ESPN Men's Basketball

1. The National Association of Basketball Coaches' board of directors is meeting in Indianapolis on Thursday, with the issue of transfers and how to handle the requests as a primary agenda item. The board has some notable names, including Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who was involved in a high-profile case in which the player was initially restricted from transferring to a number of schools; Michigan State’s Tom Izzo; Pitt’s Jamie Dixon; Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim; Notre Dame’s Mike Brey; and NC State’s Mark Gottfried, among others. The NABC doesn’t have legislative power but does serve as a lobbying group to the membership -- and can also influence other coaches on how to handle a transfer situation.

2. The men's NCAA tournament basketball selection committee will also meet Thursday in Indianapolis. The primary agenda item, according to incoming chair Mike Bobinski of Xavier, is to determine the 2013 East Regional site. The finalists are expected to be Syracuse and Brooklyn (Newark, N.J., is still technically in, but it would be a surprise since the regional was there in 2011). Bobinski said it is unusual for the site still to be unknown less than a year before the event. The dismissal of former NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen apparently contributed to the site selection delay; Shaheen’s replacement, Mark Lewis, will be at the meeting. The original plan was for the tourney’s 75th anniversary to have a presence at Madison Square Garden. But the NCAA couldn’t make a commitment before the Garden had to turn in its Knicks and Rangers schedules to the NBA and NHL, respectively. The 2013 Final Four is in Atlanta. The other regional sites are set in Los Angeles (Staples Center), Dallas-Fort Worth (Cowboys Stadium) and Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium)

3. New Illinois coach John Groce has added two transfers in Rayvonte Rice from Drake and Sam McLaurin from Coastal Carolina. The Illini are also busy finalizing their last major non-conference game. Illinois will play Auburn on Dec. 29 at the United Center in Chicago to fill the final significant game on the schedule.

1. Ernie Zeigler told ESPN.com Sunday that his son Trey would sit out next season and then play two seasons at Pitt. But the Panthers will make an attempt to seek a waiver for Zeigler to play next season. Duke was going to seek the same thing had Zeigler chosen the Blue Devils. The premise is that Zeigler had to leave Central Michigan because his father was fired as head coach.

2. Kansas coach Bill Self said Ben McLemore is eligible and ready to go for next season. Self said in the preseason that McLemore might have been the team’s most-ready NBA level talent. That was before Thomas Robinson had a breakthrough season. But if McLemore has the impact projected then the Jayhawks should be in the thick of the title race again next season.

3. San Diego State will play UCLA in the Wooden Classic on Dec. 1 at the Honda Center. Give SDSU coach Steve Fisher credit for constantly trying to upgrade the Aztecs schedule. But these types of games will become even more important once San Diego State moves to the Big West in 2013. The Aztecs will need to secure neutral-site games against top competition due to the lower conference power rating of the Big West compared to the Mountain West. Conversely, this will be a dangerous game for UCLA. SDSU should be the favored team to win in this game.

1. The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee must figure out a way to get the East Regional to New York either at Madison Square Garden or Barclays Arena for 2013. The NCAA hasn’t decided yet for the 75th edition. The issue is whether the Knicks, Rangers and everything else can stay out of MSG for essentially two six-day periods in a three-week span (Big East tournament and then NCAA regional two weeks later)?

2. Kentucky coach John Calipari stumped me for a moment when he quizzed me about the last No. 1 team to win the national title. It was late. And I wasn’t quick on my feet. But the answer was Florida in 2007, which dealt with similar pressure that Kentucky had to throughout this season. The Gators returned from winning the championship and dealt with the target all season and then again in the NCAA tournament before winning the title for a second time.

3. Big East meetings will occur next month and the conference office said Syracuse and Pitt won’t be in attendance. Neither school is invited since they’re leaving for the ACC either in 2013 or 2014. But what if there are agenda items for this upcoming season? Shouldn’t Pitt and Syracuse be there to deal with those points? Of course, it makes sense not to include them on any long-term plans. Still, this is yet another example of awkward alignment issues.

1. Nebraska has reached out through a third party to see if there is interest from Colorado coach Tad Boyle, according to sources. Boyle would be a fool not to listen, but he should stay put as long as it’s not crazy money. CU should bump him up since in two seasons he has taken the Buffs to the NIT Final Four and on the doorstep to a bid, to the Pac-12 tournament title, and now to the third round of the NCAA tournament. CU is on the rise in the Pac-12 while Nebraska has a long road ahead in the Big Ten.

2. Pitt can exact revenge on Butler in Wednesday’s CBI semifinals. The Bulldogs denied the Panthers a shot at the Final Four last year in Washington D.C. -- a complete meltdown by the Panthers in the final frenzied possession. Oregon State and Washington State are in the other semifinal. If Butler wins then the Bulldogs will be playing for a championship for the third-straight season. Regardless of the tournament, not too many teams could say that during a three-year run.

3. Danny Hurley has a decision to make as to whether he wants the Rhode Island job. Shaka Smart will have a similar decision but about Illinois. This will be an interesting test case. Both coaches, albeit at different levels, have spoken eloquently about how much they love their respective jobs at Wagner and VCU and the levels they’re at in coaching. Let’s see if they stay in one spot or chase the dollar to resurrect a program.

Overview: It's official -- Pittsburgh will miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001.

Pitt's nightmarish 2011-12 season is finally over, after the No. 13-seeded Panthers lost to No. 5 seed Georgetown in the second round of the Big East tournament Wednesday afternoon. A season which began with promise -- Pitt was picked to finish fourth in the conference -- went off the rails with a nonconference loss to Wagner on Dec. 23, followed by seven straight losses to begin Big East play.

