For members of the Big 4 the postseason remains as cloudy as the February sky.

The University at Buffalo entertains hopes of earning a first-round bye in the Mid-American

Conference Tournament.

Canisius remains on a mission to avoid a play-in game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic

Conference, and in that regard Niagara's not entirely out of the woods.

St. Bonaventure's win over La Salle on Sunday heightened its chances of qualifying for the

Atlantic 10 playoffs, although there's work to be done.

With Canisius and Niagara set to wrap up the regular season this week, and with UB and Bona

less than two weeks from the end, here's a breakdown of where each stands before the

introductory phase of March Madness:

Canisius (7-9): It resides in sole possession of seventh place in the MAAC, a game

behind Niagara and Rider. If the Golden Griffins finish seventh they'll open the tournament

with a play-in against 1-15 Marist next Thursday and require an improbable four wins in four

days to gain an NCAA berth.

Two road dates remain — at Loyola (5-11) on Friday and at Rider (8-8) on Sunday. The

Rider game could loom large. If the Broncos fall at home to regular-season champion Siena on

Friday (likely), a Canisius win over Rider would guarantee the Griffs no worse than sixth

place based on their sweep of the two-game series.

What would that mean to coach Tom Parrotta and his team? The Griffs haven't avoided the

play-in games since 1999-00. But it could be a tall task. The last Canisius win at Rider?

Never. But it beat the Broncs by 16 here Jan. 22.

Niagara (8-8): It plays at Manhattan (4-12) on Friday and at Fairfield (11-5) on

Sunday and will finish anywhere from fifth to seventh depending on those results. Purple

Eagles beat Manhattan by 24 Dec. 4 and topped Fairfield by nine Jan. 4.

A win in either game and Niagara avoids the play-in, although whether NU would draw Iona

(11-5), Fairfield or Saint Peter's (10-6) in the first round remains unclear. Saint Peter's

swept the Purple Eagles in the regular season and owns the tiebreaker should it finish tied

for fourth.

UB (8-5): The most likely scenario has the Bulls playing at Miami (Ohio) in the

March 4 regular-season finale with the winner earning the fourth and final bye to Cleveland

and avoiding the March 7 play-ins on campus sites. The byes go to the two division winners

(Ball State tops the West at 8-5) and the two teams with the next best conference records.

Kent State and Akron co-lead the East at 10-3 and play each other March 5, meaning the

Bulls would have to run the table to tie for the division title. They're at Akron on Wednesday

and host Ohio (5-8) on Saturday before the Miami (8-5) tilt. In earlier meetings, Bulls beat

Akron by 13, lost to Ohio by 22 and routed Miami by 18.

St. Bonaventure (4-8): The Bonnies and George Washington are tied for ninth at 4-8,

followed by Massachusetts (4-9), La Salle (3-9), Saint Joseph's (3-10) and Fordham (0-13). Two

of those teams will miss the A-10 tourney and the other four likely will be relegated to road

play-in games March 9 at campus sites.

Wednesday's game at Fordham should result in Bona's fifth win. Then it'll be up against

teams higher in the standings: home against Rhode Island (8-5) on Saturday and Duquesne (6-7)

on March 3, followed by a March 6 road finale at Xavier (10-2).

Two comforts: The Bonnies own tiebreaker wins over La Salle and Massachusetts, and La Salle

must play both UMass and Saint Joseph's, guaranteeing attrition favorable to Bona.xleg

Around the rim

How about these numbers for point guard John Boyer during UB's five-game winning

streak: 24 assists against just three turnovers, plus 22 rebounds and seven steals. It's 21

assists against one turnover the last four games. He'd gone seven straight halves without

giving it away before committing one turnover in the second half of Saturday's overtime

victory at Saint Peter's.

Boyer has ascended to third in the nation in turnover ratio at 3.18, trailing only Jordan

Taylor of Wisconsin (3.36) and Josten Crow of Sam Houston State (3.28). Yet the Bulls rank

only 120th as a team.

No freshman in the Big 4 has improved more than Bona's Marquise Simmons, the 6-

foot-8 redshirt from Washington, D.C. Simmons made his second straight start in Sunday's game

against La Salle and gave the Bonnies 10 points and nine boards in 30 minutes.

His emergence considerably brightens a future anchored by sophomore center Andrew

Nicholson.

Siena's 17-point loss to Butler in the BracketBuster dooms any chance the Saints had

of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAAs — if necessary. Should Siena lose in the MAAC

final it'll finish 26-7 — but without a signature non-conference win.

Here's how Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com sees the Buffalo subregional shaping up:

1-Syracuse vs. 16-Stony Brook meets winner of 8-Rhode Island vs. 9-Missouri; and 2-West

Virginia vs. 15-Morgan St. meets winner of 7-Georgia Tech vs. 10-Old Dominion.