What a few weeks it's been in the world of college basketball. Pretenders on the bubble are getting seperated out (Maryland, Marquette, Washington State, VCU) and real contenders are stepping up (George Mason, Old Dominion, St Johns, Wichita State etc.) Then there are the people like Utah State, Alabama and Belmont. Absolutely dominating their conference but with no real resume OOC to speak of. The committee will have some tough work to do this year, that is for sure.

The two most impressive mid majors anywhere right now are Wichita State and George Mason. Both of these teams look like they could be capable of doing some serious damage come March in the NCAA tourney. It's a shame that the Bracketbusters matched Wichita State up with a struggling VCU and likewise Mason with a injured, shaky UNI. GMU vs. Wichita State would bring back great memories of their 2 battles in 05 06, not just because of the matchup but because the level of play on the court would be nearly as high. Who knows, maybe they'll get a chance to meet each other yet again in the Round of 16. If they keep playing the way they are playing now, there is certainly a chance. They aren't just two of the best mid majors out there right now they are two of the best teams, period, anywhere in college basketball.

Big time kudos to Turner Broadcasting for finally getting it right with the NCAA tournament starting times. Instead of jamming all the games together to try and fit them in around the evening and late news, Turner stations will give you a more spread out, easier to enjoy every game scenario where you won't be desperately scrambling to try and watch three games at once coming down to the wire. Yes, it'll probably be harder for the average fan to find some of these channels on tv, but we here at Tourneybubble could care less about the average fan, the die hards are who matter to us and its really great news for our fellow college basketball fanatics!

The Bracketbusters are once again looming large this year. We already discussed how Wichita State and Mason would have been an amazing matchup and its a shame it didn't happen. With that said though, there are some huge opportunities/potential disappointments out there on the horizon. If GMU, who is steamrolling through the CAA, were somehow to lose at Northern Iowa, it might take a little of the luster off their recent run and hurt the CAA's chances for multiple bids. Have to think Mason is close to a lock right now but losing at Northern Iowa could open the discussion back up, even if that isn't a very fair scenario. By the same token, Wichita State could do themself a huge favor by beating a solid although struggling VCU team on their home court Friday night. It'll be a top 100 win against a good RPI team from the CAA. Should they lose at home, however, to a team that was just pasted twice in a row by GMU and ODU, it might do some severe damage to Wichita's at large bid chances. Also, while VCU's at large chances are pretty much dead now, the Rams getting a road win this late in the season over a possible at large team in the Shockers would be a huge boost to their CAA mates ODU and GMU who are both very much alive for an at large and were able to take down the Rams pretty easily over the last week. Winning at Wichita State would make those 2 wins look that much better for each team. 

In other BB games, Utah State absolutely MUST win at St. Mary's. The Gaels are probably in at this point barring a severe collapse down the stretch thanks in large part to the relative weakness of the bubble right now. The Aggies, however, absolutely HAVE to get a marquee win. Hell, they have to get a top 100 win, of which they have ZERO right now. If they lose to St. Mary's on top of just being upset by Idaho on the road, there is really not much chance we can see for them to get an at large bid again this year having done zero to earn it. There are more deserving teams out there who have actually won tough games.

ODU and Clev. State will also be a very interesting bubble game, as ODU is probably on the good side of the bubble right now and Cleveland State is probably just on the bad side. Would a road win help pull Clev. State onto the good side? Would it knock ODU over to the bad side? Would a ninth top 100 and third top 50 victory for ODU pretty much wrap up the at large bid for them should they need it? Can Norris Cole get anywhere near his INCREDIBLE 40, 20, 9 line from the other night against a defensive duo as good as Kent Bazemore and Ben Finney? Lot's of very good sideplots in this game and a heck of a way to wrap up this year's Bracketbusters. 

Back to the Big East, I really don't care how good talking heads say that conference is, they simply just do not deserve 11 bids. Despite receiving the most bids of any conference pretty much every year, they haven't had a national champ since 2004. They get more chances than anyone and are still coming up short. Think about it rationally, the freaking 11th place team in a conference getting an atlarge bid! It really doesn't matter how good your damn conference is, if you can't even finish in the top half, much less the top 10, you do not deserve an at large bid to the NCAA tourney! Especially not at the expense of a 1st or second or possible even third place mid major who didn't win their conference tourney. Marquette and Cincinatti are decent teams but neither one of them truly deserves an at large bid based on their current play. Being mediocre to below mediocre in a great but slightly overrated conference doesn't make you a good team. I'll be very disappointed in the NCAA selection committee if they take more than 9 Big East teams this year. Heck, more than 8 is really pushing it but West Va. and St. John's can probably make some noise in the dance if they get a good draw. They could also lose in the first round though.

Finally, some bigtime props to Charles Jenkins from Hofstra. Not only is he the CAA POTY and potential all American, not only did he nearly single handedly lead his team to a top 4 finish in the CAA and help them get that all important 1st round bye in the CAA tourney, but he also just had one of the most unbelievable games in NCAA history. Tuesday night against a game William and Mary squad, Jenkins was the definition of the word clutch. Down 3 with 4 seconds left, Jenkins got the ball on an inbound, looked his defender down and stepped up and nailed the contested 3 with 2.7 seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime. Not content with that, Jenkins found himself in a tie game after 2 W&M FT's with 4 seconds left. Jenkins got the inbound under his own basket, drove the length of the court and pulled up from 35 feet as time expired and nailed the game winning shot.

2 buzzer beaters in 1 game, a huge game at that, which helped clinch a first round bye for Hofstra for the first time since 06 07. The guy is a stud, if you haven't seen him play before, check out his Brackebuster game this weekend against Wright State on ESPN2 at 11 am. The kid is worth the price of admission by himself.