You gotta love it

Let's get right to it:

• Louisville 66, DePaul 62. You know this was a big game when 16,000+ came out to the old Rosemont Horizon for this one. The home crowd saw the Blue Demons outplay the Cards for most of it, but give it away at the end to keep the Blue Demons on the bubble. Despite another subpar performance from Francisco Garcia (He's thinking too much about the NBA), Larry O'Bannon and Taqean Dean (in the 2nd half) picked up the slack. Louisville made 11/21 3s, which ended up being the difference as DePaul's Quemont Greer took a bad shot at the end in an effort to tie the game.
  
• Seton Hall 66, West Virginia 63. Bad, bad, bad, bad loss for the Mountaineers, who finish 8-8 in the Big East and now must win at least one game in the Big East tourney. WVU came from 16 down in the 2nd half to make it close, but the Hall got their biggest win of the year by making plays down the stretch to win.
• Xavier 74, Dayton 65. A UD Flyer basketball team now hasn't won a basketball game in the city of Cincinnati in 24 years. This loss forces the Flyers to play 4 games in 4 days if they want to make the NCAAs. The Muskies never trailed, scoring the first 14 points of the game, then holding off every UD challenge to win. UD was within 3 with 3 minutes to go when Will Caudle got 3 the old-fashioned way to seal the deal.
• Georgia Tech 64, Clemson 56. It wasn't pretty, but Tech got to 8-8 in the ACC behind 18 from Jarret Jack and 17 from B.J. Elder. The Jackets are playing better and should be in, but they need to win a game in the ACC tourney to assure their place in the field.
• Texas A&M 84, Baylor 76. The Aggies took care of business, finishing 8-8 in the Big 12. They might need 2 wins in the Big 12 tourney to get in.
• Pittsburgh 85, Notre Dame 77. The Panthers finish the regular season strong, getting back-to-back impressive road wins, clinching the last 1st round bye in the Big East tourney. Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman combined for 48 points and 20 rebounds to lead the way as Pitt shot 57% from the floor, getting an astounding 23 assists. When Taft plays like this, he can be a difference maker and propel Pitt to a higher level. In his last home game, Chris Thomas only went 2/13 from the floor, 0/8 from 3. The Irish are still in good shape, but they can't slip up against Rutgers in the Big East tourney.
• Marshall 54, Miami 47. Bad, bad, bad, bad loss for the Redhawks. At the end of the day, Miami still was able to back into the outright MAC championship thanks to Akron and Ohio losing, but their at-large chances are severly damaged with the loss. 33 of the Redhawks' 52 field goal attempts were 3s, way too many.
• Stanford 77, Washington 67. After the bad loss to Washington St. Thurs. night, Stanford bounced back, literally, into the NCAA tourney, denying the Huskies a share of the Pac 10 title. Stanford did a great job of controlling tempo and getting to the foul line, going 33/40 compared to just 4/6 for UW.
  
• UConn 88, Syracuse 70. I don't want to play UConn right now. Charlie Villaneuva had 14 rebounds, Rudy Gay had 16 points, Demond Brown had 21 points, and Marcus Williams had 11 points and 10 assists for the Huskies. 19 turnovers is still way too many, but 54% shooting and going 30/36 from the line make up for it. The Cuse shot just 31% from the floor, 2/22 from 3. They haven't beaten one great team this year. They have the talent, but there are too many holes in the zone and they take too many bad shots.
• Virginia Tech 86, Maryland 76. So, who do you take if you're the committee? Maryland swept Duke, but finished 7-9 in the ACC, getting swept by NC State and Clemson. Va. Tech beat Duke and Maryland, but got clobbered by NC State recently and haven't beaten anyone else at the top of the league. Tech had all 5 starters in double figures and outrebounded the Terps 39-30, 16-7 on the offensive glass. I'd be worried if you're Maryland. Yes, sweeping Duke counts for something, but so does getting swept by Clemson.
• Indiana 77, Northwestern 55. The Hoosiers finish 10-6 in the Big 10, which usually means an invite, but they need to win at least 1 game, 2 to be safe, to make the Dance.
• South Florida 85, Charlotte 73. Another 49er headscratchter. When will this team ever play with a consistent drive and intensity? Charlotte got outrebounded 42-34, 16-10 offensively. I rest my case.
• Providence 68, Georgetown 65. The Hoyas are on the outside looking in, stumbling to an 8-8 Big East record. They need to win a couple of games in the Big East tourney, because West Virginia has a better at-large profile and would get in over the Hoyas if the season ended today.
• UCLA 73, Oregon 61. Regardless of what happens in the Pac 10 tourney, although they should win their 1st game just to make sure, the Bruins are in after taking care of business at home.
• Texas 74, Oklahoma St. 73. The Longhorns are definitely in after finding a way to win in Stillwater on Senior Night to get to 20 wins. Brad Buckman took on the OSU front line by himself practically, scoring 27 and grabbing 9 rebounds, and the Longhorns outrebounded the more physical Cowboys 33-22. Buckman almost let OSU off the hook, fouling Terrence Crawford as he was heaving a half-court prayer, giving him a chance to tie things up, but he only made 2/3, letting Buckman off the hook.

