Patrick Stevens The Washington Times - March 18, 2009, 10:17AM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —- Greetings from Kansas City, which is officially the mecca of college basketball for the week.

And that’s not a stretch. In the next seven days, there will be 37 postseason basketball games unfolding here. That’s pretty insane.

SEE RELATED:

Obviously, there are the two pods of the NCAA tournament. But right across the street from my hotel (and just a few blocks from the Sprint Center) is Municipal Auditorium, which is hosting the NAIA national tournament.

The first round of the 32-team event will cover the next two days, with octupleheaders —- I have no clue if that’s even a word, but that’s what eight games in a day might be called —- set for both halves of the draw.

It’s proclaimed as college basketball’s toughest tournament. Who am I to argue?

Play is already underway here just after 9 a.m. local time, with Mountain State of West Virginia meeting LSU-Shreveport. Tonight’s last tip is set for 10:30 p.m., which means there will be approximately 15 1/2 straight hours of basketball scheduled for this event.

And now that my curiosity is piqued, I might have to saunter over to the historic old building and take a peek for myself. But that will have to wait for later, since it’s time to head over to the Sprint Center for today’s NCAA activities.

—- Patrick Stevens