ESPN Men's Basketball

A scan of the college basketball box scores each night guarantees all kinds of statistical oddities and standout performances. Here are some we found from Tuesday.

Wisconsin 52, Minnesota 45
The two teams combined to make 23 baskets, matching the fewest in a game this season (SMU and UAB combined for 23 on Feb. 15). Wisconsin made 12 field goals in the win, one shy of the fewest made field goals in a win this season (Niagara made 11 in a win on Feb. 24). The Golden Gophers and Badgers shot a combined 27.1 percent from the field, the lowest in a game involving a major-conference team and the fifth-lowest overall.

Wyoming 71, TCU 59
The Cowboys committed just one turnover in the victory, the fewest by any team this season. The previous team to commit no more than one turnover in a game was Bucknell on Jan. 13, 2010, against American.

Ole Miss 77, Arkansas 75
Ole Miss’ Murphy Holloway had 16 rebounds and teammate Reginald Buckner had 15 in the Rebels’ win. They are the third pair of teammates with at least 15 rebounds each in the same game this season, joining Deniz Kilicli and Kevin Jones of West Virginia and Brad Waldow and Rob Jones of St. Mary’s.

MILWAUKEE -- Curse? What curse?

If Ohio State's Evan Turner looms over this pod -- he is the best player, his is the best team -- he looms even larger on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. Turner is one of the four athletes on SI's regional NCAA tournament covers. Naturally, at open practices Saturday, talk of the fabled "SI jinx" wasn't far behind.

For what it's worth, Turner isn't concerned.

"I never heard of jinx until a couple of days ago," Turner, who leads Ohio State in points, rebounds, assists and steals, said. "I'm the type of kid -- you make your own destiny, will yourself into the situation. I'm not worrying about the jinx, but worrying about what my teammates and I have been doing, which is playing Ohio State basketball. Everything happens for a reason."

Fair enough. But what of his opponents, the famed Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara? They're not feeling the whole jinx thing, either. Senior guard James Powell injected a little obvious -- but welcome -- common sense into the discussion.

"Who knows," Powell said. "I mean, the only curse I know of is the Madden curse."

"When it's March, anything is possible," Powell continued. "I'm not looking at the Sports Illustrated or anything like that. There's a hundred other players on that cover. If everybody was cursed then there would be no winner."

Well said, James! In the spirit of Mr. Powell's brand of existentialism, then, let's preview the games on hand in Milwaukee Friday.

West Region

No. 11 Minnesota vs. No. 6 Xavier

Key to the game: Who controls the pace? Tubby Smith and the Gophers prefer to play a very Big Ten-esque style -- slow, plodding, obsessed with defense and rebounding. The Musketeers prefer to get up and down, allowing guard Jordan Crawford and mates to take easy shots in transition. Which style wins out? Can Minnesota control the pace? Or will the Gophers get left in Xavier's considerable dust?

Player to watch: The aforementioned Crawford leads the Musketeeers in points; few scorers in the country are quite so confident in their talents. This can lead to the occasional bad shot, though, and in the tournament, too many of those can cost you dearly.

Who has the edge: Push. Cop-out, I know, but I don't want to go so far as to say that Minnesota has the edge here -- just that the Gophers are still a bit underrated (the teams are barely distinguishable in Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency rankings) and could push -- sorry -- Xavier to the very end. Expect a close one.

No. 14 Oakland vs. No. 3 Pittsburgh

Key to the game: Can the Golden Grizzlies defend? Oakland got to the tournament with an offense that ranked among the 100 most efficient in the country; its defense, on the other hand, couldn't crack the top 200. If Oakland can't find a way to limit Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, this could be over in a hurry.

Player to watch: Ashton Gibbs. Gibbs could play poorly and Pitt can still survive ... but don't think Pittsburgh won't want to get their leading scorer off on the right foot to start the tournament.

Who has the edge: Pittsburgh. Barring a really poor shooting performance by the Panthers, Oakland simply won't have the horses to keep up with a good-but-not-great Big East team.

Midwest Region

No. 10 Georgia Tech vs. No. 7 Oklahoma State

Key to the game: Georgia Tech's bigs. Oklahoma State is a team that thrives on its perimeter talent -- specifically All-American candidate James Anderson, not to mention guards Obi Muonelo and Keiton Page -- but all the talk here Thursday revolved around just how Oklahoma State's undermatched big men planned to stop future NBAers Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors down low. Can Anderson and company do enough to offset Tech's advantage on the block?

Player to watch: Favors. The big man has contributed throughout the Jackets' season, but the hype surrounding his future NBA career has consistently exceeded his performance. What better stage to prove the haters wrong (and to lure in a few more NBA scouts)? (Honorable mention: James Anderson -- enjoy him while he lasts.)

Who has the edge: Georgia Tech has the superior talent. But it's hard to trust them to put it together. Anderson provides the edge Oklahoma State needs as the Cowboys shoot over Tech's big men on the way to a victory.

No. 15 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 2 Ohio State

Key to the game: How do you stop Evan Turner? Answer: you don't. But you can, if you're very careful, stop his teammates. Let Turner get his buckets, refuse to help on defense, and stop the barrage of 3-pointers that Ohio State usually launches when Turner overwhelms the game. If UC Santa Barbara can throw some of what they call their "confusing" defense at Turner and the Buckeyes, they might be able to slow OSU down just enough to hang around.

Player to watch: Turner is the obvious selection here, not only because he's OSU's most important player, but because he's the sort of rare college talent that you have to cherish before he rushes off and gets paid the millions of dollars he deserves for the talent he displays. Like Anderson above, enjoy every minute of this Evan Turner postseason. Time's running out.

Who has the edge: Um, Ohio State. But if this tournament has proven anything, it's that crazy things happen in the NCAA tournament. Don't bust out your bracket Sharpie just yet.

The Minnesota Gophers' tournament hopes died on March 2. Or so we thought.

