ESPN Men's Basketball

1. The departure of UConn junior forward Alex Oriakhi is not a surprise. The Huskies may not win the appeal to play in the 2013 NCAA tournament. The UConn staff expects freshman Andre Drummond and sophomore Jeremy Lamb to decide here soon about declaring for the NBA draft. The Huskies face an uphill climb to win an appeal for the 2013 tournament. The NCAA may adjust the Academic Progress Rate penalty to go only over a two-year period instead of four, but that probably won’t affect this penalty. It would be hard for the NCAA to justify overturning UConn since it would send a message of favoritism. But if you think these hurdles will push Jim Calhoun out, think again. Calhoun will retire only if he thinks he doesn’t have the drive or his health fails. He’s hardly a coach who shies away from a challenge and clearly doesn’t want to leave the Huskies' program gutted.

2. Nebraska is one of the toughest jobs in the Big Ten. But the Huskers have the money to make a serious play for a candidate to replace Doc Sadler. If the Huskers could lure Oregon’s Dana Altman back to the state they would. If not, then according to sources, the other two candidates that are high on the Huskers’ list are Colorado State’s Tim Miles and Ohio’s John Groce. The Huskers couldn’t go wrong with any of these choices. All have a history of building winners and would give the Huskers a chance to rise in the Big Ten.

3. VCU athletic director Norwood Teague said he did bump up Shaka Smart’s salary a bit -- as well as a few other things, like more chartered trips. But Smart didn’t get more years on his deal. Smart showed incredible loyalty by staying true to the Rams. Teague said the clause that a prospective school would have to play VCU two years in a row will remain if Smart leaves at any time during his contract for another job.

For all the ways you can diss the Pac-12 this season -- and you can start with the 1-29 record against the RPI top 50 in nonconference play, or look at the paucity of teams ranked inside Ken Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency top 50 (there are two), and so on and so forth -- you can't dispute this: This league is in for a fascinating final week.

Why? Cal's loss at Colorado on Sunday dropped the Bears to 13-4, where they're currently a half-game behind Washington, which just snuck past rival Washington State 59-55 on Saturday. If the Huskies win at USC and UCLA, they'll finish 15-3 and in sole possession of the conference title. If they stumble -- and provided Cal can get past Stanford on Sunday -- the Bears could still earn a share of a title they've appeared destined to win for much of the season. Forget NCAA tournament bubble implications. These coaches and players have a title to win.

Oh, and speaking of the tourney: There really are no guarantees. Cal is the closest thing to an exception, because it would be hard for the Bears to fall below the coterie of teams bunched around the bubble line on the S-Curve even after Sunday's loss in Boulder. But Washington? Arizona? The operative Bubble Watch phrase here is "work to do." The basketball has been uneven all season, but you can't dispute the intrigue and what promises to be a fiery debate in the weeks leading up to Selection Sunday. Stay tuned.

1. California: On Sunday, Cal lost 70-57 at Colorado. Just three days earlier, Stanford went to Boulder and beat the Buffaloes 74-50. You figure those two results out. I really can't. Cal still looks like the best team in the conference, and its still-solid efficiency numbers (the Bears rank No. 19 overall in KenPom's adjusted efficiency and No. 2 in the league in per-possession offense and defense, the best all-around numbers of any team in Pac-12 play) back that up. But they're far from a dominant outfit, which we saw in the offensively challenged performance at CU. Now the Bears have to win at rival Stanford -- and hope for a Washington loss -- to steal a share of the league title.

2. Washington: The Huskies now control whether they win the Pac-12 title. Wins at USC and UCLA would make them outright regular-season conference champs. Most Washington fans would assume, and understandably so, such an accomplishment would seal their team's NCAA tournament bid. But in this season's Pac-12, that isn't a guarantee. Remember, the committee doesn't look at conference record (at least, it says it doesn't), but it does look at nonconference performance and top-50 wins, among other things. This conference is severely lacking in both categories. One would assume 15-3 and the league title will be enough, but UW might not want to drop a game to the LA schools and test whether 14-4 does the trick.

3. Arizona: Seniors Kyle Fogg and Jesse Perry were determined to make their final regular-season home game a win, and their second-half efforts -- in which they combined for 28 of their team's 38 points -- ensured a crucial two-point victory over UCLA. Arizona's at-large chances remain a work in progress, but the win over the rival Bruins keeps them in the discussion heading into the finale against ASU and the Pac-12 tourney.

4. Oregon: Oregon's chances of notching an at-large bid aren't great, but Dana Altman's team kept its faint hopes alive by escaping from Corvallis with a one-point win over Oregon State on Sunday. Oregon finishes up with two home games versus Colorado and Utah. E.J. Singler and Devoe Joseph have really come on down the stretch for this team, giving the Ducks efficient offense on the wing, but the narrow losses to Oregon State, Cal and Colorado in the past month have kept Altman's team from breaking through to the top of the league.

5. Colorado: When you're on the bubble fringe, as Colorado is, the best you can do is take your chances when they come. That's what Tad Boyle's team did Sunday, beating league leader (and the only team in the league with a top-50 RPI) California. The Buffs have struggled on the road all season long, so season-closing road trips to Oregon and Oregon State will present their challenges. At this point, even with the Cal win in hand, CU's profile is such that it almost certainly has to win the next two and at least get to the Pac-12 tourney final to find itself in the NCAA tournament.

6. UCLA: The 2012 Bruins are still the 2012 Bruins -- disappointing, mediocre, occasionally not-quite-mediocre and then mediocre again. This week, UCLA beat Arizona State in Tempe and lost to Arizona in Tucson. It is 9-7 in league play. its longest winning and losing streaks in league play are three games and two games, respectively. In its past five games, UCLA has lost (to Cal), won (USC), lost (at St. John's), won (Arizona State) and lost (at Arizona). I think that pretty much sums it up.

7. Stanford: Can you explain the Cardinal's week? Because I can't. On Thursday, Stanford went to Colorado -- a team that beat Cal by 13 Sunday, mind you -- and won by 24 points. Then, on Saturday, Stanford lost. Yes, lost at Utah. Utah has played better, and clearly Colorado was off, and so on, but still. This league is weird.

8. Washington State: The Cougars nearly took down the Huskies in Pullman Saturday, a win that may well have sunk Washington's at-large hopes for good. Instead, Washington escaped with the 59-55 win, as Wazzu's offense -- which, pre-Faisal Aden injury, was one of the league's best while at home -- fell short.

