David Letterman was born in Indianapolis, the home of Butler University, and that may be why he's convinced that Butler deserves another chance at playing Tennessee, the team it lost to in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday:

"The Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Butler Bulldogs, 76-71," Letterman said. "Apparently, there still is some time on the clock, so they're going to run the overtime over again. They found that they had let the clock run during a timeout mistakenly, and they think there's a good chance that Butler will be back in the Tournament."

I'm not sure it works that way, but I do like the way Letterman has maintained loyalty to his Indiana teams even after working in New York for three decades. He's no fair-weather fan.

Much has been made about Memphis's inability to make free throws consistently. Our own Michael David Smith relayed John Calipari's ridiculous statements about winning yesterday's game with Mississippi State at the free throw line and they deserve to be mocked.

Coaches used to harp on making free throws almost above all else. When teams give you a chance at free points, you best take it or else you'll be going home a loser. This year, though, Memphis was joined by Louisville and Georgetown in making less than 50% from the line but only the Hoyas paid the price. D.J. Augustin of Texas airballed a free throw to set up Miami's last chance to tie their game and the Longhorns only made 12-of-21 overall, but the Canes still fell short. On Saturday, five of the eight winning teams were below 70% from the line.

Can it be that making free throws is no longer a necessary ingredient to winning games? For teams like Memphis and Louisville, talent may indeed trump these shortcomings. But take a look at the two biggest weekend upsets and one near-miss for some evidence about the enduring need to make your foul shots.

The selection committee for the NCAA Tournament says that it doesn't consider specific matchups when they're seeding teams and placing them in the four brackets. It seems hard to believe that when each year brings games with geographical rivals or coaches who have worked together in the past squaring off. This year, you've got O.J. Mayo and Michael Beasley in a freshman fiesta which stretches the credulity of their promise even more.

You've also got the cannibalization of smaller conference schools for the second straight year. Butler drew Old Dominion last year and this time around has to beat South Alabama to get out of the first round. Drake gets the second Sun Belt representative, Western Kentucky, in a 5-12 game and the Midwest region features a pair of matchups between teams outside the BCS conferences. UNLV plays Kent State and Gonzaga faces Davidson in what should be two of the best first round games.

There may seem to be a pejorative connotation to this observation, i.e. the NCAA wants bigger schools to move on and do well, but that's not the point. Four of these teams are guaranteed a second game, after all, and as more teams from outside the big six get to dance, they'll inevitably run into one another. Other than Butler, none of these teams got seeded too low or too high, so there's no problem except for the sneaking suspicion that the committee considers matchups more than they let on.

Read FanHouse previews for these teams (and the other 57 as well) in the NCAA Tournament.

If any team can make a legitimate case that it got hosed by the Selection Committee, it's the Butler Bulldogs.

For starters, how is Butler a No. 7 seed? Butler's RPI is 17. Not only is that significantly better than the other No. 7 seeds (Miami's RPI is 33, West Virginia's is 27 and Gonzaga's is 31), but it's better than any of the No. 6 seeds, too.

And then there's Butler's draw: The Bulldogs are placed in the East region, where they'll play the first-round game against No. 10 seed South Alabama, in Birmingham, Alabama. It's safe to say South Alabama will have a lot more of their fans in attendance than Butler will.

And then, if the Bulldogs beat South Alabama, they have to play, in all likelihood, Tennessee. The Volunteers are the best team among the four No. 2 seeds. Bottom line: Butler may legitimately be one of the top 16 teams in the country, but it has an incredibly difficult road to get to the Sweet 16.

Conference: Horizon League
Record: 29-3 (16-2 Horizon)
RPI: 18
How They Got In: Automatic Bid
Seed/Bracket: 7/East

Mascot: Bulldogs. Not the most interesting nickname. More interesting is that they play in Hinkle Fieldhouse, home of the final game in "Hoosiers," and that the team MVP in 1957 and 1958 was Bobby Plump, the real-life equivalent of Jimmy Chitwood.

Good Wins: Butler started the year hot by winning the Great Alaska Shootout and further proved their mettle by knocking off Ohio State at home and Southern Illinois on a last-second, nearly half-court heave by A.J. Graves.

Bad Losses: The 71-64 Bracket Buster loss to Drake was significant. Unlike the Wright State and Cleveland State losses, Drake a finesse squad.

Player You Should Know: Graves and Mike Green are well known after last year's Sweet 16 appearance so the guy you will be finding out about is Matt Howard. The freshman has balanced the Bulldog offense by providing an inside option to the endless rain of threes and is their only good rebounder.

Outlook: Butler's last two trips to the Tournament ended in the Sweet 16 and this team is certainly good enough to make a return to that round. Green is adept at controlling pace and runs an offense that doesn't turn the ball over. Howard has added interior oomph to a guard-dominated team, but opponents still outrebound them by a fair margin. When an opponent uses that glass edge to generate a faster paced game, Butler will struggle to keep up and end their tournament run.