That's when Minnesota, after winning at Illinois, attempted to build on its late-season push with a win at Michigan. That, um, didn't happen. Instead, the Gophers were walloped by a bad Michigan team, 83-55, and if you ever needed a reason to exclude the Gophers from the tournament -- and, as of March 2, you didn't -- the Michigan loss was plenty.

But look now: Minnesota is still breathing in the Big Ten tournament after wins over Penn State and yesterday's upset of No. 3 seed Michigan State, giving Minnesota its 19th and 20th victories of the year. Unsurprisingly, those wins have boosted Minnesota's tournament stock considerably. What's more surprising is that Minnesota's tournament stock isn't just vaguely better -- all of a sudden, the Gophers have a legitimate chance to sneak in the NCAA tournament.

Joe Lunardi now has Minnesota listed in his "next three out," right below Dayton and Mississippi State. That has to be the first Minnesota bracketology mention since, when, October? Of that group, only the Bulldogs are still active. Minnesota still has work to do -- leapfrogging Arizona State, Memphis, Rhode Island and Seton Hall will be no easy feat -- but it remains genuinely remarkable the Gophers are even on the bubble radar. A win over Purdue today would surely boost Minnesota's chances again, putting them right on the cusp. Then there's the Big Ten final against the winner of Ohio State and Illinois, which, duh, could mean an automatic bid for the Gophers.

Will Minnesota get in? At this point, it's still unlikely. But you have to give the Gophers credit for not doing what some of their disappointing Big Ten counterparts -- cough, Michigan -- have done, which is fade down the stretch. The Gophers are still fighting. Good for them.

• As of yet, Jim Calhoun has given little public reason for anyone to think he's retiring at the end of this season. (Whether he should retire is a different story; now seems like as good a time as ever. But that's going to be Calhoun's decision to make.) In the meantime, a pair of self-proclaimed "Loudmouths" are reporting that Calhoun is set to retire at year's end. In response, Calhoun's son Jeff told Adam Zagoria that "unequivocally on my children he has not made a decision to retire and I fully expect him to be back." Which seems like a much more reliable source. In any case, that's not the point; the point is that when Calhoun decides to retire, we'll all know, because he'll tell us. Publicly. At a press conference. Which he will announce. Until then, it's a little silly to spend too much time debating the ins and outs of whether or not Calhoun -- or any coach -- will retire at the end of this season. So let's stop, huh? We have basketball to watch. That's more fun.
• Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has suspended sharpshooting guard Chris Allen from Friday's opening Big Ten tournament game for what the Lansing State Journal calls "the cumulative effect of academic problems." Izzo might allow Allen to meet the team on Saturday, provided Michigan State wins.
• Believe it or not, Butler is only 1-4 in Horizon League tournament title games since 2003. Given the sheer dominance the Bulldogs have wrought on the Horizon League in that timeframe, this is a surprising statistic. And one Butler can improve in the team's title appointment with Wright State tonight.
• Kim English -- who is not, as you might assume, a character in an Ian Fleming novel, but is rather a very good basketball player at Missouri -- recounts a difficult childhood in the Kansas City Star: "'Kids can be cruel,' English said as he allowed a glimpse into his fight to control a condition that afflicts more than 60 million in the world, according to the International Stuttering Association. 'I got teased in school. A lot of fights in elementary school. I’d go not talking for days at a time in school. I stuck to myself. Me, having a girl name, and me stuttering. Can you imagine a boy in the second grade stuttering and his name’s Kim?'" The lesson here, as always: Children are evil. Never forget this.
• The Dagger previews the Big East tournament, in which UConn has to make a "miracle run" with wins over St. John's, Marquette and Villanova to get to the title game. Impossible it is not. Improbable? Quite.
• Speaking of the Big East tournament, here are some log5 projections from Ken Pomeroy. Remember that whole "improbable but not impossible thing"? That applies to pretty much everyone except the league's top four teams. Getting double-byes into the quarterfinals of the tournament will do that.
• Lorenzo Romar is displeased that Washington's Quincy Pondexter wasn't named co-MVP of the Pac-10 this year; the award was given to Cal's Jerome Randle, who fit nicely in the Derek Jeter Memorial "Best Player on the Best Team" category of year-end awards. The award wasn't given that way last year, when Arizona State's James Harden beat league-winning Washington's Jonathan Brockman for the award. Which is a fair argument, I guess. It would also have been pretty difficult to ignore Harden's brilliance last season; Pondexter, while good, didn't reach those heights in 2009-10.
• Sporting News releases its list of All-Americans, which has five guards on the team: John Wall, Greivis Vasquez, Evan Turner, Scottie Reynolds, and James Anderson. Somewhere, DeMarcus Cousins and Cole Aldrich are having a very cramped, very valid pity party.
• Oh, and in regards to yesterday's discussion of Cousins vs. Wall for freshman of the year, John Gasaway follows up. For previous Gasaway-penned Cousins over Wall knowledge, well, here you go.
• Mike Miller and Vegas Watch discuss the vagaries of picking your bracket the smart way. Or you could follow the Eamonn Brennan method, which is to throw up your hands, admit you know nothing, and pick teams based on where you wish you'd gone to college. (Just kidding. I don't actually do this. There is plenty of exasperation and hand-throwing, though.)
• FanHouse wonders if North Carolina can win four games in four days. Seeing as the last time North Carolina won four games in a row was from Nov. 9 to Nov. 19, this premise sounds remarkably similar to the UNC fan denial heard immediately after the Tar Heels' blowout loss to Duke last week. But hey, remember: improbable! Not impossible! Mantra, UNC fans. Mantra.
• Former Notre Dame forward Zach Hillesland continues his New York Times Quad blogging with this view of why the Irish played so well with star Luke Harangody out of the lineup.
• Big 12 Hoops gets the conference tournament party started a day early with this preview of the league tournament. Meanwhile, in the hopes of placating the northernmost denizens of the conference, the Big 12 tournament could move in coming years.
• Daily Gopher orders the Big 10's most disappointing teams. The only qualm here is the rather high inclusion of Northwestern; after losing Kevin Coble to injury for the entire year, the fact that the Wildcats were able to stay in NCAA tournament territory for so long was something of a positive surprise.
• Vanderbilt blog Anchor of Gold makes a case for Kevin Stallings as SEC coach of the year.