Let's get into some Championship Week action:

• Winthrop 68, Charleston Southern 46. The Eagles claimed the Big South title, pulling away late to beat the upstart Buccaneers. Winthrop pulled away in the last 10 minutes, making timely 3s while playing tough man defense. The Eagles made 11/22 3s for the game to go to 27-5. Despite their tough defense and shooting, it would take a really bad day by a Top 10 team for Winthrop to have a chance of advancing into the 2nd round.
• Central Florida 63, Gardner-Webb 54. The Golden Knights won the Atlantic Sun title for the second straight year, playing their trademark defense. This team played Pitt tough last year for 35 minutes before falling, and with a lot of guys back, they could give someone a run for their money. It looked as if top seed GW was exhausted from having to go to the buzzer 2 nights in a row just to make it to the finals. The Bulldogs only scored 16 points in the 1st half, and only shot 35% for the game.
• Eastern Kentucky 52, Austin Peay 46. There will be no chants of "Let's Go Peay" in the NCAAs as the Colonels of EKU are going dancing for the first time since 1979. Congrats to former UK star and coach Travis Ford for leading EKU to a school record of 22 wins. This was an ugly game, with neither team shooting better than 40%. I don't see the Colonels giving anyone a scare in the NCAAs, they're just not big enough and won't scare anyone offensively.
• UT-Chattanooga 66, UNC Greensboro 62. Despite almost blowing a 10 point lead with 4:30 left, UTC won the Southern Conference title on their home floor, and are going dancing for the first time since 1997. This team could give someone a run for their money. They're athletic and are good offensively.
  
• America East. 3 seed Boston U. fell 47-45 to Maine, making the road a little easier for top seed Vermont. If the Catamounts knock off Binghamton (on their home floor) in the semis, they will host the championship next weekend against the winner of Northeastern/Maine.
• Big Sky. Montana and Weber St. advanced to the semifinals where they will play Portland St. and Montana St. respectively. Portland St. is the top seed.
• Colonial. Hofstra pulled a mild upset in beating Drexel, but the top 3 teams all advanced to the semifinals comfortably.
  
• Horizon. Detroit upset UW-Green Bay to advance to the finals where they will have to knock off UW-Milwaukee on their home floor to go dancing.
• Metro Atlantic. Iona pulled a mild upset, beating St. Peter's, advancing to the semis to play Niagara, who finally gets to play. This could work against Niagara because it does take some time to adjust to the tournament atmosphere. The length of time it takes Niagara to adjust will determine if they can win and advance to the finals. Rider and Fairfield will play in the other semifinal.
  
• Mid-Continent. Top seed Oral Roberts advanced, but 2 seed UMKC was upset by Oakland. The other 2 quarterfinal matchups take place tomorrow. Oral Roberts has homecourt advantage.
• Missouri Valley. Southwest Missouri St. ended the slim at-large hopes of Northern Iowa by knocking them out in the quarters. The other top seeds advanced to the semis.
• Sun Belt. Denver advanced, but Arkansas-Little Rock was upset by Florida International in the quarterfinals. The other 2 quarterfinal matchups take place tomorrow.
• West Coast. San Diego has advanced to play in Gonzaga in one semifinal, while currently Santa Clara is on their way to playing St. Mary's in the other semifinal.

Now, let's preview tomorrow's action:

• Illinois at Ohio St. This is the National Championship for the Bucks. They are ineligible for postseason play, so they will put everything into this game, and you better believe Thad Matta will have OSU ready. Remember, Matta led his Xavier team to a thrashing of undefeated St. Joe's in the A-10 quarters, starting Xavier's Elite 8 run. Add to that it's an early start and James Augustine is banged up, OHIO ST. WILL BEAT ILLINOIS. (Just to avoid any confusion)
• Duke at North Carolina. A win by UNC sews up a 1 seed in the NCAA tourney. But, can they beat Duke without Rashard McCants? Can Duke beat a quality team without Sean Dockery?
• Wake Forest at NC State. The Deacons still have work to do to earn a 1 seed in the NCAAs. The Wolfpack must win to have any chance of an at-large bid. Can the Deacons play defense on the road?

5 teams have automatically qualified, there are 26 automatic spots left. You gotta love this time of year!!!!!

Also, the US trails Croatia 2-1 in Davis Cup play after the Bryan brothers lost in the doubles. This means Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi must win tomorrow for the US to advance. Phil Mickelson shot 66 to lead by 2 after the 3rd round at Doral. Lurking is Tiger Woods, who shot 63. They will play together in the final group tomorrow.