There seems to be a larger than usual pool of teams across the college basketball landscape from the non-power conferences that could make their own case for an at-large bid. These are some of the conferences that have teams that could pop other teams bubbles if they don't win their conference tournament. Part 2 and Part 3

The conference tournaments kicked off today for the Ohio Valley, Horizon and Big South. Throughout this week and next the automatic bids will be doled out across the 31 conferences. That leaves the precious at-large bids for 34 other teams.

For fans of teams on the bubble -- Arkansas, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and the assorted other -- the non-power conference tournaments take on greater meaning. Upsets in some of these conference championships can result in a shrinking bubble and more teams in play.

For the majority of each of their games on Tuesday night it looked like Drake and Butler were looking ahead to their Bracket Buster game. Announced on Monday and scheduled for February 23rd, if both sets of Bulldogs keep winning they will have a combined 48-3 record and could secure the winner a three seed come tournament time. Who knows, maybe even higher given their current rankings and the vagaries of college hoops.

That's a lot of ifs, especially after neither team looked sure to get to this morning without another loss. Butler trailed at Valparaiso for the first 39:45 before Pete Campbell knocked down a three to give them their first lead of the night. Valpo's Jarryd Loyd lost the ball on the ensuing possession and the Bulldogs matched last year's 20-2 start. Campbell might have provided the final heroics but it was A.J. Graves who made it possible. He tied the game three times in the final three minutes and drew a double that led to Campbell's open winner.

Meanwhile, the other Bulldogs had their hands full in Normal. They fell behind Illinois State 38-29 at the half with Josh Young missing every shot he tried in the first 20 minutes and, for a time, looked headed to a loss that would keep the MVC a race. Young scored 17 points after the break, including four three-pointers, and Drake rallied for a 73-70 win. They now lead the Redbirds by four games in conference and have the second longest winning streak in the country behind Memphis.

When we were took a look at the teams that might benefit the most from their Bracket Buster games this weekend we glossed over Drake and Butler. Unlike most of the other participants, the dueling Bulldogs look like sure bets for a trip to the big dance which makes their matchup, announced today, all the more interesting.

Butler's trip to the Sweet 16 last season made the country familiar with their style but there's probably a fair chunk of people who haven't watched them play with freshman Matt Howard. His inside play balances their always strong three point shooting and, since they rarely turn the ball over, makes them nearly impossible to stop on offense. Stopping Howard will be a key for Drake. They defend the perimeter quite well but aren't loaded with size inside. Offensively, they share a proclivity for the outside shot and the efficient approach with the other Bulldogs.

It isn't every year that two mid-majors appear to be top-four seeds and even rarer that we get to see them square off when they are in full form. While they may be playing the marquee game of the weekend, there will be others worth watching.

George Mason started January as a team looking for its identity. Losses to Georgia State and Delaware had them behind the eight-ball in the CAA and the preseason conference favorites were looking like a team with more flaws than assets. Things changed quickly, though. Will Thomas had a career game to stave off an upset in double overtime at Hofstra on Thursday and then Dre Smith shot his way into the record books during yesterday's 96-75 win at James Madison.

Smith made all 10 of his three-point tries to set a NCAA record for most tries without a miss. He finished with 34 points overall, a career-high which was only part of the reason to believe the Patriots are on the right track. They also outrebounded the Dukes by 14 and shot 65% for the game. Delaware lost for the second straight time yesterday, which leaves GMU in a three-way tie behind VCU in the Colonial.

The Rams won 78-68 at Old Dominion yesterday. They don't have the depth of the Patriots but they have two players in Eric Maynor and Jamal Shuler who can go off any night. They each scored 26 points against ODU and each finished with a double-double to boot. Shuler had 11 boards and Maynor dished 10 assists, an overwhelming two-man band.

Every year it happens. A team that's guaranteed a spot in the Big Dance gets knocked out in their conference tournament and loses the automatic bid to a team that wouldn't be in otherwise. That creates a ripple effect which knocks out a deserving team and launches a million articles about snubs. It's still a tad early to know just what teams might fit that description this season but if Cleveland State repeats last night's 56-52 win over Butler in March, some team will be left out in the cold.

That's not meant to slight the Vikings. They're having a bang-up season, 6-0 in the Horizon and playing their best basketball in decades. It's just that there's no way they are getting in without winning the conference tournament and they are well positioned to beat Butler. They defend the three-point line like crazy, Horizon foes are hitting but 27% of their tries, and they rebound like crazy. They also don't rely on the three offensively and, taken in total, that spells bad matchup for Butler.

The Bulldogs are poor rebounders who win because they play clean and control the perimeter on each side. They weren't able to do that last night and, frankly, will struggle to do it the next time these teams meet. Pete Campbell made five threes but the rest of the team was 1-of-16 from deep. If that happens again come March, prepare the hankies Big East team #9.