Somehow, after senior forward Tyler Griffey hit a buzzer-beating layup to defeat No. 1 Indiana 74-72, it happened for the Illini men’s basketball team.

Griffey, who was in the midst of an 0-for-20 slump from 3 and had become somewhat of a punch line as of late, rode atop shoulders on Thursday in Champaign.

Seniors Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson, questioned by many for their toughness, buried their faces in their jerseys to hide cheerful tears.

First-year head coach John Groce, who had become an expert on disappointing press conferences over the Illini’s recent dismal stretch, they’d lost six of their last seven games, led the crowd of overjoyed Illini fans in a huddle after they poured from the bleachers onto the court once Griffey’s layup fell through the net.

A season may have turned around in .9 seconds. Not an easy thing to do.

“We ran an out of bounds play — one of our standard ones that we’ve been running since the beginning of the year,” Griffey said. “I didn’t expect … (Cody) Zeller and (Christian) Watford both right in front of me, and I kind of went through them. They both stayed there.”

Illinois was down as much as 14 in the second half Thursday, but Groce’s team fought back with a 12-2 run to close the game, something the Illini have failed at again and again over the last month.

In the end, it was Richardson who came away with a steal with less than eight seconds remaining.

National Defensive Player of the Year candidate Victor Oladipo chased him down the court and swatted the ball out of bounds on Richardson’s layup attempt with less than a second remaining in the game. Then came the inbound. Griffey snuck behind Indiana big men Zeller and Watford, Paul found him on a pass from the baseline, and the rest is history.

But the Illini never would have been in a position to win if it wasn’t for Paul and Richardson, who accounted for 10 of the Illini’s last 12 points.

Assembly Hall realized what could be possible once Richardson hit back-to-back 3’s to draw the Illini within two with 2:04 remaining and then hitting the tying jumper with just over a minute left in regulation.

Oladipo briefly quieted the crowd with a contested layup as the clock ticked down to :50, but the Illini put the ball in the hands of Paul, who carried them through the early part of the season.

After driving the lane and nearly completing a 3-point play, Paul headed to the free-throw line and banked-in the first attempt, rocking the Hall to its core.

“Prayer,” Groce said after the game.

“It left my hand, and I was like, ‘Good Lord,” Paul said. “But it went in and I was like, ‘All right, let me calm down.’ D.J. just told me, ‘You’ve been here before.’ It got me back. If you noticed, I had a lot of fun this game.”

Paul drained the second attempt to  tie the game. The Illini’s final defensive stand ended with the ball in Richardson’s hands, flying down the court with seconds remaining.

Illinois stayed with Indiana through much of the first half until it looked like the wheels had finally fallen off against the nation’s top-ranked team. The Illini had blown strong early first-half efforts just in losses to Wisconsin and Michigan, and Thursday was no different. Indiana headed into the half with a 41-29 lead on the heels of a 22-10 run.

But this time, the Illini stayed even keel.

Despite its best efforts to prod at the lead in the early going of the second half, Illinois never drew the game closer than six until Richardson’s first 3 that started the run with 2:52 remaining in the game.

In the end, it was Illinois’ seniors – Griffey, Richardson and Paul, the faces of the class of 2009 – that gave it its third win over a top-ranked team in the program’s history.

The last time the Illini accomplished the feat was against Wake Forest on Dec. 1, 2004, and Michigan State on Jan. 11, 1979, before then.

“We were basically telling each other, ‘We’re not done yet, we’ve been through a tough stretch,’” Paul said. “The fact that we all contributed, the seniors that came in at the same time, I think it says a lot about our character.”

Paul and Griffey were both in a rut entering Thursday’s game. After much discussion among the two and Richardson about not going down with a fight, Paul texted Griffey on Wednesday with two words: “Make shots.”

Griffey arguably made the biggest shot of his life on Thursday, and now everything’s in play again. Because of those .9 seconds.

On the possession after getting stripped by opposing point guard Aaron Craft, sophomore Trey Burke blocked Craft’s would-be go-ahead jumper with just nine seconds left. Freshman forward Glenn Robinson III hit one of his two free throws, and with less than three seconds to play, junior Tim Hardaway Jr. blocked a Craft layup to secure the 76-74 win for the No. 3 Michigan basketball team.

Controversy immediately ensued, as many, including Hardaway, thought Craft was fouled on the last play, which would’ve sent him to the line with a chance to send the game into double overtime.

“I thought Trey fouled him, and I thought the whistle was going to blow, and I just went for the ball,” Hardaway said. “I saw the ball in my face, so I just wrapped it up and probably got his arm or something like that, but it’s up to the refs to make that call, and they let it go.”

Burke opened overtime doing what he couldn’t do in the closing seconds of regulation. The point guard, who missed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end regulation, knocked one down in the opening 30 seconds of overtime, which proved to be the game-winning basket.

The hard-fought battle gave Michigan coach John Beilein a win on his 60th birthday and kept the Wolverines (8-2 Big Ten, 21-2 overall) squarely in the conference title hunt. By the time Beilein addressed the media, it was past midnight and his hectic birthday was over.

“Thank God the birthday’s over, but it was a good one,” Beilein said, laughing. “This added a few more years (to my age). … That’s why the birthday thing — it’s usually in a stressful situation.

“I’m not a big birthday guy, but this was a good present.”

The teams continually traded baskets in the game’s final minutes. With just more than a minute left, Burke found freshman forward Mitch McGary wide open on the baseline to give Michigan a 72-20 lead. Ohio State tied it up on the other end when Buckeye forward LaQuinton Ross collected an offensive rebound and found Lenzelle Smith Jr. open on the perimeter for a deep two-point bucket. Burke missed a 3-pointer as regulation expired to send the game into overtime.

Burke’s miss, so similar to his miss at the buzzer in Columbus that Craft told Burke in the final moments of regulation that he was having “déjà vu,” was drawn up for the Wolverine point guard to penetrate and at least try to draw a foul.

“We settled there a little bit, but if it goes in, it looks great,” Beilein said.

After taking a one-point lead into halftime, the 10th-ranked Buckeyes’ hot shooting from the first half didn’t skip a beat. Ohio State (17-5, 7-3) built an eight-point lead in the opening seven minutes of the second stanza.

But after a three-point play from freshman forward Glenn Robinson, Hardaway took over to keep Michigan in it, scoring 15 of the Wolverines’ next 19 points — all from five-consecutive 3-point makes. With Michigan down one, redshirt sophomore Jon Horford blocked an Ohio State layup, firing up the sold-out Crisler Center heading into the official timeout.

“There were some times where we could’ve quit,” Beilein said. “There’s some times where some other teams, going way back, they just turn around (and say), ‘This is just too much. I’m getting every shot blocked, they’re getting easy baskets … it’s not our day.’ We didn’t have that at all today, and that was huge.”

Hardaway’s fourth 3-pointer, moments after play resumed, gave the Wolverines a two-point advantage, but the Buckeyes went on another run to retake the lead. The Miami native, who Burke said was “definitely the player of the game,” finished with 23 points on 6-of-9 3-point shooting.

“Some of them were heat checks,” Hardaway said. “If the ball’s going in, the ball’s going in. I can’t do nothing about it.”

Added Beilein: “He was terrific. We couldn’t dial up plays (for him) fast enough.”

Four other Wolverines — Burke, Robinson, McGary and freshman guard Nik Stauskas — registered double-digit points. Bukre finished with 16 points and eight assists, despite being seemingly stifled by Craft all night.

“Those two, you’re watching two of the finest point guards in America play against each other,” Beilein said. “Craft is like none other I’ve ever seen. … That was a great battle and they have a lot of respect for each other, too.”

Craft finished with 11 points, while DeShaun Thomas led the Buckeyes with 17 points.
McGary’s best half as a Wolverine wasn’t enough to stop Michigan from entering the locker room with just its second home halftime deficit of the year. The freshman scored a game-high 10 first-half points and pulled down five rebounds, while also recording two steals.

After Ohio State jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Michigan scored the game’s next 12 points and led by as many as 10 points, but after going 5:25 without a single field goal, the Buckeyes stormed back. With two minutes left in the period, they regained the lead, and after a Wolverine basket, the Buckeyes regained the one-point lead, 31-30, and took it into halftime.