9. Oregon State: The Beavers' one-point home loss to Oregon on Sunday was their fifth in a row, a losing streak that began with a home loss to the aforementioned Cougars and continued against Washington, Stanford and Cal. Back in November, Oregon State lost to Vanderbilt by two points on a neutral floor just two days after putting 100 points on a solid Texas team in an overtime victory. That was months ago now, but it feels even longer.

10. Arizona State: All things considered, this has been a disastrous season for Arizona State, from the losses to the ineligibility of freshman Jahii Carson to more losses to, well, more losses after that. In any other season, ASU is probably the worst team in this league. But not in 2012! So, you know, there's that.

11. Utah: We can say much of the same for the Utes. In any other season, Utah -- which changed coaches and conferences in the matter of 12 months and saw its best and most important player (Josh "Jiggy" Watkins) dismissed by coach Larry Krystkowiak in mid-January -- would be the worst team in this league. For much of the season, including that horrendous nonconference stretch, things appeared to be heading that way. But give the Utes some credit. They improved throughout the season, played hard and gave a bunch of putatively better teams occasionally serious challenges -- and even won some, including this weekend against Stanford.

12. USC: And also, USC is worse. The Trojans are averaging .83 points per trip (adjusted) in Pac-12 play. Overall, the Trojans' offensive efficiency ranks No. 318 in the country, per KenPom, which puts them one spot ahead of Eastern Michigan and one spot behind Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In 16 Pac-12 games, the Trojans have scored more than 60 points exactly twice. Saturday's loss at Arizona State dropped them to 1-15 in the worst Pac-12 we've seen in a really long time. In short, USC is bad.

Allow me to concur with my colleague, Myron Medcalf, who included the Pac-12's intriguing title race among his five observations Sunday:

2. The Pac-12 race is actually exciting: Let’s ignore the fact this could still be a one-bid league and the overall conference has been bested by multiple mid-major conferences this season. The Pac-12’s title race is compelling right now. Washington beat Arizona on the road last weekend and then overcame a late double-digit deficit to beat UCLA on Thursday. The Wildcats overcame Cal’s early 22-9 lead in one of the better matchups of the week: a 78-74 road win for Arizona, which it followed up with a victory at Stanford. The Pac-12 might end up with the most captivating finish in the country simply because so many teams possess questionable NCAA tourney résumés.

This is entirely true. Sure, the quality of play in the Pacific 12 conference isn't the highest in the country, but so what? If you want to watch the best basketball in the world, played by all of its best players, well, NBA League Pass is right this way. Go wild. If you want your hoops defined as much by imperfection as success, it's hard to do much better than this fascinating and downright weird league.

Anyway, onto the rankings.

1. Washington: For much of the season, yours truly has been pining over the Washington Huskies. Well, not pining, exactly, but at least keeping an eye out. With Tony Wroten, Abdul Gaddy, Terrence Ross and Aziz N'Diaye, Washington has always appeared to be the most talented team in the conference. Of course, talent only goes so far, and for much of the season, this team's talent was undermined by a lack of chemistry and a lack of defense, and not always in that order. Both of those things have changed in conference play. The Huskies are hardly blowing the doors off on offense, but they're allowing the league's third-fewest points per possession on defense, and unlike their mediocre nonconference slate, Lorenzo Romar's team is getting key stops, closing out tight games and winning on the road. As a result -- and thanks to Cal's home loss to Arizona this week -- Washington finds itself alone atop the Pac-12 standings Monday morning. Can the Huskies take that lead to the finish line? It may not matter, this team's at-large tourney profile is still pretty mediocre. But you can't knock Washington's improvement. If things keep going this way, Romar's team will be in excellent position heading into the all-important Pac-12 tournament.

2. California: The Bears have spent the entire Pac-12 season looking like this conference's best, or at least most solid, team. That perception hasn't changed, despite Thursday's home loss to Arizona, which dropped California out of first place in the league standings. Thing is, Cal has reached its ceiling. The Bears are what they are. That's not something we can necessarily say about Washington, which looks capable of greater improvement each time it takes the floor. The Bears are solid (and their total per-possession numbers are solid, if not amazing, particularly in conference play) but unspectacular. Meh.

3. Colorado: Is it time to believe in Colorado? Insofar as "believe in Colorado" means "think they might be the third- or fourth-best team in the Pac-12," then yeah, sure. The Buffaloes are playing solid defense and got a couple of nice wins last week over Oregon State and Oregon (though Saturday night's win over the Ducks featured a controversial last-second foul call on Oregon's E.J. Singler that gave coach Tad Boyle's team two late, game-sealing free throws). In any case, the Buffaloes still need to prove themselves on the road. This team's only Pac-12 road victory came at USC, and five of their final seven games -- including the next three, at Arizona, Arizona State and Utah -- are on the road. We'll see.

4. Arizona: The Wildcats move up the board further than anyone this week thanks to their impressive Bay Area sweep, which began Thursday at Cal and ended Saturday at Stanford. Both were solid wins for coach Sean Miller's improving bunch. The Wildcats are now 7-4 in conference play with the best per-possession defense in the league. Arizona's offense could hold them back (it was uncharacteristically good at Cal, and it didn't prevent a win at Stanford), but the Cats may have found their niche on the defensive end.

5. Oregon: Perception-wise, it's hard to penalize the Ducks too much for losing on the road at Colorado, let alone losing on the road on such a controversial last-second call. Coach Dana Altman's team has an excellent chance to bounce back this week when Washington comes to town, so that's good news. But Oregon has yet to really impress when it comes to efficiency margin in league play, and while Altman and Oregon fans may feel like they are a few missed opportunities away from contention, the Ducks' advanced metrics beg to differ.

6. Stanford: Stanford entered league play with a sluggish offense and what appeared to be the conference's best defense. Since then, coach Johnny Dawkins' team has regressed to the mean on the defensive end, allowing the fifth-most points per possession in Pac-12 play. That wouldn't be so bad if Stanford were playing a bit better on offense. Unfortunately, that's not the case. That's why Arizona was able to win in Palo Alto on Saturday despite scoring well under a point per possession, and that's why Stanford, once a potential title contender, is stuck here at 6-5.

7. Oregon State: It's hard to move the Beavers either up or down after Oregon State lost at Colorado and won at Utah. Guard Jared Cunningham leads an offense that can score in bunches and a defense that is far too permissive both at home and on the road. Last week's win at Oregon was nice, but little else has been impressive.

