1. An eye condition forced Butler coach Brad Stevens to leave the team midway through the Bulldogs’ regular-season finale against Loyola Chicago, according to an Associated Press report. Stevens noticed that he was struggling with his vision during warm-ups, and his eyesight worsened during the game. He turned over the reins at the half to assistant Matthew Graves, who steered the Bulldogs to a 63-56 victory, giving Butler a share of the Horizon League regular-season title.
2. Meanwhile, some coaches will be making a more permanent exit as the season winds down and teams part ways with unsuccessful coaches. Georgia State and Monmouth will be getting started with their coaching searches after canning Rod Barnes and Dave Calloway, respectively.
3. Minnesota big man Ralph Sampson III remains on the fence about whether he intends to enter the NBA Draft after this season, according to SI.com’s “Truth & Rumors” blog.
4. Cal got two years probation after coach Mike Montgomery’s staff made about 300 impermissible calls to recruits in 2008, according to the Associated Press. Cal caught the violations and already imposed recruiting restrictions on Montgomery and the assistant coaches responsible for the violations.
5. Pitt will have a little less depth entering the NCAA Tournament after reserve forward Talib Zanna broke his right thumb and will miss three to six weeks, according to the Associated Press.
6. Baylor sophomore Nolan Dennis has left the team for unspecified medical reasons, coach Scott Drew announced, according to ESPN.com news services. The guard averaged 2.3 points per game in his career with the Bears.
7. Saint Joseph’s regained the services of big man Todd O’Brien, who passed a university judicial review of his compliance with community standards, according to an Associated Press report. O’Brien averages 1.2 points per game.
8. The Lost Lettermen blog explores the 10 best-dressed coaches in the game. And in another post, the blog takes a look at the 10 worst-dressed coaches of all time.

2/26
• BYU 80, San Diego State 67
• Virginia Tech 64, Duke 60
• Colorado 91, Texas 89
• UCLA 71, Arizona 49
• Syracuse 58, Georgetown 51
• St. John’s 81, Villanova 68
• Kentucky 76, Florida 68
• Baylor 58, Texas A&M 51
• Kansas State 80, Missouri 70
• James Madison 72, VCU 69
• Missouri State 69, Wichita State 64
• UTEP 74, Memphis 47
• Michigan 70, Minnesota 63
• Western Carolina 70, Charleston 62
• Mississippi State 70, Tennessee 69
• Air Force 74, Colorado State 57

2/27

• Connecticut 67, Cincinnati 59
• Louisville 62, Pittsburgh 59 OT
• Purdue 67, Michigan State
• Xavier 66, Dayton 62
• North Carolina 87, Maryland 76

Game-day tweets and retweets from Phil Kasiecki’s season-long tour:

Harvard at Brown

Harvard and Brown are almost ready to tip off in a game featuring quite a few players who know each other well.

Deja vu? Brown led Harvard by 22 at halftime less than two weeks ago. Less than 5 minutes in, Brown leads Harvard 13-5, timeout Harvard.

Offense has never been the question with this Brown team. It was good last year without a point guard on the roster, and they’re on tonight.

Less than two weeks ago, Brown led Harvard 53-31 at the half and lost. We’ll see if they have a better second half this time around.

Harvard scored the first six of the second half, and calls timeout. Kyle Casey is grimacing in pain after coming down at the other end.

Harvard has a chance to take the lead, now down 47-46 and the beneficiary of another questionable offensive foul call on Brown.

The Bears had a chance to tie before taking a questionable shot, then Webster hits a three in front of his own bench to put Harvard up 6.

Harvard is now in good shape, leading 72-66 with 34.4 seconds left and Brandyn Curry going to the line for one-and-one.

UNC-Wilmington at Northeastern

We’ve just had Senior Day activities here at Northeastern, so we’re a few minutes away from the tip of UNC-Wilmington-Northeastern.

UNC-Wilmington leads 18-14 thanks in part to some good early shooting by Chad Tomko and Tanner Milson. 11:49 left in the half.

Northeastern is turning UNCW turnovers into easy baskets, and has scored 10 unanswered to go up 24-18, sparked by Alex Harris.

NU has started strong in the second half and is now up 57-39. A UNCW turnover right off the inbound pass give NU a chance to go up 20.

Taking nothing away from UNCW of late, Northeastern has clearly relaxed with their lead. The Huskies are getting careless on both ends.

Both teams have four guards on the floor right now, with NU hanging on to a 72-64 lead with 2:24 left.

Northeastern has pretty much sealed this one, now up 76-65 with 44.8 left. Valiant comeback attempt by UNCW, but they fell too far behind.

Dartmouth at Brown

We’re about ready to tip here at Brown, with Dartmouth visiting the Bears on Senior Night.

Brown is off to another good start offensively, leading 14-10 at the first media timeout, 15:26 left in the half.

Brown has kept it up offensively and gotten better defensively as the game has gone along. 2:59 left in the half, Brown leads 46-23.

Adrian Williams picks up right where he left off with an early three-pointer, giving him 20 on the night on 5-7 shooting from deep.

With Garrett Leffelman reaching double figures, only one Brown senior hasn’t reached that mark tonight.

The only drama left is if Brown will reach the century mark, as they’re up 96-73 with 45.3 seconds left and two free throws coming up.

2/28
• Kansas State at Texas
• Villanova at Notre Dame

3/1

• Ohio State at Penn State
• Illinois at Purdue
• Alabama at Florida
• Vanderbilt at Kentucky
• Missouri at Nebraska
• Baylor at Oklahoma State
• Boston College at Virginia Tech

3/2

• Texas A&M at Kansas
• Clemson at Duke
• New Mexico at BYU
• Connecticut at West Virginia
• Cincinnati at Marquette
• North Carolina at Florida State
• Maryland at Miami
• UAB at Southern Miss
• Marshall at UTEP

3/3

• St. John’s at Seton Hall
• Morgan State at Coppin State
• UCLA at Washington

The Cougars went on the road Saturday and dismantled San Diego State behind a balanced attack. Jimmer Fredette led the way as usual, but his biggest contribution was nine assists to frequently wide open teammates. By the end of the game, BYU had picked up its fourth win against RPI top 25 teams.

That’s as many wins against the country’s elite teams as Ohio State and Duke can claim — combined. The Cougars have a 26-2 record despite playing a schedule ranked No. 21 in difficulty. And the Cougars have eight wins against the top 50. If you stripped off the names of Duke, Texas and BYU and compared their profiles, BYU would stand out as the obvious choice for the final No. 1 seed.

But for some reason, plenty of analysts continue to forget about BYU when listing their picks for No. 1 seeds. It’s not unheard of for a team outside the power conferences to earn a top seed. Memphis did it a couple of times when John Calipari forced the Tigers into national prominence. This season, BYU and San Diego State have elevated the Mountain West so that the conference should be considered a seventh power conference. In some measures, the conference rates better than the SEC does.

Assuming BYU doesn’t falter to anyone except San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Cougars should be a shoo-in for a No. 1 seed. And once we get to the Big Dance, the intersection of Jimmer Mania and March Madness could deliver some special moments.