For the second consecutive season, Bucknell will look to protect its regular-season title and get back to the NCAA tournament.

The Bison started the conference season 10-0, before losing two in a row and needing a strong finish to win the championship over Lehigh. Led by Mike Muscala in the post, Bucknell has a variety of scoring options both in the paint and on the perimeter. The Bison also control the defensive glass and like to force a slow tempo on their opponents. Moreover, they will get homecourt advantage due to winning the regular-season title. That came in handy last season, when Bucknell knocked off Lafayette in the title game.

Lehigh has won nine of its last 10 games, including a road win at Bucknell two weeks ago. The Mountain Hawks have one of the best mid-major players in the country in C.J. McCollum, a prolific scorer who led the league in scoring, ranked third in rebounding and fifth in assists. He's capable of carrying the Mountain Hawks to the NCAA tournament -- like he did two years ago. Throw in Gabe Knutson on the inside, one of the more efficient players in the league, and Lehigh is a tough out.

American is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league and is difficult to beat when its shots are falling, but a team to watch could be Holy Cross. The Crusaders won six in a row to end the season, and have defeated Lehigh, Bucknell and American this season. Devin Brown and R.J. Evans form a good tandem, and the Crusaders really guard the perimeter.

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

Title game: Wednesday, March 7 on CBS Sports Network (7 p.m. ET)

BEST PLAYERS

1. C.J. McCollum, Lehigh
2. Mike Muscala, Bucknell
3. Charles Hinkle, American
4. Gabe Knutson, Lehigh
5. Devin Brown, Holy Cross

Conference RPI: 22

KenPom.com rating: 22

Sagarin rating: 23

NCAA Tournament Locks: None

NCAA Tournament Bubble Teams: None

Last NCAA Tournament Appearances

• American Eagles: 2009, No. 14 seed, lost to Villanova 80-67 in the first round.
• Army Black Knights: N/A.
• Bucknell Bison: 2011, No. 14 seed, lost to Connecticut 81-52 in the first round.
• Colgate Raiders: 1996, No. 16 seed, lost to Connecticut 68-59 in the first round.
• Holy Cross Crusaders: 2007, No. 13 seed, lost to Southern Illinois 61-51 in the first round.
• Lafayette Leopards: 2000, No. 15 seed, lost to Temple 73-47 in the first round.
• Lehigh Mountain Hawks: 2010, No. 16 seed, lost to Kansas 90-74 in the first round.
• Navy: 1998, No. 16 seed, lost to North Carolina 88-52 in the first round.

- Jeff Borzello

Cincinnati: not as safe as its fans want to believe.  (AP)

By Matt Norlander

CBSSports.com bracketlogist Jerry Palm isn't afraid to tell you how he really feels. Or, rather, how he thinks the tournament selection committee does, and will, when it picks the field of 68. Palm owns and operates CollegeRPI.com and he's Monday's guest on the podcast because he's got the at-large crop pinned down as well as anyone.

This was a very fun podcast. I'd never spoken to Jerry before, but it felt as though we'd done about 20 pods together. I think you'll enjoy it, and the episode is not really all that much about bringing up teams and deciding whether they're in or out. I toss a few bones that way, but 80 percent of the pod is filled with other material that's more interesting.

If you'd like to follow Jerry and watch him callously and hilariously continually break fans' hearts or just plain tick them off, get to Twitter.

Audio menu:

• From the beginning: Being that Jerry's a first-time guest, as I'm wont to do, I let him tell us how he became to be Jerry Palm: RPI Expert and Superior Bracket Prognosticator.
• 7:00: The biggest distinction in what Palm does is, he is putting his mind into the Selection Committee's way of thinking. These picks and seedings are not his opinion -- except when it comes to Cincinnati, who he very much hates.
• 8:23: Since Jerry has kept his hands dirty with the RPI for more than 20 years, I had to get his opinion on the formula itself.
• 11:20: He's been to three mock selection meetings in Indy. Jerry knows the process. We swap stories on what we like and don't about the NCAA's media hamster wheel.
• 19:15: Who are the most interesting/intriguing/haziest-to-p
  roject teams right now? This is where you can see if Jerry picks on your team.
• 28:05: Which fans are the worst? Which fans can't stop harassing Jerry on Twitter? One fanbase shocked me; the other very much didn't.
• 32:47: Quick hits to wrap things up. The two vs. three seed gap; Murray State similar to 2006 George Washington? Jerry explains why that's not the case; the most undervalued team; and, finally, Northwestern.