Michigan connected on five 3-pointers in the first half but was unable to score a single point in transition. Ohio State shot 50 percent from the field, while its stifling defense blocked three shots and held Burke to just five points and two assists.

The Wolverines managed to outrebound the Buckeyes, despite getting just four minutes — all in the first half — from its regular post man, redshirt junior Jordan Morgan.

Sophomore forward Cody Zeller, with 19 points, led a balanced IU offense that saw all five starters reach double figures.

The first eight attempts for the Hoosiers, across all shooting categories, were perfect. Zeller started the party with a pair of free throws before six straight IU field goal attempts, four of them from 3-pint range, sank through the net.

Freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell was responsible for a pair of the long shots as he continues to show an improved outside jumper as the season wears on.

With a 28-13 lead less than halfway through the period, IU seemed almost too in-control before Michigan reeled off a 10-0 to close within two possessions and remind everyone of its top ranking.

Even the crowd, loud and rowdy from well before tipoff through the early scoring spree, was deflated, until a 3-pointer by senior guard Jordan Hulls injected enthusiasm back into the masses and ended the Wolverine run.

Michigan continued to chip away at the lead, though, and a 3-pointer by Trey Burke, who had 14 first-half points, cut the lead to less than five points for the first time since the opening three minutes.

The second half opened with more of the same, Michigan cutting the lead to two, then one, then a tie on consecutive possessions.

The score deadlocked for the first times since tipoff, IU reeled off another run to take a lead, scoring 11 straight points on a combination of contested jumpers and nifty moves in traffic. Junior guard Victor Oladipo’s successful and-one on an under-the-basket move and another Hulls 3-pointer seemed to give IU the momentum once again.

Much like in the first half, though, Michigan responded with a methodical run of its own to slice away at the lead, their workman-like effort cutting the lead back within two points.

IU was highlighted in the stretch with a failed alley-oop attempt from Hulls to Oladipo.

Zeller had a pair of put-back dunks to boost the lead back to six. The teams traded baskets for a few minutes, before an increasingly desperate Wolverine squad forced several shots as the IU lead built back up and time ran down.

Playing all five starters late despite the lead, IU rode out a battle of free throws to the victory and, come Monday, quite possibly the No. 1 ranking.

Despite playing without their starting center, redshirt junior Jordan Morgan, the Wolverines (7-1 Big Ten, 20-1 overall) used a high-powered attack to jump out to a 15-point halftime lead and never looked back, defeating Northwestern 68-46.

“That was huge for us,” said freshman forward Glenn Robinson III of the first-half run. “It got a lot of people’s confidence up, and coming out on a run like that is always great for the team.”

After trailing 7-5 in the early minutes of the contest, Michigan used hot shooting and a speedy offensive attack to take control against the Wildcats (3-6, 12-10). Sparked by 14 consecutive points from freshmen, the Wolverines electrified Crisler Center with an 18-4 run, which included two 3-pointers from freshman guard Nik Stauskas and two dunks from Robinson.

By the end of its run, Michigan had connected on 10 of its first 11 shots and sank all three of its shots from behind the arc.

“Northwestern gave us different looks … so it was important to get into the middle and kick it out to the open man,” said sophomore guard Trey Burke.

The Wolverines, who played as close to mistake-free basketball as possible in the first half, held a 36-21 advantage at halftime. Led by Burke’s 10 points and six assists on 4-of-6 shooting, Michigan entered intermission with 10 assists and no turnovers, while committing just one foul.

The freshman trio of Robinson, Stauskas and McGary combined to shoot 9-of-10 from the field in the opening stanza, totaling 23 points. Stauskas had three of the team’s five makes from downtown.

“(In the first half), the assist numbers were really something,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “Trey set the tone early. He found Nik, he found (junior guard) Tim (Hardaway Jr.), he found the big men — he did a tremendous job. That’s really how we have to play.”

The Wolverines came out of the locker room a little flat, and Northwestern took advantage, cutting Michigan’s lead to nine points in the opening minutes of the second half. Even after Beilein called a timeout five minutes into the stanza, the Wolverines continued to display a lack of intensity.

But with a 10-point lead with seven minutes gone by in the second period, the Wolverines revved up their energy. Sparked by four straight points from Burke, and hounding team defense, Michigan went on an 18-7 run to stretch its lead to 21 points with six minutes remaining in the game.

“I think that we just needed to step up defensively, and that’s what we did,” Robinson said.

Northwestern never got closer than 19 points the rest of the game. Though Michigan’s shooting wavered late in the contest, the Wolverines kept up their defensive intensity, applying pressure up until the final minutes of the game.

The Wildcats shot just 37 percent from the field, connecting on four of their 19 3-point attempts. They were led on the offensive end by center Alex Olah. The freshman totaled 10 points and three rebounds and was the only player on Northwestern to reach double-digit points.

Burke ended the contest with game highs of 18 points and eight assists, and turned the ball over only once — half of Michigan’s season-low two giveaways.

Replacing the injured Morgan in the starting lineup, redshirt sophomore forward Jon Horford finished with a season-high 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. He gave a big boost to the Wolverines, scoring all of his points after halftime. McGary came off the bench to contribute a season-high 11 boards and six points.

“(Horford) really performed well,” Beilein said. “He’s doing a better job of playing big and was huge tonight. He got a couple rebounds tonight that only redshirt freshman forward Jon Horford can get.”

Forget about everything you think it means to be labeled as the top team in the nation during the middle of the college basketball season. Forget about all of the supposed glory and bragging rights that come with it for just one moment.

Because for all the hype and hoopla that will be made about the rankings following Michigan’s 74-60 victory against Illinois on Sunday — and there is a very good chance that the Wolverines will assume the No. 1 ranking when the polls are released Monday — what the Wolverines did Sunday is far more important than anything that will happen the next day. What they did on Sunday was show growth and maturation. They showed that they are a continually improving team, whether or not their ranking shows it.

Two weeks ago, Michigan couldn’t handle the pressure. Then, the second-ranked Wolverines walked into Value City Arena in Columbus with that coveted top spot within reach. On that Sunday, just three days after then-No. 1 Duke faltered against North Carolina State, they were almost assured of becoming the top-ranked team in the country with a victory.

But Michigan came out flat, lacking energy in the first half against the Buckeyes, fizzling under the pressure. The freshmen showed nerves and inexperience. The Wolverines tumbled their way to a 21-point deficit in the early going of that contest, only to have a failed late-game comeback.

Fast-forward to two weeks later. After a quick re-scrambling of the top-ranked teams in the national polls, Michigan found itself in the same exact position on Sunday, trailing only Duke in the rankings. And with Duke’s loss earlier last week, the Wolverines were offered another opportunity to seize that desired top ranking.

Only Michigan did more than that with its victory. The Wolverines demonstrated that they could handle the hype, that the target on their back hadn’t gotten too big. They played like a much-improved team from two weeks ago.

Michigan came out with life on Sunday. The guards pushed the ball, and the bigs played the aggressors on the glass. And most important of all, the freshmen rose to the occasion.

Swingman Nik Stauskas led the team with nine early points, and together with forwards Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary, the first-year players accounted for more than half of the team’s 35 first-half points. The difference between two weeks ago and Sunday was apparent to sophomore guard Trey Burke.

“I think the freshmen did a good job of stepping up and not playing out of control,” Burke said. “They stayed poised.”

But that wasn’t all. When redshirt junior forward Jordan Morgan exited with a sprained ankle just minutes into the game, the reserve forwards came off the bench to play a huge role in his absence. McGary, redshirt sophomore forward Jon Horford and redshirt freshman forward Max Bielfeldt combined for 17 points and 14 rebounds, including eight boards on the offensive end.

This should have been a tightly contested matchup, and yet, Michigan turned in another double-digit victory.

Sure, Illinois is no Ohio State (mind you, Illinois did beat the Buckeyes by 19 points three weeks ago), but a road win in the Big Ten is a road win in the Big Ten, especially when you have a large target on your back and a possible No. 1 ranking in your sights.

But to the Wolverines, it isn’t about the rankings. It’s not about where they stand now, but about where they’ll stand come March. It’s about winning on the road and growing as a team.

