ESPN Men's Basketball

1. Mississippi Valley State coach Sean Woods is one of a handful of coaches vying for the Southern Miss job, beginning with an in-person interview Monday. The others reportedly in the mix are Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss assistant Steve Barnes, Middle Tennessee’s Kermit Davis, former Nebraska coach Doc Sadler, Wichita State assistant Greg Heiar, and UTEP coach Tim Floyd. If USM, which is also hiring an athletic director doesn’t bump up Barnes to replace Eustachy (who left for Colorado State) then Woods should be given a serious look as the choice. Woods did a remarkable job at one of the toughest places to win. He steadily increased his win total from seven to nine to 13 to 21 this past season, going 17-1 in the SWAC. Woods and Sadler are both interviewing Monday.

2. Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich was recruiting with a host of other coaches in Minnesota over the weekend. He still hadn’t been told if he’s the coach-in-waiting at SMU. It has reached a point where something better happen soon or Jankovich is going to stay put and continue to coach a Redbirds team that has a chance to win the Missouri Valley next season.

3. The Atlantic 10 still may add VCU and George Mason, along with Butler, to get to 16 schools now that Temple is off to the Big East in 2013. But no one from any of the schools or conferences are indicating an imminent departure. VCU athletic director Norwood Teague, fresh off a trip to Europe, said Sunday that there is movement going on and that everyone is simply in evaluation mode. A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade and CAA commissioner Tom Yeager both said Friday there was no truth about a done deal for VCU and Mason to leave. Yeager better hope that’s true. The CAA can’t afford to lose these two Final Four programs. The A-10 would have a chance to elevate itself to being considered a power basketball conference if it pulled off this move.

In other, much less endearing band-related news, Southern Miss took action against five members of its pep band that chanted "Where's your green card?" at Kansas State guard Angel Rodriguez in last Thursday's second-round loss to the Wildcats. The punishment is rather harsh, but it's probably appropriate: Five members (which the school did not identify) lost their scholarships, were kicked out of the band and will have to complete a two-hour sensitivity training course at the school, per the Associated Press. Again: harsh, but probably warranted. You can't get away with chants like that, nor should you. Lesson learned.

But here's the really important, and ignorant, part, one highlighted by a commenter in the AP story, no less: Rodriguez doesn't even need a green card. He's from Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. On Monday, they voted in the Republican electoral primary. You can travel to Puerto Rico without a visa (and I hear it's beautiful!), and Puerto Ricans can travel and/or reside freely in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii without need for documentation, because U.S. citizens don't need green cards to be in the U.S.

Angel, you want to clear this up for everyone?

Rodriguez said last week that he accepted the apology because "there's ignorant people and I know that's not how they want to represent their university."

Rodriguez said he doesn't pay attention to that "nonsense, especially because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, so we don't need no type of papers."

There are lessons to be learned here:

1. Don't chant racist and/or culturally insensitive things at college basketball games, particularly if you are representing your university and on scholarship while doing so. You will probably lose your scholarship, and you probably should.

2. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens!

Are we totally clear on this? We got it? Good. Now let's go back to talking about basketball, shall we? As far as Kansas State is concerned right now, there are far more pressing issues at hand.

Bracket first impressions:

Someone on the Selection Committee must be a frustrated screenplay writer.

How else to explain the endless plots coursing through some of these regions?

In the South, Kentucky will debut as the No. 1 overall seed against either its in-state neighbor, Western Kentucky, or former Wildcat Sean Woods, the man who would have sent the Unforgettables to the Final Four were it not for a guy named Laettner.

Should the Cats get through that game, next up is defending national champion Connecticut, the team that knocked them out of the Final Four a year ago. Last we took the pulse, former New England rivals Jim Calhoun and John Calipari weren’t double-dating with milkshakes, either.

After that how about a possible Sweet 16 date with Christian Watford, er, Indiana? The Hoosiers, thanks to Watford’s shot that restored a program, are the only team to beat Kentucky in the regular season.

And then to complete the fun down South, there is perhaps an Elite Eight game against Duke (which might have to get UNLV, its program-establishing Final Four foe, first). Twenty years ago this season, the two met in in a sort-of kind-of memorable regional final.

That guy named Laettner again.

Across the way in the Midwest there are some decent storylines, too. Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott could square off in an 1-8 game. The two once, believe it or not, were on the same team. As you might expect, Ames (Iowa) High was pretty good – 53-0 with two state titles in their tenure.

In the Sweet 16, Barnes' Tar Heels could tango with Michigan. If you don’t recall, the two met in the 1993 title game. Chris Webber remembers. He called timeout.

Being a No. 1 seed ain’t what it used to be.

Back when, like last year, you could write the nation’s best through to the Sweet 16 in ink. Maybe you wouldn’t press too hard, but ink was fine.

Now grab a pencil.

The No. 1s were not exactly rewarded with cakewalk 8-9 opponents.

Potentially lining up across from Kentucky: defending national champion Connecticut, a team that started the season ranked No. 4 in the country and sports two NBA first-rounders on its roster.

In line for North Carolina: How about a possible date with Creighton, one of the few teams in the country that can score with the Tar Heels and boasts an All-America candidate in McDermott to boot?

Michigan State could get a matchup with Memphis, a wildly talented No. 8 seed that has won 11 of its past 12 games.

Syracuse might say hello to Kansas State, two-time winners over Missouri.

Some other random observations:

• Is it the nickname? If he went by something less intimidating — like his given name, James — would Bruiser Flint be welcomed to the party? His Drexel team did win 27 games after all, and that used to be the goal of the sport — winning games.
• As usual, the 5-12 game is where the action is. Wichita State and VCU, mid-major darlings both, meet in the South; New Mexico-Long Beach State in the West and Vanderbilt-Harvard in the East. Tiebreaker in that one is a spelling bee.

Seeded too high: Colorado, Southern Miss.

Seeded too low: Memphis, Murray State, Detroit.

VCU 2012: That would be Iona. Most everyone is screaming about the Gaels being in. Understandable. But the Gaels are talented enough to make everyone eat their words just like the Rams did last year.

First team to 300 wins: That could be Creighton and North Carolina. The Tar Heels average 80 points; the Bluejays 83. Bring your oxygen tank.

Win or you’re out: That goes to all the folks who argued their merit despite failing to finish above .500 in their respective leagues. It’s not an official selection committee rule but de facto works fine by us.

And finally the potential: In October, they were tabbed the two best teams, loaded with the most talent. In December, they played an epic game in Lexington, Ky., decided only by Anthony Davis' incredible reach topping John Henson’s equally impossible wingspan. And on April 2, Kentucky and North Carolina could meet again for the national title.

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.

The Morning After is our semi-daily recap of last night's best basketball action. Yesterday, my editor worked 18 hours. When he arrived at the office, it was February. When he left, it was March. Sweet, glorious March. Which is a little like my arrival and departure from Welsh-Ryan Arena last night.

Point is? March is here. Thirty days of unbridled glory. Let's make every day count, you guys.

There were 58 games to track last night, and many of them held bubble implications. According to Section 10, Rule 2b, Subsection 3-48(d)(a) of the College Basketball Internet Writer's Manual, this means I am required to make a list of these teams and discuss what each result meant for their respective bubble statuses (statusii?). I don't make the rules, people.

Anyway, let's get to it, because Dana and I have to tape a podcast in, like ... oh, shoot, I really have to get going:

Cincinnati Bearcats (beat No. 7 Marquette 72-61): It is growing increasingly difficult to see just how the committee would justify keeping the Cincinnati Bearcats out of the NCAA tournament. Before last night, the only plausible reason for doing so was nonconference performance: A No. 320-ish-ranked nonconference strength of schedule, a loss to Presbyterian, too many cupcake wins, not enough done in the Big East to compensate. That last part of the argument would have been shaky, but it really is now: Cincinnati has now picked off Marquette, Georgetown (at Georgetown), Louisville and Notre Dame. The first two are top-10 bubble teams. The latter two are safely in the tournament field. I know the committee is all about nonconference SOS these days -- win or lose, they want to see you go out and play somebody, to make November and December interesting -- and Cincinnati didn't do that. But everything they've done since screams: tournament team. (And now that their RPI is creeping upward inside the 70 threshold, it's getting a little bit easier to swallow). Hard to say Mick Cronin's team doesn't belong.