Again, I thank you for taking the time to listen to the podcast -- whenever you can. I ask that you, if you like what we're doing here, encourage like-minded hoopheads to subscribe in Tunes as well. Guests like Jay Bilas, Seth Davis, they're the guys who make me sound better and make the podcast worthwhile. The other guys? Gary Parrish and Jeff Goodman, they really make it entertaining, and of course you can count on our trio show each Wednesday. The RSS feed is another way to keep the podcasts coming to you ASAP. We've got a Zune download link as well.

Get CBSSports.com College Basketball updates on Facebook   

By Matt Norlander

This is the final edition of the 2011-12 Non-BCS Power Pyramid. That sentence will come with not one reaction of anguish or woe on your end, I know, but in the interest of our Monday routine at the blog, I figured I'd bring it up. Instead of giving the usual rankings from my subjective viewpoint, I’ve decided to slot the teams today in order of how I think they’ll ultimately be seeded. Every team in the Pyramid I do believe will play its way into the field, so that means two CAA teams should expect bids. (Don’t you go dying on my, VCU and Drexel.)

It's been a fun and time-consuming process to put together this rankings system every Sunday night for the past 16 weeks, but the responses back and email have made it worth it. It will most definitely be returning next season, only you can expect vast improvements. At least in my own mind they will be.

So here's the final tally, the 15 best teams from outside the Big Six -- and how I expect them to get slotted into the greatest sporting event in the world.

Geographically protected

1. Wichita State, 26-4, four seed. A Sentence: I’m curious to see how the public reaction will be to this team once it gets a good seed, because so often when non-Big Six teams get high billing a backlash effect follows. A Statistic: The Shockers went undefeated in February, only lost once in January and once in December. The Schedule: No. 1 seed in the Missouri Valley tournament! Runs from March 1 to 4.

Wichita won its first MVC regular-season title since '06. The league has had a different champ six straight seasons. (AP)

2. Murray State, 28-1, five seed. A Sentence: The Racers’ seed has become a big curiosity of mine. A Statistic: The impressive afterthought of this team’s accomplishments this season: it was undefeated on the road and in neutral-court play. No other team can say the same. The Schedule: No. 1 seed in the Ohio Valley tournament! Runs from Feb. 29 to March 3.

3. Gonzaga, 23-5, five seed. A Sentence: No one’s truly bought into this team, so can this be a second-weekend year for Gonzaga, being that there’s a lack of pressure? A Statistic: Every Gonzaga starter is scoring more than 1.1 points per possession. It’s a very good sign for things to come. The Schedule: vs. Longwood, Monday; No. 2 seed in WCC tournament! Runs from Feb. 29 to March 5.

The rest of the single-digit seeds

4. UNLV, 24-6, six seed. A Sentence: UNLV hasn’t won on the road in a month, and though that will hurt its seeding I don’ think that’s a factor at all in how this team will play in March. A Statistic: An efficient 65.7 percent of UNLV’s baskets come via an assist. That’s the second-highest in the nation. The Schedule: at Colorado State, Wednesday; vs. Wyoming, Saturday.

5. Temple, 22-6, six seed. A Sentence: I’ve got Temple this high because I think it’s going to with the A10 tournament (it already nearly has the A10 regular-season title). A Statistic: Saturday’s loss to St. Joseph’s marked the first time since 2008 Temple didn’t sweep the Hawks. The Schedule: vs. UMass, Wednesday; at Fordham, Saturday.

Matthew Dellavedova and the Gaels could leapfrog Gonzaga in seeding, but they'll have to win the WCC tourney in order to do so. (US PRESSWIRE)

6. Saint Mary’s, 25-5, six seed. A Sentence: . A Statistic: The Gaels shoot 54.6 percent from the field from 2-point range. It’s eight-best in the country, but it’s also as good as SMC’s ever been under Randy Bennett in the tempo-free era. They are big and can score — and can also grab the O boards 36 percent of the time. The Schedule: No. 1 seed in the WCC tournament! Runs from Feb. 29 to March 5.

7. San Diego State, 22-6, eight seed. A Sentence: SDSU closes up its season with a TCU road game, which New Mexico and UNLV already fell prey to, so beware. A Statistic: The Aztecs have never cracked the 30s of KenPom.com this year, and only been in the 40s twice. That indicates this team isn’t likely to win when it gets to The Tournament. The Schedule: at Boise State, Wednesday; at TCU, Saturday.