Beilein might have said that best following Sunday’s victory.

“It’s Jan. 27 and not one of you in here can remember who was No. 1 last Jan. (27),” he said. “So to our team, that (ranking) really does not make a big difference. I’m sure to a lot of our fans at water coolers and in coffee shops, and to people who love Michigan and hate Michigan, it’s probably something that they hate or they love right now.”

Yes, it’s coach-speak, cliché to the max. But it’s true. The rankings mean nothing. The Wolverines showed they are continually improving, and that’s a scary thought for the rest of the country.

So don’t get hung up on that number, the new digit that will assuredly loom large likely positioned next to Michigan’s name come Monday.

Try to forget about that No. 1 ranking — because the Wolverines certainly have.

For much of the afternoon, though, the Spartans stayed with the Hoosiers step-for-step.

When the second half slowed to a physical dogfight, though, No. 7 IU still emerged with a 75-70 win against No. 13 Michigan State.

Junior guard Victor Oladipo led the charge for IU the entire game. He led IU in scoring, steals and blocks, and tied for the lead in rebounds

His contributions often transcended the stat sheet, though, as he dived for loose balls and chased down Spartans to deny them apparent breakaway baskets.

IU was able to dictate the pace virtually from the beginning. Even though slumping sophomore forward Cody Zeller lost the tipoff to MSU center Adreian Payne, Oladipo stole the ball on MSU’s first possession, taking the ball the length of the court himself and finishing with a dunk that brought Assembly Hall to its feet.

Minutes later, he would replicate the feat almost identically, from the perimeter steal to the thundering jam.

Payne hit a pair of surprise 3-pointers to keep IU from pulling away early, even giving MSU the lead briefly. He would later hit a third on the afternoon. Before Sunday, the 6-10 center had made three 3-point shots all season.

IU eventually staked a 28-19 lead, but it was a quickly nullified by a 9-0 MSU run that included a dunk off of a stolen in-bounds pass.

IU played both man-to-man and zone defenses during the game,

switching between the two as frequently as each possession. The strategy

was especially flummoxing early on for the Spartans.

With 1:06 to play in the half, the game was again tied, now at 38-38, before 3-pointers by Sheehey and Ferrell, his coming with just two seconds to go, gave IU a six-point lead at the break.

With fewer turnovers in the second half, fast breaks became less frequent and the game slowed somewhat, further preventing IU from running up the score in transition. Instead, its lead never eclipsed seven points.

Oladipo simply adapted to the slower pace. The IU offense had by no

means been a one man show in the first half, but when his supporting

cast’s shots stopped falling in the second period, the offense came to run primarily through the junior guard. He scored 13 points in the second half through all manner of shots.

While the Spartan’s leading scorer, guard Keith Appling, was kept scoreless in the second half and fouled out with 5:17 to go, one-time IU recruiting target Gary Harris stepped up with 14 second half points. He was serenaded by bitter IU fans with chants of “Gary sucks” and “IU reject” all afternoon.

Harris kept the Spartans squarely in the contest all afternoon, twice pulling his team to within a single point.

In the game’s final minutes, after Oladipo’s moments of dominance,  it was a pair of plays by Zeller, who had nine points but largely continued to struggle, that clinched the game for IU.

With 2:09 left and IU leading 72-70, MSU center Derrick Nix was called for a travel. Seconds later, Zeller drove the length of the floor, ending with a finger roll layup at the other end to double the lead.

The score still 74-70 with 14.3 seconds left and MSU getting desperate, the Spartans fed the ball inside to Payne. As he worked toward the basket, Zeller took a charge to give the ball back to IU and effectively clinch the win and a share of the conference lead.

When he came back, he made sure that would not happen again.

Hitting his next six three-point attempts, Sulaimon went on to score a career-high 25 points as the Blue Devils rebounded from their Miami loss with a 84-64 trouncing of Maryland Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“Rasheed played a great game,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He did something that I think is so terrific…. He said, ‘I got you coach. I’ll do better.’ So he just embraced responsibility, and anybody who embraces responsibility has a chance to do better.”

Sulaimon re-entered the game at the 14:01 mark in the first half with the Blue Devils down 13-12, and the guard did not waste his second chance.

First, he knocked down a 3-pointer and drew a foul to complete a four-point play that put Duke up by five. Then, he hit two more 3-pointers on consecutive plays.

“Quinn [Cook] found me early, I got that and-one three, and after that everything just kept falling in, and they just kept finding me,” Sulaimon said.

The freshman stayed hot, hitting two more 3-pointers to finish the half making 5-of-5 from behind the arc. Duke shot 70% overall from 3-point range in the half, a marked improvement from the 17.4% performance against Miami.

“This was just a game that showed basically what our character was like,” Sulaimon said. “Are we going to fold after a big loss or are we going to step up and be men?”

In the 90-63 loss to Miami Thursday, Sulaimon had played with a greater sense of urgency in the closing minutes than his teammates, scoring 11 of his team-high 16 points in the final 10 minutes.

“When he came out in the first half like that [today], I thought this is a carryover,” senior Mason Plumlee said. “He was aggressive at the end of the Miami game. As a team, we weren’t all that aggressive at the end of that game, but he was, and I think it carried over.”

Sulaimon’s offensive performance carried over into the second half of the matchup with Maryland as well.

Duke entered the break with a 43-35 lead, but had given up 12 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points to the Terrapins. With the help of three more offensive rebounds in the first five minutes, Maryland was able to keep cutting into Duke’s lead.

After the 14-minute mark, Sulaimon twice extended the Blue Devil lead back to double-digits. After the second time—on the freshman’s sixth consecutive made 3-pointer—Duke’s lead never dropped back to single digits.

The wingman’s hot hand also opened the court for Plumlee, who scored just four points in the first half and has struggled without injured forward Ryan Kelly in to spread the floor.

“I know a lot of the attention is going to be on Seth and Mason, especially with Ryan being out. The attention is more on those two,” Sulaimon said. “Just doing my job as a teammate, I know that I’m going to have a lot of open shots and that I have to be ready to take them and make them…. If I’m making shots, the defense, the pressure is less on them, and they can take over the game.”

In the second half, Plumlee did just that. The senior put up a 16-point second-half performance, highlighted by a two-handed, reverse putback jam midway through the half.

“I thought his second half was as good as he played this year,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s playing against a pretty good player, a really good player, and that offensive rebound, that got me excited.”

While Plumlee picked up his scoring performance, it was freshman Amile Jefferson who helped Duke compete on the boards.

Behind his team-leading nine rebounds, the Blue Devils were able to pull even on the second-half rebounding margin after Maryland won nine more first half boards.

That improvement on the glass helped fuel Duke’s transition game that produced eight fast-break points.

“We’ll run if we get the ball, and people are sending a lot of people to the ball because they’re bigger than we are,” Krzyzewski said. “If our perimeter gets the rebound, then we’re going to have a numerical advantage on the other end, and that’s what happened. To get the rebound is the thing.”

Overall, all five Blue Devil starters reached double-digit scoring, and the team finished with a 52.4% field–goal percentage against the third-best field goal percentage defense in the nation.

“We weren’t just playing for ourselves,” Sulaimon said. “We weren’t just playing for this team, but we were playing for this program—all the players that came before. To put on that Duke jersey is something special, and we let our program down on Wednesday and we just wanted to respond and just do everything we can to make this program proud.

The No. 25 Hurricanes capitalized on No. 1 Duke’s extreme shooting woes and pummeled the Blue Devils 90-63 Wednesday night at the BankUnited Center.

Duke (16-1, 3-2 in the ACC) shot an abysmal 30.1 percent from the field, well below its season average of 47.3 percent entering play. The Blue Devils missed a handful of open looks and lay-ups that were ultimately too detrimental to overcome.

“Not much to say after that. They were men, we were boys,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The score and the performance reflected that disparity. They were terrific. We did not hold up our end of the bargain tonight.”

The loss was the third-worst ever by a No. 1 team, and while No. 1 Duke fell to 3-2 in ACC play, the Hurricanes (13-3, 5-0) solidified themselves at the top of the conference with an undefeated record.

