ESPN Men's Basketball

1. The Big East and SEC are expected to finalize the pairings for their challenge sometime in the next two weeks. Any speculation (as I did last week) on the pairings is now moot as the conferences try to figure out arena openings and home/road setup. The Big East coaches were told that the event will happen. Politicking has begun for some. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin wants a marquee home game. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge has matched teams that are supposed to finish in similar positions; this event hasn’t been handled like that overall. Cincinnati played Georgia last season despite the Bearcats being an upper-division Big East team and Georgia picked for the lower level of the SEC. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t rank our teams, too," Cronin said. “I’m asking the league to get us a like opponent. If we’re being picked high then we want the same thing (from the SEC)."

2. Cronin is attempting to upgrade his schedule and has secured a top-25 home-and-home series, which isn’t easy in this era of schools looking for more neutral-site non-conference games. Cronin and New Mexico coach Steve Alford said they will play a home-and-home series next season, to start in Cincinnati. The Bearcats will visit the Pit the following season.

3. Murray State coach Steve Prohm said he has had discussions with Virginia Commonwealth about a home-and-home series but nothing is finalized. The Rams are searching for multiple games after losing Richmond and George Washington from the schedule now that they’re all in the Atlantic 10. VCU also needs two more games, since the A-10 plays 16 games and the CAA played 18. VCU coach Shaka Smart said many possibilities remain, but one certainty is that the Rams will continue the rivalry with Old Dominion, which will be off to Conference USA in 2013. Smart said the home-and-home series will start at ODU in 2012-13.

1. Kentucky coach John Calipari said Tuesday afternoon that Rod Strickland, a director of basketball operations, would be staying with the Wildcats and not heading to work for Larry Brown at SMU. Calipari said his entire coaching staff will remain intact; assistants Kenny Payne and Orlando Antigua had interest in a few openings but never got too far in the process. Assistant John Robic has been a steady presence next to Calipari during his tenure. Meanwhile, Calipari said he’s hopeful that the Wildcats can add one more recruit after already securing a top-five class.

2. Tony Benford could have joined Larry Brown’s staff but made the wise choice. Benford has longed to be a head coach and getting a North Texas gig that will be one of the best in its current and possible future league makes sense. The SMU staff situation continues to be an odd process as the school/Brown search for a possible coach-in-waiting rather than dealing with the now and simply turning to recruiting and coaching. SMU was supposed to hire one coach, not one for now and one for the future.

3. Loyola (Md.) coach Jimmy Patsos would be a great choice for Virginia Tech after he made the NCAAs and coached in the ACC as an assistant. Patsos is a tremendous worker and brings unbelievable enthusiasm. But the Hokies will likely look for high-level coaches they can’t get (VCU’s Shaka Smart), flirt with others who may make too much money or have a buyout (Richmond’s Chris Mooney) before looking at coaches who fit for cost, timing and location of this job. I will be surprised if Virginia Tech were to lure a coach who has a solid, stable situation in a top-eight league.

Click here to read our afternoon recap. Now back to the lecture at hand, which comes in three parts:

The Rivalry

No. 2 Syracuse 71, Connecticut 69: One of the many things to love about this Syracuse team -- besides its great zone defense and incredible depth and talent and length and pretty much everything besides defensive rebounding -- is how well it handles close games. Since the Jan. 21 loss at Notre Dame, Syracuse has taken respective best shots from Cincinnati, West Virginia, Georgetown, Louisville, South Florida and now at UConn, and each time the Orange have either pulled away late or made the key stop down the stretch to preserve the narrow win. It's a real skill, and it isn't entirely intangible; when you have a defense this good, you tend to get a lot of stops, and there's no reason why that wouldn't be true in the final minutes of any given game, too. But however you quantify it, the Orange win close games. Such traits tend to come in handy in March.

As for Connecticut? While the Huskies didn't get the win, they appear to be rounding into form, or at least starting to figure a few things out. UConn had its fair share of issues with Syracuse's zone, and there were plenty of bad shots to be had, but the Huskies were much more balanced (four players finished in double figures, while Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier combined for 13 assists) and competent on both ends of the floor in the second half. Unless it suddenly begins shooting the ball from outside at a much higher clip, this team probably has a ceiling. But there are plenty of realistic improvements to be made. Even better, many of them appear to be in progress. Let's not bury this team just yet.

The Upsets

Purdue 75, No. 13 Michigan 61: When Purdue guard Ryne Smith was asked what he thought about guard Kelsey Barlow's dismissal from the team last week, he was direct, even curt: "Addition by subtraction," Smith said. Apparently he was right. Whatever the reason, Purdue played its best game of the season Saturday at the most important time, containing Michigan's outside shooters and slowly stretching a second-half lead thanks to the heady play of point guard Lewis Jackson, forward Robbie Hummel and, most importantly, guard Terone Johnson, who scored a career-high 22 points and made a handful of key plays down the stretch, including two big and-1 finishes around the rim. Purdue is an unconventional team with no true post presence; the Boilermakers rely on Hummel's outside-in versatility and an extended, guard-oriented style. This makes them a great matchup for Michigan, and, in their own way, a dangerous team.

In any case, Purdue can now feel entirely safe about its at-large NCAA tournament chances. Beating Michigan at home -- the Wolverines' first home loss of the season -- is most definitely a signature victory. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

TCU 83, No. 21 New Mexico 64: Let's hear it for TCU! A round of applause is most definitely in order. At this time in 2011, the Horned Frogs were in the midst of a season-ending 13-game losing streak, en route to an 11-22 finish. This season is an entirely different story: TCU is playing its best basketball down the stretch, having won four of its past five (and eight in a row at home) and toppling ranked UNLV and New Mexico and a good Colorado State squad in the process. The key: great 3-point shooting. The Horned Frogs lead the league in long-range makes in conference play, and they're undefeated at home as a result. What a difference a year makes.

In the meantime ... um, what happened to New Mexico? Last Saturday, we watched in near-awe as the Lobos thoroughly dominated UNLV, which came just a few days after a 10-point win at San Diego State. Steve Alford's team, once a relatively unheralded efficiency darling with few good wins to show for it, looked set to run away with the Mountain West and make a deep run into March. Since then, the Lobos are 0-2 and are now in a three-way tie. A loss at Colorado State makes some sense; we know the Rams are tough, particularly at home. And this is not to take away from TCU, which (as you just read above) is giving everyone more than they bargained for in February, particularly in their own building. But a 19-point blowout loss? Isn't this the team that just rolled UNLV in the Pit and moved to 8-2 in the league? It's kind of weird, right?

