Remember Southern Illinois and UNC Wilmington? Come on, you must. They were two teams who generated plenty of buzz on the first weekend of the 2002 NCAA Tournament.

Southern Illinois upstaged Bob Knight's return to the dance, sending The General's Texas Tech troops home to Lubbock. The 11th-seeded Salukis then keep the NCAA experience alive by upsetting the East's No. 3 seed Georgia to reach the school's first Sweet 16.

Wilmington, meanwhile, was out in California doing much the same on opening night. The Seahawks, seeded 13th in the East, stunned fifth-seeded USC in the first round. UNCW then gave Indiana a late scare in the second round before falling 76-67 to the same group of Hoosiers who wound up in the national championship game.

	Bruce Weber, Blake Schoen and the Salukis will likely need to get past Creighton in the MVC in order to get to the NCAAs.

Other than Kent State's run to the Elite Eight, no other mid-major team did more than these two in last year's NCAA Tournament. No reason to think either can't make similar showings this year. Yet, despite all the talk of mid-majors making headway in the NCAA Tournament; Creighton's rise into the top 10; Butler being snub by the committee last year and this year's Golden Flashes picking up where they left off last year, the country has all but forgotten about UNCW and SIU.

Each, however, has a good chance to make NCAA headlines again.

"We're actually ahead of our pace from last year in the league," Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber said of the Salukis' 10-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is good enough to tie Creighton for the lead. Southern Illinois was 14-4 in the Valley last season. "But we didn't have a good start early."

The Salukis got off to a 5-3 start, which included road losses at Illinois-Chicago, Charlotte and Saint Louis. It's also the reason why, like UNCW, the Saluki will need to win their conference tournament to get an NCAA bid.

"We had a bit of a Sweet 16 hangover. I think we were thinking too much about the glamour of last year," Weber said.

Since the slow start, the Salukis have lost only once -- at Creighton. But SIU's 15-4 record through Thursday's win at Drake, doesn't carry the same clout as last season's 28 wins that earned an at-large NCAA bid.

"We don't have the real big wins like we had last year in beating Indiana, Iowa State and hanging in there with Illinois," said Southern Illinois senior guard Kent Williams, probably the second-best player to Kyle Korver in the MVC. "We lost (inside power player) Rolan Roberts and it wasn't easy replacing him. So, I can understand why no one is talking about us."

Weber has used the lack of respect and no national coverage as motivation, although SIU would love the type of attention Creighton has received out of The Valley. Korver's national profile simply dwarfs Williams, who averages 14.5 points and shoots 50.5 percent from 3-point range.

"Our fans aren't too happy about that," Weber said of the lack of attention. "We've gotten no love at all, but it has motivated our guys."

	"	I know we might have to win the CAA tournament, but we're one of the 64 best teams in the country. We wouldn't finish at the bottom of the ACC. We're not in awe of playing a big-time team. We've done it. "
		Brad Brownell, UNCW first-year head coach

Southern Illinois tried in vain to schedule better competition, but Weber said no high-profile team would come anywhere near Carbondale, Ill., in a return-game situation. Creighton's national profile, meanwhile, was aided by an exempted tournament game against Notre Dame in the Guardians Classic. The Bluejays won that game and will certainly get plenty of mileage out of that win.

"Creighton also lucked into games with Xavier (a road loss) and a BYU (a home win)," Weber said. "We tried, but scheduling is harder than recruiting. We played 23 games away from home last year. That's something that has to change for the mid-majors."

Regardless, Weber and Williams are realistic about their NCAA chances. And that means starting with a must-win situation in hosting the MVC finale against Creighton on March 1. Southern Illinois drew Wisconsin-Milwaukee out of the Horizon League for the Bracket Buster Saturday event. Southern Illinois (65 in this week's RPI) finishes with five of eight overall at home.

"We've still got to beat Creighton and can't afford more than one loss, and even then, we've still got to get to the championship game of the tournament," Weber said.

And, once there, can they do something special again?

"Yes because we've played in big games before and we've got the experience," Weber said. "We've got more offensive weapons (four double-figure scorers; shooting nearly 40 percent on 3s) on this team, too. We're got a deeper bench and we're dangerous when we're shooting the ball well."

Speaking of tough matchups, few players are tougher to defend on any level than Wilmington's Brett Blizzard. He might be the best 3-point shooter nobody outside of the Colonial Athletic Association has seen. Blizzard is averaging 21.5 points a game and shooting 46 percent on 3s this season. He's had a remarkable career at Wilmington, leading the Seahawks to the NCAAs twice and the NIT once. He could take them to a third NCAA berth if they win the CAA.

Wilmington is also not at-large attractive with an RPI of 69 entering the week. Like SIU, the Seahawks started slow and had to play six non-conference games on the road. But, since the start of the CAA, they've come on strong and UNCW is now 14-5 overall and leads the CAA with an 8-2 mark.