Duke was leading 14-13 with 10:18 left in the first half, but after that it was domination. The Hurricanes proceeded to go on a 25-1 run that lasted more than eight minutes until Amile Jefferson broke the Blue Devil drought with a layup.

“They made shots, they played with a lot of energy, and we can’t come out flat like that,” Rasheed Sulaimon said. “They made two big runs, and we have to do a better job of slowing them down. When they punch us, we’ve got to punch back.”

The run included 14 unanswered points, as Durand Scott and Kenny Kadji added six each to give Miami a 38-15 lead with 2:53 remaining in the first half.

“The ball doesn’t go in everyday,” Alex Murphy said. “You have to work hard on both ends of the floor, and we didn’t do that very well in the first half. They got a lot of easy shots, a lot of open shots.”

Senior guard Seth Curry epitomized Duke’s shooting woes in the first half by shooting 0-for-7 from the floor, including 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. At the half Duke trailed Miami 42-19. Curry finished the game without making a bucket.

“Our three veterans can’t go 6-for-37,” Krzyzewski said. “That’s something I haven’t seen. You’re not going to win if Seth, Quinn and Mason go 6-for-37. When you’re doing that, it’s so unusual that it impacts you in other ways. And it impacts guys that they’re supposed to be leading.”

The Hurricanes scored six unanswered points to start the second half and never looked back. Miami’s trio of Scott, Kadji and point guard Shane Larkin combined for 65 points, as Duke was unable to stop their penetration in the paint. Larkin and Scott also accounted for five of Miami’s nine 3-pointers.

Meanwhile, Duke’s backcourt could not buy a bucket. Curry and Quinn Cook combined to make just 1-of-22 field goals.

“Everybody can’t have a great game every time out,” Sulaimon said. “That’s up to the rest of the team to pick those guys up when they don’t have the night they’re capable of having. We need to do a better job collectively as a team helping our teammates out.”

Sulaimon led the Blue Devils with 16 points and also added four steals.

Duke’s offensive woes were compounded by turnovers and sloppy defense, and the Blue Devils never came within striking range in the second half. Miami cruised to victory while holding the advantage in nearly every statistical category including rebounds, steals and blocks.

Mason Plumlee finished with 15 points but did so on 5-of-14 shooting. He added 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Murphy was a bright spot for the Blue Devils, scoring a career-high 11 points off the bench. Amile Jefferson added a career-high 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting. At the final buzzer the Miami student section flooded the court to celebrate, the second time Duke has watched a ranked opponent rush the court in just 12 days.

“We have to get better,” Plumlee said. “We haven’t won on the road yet. We have to depend on each other more, everyone has to show up, we can’t just have a couple guys show up, and then tonight nobody shows up. We have to get better. We have to be more consistent.”

“So, is Craig Robinson still the coach?”

If you had said yes, I would have asked who the leading candidates were to replace him at season’s end.

Yes, at one time I was as naïve as every Oregon State fan out there who thinks the Beavers’ fifth-year head coach’s job is in jeopardy.

Robinson is not going anywhere anytime soon, nor should he. His seat is not hot, and it’s time you all get that in your heads.

The last two-and-half years have not gone as well as they should have. The Beavers should have won more than five conference games in Robinson’s third season (2010-11). They should have been at least a NIT team last year, and they sure as heck shouldn’t be 10-8 through 18 games this season.

So be it.

I write this because now I don’t want to waste any time later this season discussing Robinson’s future if things continue to go south for the Beavers, who will try to pick up their first conference win tonight against the University of Washington.

Next year, if no one transfers or turns pro, the Beavers will have everyone back except senior forward Joe Burton. Their starting lineup very well could feature four seniors and a junior.

It wouldn’t make much sense to make such a veteran-heavy team start from scratch with a new coach, would it?

“It wouldn’t make sense, it wouldn’t make sense at all,” said junior guard Roberto Nelson. “If you look at the team next year — I don’t even want to talk about next year— but if you look at the team we have now with more experience, plus Angus [Brandt] and Daniel Gomis… c’mon man, that’s a top-25 team.”

The Beavers could finish last in the Pac-12 this season, and I’d still think it’d be a mistake not to bring Robinson back for a sixth season.

Now that we have that settled, let’s move on to the next question: Is Robinson capable of leading this program to its first NCAA Tournament since 1990?

He has the rest of this season, and all of next, to prove that he is.

Though you can’t blame the Beavers’ shortcomings this season on Robinson — they’ve been decimated by injuries (Brandt, Gomis) and had to deal with suspensions (Eric Moreland, Victor Robbins) — he hasn’t given anyone any reason to believe he’s better than a middle-to-lower-tier Division I coach.

And middle-of-the-road only cuts it for so long.

We know Robinson is a good, maybe great recruiter (considering he’s convincing kids to come to a school in Corvallis that doesn’t have a practice facility or a recent history of winning).

He’s also a great motivator — according to those he’s in charge of motivating — and someone the players can relate to, a father figure of sorts. That goes a long ways.

“Before the X’s and O’s, I think [Robinson] has done a great job of getting these guys to believe in him,” said associate head coach Doug Stewart, who coached under Robinson at Brown University for two years before coming to Corvallis with him.

Ah, the X’s and O’s. The jury is still out on whether or not Robinson is a good enough X’s and O’s guy, though Stewart said that hasn’t been an issue this season.

“Look at the Oregon game (a 79-66 loss), the strategy and scheming, we had a lead at halftime,” Stewart said. “A lot of the other games, like the Kansas game (a 84-78 loss), the strategy and schemes have been solid, we just have to be consistent.”

Robinson said you can’t judge his schemes just yet, because he’s had to vary them so much in his time here.

“I’d like to think that I’ve gotten better each year coaching different styles,” Robinson said. “Once we get a couple years of doing things one way, we’re going to be in good shape. This is really year two of playing the way we’re playing.”

So, what are Robinson’s shortcomings as a coach? The things he must fix if he wants to stick around for a seventh, eighth, ninth year?

We’ll start with the most glaring concern with Robinson-coached teams, including this year’s: defense.

“I have to become a better man-to-man coach,” Robinson deadpanned Tuesday.

The Beavers are last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense at 69.7 points per game, as they have been each of the past two seasons. They’re also last in field goal percentage defense (42.5 percent).

At times last year, the Beavers got away with outscoring teams — they averaged 77.1 points per conference game. This year, they’re averaging just 66 points per conference game, which has made their atrocious defense stick out like a sore thumb.

“All the jobs I’ve had have been inheriting bad programs and turning them around, and one way to do that is to play a lot of zones, play a lot of changing defenses to slow the game down,” Robinson said. “I’d like to get better at the whole concept of man-to-man defense.”

The other thing Robinson must fix: getting his team to play better at the start of the second half.

Whatever Robinson’s saying at halftime isn’t working, because the Beavers have been outscored 55-28 in the first five minutes of the second half of Pac-12 games this season.

“I’m trying to improve on getting my teams to come out of halftime playing better,” Robinson said. “I didn’t think I struggled with that [in the past], but this year it’s rearing its head.”

Oregon began the second half versus OSU on a 15-2 run, ASU began it on a 16-7 run, Arizona a 14-8 run, UCLA an 11-2 run and USC a 9-4 run.

Maybe opposing coaches are better at making halftime adjustments than Robinson is.

There are plenty of other things Robinson must fix, but those are the two things that have stuck out most to me.

Three years ago, I would have undoubtedly said this was a program on the rise.

Now? I’m not so sure.

“This is the nature of our jobs, people want quick fixes, even if it was a horrible place to be just five years ago,” Robinson said. “That’s what I signed up for. If my evaluation is wins and losses, my evaluation is wins and losses. You got to keep winning if you want to keep these jobs.”

If Robinson hasn’t won enough by the end of next season, it may be time for OSU to look elsewhere.

Until then, Beaver Nation needs to relax and see if he can fix this thing that he started five years ago.

A week after dropping to No. 3 following their loss to N.C. State, the Blue Devils are again ranked No. 1. Last week’s No. 1 Louisville lost to Syracuse and Indiana, the No. 2 team, lost to Wisconsin.

Duke received 39 of the 65 first-place votes while No. 2 Michigan received 11. Kansas and Syracuse, tied for third, received seven and eight first-place votes, respectively.

