Big Ten

The bubble has been so bad that we've become used to the sight of someone else shooting themselves in the foot. But outside of losses incurred by Colorado State (to a New Mexico team that could work its way back into the conversation), UAB (in overtime to East Carolina) and Washington State (to Washington) it was a good day for the teams most in need of wins at this stage in the season. On the flip side of Washington State's misfortune despite a performance for the ages from Klay Thompson was the second half revival for Washington, with C.J.

Friday offers up some big matchups but none may be bigger than Georgia and Alabama in the first game of the day at the SEC Tournament. Both can still use wins (to be honest, who can't?) with the winner today keeping alive the ability to state their case on the floor while the loser has to hope their resume is good enough to warrant an NCAA Tournament bid. And the scouting reports should be fresh as the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide met in Saturday's regular season finale, a 65-57 Alabama victory in Tuscaloosa. The difference: turnovers.

With more games come more opportunities to see who actually wants to go to the NCAA Tournament. Now that the Big 12 (for the most part) has sorted itself out it's time for conferences such as the ACC, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-10 and SEC to begin their tournaments in earnest (the Mountain West and Pac-10 had games yesterday but none had an impact on the field of 68).

One game to keep an eye on tips off late in Greensboro with banged-up Virginia Tech taking on Georgia Tech in the final game of the day.

By this time next Sunday there will be more than 20 teams guaranteed inclusion in the 2011 NCAA Tournament and the first three tickets were punched on Saturday. UNC Asheville (Big South), Belmont (Atlantic Sun) and Morehead State (Ohio Valley) all won their conference tournament finals while Princeton (Ivy) missed out on a chance to join the fun with their loss at Harvard. Now the Tigers need to beat rival Penn at the Palestra to forge a tie atop the standings, forcing a one-game playoff with Harvard for the Ancient Eight's automatic bid.

Trailing by just one point (25-24) at the half but mostly stifled offensively (21.2% FG) the Washington Huskies needed someone to step up and change the flow of the game. Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning struggled to find clean looks, which is to be expected given how prominently they figure in the Husky attack. Enter freshman CJ Wilcox, overlooked by some who chose to focus on the loss of Terrence Jones and the anticipated impact of Terrence Ross.

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with the son of the late Walter "Doc" Meanwell. Coach Meanwell led the University of Wisconsin to eight Big Ten championships and three Helms national titles during his time in Madison, moving on to become the school's athletic director before starting his own medical practice.

Jon Teitel: Your father was born in England but came over to America at age 3. Why did your family move across the pond, and how did he get into American sports?

Despite an overall record of 19-9 and an SEC record of 11-3 Alabama is still in need of wins to ensure their presence in the field of 68. Why? Further inspection of their schedule provides the reason, with a non-conference schedule that boasts some bad losses and the mixed fortune that comes with playing in the SEC West. On the line tonight is at least a share of the overall SEC title as the Crimson Tide visits Florida (22-6, 11-3) in their lone regular season meeting.

There comes a point in many teams' season where they're faced with a choice: fold up the tent and accept the result, or put up a fight in the face of adversity. That point for Tennessee may have come at the 13:02 mark in the second half, as a Festus Ezeli dunk extended Vanderbilt's lead to 42-31 in front of a raucous crowd at Memorial Gym. Bruce Pearl called a 30 second timeout, making sure to also send Melvin Goins, Tobias Harris and Scotty Hopson back into the game, and from that point forward the Volunteers outscored Vanderbilt 29-9 and winning by the final score of 60-51.

While Vanderbilt (20-6, 8-4) would need a lot of help to catch Florida atop the SEC East standings there's still the matter of sewing up a first round bye in next month's SEC Tournament, and they can move one step closer with a win over Tennessee (16-11, 6-6) Tuesday night. Tennessee won the first meeting between the two, with the Volunteers slumping at the time and needing a second-half revival of sorts (combined with some poor decisions from the Commodores) to pull off the comeback.

Saturday night's matchup between Illinois and Michigan State didn't set up to be the marquee meeting expected when the season began, but it definitely didn't lack for importance with both teams needing wins to ensure an NCAA Tournament appearance. And in a battle of seniors who needed to step up it was Kalin Lucas who came through, scoring 25 points in Michigan State's 71-67 win over the Illini.