THE LATEST LINE: NO-NAME HOOP TEAMS PROVIDE ALL KINDS OF GREAT GAMES

Murray State beats Austin Peay in overtime while Charleston Southern rallies to beat Liberty

Butler holds off Illinois-Chicago and South Alabama slips past Louisiana Tech.

Fairfield -- with a record well below .500 -- stuns Canisius.

And those are just a few of the results from Championship Week, that made-for-ESPN college basketball extravaganza that -- for those schools fortunate enough to be involved -- serves as their real NCAA playoffs.

All those schools from the lower-profile conferences that won their league's postseason tournaments last week will find out their poison today when the 64-team NCAA Division I basketball tournament bracket is revealed.

For most of those lower-level conference champions, their experience with the NCAA's `Big Dance' will end with a crushing first-round defeat at the hands of one of the nation's elite programs.

But that's all right. For schools like I mentioned above (along with many others), simply earning that NCAA tourney berth -- in most cases in heart-stopping, down-to-the-wire fashion on national television -- is a thrill that will last their players for a lifetime.

And for those of us who were able to watch many of those no-name teams that never make it on TV during the season, it was some pretty darn good entertainment.

Let's only hope the NCAA Tournament is that exciting.

* And based on what has transpired during the regular season, we should have another thriller of an NCAA tourney.

It does appear to be extremely wide open, with only Kansas looking like anything close to a decent bet of reaching the Final Four. But the Jayhawks have not exactly thrived in the NCAA tourney in recent years, which could make even them a bit iffy.

Like most college hoop fans, I can't wait to see the 64-team bracket later today.

* This column was written prior to the outcome of Perryville High's 3A quarterfinal game, played Saturday night in Farmington.

But regardless of what happened in that contest, Perryville proved without a doubt that it was the real deal this season.

Despite their tremendous record, I know there were still at least a few people in the area that doubted the Pirates.

But all those doubts were erased Wednesday night when the Pirates stunned defending 3A state champion Charleston in the sectional round.

* I almost couldn't believe my eyes and ears Wednesday night during 4A sectional basketball action at the Farmington Civic Center.

A relatively small group of students from Jackson -- who earlier had watched their girls team beat McCluer -- boisterously rooted for Riverview Gardens against Cape Central in the boys matchup.

We all know the Cape Central-Jackson rivalry is intense and I'm sure that, inwardly at least, many people from the neighboring communities root against their rivals' sports teams no matter who they are playing.

But, in the 13 years I've covered sports in this area, I've never seen that kind of an outward display.

I didn't think it showed much class, to say the least.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian