Bracket Buster Saturday nearly went "bust" over the weekend.

San Jose State beat Hawaii.

Wichita State beat Creighton.

Ohio beat Kent State.

Louisiana Tech beat Fresno State earlier last week -- and even though Louisiana Tech is in Saturday's nine-game, mid-major extravaganza, unlike the three victors above -- Fresno State had a more realistic shot to earn an at-large bid than Louisiana Tech.

So much for advance planning this season.

The purpose of Bracket Buster Saturday was to showcase teams and conferences that have traditionally pulled off upsets in the NCAA Tournament, match them up against each other, and produce one more non-conference game to help as many teams as possible get into the Dance.

The problem with best-laid plans are they don't always go as planned. Teams like Kent State, Tulsa, Hawaii, Fresno State and Southern Illinois haven't exactly followed the plan.

Each has lost too many games of late, making their at-large cases extremely tenuous today and in a month on Selection Sunday. Any bump they could get from winning their Bracket Buster game Saturday would likely help their seeding -- if they can win their conference tournament -- but won't be enough to push them into an ever-growing at-large pool of teams.

Now, this thinking could change if the NCAA Tournament selection committee decides to reward veteran mid-major teams that hit a mini-February slump, instead of penalize them for losing to teams within their conference. The committee talked about being more subjective during its meeting two weeks ago in Indianapolis. Snubbing Butler last season with 25 regular-season wins, because the Bulldogs had lost two of three games to Horizon League teams, made the committee more sensitive to the mid-major plight.

But, it's still a tough sell.

Kent State (17-5, 10-4 in the MAC) has an impressive record, but the Golden Flashes have lost three straight MAC games. They play Buffalo on Tuesday before hosting Hawaii in the Bracket Buster. Kent State finishes with MAC games at Marshall, and at home against Akron and Ohio. If the Flashes were to go 4-1 in the final five games, including a win over Hawaii, and then win two games in the MAC tournament, they would finish 23-7 and squarely on the bubble.

"We've played 15 MAC games after (Tuesday) and the rest of the league has played 12 so our kids are a bit fatigued,'' Kent State coach Jim Christian said. "We've got five left and we could be 22-5. If we win the Bracket Buster then we would have two quality wins with Hawaii and Boston College and that's two more than we had last year.''

The question remains, did Kent do enough even last year to get an at-large bid? While the answer is likely, yes, remember, Kent State won the MAC tournament and didn't need an at-large berth.

"We shouldn't get punished for losing four games in our league,'' Christian said. "If another Elite Eight team from last year wins 22 games you're not having this discussion. We've won four NCAA Tournament games in four years.''

The committee doesn't use history -- at least that's what they say. So, if they're dealing with the present then a win over Hawaii isn't as good a home victory as it looked two months ago.

The Rainbow Warriors (13-8, 6-7 WAC) can't win on the road, losing six straight road games and five of seven overall. A win over Hawaii won't carry the same weight as it could have for the Flashes had Hawaii lived up to preseason expectations. The Rainbow Warriors finish with three of five on the road and might not end up being a quality win for Kent State.

"This is still a chance for us to get on national television,'' Christian said. "We can show how we've corrected our problems (like going 8 for 17 at the line against Ball State; 10 for 21 against Ohio in losses). This could be a showcase argument that we should be in the tournament.''

Creighton lost last Saturday to Wichita State, but the Bluejays still seem fairly secure with a top 20 ranking and a gaudy record of 22-3 (12-2 in the Missouri Valley). Creighton's win over Notre Dame in Kansas City in the Guardians Classic title game Nov. 26 carries a ton of weight, as do a home win over BYU and a two-point loss at Xavier.

But beating Creighton Saturday might not be enough for Fresno State (18-5, 11-3 in the WAC) to get in without winning the conference tournament. The Bulldogs, however, certainly appear to be the team that has the most to gain with a win in this one-day event.

Fresno State lost at home to Louisiana Tech last week and finish with four of five on the road, including Creighton. Fresno State still has to go to San Jose State, Tulsa and Rice and plays host to Nevada. The Bulldogs would likely have to finish with one more regular-season loss and get to the title game to possibly have a shot at an-large berth -- even with a potential win at Creighton.

Southern Illinois' at-large chances were slim even before losing to Bradley on the road. The Salukis don't have a key non-conference win. The Salukis had little room for error, and while losing in overtime at Bradley is nothing to be ashamed of, it still hurts their chances. Beating a surging Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Bracket Buster Saturday will help, but it might not change the committte's minds.

Gonzaga (19-6, 10-1 in the WCC) also has more to lose than gain by hosting Saturday's finale, and won't get much of a bump from beating Tulsa (14-8, 7-6 WAC record).

As for other mid-majors who could have benifitted from a Bracket Buster victory, Butler declined to participate, while Manhattan, Penn and UNC Wilmington weren't invited because they didn't fit the overall profile of coming from a conference that has traditionally won NCAA games. None were regulars on ESPN, which also didn't help their case. Then again, just getting on television might not be enough to get these teams a bid, either.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.