Oklahoma

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN's Jon Teitel caught up with Billy Tubbs, who led three different schools to the NCAA tournament during his career. At TCU Tubbs won 156 games, leading the Horned Frogs to their last NCAA appearance (1998) during his time in Fort Worth. Also to his credit are multiple tournament appearances at both Lamar and Oklahoma, losing to Kansas in the 1988 national title game when at OU. 

UConn and USF were the big winners on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, while West Virginia and Seton Hall now await their NCAA tournament fate.

With regards to some of the top non-BCS conferences in the country, this is seen as a big week to the uninitiated because of the Sears BracketBusters match ups over the weekend. Those games will be entertaining and all but there's no substitute for going out and winning your league, a mission both VCU (22-5, 13-2) and George Mason (21-6, 13-2) are looking to accomplish in the CAA.

On the heels of their decisive win over Seton Hall, Connecticut (15-7, 5-5) will look to keep things going as they visit #25 Louisville (18-5, 6-4) in a critical Big East matchup. For all the issues that UConn's dealt with recently they're just a game out of fourth, and with that being the final double-bye slot in the Big East Championship this is a game both teams need.

There are better college basketball conferences than the Big 12 in 2011-12.

 

But there are none more entertaining.

It's been an interesting couple of days in college basketball when it comes to travel issues, with Purdue having to bus to Michigan State in the early hours of Saturday for a noon tip. While the Boilermakers hung tough in the first half they lost their legs in the second as the Spartans rolled. So what was going to happen to San Diego State, whose trek to Laramie for an important Mountain West game against Wyoming took 20 hours, not to mention the fact that they'd be playing more than 7,000 feet above sea level?

It's been a while since there's been the ability to say "Wyoming" and "NCAA Tournament" in the same sentence, but in the first season of Larry Shyatt's second run in Laramie the Cowboys (16-3, 2-1) have turned some heads. With first-place #12 San Diego State (17-2, 3-0) visiting, not only can the Pokes pull into a tie atop the Mountain West with a win but they can also lend the NCAA talk a little credibility with a win.

There weren't many opportunities to watch ranked teams play each other (there was just one, which is discussed below), but Saturday's slate provided many teams the chance to improve their resumes. Florida State and Northwestern took full advantage of their opportunities as they both knocked off Top 10 opponents at home, albeit in different ways.

On the heels of losses at Seton Hall and Rutgers, with the leadership capabilities of the team being questioned both within and outside of the locker room, Connecticut needed a win over West Virginia in a big way. But the Huskies didn't play with that sense of urgency out of the gates, as the Mountaineers grabbed eight offensive rebounds to UConn's zero on their way to a 33-28 lead. If the rebounding wasn't bad enough the turnovers were, as the Huskies turned the ball over nine times leading to 15 Mountaineer points.

While most of the country will be captivated by the BCS Championship Game, there are suitable alternatives on the college basketball schedule for those not interested in watching the rematch. The game that stands out has to be Cincinnati (12-4, 2-1) visiting #11 Georgetown (13-2, 3-1) with both teams looking to bounce back from losses suffered on Saturday afternoon. The situation may be even more important for the Bearcats, who despite their seven-game win streak ahead of their last-second loss to St.