8. UCLA: Believe it or not, the Bruins score the most points per trip of any team in the Pac-12. Travis and David Wear are providing efficient role scoring, and Joshua Smith remains a load for any defense to handle. Strangely enough for a program that has prided itself on defense in the Ben Howland era, this team is totally mediocre on the defensive end. Losing to Washington on the road, as the Bruins did Thursday, is hardly a crime. But the way UCLA lost -- with a timeout still on the board -- was curious. More importantly, this team hasn't gone anywhere since the turmoil of November and December, and that has UCLA fans questioning the program's future direction.

9. Washington State: Washington State had one thing going for it in early Pac-12 play: home-court advantage. The Cougars were offensively potent at home, and that trait guided them to wins over Stanford and Cal in back-to-back games last month. But Faisal Aden's sad, career-ending ACL injury has robbed them of even that ability, made evident by a meager 60-53 win over USC and a 60-points-in-65-possessions performance in Saturday's three-point loss to UCLA. This was never going to be a tournament team, but that doesn't make Aden's fate, or its effect on this fledgling squad, any easier to swallow.

10. Arizona State: No surprises here. Arizona State had two road games this week -- at Stanford, at Cal -- and lost by 20-plus in both. Those blowouts moved the Sun Devils to 3-8 in league play, good enough to stay atop Utah and USC and no one else.

11. Utah: The Utes will never truly wash off the stink of their horrendous nonconference performance; on a per-possession basis, they've been ranked in the low 300s all season, and they'll be there for the remainder. But they do still own one more league win than USC. Then again, Utah has lost its past four (including at USC), mostly in blowout fashion, and the Utes may return to their seemingly predestined spot at the bottom of these rankings if the trend continues.

12. USC: And then there's Southern California. The Trojans' only win in league play came at home over Utah, and while they kept things relatively close at Washington State (losing 60-53), that's hardly worth much. USC is scoring about 0.83 points per possession in Pac-12 play, a league that hardly specializes in lockdown defense. Unless the Trojans discover a magical way to score the basketball in the next few weeks, their only hopes of avoiding the 2012 Pac-12 wooden spoon award is if Utah somehow plays even worse.

Now that's a Saturday of basketball. Take a deep breath, count to 10 and check out yours truly's observations from the evening's games, including the insane Kansas-Missouri finale.

For a recap of this afternoon's games, click here.

No. 4 Missouri 74, No. 8 Kansas 71: This game was easy to scout. Missouri is small and quick and offensively oriented, with four guards and one big man. Kansas is big and strong and built around forward Thomas Robinson, the national front-runner for player of the year. How would KU stop Mizzou's spread attack? How would Mizzou keep KU out of the lane? These countervailing dynamics seemed destined to determine the outcome of this game. And to some extent, they did.

But if we learned anything from this one, we learned this: Stylistic assessments tend to fly out the window when it's the final minute in a packed house and things are crazy and it's just a player, the ball, the game on the line and a single-possession deficit. It's hard to overthink this: You either execute or you don't. The Jayhawks didn't execute. That simple. And that's why they lost.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. Kansas was not helped by an iffy late charge call on Tyshawn Taylor that just as easily could have been a blocking foul on Michael Dixon. It resulted in two Missouri free throws and a three-point lead for KU to overcome. Even worse, that call wasn't nearly as egregious as the one against Robinson with 1:43 remaining; that easily could have been a block on Mizzou forward Steve Moore, an and-1 bucket for Robinson and a potential six-point swing, given Marcus Denmon's huge go-ahead 3 a few seconds later. Kansas fans are not at all happy about this turn of events, and they have every right to their anger.

That said, the Jayhawks would have been in better shape had Taylor made either of his two free throws with 42 seconds remaining. Despite all the late blunders and questionable calls, Kansas had a chance to take the game to overtime on the final possession. Had Elijah Johnson decided to shoot the ball when he got his first wide-open look as the clock ticked down, he might have gotten a clean shot. Instead, Johnson hesitated. He missed his chance. The clock expired. Game over.

As always, it's about execution, and in big-time rivalry games in heated buildings, the game is so often about execution in the final minutes. As Kansas was suffering shaky whistles, missed free throws, so-so shots and four turnovers in the final three minutes, Denmon was coolly canning two straight 3s, which turned a 71-65 Kansas lead into a 72-71 Mizzou lead in a matter of 30 seconds. Denmon was brilliant all game. He shot 10-of-16 from the field and was 6-of-9 from 3 en route to a 29-point outing. And that's the difference: Denmon was brilliant all 40 minutes. Taylor, Robinson and the Jayhawks were brilliant for about 37 minutes. When the game tightened and crunch time came around, one team consistently executed. The other did not.

For as much as we analyze (and overanalyze) these games, for as much as we talk about styles and matchups and X's and O's, for as much as we'll debate the Robinson charge calls for the next week, when you get to crunch time, that stuff fades away. The game shrinks. It simplifies. Be smart. Get good shots. Play defense. Take care of the ball. Rebound. Make your free throws.

Missouri scored the game's final 11 points. After leading 71-63, Kansas didn't score once.

In the end, the difference between those two sentences wasn't a matter of deep analysis. It wasn't stylistic or strategic. It was so much simpler than that.

Northern Iowa 65, No. 12 Creighton 62: It's not about what we learned in this game. We didn't learn all that much, save for the fact that Northern Iowa might be a bit better than its paltry Missouri Valley record (6-7) would indicate. But forget the new knowledge; this game was all about a reminder of the old.

That reminder: College hoops is an imperfect, frustrating enterprise. But when college hoops is good, it's better than anything else in the world.

Maybe that's hyperbole. Maybe I am the wrong person to levy such judgments, because I happen to love college basketball more than most. (I admit it.) Still, I defy you to find 60 more purely entertaining seconds than the final minute of Northern Iowa's win over 12th-ranked Creighton. College basketball seems to produce exchanges like this more frequently than other games; every week, it feels like something insane happens. But this ending -- which featured two 3s in the final 15 seconds, both of which came in open play, with no timeouts to stop the insanity -- registered an 11 on the 1-to-10 excitement scale.

I won't recap the entire closing exchange. You can see the highlights here, if you haven't seen them already. I've watched five or six times. The moment the shot goes in, well, it's almost perfect, you know? The rush up the floor, the crazy step-back, the swish, the crowd eruption -- this is the fabric of college basketball. Forget provincial rooting interests, alumni loyalty, wonky enthusiasm. The final 15 seconds of Creighton-UNI are why we love this damn game, imperfections and all.