As always, follow me on Twitter to send me links and tips.

The Morning After is our semi-daily recap of the night's best action. Try not to make it awkward.

No. 7 Ohio State 73, Illinois 57: There were zero upsets to speak of last night, and Illinois' bid for a tournament-securing win at Ohio State was no different. Instead, the night was a feel-good Buckeye festival. Thad Matta's team secured a share of the Big Ten title. Evan Turner got a national spotlight, not that he needed it (more on this below). And Mark Titus, the by-now-famous purveyor of Club Trillion, made the most of his senior night, notching one final trillion in front of hundreds of Club Trillion t-shirt-clad OSU fans -- not to mention raising a whole bunch of cash for sick children. Really, things couldn't have gone much better.

The most notable performance of the night -- other than Titus', obviously -- probably came from Ohio State sharpshooter Jon Diebler, whose seven 3-pointers for 21 points (this scoreline math is refreshingly simple) helped bury the Illini in the second half. After the game, though, the only national topic was Turner. More specifically, the topic was "Is Evan Turner the player of the year?" Every analyst ESPN had to offer on Sportscenter proclaimed it to be true. The only dissenters? America. In a SportsNation poll, 37 percent of the country voted for John Wall as the player of the year; Turner notched 33 percent of the vote. Which means one thing, America: You're on notice. I know Wall might be the most familiar name, but it's March now. There's no excuse for this. Inform thyself. Wall is a great player, but Turner has had a better season, and he deserves the award. I thought we Turner advocates had settled this issue already -- seriously, you have no idea how good it felt to see the unanimous pundit praise for Turner Tuesday night -- but apparently not. We have more work to do. Turner bandwagon team ... assemble!

No. 19 Vanderbilt 64, Florida 60: Again, no upsets here: Florida, like Illinois, could have sealed an at-large NCAA tournament spot with a win over the sturdy Commodores on Tuesday night. It didn't happen. Still, the Gators acquitted themselves nicely in the loss; Florida held a typically efficient Vanderbilt offense to a mere 64 points on 60 possessions. Billy Donovan's team was undone by its poor shooting, though, hitting 21-of-50 2-point shots and just 2-of-13 from 3 for a paltry 31.8 effective field goal percentage. Even in a solid defensive effort, that's not going to get the job done.

The Associated Press wrap of the game seems to think that Florida significantly hurt its tournament chances with the loss, but that seems slightly overstated. Sure, Florida didn't help itself, but losing by four to Vanderbilt at home isn't the worst result in the world, is it? Florida might have more work to do -- but no more work than before Tuesday, right?

Everywhere else: Cincinnati likewise needed a big win to keep itself in the at-large conversation. They almost got it, but insert the old koan about horseshoes and hand grenades here ... UTEP clinched the outright Conference USA title with a hard-fought win at Marshall ... Missouri's Zaire Taylor almost perfectly recreated Tyus Edney's famous game-winner in a thrilling overtime win at Iowa State ... North Carolina became the second team in the history of college basketball to get to 2,000 wins; one wonders if the current players felt strange holding that 2,000-win plaque, given this season's ugliness ... Syracuse had no problems with St. John's on senior night ... Baylor won at Texas Tech, handing Pat Knight's team its sixth straight loss ... Minnesota suffered a major letdown at Michigan, one which officially puts the final nail in the the already almost-entirely-assembled Gophers' coffin ... Trevor Booker did manly things in Clemson's win over Georgia Tech ... and Marquette shredded Louisville's zone in a 21-point win in Milwaukee.

Saddle Up is our daily preview of the hoops your TV wants you to watch. Here's Tuesday night's rundown.

Illinois at No. 7 Ohio State, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN: Of any team facing bubble implications to play tonight, Illinois' situation is perhaps the most fluid. A win at Ohio State puts the Illini in the absolutely-in pile; a loss leaves them right about where they are now, if not worse off. Losing would make the Illini would 18-12 overall, the sort of record the committee will not be perfectly thrilled with, and Illinois would still have to fend off loss No. 13 when Wisconsin comes to Champaign, Ill. on Sunday.

The good news is Illinois has proven capable of beating top Big Ten teams on the road before. The bad news is that Illinois' style plays right into the Buckeyes' hands: Few teams prevent free throws quite like the Buckeyes, and few teams refuse to pocket their jump shots and attack the rim quite like the Illini. If Illinois can reverse this trend for a night -- if they can get Demetri McCamey to attack the basket and get forwards Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis some good looks against Ohio State's somewhat undersized, shallow front line -- Bruce Weber's charges have a chance. If not, well, Ohio State is better and more efficient than Illinois in just about every aspect of the game. Things don't bode well.

No. 19 Vanderbilt at Florida, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN: Speaking of bubble teams in need of help ... Florida, come on down. Joe Lunardi has Florida as a No. 10 seed in the tournament right now, but thanks to a close loss at Georgia (which is actually not that horrible loss, given how well Georgia has played at home this season), Florida could use a big win tonight before a daunting trip to Rupp Arena on Sunday.

Make no mistake: That's what a win over Vanderbilt would be. Big. The Commodores have been a steady force in the SEC all season. Their only league losses have been to Kentucky and a blowout at Georgia -- there's that pesky Georgia team again -- and while not a great defensive team, Kevin Stallings' bunch is very difficult to stop on the offensive end. Vanderbilt's attack is nicely balanced between forwards A.J. Ogilvy and Jeffrey Taylor, and guard Jermaine Beal, all who shoot a plus-50 effective field goal percentage. Florida's lack of a true post presence could hurt them against the 6-foot-11 Ogilvy. Then again, Florida's strength isn't its size; it's speed. Make Ogilvy work away from the hoop on defense -- the sudden offensive brilliance of forward Chandler Parsons applies here -- and the Gators can make Vanderbilt exceedingly uncomfortable. And then we can stop talking about the Florida's bubble issues forever. I'm cool with that.

