Articles

Four more conferences join in on the tournament fun on Wednesday while the Big South moves on to the quarterfinal round, meaning that more teams will see their season come to an end. The top two seeds in the Atlantic Sun, regular season champion Belmont and host school Mercer, begin their journey in Macon and both teams will be prohibitive favorites to advance. Rick Byrd's Bruins enter tournament play on an 11-game win streak and they won both regular season meetings with 8-seed Jacksonville by double digits.

Rick Barnes' Texas (9-2) Longhorns have gotten off to a solid start despite heavy personnel losses from last year's NCAA Tournament team, but outside of a neutral-court win over NC State there aren't any decisions that jump off the page. Can't credit Santa with this pre-Christmas "gift" but they've got a great opportunity to pick up a quality win as they visit #6 North Carolina (10-2). One key for Texas' prospects this season is the play of freshman point guard Myck Kabongo (10.8 ppg, 6.0 apg), and the Canadian has shown signs by the game that he'll be alright.

In the days leading up to Indiana's game against#1 Kentucky at Assembly Hall there weren't too many people who thought that the Hoosiers could knock off the Wildcats. There were a few outside of the Indiana fan base who picked Tom Crean's team to win, but the majority of the predictions ranged anywhere from a close loss to a Kentucky blowout with IU's schedule to date being the main reason why.

Before the start of action on Saturday few had any idea that the day would end up being as wild as it was. Seven ranked teams fell to unranked opponents on a day that will have a drastic impact on Monday's polls, providing a reminder that the madness doesn't always wait until March to get going. Those results were as follows:

In the latest installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Austin Peay great Charles "Bubba" Wells. Wells, who remains the all-time leading scorer in APSU history, led the Governors to the 1996 NCAA Tournament and played in various professional leagues after graduating in 1997. Wells' wife, Tracee, is currently the head coach of the women's basketball program at Tennessee State.

Jon Teitel: How did you get the nickname Bubba and did you like the nickname?