Georgia 76, No. 11 Florida 62: This is an upset, of course, but I'm not sure we should be all that surprised. Frankly, I'm not sure if a Florida loss should ever truly catch us off guard. Don't get me wrong: The Gators are good. But they're a specific kind of good. When their steady diet of 3s are falling, they can shoot opponents off the floor before said opponents even have a chance to catch their breath. But if the shots aren't going down, Florida has no Plan B. Patric Young is the only true post presence, and his offensive game is still a work in progress (and he's still underutilized as a scoring threat to boot). The Gators' defense -- which ranks fifth in opponents' points per possession in SEC play, No. 10 in opponents' 3-point field goal percentage and No. 10 in block rate -- still isn't good enough to hold opponents in check when the shots clanging off the iron and the opponents start turning long rebounds into secondary breaks and easy buckets. Florida might yet get there on the defensive end, but it isn't yet. If this UF team has a lower ceiling than it should, well, that's why.

The Bubble Specials

Alabama 67, Mississippi State 50: It was instinctively easy to write off the Crimson Tide when coach Anthony Grant suspended Tony Mitchell and JaMychal Green; it was easy to predict a late collapse, even a fall off the bubble, for a team whose two leading scorers would be missing such important games down the stretch. Instead, the Crimson Tide keep, well, rolling. They've now won three in a row and prevented any hint of a collapse. Mississippi State, on the other hand, appears to be doing exactly that: The Bulldogs are collapsing. This is the Bulldogs' fifth consecutive defeat, a stretch that has included some good basketball (in the near-miss vs. Kentucky this week) but also some baffling losses (the loss at Auburn especially). It's no stretch to say Mississippi State -- which for much of the season looked like a tourney near-lock -- could wind up missing the tournament after all. The Bulldogs are, after all, 6-8 and tied with rival Ole Miss in the SEC standings. Ouch.

Northwestern 67, Penn State 66: Breathe a big ol' sigh of relief, Northwestern fans: In the chase for their first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the Wildcats remain very much alive. Senior forward John Shurna made the game-winning free throws with just 2.6 seconds remaining, giving Bill Carmody his first win in State College since 2002. Big challenges still lie ahead: Ohio State comes to town on Wednesday, followed by next weekend's season-ender at Iowa, a team that just knocked off Indiana and Wisconsin in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. But for now, some minor rejoicing is in order. Northwestern's tourney hopes are still very real.

Rutgers 77, Seton Hall 72 (OT): Let's not take Seton Hall off the bubble just yet, eh? The Pirates got a great win over Georgetown this week, one that could have firmed up a previously shaky at-large profile. All Seton Hall needed to do the rest of the way was avoid bad losses. Well, losing to a young, 13-16 Rutgers team at home is just that. Next weekend, the Hall travels to DePaul. If the Pirates lose there, all the good vibes from the emphatic Georgetown victory will have almost entirely faded from the picture.

VCU 89, George Mason 77: First things first: Thanks to Drexel's one-point win at Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon, VCU's win over George Mason won't give them a share of the CAA title this season. Bummer, sure, but the Rams would surely settle for a spot in the NCAA tournament, something to which they're at least a little closer after this victory today. As a league, the Colonial's top teams (Drexel, VCU and GMU) didn't get quality nonconference wins (VCU's best came against South Florida, for example), so any at-large consideration will have to come from separation at the top and perhaps a pair of deep runs for both Drexel and VCU in the CAA tournament. A win here was a must, and Shaka Smart's team got it, behind Bradford Burgess' career-high 31 points.

Dayton 76, UMass 43: A home loss to UMass can't be called "bad," but for a team like Dayton -- which is desperately scrapping for a spot in the NCAA tournament -- it could have been disastrous. Instead, the opposite happened: UD won, and won big, looking very much like one of the A-10's best teams and a squad worthy of a tourney bid in the process. We'll see how the Flyers finish up, but if they're one of the last four in, they might just be one of the play-in game candidates, which are held in -- you guessed it -- Dayton!

Saint Joseph's 82, No. 22 Temple 72: Speaking of somewhat fringe Atlantic 10 tournament hopefuls, the A-10 can't offer a bubble team a better shot at a marquee win than Temple on its own floor late in the season, but the Hawks still had to overcome Fran Dunphy's typically peerless bunch, which had won its previous 11 games and 13 in the 15-game stretch beginning with its Jan. 4 victory over Duke. Phil Martelli's team is now 9-6 in the league and 19-11 overall, and it added the one thing it desperately needed to its profile: A legitimate top-25 RPI win. Temple is most definitely that.

Penn 55, Harvard 54: Just when you think it's time to plan a long-awaited Harvard hoops coronation, Penn's Zack Rosen comes along, scores 20 points, makes a huge jumper down the stretch and ices two game-winning free throws in the final 30 seconds. And all of a sudden the Ivy League race is legitimately up for grabs with both of these teams having two losses. (Another one-game playoff for the Crimson? Oh boy.) As an at-large entity, Harvard is still in decent shape, but its profile isn't so strong that it can afford to lose at either Columbia or Cornell in its final two games, lose out on the Ivy auto-bid, and still feel safe about being picked to join the group of 37 at-large teams. Big days ahead for Tommy Amaker's team.

Washington 59, Washington State 55: For the first 10 or so minutes of the first half, it looked like Wazzu was going to hand its in-state opponent the type of loss that would severely damage Washington's at-large chances. But the Huskies fought back and, as the AP report notes, won the game's most important battle -- at the charity stripe: "Ultimately, the game came down to free throws. WSU (14-14, 6-10) went 11 of 12 to keep the game tied at 28-all despite shooting 27 percent in the first half. In the second half, the Cougars shot 6 of 20 from the free throw line, while the Huskies, who only went 2 of 5 in the first half, finished 17 of 24." The win keeps Washington on the right side of the bubble for now, but UW's marginal profile might not be able to survive a loss at either USC or UCLA going away.

Xavier 65, Richmond 57: Kenny Frease's season highs in both points (19) and rebounds (14) helped carry Xavier to an ugly but ultimately victorious Saturday. A loss here would have kicked Xavier off the bubble for good and almost certainly, barring an upset in the A-10 tournament, ended Chris Mack's 100 percent NCAA tournament hit rate in his XU tenure. Instead, the Musketeers live to fight another day.

No. 21 San Diego State 74, Colorado State 66: The Rams pass at least two NCAA tournament bubble tests: The RPI/SOS numbers are great, and they sure do look like a tournament team. But will that be enough? A win in Viejas Arena would have provided a tidy bookend to this week's huge victory over New Mexico, but the loss isn't a huge deal. Colorado State, which is undefeated at home in Mountain West play, hosts UNLV in Fort Collins in just three days' time. Win that one and the Rams are probably set.

He made a career out of tilting at windmills and slaying dragons, the ultimate underdog in a game in which bigger and stronger is supposed to equate to better.

He was craftier, that’s always been the argument. Pete Carril was able to conjure up an offensive scheme that put his Princeton teams on equal footing with their more talented foes.

Actually, above all else, Carril is practical.

Three, he knows, is worth more than two.

“Sometimes we had centers and forwards smaller than our guards, so who were you going to post up?” Carril said. “So what we had, we had 3-point shooters and we made a lot of 3s. They add up.’’

There is, it turns out, genius in simple math.

