005. 

Jon Teitel: You graduated as the all-time leading scorer at Phillipsburg Catholic High School. How far did you think you could make it as a player?