Rollout
It begins simply enough: a messenger delivers a long white tube from floor level, he bounds up the short and wide stairs. The folks in the upper left corner know exactly what to do with it - they grab the edge of the paper, slowly unroll the tube above the back end of the student section, handing the fat end along down the back row. "What's it say?" people whisper to each other.

Tourney Central 3-6-2009 (Day 4)
Bullet Points- Four-time Atlantic Sun champion Belmont barely escaped Mercer, and Big South top seed Radford fought off a strong challenge from No. 4 UNC Asheville in that league's semifinals.

Two Through
Two brave, fighting groups of men.. two long dormant small-college basketball legacies reborn.. two tourney champions turned Sweet survivors. The Sun Belt and the SoCon, two leagues the general public can't tell apart from each other, are sending representatives to the NCAA Regionals. Hoo-zah!

Red State PSA
HENDERSON, KENTUCKY - There are certain things that one learns about the rhythms of the road. When a gas station claims to have "spotless" restrooms, that means that the dirt and gunk areas are too big to be classified as spots anymore. Also, fast food restaurants do not offer baseboard outlets in the seating areas.

Valley Stories
We've spent most of the last week in the Missouri Valley Conference, an annual trip of ours since The Mid-Majority's second season. People often ask me, "Why do you always say that the Valley is the best mid-major conference in the country?" It's a harder sell nowadays, as the MVC will, most likely, be a one-bid league for the third consecutive season.