Ken Davis

Winthrop belongs in the NCAA Tournament, whether it wins the Big South Conference tournament or not.

Two teams from the Colonial Athletic Association should get their dance cards punched for the 65-team as well.

Wright State is good enough to win the Horizon League tournament and that means Butler would grab an at-large spot into March Madness.

These are observations that will not go over well with coaches from the major conferences. They are the ones who are lobbying right now, trying to get as many teams as possible from their conferences involved in the tournament discussion.

“Nine teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference; let’s hear it for nine teams from the ACC. Seven for the Big East now; seven for the Pac-10. Do I hear five for the Big 12?”

It’s busier than the floor of the New York stock exchange right now and maybe more confusing. While all of that bartering occupies the thinking at the top of the bracket, everyone still wants an answer to this season’s most pressing question: Who is going to be this year’s George Mason?

To be honest with you, I’m not sure we will ever see anything like George Mason’s run through the 2006 tournament again. Not this season. Maybe never.

We know more about the mid-majors now. Thanks in large part to what the Patriots did last year we follow the lower leagues closer. The shock value is gone. When Butler opened the season with victories over Notre Dame, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee and Gonzaga, there wasn’t panic in the streets. The Bulldogs got their due, moved into the national rankings, and have remained there despite recent losses to Wright State and Southern Illinois.

And based on what has already happened this season, would you be stunned if Southern Illinois, for example, reached the regional final in San Antonio and defeated Florida? You might not fill out the bracket in your office pool that way, but after George Mason knocked off UConn last year, the precedent is there.

After beating Butler 68-64 last Saturday, the Salukis have established themselves as the 2007 version of George Mason. Southern Illinois has emerged as the top team in the Missouri Valley Conference, which could get four teams in the tournament for a second consecutive year. Bradley and Wichita State, you may remember, represented the MVC well last year by reaching the Sweet 16.  Wichita State defeated Seton Hall and Tennessee before running into George Mason. (And didn’t that Southern Illinois-Butler game have a little bit of that Wichita State-George Mason Sweet 16 flavor?) Bradley, a No. 13 seed last year, shocked Kansas and Pittsburgh before losing to Memphis.

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Southern Illinois, Butler and Air Force are mid-major teams that could advance to a regional final in this year’s tournament. By no means should that be considered a lesser accomplishment — but I do doubt if it would raise as many eyebrows as George Mason did last year.

The NCAA men’s basketball committee had a difficult time deciding between George Mason and Hofstra last March. Both play in the Colonial. George Mason was 23-7 and Hofstra was 24-6. Hofstra actually defeated George Mason twice in the two weeks leading up to Selection Sunday but settled for the NIT when the committee selected the Patriots. Hofstra became known as the school with the most wins to be left out of the field as well as the team with the second best Ratings Percentage Index ever not to be selected.

George Mason went on to become ... well, perhaps the greatest NCAA story ever told.

Thanks to the ever-growing BracketBusters weekend, we know a lot more about these teams than we used to. And the Colonial did itself proud last week when three of its four teams emerged victorious.

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Drexel had to be the biggest winner, rallying for a 64-58 victory at Creighton, the second-best team in the MVC. The Dragons, led by Frank Elegar and Dominick Mejia, shot 64 percent from the field in the second half to hand Creighton only its second loss at home this season. Bruiser Flint’s team has won a Division I-best 12 road games, which should pass the NCAA test for performing well in hostile environments. The Dragons have also won at Villanova, Syracuse and Temple.

With that type of resume, I’d have to put Drexel in the NCAA Tournament, with Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion and Hofstra battling it out for a second position from the Colonial. And get used to the multi-bid theme. The Mountain West should get three teams (Air Force, Brigham Young, UNLV) into the tournament. Nevada is a lock from the Western Athletic Conference, while New Mexico State and Utah State are more than capable of winning the WAC tournament.

With Butler a lock for the field, a team like Wright State could burst the bubble of a solid team from a major conference by winning the Horizon tournament.

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And if any team other than Winthrop wins the Big South tourney, the selection committee may face its most complicated discussion of all time. Nobody asked, but this observer has already expressed his opinion. Here it is again: Winthrop deserves an at-large bid.

All you had to do was watch the Eagles defeat Missouri State 77-66 in Springfield, Mo., last Friday night. If you appreciate a team that is well coached, well drilled, and executes its offense with unusual precision, then you must treat yourself and watch Winthrop at least once. The Eagles scored 77 points on 66 possessions against a good defense. It was a thing of beauty.

Winthrop is 24-4 overall and undefeated in conference play. The only losses have come to North Carolina, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Texas A&M — all on the road. This is a team capable of one or two major upsets in the tournament.

This is a team, dare we say, of shocking the field, a la George Mason.

Just for the record, I could care less about Winthrop’s RPI, which was No. 71 at the start of the week. Sometimes, you’ve just got to use common sense — common basketball sense.

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