No. 20 Indiana 78, Purdue 61: With 2:23 left and Indiana leading rival Purdue 65-61, IU point guard Jordan Hulls found himself trapped near half-court. Purdue was swarming -- it had been swarming and slapping and clawing at the Hoosiers all evening -- and, rather than risk a turnover, Hulls decided to play it safe. He and his teammates ran to the sideline, with their tenuous, shrinking lead still intact, and regrouped for what was sure to be an arduous finish in front of the Boilermakers' rabid crowd.

Then something strange happened: IU didn't fade away. It didn't suffer its typical frustrating late-game collapse on the road. It didn't bend under Purdue's relentless pressure. Instead, it blew the Mackey Arena doors right off.

Two minutes, 23 seconds later, the Hoosiers' 13-0 run had capped the first non-Penn State Big Ten road win of coach Tom Crean's 3 1/2-year tenure. In 143 seconds, the Hoosiers had gone from "well, here we go again" to their first win over the Boilermakers in their past six tries. For the first Big Ten road fixture this season, or in any of the Crean-era years that preceded it, Indiana looked self-assured and confident, not shaky and timid. The Hoosiers looked eager to go get the win, not anxious to avoid a loss. And so they did.

The game wasn't nearly as one-sided as that scoreline suggests, of course, and for most of the afternoon, even as Indiana built a 33-22 halftime lead, this thing was ugly on both sides. The Boilermakers were unusually scrappy, doing everything they could to make life difficult for Cody Zeller, Christian Watford and the rest, trapping and slapping and angling for jump ball calls from the official. (These attempts were often fouls, and when they were called as such, Purdue fans frequently flipped out. It was exactly what a home crowd should do. Even better, it often seemed to work.)

For most of the game, the Boilers' staunch defense held strong. The only problem: Purdue couldn't keep up with even a marginal offensive pace. The team committed just three turnovers all game, and its first didn't come until the 5:10 mark of the second half. With possession protection like that, you would have assumed the Boilermakers could have posted better than .90 points per trip. But Matt Painter's team couldn't break down Indiana's man or zone defenses with much regularity, and without a true post presence (an ongoing, irreconcilable issue for this team), Purdue was forced to hoist its typical diet of long 2s and 3s. Robbie Hummel & Co. made just five of their 21 3-point field goal attempts. They finished 21-of-71 -- or 29.6 percent -- from the field overall.

So what does it all mean -- that is, beyond the first batch of message-board/water-cooler bragging rights Indiana fans have had in years? It might mean this IU team is making progress in its understanding of how to win on the road. That's a difficult, indefinable quality, something even good teams struggle with each and every season. But if you're the Hoosiers, and you have your sights set on the heights reached in November and December, you have to beat inferior teams on the road in conference play. You have to hold on to those leads. Actually, forget holding on to your lead. Extend it. Sweep the leg. Finish.

The Hoosiers -- for the first time on the road in four Big Ten seasons (against a team not named Penn State, that is), for the first time in six tries against their hated rival -- unleashed their inner Cobra Kai. It wasn't a flawless victory, but it was a victory. For a team that lost so many of these games in 2010 and 2011 and even in 2012, that's a legitimate sign of progress.

One more IU-Purdue note: Guard Verdell Jones missed this game, but most of his minutes went to Victor Oladipo, and Oladipo responded with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. When Indiana needed buckets, Oladipo always seemed to step in, ready and willing to attack the rim. Impressive performance.

Some other observations from Saturday night's games:

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AP Photo/Mary Ann ChastainTerrence Jones delivers one of Kentucky's eight first-half dunks against South Carolina on Saturday.
• Kentucky absolutely rolled South Carolina on the road, and Basketball Prospectus writer Drew Cannon summed up my feelings on the Cats with his perfect postgame tweet: "Can you imagine how high people would be on Kentucky if Watford's three rimmed out?" He's dead on. If Christian Watford's shot misses (Kentucky lost to Indiana at the buzzer in December), Kentucky is undefeated, rolling through the SEC with remarkable ease, and we're all talking about whether the Wildcats can make it to the NCAA tournament without a loss. As it is, the Wildcats are still remarkable to watch. For much of their 86-52 victory, they appeared to be playing a different sport than the Gamecocks. UK had eight dunks in the first half, as Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones finished easy buckets at will. Darrin Horn's team never stood a chance. Even scarier: This team, in particular point guard Marquis Teague, is still developing into what it can be. Considering how good John Calipari's team already is -- 23-1, 9-0 in the SEC, No. 2 overall in Ken Pomeroy's rankings, etc. -- that's a frightening thought indeed.
• Colorado got a major home win over Oregon on Saturday night, but in questionable late circumstances. I didn't see the game -- there was the small matter of Kansas-Mizzou, after all -- but here's how the AP recap describes the final play in question: "Nate Tomlinson was fouled with one second remaining by E.J. Singler and sank the first free throw before deliberately missing the second to give Colorado a 72-71 win over Oregon Saturday night." Naturally, the AP isn't going to say whether the foul call -- which came with almost no time left on the clock -- was right or wrong. According to the response on Twitter, it might or might not have been a foul, but the referees should never have made such a marginal call in the final second of a tie game. Oregon coach Dana Altman was furious. Ducks fans are furious. Colorado will feel lucky to escape with the victory and move to 8-3 -- an unlikely 8-3, given this team's early prospectus -- in its first year in Pac-12 play. It sounds like we'll be talking about this call for a while. Should be fun!
• Middle Tennessee lost its lofty perch as the Sun Belt's only unbeaten team when it fell 75-60 at Denver on national TV. MTSU is a fringe bubble candidate, but the loss will make things much more difficult for the Blue Raiders to impress the committee. How much it will help Denver remains to be seen. Either way, the lesson here, as in Wyoming's win over UNLV on Saturday: Altitude kills. As does Denver forward Chris Udofia, who had 27 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the win.
• Really solid road win for Iowa State, which topped Oklahoma 77-70 and kept its NCAA tournament momentum moving. The Cyclones have had a week to remember, which began with last Saturday's last-second win over Kansas and included this week's two-point home win over Kansas State. Oklahoma has given Big 12 teams legitimate issues this season, particularly at home, and Fred Hoiberg's fighting transfers have to be thrilled to escape Norman with a win.
• Speaking of solid road wins: Iona (19-5, 11-2 MAAC) invaded the turf of one of its fellow MAAC co-leaders, Manhattan, and left with an 85-73 victory. Gaels star point guard Scott Machado continued his hyper-efficient, ball-dominant ways, scoring 18 points on 5-of-7 from the field (and 6-of-8 from the line) to go along with nine assists and four rebounds. A few days after a major contract extension for coach Tim Cluess, his team got one of its biggest wins of the season.
• Murray State's latest extension to its undefeated record -- the Racers are now 23-0 and 11-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play -- came in what is rapidly becoming classic Murray style: It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't definitive, being but a 65-58 win over a team with a 3-21 record before Saturday. But it was a win all the same, another notch on the belt and another potential step toward a remarkable regular-season accomplishment. Stay tuned.
• Harvard didn't look great in its 57-52 home win over a bad Columbia team, but as in the above bullet point, a win is a win is a win. The victory moved the Crimson to 6-0 in the Ivy League and 20-2 overall. Still, if Harvard wants to ensure its first trip to the NCAA tournament in six decades, it will have to muster something more than the disjointed offense it displayed Saturday.
• And in CAA play, George Mason asserted its superiority -- and its position atop the conference standings -- with a 54-50 win over Old Dominion. Neither team is vintage for either program this season, and GMU's at-large case is a major work in progress, but wins like this are always steps in the right direction.

