FanHouse ChesterFrazier

We knew Western Kentucky was dangerous. We knew a 12 seed was destined to upset a five, just as at least one manages to do nearly every NCAA tournament. We knew Illinois was a worse team than all four No. 6 seeds, and we knew the Illini were also without their emotional leader and best defender (Chester Frazier).

So -- while it's still newsworthy, being an upset and all -- it was hardly shocking when Western Kentucky completed their triumph over the Fighting Illini in the wee hours of Friday morning.

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The jury is still way, way out on if the Big Ten will prove that it deserved seven NCAA Tournament bids, but Purdue ensured that one of the conference's higher seeds would be around for the weekend. The fifth-seed Boilermakers fought off No. 12-seed Northern Iowa, 61-56 in the West Region's first round.

The 5-vs.-12 matchup always carries heightened upset potential, and Northern Iowa looked fully capable of bouncing the Boilermakers, entering Thursday's game winners of five straight, which included the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship. Purdue led by as much as 14 early in the second half before Northern Iowa came back. But with the game at a classic Big Ten pace, Purdue managed to hold on.

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The NCAA tournament is just one day away, so FanHouse writers and editors got together to talk over each region. The Midwest Region got the ball rolling, followed by the East. Now, the South. What is intriguing about this region, and who do we like?

Matt Snyder: The one thing I like about the South Bracket is it's the one bracket with a bit of a mid-major flavor. Butler and Gonzaga should both have a shot at taking down Ty Lawson (right) and the mighty Tar Heels, and Western Kentucky has a solid chance at beating Illinois in the first round.

From the very start of college basketball's preseason, North Carolina has been in the national championship discussion. Heck, before the preseason, the Tar Heels had people talking about an undefeated season. Obviously, that didn't materialize, but despite a Ty Lawson injury-aided early exit from the ACC Tournament, the Tar Heels grabbed a No. 1 seed for the dance.

Oklahoma's never been far from the title talk either, and the Sooners join UNC here as the No. 2 seed. Neither has an easy road to the regional final -- talented teams like Syracuse, Gonzaga and Arizona State are all lurking, but the possibility for an epic Carolina-Oklahoma brouhaha looks strong.

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For much of the season, the Purdue Boilermakers have failed to meet lofty preseason expectations. Of course, they've had to deal with the constant injury issues in the back of Robbie Hummel -- the preseason Big Ten player of the year. Even when Hummel played, there were stretches where he was noticeably hampered by the back woes and wasn't playing up to par.

If the past two games in the Big Ten Tournament are any indication, though, Hummel and the Boilers are back. They will be a very dangerous out in the NCAA Tournament if this carries over, because they currently look like the team who was in most preseason top 10 lists.

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ESPN's Erin Andrews just reported on the air that Illinois point guard Chester Frazier suffered what is being called a bruised hand in practice Wednesday. She said it is "highly doubtful" that he will play at all this weekend, but the team hopes he can play next week in the Big Dance.

Andrews also mentioned that Frazier didn't want many details released, which makes be believe this is worse than being reported. How would a bruised hand not be cleared up in a week, and why would it be a secret?

As MDS pointed out earlier, Eric Gordon and his family may have had the last laugh in Indiana's double overtime victory over the Illini in Champaign on Thursday, but they had to suffer through quite a bit of abuse while doing it. Be it the constant boos Gordon heard everytime he touched the ball, the chants of 'Liar" and "Traitor" as he calmly sank his free throws, or the beads thrown at his family in the stands, Illini fans acted like fools. Complete and total fools.

I'm an Illini fan, and just like all of them, I don't like Eric Gordon. I was just as upset when he reneged on his oral commitment for Indiana as anybody else. At the same time, I realize he's just a basketball player.

A 19-year old basketball player.

What I saw and heard from the Illini crowd last night embarrassed me as an Illinois fan. Though it wasn't just the fans whose antics I found a little disturbing. Chester Frazier's "chestbump" with Gordon before the game was out of line as well, and he should have been punished for it. Either by the refs or his own coaching staff.

The truth is that the Illini and their fans are going through a tough, and extremely frustrating season. They're 10-14 on the season, including a lovely conference record of 2-9, and things arent' going to get any better this season. Instead of placing the blame where it should be though, like on the players and coaching staff, the team and it's fans have redirected all their anger at Eric Gordon.

Somehow it's gotten in their head that he's the reason the team sucks this season. It's not the fact that Shaun Pruitt can't hit a single free throw, or that they're shooting 30% from behind the arc, in their minds it's because Eric Gordon went to Indiana.

And they should all be ashamed of themselves, I know I'm ashamed of them.

Things started out well for the Illini, after jumping out to a 10-0 lead early it looked like Illinois was on it's way to it's first victory over a ranked non-conference opponent since 2005.

The defense was swarming, the shots were falling, and Illinois was finding every loose ball. Maybe it was the jet lag of coming from the west coast to play a game at 11AM in Chicago, but Arizona just didn't look like the ranked team early.

Then the Wildcats woke up.

Arizona then spent the rest of the game slowly chipping away at the Illini lead before finally taking over themselves late in the second half. They would eventually win 78-72 in overtime, but not without controversy.

As Illinois point guard Chester Frazier drove down court at the end of regulation, he was stripped by Arizona's Nic Wise who then called for a timeout. Unfortunately for Wise, Arizona didn't have any timeouts left. Of course, the officials at the United Center were a compassionate group of men, because rather than calling the illegal timeout and sending the Illini to the free throw line for the winning points, they just chose to ignore Wise's timeout call.

It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, though. Have you seen the Illini at the free throw line? They wouldn't have made any shots anyway.

Shaun Pruitt, who wasn't expected to get that many minutes, led the Illini with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Illinois is now 5-3 on the season.