Travis Ford's brief run as the head coach at the University of Massachusetts helped the Minutemen back to respectability. His teams won more than 20 games each of the last two seasons and the program returned to the top of the Atlantic 10. He left for Oklahoma State, though, and the team faced a difficult decision about who would do the best job of keeping them at a level unreached since John Calipari left the school.

They could hire a second-tier coach with a winning pedigree, promote an assistant from within or reach into the past for a guy who represents that proud era mentioned above. The Minutemen appear to have chosen door number three and will announce former UMass guard Derek Kellogg as their next coach tomorrow.

Kellogg will be a popular hire. He's a local celebrity and has been an assistant at Memphis for the last eight seasons. UMass obviously hopes the recruiting skills he used to help the Tigers to the finals will keep the talent flowing to Amherst. You have to wonder if the Minutemen couldn't have accomplished all that and brought in a guy with head coaching experience to boot.

Travis Ford is leaving UMass to take the head-coaching job at Oklahoma State, ESPN's Doug Gottlieb is reporting:

That's an awfully quick change of mind for Ford, who less than a week ago said he was sticking with UMass. But Oklahoma State has the backing of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, which means the Cowboys can give coaches financial offers that make the six-figure deals of UMass look like chump change.

Ford, who previously turned down LSU, reportedly will meet with his players today to tell them he's leaving. Ford has a 62-35 record in three seasons at UMass and led them to a loss in the NIT title game this year. He replaces Sean Sutton, who resigned after failing to reach the NCAA tournament in 2007 and 2008.

UMass weathered the Western Kentucky and then LSU interest in Travis Ford. Then as things settled Providence came calling with a sizable offer -- at least double his base salary at UMass of $400,000.

Ford actually toured the Providence campus and their athletic facilities on Wednesday. He returned back to Amherst with an offer, by all accounts. UMass could not match the money, but did offer a raise and more years. Ultimately -- and perhaps a little surprisingly -- Ford opted to remain at UMass. The announcement was made that he was staying just before the UMass Team Banquet.

"As all of you know, we've gone through the last couple of days with a great deal of anticipation," said [Athletic Director John] McCutcheon. "We would like everyone to know that Travis Ford, our head men's basketball coach, will be with us for many years to come. Obviously this has been a tremendous year for the basketball program advancing to the NIT Championship. We have made great strides here over the last couple of years and we look forward to making many more. We could not be more excited about the future in front of us."

This is great news for UMass as they have shown steady improvement under Ford. While they haven't made the NCAA Tournament, they have gotten better each year and reached the NIT the last two and tied for the best record in the A-10 this season.

Of course, if UMass keeps getting better, this will remain an annual event and at some point Ford will leave for the money and opportunity. Providence, clearly, wasn't that big opportunity.

Even though there are a few games left to play before a champion is crowned, the college basketball coaching carousel is alive and spinning. In the SEC, South Carolina hired Darrin Horn but they aren't the only league school looking for a new coach. LSU needs one too and may also end up with a Kentucky native on their bench.

Travis Ford of UMass has been named by more than one outlet as the leading candidate for the Tiger job. The timing, UMass plays the NIT final tonight, doesn't sit right with Erik Gallant at Minuteblog.

If you are going to blow a journalistic raspberry on a team on the verge of one of the biggest games in school history, please either offer an iron-clad guarantee of accuracy, or provide sources for the information.

I understand the desire for an unfettered run-up to a championship game but this is the nature of the beast. LSU's President used to be the President at UMass, Ford has done good things at UMass and is well-known around the SEC because of his days at Kentucky. This isn't wild speculation, then, but well-reasoned reportage using sources, anonymous though they be, to back it up.

UMass fans must dread losing Ford just as he's put the program back on good footing but I'd guess it's going to happen. They can take solace in the fact that the rumors didn't hurt them against Florida on Tuesday, at least, and hope Ford leaves on a winning note.

This is Syracuse forward/center Arinze Onuaku at the free throw line in last night's NIT game against UMass:

Did Onuaku think he was standing at the top of the key or something? Onuaku shot 44% from the line this season, but he actually managed to go 2-for-4 last night, boosting his average in the final game of the season. Fan IQ is wondering how Memphis coach John Calipari failed to land Onuaku.

Syracuse led by 22 in the second half last night before blowing the game to UMass. Free throw shooting was far from the only reason, but doesn't it seem like Syracuse has been terrible at shooting free throws for 30 years?

