Saint Mary's forward Brad Waldow's reward for the best performance of his college career was a trip to the dentist.

Brad Waldow after Saturday's game (@BeauFlex15)An elbow from San Diego big man Jito Kok knocked one of Waldow's front teeth out as the two were vying for a rebound with five minutes left in the Gaels' 69-66 overtime win in Saturday night's second WCC semifinal. Unfazed, Waldow jogged over to the bench and tried to hand his tooth to coach Randy Bennett, who hilariously recoiled in disgust and pointed to an athletic trainer a few seats away.

What Waldow lacked in etiquette he made up for in toughness and grit.

Though Waldow's injury was severe enough to require postgame surgery to repair, the sophomore still returned to the game as soon as his mouth stopped bleeding. He finished with a career high 23 points to go with 16 rebounds and blocked four shots, helping Saint Mary's stave off the upset bid from San Diego.

It was Waldow's contributions that kept the Gaels close enough for star point guard Matthew Dellavedova to force overtime with a left corner 3-pointer with nine seconds left in regulation. The Gaels, who trailed San Diego by as many as 12, came up with a stop on the Toreros' final possession and played a strong overtime to force a fifth straight WCC title game against rival Gonzaga.

[Related: Liberty may be the worst team ever to secure NCAA tourney bid]

Each time Ryan Broekhoff walks into the gym where Valparaiso practices, he sees a large rectangular banner of his coach sinking a desperation 3-pointer that is still remembered as one of the most famous shots in NCAA tournament history.

"It's a reminder anything can happen," Broekhoff said.

If the daily sight of Bryce Drew's iconic buzzer beater isn't sufficient proof no deficit is insurmountable, then Broekhoff now has another reference point.

With top-seeded Valparaiso trailing by two late in the second half of its Horizon League semifinal against fourth-seeded Green Bay on Saturday night, Broekhoff dribbled up court and hoisted a desperation 3-pointer of his own. His fallaway shot with a hand in his face as time expired lifted the Crusaders to a 70-69 victory and secured a berth opposite third-seeded Wright State in Tuesday's Horizon League title game.

Broekhoff's shot was a huge relief for a Valparaiso team that also won the regular season league championship last season but missed out on an NCAA tournament bid after falling to Detroit in the Horizon league title game. Not only did Broekhoff's teammates sprint after him and mob him in a dog pile, Drew fell to the floor arms extended in victory in a pose reminiscent of the one he struck after beating Ole Miss in 1998.

"It was a great moment," Broekhoff said about 30 minutes later when things had calmed down a bit. "They played such good defense I was surprised I even got the shot off. When I shot it, it looked straight but I thought I put way too much on it and it was going to go off the backboard. When I saw it get all net, I didn't really know what to do."

The most thrilling game the first week of conference tournament play has produced so far featured a moment that epitomizes the emotions of March.

As Belmont's Kerron Johnson backpedaled down court grinning and pumping his fist after hitting an overtime game-winning jumper, Murray State's Isaiah Canaan stood motionless with a grimace on his face no doubt bemoaning his unforced error that set up the shot.

Murray State had a chance to attempt a go-ahead shot on its final possession, but Canaan turned the ball over when he bounced the ball off his foot and into the backcourt with 25 seconds left in overtime. Johnson dribbled out most of the clock on Belmont's ensuing possession before beating his defender off the dribble and sinking the go-ahead shot from the left elbow with 1.2 seconds left, propelling the Bruins to a 70-68 victory in the Ohio Valley Conference title game.

The heroics from Johnson ensure Belmont won't spend a nervous eight days wondering if it had done enough to earn an at-large bid. The Bruins boasted a gaudy 26-6 record and a top 30 RPI, but they would have likely been one of the last teams in or out with a loss on Saturday because their list of quality wins isn't as strong as what other bubble teams had piled up.

There's no at-large safety net for Murray State to fall back on, so this is a crushing loss for the Racers.

Despite the return of Isaiah Canaan and Ed Daniel from last year's team that started 23-0 and made the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament, Murray State lacked the depth or complementary talent it had a year ago. Canaan led the Racers to decent wins over St. John's, Auburn and Evansville in non-league play, but the team faltered down the stretch in its league, finishing just 10-6 in the OVC.

He was supposed to feed J.T. Yoho in the post but the freshman forward wasn't open. Then he tried driving baseline but two defenders cut off his path to the rim.

Yes, really nothing about Wright State's final possession went the way Miles Dixon planned with the exception of his final shot.

Pinned on the baseline as the the final seconds of regulation melted away Saturday night, Dixon felt his only option was to try a fadeaway jump shot from a difficult angle behind the backboard. Amazingly enough, it went in, delivering third-seeded Wright State a 56-54 victory over defending champion Detroit in the first of Saturday night's two Horizon League semifinals.

"I was supposed to pass it into the post, but they were pressuring me pretty hard and I couldn't deliver the pass," Dixon said. "I drove it baseline but they helped. I saw the time ticking down, I turned around and I shot the ball from behind the basket. I was hoping it would go in and it did."

Dixon's heroics represent the latest step in Wright State's turnaround from 13-19 a year ago to an upper-echilon Horizon League team this season. The Raiders, projected last in the league prior to the season, are now 21-11 overall and in position to earn an unlikely NCAA tournament bid if they beat either top-seeded Valparaiso or fourth-seeded Green Bay in Tuesday's title game.

The key to Wright State's success is a stingy defense that makes up for an sometimes inefficient offense by holding opponents to 39.6 percent shooting. It was that defense that kept the Raiders in it once again on Saturday to enable Dixon to have a chance to win the game at the buzzer.

