Nam Y. Huh - AP

3 months ago: Northwestern's Jeremy Nash, left, and teammate Matt Steger hold the Chicago Invitational Challenge trophy after they defeated Iowa State 67-65 during an NCAA college basketball game in the Chicago Invitational Challenge in Chicago, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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There was quite a bit of tournament action and other games of note on Saturday. Here's a sampling of what went down.

Legends Classic - Day 2

• There was no letdown for Florida, who beat Rutgers, 73-58, to claim the title.
• No. 2 Michigan State had no problem with UMass in the third-place game, prevailing 106-68.

Chicago Invitational - Day 2

• The quest for the first ever bid is back on track.  Northwestern knocked off Iowa State, 67-65, to claim the crown.
• Notre Dame took third with a 64-52 win over St. Louis.
• In the mid-major bracket, Liberty finished first, after defeating Tennessee State, 63-60.  Kennesaw State finished third, beating Mississippi Valley State 85-68.

South Padre Invitational - Day 2

• Richmond claimed the crown, continuing a nice early season for the A-10.  The Spiders beat Missouri, 59-52.
• Mississippi State finished third, as they defeated Old Dominion 69-55.
• Among the mid-majors, Bethune-Cookman took first, as they beat Texas-Pan American, 67-64.  Chattanooga took out Longwood for third, 74-70.

Las Vegas Invitational - Day 2

• Oklahoma State is the champion, as they had no trouble with Utah in the final, winning 77-55.
• Bradley finished third, sending Illinois to their second straight loss in the process, 72-68.
• Wofford edged Seattle, 84-83 to claim the mid-major crown.  Presbyterian finished third, beating Southern 71-69.

Great Alaska Shootout - Day 4

• Oklahoma finally won a game to finish fifth, knocking off Nicholls State 81-60.
• Houston claimed third by beating host Alaska-Anchorage, 73-57.
• Washington State rolled over San Diego, 93-56, to claim the title.

Philly Hoop Group Classic - Day 3

• Siena beat Brown, 99-79.
• Virginia Tech defeated Delaware, 74-66.
• St. John's picked up a second nice win in as many nights, beating Temple 55-48.

In non-tournament action, 

• William and Mary stunned Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, 78-68.
• No. 4 Villanova won a Big Five contest over La Salle, 81-63.
• UNLV upset No. 16 Louisville again, 76-71.
• Boston College beat Providence, 82-77.
• Dayton only beat Towson by five at UD Arena.
• Tulane picked up a nice 76-71 win over George Mason.
• Oregon State won at George Washington, 64-57.
• Missouri State upset C-USA favorite Tulsa in Springfield, 83-75.
• Cornell beat Vermont by 8 in a Legends Classic "subregional" game.
• Northeastern beat Wright State, 70-67, in Boston.
• Wichita State drubbed Cleveland State, 69-54.
• DePaul snuck by Detroit at home, 68-66.
• Davidson's woes continue, as they lost by 10 at home to Rhode Island.
• Appalachian State got a nice one-point win over Morgan State in Boone.
• Santa Clara beat Fresno State, 74-67, in a West Coast Classic game.

If you don't see your team's score, click on any of the score links.  You'll find a list of all the day's games along the right hand side of the page.

For tomorrow's TV lineup, including schedules from the Old Spice and 76 Classics, visit my Saturday morning recap.

Ed Reinke - AP

3 months ago: Kentucky's John Wall goes between Miami of Ohio's Julian Mavunga (4) and Nick Winbush (20) for a basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. Wall had 19 points in Kentucky's 72-70 win. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

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Since I already previewed today's action here, this post will only recap Monday night's games, with the first few contests from the early morning hours on this enjoyable gimmick of a day thrown in for good measure.

The big story of the day was John Wall's debut at Kentucky, and he bailed the Wildcats out against Miami (Ohio), which ended up 72-70 UK.  You can see his game winning shot here.

The other big attraction of the night was regional play in the NIT Season Tip-Off. 

• In the North region, Stanley Robinson and Kemba Walker led UConn to a win over Colgate.  The Huskies will next face Hofstra, 68-63 winners over Yale.
• The South region final will feature Western Kentucky and LSU in Baton Rouge.  The Hilltoppers got 30 from A.J. Slaughter to beat Milwaukee, 69-65, while the Bayou Bengals had little problem with Indiana State, winning 56 to 45.
• Duke will meet Charlotte in the East final in Durham.  Kyle Singler had a double double (23 points, 11 boards) to lead the Blue Devils to a 25-point win over Coastal Carolina.  The 49ers beat Elon in game two, 75 to 61.
• Out West, TCU, 83-65 winners over Cal State-Northridge, will face homestanding Arizona State, who beat Texas State 84 to 62.