What? You didn't know the NIT announced their bids tonight as well? They were. If you were a fan of a bubble team that didn't make it, now is the chance to at least make a good showing that you were the most deserving team left out of the NCAA Tournament.

#1 seeds: Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse
#2 seeds: Florida, Illinois State, Ole Miss, UMass
#3 seeds: Creighton, Florida State, Dayton, Nebraska
#4 seeds: Minnesota, Cal, SIU, VCU
#5 seeds: Oklahoma State, Maryland, New Mexico, UAB
#6 seeds: Rhode Island, Akron, Cleveland State, Charlotte
#7 seeds: San Diego State, Stephen F. Austin, Utah State, UC-Santa Barbara
#8 seeds: Alabama State, Robert Morris, Morgan State, UNC-Asheville

Not much else to say. This is as big an indictment of how weak the bubble really was when you look at this list. Only a couple of these teams have any sort of argument that they were screwed by the NCAA Tournament.

This is a little ridiculous. The NCAA Tournament selection is only a few days away and few teams are doing much to make a case. It's getting so that the argument by fans of bubble teams will come down to, "My team sucks less."

The major and semi-major conference tournaments finished first or second round action, and one thing was very clear. All of these teams are bubble teams for a reason. They just aren't that good and they can't close the deal.

• Villanova follows up a big win over Syracuse with an equally big loss to Georgetown.
• Arizona State (with a little help from the Pac-10 refs -- of course) loses again to USC.
• Baylor had to stage a second half comeback to lose in double-OT to Colorado.
• Florida had to make a furious comeback to lose to Alabama by 11.
• Dayton couldn't make a case against Xavier.
• UAB probably needed to at least make the C-USA final, goes out in its first game.
• UMass collapsed in the second half against Charlotte.
• Oregon couldn't beat Washington State in a win-and-in type game.
• Maryland fell apart (again) in the second half to hand it to Boston College.
• Ole Miss cames back several times only to give up an easy basket just before the buzzer in OT for a Georgia win.
• New Mexico couldn't close it in OT, losing to Utah.

South Alabama and VCU are feeling a lot better tonight. Heck, Virginia Tech suddenly has a legitimate case. Ohio State and Arkansas, it's your turn on Friday.

Until Eliot Spitzer found his way to the Emperors Club, the Atlantic 10 had the inside track on the biggest fade from glory in 2008. Entering the year with dreams of four or more bids in the NCAA Tournament, conference play has brought about an end to those dreams. Cannibalization, attrition and plain old underachieving make the possibility of just one bid an uncomfortably real one.

We know Xavier is dancing. They could lose their first game and still be assured of a spot in the tournament. It would really hurt their seeding but they've done more than enough to get in. They will probably be joined by one more team. There's an outside chance at three but the WCC, CAA and Sun Belt upsets don't help that cause any more than Rhode Island and Dayton playing mediocre basketball for the past three months.

As bizarre as it may sound, the league's overall ability is a liability. According to Basketball Prospectus, there's a better chance of 10-seed Duquesne making the tourney final than four-seed Richmond and only a 22% chance that Xavier and Temple, the top two teams, meet in the finals.

So who is going to get that second bid?

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 1 and Part 2.

As teams like Ohio State and Virgina Tech make a stronger case to be in the NCAA Tournament, attention will focus on teams from the other conferences that might make the Tournament even if they don't win their conference tournament and the automatic bid.

Throughout the season we'll look at bubble teams and assess whether they have a better chance of ending up in the NIT or NCAA Tournament.

Team: Massachusetts Minutemen

Record: 19-9 (8-6 A-10)

Good Wins: at Syracuse, at Dayton, Houston, swept Rhode Island

Bad Losses: at Northern Iowa, Fordham, swept by Saint Joseph's

Comments: Like everyone in the A-10 that isn't Xavier, UMass has had moments where they look like a team that could make waves in the tournament and those where the NIT seems like a stretch. The wins over URI and Dayton are big in a league that increasingly looks like a bad bet to land more than two teams in the dance.

Other Views: They rank 39th in RPI, 54th on Basketball State, 74th in Pomeroy Ratings and 56th in Sagarin Ratings.

Outlook: If UMass can win their final two regular season games, and get some help from Temple, they will finish no worse than tied for second in the A-10. They'd also have six straight wins to close the year, no small effort in what's been one of the tightest conference races in the whole country. Unless they stumble twice more, regular season or A-10 tourney, they should eke out a bid thanks to the overall strength of the conference.