8. Creighton, 25-5, nine seed. A Sentence: I only hope Creighton doesn’t have a similar ending to Drake in 2008. A Statistic: You want to know why Creighton’s fallen off the radar? Yeah, it had that three-game losing streak, but forget that. The past three Bluejays wins have come by a total of four points, one of them needing overtime. The Schedule: No. 2 seed in the Missouri Valley tournament! Runs from March 1 to 4.

9. Virginia Commonwealth, 25-6, nine seed. A Sentence: I feel real good about writing this on the Rams last week. A Statistic: What I’d love for the committee to pay attention to: details beyond the schedule and teams. VCU finishes the season with a 16.1 percent steal rate, the highest in the nation. A team that good indicates it plays very well defensively and certainly is one of the 37 best at-larges. The Schedule: No. 2 seed in the CAA tournament! Runs from March 2 to 5.

Double-digit territory

10. New Mexico, 22-6, 10 seed. A Sentence: The great dichotomy with New Mexico is that it’s a really talented team with an overall underwhelming resume, considering that talent. A Statistic: Lobos allow .87 points per possession, far and away the best of any Pyramid team, and it’s been that way most of the season. The Schedule: vs. Air Force, Wednesday; vs. Boise State, Saturday.

11. Harvard, 24-4, 12 seed. A Sentence: Another Ivy playoff is now a possibility, but I still think the Crimson will make the field and avoid a repeat of 2011’s heartbreak. A Statistic: With 61.4 possessions per game, Harvard is the slowest Pyramid team and one of the slowest in the nation, ranking 328 out of 345. The Schedule: at Columbia, Friday; at Cornell, Saturday.

12. Oral Roberts, 26-5, 12 seed. A Sentence: It’s going to take a heck of a five seed for me not to pick Oral Bobs to win its first game (the same goes for if ORU is sent to the First Four). A Statistic: How many teams have only lost once since Dec. 15? You’ve got Syracuse, ORU and the team listed directly below. The Schedule: No. 1 in the Summit League tournament! Runs from March 3 to 6.

13. Drexel, 25-5, 13 seed. A Sentence:  I only have ’em as a 13 because I think the Dragons get in as an at-large after losing the CAA title game. A Statistic: No Pyramid team has less of a bench than the Dragons, who only get their pine guys into the game 24.4 percent of the time. With mid-majors I often don’t think this is a problem, though. The best guys get adrenaline rushes and need to play as much as possible, and at their best, to stand a chance at winning. The Schedule: No. 1 seed in the CAA tournament! Runs from March 2 to 5.

14. Southern Miss, 22-5, 13 seed. A Sentence: While I’ve always appreciated the Southern Miss story, this is a team I don’t have much belief in. A Statistic: How can you turn your head from the awful 2-point shooting stat? At 43 percent, the Golden Eagles are pulling off one of the greatest capers ever by fighting for bubble position while being one of the worst teams from inside the 3 I can remember. The Schedule: vs. SMU, Wednesday; at Marshall, Saturday.

15. Iona, 24-6, 13 seed. A Sentence: I'll be furious with the Gaels if they squander this talent and miss the NCAA for the second straight year after winning the league. A Statistic: Cannot get over the fact this team went on a 31-0 run against St. Peter's Sunday. The Peacocks are a bad team this year but they're still stubborn defensively. A 31-0 run? How many times has that ever happened in college basketball? The Schedule: No. 1 seed in the MAAC tournament! Runs from March 2 to 5.

How great is this photo? That's Wilt the Stilt at 17 year old. (via Jose3030)

By Matt Norlander

Deserved it. // Mutant strawberries can fend off all diseases. But can they improve the nearly perfect strawberry milkshake? // Pretty impressive scene in Moscow over the weekend. // The terrific photography of a young, dead photojournalist ...

★ This link relates to the title of this post. Fine analysis by John Ezekowitz.

★ Here is Goodman's column from Missouri-Kansas. Good perspective.

★ The piece most linked on Twitter after the Jayhawks beat the Tigers was this output by Joe Posnanski ...
 
★ ... but I liked this from Tully Corcoran even more.

★ Crazy stat. In the past 32 years, only two teams have won the national title after going undefeated in conference play. See which.

★ Baylor athletics has made the slow turn toward the successful, warm spotlight. Does it get even better next month?

★ Short-term, Pat Knight looks really smart for what he did.

★ What has been the best dunk Kentucky's had this year?

★ Marshall loses by 20 to Memphis, local columnist uses that opportunity to whine about how much he hates the Tigers and their preferential treatment.

★ With his team's season on the brink, Kevin Duffy examines how Andre Drummond has not played up to expectation.

★ Shocking news of the day: Nebraska boosters care this much about basketball, and about saving Doc Sadler's job.

