To be honest, there is one last mid-major tournament final that gets preference tonight before the major conferences take their turn on the stage. The Patriot final at 7:30 pm EST will see Colgate try to defend their regular season title against 2nd place Boston University. Colgate managed to win both games during the regular season against Boston – a third win sends them to the dance.

There are some major conferences in play but they are still all the early rounds. Things really get interesting for them tomorrow. But this isn’t Thursday’s viewing guide – so here are the bubble teams who found themselves stuck in an interesting early round game (or just games of interest).

2 pm – NC State vs Pittsburgh. Don’t know what to think about NC State – they have a NET ranking of 54 so they are in the discussion. Can’t really afford to lose this game.

5:30 pm – Arizona vs Washington. Arizona is also an interesting team. Their NET ranking of 14th says they are safely in the tournament. But I suspect things might get a little bit uncomfortable if they lose to Washington and their NET falls.

7 pm – St John’s vs Georgetown. A pair of teams in the 60s of the rankings. Don’t worry think either can get in without winning the Big East tourney (each has too many losses) – but these two teams should be evenly matched for an entertaining game.

7pm – Notre Dame vs Boston College. The Fighting Irish are in the 50s of NET. They have done that by winning the games they are supposed to but always falling short against the top teams. To have any chance they have to beat one of those top teams in the ACC – which implies they better beat BC so they can get a chance to do that Thursday.

8:30 pm – Indiana vs Nebraska. The Hoosiers are likely the Big 10s best hope to get 10 teams in the dance, since I can’t see my Boilers making it with 16 losses unless they get to the final on Sunday. Indiana doesn’t have 16 losses but – you don’t make a good impression by losing to Nebraska – who just added 2 football players to the team to fill their roster after suspending two players.

9 pm – Arkansas vs Vanderbilt. Arkansas is the best test of what the committee does with injuries. The Razorbacks are 19-7 this season with second leading scorer Isaiah Joe. But they went 0-5 while he was out for a knee injury. His return to the lineup has got Arkansas winning again (including recently against LSU). But we might not get to find out if the committee will look past their 7-11 SEC conference record due to the injury if they don’t handle business against Vandy.

9 pm – Stanford vs Cal. Stanford is like Arizona – really good NET ranking at 30 but don’t want the last memory of the committee being a lost to Cal.

9 pm – UNC vs Syracuse. Can a deep run in the ACC tourney get Syracuse to the dance (they have done it before). Can you believe the Tar Heels are so far under 500 that their season is over if they don’t win the ACC tourney? Last chances to watch Cole Anthony before he probably goes pro….

9:30 pm – Xavier vs DePaul. Not interested in the 9 pm games – then watch this Big East game. Xavier is one of the better ranked bubble teams in action on Wednesday – and DePaul is much improved (they were 12-1 before the tough Big East conference completely derailed their season).

11:30 pm – Colorado vs Washington State. You are still awake!!!! Well there is still basketball for you. Colorado was ranked for a while and like Arizona has a great NET ranking – so they are probably in. But Colorado has lost their last 4 games, so it would be good to not let that continue against Washington State.

So – while not a lot of games, there is still plenty to watch. Enjoy the games!!!

Big 10 Champion against Big East champion for the National Championship!!!!!!!! It is bittersweet – so excited for the finale, but that also means that there is only one more college basketball game left this year.

Fortunately, I am also a golf fanatic and so the Masters softens the blow for a little while.

Should be a great game tonight – enjoy the Championship!!!!!

Wow – the Villanova Wildcats came out ready to show they were the number one team in the country. Before Kansas could even know what hit them, Villanova jumped out to a 22-4 lead and never looked back. Eric Paschall scored 24 points and Jalen Brunson scored 18, as the two juniors led the Wildcats to a 95-79 victory.

Villanova tied the record for most three pointers in a Final Four by the end of the first half with 13 of them. The Wildcats would finish the game with a record breaking 18 threes.

Congratulations to the Big East Champions, Villanova Wildcats who have moved one step closer to a National Championship. Only one game left – it will be the Villanova Wildcats and the Michigan Wolverines playing for the right to cut down the nets while One Shining Moment plays in the background.

Loyola-Chicago had built a 10 point lead and everything looked like the Ramblers story was going to continue to Monday night.

