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The Little Dances: Championship Week Day 8 preview

photo by Ray Acevedo, Valpo Athletics

photo by Ray Acevedo, Valpo Athletics

The NCAA Tournament doesn’t get going until March 19, but for the real college hoops fans, the days leading up to Selection Sunday is when the madness really begins. Over the next two weeks teams will fight for the postseason lives. Bubbles will burst and tickets will be punched, and Cinderellas will be born. This is the real March Madness.

(CLICK HERE to browse through all of our conference tournament previews)

Here’s what to watch for on Tuesday.

Game of the Night: North Dakota State vs. South Dakota State
It’s a good ole fashioned border war in the Summit League finals as the Fightin’ Nate Wolters of South Dakota State take on the Fightin’ Taylor Brauns of North Dakota State. The two squads split the regular season series, with both teams holding serve on their home courts. SDSU likes to get out and run, NDSU wants to turn this into a dogfight.

Player to Watch: Ryan Broekhoff, Valparaiso
The senior forward has the driving force behind Valparaiso’s recent success during his collegiate career and is coming off of a 25-point performance against Green Bay in the Horizon League semifinals. But Broekhoff is still looking for his first trip to the NCAA dance. If he can put the Crusaders on his back once more, he will finally be able to get fitted for dancing shoes.

Miscellaneous Madness:
The Mountain West Conference tournament tips off tonight with Wyoming versus Nevada. Most of the pundits agree that the MWC tournament has the potential to be the most entertaining and unpredictable championship week event. Do not miss a minute of this.

Saturday Schedule:

Big East Conference First Round
7 p.m. - South Florida (13) vs. Seton hall (12)
9 p.m. - DePaul (14) vs. Rutgers (11)

Horizon League Finals
9 p.m. - Wright State (3) at Valparaiso (1) ESPN

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference First Round
4 p.m. - Coppin State (9) vs. Bethune-Cookman (8)
6:30 p.m. - Florida A&M (10) vs. North Carolina A&T (7)
9 p.m. - Howard (11) vs. Delaware State (6)

Mountain West Conference First Round
8 p.m. - Nevada (9) vs. Wyoming (8)

Northeast Conference Finals
7 p.m. - Mt. St. Mary’s (5) at LIU-Brooklyn (3) ESPN2

Summit League Finals
9 p.m. - North Dakota State (3) vs. South Dakota State (1)ESPN2

Western Athletic Conference First Round
9 p.m. - Seattle (10) vs. Texas State (7)
11:30 p.m. - UT-San Antonio (9) vs. San Jose State (8)

You can find Troy Machir on Twitter at @TroyMachir