Everywhere else: Cincinnati doesn't share Illinois' and Florida's bubble anxiety -- it's entirely out of the picture, now -- but a win over Villanova couldn't hurt matters, I guess ... Gonzaga would put the cap on another WCC title season by topping Cal-State Bakersfield tonight ... With a win at Marshall, UTEP would seal the outright Conference-USA crown ... Baylor will put its third-place standing in the Big 12 on the line at Texas Tech ... Likewise for Missouri at Iowa State ... Minnesota plays at Michigan in yet another battle of the upper midwest's most disappointing teams ... and deadlocked Big East teams Louisville and Marquette will play a game both teams want, but don't necessarily need, in regards to NCAA tournament hopes. Marquette is involved, so it's a safe bet the game will come down to the wire. That should be fun.

The Morning After is our semi-daily recap of last night's hoops. Try not to make it awkward.

No. 3 Purdue 59, Minnesota 58: We'll get to the implications of Robbie Hummel's injury -- the extent of which is still unknown -- and the effect it will have on the Boilermakers' tournament hopes, later. For now, there is one main consequence of last night's one-point Purdue win in Minneapolis: the Gophers, as an at-large team, are effectively done. This is unfortunate for Minnesota fans, of course. It's also kind of a bummer for anyone convinced that Minnesota has played better than their record in 2009-10 -- they have. Roster issues have crippled Tubby Smith's lineup for much of the year and turned what could have been a Big Ten contender into what is now a near-lock for the NIT. Robbie Hummel will be the thing we remember from last night's thriller; the death of Minnesota's season, however, is its most immediate consequence.

Notre Dame 68, No. 16 Pittsburgh 53; No. 8 Villanova 74, South Florida 49: Last night was a night for fringe bubble teams to make their respective cases in simultaneous fashion, and perhaps no two teams were more similar than Notre Dame and South Florida. How'd that end up? Notre Dame blew out Pittsburgh on in South Bend without Luke Harangody. With Dominique Jones, the Bulls went to Philadelphia and were handed a 25-point beatdown. Perhaps most ignominious is South Florida's offensive output against Villanova's usually soft defense -- the Bulls scored .74 points per possession and committed a turnover on 35 percent of their trips; this is not a tournament-worthy output. Meanwhile, Notre Dame still has work to do to get back on the bubble, but a convincing win over Pittsburgh is an awfully good place to start.

No. 18 Temple 49, Dayton 41: Speaking of not scoring any points and thus dooming your ever-dwindling tournament hopes -- ladies and gentlemen, Dayton! The Flyers didn't just fail to score last night. They must have put some sort of plastic top over the rim, like the ones at big sporting goods stores that take all the fun out of shooting the basketball in aisle 42. Dayton scored 13 points in the first half -- 13! -- which might not seem so bad except that Temple was likewise afflicted with shooting woes and scored only 19 points in the first half. Dayton merely needed to play mediocre offense to take what would likely have been a blowout victory over conference a conference rival and a top 25 team. Instead, the Flyers' 28-point second half explosion wasn't enough, and Dayton is looking more and more like one of the few teams in the top half of the A-10 that's not going to be making the NCAA tournament. I mean, really. 13 points?

Everywhere else: A 20-point loss at Boston College is not the best thing in the world for a Virginia Tech team still trying to overcome that horrific nonconference schedule ... North Carolina's silver jerseys didn't add much, as the Tar Heels fell to Florida State in Chapel Hill last night ... Maryland came back from an early deficit to Clemson, exploding for 88 points in the win ... At least for a night, Texas figured things out, topping Oklahoma State by 10 in Austin ... Jimmer Fredette led with 26 as BYU beat up on tourney hopeful San Diego State ... LaceDarius Dunn keyed Baylor to a tough win over Texas A&M ... and a typically brilliant Evan Turner (25 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals, two blocks; try to control your saliva, fantasy basketball players) helped Ohio State avoid an ugly collapse in Happy Valley.

Saddle Up is our daily preview of the hoops your TV wants you to watch. Here's Wednesday night's rundown.

Don't let anyone tell you the college basketball regular season doesn't matter. It does. Wednesday night doesn't boast a single match up between top 25 teams, but it does have at least four games featuring bubble (or barely bubble) teams with a chance to immediately boost their at-large chances. A quick gander:

No. 3 Purdue at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network: Don't look now, but Minnesota has a chance to make the NCAA tournament. I know, I know -- it's a distant chance. But it's a chance. After a 16-point win over Wisconsin on Feb. 18 and a subsequent blowout at Indiana, Tubby Smith's team is at 16-10 and 7-7 in the Big Ten with four games to play. A win tonight would be the Gophers' third in a row, and would give them a much-needed quality win for the résumé. Then, with a win over the No. 3 team in the country in their pocket, the Gophers would have three winnable games -- at Illinois, at Michigan, and at Iowa -- to play. Win out, and that gets Minnesota to 20 wins, an 11-7 conference mark, and serious at-large consideration. Easy, right?

OK, not so much: Purdue is playing its best basketball of the season right now, and the Boilermakers are in the thick of a Big Ten title race with Ohio State and Michigan State. There will be no letdowns. If Minnesota wants to sneak into the tournament, it will be earned.

South Florida at Villanova, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN360: South Florida, much like Minnesota, is nowhere to be found in Joe Lunardi's latest bracket. At 16-10, the Bulls share much the same burden as the Gophers, which is not how the animal kingdom works at all, but that's OK, because we're actually talking about college basketball. Anyway, stay focused: South Florida very much needs a win at Villanova -- not an impossible feat, given Nova's prodigious fouling habit and overall defensive vulnerability -- to stay in the bubble picture. At the very least, fire up your laptop to watch Dominique Jones take on the porous Wildcats. Bubble talk or no, that ought to be a treat.

