Hurley's Tournament Triple Crown Goes 2-1 Monday!
William & Mary/Old Dominion (Under 117.5) 53-60 WON
Fairfield (+7.5) Siena 65-72 WON
Gonzaga (-4.5) St. Mary's 62-81

Private Line Cashes In Too!
North Texas (+1) Denver 63-56 WON!
Blue Ribbon Goes 2-0; Cashline Splits At 1-1

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COLLEGE BASKETBALL REPORT:
THE 'MADNESS' ROLLS ON WITH
POWER CONFERENCES JOINING IN ON
THE MINI-TOURNEY FUN-N-GAMES
PLUS WE PUT THE RE-WIND BUTTON
ON SOME BIG WEEKEND WINNERS & LOSERS

Here's a hint that this thing called 'March Madness' is in full swing:

This past weekend we heard the words 'bubble teams', 'bracketology' and 'quality wins' spoken in record amounts ... and we ...

HANDICAPPING NOTEBOOK

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK BEGINS WITH PREVIEWS
OF BIG EAST, A10, BIG 12, AND CUSA

by Mathew Hurley, Managing Editor

We have A LOT to get to today, so we're going to jump in very quickly.

Just like last week, we've gathered up regular season totals in our favorite college basketball indicator stat for everyone playing in their conference tournaments. That stat: two-point defense. Hopefully you're a regular by now, so we don't have to go in-depth with the explanation. In short for you newcomers, nothing equates to quality in this sport better than two-point defense. The top teams guard the basket. The pretenders don't. When you're trying to handicap neutral court playoff style games, you need to be able to tell the top teams from the pretenders!

Two conferences begin their action today, with the Big East and Atlantic 10 taking the floor. The Big East is running split sessions today and tonight at Madison Square Garden. That Atlantic 10 is ...

WHO'S LEADING THE WAY ON DERBY ROAD?
Plus A Recap Of The Gotham Stakes

In something of a humbling surprise, the weekend's Triple Crown preps proved to be more meaningful than expected -- more meaningful, anyway, than I had expected. Awesome Act gave a very encouraging performance in winning the Gotham, and although Alphie's Bet didn't proclaim himself to be a Derby contender while winning the Sham, he did confirm, if confirmation were needed,the talent of Caracortado.

Awesome Act didn't quite perform up to the standards implied by his name, but he came close, especially for March. If in this his seasonal debut, Awesome Act had only duplicated his best juvenile effort, he wouldn't have won the Gotham. But, as it turned out, he ran the best race of his life: He's not only better but much better on dirt than on turf or synthetics, the surfaces he had raced over as a juvenile.

After three-quarters of a mile Saturday, he turned in a 25.19 quarter while rallying outside,and that moveput him in commandas the early leaders retreated, spentafter their fast fractions. AndAwesome Actcompleted the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.85, a very solid time on a day when the Aqueduct surface wasn't especially fast.

After Eskendereya's Fountain of Youth, which stands out, Awesome Act's Gotham ranks right ...