Georgetown went in the opposite direction. Picked to finish 10th, the Hoyas instead finished tied for fourth, and continue to look like a team capable of going deep in this tournament, and the Big Dance as well.

Turning point: Pittsburgh actually led this game for most of the first half, but a 12-0 run by Georgetown over the final 4:07 gave the Hoyas a 31-23 lead at intermission. After a quick 6-0 flurry by the Panthers to start the second half, the Hoyas reasserted control, for good. Back-to-back treys by Greg Whittington and Otto Porter turned a 31-29 game into a 37-29 game, gave the Hoyas some breathing room, and they poured it on from there.

Key player: Porter, who did not make the All-Big East Rookie Team despite averaging 9.0 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds for Georgetown, was excellent -- particularly in the second half. Porter finished with 20 points and six rebounds, with 14 of his points coming after intermission. Center Henry Sims was outstanding as well, with 20 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

Also, kudos to Ashton Gibbs, who scored 14 points in his final game at Pittsburgh. Gibbs' senior year certainly didn't go the way he envisioned, but the Scotch Plains, N.J., native had an excellent collegiate career.

Miscellaneous: Georgetown trotted out a starting lineup of players 6-foot-10, 6-8, 6-8, 6-8 and 6-2, with Porter joining the starting lineup -- that's some serious size. ... The Hoyas outscored the Panthers 22 to 11 at the foul line, which obviously made a big difference.

What's next: Georgetown will face No. 4 seed Cincinnati in the Big East quarterfinals, Thursday at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh heads home with a final record of 17-16, 5-13 in the Big East.

Believe it or not, a certain massive matchup in Durham, N.C., isn't the only college hoops game on the schedule today. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.

Here's a look at much of the action -- bubble and otherwise -- that served as the appetizer to tonight's main course. Be sure to check back later this evening for our writers' reactions and analysis from across the country.

No. 7 Marquette 83, No. 12 Georgetown 69: When March calms down, and the offseason finishes out its usual assortment of draft decisions, coaching intrigue and off-campus arrests (and everything else), I'm going to sit down one week and calculate college hoops winning percentages on senior night. With the exception of Northwestern (which lost in heartbreaking fashion Wednesday), it felt like nearly every team in the country won its final home game of the season this week. A lot of that is just good, old-fashioned home-court advantage, and some of it is skill and so forth, but when you strip all that away, I'm still going to guess pretty much every college hoops team in the country sees a massive bounce in its winning in the final home game of the season. Quantifying emotion is never easy. This feels like a chance.

In any case, Marquette followed this (presumably real, potentially imagined) trend Saturday, easily handling a Georgetown team that was itself coming off a dominant performance in its final home game of the season, a 59-41 victory over Notre Dame. In doing so, the Golden Eagles extended their Big East record to 14-4 and ensured the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament next week. Meanwhile, Jae Crowder made one last-ditch pitch for Big East player of the year: He scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds on 8-of-15 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. (Crowder missed all five 3-point attempts, a portion of his game that he's really improved this season. When your center can shoot 37 percent from 3-point range, you've got a very difficult team to guard.)

Can Crowder win the award? Because he should. With all due respect to Darius Johnson-Odom and like four or five different Syracuse players, Crowder's mix of offensive efficiency (offensive rating: 122.9; including 61 percent from inside the arc, a low turnover rate, and the aforementioned perimeter solidity), rebounding and defense (he's averaging 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game) make him, to me, the most complete, most important player in the conference.

No. 9 Murray State 54, Tennessee State 52 (Ohio Valley Championship): With six minutes left in the OVC title game, bubble teams across the country were no doubt finding it difficult to establish regulated breathing patterns. Tennessee State was up 48-43, the Racers were struggling to find stops against the dish-and-kick action of the Tigers' 1-4 low sets, and even worse, Isaiah Canaan, Murray State's do-it-all star, was battling through an off night. A two-bid OVC -- and a suddenly shrunken bubble -- were very real possibilities.

But Murray State locked in on defense, stacking great possession after great possession, cutting the Tigers off and preventing easy shots in the paint, and eventually came back to seal the win. The final go-ahead basket was a matter of immediate controversy at the broadcast table; our own Fran Fraschilla was convinced Murray State guard Jewuan Long charged on his game-winning basket. The call was close, no question. But all due respect to Fran, who is way better than this than I am, I disagree that it should have been a charge. A few things here. Long shot the ball before contact was initiated; the defender was still slightly sliding under the move, rather than entirely in front of it; and, most importantly, it was the penultimate play of a one-possession game with the NCAA tournament on the line. The ref needs to swallow his whistle there. And, in general, college coaches and players -- frankly, this applies to the NBA, too -- need to stop coaching defense like this! It's bad for the sport. There are plenty of ways to defend a driving player without fouling or attempt to draw a foul. Choose one. Don't run to a spot and hope the ref gives you the benefit of a 50-50 call, especially when your season is on the line. In short: Play defense.

Maybe that's the pickup player in me coming out; I would have little sympathy even if Long committed a blatant charge. But it wasn't. The no-call couldn't have been more appropriate. And every bubble team in the country can breathe just a little bit easier as a result.

Illinois State 65, No. 14 Wichita State 64: On second thought, bubble teams, you can go back to freaking out now. Why? Because Arch Madness has yielded its first truly mad result of the tournament. Wichita State is the Missouri Valley's best team and No. 1 overall seed, not to mention everyone's pick to be this year's mid-major tournament darling. But that didn't stop the Redbirds -- thanks to Tyler Brown's two clutch free throws and two misses in the last six seconds from WSU's Toure' Murry and Garrett Stutz -- from shocking the Shockers all the same. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

Wichita State doesn't have much to worry about in the way of its NCAA tournament seed, of course. But every team along the bubble line, including many of those mentioned below, should be terrified. If Creighton suffers the same fate at any point this weekend, the Missouri Valley will send three teams to the NCAA tournament and steal one bid from a bubble that is destined to shrink even further down the stretch.