Still, without the marquee wins to push its power rating higher over the final month (Wilmington lost at Dayton in its best non-conference game) UNCW need to finish the CAA tournament with a win. But if Wilmington can get into the dance, it'll be trouble again for a No. 4 or No. 5 seed.

"It's possible," Blizzard said. "I'm not going to say we're going to win, but we've got a good chance. We're not just one dimensional where I'm just shooting the ball. We lost only two seniors so we've got the veteran players to do it again."

Blizzard said the fans in Wilmington and "probably USC" haven't forgotten about what UNCW did last March. But he also is a realist and knows the Seahawks have to win the CAA tournament to get a bid.

	Brett Blizzard has led UNCW to postseason bids (two NCAAs, one NIT) three straight years.

"That's the way it has been," Blizzard said. "But you don't win the tournament in three days. You do it in the preseason and through your conference (in getting a top seed)."

Any perception that the Seahawks wouldn't be able to duplicate its 23 wins of a year ago might have rested in a coaching change. Jerry Wainwright left for Richmond, leaving assistant Brad Brownell in charge. But there hasn't been any slippage, especially with Blizzard around.

"We've heard a lot about Kyle Korver and what he's done but people aren't as familiar with Brett Blizzard," Brownell said. "He's done as much if not more for us during the same time."

The Seahawks go with a three-guard lineup and try to push the ball and shoot perimeter shots. They're not going to settle back and pound the ball inside. If they're on, that kind of style can work in the NCAAs.

"I know we might have to win the tournament, but we're one of the 64 best teams in the country," Brownell said. "We wouldn't finish at the bottom of the ACC. We're not in awe of playing a big-time team. We've done it."

The question is can they do it again this March?

UNCW and SIU have to first get there.

Weekly Chatter

What we're hearing ...

At Purdue ... The talk about Gene Keady retiring in the next two years really irked the longtime Purdue coach.

"It just ate him up," said former assistant and present Southern Illinois coach Bruce Weber. "He couldn't deal with it. All his buddies were telling him to call it quits and not go down on a bad note. They didn't want him to be bitter for the rest of his life. But that's not coach. He would go down fighting."

Purdue's resurgence to the top of the Big Ten began with a European trip in the spring and has continued because of the upperclassmen buying into Keady's defensive approach.

"Nobody was listening," Keady said. "We tried to be patient with our seniors last season (13-18 overall, 5-11 in the Big Ten). I tried to be loyal to the seniors, but it didn't work. But we still haven't done anything yet. We could be 1-7 in the back eight of the Big Ten."

Not likely. But the difference with Keady from this season to last is that he refuses to take on any of the stress or pressure to win -- for him.

"I don't have to win to develop a career," Keady said. "I want to win in the worst way but I also want my assistants to get better jobs. That's what I'm worrying about (at this stage)."

Purdue can't get complacent and Keady isn't about to be too jazzed over the Boilermakers success.

"We can't think we're something we're not," Keady said. "We can't stop playing team defense. We don't have a super star."

On how to beat Louisville ... So, how did the Boilermakers beat Louisville -- the only team to defeat the Cardinals? Obviously, Louisville was missing Marvin Stone (not eligible in early December in Indianapolis) but still the Boilermakers had a plan. "We started talking about Louisville last spring," Keady said. "We went back and looked at all the old tapes of their press. We worked on our press offense right from the beginning of practice."

At Saint Joseph's ... Hawks coach Phil Martelli wasn't going to bring sophomore Delonte West back on the team, but had a change of heart after discussing how much West needed to be on the team for balance in his life. West had a verbal argument with a trainer prior to the Rhode Island game last week. But he was apologetic and gained support from the trainer and many others. He missed the game, but then was brought back for the game against Villanova, and has been a model citizen, so far. West (17.5 ppg) scored 25 points in the win over the Wildcats. West is one of the most improved players in the Atlantic 10 this season.

At Virginia Tech ... Coach Ricky Stokes benched starters Brian Chase, Terry Taylor and Carlos Dixon for the game at Providence last week to try and energize the team. The Hokies lost, but then Taylor and Dixon worked their way back into the starting lineup for the Connecticut game, which Tech won handily. Virginia Tech crushed Virginia and Connecticut at home, two wins that could stave off any more criticism on Stokes and his staff. But the Hokies must continue to show improvement, especially on the road, and reaching the Big East tournament could be a must. The problem is that four of their next five games are on the road.

At Western Kentucky ... Coach Dennis Felton isn't about to be sullen over the Hilltoppers' 14-8 record. Western Kentucky won the 14 games without two starters -- forward Todor Pandov (ACL tear out for the season from the opening game) and center Chris Marcus (foot injuries and out for the season). The Hilltoppers also lost a backup center when Michael Doe quit the team prior to the season. "I'm real happy with the job our guys are doing," Felton said. "We're not the same team as last year. We lost four starters. We're not a top-20 team but who would have predicted we would have lost 21 feet of post players."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the year.