Having slipped to the fringes of the bubble as a result of three losses in its previous four games, Alabama desperately needed a home win against Georgia to keep faint hope alive of earning an at-large bid.

Trevor Releford made sure the Tide got that victory, and he did it in the most unlikely way possible.

[Related: Wins mean very different things for bluegrass rivals UK, Louisville]

When Georgia's Charles Mann drove to the rim but had the ball poked away as he went up for the potential go-ahead shot, Alabama's Rodney Cooper grabbed the ball and threw an outlet pass to Releford. The Alabama guard took a dribble and buried a shot from beyond mid-court as the final buzzer sounded, preventing overtime and giving the Tide a 61-58 victory.

The half-court prayer from Releford soothed Alabama's frustration at blowing a 14-point second-half lead and kept the Tide relevant entering what should be a wide-open SEC tournament. Despite road losses to Florida, Mississippi and LSU in the past two weeks, Alabama (20-11, 12-6) finished in a second-place tie in the SEC and will earn the No. 4 seed in the SEC tournament.

It's unclear exactly what Alabama will need to make the NCAA tournament, but the Tide probably wouldn't have reason to feel good about their chances without an SEC title game appearance. It's not an easy road with Tennessee as a potential quarterfinal opponent and Florida possibly looming in a semifinal, but thanks to Releford's heroics, the dream of an at-large bid isn't dead yet.

Andy Enfield holds up the net after his team defeated Mercer

Florida Gulf Coast advanced within a victory of the NCAA tournament last season and this season, but the unheralded upstarts that played in the Atlantic Sun title game last March bore only faint resemblance to the confident team that took the floor Saturday.

When the sixth-seeded Eagles shocked Mercer and USC Upstate to earn a crack at heavily favored Belmont last season, they were just giddy to unexpectedly reach the title game. This year's team won 21 regular season games and finished just a game out of first place in the Atlantic Sun, so it took a far more poised, businesslike approach to Saturday's title game at top-seeded Mercer.

Despite playing essentially a road game against a Mercer team that previously hadn't lost on its home floor this season, FGCU outplayed the top-seeded Bears in the second half to break open a back-and-forth game. Brett Comer scored 21 points to lead the Eagles to an 88-75 win that secured the school's first NCAA tournament berth just six years after it began the transition to Division I and two years after it became postseason eligible.

"It's a great moment for our program and our school," FGCU coach Andy Enfield said. "Last year, we went to the championship game on pure adrenaline, but we weren't good enough to win it. We weren't ready. This year was entirely different. We're much more experienced. We've played a very good, challenging schedule. Our players were confident, and they felt we were ready to win this tournament."

FGCU's victory marks the culmination of the program's rise from Atlantic Sun bottom feeder to contender during Enfield's two-year tenure. The Eagles lost 20 0r more games under Dave Balza each of their first four seasons in Division I, but Enfield led them to a respectable 15-17 record last season and has the program 24-10 this season after Saturday's win.

It's no surprise Enfield has been successful considering he was viewed as a rising star before he even coached his first game at FGCU.

John Thompson Jr. congratulates his son after Georgetown's win over Syracuse (AP)

As the final Big East matchup between longtime rivals Syracuse and Georgetown was set to tip off Saturday afternoon, the emotion the game inspired was visible all throughout the Verizon Center.

'Our Hatred is Eternal' banner by the Stonewalls (photo by @mgrad89)One Georgetown fan waved a poster that read "Officially Closed" with checkmarks next to "Manley" and "Dome." Another brandished a sign with "If you can't beat 'em, go to the ACC" scrawled on it. And the Georgetown alumni group, the Stonewalls, unveiled a 52-foot soccer-style tifo banner featuring the slogan "Our hatred is eternal" with a picture of Jack the Bulldog slicing up Otto the Orange in the middle.

[Related: Don't bury the Big East tournament yet]

Scenes like that illustrate why the euphoria of a 61-39 rout of Syracuse for Georgetown supporters had to come with at least twinge of sadness too.

On one hand, the Hoyas rebounded from Wednesday night's loss at Villanova, completed a season sweep of the Orange and captured at least a share of the Big East title. On the other hand, the Hoyas closed a chapter of a rivalry that has been one of the best in college basketball finest for the past four decades.

Georgetown coach John Thompson III was emotional when he spoke with an ESPN sideline reporter as his players high-fived and hugged one-another and a sea of Hoyas fans celebrated at mid-court following the final buzzer. Thompson acknowledged that the win "means a lot on many levels," yet also admitted he was sad that this would be the final time Georgetown and Syracuse would meet as league rivals.

"It's going to be missed," he said. "It's going to be deeply missed."

When Michigan State's Adreian Payne blew a baseline dunk and crashed to the ground on his back and head, it looked like the junior forward might have suffered a potentially serious injury.

Thankfully for the Spartans, Payne somehow popped up essentially unharmed, the only thing bruised his ego. He even crawled to pick up the loose ball, called timeout and walked the sideline under his own power.

An injury to Payne would have been an especially cruel twist of fate because he is enjoying the best stretch of his previously inconsistent career. He had scored 12 or more points in each of Michigan State's previous four games prior to a nine-point, 11-rebound effort Thursday. Plus, he'd tallied a combined 35 points in two games this season against first-place Indiana.

Coach Tom Izzo's reaction when Payne walked to the bench after the hustle play embodied the relief of Spartans fans at seeing their standout forward give such impressive effort after surviving unscathed. Izzo wrapped Payne in a bear hug, a nice moment between player and coach.