Could that third team be Illinois State? Why not? When you beat Wichita State on a neutral court, you deserve the benefit of the doubt.

No. 2 Syracuse 58, No. 18 Louisville 49: This was always an uphill battle for Louisville for one obvious reason: The Cardinals can't score. Louisville can defend. It can rebound. It can get stops when it needs them. But when you have the Big East's 11th-best offense on a per-possession basis, when your effective field-goal percentage ranks outside the nation's top 200 teams, when you turn the ball over on 21.8 percent of your possessions (national rank: No. 241) and your task is to break down Syracuse's smothering 2-3 defense in the Carrier Dome, well, good luck. Syracuse played its typically potent brand of extended defense, forcing Louisville a downright awful 2-of-23 mark from beyond the arc, and that's pretty much your game right there.

It's going to be interesting to see how Rick Pitino tries to adjust this team as he heads toward the NCAA tournament. A few weeks ago, Pitino told ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt that he liked to speed the game up and take more risks in the tournament; in his experience, too many coaches slow down in the tournament, fearing disorganization and disarray. This might be his only course of action in March. The Cardinals can't find any offense, but they can press and trap and slap and claw and hope to get easy buckets from turnovers and bad shots in transition. At this point, with this anemic, predictable offense (prediction: Peyton Siva won't see a defense guard him over the top on another ball screen all season), does Pitino have any other choice?

Variously Questionable Bubble Losses

West Virginia 50, South Florida 44: The Mountaineers desperately needed this win. Before this week's victory over DePaul, WVU had lost seven of its previous nine games and seen its once-certain at-large tournament bid -- WVU was once a No. 5 seed in Joe Lunardi's bracket; now it's a No. 12 -- become an entirely precarious matter. This win obviously helps, and not just because it was a win: It also put a ding on one of WVU's potential bubble rivals, South Florida, which has surged into the bubble conversation in recent weeks thanks to a gaudy Big East record and consecutive victories over Cincinnati and Louisville. A win Saturday might have put the Bulls on the right side of the bubble in official fashion. As it is, their profile still looks much better than it used to, but with a 5-10 road record and a 2-8 mark against the RPI top 50, some positive results in the Big East tournament may well be necessary.

UCLA 75, Washington 69: First things first: This was a really nice win for UCLA. It hasn't been the easiest week for the Bruins (that's a candidate for understatement of the year), but with back-to-back good wins (a blowout of Washington State and this plucky victory over the league's standings leader) at least they finished on a positive note. As for Washington, the loss might well have cost the Huskies the outright Pac-12 title. Cal still needs to win get a likely but hardly guaranteed win at Stanford, but either way, the Huskies' argument -- that an outright regular-season conference title in a high-major, albeit really bad, conference should guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament -- looks even more specious now. Washington, like the rest of this league, has nothing in the way of nonconference results to point to as proof that it is considerably better than the RPI's impression of the Pac-12 as the 10th-best league in the country. It will be fascinating to see how the committee treats UW, and the Pac-12 as a whole, but if I'm the Huskies I'm planning on making a very deep run through the Pac-12 tournament, just to be safe.

Marshall 79, Southern Miss 75: Will a loss at Marshall damage Southern Miss's bubble chances? Doubtful. Marshall is a quality team -- a deep fringe bubble candidate in its own right -- and a four-point loss in the Herd's building isn't, or shouldn't, be the kind of thing that damages a team's bubble chances. What's more, the Golden Eagles still own an RPI within the top 20. In the past 16 years, no team with an RPI of 20 higher has ever missed the tournament. (The closest was 2005-06 Missouri State, which didn't have nearly as strong a profile as this team.) They should be fine.

Maintenance-Minded Bubble Wins

Xavier 72, Charlotte 63: Xavier's final home win of the season wasn't what the Musketeers would have planned heading into the season. To wit, from the AP: "It was a bittersweet day for Xavier, which had grown accustomed to ending its final home game with a spray of confetti and a few celebratory snips of the net. The Musketeers' streak of five straight A-10 regular-season titles was snapped this season." That dream was over weeks ago. Xavier has bigger fish to slice now. The Musketeers are as close to the bubble as you can be (Lunardi's most recent bracket has them as the first team outside the field). A win won't necessarily change that, but a loss would have been disastrous, and Xavier is now in at least slightly better position as it heads into A-10 postseason play.

Northwestern 70, Iowa 66: It was very easy to imagine Northwestern -- which missed marquee wins (Michigan, Ohio State) in soul-crushing fashion twice in the past two weeks -- losing at Iowa. The Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin and Indiana at home in recent weeks, Northwestern would no doubt be feeling the historic tournament pressure, and so on. But this was an impressive victory, or at least as impressive as a victory over Iowa can ever be. This is a little like Xavier's win: It doesn't provide a bubble bump, but it does prevent a potentially disastrous move in the wrong direction at the worst possible time of the season. Is Northwestern in right now? I'd guess yes. But it's hardly a done deal. Like nearly everyone else on the bubble, the only way for Bill Carmody's team to enter Selection Sunday with any measure of confidence is to play well in next week's conference tournament. That much is clear.

Miami 77, Boston College 56: Same situation here: A loss would have been a dream-killer. A win doesn't move the needle. Miami basically has two tourney-worthy qualities on its profile: A win at Duke (huge) and a home win over Florida State (slightly less huge, but still important). But other than that, there's not much there. Can the Hurricanes knock off one of this league's top four teams -- especially Duke or UNC -- on a neutral floor next week? That might be the baseline requirement going forward.

