Other games of note Sat. 2/19

[Bravesfan]

Really nice to see Dick Vitale calling the Valpo/Missouri St. game today. This is his first time calling a Bracketbuster game, and the smallest venue he has ever visited in his 32 years of broadcasting. And he even got picked up at the airport by Homer Drew!

Dickie V. also named Hersey Hawkins to his all time mid-major team which was cool!

Another big Bracketbuster game involved #24 Utah St. picking a markee road victory at #23 St. Mary's 75-65. This should erase all doubt of Utah St. earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament should they fall short in the WAC Tournament. This means teams like Illinois, WSU, MSU and Butler should be very nervous come Selection Sunday if they fail to win their respective conference tourneys!

Finally we saw #2 Texas, #4 Pittsburgh and #8 Notre Dame all lose today, joining #1 Kansas from earlier this week. This means Ohio St. has a good shot to move into the top of this week's rankings FWIW.

[BUfan14]

Illinois should be very worried on any other year. With two probable losses coming up at Ohio State and at Purdue, they will probably finish 19-12, and 9-9 before the Big Ten Tourny. That is just not very good, but the bubble is so weak this year the Illini still have a strong chance to make it, especially if they get a win or two in the conference tourny. That is of course, assuming they beat Indiana and Iowa at home, they already lost to Indiana once...

Joe Lunardi still had Illinois as an 8 seed before today...