• Connecticut's recent struggles in Big East play aren't just a result of Kemba Walker not scoring as efficiently as he did during much of the non-conference season. In Tuesday night's 73-70 road loss to Notre Dame, big man Alex Oriakhi was held scoreless in 23 foul-plagued minutes, a far cry from the double-doubles he posted in Maui when the Huskies were upsetting Michigan State and Kentucky.
• Had preseason all-American guard LaceDarius Dunn erupted for 43 points and a school-record 10 three-pointers on another night, he might have received more attention. Unfortunately for the Baylor star, his scoring outburst against Morgan State on Tuesday was trumped by the 52 points put up by Lamar backup guard Mike James.
• Devoe Joseph's decision to transfer from Minnesota won't cripple the Gophers, but they'll miss his sporadic scoring outbursts and ability to create off the dribble when the half-court offense breaks down. They avoided a damaging 0-3 start in the Big Ten on Tuesday night, eking out a 67-63 home win over struggling Indiana to notch their first conference victory.
• Big 12 fans will not be hearing the baritone voice of Ron Franklin calling games on ESPN this winter. The network fired the veteran play-by-play man in the wake of his sexist, disrespectful and highly inappropriate comments to sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards at a production meeting last week.
• Undefeated Central Florida's Conference USA opener will be trickier than usual because the Knights face the team coach Donnie Jones jilted last spring. Many Marshall fans questioned Knight bolting for a fellow Conference USA team was a lateral move or not, but surely he's answered that with not only a strong start this season but also by landing elite prospects he never could have gotten at Marshall.
• Illinois coach Bruce Weber made one of the classier moves of the season when he gave courtside seats to a 16-year-old suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma and invited him into the Illini locker room after Sunday's victory over Wisconsin. "He told me that life has speed bumps, and we all have to get over them," Cameron Reicheneker told the Peoria Journal-Star. "I can make it through this tough time."
• Any road win is a good win in the Big East -- except for at DePaul. That's why West Virginia coach Bob Huggins is unlikely to be satisfied by an ugly 67-65 victory in which the Mountaineers squandered a 14-point lead and survived only after Blue Demons guard Brandon Young missed a wide-open potential game-tying jumper with three seconds to go.
• Unless a Missouri Valley team separates itself dramatically from its peers during league play, the conference is unlikely to produce a candidate for an at-large bid this season. One of the teams perhaps capable of such a run is Missouri State, which established itself as a strong challenger to Wichita State by capturing a 67-55 road win at Creighton on Tuesday night.
• The difference between Providence and an NCAA tournament contender is simply that the Friars can't seem to find a way to win the close ones. Providence squandered a late four-point lead against fifth-ranked Pittsburgh and fell 83-79 on Tuesday night, the third time in three Big East games that the Friars have come within seven points or less of toppling a team projected to finish ahead of them in the standings.
Ashley Tappin Carmen Electra Amanda Marcum Leila Arcieri Kate Mara
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