Connecticut 74, Pittsburgh 65: The Huskies have spent much of the past three weeks looking downright determined to overcome their computer numbers (a top-five overall strength of schedule and a top-20 nonconference figure) and somehow, some way, miss the tournament. This week's loss to Providence was an apparent punctuation mark on a pretty much horrible Big East season, or at least horrible relative to this team's elite talent. After this win, though, it looks like UConn will -- just barely -- hold on to a spot above the bubble fray.

Jim Calhoun returned to the bench after more than a month of medical leave and coached Connecticut to a 74-65 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday.

Syracuse put a bow on its nearly perfect Big East run, sewing up the conference’s regular-season honors. But there’s still much jockeying to be done in the final week -- for bubble positions and, more immediately, for seeding positions for the Big East tournament. The top four earn the double bye.

1. Syracuse: The Orange clinched the regular-season crown with a win that might have been more impressive than the other 15. Syracuse needed to stave off UConn for a victory that made up in grit what it lacked in style points.

2. Marquette: Not even the absence of four starters for a half could keep the Golden Eagles down or Buzz Williams from dancing. Marquette’s rally from an 11-point halftime deficit at West Virginia proved this is a very good team.

3. Georgetown: You almost had to feel for Villanova. The Hoyas went and got inexplicably clobbered by Seton Hall. Someone was going to pay. The Wildcats were the victim, sliced and diced by 21.

4. Notre Dame: Nothing lasts forever, not even the Irish’s luck. Notre Dame’s nine-game streak ended at the hands of St. John’s and an awful 4-of-31 performance from beyond the arc. The Irish need to fix that or their Big East tournament visit won’t last long, either.

5. Louisville: The Cardinals are among the teams pushing to grab that last top-seed position. To get it, they’ll need to win two tough ones -- against equally hungry South Florida and at Syracuse.

6. South Florida: The Bulls will be among the most watched teams all the way through Selection Sunday. South Florida is 11-5 in the league after beating Cincinnati but still needs a signature win. The Bulls have a chance at Louisville and then with a home game against fellow bubble resident West Virginia.

7. Cincinnati: Most folks believe the Bearcats are in the Dance. But they certainly don’t want to make it easy. Cincinnati scored 45 points against South Florida’s defense and now has to finish up against Marquette and Villanova. A loss to the Wildcats isn’t how Cincinnati wants to finish the season.

8. Seton Hall: The Pirates giveth; the Pirates taketh away. A hugely impressive win against Georgetown proved why Seton Hall deserves NCAA consideration. A home overtime loss to Rutgers negated some of the good. How the Hall finishes will be critical.

9. Connecticut: The Huskies showed more in defeat than they have all season, finally displaying some energy, hustle and feistiness in their loss to Syracuse. The question is: Was it too late? UConn absolutely cannot lose to Providence or Pitt to finish the season.

10. West Virginia: Kevin Jones might be the best player in the conference, but his team is trying to dull his star and keep him out of the NCAA tournament. The Mountaineers are fading, losing four of their past five. Jones struggled with foul trouble against Marquette, and no one picked up the slack.

11. St. John’s: Technically, Madison Square Garden is a home-court advantage for the Red Storm. The way this young team is playing, it just might take advantage of it. Moe Harkless and D’Angelo Harrison, perhaps as good a one-two punch as there is in the league, led St. John’s to its upset of Notre Dame, its third win in a row.

12. Rutgers: There’s nothing like a win against your rival to cure what ails you. And we’ll see whether that’s the case for the Scarlet Knights, who ended a six-game skid by upsetting Seton Hall. Now it’s up to Rutgers to use the momentum well against Villanova and St. John’s.

13. Pittsburgh: Saddled with injury and illness, the Panthers came up short on an upset bid against Louisville. That’s five losses in a row, a streak the Panthers need to end to gain some confidence heading into New York.

14. Villanova: Maalik Wayns returned. JayVaughn Pinkston turned his ankle during pregame warm-ups. That about sums up the Wildcats’ season, which is limping -- quite literally -- to a merciful finish.

15. Providence: At this point of the season, the Friars are latching onto any good news: Blowing a 17-point lead yet still beating DePaul thanks to Vincent Council’s late heroics qualifies.

16. DePaul: The promise of a new beginning for the Blue Demons in the Big East has faded to the same result. DePaul will need to beat both West Virginia and Seton Hall to crawl out of their regular conference-basement seat for the Big East tournament.

For once there wasn’t a whole lot of moving around in the rankings. Maybe that means now that the regular season is nearly over, things are starting to settle down. Or it’s just the calm before a final storm.

The only minor change: Marquette jumps a slot above Notre Dame. That’s more of a nod to how solid the Golden Eagles have looked recently.

1. Syracuse: This is how you know things are going right for the Orange: Syracuse finally beat Louisville. It wasn’t pretty but it ended a possible seven-game win streak for the Cards.

2. Georgetown: The Hoyas’ defense has become downright smothering. In the last five games, four opponents failed to muster better than 35 percent shooting against Georgetown.

3. Marquette: The Golden Eagles are looking better and better with each passing game, routing UConn on the road this week. Jamil Wilson has filled in more than ably for the injured Davante Gardner.

4. Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish came from 20 points down to beat Villanova, a testimony to Notre Dame’s intestinal fortitude and ability to knock down 3-pointers.

5. Louisville: The Cardinals didn’t look pretty against DePaul, needing overtime to dispose of the Blue Demons. Louisville will have to get its motor running much earlier against a hungry Cincinnati team on Thursday.

