ST. LOUIS – Top seeded Northern Iowa can take a deep breath -  at least for now. After being behind for most of the second half, the Panthers survived a scare from ninth-seeded Indiana State by using a late 9-2 run over the last five minutes to earn a 73-69 victory in its Missouri Valley [...]

The first game of the Arch Madness has already sent a 2008 NCAA Tournament team home. Ninth-seeded Indiana State knocked out eighth-seeded and defending Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champion Drake 62-55 Thursday evening. The Sycamores (11-20) jumped out to a 44-23 lead with 15:38 left in the second half after a three-pointer by senior forward [...]

Two big firsts are the big stories heading into the 2009 State Farm MVC Tournament, starting Thursday. 1. If you take the wacky world of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season as a litmus test, nine different teams can make a serious argument that they can take home the championship trophy and the automatic bid [...]

Good Wins: @Xavier, UAB, @Davidson Bad Losses: Loyola (IL), @UW-Milwaukee Strengths: 1. Head coach – I just voted Butler head coach Brad Stevens as my NBWA National Coach of the Year. After losing four starters and being picked to finish well down the Horizon League ladder, he’s led Butler right back to another NCAA Tournament. Plus [...]

Good Wins: sweep of Tennessee, sweep of St. Mary’s and Oklahoma State Bad Losses: Portland State and a blowout loss to Memphis at the Spokane Civic Center Strengths: 1. Putting the ball in the basket – Like a lot of previous Gonzaga teams, this season’s version can also find a way to generate offense, whether it’s [...]

Good Wins: at Gonzaga, vs. Cincinnati, at Tennessee, sweep of UAB Bad Losses: none (but losses are vs. Xavier (San Juan Shootout), at Georgetown, and vs. Syracuse). Strengths: 1. John Calipari has done his best coaching job by getting out of his own way. Ask the Tigers head coach what was the turning point that turned [...]

Saint Mary’s 75, No. 23 Utah State 64 Patty Who? Okay, Patrick Mills has not been forgotten around McKeon Pavilion – not even close. But, after seven games, the Gaels are doing their best to show the Committee they are one of the 34 teams that deserve an at-large bid. “(Utah State) was going to [...]

Siena 81, Northern Iowa 75 These Saints don’t come marching in–they run in, and they don’t stop. Siena (22-6) got its 18th win in a row at the Times-Union Center by making a lesser-athletic team play its style and adjust to its pace of play. While waiting for the Buffalo-Vermont contest to end, basketball fans [...]

Saturday, noon EST, ESPN Michael Buffer should do the pre-game introductions for this game, because the winner will be crowned the unofficial 2009 mid-major champion. Butler head coach Brad Stevens may have the best perspective on this game and how it affects his team trying to make another second weekend of madness run. Stevens told [...]

Saturday, 5 P.M. EST, ESPN2 Utah State goes into St. Mary’s gymnasium desperate for a win. The visitors have to prove that they can win this game on the road even if the Gaels are still without star guard Patty Mills. Stew Morrill’s team had a 19-game winning streak before losing last week at Boise [...]