1. Seriously, if San Diego State keeps this up and wins the Mountain West, Steve Fisher has to win national coach of the year. The Aztecs were gutted by exhausted eligibility and early entries. There was no reason to believe the Aztecs would win the MWC, beat UNLV and New Mexico, let alone clean up against the top of the Pac-12 in Cal and Arizona. SDSU’s victory at UNM on Wednesday night should be a strong signal that the Aztecs have a national program under Fisher. The Big West is getting quite a gem in 2013.

2. Oregon coach Dana Altman said he did recruit Doug McDermott out of high school for Creighton, and had him on a recruiting visit, but McDermott ended up going to Northern Iowa. His own father, Greg McDermott, didn’t consider him good enough to be in the Big 12 at Iowa State. Now, under his father at Altman’s former school, McDermott has a shot to be national player of the year. Altman said he had no idea he was so gifted a scorer. Can a Creighton player win national POY? “I don’t see why not,’’ Altman said. “He’s putting up unbelievable numbers.’’

3. The Big 12 still anticipates West Virginia will be playing in its league next season. The Big East hasn’t finished scheduling yet for football, let alone hoops. But the Big East still expects the Mountaineers to be in the Big East next season. Lawyers and a judge or possibly a mediator will decide which league West Virginia plays in. At least one Big East source said there is no indication in the Providence offices that the Big East will be without West Virginia, Syracuse or Pitt next season. This story will bubble up even more in April, when football schedules have to be done. Not having WVU in the Big East means those schools have to find another game and the same is true if the Mountaineers aren’t in the Big 12.

The Pac-12 only gets more convoluted and confusing with each passing week, but the conference power rankings, like any good Broadway show, must go on. Here's my latest attempt to make sense of this muddled West Coast landscape as the Pac-12 prepares to commence league play this week. (Spoiler alert: The Pac-12 is bad.)

1. Stanford: Surprised? So am I. After all, Stanford's only result since last week's rankings was a 71-66 home loss to Butler, which came after the Cardinal allowed the offensively bereft Bulldogs to streak to a downright shocking 45-point second-half. Considering Stanford has no great wins, and much of its early ranking hinged on that close contest with Syracuse in November, you'd think Johnny Dawkins' team would take a tumble in the conference power rankings. When I sat down to write these rankings, I didn't think Stanford stood any chance of staying in the top spot. But as you dig in to the rest of this league, you realize that Cal remains the only other contender for this spot, and I find it difficult to move Stanford below the Bears when Mike Montgomery's squad was so thoroughly trounced by UNLV last week. So Stanford remains. Someone has to be No. 1, I guess.

2. California: The Bears may well be the best team in this league. Ken Pomeroy's advanced metrics indicate as much. But Cal isn't doing anything to inspire confidence that its efficiency in wins over inferior opponents can be replicated against top competition. Consider Friday's drubbing at UNLV. The Bears entered Friday's game having outscored their last four opponents 301-189. Then, in Vegas, Montgomery's squad looked absolutely dreadful -- stagnant offensively, weak defensively and arguably timid in many respects -- as the Rebels blitzed for 40 minutes en route to an 85-68 blowout. This was Cal's second game against a ranked opponent. Its first, against Missouri, ended 92-53. Add it all up, and you get a team that has 10 wins against inferior opponents, one forgivable one-point road loss to San Diego State, and two absolute blowouts at the hands of top competition. So, yeah, maybe Cal is the best team in this league. But if they only look good against bad teams, what does "good" even mean, anyway?

3. Arizona: The Wildcats didn't do much last week, but they'll hold steady at No. 3 if only because they didn't lose. Rather, Zona got past a tricky Oakland team at home and put 100 points on Bryant two nights later, and that -- plus their promising if uneven performances throughout the nonconference schedule -- doesn't offer any obvious reason to move them below any of the teams that follow.

4. Oregon State: OSU is now tied for the best record in this conference, with its 10-2 mark matched only by Stanford. And that record isn't all fluff, either: A Nov. 19 win against Texas might in fact be the best nonconference win the league has (as sad as that is). But since Dec. 9's home loss to Idaho, Oregon's State's four wins have come against Illinois-Chicago, Howard, Portland State and, this week, Chicago State. Those are some of the worst opponents in Division I hoops. For that reason, it's hard to trust that gaudy record, not until the Beavers can test this apparent improvement against someone ranked higher than No. 230 (that would be Portland State) in the Pomeroy rankings.

5. Oregon: The Ducks notched three wins in three days last week, but all three (NC Central, Prairie View A&M, Stephen F. Austin) were cupcakes. Meanwhile, last week's missed opportunity -- when Oregon let Virginia escape from Matthew Knight Arena with a second-half comeback win -- is still a cause for concern. Given Dana Altman's track record as a coach, and the way he got the maximum from his first team in Eugene last season, it's fair to expect some improvement in Pac-12 play. But the Ducks still have a long way to go.