But then Charles Matthews hit a jumper, and Jaaron Simmons, Duncan Robinson and Mo Wagner hit three pointers to tie the game for Wolverines with 7 minutes to go. And then Wagner took over the game. The junior forward scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds leading Michigan to a 69-57 victory over the Cinderella Ramblers.

Congratulations to the Big 10 champions, Michigan Wolverines – who will now await the Villanova / Kansas winner to play for the National Championship. And one last thanks to Loyola-Chicago who had a very memorable run to a magical season.

But after starting off down 12-4, Cinderella came storming back and is leading Michigan 29-22. There is obviously still another half to play, and the Wolverines are perfectly capable of putting together a run of their own, but Loyola-Chicago is not backing down at the moment to anyone – this team is for real!!!!

Sophomore Malik Newman scored all 13 points for Kansas in overtime, including a very critical three-pointer from the corner that gave the Jayhawks the lead with 1:51 left in the game.

Duke had a few really good chances to tie the game from Grayson Allen and Trevon Duval, but their long distance shots came up short, and Newman sealed the game from the free throw line.

And it will be the Big 12 Champion Kansas Jayhawks against the Big East Champion Villanova Wildcats in the Final Four to decide who will be the last 1 seed standing. And awaiting them in the championship will be either Big 10 Champion Michigan or Cinderella Missouri Valley Champion Loyola-Chicago. Should be a fantastic Final Four!!!!

That’s right – Duke and Kansas are tied at 72 at the end of regulation as Grayson Allen’s shot just barely rolled out with a couple seconds left. Down three with under 30 seconds to play, and Sviatoslav Mykailiuk hit a clutch three pointer for Kansas to tie the game and extend Kansas’ season for at least 5 more minutes.

Just to put into how crazily different this side of the bracket is. If you take the 4 teams today and add up their seeds, you would get 7 – which is not only 4 lower than the first team that made the final four, it is also 2 lower than both teams that lost Saturday night.

Should be two great games – looking forward to Villanova / Texas Tech and Kansas / Duke.

It might not have been the prettiest of games. But 3 seed Michigan survived by beating Florida State 58-54.

The game was a back and forth game dominated by both teams defensive efforts. Michigan managed to take a 1 point lead going into halftime. But after Florida State hit the first basket of the second half, the Wolverines went on an 11-0 run to take control of the game.

The Seminoles would chip away at the lead, but any time they got close, Michigan would hit a shot to extend the lead. It looked like it was truly over when Duncan Robinson made a three pointer with just over 2 minutes to give Michigan a 54-44 lead. Florida State managed to cut the lead all the way to 2 points with 20 seconds left, thanks to some missed free throws by the Wolverines. But Robinson would hit the two free throws that Michigan needed at the end to give the Wolverines a 4 point victory and send the Big 10 Tourney Champion to San Antonio.

Michigan has now won 15 of their last 16 games – with their last loss coming in early February. They are peaking definitely at the right time, and are now just two victories away from a National Championship.

Two weeks ago, when the Selection Committee announced that the 11 seed Loyola-Chicago Ramblers from the Missouri Valley Conference at 28-5 would play 6 seed Miami, they were listed by experts as a potential good team to pick for an upset. The Ramblers had dominated a traditionally top mid-major, and had also upset Florida earlier in the season.

Then, Loyola hit a last second shot to beat the Hurricanes, and stories started coming out about their 98 year old nun Sister Jean, and they became one of those fun feel-good stories of March.

But then, Loyola knocked off Tennessee and Nevada on last second clutch shots, and suddenly, the feel-good Cinderella story became a lot more.

Tonight, the Ramblers didn’t need any last second heroics. Cinderella went and knocked off Kansas State 78-62, and the 11 seed that started as a trendy upset pick for a round is now heading to San Antonio as the first team to earn their way to the Final Four.

These Ramblers play incredible defense, are extremely unselfish and always make the extra pass, and have multiple players who have proven they can make a clutch shot. And now, Cinderella has a chance to rewrite the history of the Dance. Loyola-Chicago is still dancing, and don’t be surprised if they are still dancing after the Championship game. This Cinderella doesn’t appear to have a curfew at midnight.