Northwestern Wildcats (lost to No. 11 Ohio State, 75-73, in immensely heartbreaking fashion): Northwestern is not a team that could be criticized for failing to take on top teams. Its league, the Big Ten, is chock full of them. Which is partially the problem: After last night's devastating loss -- if NU wins we're probably not having this discussion -- the Wildcats are 7-10 in the Big Ten, with eight of their 12 losses coming to conference foes ranked higher than 50 in the RPI. In fact, Northwestern is just 1-8 against the RPI top 25. The fact that they've played eight games against the RPI top 25 is, in and of itself, a nice addition to the resume. The fact that Northwestern has managed just one win in that bunch (Michigan State at home) doesn't speak volumes.

But here's the good news: Northwestern doesn't have any bad losses. The worst is probably a one-point home loss to Illinois on Jan. 4, long before Illinois had spiraled into oblivion. A loss at Iowa on Saturday wouldn't be a bad loss in reality, but it would be the sub-100 RPI loss. It's hard to know how the committee will judge this profile. The bottom line: As a disappointed but upbeat John Shurna told ESPN.com Wednesday, the Wildcats just "got to win." A loss, and this conversation might be, unfortunately, over.

Colorado State (toppled No. 17 UNLV, 66-59): Colorado State's chief concern in the past three weeks has been the addition of big wins. The Rams have long had some of the better (and more inflated) RPI numbers in the country, but they lacked few results to which Colorado State could point and say, "See? It's not just that the RPI makes no sense! We're pretty good, too!" They got another one here Wednesday night. In eight days, the Rams have toppled UNLV and New Mexico, part of their unbeaten home record in Mountain West play. A 3-5 record against the RPI top 50 is nothing to scoff at; neither are wins against all three guaranteed tourney locks from your own league. The only problem is CSU hasn't traveled at all well: They're 4-9 away from Ft. Collins this season, including losses at Boise State, Stanford, Wyoming, Northern Iowa, and TCU. Now, many of those losses are understandable. TCU, Wyoming, and UNI are all great at home, and most seasons, it's hard to fault a quasi-mid-major like CSU for losing at Stanford. But the Rams are still just 8-8 vs. the RPI top 100. Not great, not bad. Will the top-20 RPI and top-five SOS push them over the edge?

South Florida (won at No. 18 Louisville, 58-51): Say what you will about the South Florida Bulls. You can't fault them for effort. Or, for that matter, timing. USF's win at Louisville last night was huge: It gave South Florida its best Big East win against a team not named Seton Hall or Cincinnati (not to mention a game that wasn't a one-point win at home) helping to bump this once-questionable RPI up into the top-35 range. USF's schedule ranks No. 19; its nonconference schedule strength is No. 54. The committee says it doesn't look at conference record closely, and in this instance, that makes sense: 12-5 in the Big East looks gaudy, until you dig in and see how imbalanced South Florida's schedule was, and which teams it actually beat. Still, though, you can't fault Stan Heath's team Wednesday night. They needed a huge win at Louisville, and they got it. But with a 5-10 road record and other bubble teams (like Northwestern, for example) with just-as-good-wins and fewer bad losses (USF lost to Old Dominion, Auburn and Penn State in the nonconference), USF's big Wednesday night hardly guarantees them a spot in the field. It puts them in contention, but a home win against West Virginia on Saturday (and a decent showing in the Big East tournament) is still the recommended course of action.

Saint Joseph's (lost at St. Bonaventure, 98-93, in double OT): Brutal loss for the Hawks. Phil Martelli's team has kept creeping into the fringes of the bubble picture before, only to lose a game and fall off again, but after Saturday's 10-point win against Temple, Saint Joe's put itself very much back in the conversation. They're still there, but only barely. Home losses to Richmond and Charlotte are knocks against this team, as is a road loss at American. A 6-9 record against the RPI top 100 reveals a team that has stockpiled 13 of its wins below the top 100 line. Probably a long shot now, but the A-10 tournament could help it get in position.

Dayton (lost at Richmond, 82-71): Richmond is not a horrible team by any means, and it can't be much fun to play on the Spiders' home turf, but even so, this was a rough loss for the Flyers -- who, like Saint Joseph's began the week as a fringe bubble team and look likely to end it there now as well. Archie Miller's team has racked up its fair share of quality wins, but also has a bunch of not-so-quality losses. When your RPI is No. 71 and you're 8-7 in the A-10 -- a good league, to be sure, but still -- you're going to have trouble getting a solid look on Selection Sunday. Much more work to do.

Miami (lost at NC State, 77-73): When you're a bubble team playing another bubble team, particularly one like the Wolfpack, which damaged itself with three straight missed chances (at Duke, vs. Florida State and UNC) and a subsequent overtime loss at Clemson, your best bet is to just go out and win. Miami didn't do that Wednesday night, instead falling to fellow putative bubble team NC State in Raleigh. Bad news for the Hurricanes. Worse news: Even Reggie Johnson's return from an eligibility scare didn't help. The Hurricanes are still in the hunt, but with only Boston College left on the schedule, can a win at Duke and a home win against Florida State really be enough?

Southern Miss (beat Southern Methodist at home, 67-60): This one was all about the avoidance of a bad loss, and USM got the job done. With an 11-4 record in CUSA, a 9-6 record at home, a 3-2 record against the RPI top 50 and very good (probably too good) RPI and SOS numbers, even a loss at Marshall on Saturday probably wouldn't do much to knock Larry Eustachy's team out of the field.

Texas (beat Oklahoma at home, 72-64): A home loss to Oklahoma might not be a home loss to Texas Tech, but it would have been ugly either way. Why? Because Texas's regular-season finale just so happens to come at Kansas on Saturday, where the Jayhawks pretty much never lose, and it's almost impossible to imagine (short of a legendary J'Covan Brown explosion) the young Longhorns leaving Lawrence with a signature win. A win would be great, obviously, but if (when) it doesn't happen, Texas will find itself right in the thick of the bubble chase heading into the Big 12 tournament, where upset opportunities abound. For now, they've stayed very much in the chase.

This Saturday was always going to be a bit more underwhelming than recent weeks, but boy, did it end well. Once it ended, that is. Creighton students rushed the court before the game was officially over. Their reverse storm, in which they calmly walked off the court, was one of the most surprisingly orderly things I've ever seen. Bravo, Bluejays fans. Bravo.

Read up on Long Beach State-Creighton, Michigan-Ohio State and the rest of Saturday night's action here. If you missed our afternoon recap, catch up now.

No. 19 Michigan 56, No. 6 Ohio State 51: Here's something I learned Saturday -- Michigan hasn't won a Big Ten title since 1986. As Dan Shulman said on the broadcast, that's kind of hard to believe. Here's something else we learned Saturday: The Wolverines have a legitimate chance to break that streak this season.

The race for the Big Ten title is officially a three-way affair. How did Michigan get there? By taking care of business at home. Saturday's win was the Wolverines' 16th consecutive victory in Ann Arbor. For much of the past 10 years, under Tommy Amaker and then John Beilein, Crisler was usually a cold, detached, almost lifeless place. On Saturday, it was rocking in Minute 1 and Minute 40 and constantly in between.

Of course, a home atmosphere is nice, but it doesn't mean much if your team can't play. And Michigan most certainly can play. Point guard Trey Burke continued his impressive freshman campaign against the Buckeyes, scoring 17 points -- including a flurry of much-needed late buckets, one of which he took straight at former grade-school teammate Jared Sullinger -- and dishing five dimes against the best perimeter defender in the country, Ohio State guard Aaron Craft. Tim Hardaway Jr. added efficient perimeter scoring, while forward Jordan Morgan scored 11 points and 11 rebounds against Sullinger. Those matchups -- point guard and forward -- should be Michigan's weaknesses, particularly against OSU. In this one, Burke and Morgan turned them into strengths.