The 3-point shot, celebrating its 25th anniversary this season, has revolutionized the game. Post play is no longer as crowded as a New York City subway at rush hour, defenses are stretched across the floor and the little man is more than just a dribbler.

Perhaps less noticeable to the naked eye, the 3 also has given rise to the mid-major. Parity has hit the college game for plenty of reasons -- the one-and-done rule leaves top teams without valuable experience and leadership; television has exposed recruits to more and more teams; name-branding from the NCAA tournament -- but it would be foolish to overlook the impact of the 3.

“It isn’t an equalizer in the game,’’ Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart said. “It is the equalizer.’’

Smart should know. His Rams toed the arc all the way to Houston and the Final Four last season, connecting on 61 of 143 (42.7 percent) of their 3s compared to just 31-of-113 (27.4) by their opponents.

In perhaps their most difficult step, the Elite Eight game against Kansas, VCU knocked down 12-of-25 from long distance to just 2-of-21 for the Jayhawks.

But VCU is hardly the first team to expose its heftier opponents by draining 3s. In some of the most memorable upsets and Cinderella runs in college basketball, there is one common denominator -- 3-point shooting.

• 3-Point Anniversary

  This season marks the 25th anniversary of the 3-point line in college basketball. Once derided, it is now an integral part of the game. 3-point home page »

  • O'Neil: The 3-pointer turns 25 » • O'Neil: The great equalizer » • Brennan: Top 3-point shots » • King: Steve Kerr spans two eras » • Leung: Kevin Foster defends his title »

  1991 Richmond vs. Syracuse: The Spiders knocked down 5-of-17 from the arc to 5-of-21 by the Orange.
• 1996 Princeton vs. UCLA: The Tigers were 8-of-27, the Bruins 5-of-18.
• 1999 Weber State vs. North Carolina: The Wildcats were 14-of-26, the Tar Heels 9-of-21.
• 2005 Bucknell vs. Kansas: The Bison were 8-of-31, the Jayhawks 1-of-11.
• 2010 Northern Iowa vs. Kansas: The Panthers were 9-of-26, the Jayhawks 6-of-23.
• 2010 Butler Final Four run: The Bulldogs sunk 42 3s to 22 by their opponents.
• 2011 Butler Final Four run: The Bulldogs sunk 44 3s to 34 by their opponents.

“When you are truly undersized and undermanned, it changes everything,’’ Butler coach Brad Stevens said. “It doesn’t have to be someone in particular who can shoot it, but you have to some reliability. One of the reasons we went to the national championship game is because Matt Howard hit five 3s his first year and 53 as a senior. We don’t go if we can’t stretch the floor with him.’’

Chris Mack found out just how hard it is to win without a 3-point shooter. A year ago, Brad Redford tore his ACL before the season, sidelining the 42 percent shooter for Xavier. Mack's Musketeers went on to a more than respectable 24-8 record but were bounced short of their fourth consecutive Sweet 16 by Marquette.

The double dip of extra attention paid to Tu Holloway and Xavier’s 2-of-13 shooting from the 3-point line doomed the Musketeers in that game.

“Having Brad back does two things for us,’’ Mack said. “It makes our other players better because the floor is so much more spread out. It makes our penetrators better because they have less help-side [defense] to navigate through, but it almost becomes a 4-on-4 game because you can’t leave him. We’re a much more dangerous team because he’s as automatic as they come.’’

The challenge for mid-majors, or any coach for that matter, is finding guys who can hit a 3. As teams continue to go away from the traditional power forward, relying more and more on guys who are more versatile at the 4 position, recruits who can hit a 3 are at a premium.

Consequently coaches who might be second in line in the pecking order are forced to develop good shooters if they can’t recruit them.

Which begs a chicken-or-egg question: Are great 3-pointer shooters born or can they be created?

The answer is both. Right now Stevens has one of the best 3-point shooters in the game sitting on the bench -- Arkansas transfer Rotnei Clarke. In three years, Clarke has drained 274 3s.

But over the course of time Stevens also has turned guys into 3-point shooters.

Along with Howard, Stevens helped coax Willie Veasley into a 3-point shooter. In his freshman and sophomore seasons, Veasley didn’t even attempt a 3-point shot. By his senior season, he drained 45.

There’s no trick involved, just commitment from a player and dedication from a coach.

“When you see a guy consistently make a shot from 18 feet and you move him back to 20, if he struggles from there people tend to say, ‘Well, that’s not your range,'’’ Carril said. “I never listened to that. There’s not much difference between 18 and 20 feet.’’

No, but there’s a world of difference for a mid-major team that can hit a 3-pointer.

For the rest of the week, ESPN.com will be breaking down the nonconference schedules of each and every team in a dozen different leagues. Tuesday, we began with the ACC, SEC and C-USA. Wednesday, we continued with the Big East and now it's time to move on to the Atlantic 10 ...

CHARLOTTE

Toughest: Miami (Dec. 22), at Arkansas (Dec. 28), at Memphis (Dec. 31)
Next-toughest: at Lamar (Nov. 19), at Wright State (Nov. 26), Davidson (Dec. 10)
The rest: North Carolina Central (Nov. 11), at Central Michigan (Nov. 15), East Tennessee State (Nov. 22), at East Carolina (Dec. 3), at Radford (Dec. 6), Coppin State (Dec. 19), Kennesaw State (Jan. 18)
Toughness scale (1-10): 7 -- For a team that won just 10 games last season, this is a pretty hefty slate. Second-year coach Alan Major does have four returning starters, so if they can weather this schedule and use it to prepare for the conference season, the 49ers could be the better for the early tough run.

DAYTON

Toughest: Old Spice Classic (Nov. 24-27), Alabama (Dec. 7)
Next-toughest: at Murray State (Dec. 4), Seton Hall (Dec. 21), Ole Miss (Dec. 30)
The rest: Western Illinois (Nov. 12), at Miami-Ohio (Nov. 15), UNC Wilmington (Nov. 19), Buffalo (Nov. 30), Alabama State (Dec. 7), South Carolina Upstate (Dec. 11), Florida International (Dec. 17), Illinois-Chicago (Dec. 23)
Toughness scale (1-10): 5 -- The Flyers did little to help their NCAA cause last year with a so-so schedule, and this one follows suit. It's not a bad schedule, but it doesn't help that the Old Spice field is fairly weak, with an opener against rebuilding Wake Forest and a second-round game against either Arizona State or Fairfield. There is a new coach in place and certainly holes to fill with the loss of Chris Wright, but for a team with the rep that Dayton has, this slate should have a little more meat. Almost makes you feel like Bama is a must-win if UD is to be in the bubble discussion.