6. South Florida: Time to see what the Bulls are really made of. South Florida, riding a four-game win streak and now 10-4 in league play, heads to Syracuse on Wednesday. Regardless of that result, USF is guaranteed its first winning Big East season, a big step for the program.

7. Cincinnati: The Bearcats are fighting to prove their NCAA worth. Beating Seton Hall and Providence, as Cincinnati did this past week, won’t carry nearly as much weight as beating Louisville on Thursday.

8. West Virginia: The Mountaineers turned the backyard brawl -- perhaps the last one -- against Pittsburgh into a pillow fight, turning a tight game at the half into a rout. This is a big week for WVU, with a visit to Notre Dame on Wednesday and a home game against Marquette on Friday.

9. Seton Hall: Time is running out on the Pirates’ NCAA tourney hopes. Seton Hall needs to rack up wins and fast. Beating Georgetown on Tuesday would help considerably.

10. Connecticut: Jim Calhoun will be a spectator when the Huskies visit Villanova on Monday night. Doesn’t matter who coaches; UConn needs a win and needs one desperately. Even more, it could use a win at home against Syracuse on Saturday.

11. Villanova: Down two starters, the Wildcats nearly pulled off the upset against Notre Dame, but this has been a season of "nearly." Villanova instead dropped its second in a row and now hosts UConn on Big Monday, in an all-name/no-game matchup.

12. St. John’s: The Red Storm beat head coach Steve Lavin’s former team without Lavin on the sidelines. The result probably says more about UCLA’s misfortunes than anything, but it is certainly a nice confidence boost for a St. John’s team trying to finish a difficult season on a good note.

13. Rutgers: Mired in a five-game losing streak, the Scarlet Knights’ reward is a date with its third ranked opponent in a row -- Marquette on Wednesday night. Not good for a young team trying to find traction.

14. Pittsburgh: The brief hopes that Tray Woodall’s return would change the Panthers’ fortunes have been all but dashed. Pitt, which lost its shooting touch in the second half against USF on Sunday night, now has lost four in a row.

15. DePaul: Oliver Purnell was happy to see his team’s effort against Louisville but not so happy with the result. DePaul blew a 10-point halftime lead and lost in OT, its 36th straight loss to a ranked opponent.

16. Providence: The Friars face DePaul on Saturday in a fight to get out of the Big East basement. Don’t think that doesn’t matter.

1. NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen tweeted out a number of links Monday to the NCAA site where the exact team sheets are online for the selection and seeding process. The selection committee’s transparency process up until the actual computer votes for selection has been a long time coming, but is welcomed. Now everyone can easily see what the committee looks at in evaluating the raw numbers.

2. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon never panicked as the Panthers went to 0-7 in the Big East. He said not having Travon Woodall healthy was a big deal. And it clearly was for Ashton Gibbs and the rest of the team. The Panthers have won three straight (the latest at West Virginia on Monday) and have a winnable Big East schedule that could put the Panthers on the bubble in March. Unlike teams in the Pac-12 and leagues outside the power six -- Pitt has opportunities for quality wins. Also, Pitt will be judged on when Woodall was healthy and when he was not.

3. Missouri coach Frank Haith has to be a finalist for national coach of the year. On Monday Haith coached one of his best games against his mentor and former boss, Texas coach Rick Barnes. Going zone on the final possession was a tremendous move. Haith may not win the award (KU’s Bill Self could win it within the Big 12), but he has done a marvelous job coaching the Tigers without its top post player from the preseason. There have been no hiccups in taking over this team.

Saddle Up is our semi-daily preview of the night's best basketball action.

No. 4 Missouri at Texas, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN: The 2011-12 Missouri Tigers are not known for their defense. That's not because the Tigers' defense is particularly bad; it's more like average, or slightly above. But beyond that, the main reason the Tigers aren't known for their defense is their offense. We think about Missouri as an offensive team not only because the Tigers were an offensive, fast-break style team throughout former coach Mike Anderson's tenure, but because this current group of Missouri Tigers happens to be really, really awesome at scoring the ball.

Most of the time, anyway. Last week, we caught two glimpses of a rather pedestrian Mizzou attack, the first of which came in a loss at Oklahoma State, the second of which came in a rather ugly home win against hapless Texas Tech. In the former, Missouri scored just 1.03 points per possession. In the second, the Tigers scored just 1.05. Neither is terrible, but compared to its usual figure -- Missouri scores about 1.22 adjusted points per possession, per Ken Pomeroy, the second-highest figure in the country to date -- both games marked sudden and surprising declines.

This week, despite the loss at Oklahoma State, the voters in the coaches poll dropped Mizzou a mere two spots, to No. 4. In other words, no one's freaking out. The Tigers have had a couple of so-so offensive performances in conference play, one of which came in a tough loss on the road. It happens. Oh well. Nothing to see here, move right along, etc.

Still, it will be interesting to see how Missouri responds tonight. The Tigers are again on the road in conference play, this time against a Texas team that spent the past few weeks playing five of its six games against ranked opponents, most on the road. The Longhorns pushed Kansas to the brink in Austin; they nearly upset Baylor at Baylor on Saturday. J'Covan Brown is one of the nation's most prolific scorers, despite some occasional inefficiency. (In the three games that preceded Saturday's, Brown shot 8-of-28, 7-of-26, and 3-of-16, respectively. He was better Saturday, but still.) In general, Texas has been one of the more underrated teams in the country this season; despite all those losses and that 13-8 record, the Longhorns' per-possession numbers rank them among the top 20 teams in the country. That's generous, but you get the idea. Texas is better than you think, and it can present a real challenge to Missouri, especially on its home floor.