6. Washington: The Huskies looked much sharper in a home win over Cal-State Northridge last Thursday, but really, there's nothing new to report here. The Huskies still look like the most talented team in this league. They should still be considered a favorite to contend for the regular-season crown. Unfortunately, they're still maddeningly inconsistent, confused about their offensive roles, defensively porous and, to paraphrase Washington coach Lorenzo Romar's words, missing that distinct, hard-to-define chemistry all good teams must develop before they can become more than sum of their parts. The talent here is undeniable, but league play starts this week, so the clock is already ticking. This could go either way. We'll see.

7. Washington State: The lack of movement in these rankings is the theme of the week, and Ken Bone's team is no different. The Cougars are getting decent play out of senior guard Faisal Aden and aggressive interior work from junior forward Brock Motum, but they remain sloppy and turnover-prone and have spent their December racking up five wins against decidedly inferior competition. This team isn't bad, per se. But we can't exactly call it good, either.

8. UCLA: If you can't always tell by my tone, yours truly tends to get a little frustrated when teams spend huge stretches of their nonconference schedule toasting cupcake teams. Go out and play somebody, you know? But UCLA's December of inferior competition couldn't have come at a better time. After a November that featured blowout home losses to Middle Tennessee and Loyola Marymount, a disastrous trip to the Maui Invitational and the eventual dismissal of forward Reeves Nelson, UCLA needed some comfortable, confidence-inspiring victories, and it appears to be paying dividends. At the very least, this record -- 2-5 through a Dec. 3 loss to Texas -- is back above .500 in time for the start of Pac-12 play. We don't know if UCLA is actually better, or just beating up on bad teams, but either way, it doesn't really matter. This is why (or at least partially why) coaches schedule so many cupcakes. Sometimes, your team just needs a few wins.

9. USC: Unlike most of the Pac-12, USC actually had an important fixture on its calendar last week, a date with Kansas at the Galen Center in LA. And USC was essentially USC. The Trojans played a slow-paced game and held KU to 63 points, a product of the rapacious defense Kevin O'Neill's team has played so often this season. The only problem with this, of course, is that SC just can't score. The Trojans scored a mere 45 points against the Jayhawks. They rank No. 245 in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency. You should expect O'Neill's squad to stifle more than a few of their Pac-12 opponents in the coming months, and they'll no doubt steal a few wins against allegedly superior squads between now and March. But this putrid offense is like an invisible ceiling. Without at least some offensive output -- something, anything! -- this team can only go so far.

10. Colorado: The Buffaloes' 7-4 record is better than the Trojans' and Bruins' and the Huskies'. So why does Tad Boyle's team still rank so low in this league? Because unlike those teams, the Buffs don't do any one thing particularly well. For the sake of brevity, Colorado is average offensively and awful defensively. I wouldn't be surprised if this team shows real improvement in the weeks to come, but with per-possession numbers this pedestrian, I'm hesitant to make that prediction.

11. Arizona State: If Herb Sendek didn't have more pressing things to worry about -- namely, how to get his apparently awful team moving in a positive direction -- he could some spend time lavishing everyone responsible for bringing Utah to the Pac-12 (conference commissioner Larry Scott, Utes brass, even Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany) with gifts. For yet another week, only Utah's near-historical ineptitude is keeping this Sun Devils squad out of the power rankings cellar. In any other season, we'd look at this team -- now 4-8 with three straight home losses to Northern Arizona, Southern Miss and Fresno State -- as the "worst power-conference team in the country" contender it would have been. Either way, Arizona State is in a bad way, and if the current trend continues into league competition, the nascent questions about the "future of the program" (read: Sendek's job security) will only grow more vociferous.

12. Utah: And then there's Utah. (Last week, I tried on a few alternate, Utah-related headlines for this column. But I think "And then there's Utah" might be our winner.) The good news first: The Utes topped Idaho State and Portland two weeks ago. Wins are wins. The bad news? Both teams are ranked outside the top 225 or so teams in the nation in adjusted efficiency. Even worse, Larry Krystkowiak's team followed those meager signs of progress with an 80-51 road loss to Weber State, a thrashing at the hands of a team that, for reference's sake, lost by 20 to Cal. In the meantime, the 3-9 Utes are ranked No. 316 in the country in adjusted efficiency; the list of teams in their statistical vicinity (The Citadel, Radford, Mount St. Mary's, Texas Pan-American, et al.) is comprised those for whom a trip to the NCAA tournament play-in game is a basketball season's ultimate hope. This is some historically bad basketball coming from Salt Lake City. With Pac-12 play commencing this week, where do the Utes go from here? I don't know. But it could be fascinating to behold.

Today, I published a post citing a page from the Oregon Ducks athletics site in which coach Dana Altman was transcribed as giving several quotes -- funny, rather harmless, but altogether out-of-character quotes -- to the assembled media following Oregon's 67-54 loss to Virginia last night.

Those quotes were fakes, according to Oregon sports information director Chris Geraghty, who this afternoon confirmed to ESPN.com that Oregon's site had been "compromised" sometime Sunday night. The Ducks athletics office is working to resolve what appears to have been a hacker's additions to Altman's postgame pull-out quotes.

The fake included Altman saying Virginia forward Mike Scott "didn't impress me" and included a phrase in which Altman complained that even the Ducks' pregame meal of spaghetti had been overcooked. A screenshot of the fake quote sheet is available here.

Video of Altman's press conference is available at the Ducks' men's basketball site. Geraghty recommended readers view the video, which has not changed since it was posted originally Sunday night, to get an accurate measure of Altman's postgame comments. He also said he reached out to Virginia as early as Sunday night to make sure coach Tony Bennett and others knew the quotes weren't real.

Geraghty said the school would update with more information as it became available.

In any case, Altman did not say he was unhappy with his team's pregame meal (spaghetti or otherwise), and he was not "unimpressed" by Virginia forward Mike Scott, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds in Virginia's road win. We know that much.

Of course, that leaves aside the part where we all wonder who, exactly, takes the time to perform such a hack, but perhaps that's another discussion for another time. Weird day, this.

1. The decision by freshman guard Jabari Brown to transfer from Oregon stunned the Ducks coaching staff. Head coach Dana Altman said after Sunday’s game that he tried to talk Brown out of the decision and he wasn’t closing the door. Altman said Brown was frustrated. Another member of the staff said Brown didn’t give a reason for his departure. He was playing significant minutes and it was only after two games. Brown was a leader for the Ducks during the trip to Italy in the preseason. The Ducks are flustered, wondering what else they could have done to prevent this departure. If Brown follows through and doesn’t come back, this will be a season-changing decision for the Ducks.

