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 have 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 might have missed [...]

Nevada 71, VCU 70
In many cases teams don’t play as well without their head coach.  That wasn’t the case on Friday night when Nevada coach Mark Fox was ejected with 8:20 to play with his Wolf Pack squad down close to double-digits.  Fox’s ejection, due to arguing with a questionable foul call, energized the home [...]

Northeastern 69, Wright State 57
Imagine the reaction, the emotion felt crowdwide when a magician flubs his magic trick.  From heightened anticipation to equal parts disdain and unease.  The very same sequence repeated itself numerous times in Northeastern’s 69-57 victory over the host Wright State Raiders (16-12) Saturday morning.
With WSU collectively playing the [...]

Butler 75, Davidson 63
The Worldwide Leader in Sports got what it wanted when Stephen Curry, a gametime decision due to an ankle injury, suited up and stepped on the floor for the opening tip. Unfortunately for Davidson, Curry’s presence made little difference against Butler on ESPNU BracketBuster weekend.
Butler went into Davidson on Saturday afternoon [...]

Portland State 93, Boise State 81
Though this game had little impact on the NCAA Tournament, in terms of either potential at-large selections or seeding, it was huge for Portland State’s confidence. 
Losers of four of their last seven in Big Sky Conference play, the Vikings sorely needed a W against a quality opponent. They got it, [...]

Vermont 78, Buffalo 70
The visiting Bulls could do no wrong on offense during the game’s first eight minutes.  Normally-raucous Patrick Gymnasium sounded more like Patrick Library, as the Bulls’ offensive prowess and disruptive defense declawed the Catamounts on both ends of the floor and silenced the crowd early in the game.
Senior PG Mike Trimboli, Vermont’s all-time fourth-leading [...]

Niagara 70, Illinois State 56
No matter how much Illinois State chiseled at its lead, Niagara was not going to be denied on this night, in this game.
In the opening act of the 2009 ESPNU Bracketbusters, the Purple Eagles sprinted out to a big lead in front of the faithful Gallagher Center crowd and held on [...]

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 ESPN’s Andy Katz [...]

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 State, but [...]