San Diego State at BYU, 9 p.m. ET, CBS College Sports: San Diego State has had two prior chances to prove itself worthy of an at-large bid. The first was Jan. 23's 71-69 loss to BYU at home. The second was an 88-86 loss at New Mexico. Swap either one of those incredibly close and no doubt disappointing results, and SDSU isn't sitting there wallowing among the first four out. So here you go, Aztecs. Last chance. You get BYU and Jimmer Fredette in Provo with a tournament at-large on the line. You've proven you can play with the best teams in your league. Now you must, thanks to the selection committee's totally unfair and not cool at all focus on "wins," win.

No. 21 Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2: You already know the story here: Right now, Notre Dame shares two things with the aforementioned South Florida Bulls: a 6-8 Big East record and a fringe chance of making the NCAA tournament. How to remedy that? The Bulls have the better of the opportunities tonight, but Notre Dame has the more winnable. The only problem? Luke Harangody is expected to sit out again for the Irish, a knee injury that's come at the worst possible time for the perennially bubble-bound team.

Everywhere else: Both of these teams are already in the tournament, so they get shoved all the way down here to the flotsam, but tonight's best game is no doubt Oklahoma State at Texas, where Texas will experience life without Dogus Balbay for the first time ... There's also Texas A&M at Baylor, a match up of two very capable and tourney-ready Big 12 teams ... Dayton didn't fit up top, but it too needs a bubble win over Temple to make a late case for tournament inclusion ... UTEP will try to continue its conference dominance at Southern Miss ... Virginia Tech can't afford to lose to Boston College ... Florida State at North Carolina will be on your television whether you like it or not ... Xavier will go to St. Louis in tonight's other big A-10 match up ... And Clemson will play at Maryland as the Terps try to keep edging toward that elusive bracketology respect.

Saddle Up is our nightly look at the hoops your TV wants you to watch. Here's Thursday night's rundown.

No. 5 Syracuse at No. 10 Georgetown, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2: Sunday, Syracuse lost to Louisville. Sunday, Georgetown lost to Rutgers. Do those losses in any way diminish what we're likely to see at the Verizon Center tonight? Not even in the slightest.

If we've learned anything this season, it's that even the best Big East teams are prone to the occasional disappointment. Syracuse can lose at home to a bubble team. Georgetown can go to Rutgers and lose to one of the worst major conference teams in the country. (Villanova can give up 103 points on the road. You get the point.) And then these teams can come right back and play thrilling, high-level, Final Four-quality basketball. It's only fair for us to expect that much tonight.

Syracuse and Georgetown might be the two teams most familiar to basketball watchers -- it feels like both have been on national TV twice a week for months now -- but for the sake of the February newbies, let's do some previewin'. Jim Boeheim's team thoroughly dominated Georgetown at the Carrier Dome on Jan. 25 for two reasons: Georgetown shot poorly and readily gave the ball away. The former is maybe a bit unlucky, as Georgetown typically posts a 56-plus effective field goal percentage. The latter is all Cuse. Georgetown tried desperately to break into Syracuse's zone, and this led to 19 turnovers and a 28 percent turnover rate. Georgetown couldn't stop Syracuse on its own end, so those blown possessions were especially disastrous, and Syracuse rolled to an easy win.

The answer is rather simple: If Georgetown wants to win, it needs to make perimeter shots -- sharpshooting guard Austin Freeman especially -- and use that to stretch Syracuse away from the hoop, where Greg Monroe can operate. Fortunately, the Hoyas have a tendency to turn up their offense at home. (See: "scorching-hot blowouts over Villanova and Duke" in your reference manual.) It's that simple: Make shots. Northwestern had it right all along.

No. 21 Pittsburgh at Marquette, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2: Fortunately for Marquette, in statistics, there are these things called "corrections." (I have no idea what any of this means, but I like to pretend I do.) The Golden Eagles have been putting up impressive tempo-free numbers all year, but suffered eight losses in their first 19 games thanks to a grand total of 25 points. When you throw out the nine-point loss at Wisconsin on Dec. 12, Marquette lost seven games by a grand total of 16 points. That is capital-U Unlucky.

Marquette is starting to show results, though: The Eagles have won their last five, and they have a chance to make a statement at home tonight against a Pittsburgh team that refuses to fade as the regular season winds down. At 18 points and 8 rebounds per game, Lazar Hayward is one of the best players in the Big East, and he's a lot like his team: You may not realize it, but there's a lot to like up in Milwaukee these days. Don't let that deceptively ugly record fool you.

Everywhere else: Wisconsin will travel to Minnesota, where the Badgers will find a 14-10 team so disappointing, they will get distracted and completely forget why they came. (OK, probably not. That would be weird.) ... Ole Miss will battle Vanderbilt for a tournament spot in Oxford ... and it's Thursday night, which means there's a bevy of Pac-10 games you can completely ignore. That might be foolish, though, because you never know. Maybe a second Pac-10 team sneaks in the tournament, and you have to figure out your bracket. Why be unprepared? That just seems reckless.

It's uncertain whether troubled Minnesota freshman forward Royce White is really serious -- maybe he's just frustrated like another freshman you might have heard of -- but either way, White's situation keeps devolving, and the results are anything but good for Tubby Smith's disappointing Gophers.

You may remember White from his now-legendary YouTube video in which he "quit" college basketball. That came after White was implicated in the theft of a laptop from a dorm room. White maintains his innocence.

White was back in the fold for Tubby Smith in recent weeks -- apparently the retirement didn't take -- but has yet to play a game this season. Those chances are getting worse by the day, and this doesn't help: After a courtroom appearance yesterday, White told reporters at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he would be withdrawing from Minnesota for good because he can't trust the campus police. That sound you hear is Smith banging his head against his desk.

Has White played this card before? Yes. Does he really mean it this time? Who knows? Either way it's bad for the Gophers, because even if White stays he's likely to miss even more of what should have been a promising freshman season. Instead, White's most promising performance came thanks to Final Cut Pro. This has not gone well. For anybody.