That said, Michigan won the game on the defensive end, where it held the Buckeyes to .91 points per trip, and in some part it has the Buckeyes to thank. Shooting guard William Buford struggled yet again, going 3-of-12 and continuing his senior slump. Credit the Wolverines for forcing the Bucks into perimeter jump shots, but also blame Ohio State, which often settled for those jumpers without first attempting to get Sully into an iso situation on the low block. When Sullinger did touch the ball, the Buckeyes usually got a score. They figured this out eventually, which is what got them back into the game in the second half. But it was too little, too late. You wouldn't think you'd need to "figure out" that you should probably give the ball to Sullinger because, you know, he's really good.

Look, Ohio State remains a very good defensive team. After all, holding Michigan to 56 points on its own floor is no easy task. But the Buckeyes' offense, particularly its perimeter shooting (or lack thereof), looks like a serious liability. It lurched helplessly against Michigan State's defense last Saturday, and it played right into Michigan's hands tonight. As a result, OSU allowed its sworn rival to tie it in the league standings, a game behind MSU in the loss column. If the Buckeyes can't fix these problems, their March ceiling -- once as limitless as any team's in the country -- will suffer accordingly.

No. 14 Murray State 65, No. 16 Saint Mary's 51: How much fun is Murray, Ky., having right now? With a rare national audience and Dickie V in the house, the Racers played as well as they have all season, as their fans -- an intense, buoyant bunch -- gleefully soaked it all in. Judging by Vitale's rave reviews of the small burgh, I'd say Murray might be one of the best places in the country to spend this exact Saturday night. I kind of wish I was there. (My colleague Jason King is and had this to say about the game.)

In any case, the nation got a chance to see what this Murray State team was all about, and the timing couldn't have been better. After its loss to Tennessee State two weeks ago, the tone of the discussion around the Racers changed from "Whoa, this team could go undefeated!" to "Well, that was fun, but check out that at-large profile -- Murray State could miss the tournament!" I think we can put that debate to rest. The Racers might not be a national title contender, but with Isaiah Canaan leading the way (he had 23 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, a 5-for-8 mark beyond the arc and at least two or three downright crossovers that made this viewer yelp in enjoyment), they are certainly one of the better mid-major teams in the country and one that can give plenty of outfits issues in the NCAA tournament. Sure, some of the wins were shaky, and sure, the Ohio Valley Conference is bad, but when you win your first 23 games, guess what? You're pretty good.

Saint Mary's was far less convincing. The Gaels' offense was hobbled by Matthew Dellavedova's rolled ankle and Rob Jones' early foul trouble, but those weren't the primary causes -- and the road atmosphere and tough Murray defense don't explain it all, either. In reality, the Gaels, who have lost three of their past four (all by double digits), are just flat-out struggling. Over the course of the WCC season, the Gaels have posted about 1.17 points per possession (adjusted), best in the league. In their three recent losses, Dellavedova & Co. have failed to exceed a point per trip. Much like Creighton, this team's defense isn't nearly good enough to get the job done when the offense struggles. Much like Creighton, if the Gaels don't throw points in at something near their usual rate, they're going to lose. It's really just that simple.

Creighton 81, Long Beach State 79: Speaking of fun, how much fun was this? The finish -- Antoine Young's brilliant left-handed, last-second game winner -- was merely the icing on the cake. The 40 minutes that preceded that shot were chock full of high-octane mid-major awesomeness. LBSU's Casper Ware, T.J. Robinson and Larry Anderson trading deep 3s and inside moves with Young and Doug McDermott? Yes, please.

We couldn't have predicted the ending, but we should have seen the entertainment value coming. These teams both excel most at one thing: scoring the basketball. That's what Creighton does. When the Bluejays don't put the ball in at a high rate, they lose, as they did in their recent three-game losing streak, culminating with a home blowout at the hands of Wichita State last weekend. The defense simply isn't good enough to save Creighton from an off night.

Fortunately, Creighton has Doug McDermott. McDermott has been great all season, though he's struggled of late, and it's no coincidence his team had lost three of its past four in that span. But on Saturday night, he was amazing. Not "amazing" in a "wow, this sesame chicken is amazing" sort of way; McDermott was actually, literally amazing. He scored 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting and added 11 rebounds, six of which on the offensive end. The most impressive came late in the second half, when McDermott flew to the hoop and somehow tipped in a wayward shot arcing halfway over his head. Once it was clear McDermott was on, LBSU coach Dan Monson ordered his charges to begin aggressively double-teaming the opposing coach's son. But McDermott's eager passing and ability to make plays without the ball in his hands -- see the aforementioned tip-in -- neutralized that strategy. He was just so good. And at the perfect time, too.

As entertaining as this game was, as memorably as McDermott performed, the good news for Long Beach is that a loss at Creighton hardly hurts its at-large profile. Chances are, this team will continue its blistering Big West pace and get to the NCAA tournament in academic, auto-bid fashion. But if something goes awry in the conference tournament, LBSU's crazy nonconference schedule -- the toughest in the country by, like, a lot -- should be more than worthy of the committee's respect. Whatever happens, we'll always have Saturday night in Omaha. What a game, man. What a game.

Other observations from the night that was:

• All season, Arkansas has been bad on the road (where it is still winless) but great in its own building (where it was undefeated). That trend ended emphatically against the Gators. Florida hung a 98-68 offensive blitz on the young, up-tempo Razorbacks, led by Erving Walker's career-high 31 points on 9-of-11 from the field, 5-of-6 from 3, and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Walker has been criticized this season, and rightfully so; his insistence on forcing bad shots in bad situations (at Kentucky, for example) is maddening. But you can't really play much better than he did Saturday night. Insane line.
• Harvard's vaunted defense handled rival Yale with relative ease, which immediately brings to mind images of old men in smoking jackets, teasing each other over cigars and snifters of cognac. (This is how I see Harvard-Yale. I know it's silly, but I can't help it.) This creates a rather compelling finish to the conference season: Harvard, the long-dormant program with sudden title expectations, will face traditional league powers Penn and Princeton at home this week. If the Crimson win, they'll sew up at least a share of the Ivy title, maybe more. There's something slightly poetic about that.
• Huge win for Xavier, which held on to its slim margin in the final seconds of overtime to beat Dayton, 86-83. The Musketeers have been flagging badly along the bubble cut line lately and they desperately needed a home win tonight to stay viable. Oh, and here's a fun fact (unless you're a Dayton fan): This loss made it 27 straight for the Flyers at rival Xavier. Dayton hasn't won there since -- get this -- 1981. Yikes.
• Speaking of fun facts, after an 18-point effort in a 64-53 win over Minnesota, Northwestern forward John Shurna became the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer, toppling Billy McKinney's 35-year hold on the honor. That's all well and good, but Shurna is no doubt more focused on the here and now, where the Wildcats couldn't afford to drop this game and still hope to land an at-large NCAA tournament bid, at least if the bracket was selected tomorrow. The victory keeps Northwestern very much alive. Minnesota's chances, unfortunately, will suffer in proportion.
• When it rains, it -- well, you know. The cliche certainly applies to Villanova, which is struggling through an uncharacteristically bad season but had, even without Maalik Wayns (knee) and James Bell (ankle), a 20-point lead in this game. Notre Dame came back and won in overtime and, well, yeah: That's a tough way to lose. Villanova could surely have used some brief flash of sunlight in an otherwise dark year. It was so, so close Saturday. And then it wasn't. Brutal. Notre Dame, meanwhile, won its eighth game in a row. The Irish don't always look pretty, but they get the job done.
• Southern Miss lost at Houston. Yep. That happened. It's bad news for Larry Eustachy's team, of course -- it puts a definite dent into the Golden Eagles' otherwise stellar tourney résumé, which features gaudy RPI and SOS numbers -- but also bad news for Conference USA, which would no doubt prefer to be a multi-bid league this season. Speaking of which, Memphis took its own awful loss today, too, 60-58 at home to UTEP. Yes, Memphis lost to UTEP at home. The Tigers had been quietly working their way through C-USA play with relative ease, but the offensive inconsistency that plagued them in their nonconference slate crept back in against the Miners, and that doesn't bode well for the coming tournament. Mild C-USA intrigue abounds!
• Speaking of bad losses by Mississippi teams, what is going on at Mississippi State? The Bulldogs were listless at Auburn -- Auburn! -- in a 65-55 loss, MSU's third in a row in a season that is stunningly spiraling in the direction of the bubble. The Bulldogs are just 6-6 in the SEC and have games against Kentucky and at Alabama this week. Uh-oh.
• And speaking of uh-oh and three-game losing streaks, Gonzaga lost in the closing seconds at San Francisco -- the third consecutive year it's lost to the Dons on the road. The Zags shot 51 percent and yet still lost, falling into a tie with BYU for second in the WCC, one game behind 12-2 Saint Mary's.
• Colorado State held on for a rather ugly win over Wyoming. This was a definite bubble elimination game, one Wyoming couldn't afford to drop if it wanted to preserve any chance of at-large consideration. The victory won't put CSU in the field by any means, but it keeps the Rams alive, if only barely.
• Watching Georgetown, it's hard not to be impressed with the Hoyas' pinpoint Princeton offense. But this team's real strength is its defense. We saw that again Saturday, as Georgetown held Providence to 25 percent shooting at the Dunk, a win that pushed Georgetown to 10-4 in the Big East and should quell any lingering concerns its fans may have had about another late-season collapse. That's not happening.

