Wed Update

• Villanova, led by Sooner-for-a-Month Scottie Reynolds, beat the Syracuse Orange. That pretty much destroys any hope of Jim Boeheim's squad making the tourney. there's always the NIT, which will bend every which way to get the Orange into the MSG for the finals.
• Mt. St. Mary's (sounds like an adult movie title, not a school) beat Sacred Heart to earn a berth into the tourney.
• Hampton, the second place team in the MEAC, lost to Coppin State today, clearing out one of the tougher teams in the path of the Morgan State Golden Bears. My daughter's been doing US geography this year - after getting the basics of Africa and Asia down over the past couple of years. Still don't know that we have a Morgan State in the 50. Morgan Rum I'm aware of. Don't know if their related. Morgan State is the alma mater of Dallas Cowboy Mark Washington, most noted for being the DB that watched Lynn Swann make several amazing catches in the Super Bowl.
• In the Atlantic-10, Rhode Island secured their spot in the NIT with a loss to UNC Charlotte. They appear to be calling themselve Charlotte this year and dropping the UNC piece. I think this is an attempt at a fresh start now that the D'Angelo Alexander era is over.
• Portland State - another geography head scratcher - is alma mater of noted Pac-10 referee Gordon Riese, defeated Northern Arizona to win the Big Sky Conference's bid in the tourney. For those of you who are believers in Karma, you can attribute Portland State's efforts in becoming Salmon Safe as overcoming any technology gaffes that cost the Sooners a 9-3 record in 2005.

Tomorrow the major conference tourneys start in earnest - and boy is Ernie uncomfortable - and we'll see how things shake out in for some of the major conference bubbles.

If you're interested in tracking the RPI, it's here.