DUQUESNE

Toughest: at Arizona (Nov. 9), vs. Pittsburgh in CONSOL Energy Center (Nov. 30)
Next-toughest: vs. Akron in Valparaiso, Ind. (Nov. 19), at Valparaiso (Nov. 20), at Western Michigan (Dec. 17), at George Mason (Dec. 21)
The rest: Green Bay (Nov. 13), District of Columbia in Valparaiso, Ind. (Nov 18), Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 26), Tennessee Tech (Dec. 3), Robert Morris (Dec. 6), Penn State (Dec. 10), Bowling Green (Dec. 28), Houston Baptist (Dec. 31)
Toughness scale (1-10): 7 -- Ron Everhart has put together a nice challenge for a team that will be without its best player this season. The Dukes open at Arizona, plus face city rival Pitt in the Penguins’ downtown arena. What really adds teeth to this schedule are the mid-majors Duquesne has added -- Western Michigan will be on most sleeper lists this season, fellow MAC squad Akron will challenge for another NCAA bid and George Mason is George Mason.

FORDHAM

Toughest: at Syracuse (Nov. 12), at St. John’s (Dec. 17), Harvard (Jan. 3)
Next-toughest: Lehigh (Dec. 1), Georgia Tech (Dec. 29)
The rest: Binghamton (Nov. 18), Loyola-Chicago (Nov. 26), Colgate (Nov. 29), Hampton (Dec. 5), at Manhattan (Dec. 7), at Monmouth (Dec. 10), at Siena (Dec. 12), Texas State (Dec. 22)
Toughness scale (1-10): 7 -- Give Tom Pecora credit -- he’s not shying away from the task of rebuilding the Rams. This schedule is tough but manageable. Syracuse and St. John’s might be tall orders.Lehigh, Hampton and Harvard are favorites in their respective leagues, but those could be winnable games for a Fordham team that has four starters back and a solid New York-flavored recruiting class.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Toughest: at Cal (Nov. 13), at Kansas State (Dec. 1), vs. VCU in Washington, D.C.'s Verizon Center (Dec. 4), at Syracuse (Dec. 10)
Next-toughest: vs. Detroit in Bowling Green, Ohio (Nov. 21), vs. Austin Peay in Bowling Green, Ohio (Nov. 22), UAB (Dec. 28)
The rest: at Bowling Green (Nov. 23), Loyola-Md. (Dec. 7), Bradley (Dec. 15), James Madison (Dec. 22), Delaware State (Dec. 31)
Toughness scale (1-10): 8 -- The Colonials have the players to vie for their first NCAA tournament bid since 2007 and smartly put together a schedule that could give them the proper bonus points. New coach Mike Lonergan, with help from leading scorer Tony Taylor, has plenty of big names to gun for, plus some high-level mid-majors that could add to GW's cred, too.

LA SALLE

Toughest: at Villanova (Nov. 15), at Pittsburgh (Nov. 22)
Next-toughest: vs. Rider at the Palestra (Nov. 26), at Central Connecticut State (Dec. 22), Boston U. (Dec. 29)
The rest: Lafayette (Nov. 11), James Madison (Nov. 19), vs. Robert Morris at the Palestra (Nov. 25), Northeastern (Nov. 30), Bucknell (Dec. 3), at Towson (Dec. 7), Army (Dec. 10), at Delaware (Dec. 19), Hartford (Dec. 31), at Penn (Jan. 10)
Toughness scale (1-10): 5 -- If Villanova were more of a surefire top-25 team, this number would be higher. But since the Wildcats are something of a question mark, their Big 5 rival Explorers suffer the consequences. There are some decent mid-majors on the slate -- and playing at Pitt is obviously brutal -- but without Aaric Murray (transferred to West Virginia), John Giannini could be forgiven for not scheduling too boldly.

MASSACHUSETTS

Toughest: Battle 4 Atlantis (Nov. 24-26), at Miami-Fla. (Dec. 3)
Next-toughest: at Boston College (Nov. 21), Davidson (Dec. 22), Central Connecticut State (Dec. 28)
The rest: Elon (Nov. 11), Northeastern (Nov. 14), NJIT (Nov. 17), Towson (Nov. 30), at East Carolina (Dec. 6), vs. Siena in Springfield, Mass. (Dec. 9), Quinnipiac (Dec. 17)
Toughness scale (1-10): 4 -- This isn’t an overly ambitious schedule, but for where Derek Kellogg’s Minutemen are right now, that’s understandable. UMass is getting better but hasn’t yet fully arrived. Certainly this slate could move up the meter if the Minutemen could somehow upset Florida State in the Bahamas and move along in the Battle 4 Atlantis, where they'll face either Harvard or Utah in the second game.

RHODE ISLAND

Toughest: at George Mason (Nov. 11), at Texas (Nov. 15), Virginia Tech (Dec. 7)
Next-toughest: at Nebraska (Nov. 20), Boston U. (Nov. 26), Providence (Dec. 23), UCF Holiday Classic (Dec. 29-30), at Boston College (Jan. 2)
The rest: Hofstra (Nov. 25), Cleveland State (Nov. 27), at Brown (Nov. 30), Maine (Dec. 4), at Georgia State (Dec. 10), Yale (Dec. 18)
Toughness scale: 6 -- This would have been a heckuva schedule a year ago -- back when Texas was prowling in the top 10, Norris Cole was at Cleveland State, Charles Jenkins was at Hofstra and Boston College was surprising folks in the ACC. This season, though, the Rams are the unfortunate recipients of good teams in rebuilding years. This is still an impressive schedule, though. Give Rhody credit for the late addition of George Mason for the opener.

RICHMOND

Toughest: Cancun Challenge (Nov. 22-23), at VCU in Richmond Coliseum (Dec. 10), Iona (Dec. 14), Old Dominion (Dec. 20), at UCLA (Dec. 23)
Next-toughest: at Davidson (Nov. 14), at Wake Forest (Dec. 3)
The rest: American (Nov. 11), Hampton (Nov. 17), Sacred Heart (Nov. 19), at William & Mary (Nov. 30), at Bucknell (Dec. 17), Liberty (Dec. 28), UNC Greensboro (Dec. 30)
Toughness scale (1-10): 7 -- The trip to Cancun brings a game against Illinois and either Rutgers or Illinois State on the second day. Davidson, Iona and ODU have the potential to be the Spiders of this season -- March Madness darlings that stun more than a few people. Big brownie points to Chris Mooney for taking his team across the country for a date with a very good UCLA team. And of course there’s the real highlight -- the intra-city game against VCU, the city of Richmond's other Cinderella story from last season.

SAINT JOSEPH'S

Toughest: Charleston Classic (Nov. 17-20), at Iona (Nov. 23), Creighton (Dec. 10), Villanova (Dec. 17), at Harvard (Dec. 31)
Next-toughest: at Western Kentucky (Nov. 11), Drexel (Nov. 30), Boston U. (Dec. 7)
The rest: Penn State (Nov. 26), at American (Dec. 4), Coppin State (Dec. 21), Morgan State (Dec. 28), at Penn (Jan. 21)
Toughness scale (1-10): 6 -- This is about on par for a St. Joe’s team that is trying to regain its footing after some precipitous freefalling. The Hawks are still young, so a crazy schedule could have ruined their confidence. This is manageable, winnable but also has enough teams with NCAA tournament potential -- Creighton, Villanova, Iona, Drexel, Boston University, Morgan State and Harvard -- to get the proper strength of schedule boost. The Charleston Classic isn't stacked, but the opener against Georgia Tech is a good test and either Seton Hall or VCU will await on the second day.