Want to sneak something in the Afternoon Links? Follow me on Twitter and send me your stuff. Off we go:

• Storming The Floor came up with a fantastic idea yesterday. Since SEC commissioner (Who else hears Heath Ledger's Joker snarling "coMISSioner" in their head every time they read that word? Anyone? Just me?) Mike Slive seems hell-bent on punishing South Carolina for a perfectly legitimate, joyous court storm, and seems intent on collecting $25,000 from the Gamecocks in doing so, how about this? How about we send that $25,000 to Haiti? How about we make it count? The country is still in shambles after a devastating earthquake, but it sounds like aid and relief efforts are helping to stem the tide somewhat, and every little bit helps. Plus, South Carolina students were more than willing to hand over the money to the athletics program to offset their joy, and really, does the SEC need another $25,000 in its coffers? Storming The Floor's Eric is asking you to tweet "send SC's fine to #Haiti' to @SEC_Hoops, and tell 'em @STFHoops sent ya." Sounds like a plan to me.
• Speaking of court storming, Chris Dobbertean claims last night's Providence-UConn game was the moment court storming officially jumped the shark. I hate to say this, but we're way past that point. The shark was leapfrogged long ago. (Can you leapfrog a shark? Someone should totally try.) When you've got Indiana racing onto the court after a home win over Minnesota and UCLA fans trying to break onto their home floor after a buzzer-beater win over Washington, storming the court no longer means what it used to. I'm over it. Fans are over it. Let's call the whole "getting mad every time a school has a dumb court-storm" thing off. The subsequent complaining is almost as bad as the act itself.
• A familiar lad named Andy Katz zeroes in on Mike Davis, who is leading the UAB Blazers to their best season under his tenure and a possible at-large bid even if they don't end up winning the C-USA tourney.
• Former DePaul star Tyrone Corbin, now an assistant with the Utah Jazz, says he's interested in the DePaul job. Chris Lowery and Craig Robinson still seem like much better choices, but life is full of wonderful options, am I right?
• The Basketball Prospectus boys go back and forth on the subject of Kentucky guard Eric Bledsoe's future: Will he go pro this year? Should he? If Bledsoe keeps climbing into the lottery, it's hard to argue he shouldn't, but a John Wall-less year in the driver's seat of John Calipari's Porsche sounds like a surefire way to boost your draft stock.
• On why Evan Turner's insanely quick recovery from a broken back -- it's hard to keep in mind that Turner literally broke his freaking back earlier this season -- has saved the Ohio State Buckeyes from surefire mediocrity. It wasn't too damaging to Turner's draft stock, either. Meanwhile, here's a non-Eamonn argument for why Turner deserves player of the year honors.
• Ahead of tonight's interesting Wisconsin-Purdue matchup, Rush The Court checks in on the Big Ten and finds Michigan State in the driver's seat. What else is new?
• Speaking of Michigan State, Kalin Lucas is hearing the finest plaudits a Michigan State point guard can hear. What? No, they're not comparing him to Magic Johnson. I suppose I should have thought of that. No, Mateen Cleaves! They're comparing him to Mateen Cleaves. I guess Magic Johnson would have been better, but you get the point.
• Calipari and Texas coach Rick Barnes discussed the perils of gaining the No. 1 seed only to lose it shortly thereafter. I can't imagine this conversation lasted all that long. "It's bummer, right bro?" "Yep. Totally, bro. Total bummer." ... "Uh, so what else is up? Wife and kids good?"
• Joel Branstrom, the high school coach who hit the half-court shot with a blindfold on -- he was being pranked by his students, who'd promised him Final Four tickets if he made it; they were going to pretend the shot went in and were foiled when it, you know, actually went in -- will end up getting those Final Four tickets after all. Let that be a lesson to you kids: Overpromise and underdeliver, and as long as you have a fun viral video clip, you can achieve anything.
• Which is a bigger rivalry: Syracuse-Georgetown or Connecticut-Syracuse?

The Morning After is our semi-daily recap post. Try not to make it awkward.

South Carolina 68, No. 1 Kentucky 62: There's nothing quite like your roommate coming home from work, glancing at the game you're watching, and asking who South Carolina's best player is and you telling him it's 31-points-per-game scorer Devan Downey ... and then watching as Downey hits a series of clutch down-the-stretch baskets one more unfathomable than the next. The fallaway three-point play? The extra-tight crossover on the left block? That probably-a-little-lucky-but-who-cares spin move through a sagging, slapping defense, ending with a teardrop high off the glass? Downey finished with 30 points on 9-for-29 shooting, but who cares? He got to the line all the time, and he made so many key buckets in crunch time that a few (OK, a ton of) early misses can be excused. If the average college basketball fan wanted to get to know this 5-foot-9 guy from South Carolina they'd been hearing about, well, there he is. He's pretty awesome, huh?

In the meantime, there are sure to be a flood of stories about why this is a good loss for Kentucky. That makes sense. It will disappoint Kentucky fans that their ascent to college basketball's upper crust has been derailed so quickly, but the more reasonable among them would have had to assume it would happen eventually. Upsets happen. All Kentucky can do is take the lessons from Tuesday night -- John Wall and Eric Bledsoe must protect the ball better; when DeMarcus Cousins has position, he needs the rock; help defense means stopping penetration and recovering to your man -- and apply them as they go on their quest for a national title. I'm not sure I buy the good loss theory. There are no such things as good losses. But there are plenty of good lessons to come from losses, and those are what Kentucky needs right now.

(Oh, and for plenty more on last night's game, be sure to scroll below for Pat Forde's instant postgame observations and Dana O'Neil's wrap.)

No. 5 Michigan State 57, Michigan 56: I have no allegiance to Michigan, other than my affection for a friend who went there, and that has nothing to do with Michigan basketball. (Plus, that friend broke our fantasy league's traveling trophy yesterday, so I couldn't care less about him right now. Such disrespect!) I attended a rival Big Ten school. But I have to admit I'm starting to feel a little bit sorry for Michigan fans. First their team is ranked in the top 15 at the beginning of the season. Then they have to suffer through 19 games of mediocre, lifeless basketball, nine of which the Wolverines lost. Then their best player is suspended for a date at Purdue. Then they welcome No. 5 Michigan State, play the Spartans tough for 40 minutes, lose a one-point lead on a Kalin Lucas jumper with 3.5 seconds left, and then rim out an inbound play that nearly got them a two-foot game-winner with less than a second left. I mean, yikes. Whether Michigan should be better than this or not is up for debate; whether their fans expected more and are now forced to face a 10-10 team is not.