The current top 10, in order, is as follows: Duke, Michigan, Kansas, Syracuse, Louisville, Arizona, Indiana, Florida, Butler and Gonzaga.

N.C. State fell to Maryland last week and dropped from No. 14 to No. 18. Miami benefited from a number of losses in the bottom of the rankings and is now No. 25, placing three ACC teams in the top 25.

The Blue Devils travel to Coral Gables, Fla. for game Wednesday night against the newly-ranked Hurricanes.

“[The freshmen] had a good first half, and they gave us a huge lift [in the second half],” senior forward Mason Plumlee said.

Duke overcame a halftime deficit to knock off the Yellow Jackets by a score of 73-57. If it seemed as if a different team took the court to start the second half, that’s because there was a different lineup. After talking to his team in the locker room, head coach Mike Krzyzewski left juniors Tyler Thornton and Josh Hairston—who started the game—on the bench while Rasheed Sulaimon and Amile Jefferson ran with the first unit to provide a much needed spark.

“I thought we were hesitant to shoot, and no team of mine should be that way. Amile at the end of the half hitting that two helped a lot,” Krzyzewski said.

Sulaimon was coming off the bench for the first time in his career after starting the first 16 games of the season. Mired in a horrible shooting slump—he shot just 28.1 percent from the field in four games this month—Thornton was given the nod over the freshman.

Sulaimon responded by contributing his highest scoring output since Dec. 19 against Cornell.

“Rasheed had his best performance since Temple. For a lot of freshmen, it is tough to keep playing really well, but he had a month where he just wasn’t playing up to the level that he can play at, but tonight he did. He practiced that way for the last three days and it paid off,” Krzyzewski said.

Sulaimon’s benefit for this team is not solely his ability to score, but also his defensive intensity and rebounding. Sulaimon helped lead a Duke defense that forced 21 Yellow Jacket turnovers—more than twice the turnovers Georgia Tech committed in their overtime contest against Virginia Tech last week.

Jefferson was coming off an impressive game in Raleigh against N.C. State, but left the Duke faithful wanting more after fouling out in just 12 minutes. Jefferson collected four personal fouls, but played a career high 28 minutes.

“He started the second half and looked like a kid who has started for a while. He really played well for us and gives us some energy,” Krzyzewski said.

Jefferson is not the physical sort of rebounder that Hairston or Mason Plumlee is, but uses all that energy to find ways to always get his hand on the ball and make plays happen.

“[Amile] is a crafty guy, he’s not going to bang you,” Seth Curry said. “He’s going to work around guys and get offensive rebounds and find lanes to get layups and things like that. He’s done a better job on the offensive rebounds than we did even with Ryan in there so that’s an added bonus.”

Despite the terrific play of the freshmen, and the fact that both started the second half in place of the juniors, Krzyzewski stopped short of saying they would be in the starting lineup when Duke next takes the court against Miami on January 23 in Coral Gables, Florida.

“I don’t know who the hell is going to start next week,” Krzyzewski said. “Should we have people mail in who we should start? If it generates tweets and followers for people, we’re all for that.”

Although Krzyzewski made light of the freshmen’s performance, the way Jefferson and Sulaimon have stepped up is no joking matter. Curry put it ever so simply.

“They’re here for a reason,” he said.

Texas led No. 4 Kansas for all but 31 seconds of the game’s first 35 minutes and led by as many as 11 points in the second half. But the Longhorns managed to let another win slip away, falling to the Jayhawks, 64-59, on Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center.

“We get relaxed a lot when we have the lead,” sophomore guard Sheldon McClellan admitted. “We feel like we can do things that we’re not supposed to do and it not hurts, but it does.”

The Longhorns never trailed in the first half. The Jayhawks briefly led after freshman guard Ben McLemore hit a three-pointer early in the second half to give Kansas a 31-30 advantage. But Jonathan Holmes scored seven of his 10 points during a 12-0 Longhorns run that emphatically erased that lead.

Kansas slowly chipped away at that lead and eventually pulled ahead, 54-53, following an alley-oop from senior guard Elijah Johnson to McLemore, who scored a team-high
16 points, with 4:29 remaining. McClellan’s floater with 2:46 remaining put Texas back on top, 57-56, but it would be the last lead the Longhorns held.

“We just came and said we’re better than this and we’ve got to come together,” Kansas’ senior center Jeff Withey, who scored 14 points and had three blocks, said. “We know
what to expect. We’re a mature team and we got punched. We took the blows and then we punched back.”

McClellan, who scored a game-high 18 points, hit a jumper with one minute left, trimming Kansas’ lead to 62-59 and Texas got a stop on defense, giving it a chance to tie the game on its next possession. But Julien Lewis’ three-pointer from the corner didn’t fall and the Longhorns fell to a Rick Barnes-era worst 0-4 in Big 12 play while Kansas picked up its 15th straight victory, improving to 16-1 on the year.

“I felt comfortable shooting that shot,” Lewis said. “We’ve got to execute a lot better than we have… We were very close out there and we keep losing close games. It hurts us a
lot but we have to keep going. We have to keep fighting each and every game”

The Longhorns were without Holmes for the last two minutes of the game. He scored 10 points and recorded three steals, but played only 14 minutes. He sat for most of the first half after committing two fouls in the game’s first minute and fouled out with 1:58 left when he was called for a charge.

“He’s got to stop putting himself on the bench,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “When he picked up his second foul, he rotated over but he didn’t have a chance. He should have somebody out of bounds. You have to understand where you are, in terms of fouls.”

If Holmes was on the floor down the stretch, he may have prevented Texas from blowing yet another late lead. The Longhorns held an eight-point lead with less than three minutes to play in a loss to UCLA last month and were up 13 points on West Virginia in the second half Jan. 9 before falling to the Mountaineers in overtime.

“We’ve been close all year. We’re just not closing the game out,” Holmes said. “We just get stagnant on offense a lot and get out-rebounded some. It feels like we’re giving up too many offensive rebounds on the defensive end.”

The 26 points Kansas scored in the first half were the fewest it scored in any half this season. Coming into the game, the Longhorns held opponents to 34.3 percent shooting this season. They limited Kansas to 28 percent shooting in the first half, but the Jayhawks knocked down 50 percent of their shots from the floor in the second half.

Free throw shooting proved to be crucial. Texas made only two free throws, one in each half, on eight attempts while Kansas was 21-for-25 from the charity stripe, including a 10-for-11 clip in the second half.

Still in search of its first win in Big 12 play, the Longhorns face Oklahoma in Norman on Monday.

After never truly getting into an offensive rhythm, save an 18-point first half performance from sophomore forward Cody Zeller, the Hoosiers couldn’t surmount a strong-enough comeback after falling behind by double-digits in the second half, losing 64-59 to the Badgers.

Coming into Tuesday’s matchup with Wisconsin, the Hoosiers had been held to less than 70-points just twice this season, both times resulting in wins against Georgia and Iowa.

But in nine of the last 10 meetings between the Hoosiers and the Badgers, IU had reached the 70-point threshold just once, a Big Ten tournament loss last season 79-71.

Junior guard Victor Oladipo put the Hoosiers on the board quick, though, with a 3-pointer from the top of the key in IU’s first possession.

From there, though, the Badgers were able to stifle most of IU’s offensive production in the first half, holding the team to just 32 first half points as well as just three points on the fast break.

The lone bright spot for the Hoosiers in the first 20 minutes came from Zeller, who went on two scoring runs, of eight and six points, respectively, to help keep the Hoosiers in the thick of things. He finished the half with 18 points, and along with senior forward Christian Watford’s 3-pointer with 20.8 seconds left in the half, the Hoosiers went into the locker room with a 32-31 lead.

But in the second half, it appeared that Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan had found a way to neutralize Zeller down low by eliminating him as an open option for that extra pass which burned the Badgers in the first half. Zeller managed just five points in the second half to finish with a game-high of 23.

And without much scoring late from the sophomore forward, the IU offense struggled.

The Hoosiers fell behind by as many as 10 points in the second half as Wisconsin built up a lead during a 2:54 stint midway through the half where IU failed to score and the Badgers rattled off nine-straight points to go up 47-39.

