NEC

One final Pac-10 Thursday before the end of the regular season, and the showcase matchup is a hot UCLA (21-8, 12-4) squad taking their show on the road to face Washington (19-9, 10-6) in an important game for both. The Huskies put forth a lackluster showing on Sunday night as they were soundly whipped by rival Washington State, and given their overall resume Lorenzo Romar's team may be slipping back into a position they'd rather avoid.

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.

In the latest installment in his "Coaching Great" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Robert Morris head coach Jarrett Durham. Coach Durham led the Colonials to three NCAA Tournament appearances in Moon Township and remains the school's winningest coach. Durham now works at his alma mater, Duquesne, as a Special Assistant to the Athletic Director in addition to calling the men's basketball games on the radio (WPBG-FM 104.7 in Pittsburgh). 

The Northeast Conference annually has a race that rivals that of many leagues in terms of competitiveness for the simple fact that not everyone qualifies for the conference tournament. With just the top eight teams eligible for the event any level of separation that a team can gain is a valuable benefit. Such is the case of Jim Ferry's Long Island Blackbirds, who have won 10 of their last 11 games in jumping to an 8-2 record in conference play (16-5 overall).

One sequence, featuring Darnell Gant and Isaiah Thomas, summed up the second half for the Washington Huskies last night.

The series of events that would underline the Huskies' pulling away in an 85-68 victory began with Gant forcing a bad pass inside to Aziz N'Diaye, resulting in a turnover. But instead of sulking and lazily getting back on defense, Gant hustled to the other end and blocked a Kevin Parrom shot...which was then kept inbounds by a diving Thomas. Wait for one of the premier point guards in America to get back into play...give him the ball and watch him go to work.

Overall Rank: #143

Conference Rank: #1 Northeast Conference

In his most recent great player interview, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Quinnipiac great Frank "Porky" Vieira, who was also an outstanding baseball player who went on to coach the sport at the University of New Haven for more than four decades. While head coach Tom Moore had the Bobcats one win away from an NCAA Tournament appearance this season thanks to the likes of James Feldeine and Justin Rutty (two players whose names will go down in QU lore), there's no mistaking the fact that Vieira remains one of the greatest players in school history.

Wednesday is the day where the final days before Selection Sunday begin to get ever more hectic. The Big 12 and Conference USA both begin play with four first round matchup, and while the teams set to represent the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament appear to be set in stone the same can't be said for C-USA. On the "clock" Wednesday is none other than Tulsa, who be playing the tournament in their city even though the Bok Center is not their home floor. Rice is the opening round opponent, a team that they must be to simply retain hope of being a part of the discussion.

In regards to bubble teams Wednesday saw a lot of teams leave the door open for someone to sneak in and grab an at-large bid, and it's made quite the case why we're just fine with sixty-five teams. But with this arguably being the weakest bubble pool in the 64/65 era there are ample opportunities for teams seemingly off the radar to sneak in and grab a bid. One of those teams is Dayton, who visits a Richmond team that looks to be a safe bet for the Big Dance.

One weekend through NEC play is now in the books and the question is which happening is more of a surprise: Saint Francis (PA) tied atop the standings at 2-0 or Mount St. Mary's tied at the bottom with a 0-2 record? I'd go with the former given the Mountaineers' slow start last season, only to end up playing for the conference's NCAA berth in March. We know that Milan Brown's team will be heard from by season's end with players such as Jeremy Goode and Jean Cajou leading the way. As for the Red Flash, Devin Sweetney is once again leading the way but unlike last season he's got some help.