Southern

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.

Before the season began CHN writer spent some time with current College of Charleston head coach Bobby Cremins to talk about his time at Georgia Tech along with a couple other coaching stops. Cremins took over a program that went 4-23 in the season before his arrival and within four years led the Yellow Jackets to an ACC Tournament title. His 1990 squad made it all the way to the Final Four in Denver, where they were knocked out by eventual national champion UNLV. Cremins' current team leads the Southern Conference and boasts one of the best guard in America in senior Andrew Goudelock.

While many cite the way in which Villanova (21-6, 9-5) shot the three in their 83-72 win at the Carrier Dome last month, it may have been the foul line that did in Syracuse (22-6, 9-6) on that Saturday afternoon. Jay Wright's team hit 11 of 24 from deep but the Orange were nearly as good, making 10 on 26 attempts. That's where the foul line, and Villanova's ability to get there, made the difference as they knocked down 22 of 24 to Syracuse's 8-for-12 performance.

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 crazy nature of the Pac-10 is highlighted by this simple fact: Oregon State, a team who has lost to the likes of Seattle, Texas Southern and Utah Valley this season, is the lone conference team to own wins over both Arizona and Washington. The second of those Pac-10 victories came on Thursday night as the Beavers outscored Washington 36-24 in the second half of the 68-56 victory. Jared Cunningham scored a team-high 19 points and Calvin Haynes added 11 off the bench, but it was the foul and three-point lines that made the difference in Corvallis.

Two of the best teams in the Southern Conference meet on Thursday night as defending champion Wofford (12-10, 9-2) hits the road to take on College of Charleston (15-7, 8-2). With neither team having the greatest of computer numbers (RPI: Wofford 147, Charleston 100; SOS: Wofford 166, Charleston 221) both fit the profile of teams who could scare an opponent despite the seed they could get in the NCAA Tournament (can't forget Chattanooga, who leads the North Division with a 9-2 record).

As part of his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time in the preseason with current Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. Coach Tillette, who led a New Orleans-based Babe Ruth team to the World Series title as a child, is the all-time wins leader in Samford history and was also an outstanding high school coach in the Crescent City. Currently his Samford Bulldogs are 10-7 overall and 2-3 in the Southern Conference.

Overall Rank: #59

Conference Rank: #1 Southern Conference

In the latest installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Samford great Steve Barker. Barker is the Bulldogs' second all-time scorer with a total of 1,902 points and career leader in free throw percentage. Barker is now the head basketball coach at McLean County High School in Kentucky.