SAINT LOUIS

Toughest: Washington (Nov. 20), at New Mexico (Dec. 31)
Next-toughest: 76 Classic (Nov. 24-27)
The rest: Tennessee State (Nov. 11), at Southern Illinois (Nov. 15), at Loyola Marymount (Nov. 29), Portland (Dec. 3), Vermont (Dec. 7), Illinois-Springfield (Dec. 10), Alabama State (Dec. 17), Arkansas State (Dec. 22), Texas Southern (Dec. 27)
Toughness scale (1-10): 6 -- Have to give credit to anyone willing to travel across the country for a New Year’s Eve trip. Extra credit when that trip takes you to a serious contender like New Mexico at a very serious place like the Pit. Would be nice if there were a little more of a smattering of good mid-majors to compliment the two heavy hitters, but the 76 Classic offers a decent field that begins with rebuilding BC and likely continues with Villanova on the second day if the Billikens take care of business. Either Oklahoma, Santa Clara, Washington State or New Mexico await on the third day.

ST. BONAVENTURE

Toughest: at Virginia Tech (Nov. 27), at Illinois (Dec. 7), vs. NC State in Rochester, N.Y. (Dec. 20)
Next-toughest: at Cleveland State (Nov. 18)
The rest: Cornell (Nov. 11), at Siena (Nov. 21), Arkansas State (Dec. 1), at Buffalo (Dec. 3), Canisius (Dec. 10), St. Francis-Pa. (Dec. 23), at Niagara (Dec. 30)
Toughness scale (1-10): 7 -- Big things could be coming to Olean, thanks to NBA prospect Andrew Nicholson. Though Virginia Tech and Illinois aren’t tops in their leagues, the fact that the Bonnies are traveling for those games will make all the difference in the world if this team is in the mix down the stretch. Four mid-major road games could also quietly help the power rating.

TEMPLE

Toughest: Puerto Rico Tip-Off (Nov. 17-20), Villanova (Dec. 10), at Texas (Dec. 17), Duke (Jan. 4)
Next-toughest: Maryland (Jan. 21)
The rest: at Penn (Nov. 14), at Bowling Green (Nov. 27), Central Michigan (Dec. 3), at Toledo (Dec. 7), at Rice (Dec. 19), Buffalo (Dec. 28), at Delaware (Dec. 30)
Toughness scale (1-10): 8 -- Fran Dunphy has never been afraid of a tough schedule, and this is another example. Though some of its best games are in Philly, Temple serves itself well by going to Austin for a mid-December game with Texas. This rigorous slate could jump even higher if the Owls move on in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where TU opens with Western Michigan, faces a tough second game against Purdue or Iona and a third game against probably either Alabama or Wichita State.

XAVIER

Toughest: at Vanderbilt (Nov. 28), Purdue (Dec. 3), at Butler (Dec. 7), Cincinnati (Dec. 10), Gonzaga (Dec. 31), at Memphis (Feb. 4)
Next-toughest: Georgia (Nov. 25), Oral Roberts (Dec. 18), Diamond Head Classic (Dec. 22-25)
The rest: Morgan State (Nov. 11), IPFW (Nov. 15), Miami-Ohio (Nov. 18)
Toughness scale (1-10): 10 -- Chris Mack is either insane or a genius. Come March, we’ll know which one. He has a first-class team with a first-class nonconference schedule. The fact that there are just three games in “the rest” category says it all. After those initial three games, X faces off with five straight NCAA tourney teams from last season (UGA, Vandy, Purdue, Butler and Cincinnati), then gets Summit League favorite ORU, then a trip to Hawaii to face off with Big West favorite Long Beach State and likely Clemson or Kansas State eventually. Oh, and then the Musketeers come back stateside for a New Year's Eve date with Gonzaga. That is some 10-game stretch. Throw in the February trip to Memphis and you have yourself a battle-tested group for March.

Yesterday, I warned you of an impending sports radio invasion. Richmond coach Chris Mooney signed on to do a live, three-hour radio show as one of the hosts of Richmond ESPN 950's "Hardly Working." This was kind of exciting, at least for college hoops and/or sports radio fans, because it would be interesting to see how Mooney, one of the game's smartest young coaches, handled the rigors of the drive-time sports talk radio. I also thought he needed a goofy nickname, and then I learned he already had one.

So, how did the radio show go? You can see some snippets in video below, which Richmond's athletic department posted on YouTube today. Mooney opines on everything from the NBA draft to his role at Richmond to his dislike of the designated hitter:



Two things stuck out at me. One, Mooney was even reading news updates; that's how you know this wasn't some pampered quasi-coaches show. Real deal stuff, there. You have to earn your way up the ladder somehow.

Two, Mooney's headphones crack me up. I don't know if I've ever seen a pair of studio headphones that small. I'm pretty sure those are the old-school Discman headphones I used to rock Coolio so my parents couldn't hear the foul language. Come on, ESPN 950. Can we get the man some Beats by Dre?

Anyway, cool stuff all around. If this whole college hoops thing doesn't work out, Chris can always fall back on this extensive broadcasting experience, tiny headphones or no.

Oh, and in case you're just in love with this whole coaches-guest-hosting-radio-shows thing, Memphis coach Josh Pastner will apparently take over for CBS writer and Memphis ESPN radio host Gary Parrish Thursday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. If Pastner's even half as enthusiastic and engaging as in most of his press conferences, that should be worthwhile listening.

So here's a fun bit of news for those of you looking for something to listen to in your cubicles this afternoon. At 3 p.m. ET, Chris Mooney is taking over the Richmond, Va. airwaves.

The Richmond coach is a frequent guest on Richmond affiliate ESPN 950's "Hardly Working" program, which airs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET on weekdays. Today, per a release from the school that hit the inbox Tuesday morning, Mooney will be sitting alongside co-host (and Richmond alum) Matt Smith for the full three hours.

This isn't exactly breaking news, but I'll be tuning in, and here's why: Mooney is one of the most intelligent and reasonable coaches in college hoops, and it will be interesting to hear him discuss Richmond's run to the Sweet Sixteen, his decision to stay at the school despite myriad offers to coach elsewhere, and, frankly, anything else that enters the drive-time radio's purview. Overwrought discussion on LeBron James? NFL lockout freak-outs? Draft insight? People screaming at each other about the Chicago Cubs? That's what I usually get on sports talk radio; I want to see if Mooney can handle the pressure.

But first, he needs a silly nickname. How about "The Moon?" You're listening to "Hardly Working" with "Matt and The Moon!" [Insert zany sound effect here.] Hey, you know, that just might work.

Similarity scores -- semi-complicated, multifaceted mathematical devices used to calculate one player's similarity to his peers -- can be truly useful instruments. Other times, they're just fun to look at. For example, see Barry Bonds's "similar players by age" list on Baseball Reference. Like all Bondsian stats, it's mind-boggling stuff. You can spend an hour staring at that page before your jaw manages to writhe itself up off the floor.