Player of the Night – Drew Gordon
New Mexico went on the road to beat No. 15 San Diego State 77-67. It gave the Lobos their signature win and sole possession of first place in the Mountain West. Gordon finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season. It’s the second time this season he’s gone for at least 17 and 17 on the road.

Stat Sheet Stuffer – Jack Cooley
Has anyone in the Big East stepped up as much as Cooley? He had 22 points and 18 rebounds in Notre Dame’s 71-53 win over Rutgers. Cooley has gone for 20 and 10 in each of his past three games, and is averaging 22 points and 15 rebounds during that stretch.

Freshman of the Night – Cody Zeller
Indiana held off Northwestern to win 71-66. Zeller led the way with 23 points and seven rebounds. Most impressively, he went 9-for-11 from the field, and now has 65.6 field goal percentage. Were it not for Ricardo Ratliffe and his historic pace, Zeller would be leading the nation in that category. The freshman record belongs to Michael Freeman, who shot 67.8 percent for Hampton in 2006-07.

Breakout Game – Jonathan Mills
Southern Miss outlasted Tulsa 77-69 in overtime thanks to a career game out of Mills. Entering the game averaging fewer than 9 points per game, he scored a career-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds. Mills went 13-for-13 at the line and is 27-for-27 over his past three games. Not bad for a guy who was shooting 60 percent at the line going into that stretch.

Ugly Stat Line – Southern Methodist Mustangs
SMU shot just 17.4 percent in a 47-28 loss to UAB. It was the school’s lowest scoring total of the shot-clock era, and the fewest points since a 26-point effort in 1956. The Mustangs are the first team since Samford in 2008 to score fewer than 30 points and shoot under 20 percent.

Saturday afternoon transitioned into Saturday night as smoothly as Kentucky transitions from an Anthony Davis block to the fast break. In the process, we saw Michigan State defend like crazy at Ohio State, Creighton take a beatdown by Wichita State and the aforementioned Wildcats again assert their dominance, this time at Vanderbilt. That and more in the evening edition of What We Learned.

[Editor's note: For recaps of all the afternoon games, click here.]

No. 12 Michigan State 58, No. 3 Ohio State 48: As far back as August, Tom Izzo -- in typical Izzonian fashion -- proclaimed far and wide how much he loved his team. Not necessarily because he knew the Spartans would be good or because he knew they would keep getting better (although he often seemed to assume as much), but because this Michigan State team, perhaps more than any other in recent years, does the two things Izzo seems to value most: It rebounds. It defends.

The Spartans began Saturday allowing the fourth-fewest points per possession in the country (adjusted, per Ken Pomeroy). They also ranked in the top 10 in both relevant rebounding categories, chasing down 39.9 percent of their misses on offense and yielding second chances on just 26.1 percent of opponents' possessions. Throw in the focused vocal leadership of forward Draymond Green, the back-from-the-dead reclamation of Derrick Nix, one of the toughest point guards in the country in Keith Appling and a batch of dedicated supporting pieces, and, well, no wonder Izzo loves this team. Compared to last season's incoherent, apathetic bunch, he must occasionally feel like he's coaching an entirely different game.

For as consistently as Michigan State has demonstrated those qualities throughout this season, never have they been more clear than Saturday night. Izzo's team held the third-ranked Buckeyes -- in Columbus, mind you -- to a mere .75 points per trip. How? How do you stop a team with so many weapons, with one of the best forwards in the country anchoring it all, in a building where it has won 39 in a row? The Spartans know how: You scrap. You claw. You fight. You make everything difficult for that team's best player. You frustrate him at every turn.

Jared Sullinger was, of course, the focal point of MSU's defensive strategy, and it worked. Sullinger still scored 17 points and grabbed 16 boards, but he needed a 5-of-15 performance to get there, and he committed 10 turnovers in the process. (The 17-16-10 is the first turnover-laden triple-double of the college basketball season, per ESPN Stats & Info. Former Buck Evan Turner had two of them in his final season. The Evan Turner Special lives!) Sullinger was noticeably frustrated throughout the game, arguing for fouls (sometimes rightly, oftentimes wrongly) and forcing shots into the teeth of State's interior defense, anchored brilliantly by forward Adreian Payne (who was also 6-of-6 from the field).

The performance reminded me of Ohio State's loss to Kentucky in last season's Sweet 16, when UK forward Josh Harrellson harassed and harangued Sullinger into a performance far below his usual standards. Harrellson was one of the few players in the country with the size and strength to hold his ground against Sully's girth. Nearly a year later, Payne and Nix demonstrated the same abilities. It's a testament to Sullinger's ability that he still grabbed 16 rebounds, eight of them offensive, but every putback was challenged, every touch contested, every dribble met with reaching slaps.

Sullinger didn't get much help from his teammates. William Buford and Deshaun Thomas combined to shoot 4-of-24 (!!), Aaron Craft was 3-of-7, and all told, the Buckeyes shot 2-of-15 from beyond the arc and 26 percent overall -- its third-worst shooting performance of the past 15 years. Yikes.

The Spartans weren't great on offense (.91 points per trip). Ohio State's defense is its best quality, and the Buckeyes were again good on that end of the floor. But Michigan State didn't have to light it up to get this victory. When you defend this well, when you execute your defensive game plan this perfectly, when you thoroughly dominate one of the nation's elite teams in its own building, you don't have to put up points in bunches to get the job done. No team in the country this season has posted 40 minutes of defense this strong against a team this good.

So, yeah, Tom Izzo loves this team. Can you blame him?

No. 1 Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 63: You have to hand it to the Commodores: They didn't go away.

That's the biggest positive Kevin Stallings' team can draw from this loss. From the opening tip, UK's brilliant defense was again, well, brilliant. As late as the 4:42 mark in the first half, Vanderbilt had scored just 13 points. The Commodores finished the first half with a whopping 23 as Kentucky led by 13. Terrence Jones was engaged. Anthony Davis was dominant. As it has so often in the past three weeks, John Calipari's team appeared ready to roll to another very impressive SEC victory. Ho and hum.

Then, only a few moments into the second half, things just sort of ... opened up. The Dores not only started finding open shots, they started making them. Brad Tinsley, Jeffery Taylor and John Jenkins came alive on the perimeter, while Festus Ezeli started finishing things down low. Soon -- almost before you knew it -- what "GameDay" host Rece Davis called Kentucky's "aura of invincibility" fell away. By the 8:26 mark in the second half, the Commodores led 55-51, the culmination of a 32-17 run.