The good news about Missouri, and the reason this bit opened with a discussion of defense, is one of the better-kept secrets of the Tigers' season to date: Even when the half-court offense breaks down, even when the shots aren't falling, even when Ricardo Ratliffe isn't making every shot he takes (and it often feels like he is), the Tigers have at least one really good way of scoring the basketball: by stealing it.

Basketball Prospectus's Corey Schmidt revealed as much with a fantastic study today. Schmidt set out to break down which teams score the most points directly from steals their defense creates. Missouri's defense, while pedestrian in many regards, averages the sixth-highest steal percentage in the country to date, and as Schmidt uncovered, the Tigers score .37 points for every steal they generate. (Schmidt even invented a helpful, "pick-six"-esque term for this sort of play: the take and make. I believe a polite golf clap is warranted.) Missouri does so thanks to the ball pressure it applies on opposing backcourts. Some teams that generate lots of steals might eventually convert them into points, but only after a few passes. Instead, Missouri's defense allows the Tigers to rip and run, using all that backcourt speed and fast-break ability to get easy buckets in the open floor.

This is, perhaps more than any other, the real reason Missouri should be regarded as real. Even when things get tough, even when that offense isn't clicking -- and thus far such times are rare -- the Tigers still have at least one very good way to put points on the board in a hurry. As they trudge through the challenges of the Big 12 schedule, including the one that awaits them tonight, Frank Haith's team might learn to lean on that valuable defensive trait more than ever before.

Everywhere else: Pittsburgh is playing better with a healthy Travon Woodall, but is it playing well enough to take down West Virginia in Morgantown? Will it rise to the occasion of a rivalry game on the road? Or will West Virginia, still smarting from a missed goaltending call that arguably robbed it of its own upset win against Syracuse on Saturday, be too focused, motivated and Bob Huggins-level angry to let that happen? Intrigue! ... And, well, that's pretty much it. Enjoy Big Monday, y'all.

It's a crapshoot after No. 1, but I'll give another shot to ranking all 16 Big East teams ...

1. Syracuse: Good bounce back by the Orange, who rallied from their first loss of the season to beat Cincinnati on the road and West Virginia, with some controversy, at home. Syracuse still does not have Fab Melo, and with each game it's more evident how critical the big man is.

2. Marquette: It is time to give the Golden Eagles their due. Marquette lacks the pizzazz of some other names in the league, but this team is rock solid. Darius Johnson-Odom won’t let the Golden Eagles stray too far off script.

3. Notre Dame: There’s the luck of the Irish and there’s good basketball. This isn’t luck. Mike Brey has done it again, reconfiguring his team after a serious injury. Notre Dame, an average team even before Tim Abromaitis was lost for the season, is now 6-3 after beating Syracuse and Connecticut.

4. West Virginia: Yes, the Mountaineers lost two this week but we’re calling it two with an asterisk. If you’re looking for a team to count on in this weird conference, one coached by Bob Huggins is always a good bet.

5. Georgetown: The Hoyas’ lack of defensive intensity and their rebounding issues cost them against Pittsburgh. Georgetown will have to fix both in a hurry, with suddenly desperate UConn coming to D.C. on Wednesday.

6. South Florida: Feel free to criticize the Bulls for not beating the toughest the Big East has to offer, but remember South Florida can only play the schedule it was handed. For a team that has been struggling to win since joining the conference, this 6-3 start is a huge step.

7. Louisville: The Cards quietly have turned things around by taking advantage of the middle and bottom of the Big East pack. Soon it gets interesting. Starting Feb. 6, Louisville gets Connecticut, West Virginia and Syracuse.

8. Connecticut: The NCAA has cleared guard Ryan Boatright but that hasn’t fixed what ails UConn. The Huskies dropped their third in a row, a 50-48 loss to Notre Dame on Sunday. A season once full of promise needs to be repaired in a hurry.

9. Cincinnati: The Bearcats have lost three in a row. Cincinnati needs to find a way to score when it doesn’t hit 3-pointers. The Bearcats were 7-of-20 from 3-point range in a 61-54 loss to Rutgers on Saturday.

10. Rutgers: If any team sums up the inconsistency that is the Big East it is the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers lost to DePaul 69-64 and then beat Cincinnati 61-54. Mike Rice’s team is clearly talented enough to beat anyone and young enough to lose to anyone.

11. Seton Hall: Just when you thought it was time to believe in the Pirates, they drop four straight. Kevin Willard is looking for offense. Seton Hall scored 18 in the first half against Notre Dame and 21 in the opening 20 against Louisville.

12. St. John's: The baby-faced Red Storm have put together back-to-back good games, even if they don’t have the results to show for it. St. John's beat West Virginia 78-62 and then fell to Duke 83-76.

13. Villanova: The Wildcats look better. They’re getting scoring from guys not named Maalik Wayns and playing tougher on defense. That’s the good news. The bad news is, while they look better, they aren't winning games.

14. DePaul: The Blue Demons ended a five-game skid with a road win against Rutgers but need to make hay to crawl out of the league basement once again.

15. Pittsburgh: A strong salutation to the Panthers, who emerge from the basement with wins against Providence and Georgetown. Is Pitt on the mend? Tune in Monday night for the backyard brawl against WVU to find out.

16. Providence: The young Friars have lost seven of their past eight and three in a row. To get out of the cellar, Providence needs to up the ante on defense.

So much for a slow Saturday. College basketball fans and pundits alike should know better by now, but we always assume the worst on a supposedly “slow” weekend.

Let’s change the rules, based on what we’ve seen today. If you survey the weekend slate and you can’t find any meaningful games and potential upsets that you’re overly interested in, that means it’s time to call Earl and the crew (everybody has a friend named Earl), stock the fridge and get ready for some good basketball. If this was a lukewarm weekend in college basketball, what qualifies as a great one?