But there is a silver lining here, however bleak it may be: Even if Michigan had won last night, it's not like they'd be in the tournament for sure. Heck, even if they'd won, converted the win into momentum, and finished the Big Ten regular season strong, there's no guarantee the committee will find the Wolverines worthy. Michigan will probably need to win the Big Ten tournament to get in the NCAA. Look on the bright side, Michigan fans: This loss, painful though it may be, doesn't really matter.

No. 13 Kansas State 76, Baylor 74: Smart money was on this being a close game, an eminently winnable one for Baylor if the Bears kept K-State off the free throw line. At the most crucial time, that didn't happen: LaceDarius Dunn fouled Jacob Pullen with eight seconds left to put the Wildcats guard on the free throw line, where Pullen knocked down the two game-winning shots to give K-State a steal of a win on the road. Baylor actually shot more free throws than Kansas State; the Bears also managed to keep turnovers low and rebound a decent portion of their offensive misses. The difference was in the shooting. Kansas State shot a 58.8 eFG percentage, while Baylor shot 43.2 eFG, and the Bears' solidity in other facets of the game wasn't enough to overcome a cold night in Waco.

Everywhere else: On a day when Clemson fans were talking about becoming an elite hoops program, this has to be a disappointing road loss at Boston College ... Maryland cruised over Miami, continuing the Terps' streak of efficient, impressive basketball in the ACC thus far ... West Virginia had few issues at DePaul ... UAB defended its place in the top 25 by topping Tulsa and taking full ownership of a wide-open C-USA ... This was probably NC State's best shot at toppling the hated Tar Heels in, what, five years? Unfortunately for the state's red-clad fans, it didn't happen, as UNC cruised to a 14-point win ... and Northwestern, despite its ugly efficiency profile, played Minnesota tough at Minnesota. The Wildcats are still, despite all odds, looking tourney-worthy.

Think Tom Izzo's happy?

Down 13 in the second half and facing a Minnesota team that had seemed to figure them out, Michigan State came back, stole a late lead, and managed to keep Minnesota from tipping in a last-second bucket -- the Gophers had three separate chances above the rim in one of those lingering late possessions that, like a scene from "Hoosiers," never seem to end -- to take a 65-64 win in Minneapolis.

This was a vintage Michigan State win and, at the risk of overusing the concept of "momentum," the kind of game that could change the trajectory of MSU's entire season. This was the sort of win that justifies the Izzo's peerless reputation. This is the sort of win that proves this Spartans team is just as legit as their preseason hype anticipated.

Of course, this was not a perfect win, nor was it a particularly impressive performance. Enthusiasm must be tempered. Michigan State didn't dominate by any stretch; for a while, they barely competed. The Gophers were the superior team for most of the afternoon, and held the lead from the opening tip to 1:27 mark in the second half. Minnesota forced Michigan State out of the paint and onto the perimeter, and the Spartans finished the first half with a mere four points in the lane. (Minnesota, meanwhile, had 18.) Lawrence Westbrook and Devoe Joseph both finished with 16, and both led a balanced, coherent Gophers attack, one that fully took advantage of Michigan State's horrid first-half shooting.

But in a conference -- a sport, really -- where road wins are few and far between, Michigan State managed to play poorly for 30 minutes and still found a way to win down the stretch. There's a handy arc here. Tom Izzo's teams are always talented, are almost always led by great guards (in this case, Kalin Lucas, who had 22 points and the key 3 to take that first lead), almost always struggle early thanks to a tough non-conference schedule, and always manage to figure things out in time to own the Big Ten and roll through the NCAA tourney with experience and mettle on their side.

That's why Tom Izzo is Tom Izzo. That's why Michigan State is Michigan State. The Spartans win these games. Why should this year be any different?

(Update: Another look at Minnesota's last possession shows a good bit of contact on Lawrence Westbrook's shot. Tubby Smith and company definitely have a gripe there. They also deserve a lot of credit for playing as well as they did; Michigan State's ascendency was never guaranteed. Tough loss, but the Gophers can build on this.)

Have something you want linked? Got a new hoops blog you think we should see? Follow me on Twitter and hit me up with your stuff. Now, as always, the links:

