Missouri Valley Conference

WICHITA STATE will be one of those mid-major teams that will be a chic pick come NCAA Tournament time. The Shockers roll into their conference tourney riding an eight-game winning streak and full of so much confidence that coach Gregg Marshall called them "a well-oiled machine."

The Missouri Valley is one of three conferences beginning its postseason tonight.

America East

Regular-season champ: Stony Brook has won 11 of 12 and is the first America East wire-to-wire winner since Vermont in 2007.

American know-hows: Second-seeded Vermont holds the unfortunate distinction of being the only team this season to lose to Binghamton . . . The Bearcats (1-28), coached by former Temple star Mark Macon, amazingly still led the conference in average home attendance (2,781). That's impressive . . . La Salle transfer Darryl Partin is the leading scorer (19.7) for third-seeded Boston U.

Big Dance prospects: This is a one-bid league. Stony Brook has never been to the NCAAs. The Seawolves' only other regular-season title came in 2010, but they were upset in the conference semis and denied the bid.

SCHEDULE

At West Hartford, Conn.

Tonight

UMBC (8) vs. Binghamton (9), 8:15

Saturday

Stony Brook (1) vs. UMBC/Binghamton, 12:05

Albany (4) vs. New Hampshire (5), 2:15

Vermont (2) vs. Maine (7), 6:05

Boston U. (3) vs. Hartford (6), 8:15

Sunday

Stony Brook/UMBC/Bing. vs. Albany/New Hamp., 5

Vermont/Maine vs. Boston U.-Hartford, 7:15

CHAMPIONSHIP/Saturday, March 10

Lower seed at higher seed, 11:02 a.m. (ESPN2)

Missouri Valley

Regular-season champ: Wichita State (26-4, 16-2) would have a 17-game winning streak if not for a triple-overtime loss at Drake on Jan. 28. It's the Shockers' only loss of the 2012 calendar year. Shockingly, the Shockers have not won the MVC tournament since 1987.

Mizz musings: Creighton (25-5, 14-4) was the other MVC team to beat Wichita State. The Bluejays are led by Doug McDermott, a sophomore forward who is the coach's son, is among the nation's top 10 in scoring (23.1) and field goal shooting (60.7) . . . During non-conference play, Wichita State lost to Temple and Creighton fell to St. Joe's . . . There was a five-way tie for third place. Drake lost all the tiebreakers and has to play in tonight's first round.

Big Dance prospects: Wichita State and Creighton are in. Bubble teams are definitely rooting for one of those two to win this tournament.

SCHEDULE

At St. Louis

Tonight

Indiana St. (8) vs. S. Illinois (9), 7

Drake (7) vs. Bradley (10), 9:30

Tomorrow

Wichita St. (1) vs. Indiana St./S. Illinois, 1

Illinois St. (4) vs. Northern Iowa (5), 3:30

Creighton (2) vs. Drake/Bradley, 7

Evansville (3) vs. Missouri St. (6), 9:30

Saturday

Wich. St./Ind. St./S. Illinois vs. Ill. St./N. Iowa, 2:30

Creighton/Drake/Bradley vs. Evans./Missouri St., 5

CHAMPIONSHIP/Sunday

Semifinal winners, 2 (CBS)

Northeast

Regular-season champ: LIU Brooklyn (22-8, 16-2) has won 32 league games over the last two seasons, an NEC record.

Northeast times: Wagner (24-5) boasts that it has the most victories of any New York-metro D-I program. The second-seeded Seahawks were 13-17 last year . . . Sacred Heart, which gets LIU in the first round, took the Blackbirds to overtime on Feb. 16. Justin Swidowski, a transfer from Holy Family, scored a career-high 23 that night for Sacred Heart . . . Second-year Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole, a Penn alum, remains the youngest coach in Division I at age 31.

Big Dance prospects: This is a one-bid league and it's LIU Brooklyn's to lose. The Blackbirds have homecourt advantage throughout and have a 24-game home winning streak.

SCHEDULE

Tonight

Sacred Heart (8) at Long Island (1), 7

C. Connecticut St. (7) at Wagner (2), 7

Monmouth (6) at Robert Morris (3), 7

Quinnipiac (5) at St. Francis (N.Y.) (4), 7

Sunday

Lowest seed at highest seed, 12 or 6

Third-remain. seed at second-remain. seed, 12 or 6

CHAMPIONSHIP/Wednesday, March 7

At higher-seeded team, 7 (ESPN2)

Coming tomorrow: Colonial, Metro Atlantic, Southern; Big Sky, Summit, Sun Belt