The Wisconsin lead would reach its peak at 51-41 to cap a 13-2 Badger run, but the game seemed to turn from there for a moment.

The Hoosiers, as a team, seemed to find their offensive touch for the first time all game. Watford and Oladipo hit back-to-back buckets for IU, with a steal from Zeller in between, and IU was now back within a couple possessions.

The game stalled for more than two-and-a-half minutes as several loose-ball and foul calls failed to go IU’s way as Hoosier Nation nearly reached a boiling point, but with three-straight Hoosier free throws and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, IU was back within one, 52-51.

But the IU offense simply couldn’t keep the momentum going.

The Hoosiers would make just one field goal after Ferrell’s three with 4:43 left, and down the stretch, Wisconsin again pulled farther ahead with a string of six free throws to end the game and give IU it’s 11th-straight loss to the Badgers.

O’Neill finishes his USC tenure with a 48-65 record, with last season’s abysmal record and this year’s slow start likely contributing to his dismissal. USC battled a rash of injuries while finishing 6-26 (1-17) in 2011-12, and is currently 7-10 on the year, with a 2-2 record in Pac-12 play.

Associate head coach Bob Cantu will take over as the interim head coach. Cantu has been with the team since 2000 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2010.

O’Neill took over the USC job in the summer of 2009 in the wake of an NCAA investigation of the program under previous coach Tim Floyd. Despite facing adversity stemming from the program’s sanctions, which included a postseason ban, the Trojans finished 16-14. O’Neill had his most successful season in 2010-11, going 19-15 and earning an NCAA tournament berth. The Trojans were defeated in the first round by Virginia Commonwealth.

Things went downhill from there. Last season, USC’s top returning player, senior point guard Jio Fontan, tore his ACL during a summer team trip to Brazil. Fontan missed the entire season, while other heavy contributors in forwards Dewayne Dedmon and Aaron Fuller, among others, missed significant time also because of injury. The Trojans’ 26 losses that season were the most in school history and presumably put O’Neill on the hot seat heading into this fall.

The Trojans had high hopes for 2012-13, as USC brought in a slew of transfers, including senior forward Eric Wise from UC Irvine and arguably the top junior college transfer in the country in junior J.T. Terrell, a former Wake Forest standout. The talent was improved over the prior season, but the early results were all too similar.

After starting the season 3-1, the Trojans lost five in a row in a difficult non-conference stretch that included losses to three ranked teams.

“We overscheduled,” Cantu said. “We should have had more bye games in there.”

At 5-8, the Trojans were the only Pac-12 squad to finish with a losing record in non-conference play. USC won its Pac-12 opener against Stanford, but then dropped winnable games against Cal and Colorado. The Trojans defeated Utah 76-59 on Saturday, but the team’s first road victory in nearly 14 months was not enough to save O’Neill’s job.

At the end of the day, it came down to winning: something O’Neill was not able to do enough of during his tenure.

“It was hard for me to evaluate him as a head coach until this year when he had enough players and veterans to compete,” Haden said in the statement. “As the season progressed, it became evident to me that we needed new leadership in our men’s basketball program.”

O’Neill is known for his loud and witty personality but also became infamous for an altercation with a U. Arizona booster in March 2011. O’Neill was previously the interim head coach at Arizona for one season as well as head coach of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, among other NBA and college stops.

“He’s someone I’ll hopefully remain in contact with for the rest of my life,” said Fontan, who called O’Neill this morning after learning of his firing. “He taught me a lot on what it takes to be a pro at the next level, about going through life changes and how you just fight through a lot of things.”

Wise, the team’s leading scorer, also expressed surprise at the decision.

“It was shocking, but it’s just something you have to go through and we all have to deal with,” Wise said.

Cantu has never been a head coach at the college level outside of one game after O’Neill’s suspension in 2011, and was mum on whether he thinks he’ll be considered for the position over an outside replacement.

“As an assistant, your goal was always to become a head coach,” he said. “It’s always been my goal, [but] you never envision it happening this way, that’s for sure.”

The Trojans are only four games into their Pac-12 slate, giving Cantu almost half a season to make his mark.

“There are 14 games left and there are a lot of things that can happen,” Cantu said. “Anything is possible.”

Senior guard Jordan Hulls had 19 points and iced the game for IU with multiple trips to the line in the final minutes. Junior guard Victor Oladipo led IU with 20 points.

As has seemingly become routine in games this season, the game stayed close in the early going. IU controlled the board in the opening minutes, but 3-point jumpers by Minnesota’s Andre Hollins kept it even until other Gopher’s found their touch on layups.

IU responded by feeding the ball inside to sophomore forward Cody Zeller. Though he passed out to open teammates on several occasions, Zeller still scored 6 of IU’s first 14 points.

Minnesota pulled within a single point at 16-15 before one of IU’s customary scoring sprees began, starting with 10 straight IU points.

After an early miss, Hulls hit several 3-pointers, including one from several feet beyond the arc. He finished with four 3-pointers by halftime.

In other cases, the defense forced turnovers that bred quick offense for IU. At one point, Zeller reached out his long arm to steal a pass and start a fast break.

Moments later, Oladipo seemingly barreled through a Minnesota ball handler, emerging with the ball on his way to a score.

IU closed the half on an 36-14 run overall during the final 11:03 to enter the half leading 52-29.

Much as IU fed off its defense in the firs thalf, Minnesota took advantage of four IU turnovers early in the second period to cut its deficit to 13.

The game’s pace changed as the second half wore on as Minnesota dictated more half court sets. When IU had the ball, Minnesota often had a defender on the IU point guard before he reached half court.

The referees were more active as well, further slowing down the half. After only nine toal fouls called in the first half, it took just 6:54 to reach that mark in the second.

IU could not capitalize on its chances from the line, though, shooting 26-of-40 for the game, a regression after improved play on free throws.

This allowed Minnesota to continue to chip away at the lead. With 5:55 remaining, the Hoosier lead was down to 12. By the 2:48 mark, it was down to nine, single digits for the first time in just under 25 minutes.

A Minnesota steal threatened to make it a two-possession game before an Oladipo rebound and two timely free throws made it a 10-point game once again and appeared to ice the win for IU.

However, two more 3-pointers by the Gophers, including Hollins’ fifth, and several fouls against IU near the Minnesota basket sliced the lead all the way down to four.

Hulls hit one of two free throws, but a controversial foul call on IU with 19.5 seconds remaining allowed Minnesota to pull within three points. Free throws by Hulls and Watford finally iced the win for IU.

And on Saturday, it was the Wolfpack’s state. A deadly fastbreak attack paced by senior floor general Lorenzo Brown—who finished with 12 points and dished out all 13 of N.C. State’s assists in the game—combined with powerful inside forces Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie were too much for the shorthanded Blue Devils to overcome, as N.C. State earned the 84-76 victory.

“Their transition is what really won the game for them,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And [Howell] is just a beast.”

Playing its first true road game of the year in a hostile environment of more than 19,000 Wolfpack fans and without senior forward Ryan Kelly, No. 1 Duke (15-1, 2-1 in the ACC) looked as if it was in position to take No. 20 N.C. State (14-2, 3-0 in the ACC) to the wire at half when it only trailed by two points.

From the onset of the second half, N.C. State looked poised to earn a signature conference win over the top team in the country by starting the half with a 8-2 run, owning the glass and forcing Duke to take difficult shots. From there, the Wolfpack had control the rest of the way.

“We drew some energy off our fans, no question about it,” Wolfpack head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Our guys played really hard, they knew this was a big deal. Our ability to finish defensive possessions with rebounds in the second half helped us. The best offense we could run was getting on the boards and scoring.”

Senior Richard Howell—a bruising 6-foot-9, 257-pound big man—punished Duke on the boards, grabbing 18 rebounds and scoring 16 points. Junior C.J. Leslie, his running mate in the frontcourt, showed why he was voted the preseason ACC Player of the Year—finishing with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 field goal shooting and 7-for-8 at the charity stripe. Making those stats even more impressive, Leslie was guarded by Mason Plumlee—Duke’s best player and National Player of the Year hopeful—for much of the contest.