• Education secretary Arne Duncan, whose first name always looks weird to me when I type it -- not that I type "Arne Duncan" all that often, but still -- is hitting college basketball where it hurts: Graduation rates. This might be worthy of a longer discussion later, but Duncan's idea is to tie graduation rates to NCAA tournament admission; if you're not graduating players, you can't play in the postseason: "You had four teams that didn't graduate any African-American players. Zero. If that was my son, I don't know if I would want him playing there," Duncan said. "And why did we allow them to play in this tournament, make all this money, be on national TV, and they're not graduating any kids?" Oooh, I know! (Furiously raises hand.) Because no one actually thinks college basketball is an academic enterprise? That only the most naive college basketball viewers argue that college basketball is great because they're watching student-athletes? That, for better or worse (definitely worse), no one really cares? Is that why?
• I have no idea who to believe in this mess, because no one -- neither Mike Garrett nor Tim Floyd -- seems particularly trustworthy.
• Speaking of USC, women's coach Michael Cooper (yes, the Showtime Lakers Michael Cooper) issued an apology for opening a news conference with, "My opening statement is [expletive] UCLA." Hilarious! Also kind of mean, and definitely the sort of thing you have to apologize for if you plan on being a head coach at any program for very long. But still, Michael Cooper, well done. Big round of applause. You, sir, are 90 percent onions.
• Saturday's Cornell-Columbia game at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium is sold out. Yes, a sold out Ivy League basketball game at CUNY. What? It's not like there's anything better to do in New York.
• UCLA still believes it can improve. This is where a smart aleck like me says that at 7-10, there's no way UCLA can get worse, and so promising improvement is a little like me promising that I'll get better at blogging today: When you're this bad, there's nowhere to go but up.
• Royce White returns! After retiring from basketball, the Minnesota forward has returned to Tubby Smith's squad at long last. White's legal issues still need to be resolved -- White plead guilty to disorderly conduct and theft for his role in a mall altercation last year, and he's still a focus of an investigation involving a stolen laptop -- but if Smith allows him, White could return to the floor soon.
• New Orleans quit the Sun Belt, which brings the school one step closer to settling in at the Division III level. When asked for comment, one New Orleans fan screamed "Uh, OK? GO SAINNNNNTSSSSSAHHH!"
• I like college basketball. I like ridiculous haircuts. You can find me wherever the 'twain shall meet.
• Casual Hoya breaks down and aggregates Georgetown's huge win over Pitt last night.
• From the ESPN file, check out Dana O'Neil's excellent look at the surprising Binghamton Bearcats, who suffered one of the worst offseasons of all-time and are somehow not only not winless, but downright competitive. Keep in mind this is a team that had to have open tryouts on campus to fill the 2009-10 squad. It's shocking, really. And speaking of Dana, IU blog Inside The Hall sat her down for a Q & A on her gig, the Hoosiers, and her current All-American picks.
• A Sea Of Blue takes a look at Kentucky's average margin of victory in 2009-10 and compares it to years' past. Despite the occasional Wildcat letdown and Kentucky's willingness to allow inferior teams to stick around -- think Georgia at Rupp Arena, for example -- the Cats' average margin of victory compares well with the more successful of former coach Rick Pitino's teams.
• Finally, one quick note on this nonsense: Saying regular-season games don't matter is like saying any given week of the NFL doesn't matter. By itself, no. It's just one-sixteenth, or in college basketball's case, one-thirty-second of a season. The marginal value is low. But the games matter in the aggregate. Which team wins the NCAA title has as much to do with seeding and chance as talent, and every game on the way to the tournament has tiny little reverberations and consequences for March's massive payoff. You know, just like any other sport. Decrying college basketball's regular season as nothing but entertaining TV filler seems more than a little off-base.

• Earlier this season, it tentatively appeared as though the Big Ten was going to, wonder of wonders, not play insufferably slow basketball. How wrong we were: As soon as conference play began, the Big Ten started slowing down again, which the Big Ten Geeks pointed out at their Big Ten Network blog space Tuesday. (Fun fact: Did you know Gus Johnson had a blog? And an awesomely named blog at that? Nor did I. Disappointingly, it's not entirely written in caps. It actually appears to not be written at all. Sigh. Oh well.) Anyway, every Big Ten team currently resides below the national pace average (which is about 68 possessions per game, give or take); even the Big Ten's fastest team, Minnesota, only takes about 67 possessions per game. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Slow basketball can still be entertaining basketball, I guess. But those who like to harp on the inferiority of the Big Ten every year have yet more ammunition, and if you want up-and-down hoops, the upper Midwest is not for you.
• Some Indiana fans take issue (and some agree) with my complaint about the Hoosiers' and Wolverines' court-storming after home wins over Minnesota and UConn, respectively, this weekend. Look, guys, I get it. Things are bad right now. Fans are frustrated, especially the old-timers who have lived their entire lives with a successful basketball program. But you can't completely forget your program's history just because you've had a rough decade. And the decade wasn't even that rough; IU went to the title game in 2002! Normally, sure, let the kids run on the court as much as possible. Who cares, right? Certainly not me. But the dissonance between beating a decent Big Ten opponent at home and storming one of the most storied courts in college basketball continues to confuse me. I'm not the only one.
• Oregon State fans and media types are starting to freak out about Craig Robinson's potentially imminent departure to DePaul, while Robinson continues to avoid commenting on the possibility. Can Oregon State build a practice facility to Robinson's liking? Or are the Beavers destined to lose their coach to a school that, let's be honest, doesn't exactly have the best facilities situation in the world itself?
• College Chalktalk weighs in with a quick statistical breakdown of the A-10 conference at its quarter mark. Yes, Temple is still looking good.
• Luke Winn explains why Jim Calhoun's absence should be a temporary thing, and the Hartford Courant checks in with a source that gives Calhoun 10 days before he's back on the sideline.
• This is a few days old by now (I tweeted it back on Friday when I was away from the blog for a few days), but it probably deserves a whimsical mention here: Roy Williams' Amazing Technicolor Dreamties are literally dooming the Tar Heels. I'm not one to hate on a man's tie selection, but -- oh, who am I kidding? I'm like Tim Gunn when it comes ties, and not in a smart, knowing way, but in a catty-even-though-I-have-no-clue-what-I'm-talking-about way. Actually, wear what you want, Roy. I have no idea what looks good. I give up.
• Seth Davis and John Gasaway disagree on the importance of rebounding margin. Layman's explanation: Because pace changes from game to game, rebounding margin doesn't really give you a good idea of how a team rebounds, because that margin can be affected by how slowly or quickly teams play. If you look at rebounding percentages instead -- which takes pace out of the equation -- this mess is cleaned up rather quickly. So when you see a writer cite rebounding margin (or, more likely, a coach), be skeptical. There are far better ways of figuring out well teams rebound.
• A quick AP summary of former Gonzaga coach Dan Fitzgerald's passing. Fitzgerald coached the Zags for 19 years, recruited John Stockton, took them to their first NCAA tournament, and basically laid the framework for the modern day club's perennial success. Fitzgerald was 67.
• I was late to this party yesterday, but if you haven't already read Pat Forde's first Forde Minutes of the season, well, I simply have to ask: Why do you hate America?
• Political non-jokes aside, South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy has close ties with Haiti -- his daughter was born there -- and is working to raise awareness and money by coaching barefoot Saturday. In the meantime, things got even worse in Haiti last night when a strong aftershock rattled the country as hard as anything since the initial quake. The key passage here: "The most powerful to hit Haiti since the initial earthquake eight days ago, it caused little evident physical damage to the ravaged capital. Everything that might have fallen appeared to have already done so." We should probably keep donating, huh?