After the jump, I'll have some of the other action from today, including the scores of the first few games of the round the clock marathon.

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Nam Y. Huh - AP

4 months ago: Northwestern's Kevin Coble leaves after a news conference before an NCAA college basketball game between Northwestern and Northern Illinois in Evanston, Ill., Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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According to this Andy Katz item on ESPN.com, Kevin Coble will redshirt because of his broken foot and senior Jeff Ryan blew out his ACL, also costing him the season for Northwestern.  

The Coble injury happened the day after I included the Wildcats in my Final Preseason Bracket.  So, I have to take full responsibility for this one.  According to this Chicago Tribune item. NU will be loaded next season with Coble's return.  I'll be sure to ignore them when formulating my 2011 Preseason Bracket.  Be sure to visit our Northwestern site, Sippin' On Purple, for the full wailing and gnashing of teeth experience.

Also, I really have been the kiss of death this week.  Oregon State, another woebegone program I had included, also hasn't had a great week.

Well, that took long enough!

For the most part, I can now stop my daily check of NCAA.com and Google News for information about tournament sites for the next few seasons (with one exception that I'll talk about shortly.)  With the 2009-2010 season quickly approaching, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee today announced the cities that will host games in the 2011 through 2013 editions of March Madness.  This is the first time I can remember an announcement a mere year before the event. Typically, if you look at the listing of Championship sites, you'll see at least three years worth of arenas listed. You'd think they'd need more time at this point to get all of the wood together to build the boring, generic courts that are now present at the majority of tournament sites.

The group of cities selected for 2011-2013 is a good mix of old standbys with some new locations.  I'll talk more about them after the jump.

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In a 16-team conference where you play 18 league games, the combination of opponents you get twice can make or break your tournament hopes.  Just ask Providence, who went 10-8 last year, and West Virginia, who had the same mark. 

If you're a Big East fan, you may want to check out this year's league schedule, just released by the conference office.  The page also includes a link to the non-conference TV schedule. (It's the 2009-10 Composite Schedule link.)

I'll talk a little more about the Big East schedule in my 2009-10 travel plans post tomorrow evening. (I have a lot of schedules to look at between now and then.)  In the meantime, I'm interested in hearing what you Big East fans out there have to say about your team's chances, now that the road map is out there.

Now that our long national nightmare is over and FIU will play at UNC in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, I can now safely go away for the Labor Day weekend.

I'm headed to New York Saturday morning to see the Cubs face the Mets, then Rays-Yankees on Monday afternoon.  I'll have one more proposal to wrap up at the day job next week, at which point normal posting will resume.  As football kicks off this weekend, it's time for me to start an extended season preview.  Expect the first bits later next week. They'll be random, but they'll also be hoops content.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

According to this NCAA.org release, Oklahoma City will now have first and second round games on Thursday, March 18 and Saturday, March 20, while Spokane's set of games shift to Friday, March 19 and Sunday, March 21.

I did find it curious that two Pacific time zone sites (San Jose is the other) would be scheduled for the same set of days.

This appears to be the case based on this Dana O'Neil story I just saw on ESPN.com.  The NCAA Committee on Infractions will release their report, where most of the allegations centered on Derrick Rose's academic eligibility and his brother's travel arrangements with the team.

To me, vacating wins is a completely useless exercise, as everyone who reads this blog remembers that season and the results of those games.  (Unless the NCAA is going to use their press conference tomorrow to introduce a real life version of the mind-erasing technology used by the Men in Black.) Of course, the main actor in this story, Rose, isn't even with the program anymore.  Neither is his coach, John Calipari, who moved onto Kentucky this year.  (Calipari hasn't been a focus of the investigation.)

The real question is how this will impact the Memphis program in the future.  As long as there are no postseason or scholarship penalties, there shouldn't be too much of an impact.  That's a good thing for a Tiger program that will have to adjust to the new leadership of Josh Pastner and the roster and recruiting upheaval that followed Calipari's departure.  Not that all that change will necessarily mean much in Conference USA.