If you havent heard, the semifinals have been set for the Not Invited Tournament.  UMASS, who came back from a 15 point, 2nd half deficit at the Carrier Dome to stun Syracuse, will take on the Florida Gators, two time defending NCAA champs who with a young team couldnt win the games down the stretch to earn a spot in the Big Dance.  The second semifinal pits another SEC team, Mississippi, against the last remaining number 1 seed, THE Ohio State Buckeyes.  For a college basketball fan like myself, I welcome any chance to see more games outside of March Madness, and the NIT usually produces some great basketball that fills the space when the NCAA tournament isnt playing.  However, my one pet peeve that I have with this tournament is how the games are favored for the higher seeds, much more so then the NCAA tournament.  In the NIT, the higher seeds are the true home team and in Ohio State's case, they havent left the state of Ohio since the tourney began.  The other 3 teams, all #2 seeds, had to go on the road and prove there moxy, with Florida knocking off a #1 seed Arizona St, Mississippi knocking off a #1 seed in Virginia Tech and of course UMASS making a comeback against the other #1 seed Syracuse.  Now, the 4 teams meet at a neutral site, Madison Square Garden and it'll be interesting to see how the Buckeye's react being out of there element.  They, like most college teams, struggled on the road during the season and against a team like Mississippi, who can score points by the bushel, they'll have to be strong on the perimeter and the boards to advance to the championship game.  The other semifinal pits UMASS and Florida against one another, with both teams coming off huge wins in the quarterfinals.  The Minutemen havent found a 3 point shot that they dont like while Florida is a young team peaking at the right time.  The Gators like to get up and down and fire 3 pointers of there own so expect a high scoring game.  I'm going to take the Minuteman to knock off there 2nd straight power conference team and advance to the finals to take on Ole Miss.

As I turn to the College Basketball Invitational, I find it amazing and a little comical how nobody is really talking about this tournament.  Granted, the field wasnt all that great, capped off with an under .500 team in Cincinnati and I think everyone would be foolish not to think that this was all about putting more money in the pocket of the NCAA.  I also find it funny that unless you have digital cable and the fox sports package or direct TV and the sports package, you would'nt even know that this tournament was even going on.  The CBI is like the illegimate child that nobody wants around, who has to eat in the corner by themselves while everyone else eats at the big table.  You know it's bad when ESPN barely acknowledges its existence, even though an ACC team was in the Final Four up to last night.  That said, the finals are set and unlike the NIT and NCAA tourney's, the championship is actually a best of 3 series, with the Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa hosting game 1 against the Bradley Braves on Monday night.  Tulsa held off fellow C-USA foe, Houston while MVC team, Bradley, went to ACC country and spanked the Virginia Cavaliers.   While not exactly a matchup of power conferences, I wouldnt be surprised to see the Braves knock off a team from the C-USA.  The MVC holds there conference tournament in St. Louis and I get a chance to watch every game played on local TV and it's true what they say, these teams from a "mid-major conference" can play.

As a college basketball nut, I love the prospect of 3 tournaments and truth be told, I can see why nobody really cares about the other two tourneys.  All the money is with the March Madness, all the marketing, the storylines and big time, primetime players and matchups are in March Madness.  I suppose my tune would be changed had any team from my area actually made it to the Final Four or the Championship series.  As it is, I'll be watching the games, not just as a fan but, well, because there will be nothing else on come Monday and Tuesday night.