Iowa State 72, No. 5 Kansas 64

Many laughed when Fred Hoiberg began his tenure at Iowa State by recruiting from a pool of players known for their checkered pasts. Royce White, who left Minnesota two seasons ago after a tumultuous stay, led the bunch. But Hoiberg looks like a genius right now after the Cyclones handed No. 5 KU its first Big 12 loss of the season. The win snapped both the Jayhawks' 13-game winning streak over Iowa State and their 10-game overall winning streak (they hadn’t lost since Dec. 19).

The postgame court-storming was well-deserved for the 'Clones and their fans. Hoiberg has as much job security as any coach in the country based on his legendary career in Ames, which allowed him to pursue so many transfers without worry. In other words, he’d get a mulligan if things didn’t work out.

Against Kansas, however, Hoiberg proved that he’s more than a risk-taking recruiter. He can coach, too. Iowa State, a squad that suffered an 82-73 loss at Kansas on Jan. 14, led by three points at halftime. But that didn’t last. The Jayhawks scored 11 unanswered points early in the second half. The crowd’s energy dropped after that KU run, but Iowa State kept fighting, something it had failed to do down the stretch in its earlier loss to the Jayhawks.

White led the charge. With his team leading 56-53 and five minutes to play, he scored the Cyclones' next eight points (three straight layups and a pair of free throws). He entered the game as a 51 percent free throw shooter -- ISU was the Big 12’s worst free throw shooting team at 61 percent overall -- but he was 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in the second half. He finished with a team-high 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists, making up for his six turnovers. The team was 25-for-34 from the charity stripe.

So yes, the same Iowa State squad that lost at Drake Nov. 15 looks like an NCAA tournament team right now -- no matter what my colleague Doug Gottlieb might tweet. At 5-3, the Cyclones are off to their best Big 12 start in a dozen years and sure seem like they won't be fading away anytime soon.

No. 4 Syracuse 63, West Virginia 61

It just can’t happen. Not in late January with the stakes so high. Not when it’s so blatant. Officials in this game missed one of the more obvious and critical goaltending calls of the season. In the final seconds, West Virginia's Truck Bryant air-balled a 3-pointer that ended up in Deniz Kilicli’s hands with his team down by a bucket. Kilicli’s layup was swatted away in mid-air by Syracuse's Baye Keita, but replays showed what looked like a clear goaltending violation by Keita. Officials never blew their whistles.

West Virginia got the ball back and Kevin Jones (20 points, eight rebounds) missed a deep 3-pointer to win the game, but the final outcome might have changed had that crew flagged Keita for goaltending. Now granted, WVU had its chances. Brandon Triche (18 points) hit a pair of free throws with a minute and a half to play and the Mountaineers missed four consecutive shots. But the no-call clearly impacted the game.

Syracuse struggled in its third consecutive game without Fab Melo. The Orange just haven’t looked like the same squad without him and his defensive presence. West Virginia secured an astounding plus-21 (41-20) rebounding edge over the Cuse and had nearly as many offensive boards (19) as the Orange had total. How does that happen? It’s not like the Mountaineers are the biggest team in the country. They were just tougher than Syracuse most of the afternoon. And had it not been for that missed goaltending call, West Virginia might have avoided its 13th loss to the Cuse in 14 meetings.

No. 7 Baylor 76, Texas 71

With 4:09 to go, Texas' Myck Kabongo hit a 3-pointer as Pierre Jackson committed a ridiculous foul to put him on the line for a four-point play opportunity. Texas had been down by 12 points early in the second half, but Kabongo’s shot cut Baylor’s advantage to just one. Cameras panned to Baylor coach Scott Drew on the sidelines. He had the “I can’t believe this is happening at home” look on his face.

Perry Jones (22 points, 14 rebounds) was far more aggressive than he’d been in some of his efforts, but Baylor couldn’t keep the pressure on the Longhorns and nearly blew one at home. J’Covan Brown scored 32 points (11-for-22), his third consecutive 30-point effort. But he had way more time to create a better shot than the deep 3-ball he took with 14 seconds on the clock. His team was down by three points in the closing seconds, so I understand why he’d take a deep shot, but he didn’t have to shoot it when he did. He had more time on the clock.

Here’s where you have to have more question marks about Baylor, though. The Bears are at home. Texas shot 36 percent from the field in the first half and was 1-for-12 from beyond the arc before halftime. Seemed like an opportunity for Baylor to flex its muscle. But it turned into another lukewarm finish for the Bears.

No. 13 Florida 69, No. 16 Mississippi State 57

The Bulldogs just couldn’t handle Florida’s inside-outside attack. Patric Young (12 points, six rebounds) was solid for the Gators, especially after halftime. Bradley Beal led the Gators’ talented backcourt with 19 points. The nation’s leaders in 3-point field goals hit 11 of them as they won their fifth straight and 17th in a row at home.

Arnett Moultrie was 4-for-10 and scored 12 points for a Bulldogs team that committed 14 turnovers. It was MSU's third SEC road loss of the season. At 5-3 in league play, they’d better find a way to compete away from home. They’re certainly talented, but the Bulldogs have really struggled on the road. Thought this one would have been a closer game, but give the Gators credit. They can spread teams out with their guard play and minimize their size disadvantages, a tactic they used to perfection against the Bulldogs.

No. 1 Kentucky 74, LSU 50

The Wildcats are in Beast Mode right now. They’re just crushing teams. LSU entered this game following a tight road loss at Mississippi State. But the Wildcats are just a different animal. Terrence Jones led all scorers with a season-high 27 points and the Wildcats held LSU to a 1-for-9 clip from the 3-point line. Just two Tigers reached double figures.

