MAAC

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

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.

In the most recent installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Loyola (MD) great Andy O'Donnell. A guard who helped lead the Greyhounds to three NAIA Tournament appearances, O'Donnell remains just one of two Loyola (MD) alums to have played in the NBA. Mike Morrison (1990) was the other Greyhound to have reached the NBA.

Jon Teitel: Why did you decide to go to Loyola?

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 big game on Monday night is a rematch between Texas (18-3, 6-0) and Texas A&M (17-3, 4-2), with the latter needing a win in order to remain a serious factor in the Big 12 race. Texas controlled the first meeting back on January 19th, winning by the final score of 81-60 behind 27 points and eight rebounds from Jordan Hamilton. The presence of Hamilton underlined the issue for Texas A&M but on the other side of the floor: who's their perimeter bell cow to put points on the board in key situations?

Overall Rank: #83

Overall Rank: #97

In his latest coaches interview, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Rider head coach Kevin Bannon, who led the Broncs to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 1993 and 1994. From Lawrenceville Coach Bannon went on to Rutgers, where he coached four season before being fired in 2001. Now working in broadcasting as well as two different Mercer County (NJ) commissions (Park and Sports & Entertainment), Coach Bannon has even won an Emmy Award for his broadcasting work.