They would score just eight more points the rest of the game. No one could have known it at the time, but Tinsley's jumper at the 4:09 mark would be Vanderbilt's last bucket of the day. Just as soon as VU had opened the game with solid man offense, crisp passing and accurate shooting, Kentucky shut it down. Davis recorded four blocks in the final seven minutes of the game; he finished with seven total. One of the major themes of the broadcast was Calipari's stated desire to see his team challenged, to see how it would respond. The Wildcats were. Vanderbilt kept swinging. Kentucky took Vandy's best punch. It absorbed a combo or two. And then, as all great fighters do, it emerged stronger and stronger as the game wore on. If Calipari wanted to see how his team would react to a challenge, he had to be thrilled with the result.

Kentucky played a solid, experienced team. It played said solid, experienced team in said team's unique building, with its weird sight lines and elevated court and baseline benches. It did so in front of a crowd that had spent all day goosed by "GameDay," hyped for the glorious chance at knocking off No. 1, something this school has done six times over the years. It didn't matter. Kentucky went 3-of-14 from 3. And it still emerged unscathed.

If Christian Watford's last-second shot doesn't fall in Assembly Hall on Dec. 10 -- back when Kentucky was still figuring things out -- the Cats are undefeated and we're talking less about this sudden surge of brilliance than whether UK could make it to the NCAA tournament with an unbeaten record. This team is one shot -- one 10-second defensive breakdown -- away from legendary comparisons.

Oh, well. As it is, Calipari's team is rounding into one of the most complete -- if not the most complete -- of his career. Davis is a transcendent force anchoring a team with zero defensive holes. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the best two-way players in the country. Jones can dominate when he wants. Doron Lamb is a lights-out shooter. Darius Miller is an underrated offensive presence and an all-around glue guy extraordinaire.

There's a reason this team is awash in that so-called aura of invincibility. The Wildcats aren't actually invincible, of course. But right now, they're the closest thing going.

Wichita State 89, No. 15 Creighton 68: When you've got a national player of the year candidate ripping through each and every opposing defense he sees with a rare blend of volume and efficiency, it's easy to disguise your team's warts. After Wichita State's end-to-end dismantling of the Bluejays on Saturday, those warts are now fully exposed.

The score line tells the story here, but it's nothing new: Creighton is, at best, a fairly mediocre defensive team. The Bluejays entered this Valley showdown ranked No. 119 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, per Pomeroy. They force turnovers on just 16.3 percent of their defensive possessions, which ranks them No. 336 out of 345 Division I teams. This so-so defense has been hidden well all season because Creighton outscores everybody. Doug McDermott and company have the nation's highest effective field goal percentage and its sixth-most efficient offense overall. But in the past three games -- losses to Northern Iowa, Evansville and now Wichita State -- the Bluejays' offense has suddenly cooled off. Creighton's effective field goal percentage figures in its past three games are 46.5, 44.2 and 44.7 percent.

And therein lies Saturday's problem: Wichita State is not a one-way team. Rather, Gregg Marshall's squad combines excellent defense (KenPom rank: No. 26) with efficient offense (KenPom: No. 11), tops in MVC play in both metrics. Despite their hugely impressive per-possession stats, the Shockers have flown below the radar recently thanks in large part to that triple-overtime loss at Drake in late January. But in basically every other Valley affair, even the 68-61 loss at home to Creighton in this series' first game, the Shockers have been comprehensively good.

Does that mean Wichita is 21 points better than Creighton, home, away or neutral? No. Is its offense as good as the 1.4 points per trip it poured in Saturday night? Probably not. But this lopsided result in front of a huge crowd in Omaha does reveal some notable truths about both teams. For Creighton, it laid bare just how important the Jays' offense is to their chances of making a run in the NCAA tournament; it's no coincidence this three-game losing streak came in three mediocre shooting performances. Greg McDermott's team can't afford to miss shots, because it can't get the stops it needs to keep things close.

For Wichita State, well, if you didn't know, now you know: The Shockers are good. Not "dangerous." Not "plucky." Just flat-out good.

Temple 85, Xavier 72: If you're still waiting for a team to round into its full form on Feb. 11, there's a good chance you'll still be waiting on March 11. That appears to be the case with Xavier. The Musketeers haven't been bad in Atlantic 10 play -- they ranked fourth in A-10 efficiency margin as of this week -- but they haven't been particularly good, let alone their usual brand of good, the one that led them to a 15-1 league record last season. Instead, these Musketeers are just sort of, well, mediocre.

Which is to take nothing away from Temple, which blitzed Chris Mack's team early and never looked back. Guard Ramone Moore went off, scoring 30 points on 9-of-16 from the field, while Khalif Wyatt put up 18 points, four assists and three steals, and Micheal Eric contributed 11 points and 16 rebounds. The Owls' backcourt is the undisputed strength of the team, and Fran Dunphy's squad continues to look more and more like the A-10's clear favorite each time that backcourt makes life so difficult for opponents on both ends of the floor. Temple is alone atop the league at 8-2.

The contrast between these two teams is glaring. One is whole, complete, playing its best basketball at the right time. The other is scattershot, struggling, not bad but far worse than it has any right to be, given its talent. The temptation to connect X's continued struggles to the Dec. 10 brawl is worth resisting here. Does it play a part? Maybe. Has guard Mark Lyons (who didn't start) been unpredictable and frustrating since? Oh yeah. But at this point, it's also possible Xavier just wasn't all that good in the first place. Whatever the reasons, the Musketeers -- perennial NCAA tournament fixtures -- are running out of time to figure it out.

A few more observations from the night of hoops:

• Harvard's preordained run to its first NCAA tournament in decades -- the Crimson are clearly the best team in the Ivy League and were the heaviest of favorites to win it outright -- got just a little shakier Saturday night. Tommy Amaker's team fell to the old-world perennial Ivy favorite, Princeton, 70-62. It's a sign of Harvard's changed status that Princeton students -- who are fans of a program that is the historical Ivy elite, and which just beat one of the league's longtime losers -- rushed the court after their team's 23rd consecutive home victory over the Crimson. Despite the loss, Harvard's chances of winning the league are still very good. Its schedule -- which features Yale, Princeton and Penn at home before a season-ending two-game road swing at Columbia and Cornell -- is a major advantage. Plus, the No. 21 Crimson still own a one-game lead in the standings. But they will be eager to avoid any further slip-ups. If they end up in another one-game tiebreak (the Ivy League awards its NCAA tournament bid to the regular-season winner), anything can happen. Amaker's bunch, which lost its trip to the tourney to Princeton on a tiebreak buzzer-beater last season, knows all too well what can happen when you leave the preordained to chance.
• We let this one slip by in the afternoon frenzy, but Mississippi State's loss to Georgia probably deserves a mention. The Bulldogs were undone by freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's big-time step-back 3 in overtime (not to mention his other 17 points and eight rebounds), and hey, yeah, sometimes you take a tough OT loss. But Mississippi State's inconsistency is a bad sign for a team with major tournament aspirations. Not a good performance at all.
• Southern Miss held on for a 78-74 home victory over UCF, yet another gritty, close win in a Golden Eagles season full of them. Don't look now, but Southern Miss is 21-4 on the season with a top-15 RPI. Wednesday night's loss at UAB is certainly a black mark -- especially considering the Blazers lost by 34 to Memphis on Saturday night -- but other than that, this team has a shockingly strong at-large case. Larry Eustachy is reborn!
• Phil Martelli's team picked up another A-10 home win, as Saint Joseph's took down upstart UMass 73-62 and damaged the Minutemen's outside chances of an at-large bid. Massachusetts could have gone to 8-3 with a win. Instead, it moves backward, into the thick of the league's muddled middle, alongside the Hawks and many others.
• If there is any justice in the world, tiny Wabash College will find its way to the "SportsCenter" top plays in the coming days. Why? Because of Aaron Zinnerman's shot, one of the more insane and unlikely you'll ever see. The YouTube clip is here. Enjoy. (Important correction! This post incorrectly cited Wabash as the alma mater of Butler coach Brad Stevens. Rather, as numerous alums have informed me, Stevens actually went to rival DePauw. I always mistake the two, but nonetheless regret the error. My bad, everyone.)