★ Jason Lisk did a good job with some early steps

★ Here's what the WCC bracket looks like, in logo form.

★ The CAA is going to be a great conference tournament, I bet. Here's how it shapes up. More to come in the Power Pyramid, too!

★ And here's the Atlantic Sun. Bracketsbracketsbrackets.

★ Jeff Bzdelik is coming back to Wake next season. Wake fans suddenly longing for the days of Dino Gaudio

★ The First Four in Dayton isn't going anywhere, not when you read how the city embraces its place in The Tournament so well.

► I got to UConn about two hours before Saturday night's tip. All the students were packed in their designated section and rehearsing this flash mob. (I thought the flash mob died in 2011, but apparently not.)



♬ HELL YEAH LET'S GO WITH SOME TULL. "New Day Yesterday" is the lead track off of my favorite Jethro Tull album. "Stand Up." You know JT as the band with the animated guy on the flute. Unfortunately a lot of their later records deviated from this type of sound. But early Tull is pretty fantastic.

By Matt Norlander

If anyone can explain what the hell Bo Ryan is doing, please drop a note. (Update here.) Until then, here's everything you need to know about Sunday in college basketball ...

Game of the Night: Wisconsin is determined to confuse and confound us for the rest of the year. Winning at Ohio State likely ensured the Buckeyes won't get a one seed. As for UW, it's just as likely to fall 49-46 to Illinois is its schedule finale on March 4. Jared Berggren, a 6-10 Badgers junior whose last name comes so close to being a palindrome it hurts, scored Wisky's final five points and essentially handed the Big Ten regular-season title to ... Michigan State. If Sparty beats Indiana or Ohio State it takes its third banner in four years.

Win to brag about: Miami found out it couldn't play with big man Reggie Johnson due to NCAA violations, then had to suit up a few hours later against Florida State. The Hurricanes responded by putting up their second-best performance of the year, knocking off FSU 78-62 and very much keeping themselves amid the bubble conversation. Durand Scott, one of our fringe guys in the top 100 players in college hoops before the season began, came off the bench and supplied 17 points, a team-high for UM.

Loss to hide from: When you lose 46-45 the way Cincinnati lost 46-45 to a South Florida team that won 46-45, it's a reputation-tarnishing transgression. No, USF isn't in the tournament field with that win, but is Cincinnati in worse position, and behind the Bulls, with this loss? That horrid non-con kills Cincinnati, which has a decent scalp collection within the Big East. But the Selection Committee was most definitely watching that game today -- so long as they didn't barf themselves into fainting -- and it couldn't have been impressed. Cincy needs a really nice, definitive win over a tournament team to feel safe.

Player who deserves improper benefits: Meyers Leonard will make millions in the NBA one day. He had 22 points and 13 rebounds and stopped Illinois' six-game losing streak. Seeing Leonard play is like watching a sculptor slowly take a tiny hammer and make out the muse for a statue. Leonard's getting closer each week to the player he knows he can be.

Player who does not deserve improper benefits: Billy Crystal. Because seriously, who's making these decisions and when can their great grandchildren come to distract them?

Numbers don’t lie

• 33-0. That was Iona's run against defensive-minded, slog-it-through-molasses-basketball
  St. Peter's.
• 32. In 1980, 32 years ago, Wisconsin had its last road win against a top-10 AP Big Ten team. Then today happened.
• Jared Sullinger had three assists; it was the first time since Nov. 25 he's had more than two. 

Three other games of note:

1. Remember that one week like 17 days ago when people thought Pitt was destined to play its way into the field? Cute times. Louisville 57, Pittsburgh 54. Russ Smith went for a Cards-high 18 points because it's only Pittsburgh.
2. I give Indiana credit for winning by 19 at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers -- who were a tournament team last year; can you believe it? -- had made their way out of bubble talk, but this was still a slippery spot for IU. It was only the second third league road win for Tom Crean's team this season.
3. The Pac-12 is determined to remain an existential impressionist comedy to the end, and I think we all owe it a bit of gratitude for that unflinching determination.

Notes

• That hilarious, tongue-in-cheek talk about Iowa having a chance at the NCAAs ended Sunday afternoon. Probably for the best. Hawkeyes-in-the-dance talk was almost as bad as Crystal.
• Stony Brook is your No. 1 seed in the America East thanks to its 55-48 win over Maine.
• Fairfield was so close to beating Iona Friday. It lost. Then it lost Sunday ... to Rider. Now the Stags are a four seed in the MAAC tournament. Been a disappointing season for FU.

