1. By now, I’m assuming you know that BYU dismissed big man Brandon Davies for violating the school’s honor code, specifically by having sex with his girlfriend. And by now, I’m sure you’ve heard every conceivable opinion on it. Here’s perhaps the most important question in the story: Within the confines of BYU’s environment, did Davies receive fair and equal treatment? CBSSports.com columnist Ray Ratto posits and ponders that question.
2. Tyshawn Taylor is back. According to the Associated Press, Kansas reinstated the junior point guard, who came off the bench against Texas A&M and scored nine points and had three assists in 17 minutes.
3. On the injury front, North Carolina will finish the season without freshman Reggie Bullock, who injured his left knee against Maryland last weekend, according to the Associated Press. Same story, other knee for Louisville sophomore forward Rakeem Buckles, writes ESPN.com’s Pat Forde.
4. Connecticut probably should prepare to replace Kemba Walker’s production. Yes, the Big East’s second-leading scorer is only a junior, but the school plans to honor Walker during senior day festivities Saturday when Connecticut plays Notre Dame, according to an Associated Press report. That could be an indication that Walker will be in the NBA next season.
5. Western Michigan’s Flenard Whitfield will sit one game for his part in instigating a brawl against Central Michigan last weekend, according to the Associated Press. Whitfield received the suspension because he retaliated after the Cardinals’ Matt Kamieniecki took him down, and Whitfield ended up with his hands around the neck of a different Central Michigan player.
6. Kansas State coach Frank Martin had knee surgery Tuesday to repair torn cartilage, according to an Associated Press report. The fiery Wildcats coach should be good to patrol the sidelines when Kansas State finishes the regular season in Manhattan against Iowa State Saturday.
7. In case you’re wondering what happens on a free throw if the ball somehow gets stuck sitting on the metal where the rims connects to the backboard, the answer is it’s a jump ball. Connecticut’s Alex Oriakhi learned this lesson first hand in the Huskies’ loss to West Virginia Wednesday, the Lost Lettermen blog reports.
8. In another post, the Lost Lettermen blog predicts anger in Oxford when Mississippi students and fans get to see their new mascot, the Rebel Black Bear, in action. The bear, which replaces the culturally insensitive Colonel Reb, has the misfortune of looking too much like Smokey the Bear. It’s hard to encourage your players to catch fire when your mascot is best known for squashing forest fires.
9. And finally, go ahead Bo Ryan, get down with that Hambone dance!

2/28
• Notre Dame 93, Villanova 72
• Kansas State 75, Texas 70

3/1

• Ohio State 82, Penn State 61
• Purdue 75, Illinois 67
• Florida 78, Alabama 51
• Kentucky 68, Vanderbilt 66
• Boston College 76, Virginia Tech 61
• Nebraska 69, Missouri 58
• Oklahoma State 71, Baylor 60
• High Point 66, Liberty 60

3/2

• New Mexico 82, BYU 64
• Kansas 64, Texas A&M 51
• North Carolina 72, Florida State 70
• Duke 70, Clemson 59
• West Virginia 65, Connecticut 56
• Cincinnati 67, Marquette 60
• East Carolina 68, Memphis 57
• UAB 67, Southern Miss 66
• UTEP 82, Marshall 74
• Northwestern 68, Minnesota 57
• Saint Louis 69, Dayton 51
• Miami 80, Maryland 66
• Iowa State 95, Colorado 90

3/3

• Seton Hall 84, St. John’s 70

Phil also chronicles the long, well-publicized journey of Joe Sharkey, who received tons of hype in the Boston Globe’s “Sneaker Wars” series a few years ago. Since that time, Sharkey realized that he wanted to attend a college where he could compete for a national championship or earn a world-class education. He’ll be getting the latter at Brown.

Ray Floriani explains that although the first four minutes of a game can set the pace for the rest of the game, they don’t by any means guarantee an outcome. Rutgers learned that the hard way against West Virginia Sunday.

Michael Protos got Championship Week started with an extraordinarily quick run through all the tournaments, picking a favorite and passing along a couple thoughts on the tourneys. He also has the latest Bracket Breakdown Projected Field ready to roll, with Notre Dame taking BYU’s No. 1 spot away.