Although LSU is only 2-5 in the SEC, you have to wonder how dangerous the Wildcats can be in March when a guy like Jones can explode despite some inconsistency this season. He entered the game averaging 11.6 ppg and he only scored five points against Georgia on Tuesday. But this game was further proof that Kentucky is a “pick your poison” kind of opponent. How do you defend a team with that number of studs? The Wildcats have so many weapons.

Syracuse is deep. Ohio State has balance. But no team in America looks as potent as Kentucky right now.

Some more observations from the afternoon games ...

• It Happened! It Happened! It Happened! Towson wins! The Tigers had set a record with 41 consecutive Division I losses, but on Saturday, a miracle happened when the Tigers beat UNC Wilmington 66-61 despite a 1-for-8 mark from the 3-point line. Marcus Damas scored 18 points. There were shaky moments late -- the Seahawks hit some late 3s after Towson took a 60-53 lead with 1:25 to play -- but the Tigers held on and a justifiable celebration ensued. For reaction from coach Pat Skerry and the Tigers, read Andy Katz's story in the Nation blog.
• Marquette did its normal slow-start/big-finish thing at Villanova, but Dana O'Neil was at the game, so I'll let her tell you more about it.
• Duke nearly squandered a 22-point second-half lead against a young St. John’s team. The Blue Devils' 83-76 victory over the Red Storm was nothing to hang their hats on. The Devils should be disappointed that they gave up a late run that could have cost them the game.
• Middle Tennessee State and Vanderbilt clashed Saturday in a tight game between the two Tennessee schools. MTSU, 20-2 entering the game, has been one of the bigger surprises on the national scene. The Blue Raiders start four transfers who weren’t with the team last season. But their story hit a roadblock in their 84-77 loss at Vanderbilt. The loss snapped Middle's 12-game winning streak and gave Vandy its 10th win in its last 11 games.
• Is Pitt about to launch a big comeback this season? I’m not sure. But the Panthers have won two in a row after an impressive 72-60 win over No. 10 Georgetown, their fifth win in their last six meetings with the Hoyas. They lost their first eight Big East games, but Nasir Robinson had 23 points on 9-of-9 shooting, Lamar Patterson scored 18 and Ashton Gibbs added 13 for the Panthers, who have now won an incredible 12 straight home games against top-10 opponents.
• The Mountain West Conference is legit. Proof? No. 12 San Diego State took a tough 77-60 road loss at Colorado State on Saturday, despite Jamaal Franklin’s 24 points. After a brutal travel week in the Rockies, the loss snapped SDSU’s 11-game overall winning streak and its 58-game win streak against unranked foes, which had been the longest such run in the country. Colorado State’s dwindling at-large hopes certainly got a huge boost with this victory, the school's first over a ranked team since 2004.

Pittsburgh improves to 12-0 against top-10 teams at the Petersen Events Center with a 72-60 win over Georgetown.

Seven straight losses to open Big East play. A defense allowing opponents well over a point per possession. The usually impenetrable Peterson Events Center and the rowdy fans that inhabit it have borne witness to five -- count 'em, five -- home losses in 21 games. Coming into the season, Pittsburgh was 149-12 in the Pete.

In short, it's been the most un-Pitt of Pitt seasons in 2012, as Jamie Dixon's team, long a haven for underrated prospects blossoming into veteran stalwarts, has suddenly run short on defensive stoppers, ball handlers and glue types. The result has been the Panthers' worst year in memory, a rare plunge for one of the nation's most consistent programs. Needless to say, no Pitt fan is used to this.

Perhaps it's understandable, then, that the Panthers' fans weren't exactly out in force at the Pete on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh got a win -- its first in Big East play, and its first at home since the Dec. 23 loss to Wagner -- 86-74 over Providence. Previously injured point guard Tray Woodall combined with shooting guard Ashton Gibbs for 39 points, 13 assists and just two turnovers in the win. As Pittsburgh news goes in 2012, this is exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ron Cook, the signs of promise in the Pitt backcourt were witnessed by a startlingly small Peterson Events Center crowd -- a sign of the current tough times in Panthers' program. To wit:

It was hard to believe it was The Pete.

It was sad, actually. [...]

You easily could count the number of people sitting in the 100 courtside seats in the 12 luxury boxes. The Oakland Zoo -- the arena's famed student section -- was only a third full despite tweets earlier in the day urging kids to get off their "arse" and come out to support their struggling team. Eight minutes into the game, ushers still were moving fans down from the upper levels to make the lower bowl full. That might have happened over the years for some of the one-sided non-conference games against the likes of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Houston Baptist and Maryland-Baltimore County, but I can't remember seeing it at a Big East game. I also can't remember coach Jamie Dixon nearly begging -- OK, lobbying -- for the fans to come out, as he did Jan. 16 after Pitt's loss at Syracuse. He and his program have been much too successful to have to do that.

Yeah. Yikes.

Cook draws a larger conclusion from this information: Namely, that Pittsburgh is a tough pro sports town, that it's hard to gain traction as a college entity here, and once you have it -- as Pitt hoops obviously has -- all it takes is one losing season before the attendance starts to dry up. That's a shame, but it appears to be the reality. There also seems to be a trend of great student sections simply not showing up these days. Between the Zoo and the Cameron Crazies (who are struggling to get 700 kids in a 1,200-seat section some nights), let's hope this doesn't become a thing. Of course, it's easy to turn up for a big game, or when your team is riding high in the Big East. It's a lot more difficult to show up and support your peers when they're struggling.

But if Pitt ever needed a rocking, rowdy, filled-to-the-rafters Peterson Events Center, that time is now.