1. Good to see the variety on the Bob Cousy point guard of the year finalists list. Five of the 11 finalists are from conferences outside the power six and all are deserving with a legit chance to win the award. The 11 finalists are: Scott Machado (Iona), Phil Pressey (Missouri), Kendall Marshall (North Carolina), Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin), Pierre Jackson (Baylor), Casper Ware (Long Beach State), Aaron Craft (Ohio State), Damian Lillard (Weber State), Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Matthew Dellavedova (Saint Mary’s) and Isaiah Canaan (Murray State). But overall this may be the weakest NBA-ready point guard year we’ve seen in some time.

2. Two of the most prophetic coaches in the preseason were Southern Miss’ Larry Eustachy and La Salle’s John Giannini. Both coaches told me they had teams that could make a run, and possibly their best teams. Yet, both lost key players. The more believable was Southern Miss. Still, the Golden Eagles had to go out and prove it. They have. USM gave Murray State its toughest game of the season in the Great Alaska Shootout and after snapping an 18-game losing streak to Memphis on Wednesday, they are alone atop CUSA at 7-1. Meanwhile, La Salle beat Charlotte to stay a half-game ahead of Temple in the A-10 title chase at 6-2.

3. Once Fab Melo is back with Syracuse (per Syracuse Post-Standard) for Saturday’s game at St. John’s, the top four contenders for the national title will be set. A Big 12 champ will have a strong argument to make, but heading into February it looks like Kentucky, Syracuse, Ohio State and North Carolina are the favorites for the national title. That doesn’t mean all will be in New Orleans or No. 1 seeds (although I find it hard to believe that Kentucky, Syracuse and OSU won’t be No. 1 seeds). And no team probably, outside of UNC, could still be a national title contender after losing two preseason perimeter rotation players to injuries (Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald).

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

Southern Miss 78, UCF 65
Neil Watson (23) and Darnell Dodson (22) each scored more than 20 points off of the Southern Miss bench. They are the first pair of teammates this season to eclipse the 20-point mark off the bench in the same game. By the way, USM's entire starting lineup combined to score 27 points.

Colorado State 77, San Diego State 60
Colorado State hit all 23 of its free throws, matching the most free throws by a team without a miss this season (Jackson State, Jan. 21 vs. Grambling).

Tennessee State 91, Eastern Kentucky 85 (2 OT)
Eastern Kentucky’s Mike DiNunno and Jason Jones scored 33 and 30 points, respectively, in the Colonels’ double-overtime loss. They are the third pair of teammates to score at least 30 in a game this season (all three needed overtime to do so), but the first to lose. The last team to lose despite having two 30-point scorers was DePaul in the 2009 Big East tournament against Providence.

Saint Mary’s 80, BYU 66
Saint Mary’s won easily despite having four players commit at least five turnovers. It’s the first time this season four players on the same team each turned it over five times.

Wyoming 75, Boise State 64
Wyoming missed a total of 15 field goals and free throw attempts, the fewest number of misses by any team this season. Our trillions of the night also came from this game: Arthur Bouedo and Rob Watsabaugh of Wyoming played 6 and 5 minutes, respectively, without accumulating a stat. They are the sixth pair of teammates this season to pull off that feat, but the first to do it in a win.

Southern Utah 62, South Dakota 60
Southern Utah missed all four of its 3-point attempts in Saturday’s win. It is the 14th time this season a team has won without making a 3 and the third time the Thunderbirds have done so. No other team in the country has done it more than once. It’s also the 18th time a team has won while taking five or fewer 3s, and again Southern Utah is the only team in the country to do it more than once; the Thunderbirds have done it seven times.

As good as the afternoon was, with exciting upsets and huge road wins over top-five teams, the evening may have matched it in the vital FOPM statistical category. (FOPM stands for freak outs per minute. It's a tempo-adjusted metric, naturally.) Let's lead with what may be the result of the day -- Syracuse's very first loss of the season, at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame 67, No. 1 Syracuse 58

What we learned: Nobody's perfect. OK, yeah, Murray State is still perfect, but you get the drift: Everyone loses eventually. Sooner or later, the Orange were going to have a particularly bad shooting night. Sooner or later, they were going to struggle on the road. Sooner or later, they were going to do these things against a coach and a team that had designed the perfect gameplan to take advantage of this opportunity. As it happens, that coach was Mike Brey. That team was Notre Dame.

Of course, the Fighting Irish don't have a tenth of the talent available to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. What do the Irish have? The Burn. That's what Brey calls his team's intentionally slow, clock-killing offense, and while it isn't always the preferred strategy in South Bend, it is something the Irish keep in their back pocket when they find themselves facing a bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled, pretty-much-all-around-better opponent.

Indeed, as ESPN's Doris Burke noted late in the game, the Irish played a sort of semi-burn Saturday night. They lulled the Cuse into seven fewer possessions (61) than its average adjusted tempo (68) on the season (including a handful of late heaves when the game was out of reach), but ND was also opportunistic: When it broke SU's press, it didn't always pull out and set up the halfcourt offense. It was a clinic in opportunistic decision-making. (At one point, it ended in a contested fast-break dunk by Jack Cooley. Jack Cooley? Jack Cooley!)

Syracuse, being Syracuse, still managed to force a mess of turnovers. At several points in the second half, as Notre Dame forward Scott Martin struggled time after time to inbound the ball on his own baseline, it appeared the Irish were just a few possessions away from a late collapse. But the Orange's poor shooting (they posted a 40.0 effective field goal percentage) and ND's solid free throw shooting sealed this game in the closing moments.

Burke called it a "masterful" gameplan from Brey and, as usual, she was dead on: Notre Dame knew exactly what it needed to do to take a walk through any door Syracuse left ajar. When the time came, it executed.

Going forward, this loss may knock Syracuse out of the top spot in the rankings, but it shouldn't change the perception of this team much. First of all, the absence of leading rebounder and shot-blocker Fab Melo (due to an unresolved academic issue from the fall semester) was a blow to this team's inherent interior advantage. Second, Syracuse didn't shoot the ball well. Frankly, it didn't play well. Overreact if you like, but it's the opinion of this writer that, well, hey, these games happen.

For Syracuse, it was bound to go this way eventually. When it did, the Irish were ready.

No. 15 Mississippi State 78, Vanderbilt 77 (OT)

What we learned: The Commodores will struggle with capable frontcourts. They struggle late in close games. They struggle on the defensive end. They are, in other words, the same Vanderbilt Commodores we've come to know and love in each of the past three seasons. Their recent improvements created the notion that this team had turned some vague corner, that it was finally ready to assume the top-10, Final Four-worthy preseason expectations foisted upon them.

Instead, on Saturday, we saw the team that led us to doubt that status in the first place. Vandy yielded a 12-point second-half lead, allowed Mississippi State to score 1.14 points per possession and got vastly outrebounded on both ends of the floor. In the end, even with very good chances to win the game -- particularly the final shot in regulation, which ended up being an uncontested four-foot shot for Festus Ezeli (which he missed) -- Vanderbilt just couldn't make the key defensive plays.

In the meantime, Mississippi State deserves credit for a major road win. Forward Arnett Moultrie was brilliant (21 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, one block) and guard Dee Bost was just as good (24 points, five rebounds, four assists and a handful of key second-half shots). Even Renardo Sidney, who struggled for much of the game and suffered an injury in overtime, got in on the act, hitting a monster 3 with 1:22 remaining in the second half.

Three days ago, the Bulldogs went to rival Ole Miss and lost and looked vulnerable -- even downright overrated -- throughout. Their ability to rebound from that loss with a win on the road against a streaking Vanderbilt team, one that had won its past eight games -- including on the road at Alabama -- is to be commended. Surprising stuff, to say the least.

No. 12 UNLV 80, New Mexico 63

What we learned: UNLV is still the Mountain West favorite. Yes, yes, San Diego State certainly has a claim to that distinction, too, especially since its first two conference results -- a two-point home win over the Rebels and an incredibly impressive road win at New Mexico -- were among the most impressive back-to-back performances we've seen from any team in any league this season. New Mexico is no slouch, either. Before Wednesday's loss to SDSU, the Lobos had won 13 in a row. There are three very good teams in the MWC, folks. That much we know.