“C.J. was unbelievable,” Gottfried said. “I think in the second half he made his mind up and down the stretch offensively he was nearly unguardable. He showed a lot of resilience just to keep attacking the rim.”

The Plumlee-Leslie matchup was arguably the most intriguing of the afternoon. Plumlee was able to muster 15 points and 11 rebounds against perhaps the most formidable froncourt he has faced this season.

Despite fighting admirably all game-long when N.C. State was often on the verge of pulling away in the second half, the Blue Devils could not catch the breaks it needed to keep its perfect record in tact. Senior guard Seth Curry was consistently clutch all day by hitting timely shots to keep Duke within arms reach of the Wolfpack for much of the day. The senior netted a team-high 22 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point range.

Unfortunately for Duke, Curry slipped on the court and was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury in the closing minutes of the game.

“[Curry] played well,” sophomore point guard Quinn Cook said. “He’s the best shooter in the country. He made it rough for their defense to guard him.”

Coming off the bench against the squad he nearly picked over Duke last May, freshman forward Amile Jefferson—who played well with 10 points and four rebounds in just nine minutes of action—fouled out of the game at the 8:07 mark with Duke down just 62-57.

Jefferson fouling out proved to be one of the turning points in the game. From that point on, Leslie and Howell continued to overwhelm Duke in the paint down the stretch, while the Wolfpack’s athletic fast break was able to finish when it needed to, allowing them to build a double-digit lead 67-57 with 7:07 left to play. To seal the victory, N.C. State held off the Blue Devils by converting from the free throw line as the game drew to an end.

Like Jefferson, junior guard Tyler Thornton—a defensive-orientated guard, who Krzyzewski used over starting freshman guard Rasheed Sulaimon for much of the second half—was riddled by foul trouble against a dynamic N.C. State backcourt, and fouled out in the closing seconds of the game.

“[N.C. State is] a great team,” said Cook, who finished with 17 points and seven assists. “They are very athletic. Purvis and Brown in transition are very tough to stop… They got going in the second half.”

With Kelly out of commission, the Blue Devils have struggled considerably. The team is just 4-5 when he is out of the lineup, dating back to last season.

Josh Hairston, who celebrated his 21st birthday today with his first start of the season in place of Kelly, finished with eight points and five rebounds.

“Amile and Josh played well,” Krzyzewski said. “We got 18 and 9 from them. They just don’t know the defense and execution of the offense as well as Ryan [Kelly]. We’re not a great team with Ryan, we’re a really good team, but we’re better than our parts when we have them all together.”

A successful showing in Columbus would have made the Wolverines 17-0, their best start in program history.

Beating Ohio State would have given Michigan coach John Beilein his best start to a season as a coach anywhere, at any level.

Maybe most importantly, a win would have proved that the relatively untested Wolverines could compete with the best teams in the country on the road, and it could have made the upcoming gauntlet that is the Big Ten seem a little more manageable.

But in its biggest game of the season, on its biggest stage, No. 2 Michigan was outmatched, outplayed and beat up for most of the contest in a 56-53 loss to No. 15 Ohio State on Sunday.

Sophomore point guard Trey Burke, a Columbus native who grew up wanting to play for the Buckeyes, started the game off with a confident 3-pointer. This was the Michigan fans had seen all season — bold, strong and at times, cocky. This was expected.

The Wolverines not scoring for the next seven minutes and 44 seconds of game time was not. By the time freshman forward Glenn Robinson III hit Michigan’s second bucket, a 3-pointer, Michigan trailed 16-6. The Wolverines couldn’t move the ball against Ohio State’s physical perimeter defenders and struggled to get the ball even close to the key.

“This team — and (Ohio State coach Thad Matta’s) teams have always been this way — but this one, the perimeter defense in particular is exceptional,” Beilein said of the Buckeyes. “Why? They’ve been doing the same shell drills for two, three, four years. They really work at this and they are really good at it.”

Michigan’s swagger slowly evaporated — shots that were usually taken from deep weren’t taken, passes into the lane were timid and drives to the basket led to turnovers more often than not.

It all came down to turnovers: the Buckeyes capitalized by forcing 13 of them against a team that averages 9.3 a game. Michigan had nine in the first half alone, and ten minutes into the game, the Wolverines had more turnovers, seven, than points scored, six.

In five games different this year, the Wolverines have committed less than seven turnovers. On Sunday, they had seven less than 11 minutes into the game.

“They came out and beat us up a bit,” junior forward Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “We have to know how to control the pressure and play better.”

Michigan looked lost offensively in the first half, unsure of what to do against the contact and pressure of the home team. It scored just 22 points in the first half — a season low — and even that was after a 14-5 run to close the half.

All in all, starting the second half down 12 was pretty reasonable considering how poorly the game had started for the Wolverines.

Slowly, Michigan started to chip away in the second half. Cutting down on the turnovers helped — it committed just four in the second half — but it also started to crash the boards with a little more ferocity and to take some of those shots it was passing up earlier.

“In the second half, I think we came out the way we should have came out in the first half,” Burke said. “It was too late. It was two or three possessions too late.”

Going into the game, the big matchup was between Burke and Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft, who is regarded as one of the best defenders in the country. Burke played fine, ending with a team-high fifteen points, but he also had four turnovers to go along with just four assists. He wasn’t able to drive as well as usual, and Craft was in his face all night.

“Craft is as good as there is, as good as I’ve ever seen,” Beilein said. “He’s tremendous.”

Added Craft: “Any time you get to play against a great guy like (Burke), you have some incentive to go out and see what you can do. Our defense did what it needed to do today, and that really helped.”

Still, Michigan found other ways to score. Burke’s backup, freshman Spike Albrecht, contributed seven first-half points, and Hardaway contributed 12.

But Hardaway needed 15 shots to score those 12 points. Burke needed 13 shots to score his 15 points. Freshman forward Nik Stauskas, who averages almost 14 points a game, didn’t score.

As a team, the Wolverines made less than 40 percent of their shots, in a season where they average more than the 50 percent from the floor.

“We had five freshman play almost double-digit minutes, and they did not have a freshman see the floor,” Beilein said. “It’s adversity. At this time of the year, we are seeing our first top-level teams on the road.”

It was close at the end. Michigan got to within one point with more than six minutes left in the game. Then, a fast break, one-handed alley-oop by Ohio State forward Sam Thomson lit the crowd on fire. Robinson, calmly, sank a three at the other end to tie the game.

But Buckeye forward Deshaun Thomas, who led all scorers with 20 points, responded with a dunk of his own at the other end to put Ohio State back in the lead, and that was the closest Michigan got.

Even to the bitter end, Michigan never stopped clawing. Burke had the ball with a chance to win the game, down two with 20 seconds left. He shot a deep three — again, with Craft in his face — as the shot clock was winding down and eight seconds left in the game. The shot went halfway in, but spun and rattled out. Ohio State made its free throws down the stretch to seal the game.

Burke and the Wolverines had a chance at the end, in a game that looked out of hand from the beginning, but couldn’t finish in their quest for the nation’s top spot.

Arizona started hot, and the Ducks started flat and out of nowhere the Ducks trailed 11-0.

“We weren’t quite ready to start that game,” head coach Dana Altman said.

But as soon as the Ducks got on the board, the sold-out student section made its presence felt and it didn’t take long — less than two minutes, actually — for the Ducks to level the score and take their first lead on a Damyean Dotson jumper.

Arizona wouldn’t give up the lead without a fight and led again by as many as five points midway through the first half, but Oregon ended the half on a 21-5 run, sending Matthew Knight Arena into a frenzy at halftime.

The Ducks were quick to credit the fans post-game.

“The fans were unbelievable tonight,” E.J. Singler said. “The student section, the Pit Crew, was on fire. It really made a difference in this game.”

Singler had no small role in the Ducks victory, either. The lone senior on the Ducks to have played his entire career in Eugene finished with a team-high 14 points and added seven rebounds and seven assists. Much of that production came in the first half, with Singler on triple-double pace going into the interval. Playing in what he called the biggest game of his Oregon career, Singler showed that he isn’t being bothered by the knee injury that plagued him at the start of the season.