But this is not a post about Barry Bonds. (Thank goodness.) It is a post about former Richmond forward-slash-current NBA prospect Justin Harper, and in particular the hilarious strangeness of Harper's similarity scores. Harper is a 6-foot-9 forward with an uncanny mix of athleticism and shooting touch. ESPN Insider Chad Ford ranks Harper as the No. 30 draft prospect; he's a likely selection in the lower half of the first-round.

So: Tall, athletic, shoots the lights out ... is Harper the next Rashard Lewis? What about, say, Mike Dunleavy? Hedo Turkoglu? Bueller? Bueller?

Turns out, as Big Apple Buckets discovered, Harper's collegiate similarity scores include precisely none of these players. Frankly, they include a bunch of players you may never have thought of again were it not for the blog post in the first place. Harper's 10 most similar players are:

1. Kyle Weems, Missouri State, 2011 (1.71)
2. Daniel Kickert, Saint Mary’s, 2005 (2.17)
3. Levi Dyer, Illinois State, 2007 (2.42)
4. Nate Funk, Creighton, 2005 (2.50)
5. Craig Craft, Southern Miss, 2007 (2.56)
6. Dale Lamberth, Missouri State, 2007 (2.57)
7. Dale Lamberth, Missouri State, 2008 (2.60)
8. Dale Lamberth, Missouri State, 2006 (2.73)
9. Clint Cuffle, Evansville, 2003 (2.81)
10. Anthony James, Northern Iowa, 2011 (2.84)

Holy Missouri Valley Conference, Batman! Only one player on the list -- former Saint Mary's stalwart Daniel Kickert -- didn't play his collegiate hoops in the MVC. That's either some sort of coincidence, or something in Harper's game (size with shooting, limited touches but efficient usage, et al.) is a lasting point of order among the MVC's better scorers.

In actuality, as Big Apple Buckets explains, all of these similarities are pretty far off. There are a handful of guards in here; Harper's a forward. Really, the only thing these similarity scores tell us is that Harper is a really, really unique player. Perhaps a better picture would emerge if Harper spent a year in college as Richmond's only go-to scorer, but he never had to face that challenge.

Either way, it's an intriguing little bit of data. If I'm an NBA general manager, I've got my eye on Harper as a late first round steal. (Hey, Bulls: Lookin' at you.) But I'm also sure I've got as good a handle on Harper's unique skill set as possible before I assume he'll fit into my team's style. Something to keep an eye on, at least.

SAN ANTONIO -- The Kansas Jayhawks are not in this tournament to win the sportsmanship trophy. They’re not here to go along and get along. They’re not terribly interested in playing nice.

They made that perfectly clear before and during their Sweet 16 stomping of Richmond on Friday night, a 77-57 beating that was Kansas at its best. And cockiest. And most intimidating.

The Jayhawks shoved their way inside the Spiders’ heads more than 24 hours before the game and never left, not until the final horn sounded. When Kansas star forward Marcus Morris encountered a couple of Richmond players in the hallway between media interviews Thursday, he issued a verbal warning: “You better be ready.”

Then, while the Spiders were huddling in the tunnel before coming out onto the court for tipoff, the Jayhawks barged through. A shoving match ensued between the teams.

“We were trying to run out,” Kansas guard Josh Selby said. “They stood right there, and we just tried to run through it.”

“It got a little chippity,” Morris said. “We had a little battle to get out the tunnel first.”

Said Richmond’s Kevin Smith: “They tried to run through there, and they ran into some walls. It’s a man thing. Would you let a man walk through you? They thought they were playing with some boys with that one.”

No offense to Mr. Smith and the Spiders, but this was a men-against-boys game. Top-seeded Kansas had its way with the No. 12 seed, bursting out to a 31-9 lead and never giving any upset hopes a chance to grow in the Kansas-dominated Alamodome.

Given the way both teams started the game, it’s fair to wonder whether the pregame fracas had a motivational effect on Kansas and an unsettling effect on Richmond. The Spiders say it did not, but the Jayhawks generally disagreed.

Richmond point guard Kevin Anderson said the altercation was not an issue after tipoff but that “I never got my team settled down.”

If Richmond was unsettled, Kansas was unbridled.

“I think it might have been a little bit [of a motivator],” Kansas guard Brady Morningstar said.

The more you mix it up with the Jayhawks, the better they seem to do. Whatever chance there was that they wouldn’t start the game dialed in probably disappeared in that tunnel exchange.

“Maybe they didn’t think we were ready to go,” Morris surmised. “But the first 11 minutes were probably the best we’ve played all year.”

Kansas was indeed brilliant early. The Jayhawks moved the ball precisely and hit their perimeter shots. They extended their defense to disrupt Richmond’s rhythm and force it away from the basket. They predictably hammered the smaller Spiders on the glass. They were good in transition, good in the half court, good everywhere and in every way.

“They are truly a great team,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said. “They were kind of able to dictate the game, unfortunately, in every way.”

Nobody played better early than Morningstar, who had 12 first-half points and finished with a team-high 18. The senior has a reputation as something of a provocateur. Marcus and twin brother Markieff Morris have been known to keep their elbows cocked and ready, whereas Morningstar is more apt to annoy opponents with his mouth.

He got under the skin of Texas’ Jordan Hamilton in Lawrence earlier this season, prompting Hamilton to cuss at him and draw a technical foul. This time, Morningstar and Smith got into it during one dead ball, and the officials brought both together for a lecture. Not long thereafter, Morningstar buried his fourth 3-pointer of the game and woofed at Smith. He was quickly hit with a T.

“Some kind of noise,” Smith said of whatever came out of Morningstar’s mouth. “He said it running away. ... You can put that in there if you want to.”

Said Morningstar: “I got ahead of myself, and I’m not good enough to run my mouth after I make a shot.”

Morningstar said something else funny postgame. Namely, that he couldn’t understand why Richmond might have been intimidated by the Jayhawks.

Take a look at the thick bodies and unsmiling faces in your own locker room, Brady. If the Morris twins and Thomas Robinson (12 points and 14 rebounds Friday) aren’t a bit scary to look at, nobody is in college basketball.

Richmond was going to be up against it in this game no matter what. But after all the pregame posturing, the Spiders were really in trouble. It didn’t take long for Kansas to exert its dominance and make Louisville coach-turned-temporary ESPN analyst Rick Pitino’s upset pick turn on its head.

“No disrespect to Pitino,” Markieff Morris said, “but we still playing.”

And still talking.

SAN ANTONIO -- A quick look at Kansas' 77-57 win over Richmond Friday night.

Overview: This was exactly the kind of beatdown one could expect when a No. 12 seed shows up in the Sweet 16 to play a No. 1. Richmond's pregame act of defiance -- getting into a brief shoving match with Kansas in the tunnel leading to the court -- turned out to be the last fight the Spiders would put up all night. Kansas dominated in every phase of the game, racing to a double-digit lead in just more than eight minutes and keeping it there the rest of the night.

