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Earlier today CHN writer Jon Teitel spent a few minutes with LIU head coach Jim Ferry, whose Blackbirds beat Robert Morris 85-82 in overtime to win the Northeast Conference title. 27-5 on the season, LIU has the depth to be a problem and they rank among the best teams in America when it comes to getting to the foul line. Forwards Julian Boyd and Jamal Olasewere are two of the key cogs up front, and the first-year point guard tandem of freshman Jason Brickman and South Alabama transfer C.J. Garner has paid off as well.

While the regular season battle between Rutgers and St. John's was a tight affair that wasn't decided until the final seconds, it paled in comparison to what happened at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday afternoon. Rutgers came out on the short end of the stick in numerous situations late in the game with regards to the officiating. From Mike Coburn not getting a foul call despite having to deal with contact on a shot attempt to Jonathan Mitchell having a player go over his back on a missed free throw the breaks all seemed to go to the Red Storm.

More conference tournaments enter the fray on Wednesday with the Big 12 and Pac-10 being two of the seven conference tournaments that open. The Big 12 will be of particular interest as two teams playing today can ill-afford a first round loss. Baylor and Colorado are both in need of more wins; how many more is unknown but a loss to either Iowa State or Oklahoma could do irreparable harm to their at-large hopes. The task is simple for the Buffaloes: Alec Burks, Cory Higgins and Levin Knutson need to be on offensively while on the defensive end they have to slow down Diante Garrett.

One final Pac-10 Thursday before the end of the regular season, and the showcase matchup is a hot UCLA (21-8, 12-4) squad taking their show on the road to face Washington (19-9, 10-6) in an important game for both. The Huskies put forth a lackluster showing on Sunday night as they were soundly whipped by rival Washington State, and given their overall resume Lorenzo Romar's team may be slipping back into a position they'd rather avoid.

The college basketball fan's favorite month of the year is finally upon us, as 346 teams are narrowed down to 68 before the process of determining a national champion begins. The first week is primarily a time for leagues that traditionally get just one bid to the NCAA Tournament to sort themselves out, with some of the most indelible images of "Championship Week" coming during this time. Below are the schedules for the tournaments that begin this weekend (the Big Sky still has games to play and the Sun Belt has yet to release their bracket) with some notes and predictions.

In the latest installment in his "Coaching Great" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Robert Morris head coach Jarrett Durham. Coach Durham led the Colonials to three NCAA Tournament appearances in Moon Township and remains the school's winningest coach. Durham now works at his alma mater, Duquesne, as a Special Assistant to the Athletic Director in addition to calling the men's basketball games on the radio (WPBG-FM 104.7 in Pittsburgh). 

The Northeast Conference annually has a race that rivals that of many leagues in terms of competitiveness for the simple fact that not everyone qualifies for the conference tournament. With just the top eight teams eligible for the event any level of separation that a team can gain is a valuable benefit. Such is the case of Jim Ferry's Long Island Blackbirds, who have won 10 of their last 11 games in jumping to an 8-2 record in conference play (16-5 overall).

One sequence, featuring Darnell Gant and Isaiah Thomas, summed up the second half for the Washington Huskies last night.

The series of events that would underline the Huskies' pulling away in an 85-68 victory began with Gant forcing a bad pass inside to Aziz N'Diaye, resulting in a turnover. But instead of sulking and lazily getting back on defense, Gant hustled to the other end and blocked a Kevin Parrom shot...which was then kept inbounds by a diving Thomas. Wait for one of the premier point guards in America to get back into play...give him the ball and watch him go to work.