Dear Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and all those other allegedly superior hoop-crazed states that tend to believe a basketball rises in the East, sets in the West and in the meantime basks its wonderful orange glow on you and only you:

Please make a little room for the Show-Me State.

In case you haven't been paying close attention — and why haven't you? — the state of Missouri is making quite a name for itself in college basketball this season. By the end of this weekend, the top two Division I programs in the state (No. 4 ranked University of Missouri and unranked St. Louis U.) could firmly be established as first-place teams in two of the better college basketball conferences in the nation.

Of course, Missouri (22-2) is playing the role of the big headliner, already up by a half-game over Baylor and Kansas in the more celebrated Big 12 after Monday night's nail-biter at Oklahoma. Mizzou's rather ambitious path is about more than regular-season titles. It's about a shot at a top seed in the conference tournament, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and charting a legitimate course to New Orleans for the Final Four and a shot at a national title, too.

That's rather heady stuff, but no less interesting than what St. Louis U is chasing. As the Billikens (18-5) head to Philadelphia for a critical two-game trip beginning with Wednesday's game at St. Joseph's (15-9, 5-4 Atlantic 10), they're just a half-game out of first place at 6-3. A rare road sweep (they play La Salle, also 6-3 in the league, on Saturday) would do wonders for the Billikens. It's the sort of show that would be impossible to ignore; it's the sort of act that would be sure to attract a crowd as they return home next week to Chaifetz Arena firmly established as true contenders in the A-10.

So this, folks, is the start of The Big Push for both squads, even if right now their respective pushes are on decidedly different paths. The bottom line is that suddenly we're in the midst of a rather eventful week that could allow every hoop junkie from here to Columbia, Mo., to establish a bit of long overdue snobbery about our place as a true college basketball hotbed, too.

Having been in Columbia last week, I can establish that it can't get much hotter than what we witnessed after MU's victory over Kansas. But now SLU, forever the understudy to the glaring scene-stealers at Mizzou, has an opportunity to share the spotlight. It's time to make a move. It's time to stop flirting with being a headliner and barge right onto center stage.

Winning on the road, winning two tough games in a row in Philly against two difficult contending teams, would allow the Billikens to return home at 8-3 in the conference, 20-5 overall and have this town buzzing about their A-10 championship possibilities. It also would legitimize the Billikens' March Madness potential. This is the time of the year when really good basketball teams start establishing their competitive personality, letting everyone in the league know they're tough enough to handle that sort of pressure.

Just as important, it signals to a fan base here in St. Louis that they belong in the spotlight. Right now, they are playing in the imposing shadow of Mizzou's incredible season. But they can get a share of the glare coming their way if they can close February in impressive fashion.

The Billikens have arrived in the middle of February with an 18-5 record, and with seven regular season games remaining — including three at home, where they are 13-1 this season — a strong finish is more than possible. The NCAA selection committee loves to see hot teams coming into the postseason. They've already won four of their last five, and if they can close this critical seven-game stretch with five or six victories, SLU should climb into the Top 25 heading into the conference tourney.

That's the sort of stuff that gets you on the NCAA selection committee's radar as a team worthy of a seventh- or eighth-seed. But that will take some heavy lifting.

Can the Billikens win 25 or 26 games before Selection Sunday?

I think they can, but we are in the Show-Me State.