Turning point: It might have been the pregame altercation. Any hope Richmond had of sneaking up on an overconfident Kansas team probably disappeared at that point. Kansas was locked in all night, and that was bad news for the underdog.

Key player: Jayhawks guard Brady Morningstar never headlines the opponent's scouting report, but that doesn't mean he isn't dangerous. Morningstar showed it early against Richmond, making 5 of 7 shots and scoring 12 first-half points. He finished the night with a team-high 18.

Key stat: Kansas shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, 50 percent from 3-point range and 100 percent from the foul line. Richmond, meanwhile, shot just 29 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3 in the first 20 minutes. Those stats were not conducive to a shock-the-world outcome.

Miscellaneous: Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor also played a great first half, with five assists, zero turnovers and two blocked shots. ... Richmond leading scorer Justin Harper had a very deceptive 22-point night. He struggled offensively against the big Kansas front line and didn't get going until it was too late.

What's next: Kansas moves on to the regional final Sunday against the winner of Florida State-VCU. Richmond goes home and hopes it keeps its coach, Chris Mooney, who is a candidate for other jobs.

Kenny Mayne visits the neighboring campuses of VCU and Richmond.

Kevin Anderson's now famous, high-arcing floater was seemingly an act of defiance.

In order to hit the shot heard ‘round Richmond -- the basket that helped the Spiders upset Vanderbilt on their road to the Sweet 16 -- Anderson first had to outfox Festus Ezeli. Anderson threw the ball up just before the center, who is 11 inches taller, got the chance to jump.

The 6-foot senior point guard, who was the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year for the 2009-10 season, has embodied Richmond's giant-killer tag. The Spiders face another challenge when they take on top-seeded Kansas on Friday in their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1988.

Anderson's trademark shot also once served another purpose. Back in grade school, it was his way of making an extra buck.

Shirley Brown, who raised Anderson in Atlanta as a single mother until she remarried when he was a teenager, said her diminutive son was once so shy about taking shots in grade school that she offered a dollar for every one that he hoisted up during games. The two would break down film afterward to calculate the total, and inevitably Anderson would have to go with the floater to shoot over the defense.

“That was the only shot I would shoot,” Anderson said. “Whether I was wide open for a 3, I would shoot a floater, it didn’t matter.”

Brown, whose father was in the military, aggressively pushed Anderson to get better. He didn’t get an allowance growing up other than the money he earned during the games. She was hard on him with her critiques, wanting to make sure he played to the best of his ability.

“I call her Coach Brown,” Anderson said. “She loves me, and she analyzes my game every day. If I play bad, she chews me out. She lets me have it.”

Said Brown: “That’s my style. My mother was Korean. With an Asian upbringing, you’re tough on your kids.”

What put Anderson at a disadvantage was that he began high school 5-foot-1 and weighing 90 pounds. He remembers the numbers because he constantly thought about how his measurements would affect him on the court, and he charted his growth.

“Every time he went to the bathroom, you would hear the beep of the scale,” Brown said.

Anderson was overshadowed on his talented AAU team and transferred to a larger school (Peachtree Ridge High) only when he was a senior. But he showcased enough skills that Richmond coach Chris Mooney offered him a scholarship -- one that Anderson accepted before even visiting campus.

“His intelligence on the floor and his ability to make shots is so incredibly impressive,” Mooney said. “We knew right away we had something very special.”

Little did Mooney know that he had signed a player who would become the school’s second-leading all-time scorer (2,152 points). Besides being honored as the A-10 Player of the Year last season, when he averaged 17.8 points per game, Anderson was named the conference’s Rookie of the Year in 2008.

Anderson declared for the NBA draft after Richmond‘s loss to Saint Mary’s in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season, but he returned for one final journey. He also decided to become more of a vocal leader.

“We all know how quiet Little Man is,” senior Kevin Smith said. “It speaks volumes to his growth as a player, how much he's come from being a quiet point guard to being a floor general, somebody who is able to lead a team by not only example but with his mouth, what he's able to bring to the team outside of just his play.”

While Anderson has struggled with his shot at times this season (.432 field goal percentage), he has come alive at the right time. He averaged 22 points during the Spiders’ championship run in the A-10 tournament and was named MVP. Against No. 5-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA tournament last week, he scored 25 points including the hanging floater with 18.7 seconds left that extended the lead.

The floater was one that his mother instantly recognized.

“Everyone who remembers Kevin remembers that shot,” Brown said. “That was his hip pocket. If things weren’t going well, that was his shot. That was money.”

Diamond Leung covers college basketball for ESPN.com and can be reached at diamond83@gmail.com.

SAN ANTONIO – Previewing the Kansas-Richmond Southwest Regional semifinal:

No. 12 seed Richmond (29-7) vs. No. 1 seed Kansas (34-2), 7:27 p.m. ET (TBS)

What to watch: How do the Spiders handle the big stage? Richmond’s average home attendance this season was 5,959. Its average road attendance was 5,110. Neutral floor: 6,143. Now they move into a domed stadium that will be set up for around 30,000 fans -- most of them rooting for Kansas. This is, by every measure, a significant step up in class for the Spiders -- but this also is a team with four senior starters. If any group of collegians from a mid-major program is going to handle the inevitable butterflies and sweaty palms that accompany this assignment, you’ve got to like Richmond’s chances.

Conversely, how do the Jayhawks handle the pressure? They’re such prohibitive favorites -- in this game, and in this entire broken-bracket regional -- that domination will be the expectation. Anything less than that -- particularly a slow start against milk-the-clock Richmond -- will only feed the hope of the underdog and the anxiety of the Kansas legions in attendance. The Jayhawks believe they rid themselves of a significant upset demon by getting past the round of 32 (where they lost last year to Northern Iowa as the overall No. 1 seed), but now there are more massive underdogs ahead. They can afford to play pressure-free, while Kansas cannot.

Who to watch: For Richmond, the key players are forward Justin Harper and guard Kevin Anderson. Harper has transformed himself from a late bloomer who was more adept at playing the saxophone in the high school band than basketball. The 6-foot-10 senior is averaged 17.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and is shooting a deadly 45 percent from 3-point range. Anderson has been the program's heartbeat for four seasons. The school's No. 2 all-time scorer is averaging 16.7 points and leads the team in assists, steals and minutes.

For Kansas, the key players are the Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff. The brotherly bruisers are combining to average 31.2 points and 15.7 rebounds -- and those numbers swelled to 36 points and 20.5 rebounds in two NCAA tournament games in Tulsa. Everyone knows they have to stop the Morrises, and nobody has been able to do it.