Then again, I'd say we knew that already. The main takeaway from Saturday night's best late-night matchup -- and this is a good old-fashioned eye-test thing to say, but I'm doing it anyway -- is that UNLV just looks like the best team in this league. The Rebels have few, if any, holes in their attack. They have talented players at every position. Their guards push the pace; their forwards run to the rim; their wings hit 3s with ease. Anthony Marshall, Chace Stanback, Mike Moser, Oscar Bellfield and even reserves like Carlos Lopez and Justin Hawkins -- these players are perfectly suited to Dave Rice's new emphasis on uptempo basketball, and when you watch them play, it shows.

The Mountain West race is going to be fascinating, and we'll hear more from the Lobos -- and, of course, the league-leading Aztecs -- before the season is out. Sure, I'd take UNLV as the favorite. But whatever happens, if two of these three teams are playing, it promises to be very entertaining.

A few more observations from the Saturday evening that was:

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AP Photo/Keith SrakocicPitt lost its ninth game Saturday, matching the highest season loss total of Jamie Dixon's tenure.
• Bad times got worse for Pittsburgh on Saturday night, as the Panthers fell to No. 21 Louisville at home, 73-62. In case you're counting, that's Pitt's eighth straight loss and seventh in a row in Big East play ... for the first time in Pitt hoops history. Ouch. Even worse? According to ESPN Stats and Information, this is the first time Pitt has lost four straight home games since 1999-2000. The loss is also Pitt's ninth this season. Jamie Dixon-coached Pittsburgh teams have never recorded more than nine losses in a regular season. There are myriad issues afflicting the Panthers right now, chief among them defense, but it's hard to see any major improvements coming any time soon. If this wasn't a lost season already, it is now.
• Neither VCU nor Old Dominion are likely to end up with a chance at an at-large bid come March, but their meeting tonight was still full of implications for the CAA title race. Before Saturday, ODU was 6-1 in conference and VCU 5-2, both right there hanging around with George Mason and Drexel in the Colonial standings. In other words, Virginia Commonwealth got a rather massive 61-48 win, handling the lackluster Monarchs rather easily at home. Shaka Smart's team is still rebuilding after last year's miracle NCAA tournament run, but they're not nearly as far down as most would have expected. Keep your eye on the Rams.
• The C-USA race is going to be interesting. Marshall appeared to have the best odds to challenge Memphis' purported superiority, with Southern Miss a notch or two below -- a dark horse at best. After Saturday -- when Southern Miss topped Marshall and tied the Thundering Herd at 4-1 in league play -- it seems clear things aren't quite that simple. There are no remaining unbeaten teams in the league, with UCF at 5-1 and Memphis, Marshall and USM all now residing in second place at 4-1.
• I don't know if we'll call the Pac-12 race "interesting." "Mystifying" feels more appropriate. Either way, consider what went down in the conference Saturday: Cal fell at Washington State (not an unforgiveable loss, given how well Wazzu has played at home, but still) just as the Bears appeared set, thanks to a blowout Stanford loss at Washington, to create some separation between themselves and the rest of the league. Meanwhile UCLA -- which keeps struggling, week after week, to sort things out -- fell on the road at Oregon, which is now 6-2 and tied atop the league standings. Elsewhere, lowly Utah not only didn't lose, but actually blew out Arizona State in Salt Lake City; and Colorado held on for a one-point home win over Arizona. Those Pac-12 power rankings are going to be a bear to write. I can't wait.
• Two results from the West that shouldn't be dismissed. Long Beach State, a team that played perhaps the most grueling nonconference schedule in the country, continues to see the dividends from that gauntlet. On the road Saturday night, LBSU went into the Thunderdome and absolutely obliterated chief rival UC Santa Barbara, 71-48, the talented squad that's beaten the 49ers in the Big West final in each of the past two seasons. And in Laramie, Wyoming beat rival Colorado State -- which had won eight straight -- 70-51 to improve to 16-3. Yes, 16-3. What a job by first-year coach Larry Shyatt. And what a performance by USC transfer Leonard Washington, who set career highs in points (32) and rebounds (14).
• As for the momentum Nebraska created with that dramatic victory over Indiana on Wednesday? Ohio State did not seem to care. Buckeyes 79, Huskers 45. So much for that.

1. Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy boasted that he has his best team yet with the 9-2 Golden Eagles. It’s still hard to project if that is true. But adding Kentucky transfer guard Darnell Dodson in the past week will certainly help, especially when Dodson goes for 17 points while Angelo Johnson went 1 for 12 in a punch-marred (Torye Pelham and ASU’s Ruslan Pateev were ejected for fighting) last-second win for the Eagles at Arizona State. Dodson hit the winning 3-pointer in the final possession. Eustachy said there was no way he could have predicted Dodson would be that productive since had practiced just two days in the last 10 months. “It was unbelievable,’’ Eustachy said.

2. LSU (8-3) is not a fluke. The Tigers were the better team in Baton Rouge, at least for one night, against potential Big East champion Marquette. “They are a very good defensive team and they have four quality big guys and if their guards are making shots they can beat a lot of teams,’’ said Marquette associate head coach Tony Benford. “They are very physical and they do a great job on the offensive glass.’’ Remember, Trent Johnson didn’t have the same talent after his first year in Baton Rouge. He didn’t forget how to coach at LSU after being a success at Nevada and Stanford. LSU’s next big challenge is hosting Virginia on Jan. 2.

3. The decision by Miami to let DeQuan Jones play should help clear former Miami coach and current Missouri coach Frank Haith of any knowledge of wrongdoing. Haith has denied knowing about any alleged payments to a Jones rep by former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro -- allegations that were published in a Yahoo! Sports report. Jones was initially held out by the school during the NCAA and Miami investigation as a result of the report. Jones being cleared to play doesn’t mean the investigation is over since the football and basketball cases are being folded into one. But if Jones is cleared to play without any fear that Miami would have to forfeit games, that could mean the case could be soft against him. No one at Missouri has been worried that there is any reason to believe Haith will suffer a penalty based on the investigation, according to a source.

It wasn't quite Cincinnati-Xavier, thankfully, but Arizona State and Southern Miss became the second set of opponents in two weeks to spend at least some portion of their on-court time trading shots to the face and/or head.

It started with 12:14 remaining in Monday night's game — a 64-61 road win for Southern Miss — when Eagles guard LaShay Page drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 34-34. In the ensuing clash under the rim, Southern Miss's Torye Pelham and Arizona State's Ruslan Pateev were tangled up and rustling for position when Pelham somewhat sneakily punched Pateev in the face. The blow didn't seem that impactful, but Pateev certainly didn't like it; he turned upcourt to chase Pelham, at which point Pateev slugged his opponent in the back of the head.

You can see the whole exchange — which begins at around the :30 second mark — here:



Both players were ejected and will be suspended for at least one game, as is the NCAA's policy. It will be interesting to see if either play draws a longer suspension from his school, though. You could certainly argue that sucker punches (whether aimed at the face or, less intelligently, at the back of an opponents' cranium) are worth missing more than one game. In any case, let's be glad this "brawl" was slightly more run of the mill — and certainly not nearly as dramatic or overwrought — as the one that tainted Xavier's win against Cincinnati two weeks ago.

That was next-level stupidity. This is merely garden variety. But neither brand is recommended.

Before we get to the Blue Ribbon team-by-team previews for Conference USA, here is Eamonn Brennan's one-minute wind sprint through the league:



Blue Ribbon's in-depth previews of all 12 C-USA teams:

East Carolina
Houston
Marshall
Memphis
Rice
SMU
Southern Miss
Tulane
Tulsa
UAB
UCF
UTEP

More C-USA content:

-- Memphis coach Josh Pastner claims Marshall should be Conference USA favorite. In his Daily Word, Andy Katz examines the Herd's rising expectations.
-- Eamonn Brennan shares his Five Things I Can't Wait To See in C-USA.
-- Jay Bilas examines five burning questions in the league.
-- Dave Telep gives a lowdown on the recruiting picture in Conference USA.
-- Let's take a team-by-team look at the league's nonconference schedules.
-- Katz checks in with a unique pair of assistants at Memphis: Damon Stoudamire and a locked-out Luke Walton.
-- For more coverage of Conference USA in the Nation blog, click here.