2. Drexel looked like the Colonial Athletic Association favorite in a short-handed victory at Rider last Tuesday. But then the Dragons went to the Virgin Islands and collapsed, losing to Norfolk State and Virginia in the first two games, shooting a combined 6-of-34 from 3-point rane. The Dragons were still without two of their three best guards in Chris Fouch and Tavon Allen, both injured. “We can’t make shots and we’re having to play guys in spots they’re not comfortable in,’’ Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said. The Dragons pulled a no-show against Norfolk and couldn’t make a bucket against UVa. But Flint isn’t worried. The core of the team is still talented enough – especially with Samme Givens and Frantz Massenat healthy inside and out – to compete for the CAA title. But an at-large berth is taking a serious hit.

3. NC State coach Mark Gottfried has the Wolfpack playing at a high level here early in the season. The Wolfpack are an entertaining team to watch and can score with C.J. Leslie, DeShawn Painter, Richard Howell, Lorenzo Brown and, once he's back from an ankle injury, Scott Wood. But Gottfried is selling that Belgian big man Thomas de Thaey will be the surprise if he can get cleared by the NCAA. The Wolfpack are still awaiting a ruling on the 6-foot-8 forward.

Oregon coach Dana Altman managed to turn a makeshift Ducks roster in his first season into a team of CBI champions, and now he's apparently feeling comfortable enough with this current group to play his preferred style of defense, according to The Register Guard.

The Ducks lost Malcolm Armstead, who led the Ducks and set a UO record with 89 steals, but a more aggressive overall approach in man-to-man defense, and an increase in full-court pressure, could more than offset the steals that went with Armstead’s transfer to Wichita State.

"We'd like to press the whole game," Altman said.

"Last year, we were in a soft press most of the time."

Altman's emphasis on the fullcourt press speaks to the athleticism and depth that he believes the team now has, so that's a good sign for Ducks fans looking for the team to make a move up in the Pac-12.

To get an idea of what this Altman defense might look like, go back to his statements the last time he planned to install the defense at a new school. At that awkward press conference at Arkansas where just hours later he would decide the job wasn't for him and return to Creighton, here's what Altman had to say about defense:

Altman said he was excited to follow in the footsteps of Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson. Sutton, also a former Creighton coach, took Arkansas to the Final Four in 1978. Richardson's teams reached the Final Four in 1990, 1994 and 1995 and won the national title in 1994 with a style of play dubbed "40 Minutes of Hell."

The soft-spoken Altman described himself as "boring" -- but he was only talking about his personality.

"We press 40 minutes a game," he said. "It's not quite the old Nolan press. We change it up a little bit. We'll back it up to three-quarter and we trap in different spots. But we do press all the time."

Oregon players and the rest of the Pac-12 had better be ready. The Ducks are going to press, so opponents will have to be careful not to get lost in the trees on the court at Matthew Knight Arena.

Altman's going to be introducing his aggressive defense once again.

Does your school's student section, in a sign of solidarity, wear matching T-shirts? Oregon's student section, The Pit Crew, has shirts, while also benefiting from its natural advantages by having its own Nike shoe.

The school announced Thursday that at the first Midnight Madness event at Matthew Knight Arena, the Limited Edition Pit Crew Air Jordan 3 will be introduced and 10 pairs will be given away as raffle prizes for fans in attendance.

Given that the grand opening of Matthew Knight Arena in January included the duck mascot being lowered from the rafters and a speech from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, it was expected that Matt Knight Madness would include some sort of wrinkle that was unique to Oregon.

The unveiling of a custom-made shoe at the Oct. 14 event takes care of that cool factor for The Pit Crew, which as of two weeks ago began tweeting photos of the shoe boxes piled high and soles of the shoes as a teaser for today's announcement. There's also another photo surfacing of an Air Jordan 3 shoe that includes the Oregon logo and webbed footprints.

By the way, there's also anticipation for Dana Altman's team to generate some buzz on the court. The reigning CBI champions have the talent to compete for a Pac-12 championship, and while it might take time to develop chemistry with new freshmen and transfers, they're expected to be a sleeper team and contend for an NCAA tournament bid.

It's been Oregon's flashy ways that have earned the program attention as well.

If the Pac-12 is going to rebound from losing so many of its top players to the pros, its highly regarded young players are going to have to make an immediate impact. Incoming freshmen such as Arizona's Josiah Turner, Arizona State's Jahii Carson and Washington's Tony Wroten are expected to get plenty of playing time.

So it's a good sign for the league that top-100 freshmen Jabari Brown of Oregon and Chasson Randle of Stanford have already shown in the preseason that they have what it takes, leading their respective teams in scoring during preseason tours.

In Spain, Randle capped off his trip on Sunday with a 14-point performance against FC Barcelona Regal, a team that had beaten the Los Angeles Lakers in an exhibition game last year. He has drawn raves from professional coaches in the high-powered Spanish league and compliments from his own coach as well.

"He handled the ball with poise and also finished in traffic and through contact," the Cardinal's Johnny Dawkins said an earlier game on the trip. "He's growing up. You're going to have ups and downs being a young player. Watching the last three games, I can see him getting better and better, and also conditioned to playing this style of basketball."

Earlier this month in Italy, Oregon saw Jabari Brown average 15.4 points and five rebounds while making all 16 of his free throw attempts. He also played like a freshman at times, committing 14 turnovers against four assists over the course of the five games.

"I thought he really did a nice job early of taking what the defense gave him and making plays," Oregon coach Dana Altman told The Register-Guard. "We got behind in those last two games and I thought Jabari just tried to do too much. With his competitiveness, he tried to make a play every time he got it, and because of that he forced a few things, but for his first time out, it shows his potential, and gave us a few things he's going to have to work on."

Randle before leaving for Spain expressed similar sentiments about a constant need for improvement. Flashes of talent were displayed on the trip, but the real test is how much the freshmen get better over the course of the season.

"I feel comfortable, but there's always work to be done," Randle said. "I just want to keep getting better every day, keep bringing energy."

Michael Dunigan is preparing for the NBA draft after playing for a year in Israel and Estonia following his abrupt departure from Oregon. He decided to turn pro following the arrival of new coach Dana Altman, and soon afterward, the school announced it would seek assistance from the Pac-10 after receiving information about former players regarding their eligibility.

Andy Katz reported that Oregon interviewed Dunigan as part of its investigation, but the matter has since been turned over to the NCAA. According to The Register-Guard, the NCAA also requested a meeting with Dunigan but didn't get one.

