INDIANAPOLIS -- Quin Snyder stood in front of an open locker stall in the Missouri locker room, the harsh lights of the mini-cams revealing a sheen of sweat on his forehead. Snyder and his 6th-seeded Tigers had just squeezed past 11th-seeded Southern Illinois, 72-71, thanks to a curious blocking foul with 4.1 seconds remaining, followed by what would become the game-winning free throw from Mizzou guard Ricky Paulding.

Missouri's victory came only a few hours after third-seeded Marquette was nearly upset by No. 11-seed Holy Cross in the opening game of Thursday's Midwest Regional here at the Hoosierdome. Two games. A total of five points separating the winners from losers. Exciting stuff, right?

	The NCAA made it a point to make sure a bigger battle was on the minds of fans during the NCAA Tournament.

So here was the clothes horse Snyder, dressed in expensive black leather shoes, a white dress shirt with gold-ish tie, a tasteful grey suit ... and a tiny American flag pinned through his lapel. Snyder is no expert on "shock and awe," or the Tomahawk cruise missile, or the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, but he can turn on a TV. He can read. He knows that Thursday was a time to remember, as well as a time to forget -- even if only for a couple of hours.

"It is surreal," he said. "That's a good way to put it."

War and college basketball don't go well together, a little like ketchup on tuna fish. But there was Snyder and his team, and SIU, and Marquette, and Holy Cross, and Illinois, and Western Kentucky, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Notre Dame all trying to pretend, if for just a little while, that bombs weren't really dropping on Baghdad, that U.S. soldiers weren't in harms way half a world away.

Snyder wore a pin. His players said a pregame prayer, and included those soldiers in their thoughts. Fans waved homemade signs, many of them drawn in red, white and blue.

No one will ever confuse Snyder for Dickie V, but those who have followed him say he was a touch more reserved, a bit more understated than you'd expect for someone whose team advanced to the second round of the regional by a scant one point. But Snyder understood decorum and history. So did his players.

"It's something our kids are unbelievably aware of," he said.

Thursday was a strange, deadened day. March Madness took on a new meaning. In the media work area at the Hoosierdome there were eight television sets positioned throughout the room. On six of the sets you could watch Cal slip past North Carolina State, Gonzaga dispose of Cincinnati, UConn eliminate BYU. On the other two you could watch the green, fluorescent glow produced as night-vision cameras recorded the flames in Baghdad. You could see the shadowy images of a CNN reporter "embedded" in Army forces. He wore a gas mask.

Suddenly a blocking call that could have been a charge, that could have been a no-call didn't seem so important. Maybe, just maybe, that's why SIU coach Bruce Weber didn't fling his sportcoat to the ground when the questionable call was made. Instead, he composed himself and nearly coached the Salukis to a nice little upset.

Turn on your computer, sign on to the net and here were the day's headlines:

Iraq Targets U.S. Troops
Security at Post-9/11 High
Stocks Rise on War Optimism
Turkey Opens Skies to U.S.
NCAA Tournament Tips Off

The tournament getting fifth billing? Given the events of the day, that sounds a bit ambitious. The games were a sweet diversion, nothing more. And that's the way it should be.

"I was watching it, me and my roommate," said SIU forward Brad Korn.

He was referring to the TV coverage of the U.S. attack on Iraq, not of Digger giving his game-day bracket picks.

"It's an important time for our nation," Korn said.

Thursday was a day of prayers, of battles in a faraway place, of peace protests. It was a day of college basketball, but more important it was a day of tiny, heartfelt gestures.

Like a lapel pin.

Gene Wojciechowski is a staff writer at ESPN Magazine..