From start to finish, Saturday was a day of missed opportunities. How so? Through this evening, seven teams -- six of them unranked, all seven of them on the road -- blew considerable second-half leads on the way to come-from-ahead losses. From the fine folks at ESPN Research, who manage to deliver handy little info-blurbs like this even as their brains are swarmed with NFL minutiae:

• Maryland led by 12 at No. 7 Villanova
• Northwestern led by eight at No. 24 Michigan State
• Nebraska led by 10 at No. 3 Kansas
• Virginia led by 10 at No. 1 Duke
• Vanderbilt led by 17 at Tennessee
• No. 12 Missouri led by 12 at No. 13 Texas A&M
• Marquette led by 18 at No. 17 Louisville

In the end, only South Carolina -- which won 72-69 at Florida on Saturday afternoon -- prevented its arguably superior foe from coming all the way back and stealing the win late. Throw in Penn State's near-miss at Ohio State and the list of teams that blew chances at marquee résumé wins only grows.

Last Saturday gave us the attack of the conference upsets. This Saturday was an onslaught of missed chances and unrequited upsets.

Of course, any day with -- count 'em -- 143 games isn't defined by just one theme. In no particular order, here's a look at the more intriguing outcomes from Saturday afternoon's late games. (For an early-afternoon recap, merely scroll down the page. Or, you know, click here.)

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  AP Photo/Terry GilliamJared Sullinger and the Buckeyes slipped past Penn State on Saturday, winning 69-66 to remain undefeated.
  No. 2 Ohio State 69, Penn State 66: Both teams' recent MO's emerged in this game, which, but for Jared Sullinger's monster 3-point play with 13 seconds left, would have been the biggest upset of the day (and, for that matter, in recent PSU history). How so? Penn State entered the game having upset its previous two ranked opponents -- Michigan State and Illinois -- in conference play. Ohio State entered the game having struggled to bury away inferior teams; the Buckeyes' last three games were wins over Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa by a combined margin of 12 points. So maybe it wasn't a surprise that this Penn State team hung with Ohio State for all 40 minutes Saturday afternoon. At this point, Big Ten foes ought to fear the Nittany Lions any time Talor Battle and his suddenly resurgent supporting cast take the floor. That's a little bit weird, considering this Penn State team lost to Ole Miss, Maine, Virginia Tech and Maryland, a game that saw Penn State score 39 points (!) at home (!!) in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Maybe, just maybe, the Nittany Lions can make a run. At the very least, they're as dangerous as any previously struggling high-major team in the country. (And yes, I just made that category up. Just go with it.) And Ohio State? Much like the team one bullet-point below, the Buckeyes just keep skating away with near-miss victories. At some point -- at home vs. a team that lost by 10 to Maine, for starters -- you'd like to see your likely new No. 1 be a little more dominant, no?
• No. 3 Kansas 63, Nebraska 60: This game was mentioned above, and for good reason -- Nebraska yielded a 10-point lead that allowed Kansas to steal its 69th straight win at Allen Fieldhouse -- but it bears further consideration if only to inform everyone, if college basketball fans weren't aware already, that this Nebraska team is much better at basketball than anyone expected. Why? Because the Cornhuskers defend. Coming into Saturday's game, Nebraska's was the No. 13-ranked defense in adjusted efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy. No, not No. 13 in the Big 12. (Wait, what?) That rank is national, folks. Doc Sadler's team makes life difficult for opponents in nearly every aspect of defensive basketball. The Huskers foul infrequently, force their opponents into misses and prevent opponents from rebounding those misses under the rim. No, Kansas shouldn't be winning by three at home against this team, but this win was just as much about Nebraska's defensive excellence as it was the Jayhawks. Something to keep in mind as the Big 12 season moves forward. Meanwhile KU, like Ohio State, continues to barely survive close tests at home and on the road. The Jayhawks' and Buckeyes' ability to win close games like this is, in its own way, impressive. But it can't -- and won't -- last forever.
• No. 6 San Diego State 87, New Mexico 77: This is an impressive performance in any context. Given how the aforementioned unbeatens fared today, San Diego State's dominant win at New Mexico is even more worthy of our praise. In a week that featured Duke's loss to Florida State and two marginal near-misses apiece for OSU and KU, you have to appreciate the Aztecs' ability to just keep rolling along. This game was close until the half. That's when SDSU opened up a 17-point lead, and taking both New Mexico's famed Pit crowd and Steve Alford's overmatched team out of the game in one fell swoop. The Lobos may not be as good as they were last year, but this is still a talented team that boasts one of the toughest home court atmospheres in the country. San Diego State had no problem with either. Throw in the Aztecs' grind-it-out win over UNLV on Wednesday, and -- with apologies to the Syracuse Orange, who suffered none of Kansas and Ohio State's affliction in two dominant wins this week -- the award for Most Impressive Week By An Unbeaten Team goes to, you guessed it, the Aztecs.
• No. 21 Wisconsin 76, No. 16 Illinois 66: Another top Big Ten opponent, another ho-hum home victory for the Wisconsin Badgers. Jay Bilas incisively described this game on "GameDay" this morning, when he responded to a request for his prediction with "The game is at the Kohl Center. Enough said." (I'm paraphrasing, but that was basically it.) With their low turnover, high-efficiency offense, the Badgers are hard enough to beat when they're in your building. When they're at home, they're practically unbeatable. Jon Leuer scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds, the Badgers didn't turn the ball over, like, ever and Wisconsin made 34 of its 41 free-throw attempts -- Mike Kitts and crew called a combined 54 fouls in this one -- to build their an unclimbable edge over Demetri McCamey and company. In other words: ho hum.
• Iowa State 72, Baylor 57: Nebraska isn't the only team in the Big 12 playing surprisingly well, nor is it the only team doing so thanks to inspired defense. That's a pretty good description of the Iowa State Cyclones, too. Both teams have stingy defensive personalities, but the Cyclones back up their defense with a little bit of offense, too, and therein lies the reason for today's "upset" win over Baylor. You might have noticed the word "upset" in scare quotes in that last sentence. Why? Because I'm not sure this Baylor team can consider itself all that much better than the likes of Iowa State at this point in the season. After all, the Bears -- despite all that talent, including guard LaceDarius Dunn and possible No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Perry Jones -- have yet to beat anyone with a chance of making the NCAA tournament this season. Baylor flubbed its soft nonconference schedule, and its two season-opening Big 12 wins came against Texas Tech and Oklahoma, the two worst teams in the conference to date. The minute the Bears got into a road environment against an even marginal team, and guess what happened? Exactly. So is this an upset? Actually, who cares? Let's forget the semantics and just say this: Iowa State, a team many expected to be one of the worst in major-conference basketball this season, has already far exceeded those expectations. And the Bears, a team many thought could get back to the Elite Eight this season, have done nothing to justify theirs.
• Southern Miss 86, No. 22 UCF 69: Another game like this, and we might have to start sounding the Drudge-esque "pretender" siren every time we talk about the UCF Knights. After a 14-0 start, Central Florida has now lost two in a row. The first came at Houston last Saturday. The latest, a 17-point road blowout, came today, as former Iowa State head coach Larry Eustachy and Southern Miss got one of its biggest wins in recent program history. (According to the AP, this was the first home win over a ranked team for the Golden Eagles since -- get this -- 1986.)
• Old Dominion 75, Hofstra 64: If you don't know much about the Colonial Athletic Association, you probably wouldn't realize what a big win this was for Old Dominion. But this conference is extremely competitive -- Hofstra, nobody's pick to come out of the league this season, was 5-0 in conference play coming into Saturday's game -- and the Monarchs will have to be on their toes nearly every time they go on the road the rest of the season. Fortunately, they have players like Frank Hassell and Kent Bazemore, who combined for 36 points and 18 rebounds in today's impressive road win.