Dunigan has not spoken with NCAA representatives on the issue, though a request for a meeting was made to Dunigan’s attorney, George Andrews, who declined on his client’s behalf.

"We didn't feel we had anything we wanted or needed to share with them," Andrews said, adding that Dunigan "didn't leave Oregon for anything that happened off the court. ... There was no issue related to him doing anything improperly," such as a possible NCAA violation

Dunigan said he would have been eligible for his junior season at Oregon.

Dunigan of course was well within his rights to decline the meeting with investigators given that the NCAA has no subpoena power. He has denied that his eligibility was in question and isn't obligated to say anything.

But the NCAA investigation does continue to loom over Oregon. Altman and his staff don't have anything to do with the probe, yet they could be hampered by possible sanctions that might come out of it.

The Ducks had a surprising season after Dunigan left and others transferred in the wake of Ernie Kent's firing. Winning the CBI should give the team momentum heading into this year at a time when the Pac-12 lacks a sure-fire favorite.

It would be best for all involved if the NCAA investigation turns up nothing. For Dunigan, his time at Oregon is already in the rear-view mirror.

USC coach Kevin O'Neill said today he would have much preferred that a non-conference team had played Oregon on the opening night for Matthew Knight Arena rather than the Trojans, who came out slow and couldn't come back from a first-half deficit.

Calling it a "competitive disadvantage," O'Neill didn't like that prior to tipoff his team had to wait for the end of pregame festivities, which included the duck mascot being lowered from the rafters, students rushing onto the court, break-dancing acts, and a speech by Nike's Phil Knight.

"You sit in the locker room for 40 minutes is longer than necessary," O'Neill said. "It’s a whole different set of things to deal with."

Another issue O'Neill had? The court, of course. Not so much the design of it, but O'Neill appears to be the first coach to complain that the midcourt line is barely visible.

"They got to put a center line on the floor," O'Neill said. "They need to paint something down there because that's going to be hard for officials to deal with and even players."

Oregon coach Dana Altman said adjustments could be made if officials can't see, and a school official told The Register-Guard that the glare coming off the court seen on television might have been caused by light given off by the advertising boards.

But the second visiting coach in the building, UCLA's Ben Howland said the glare isn't apparent in person and that he's fine with the visibility issue of the midcourt line.

"As long as the officials can do their job, I'm not worried about it. You can see it's a thin line, but it's there."

Said Howland of the court design: "In person, it's spectacular. It's a great idea. The facility in general is awesome."

UCLA won by eight.

Tonight's the night. After 83 years at MacArthur Court, the quirky but beloved home of Oregon hoops, the Phil Knight-powered Ducks will unveil Matthew Knight Arena Thursday. The Ducks may be rebuilding on the floor, but when it comes to resources and marketing -- see: Oregon's insane football uniform varieties -- Oregon is one of the best in the nation.

You've already heard about the Ducks' court, an oh-so-Oregon design that is simultaneously respectful, interesting, rich in tradition and logistically confusing. But what about the atmosphere? Mac Court was old and rusty, sure, but it was an extremely difficult place for road teams to play. Will the Ducks' new home -- a glittering $227 million project that essentially makes it the Cowboys Stadium of college basketball, giant Jumbotron and all -- lose something in the transfer?

Oregon coach Dana Altman doesn't think so. From the Oregonian:

“I think our fans are really going to like the atmosphere,” first-year Ducks coach Dana Altman said. “I don't know if there's any one, specific thing. It's just a real nice arena and one that I think the Pac-10 will really enjoy. The atmosphere in Mac Court was unbelievable, and on game day it was a great place to play. But the other 330 days when we didn't have a home game, it left a little bit to be desired.”

How did the designers of "Matt Court" -- as it's since been cleverly termed -- attempt to create that atmosphere? According to a press release from Ellerbe Bracket, the company that designed Matthew Knight Arena, designer Jon Niemuth tried to recreate the "seating bowl" that made Mac Court so unique.

To create a modern arena with the intimate fan experience provided at Mac Court, Ellerbe Becket incorporated feedback from the athletic department, administration, students, alumni, neighbors and major donors. One primary goal in the design of “Matt Court” was to establish an intimate house for basketball, with a vision of creating a “Theater for Basketball.” The new arena has a capacity of 12,500 and preserves an intimate, intimidating feel with a seating bowl pitched at 36 degrees in the student section and upper level – the steepest pitch allowed by code.

“We wanted to make sure the seating bowl fit into the experience of the game – not just the building,” said Niemuth. “The university passed on modern luxury boxes to avoid the upper seats being pushed farther from the floor. Design of the arena was a true collaboration of people who had passion and pride for the historical sports facility it replaced.”

I'm not exactly sure what all of that means. (Thirty-six degrees of pitch? You don't say!) But it sounds fairly impressive, I guess.

Then again, it doesn't matter what I, Dana Altman, or the project's designers think. The real test of any arena is how its fans feel when they walk through the turnstiles. After all, what's the point of a building capable of seating 13,000 people if 13,000 people don't feel that collective rush that defines so many great sports venues? That test will come tonight, when Ducks fans pack the new arena and see for themselves what the hubbub is really all about. Have fun, guys.

(Speaking of which, memo to Ducks fans: If you attend tonight's game and want to give readers an account of what the new arena feels like for fans in the stands, send us an e-mail with your thoughts. If it's worthwhile, we'll publish your take on Friday, or at least in next week's Hoopsbag.)

Oregon unveils Matthew Knight Arena on Thursday, with the Ducks facing USC on their unique floor which represents the view of a fir tree forest.

Look at the floor again, though. Can you see a halfcourt line? It's apparently there, and the design is within NCAA rules, but it might take some time getting used to.

"Hopefully, it doesn’t confuse our players," Oregon coach Dana Altman mused. "I’m more worried about the players on the floor rather than the floor itself."

If Mac Court had its dead spots that Ducks in the past were accustomed to, maybe then they can also get used to using the design to their advantage.

Senior guard Jay-R Strowbridge is apparently thinking about it, according to The Register-Guard:

"I've never seen anything like it," Strowbridge said. "We were joking about finding out where the halfcourt line is at."

It is there, if not necessarily obvious from very far away. It could come into play, however, as the Ducks put a fullcourt press on an opponent or attempt to trap a ball handler shortly after he crosses the line.

"This was just our first time in here, but we were able to pick up on it," Strowbridge said. "Hopefully that will be to our advantage, and we can get turnovers because the other team isn't as aware of the court."