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

Temple at Massachusetts

Had some connection issues, but we’re on at UMass, with the home team up 15-13 about 8 minutes in.

Aaron Brown is well on his way to a career game for Temple. He has barely sat and has 10 points as Temple now leads UMass 27-24.

UMass is doing enough to hold off Temple, who hasn’t had a possession with a chance to tie it in the second half.

The atmosphere isn’t the same, but just like about 15 years ago UMass and Temple are going down to the wire. 3:49 left, Temple up 58-57.

After UMass missed and Temple rebounded, the Owls call timeout with 18.3 seconds left and the game tied at 65.

Free basketball in Amherst, tied at 65 at the end of regulation. Fernandez missed a tough one in traffic and UMass rebounded.

Gurley missed another off-balance runner, and Temple calls timeout with the ball and a 69-65 lead with 1:45 left in OT.

You love that Anthony Gurley wants to take the big shots, but he’s trying to do too much in OT.

Final score: Temple 73, UMass 67 in overtime.

Michael Protos shares his thoughts and observations from around the hoops nation.

Been down with the sickness since Thursday but getting back into the game with the start of Championship Week tonight. #MarchMadness is back

Senior Night should provide excellent infusion of emotion for #VirginiaTech against BC after certainly draining upset of Duke Sat. night.

Does anyone else think #BC ‘s Josh Southern (http://bit.ly/e6vkq2) looks eerily like the #RZA (http://bit.ly/gy6AEm)?

Colorado’s loss still hurts, but #Cyclones aren’t THAT bad. 10 of 14 losses by single digits and #kenpomeroy rating better than Oklahoma St.

3/4
• Atlantic Sun Semifinals
• CAA Opening Round
• Horizon Quarterfinals
• Metro Atlantic Opening Round
• Missouri Valley Quarterfinals
• Ohio Valley Semifinals
• Southern Opening Round
• West Coast Opening Round

3/5

• Atlantic Sun Championship Game
• Big South Championship Game
• Ohio Valley Championship Game
• America East Quarterfinals
• Big Sky Quarterfinals
• CAA Quarterfinals
• Horizon Semifinals
• Metro Atlantic Quarterfinals
• Missouri Valley Semifinals
• Southern Quarterfinals
• Summit Quarterfinals
• Sun Belt Opening Round
• West Coast Quarterfinals
• Kansas at Missouri
• Duke at North Carolina
• Villanova at Pittsburgh
• Notre Dame at Connecticut
• Louisville at West Virginia
• Georgetown at Cincinnati
• Colorado State at San Diego State
• Florida at Vanderbilt
• Virginia Tech at Clemson
• Georgia at Alabama
• Michigan State at Michigan
• Princeton at Harvard
• Nebraska at Colorado

3/6

• Missouri Valley Championship Game
• CAA Semifinals
• Northeast Semifinals
• Patriot Semifinals
• Southern Semifinals
• Summit Quarterfinals
• Sun Belt Quarterfinals
• Wisconsin at Ohio State
• Penn State at Minnesota
• Kentucky at Tennessee

If you have time to catch the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Missouri Valley or Ohio Valley tournament championship games, you’ll witness pure passion and effort. For most teams from those conferences, just reaching the NCAA Tournament is a reason to storm the court in frantic joy to hug everyone within sight. For Belmont, Coastal Carolina or Murray State, the prospect of facing a No. 1, 2 or 3 seed doesn’t matter if their team is on the winning side of a conference championship.

The thrill of conference championships among these non-power conferences is contagious, and it’s what March Madness is all about. It might be true that these teams rarely have the best players in the game. And they almost always don’t have the biggest players — unless you’re in the Big South, which has had some straight up giants in recent years.

But when it comes to heart, these guys leave it all on the court. They are playing for conference bragging rights — and the right to dream big. Once in the Big Dance, you just never know. Eventually, a No. 16 will beat a No. 1 seed in the first round. In 2006, George Mason laid the blueprint for a double digit-seeded mid-major team to reach the Final Four. In a different era, teams like Penn, Jacksonville and Princeton made the Final Four. And Butler came one miraculous shot away from slaying Goliath as recently as last season.

Those dreams start with often-thrilling conference championship games. So try to catch some of the pure Madness during the next few days before the guys from the power conferences reclaim the spotlight.