Brad Stevens and his national darlings at Butler will need to run the table and win four consecutive games in seven days to get back to the Big Dance.

The Bulldogs have made two straight improbable appearances in the national title game, but now the odds are stacked against them as Stevens & Co., which has lost Gordon Hayward, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack over the past two years, earned the No. 5 seed in this year's league tourney.

Valparaiso and first-year head coach Bryce Drew earned the top spot by virtue of going 14-4 in league play this season. The Crusaders, led by Player of the Year candidate Ryan Broekhoff, will host the second round and semifinals on March 2-3 and would also host the championship game -- if it gets that far.

But there are several teams that could make a run at Valpo. Cleveland State was in control of the league at one point before stumbling late in the season, but Gary Waters' team still earned the double-bye. Detroit has Ray "Little Ray" McCallum and tied with a Milwaukee team that comes in on a four-game winning streak for third place.

Then you've got Butler - which doesn't have a star this year or enough offense, but you can't ever count out a Stevens-coached team. Not after what he's done the past two years. 

Title game: Tuesday, March 6 on ESPN (9 p.m. ET)

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

BEST PLAYERS

1. Ryan Broekhoff, Valparaiso
2. Ray McCallum, Detroit
3. Alec Brown, Green Bay
4. Kendrick Perry, Youngstown
5. Trevor Harmon, Cleveland State

Conference RPI: 14

KenPom.com rating: 15

Sagarin rating: 12

NCAA Tournament Locks: None

NCAA Tournament Bubble Teams: None

Last NCAA Tournament Appearances: 

• Butler Bulldogs: 2011, 8 seed, lost to UConn 53-41 in the national championship game
• Cleveland State Vikings: 2009, No. 13 seed, an 84-69 win over Wake Forest in the first round followed by an 71-57 loss to Arizona in the second round
• Detroit Titans: 1999, No. 12 seed, an 56-53 win over UCLA in the first round followed by an 75-44 loss to Ohio State in the second round
• Illinois-Chicago Flames: 2004, No. 13 seed, an 78-53 loss to Kansas in the first round
• Loyola-Chicago Rambers: 1985, No. 4 seed, an 59-58 win over Iona in the first round, followed by an 70-57 win over SMU in the second round, followed by a 65-53 loss to Georgetown
• Valparaiso Crusaders: 2004, 15 seed, an 76-49 loss to Gonzaga in the first round (as a member of the Mid-Continent Conference) 
• Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix: 1996, No. 8 seed, an 61-48 loss to Virginia Tech in the first round
• Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers: 2006, No. 11 seed, an 82-74 win over Oklahoma in the first round followed by an 82-60 loss to Florida in the second round
• Wright State Raiders: 2007, No. 14 seed, an 79-58 loss to Pittsburgh in the first round
• Youngstown State Penguins: N/A

- Jeff Goodman

By Gary Parrish and Jeff Goodman

The Top 25 (and one) will be updated on the college basketball page shortly.

Here's how it will look ...

1. Kentucky (28-1)
2. Syracuse (29-1)
3. Duke (25-4)
4. Michigan State (24-5)
5. North Carolina (25-4)
6. Kansas (24-5)
7. Missouri (25-4)
8. Baylor (24-5)
9. Marquette (24-5)
10. Ohio State (23-6)
11. Georgetown (21-6)
12. Michigan (21-8)
13. Wisconsin (21-8)
14. Murray State (28-1)
15. Indiana (22-7)
16. UNLV (24-6)
17. Wichita State (26-4)
18. Notre Dame (20-9)
19. Louisville (22-7)
20. Virginia (21-7)
21. Florida (22-7)
22. Florida State (19-9)
23. San Diego State (22-6)
24. Iowa State (21-8)
25. Temple (22-6)
26. Vanderbilt (20-9)

By Jeff Goodman

Miami junior big man Reggie Johnson has been declared ineligible by the NCAA and won't play tonight against Florida State. 

The school put out a statement that Johnson is seeking his immediate reinstatement from the NCAA. 

"In the process of the ongoing joint NCAA-UM inquiry, it was discovered that members of Johnson's family received impermissible travel benefits from a member of the former basketball coaching staff." 

"Johnson was unaware of the benefits and his family was told they were permissible by that member of the former basketball coaching staff." 

The former staff was led by current Missouri coach Frank Haith. 

This is a significant blow to Miami's hopes to make the NCAA tournament. 

Johnson missed the first nine games of the season while recovering from injury. The team is 11-6 since he returned and is 16-10 overall with a 7-6 mark in ACC play. 

Johnson is averaging 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.