Richmond wins if... : It can avoid being slaughtered on the glass and hit a lot of 3-pointers. The Spiders have been outrebounded on the season, and they’re going up against a Kansas team that has dominated the boards. The Jayhawks are sixth nationally in rebound margin at plus-7.9 per game. Richmond has done a better job on the boards lately, and that will have to continue Friday. To counteract what seems like an inevitable rebounding deficit, UR must shoot well from the outside. The Spiders are a 40 percent 3-point shooting team and have made 104 more 3s than their opposition -- whatever open looks they get Friday night, they need to make. Last year, Northern Iowa withstood KU's eight-rebound advantage by outscoring the Jayhawks by nine from the 3-point arc.

Kansas wins if... : It plays up to its capabilities. It’s really that simple for the Jayhawks -- they’re the better team. If they play inside-out with the Morris twins, hit a few timely 3s to keep the defense honest, take care of the ball and play with their customary defensive intensity, this outcome shouldn’t be in doubt in the final 10 minutes. If Kansas struggles to start and doesn’t cover Richmond outside the arc, it could get tense.

What they’re saying: Richmond guard Kevin Anderson, dreaming big: “Our focus is to get a national championship and Kansas is in the way right now, so we have to go out there and handle our business. … You don’t get to the Sweet 16 and decide that’s good enough. That’s not really a goal. I don’t want to sell our hard work short. Everyone’s saying we’re lucky to be in the Sweet 16, we’re lucky Morehead State beat Louisville. We want to prove those people wrong. What better way to do that than by beating Kansas?”

Bill Self, cautioning against seed-based overconfidence: “The field here is strong. It may not appear from a seeding standpoint to be as strong as 1, 2, 3 and 4 that are left, but I guarantee that there will be nobody that will be looking forward to playing anybody in this field right now. Once you get to the Sweet 16, you expect to play a great team. And we certainly have an opportunity to play a great one [Friday].”

Notable: Kansas certainly has fond memories of playing in the Alamodome. It won the 2008 national title here, courtesy of Mario Chalmers’ last-second 3-pointer that capped a miraculous rally against Memphis to send the game into overtime. “We were all walking together last night on the RiverWalk and just remembering the good times we had,” said senior guard Tyrel Reed, one of three Jayhawks who were on the ’08 team. … Richmond is 5-1 against teams from big-six conferences this season, beating Purdue, Arizona State, Seton Hall, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt and losing to Georgia Tech.

SAN ANTONIO -- It’s shopping season for college athletic directors in search of new basketball coaches. And the Southwest Regional has become Macy’s.

Perhaps the two hottest coaching commodities in the country are both here, with their Cinderella teams in tow. One is Chris Mooney, whose 12th-seeded Richmond Spiders will face the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday. The other is Shaka Smart, whose 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth Rams take on the Florida State Seminoles.

Both call the city of Richmond, Va., home ... for now.

Expect moving vans to arrive for both men this spring.

Their names have been mentioned in connection with several of the top vacancies in the game -- Georgia Tech, North Carolina State and Tennessee most prominently. Which means they had to spend time Thursday deflecting questions about their future employment on the eve of the biggest games in the history of their two schools.

“It’s flattering,” Mooney said. “Obviously, it’s one of the unfortunate parts of college basketball, while we’re in the midst of our most exciting time for players and coaches, that there’s this other facet because jobs are becoming available.

“As far as managing it, if there are a hundred blog posts about Shaka -- to put all the pressure on him -- if there are a hundred blog posts about Shaka taking this job or that job and somebody is interested, he doesn’t see it if he doesn’t turn on his computer. I would talk to my guys right up front about it if there was anything to talk about.”

Deft move by Mooney, hypothetically throwing the other guy out there. (He did so with a laugh.) But the fact is, both men are part of a tried-and-true dynamic: If you are a younger coach who has gotten his team into the second week of the tournament, you automatically become a hot coach.

“It comes with the territory when you are able to win games in the NCAA tournament, it happens every year,” Smart said. “It’s almost like a formula. You win a game or two and then this is going to follow it.

“But how do I manage it? It’s easy to manage because my focus is 100 percent on our team. Somebody asked me, ‘Well, how do the [players] deal with it?’ I don’t think our coaches are focused on the rumor mill or the coaching carousel. They’re so locked into the NCAA tournament, and they know that I am, too, so it hasn’t been an issue.”

It will be an issue soon enough. But for now, both deserve the right to coach their current teams for as long as they can this season.

DENVER -- Richmond guard Kevin Anderson insists he’s 6-feet tall while wearing shoes and that he modeled his game off an Allen Iverson highlights DVD his mother purchased for him as a child.

Fittingly, as the Spiders' program continued their giant-slaying ways with a 69-66 win against fifth-seeded Vanderbilt in their second-round NCAA tournament game on Thursday, the senior was at the forefront for hitting big shot after big shot.

He scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, getting hot from beyond the arc and then hitting a fadeaway over 6-foot-11 Festus Ezeli with 18.9 seconds left.

“I can’t go for a regular layup,” Anderson said. “They’re probably going to get a block. I had to shoot my floaters that have been effective throughout the season for me.

“They’re just floaters, regular floaters.”

Behind Anderson’s playmaking ability and low turnover count (one of Richmond’s three), the Spiders now have a chance to reach the Sweet 16 with a win against 13-seed Morehead State on Saturday.

For Vanderbilt, the loss was crushing. The Commodores became the first program in NCAA tournament history to lose in three consecutive round of 64 games as a No. 5 seed or better.

Last season, it was Murray State that sunk them at the buzzer. This year, coach Kevin Stallings was left conceding that his team “tightened up” toward the end of the game.

“As hard as we talked and as much as we talked about having a relaxed, confident attitude about us, you could tell we tightened up on a couple free throws,” he said. “But it’s the nature of this tournament. That’s why it’s exciting. There’s a lot of pressure and a lot of tension.”

Anderson reveled in it. Richmond trailed by 11 in the first half and by nine in the second half before the barrage of 3-pointers.

After Justin Harper made one, Anderson hit the next three to cap off a 12-0 run that gave the Spiders a three-point lead. Even with 6-foot-7 Jeffery Taylor defending him, Anderson crossed him over and faked him out on one play with three minutes left before hitting a leaner while being fouled.

“They just got hot,” Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins said. “We tried our best to contest shots, but they jumped up and made ‘em. I know we had a couple contested shots, but they kept knocking ‘em down, knocking ‘em down.”

Ezeli and Jenkins led Vanderbilt with 21 points apiece, but Taylor was held to four points on 1-for-10 shooting.

The Spiders got a big lift from their bench, including Darrius Garrett coming up with five blocks and five rebounds. Their bench outscored Vanderbilt’s 23-4, with Francis Martel (12 points, five rebounds) and Cedrick Lindsay (seven points, three assists) also making key contributions.

Anderson said it’s been nice having his teammates pick him up at times when last season’s A-10 player of the year struggled with his shot.

“It’s hard when you don’t have good games and you’re expected to have good games,” Anderson said. “That’s really tough.”

It was the complete opposite against Vandy. When Rod Odom’s contested 3-pointer wasn’t close at the buzzer, Anderson could only think about the Sweet 16 possibility.

“We don’t want to be one-and-done,” he said.