The forward from Medford played with a lot of emotion too, perhaps never more apparent than after he made a layup with contact after a coast-to-coast drive and let out something of a primal scream, and it wasn’t lost on his teammates.

“Every time I see E flex,” Johnathan Loyd said, “I flex too. That gets me hyped.”

Maybe it was Singler’s emotions, maybe it was the Pit Crew’s excitement, but something in the Matthew Knight Arena air Thursday night got the Ducks’ entire team going. Eight different Ducks scored, four finished in double figures, and Oregon racked up 17 assists as a team. The Ducks bench outscored their counterparts 17-6, and every Duck who played more than one minute found the scoresheet.

“Our team tonight was really unselfish,” Singler said. “We really made a lot of different plays for a lot of different people.”

As good as the Ducks’ win was, it’s just their second game of conference play, and that means there’s a lot of season left.

“It’s not our high point,” Singler said. “We got a lot of season left, and we got some goals we want to accomplish.”

What are those goals?

“Win the Pac-12,” Singler said.

One reporter asked Parrom about, after a winning a game where Arizona trailed by as many as 17 points and by 10 or more for most of it, if he felt something special brewing with this No. 3 Wildcats (13-0, 1-0) squad, which is officially to its best start in 80 years.

Parrom took a deep breath.

“Oh man,” he said. “I’m still trying to catch my breath from the game. I’m in shock.”

And understandably so.

With 4:13 left in the game after a layup from Colorado’s Sabatino Chen, the Wildcats trailed by 10 points at 68-58, and by 10 or more for 20:18 of the 40 minute regulation.

In the next 3:55, Lyons scored 10 points and Arizona outscored the Buffs 20-12, bringing the game back to within two points. Lyons finished with a game-high 24 points.

After a Lyons lay-up, Arizona fouled Colorado’s little-used guard Jeremy Adams.

The crowd was on their feet, and was as raucous as anything Johnson, a sophomore, had ever seen at McKale.

“I’ve never heard it like that,” Johnson said.

Adams missed both free throws, and Colorado fouled Lyons. Putting him at the line with a chance to tie the game and 9.2 seconds on the clock. Which he did, nailing two free throws to knot the game up at 80. It was the first time Arizona was locked up with the Buffs since the score was 6-6 early in the first half.

So, Colorado had another 9.2 seconds to put the now tightly-contested game away. Spencer Dinwiddie brought the ball up the court, and passed it to Chen, who had nowhere to go with the ball and forced up a contested 3-point jumper.

“We denied everybody, so I knew he had to shoot that,” Lyons said.

In theory, Chen might have been the one player Arizona wanted to have the ball in his hands with the game on the line. The senior guard entered the game scoring 4.1 points per game and had made just two of his last 22 3-point attempts dating back to last season.

Well, he banked this one in as time expired, along with two others in scoring a career-high 15 points.

“He looked like Reggie Miller tonight,” Miller said.

Colorado rejoiced. Game over…or not.

After a few minutes of review, the officials controversially ruled that Chen didn’t get the shot off in time, bringing the game to overtime.

“It could have gone either way,” Miller said.

As the officials were reviewing the play, Miller huddled the Wildcats up despite the initial ruling that the shot was good.

“I was sending officials a subliminal message,” Miller said with a smirk. “That I knew the shot was no good. It was all an act.”

There was not a doubt in Lyons’ mind that Arizona would pull the game out from there.

“Everybody in the gym knew that,” said Lyons, who scored five points in the extra period. “If you’re the home team and you rally back and push it to overtime, it’s usually gonna be in your favor.”

Added Parrom: “…once we went into overtime I knew it was our game. When the [regulation] was over, I looked at Mark and he looked at me. We said this was our game.”

Arizona outscored Colorado 12-3 in overtime and improved its record to 24-11 in Pac-12 openers.

Parrom contributed five points in overtime and paced the Wildcats bench with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Despite the unthinkable comeback, Arizona’s struggles for the first 36 minutes of the game didn’t go un-noticed by Miller.

In the first half, Arizona shot 7-of-27 from the field and 3-of-11 from long range, and it’s early-season struggles defending the three were prevalent, as Colorado made 6-of-9 in the first half and 10-of-21 in the game.

Askia Booker led the Buffs with 18 points on 5-of-17 shooting, and Josh Scott added 15 points. Arizona held Andre Roberson to nine points on 3-of-7 shooting.

“We didn’t execute,” Miller said. “For me to say it was all us is not giving Colorado respect, they are a very good defensive team.”

“We would have gotten what we would’ve deserved if we would have lost,” he added.

For the game, Arizona shot 28-of-65, 8-of-23 from beyond the arc, and had six players score in double figures, including 15 from Solomon Hill, 12 from Johnson and 10 from both Tarczewski and Grant Jerrett.

Arizona will continue its Pac-12 slate against Utah on Saturday at 3 p.m. in McKale Center.

In the team’s first true road game of the season, the Hoosiers had to battle through the raucous Hawkeye crowd that filled every seat in the arena. They had to make late-game free throws with the game on the line and the fans jumping around yelling and screaming, a part of the game the Hoosiers haven’t had to factor in yet this season.

Despite a late Iowa surge in the second half, the Hoosiers were able to fend off the Hawkeyes and their fans, pulling out the victory 69-65 to begin the conference season with a win.

Leading up to Monday’s game, though, IU had struggled against the Hawkeyes, dropping five of the teams’ last six matchups, spanning three seasons. The lone win came last season when IU hosted Iowa and won an offensive battle 103-89.

The Hoosiers had last won in Iowa City in 2008. Junior guard Victor Oladipo said that the team knew coming in that they were going to have to battle hard and turn that trend around.

“They’ve been kind of punking us the last couple years, especially here,” Oladipo said. “They’ve been out-rebounding us and just out-playing us, and I think this year, it was just kind of a mentality that we were going to come in here and take the first punch. We were going to play hard, and I think we did a phenomenal job tonight.”

During the Crean era, the Hoosiers have struggled on the road in the Big Ten, and even last season, as the team broke into the rankings and the national spotlight, Crean’s squad went just 3-6 on the road in conference play.

Oladipo said that starting off the conference season with a win, especially on the road, was a big accomplishment, and teammate sophomore forward Cody Zeller agreed.

But he may have had it a little easier than the rest of the Hoosiers.

Zeller said that his family, which includes his dad’s 11 brothers and sisters, held a reunion last night in the area in hopes that several of them could come to Monday’s game.

He said his uncle bought close to 50 tickets for the Zeller clan, and it was great to have them amongst the Iowa fans, but he relishes getting to play in front of loud away crowds.

“I love playing in big crowds, whether they’re cheering for you or against you,” Zeller said. “It get’s your adrenaline flowing. You want to play on the biggest stages. It’s a lot of fun.”

Junior forward Will Sheehey, on the other hand, did not have a large block of fans cheering him on Monday.

In fact, as the “Sheehey sucks” chants exploded from the Iowa student section midway through the second half, it appeared that Sheehey may have been the most hated man in Iowa City Monday afternoon.

They began as he pleaded with the referees for a couple calls that didn’t fall IU’s way, and after that, the heckling began.

“They were classy,” Sheehey said.

He added that the boos and the derogatory chants are all apart of the Big Ten atmosphere.

“Our fans would do the same thing, our fans would do the same thing, and to think that any team in the Big Ten’s fans wouldn’t be just as involved in rallying on their team, that’s just the way it works,” Sheehey said.

No. 9 Minnesota outlasted No. 18 Michigan State in the conference season opener 76-63 behind Andre Hollins’ game-highs in points (22) and assists (6).

Tubby Smith’s squad trailed 61-58 with 7:15 left in the second half when a dunk by Trevor Mbakwe sparked an 18-2 run to end the game.

“It’s not all physical,” Smith said. “I thought today we played not only with our heart [and] toughness, but we played with our head down the stretch.”

In a game with only two lead changes, Michigan State took a five-point lead with with 9:22 left after a 15-3 run.

“[In] years past we might have started arguing some or panicking,” senior Rodney Williams said, “and the game most likely would’ve gone the other way.”

After turning the ball over 16 times in the first 28 minutes, the Gophers flipped a switch and managed zero turnovers in the last 11 minutes. They forced five Spartans turnovers in the same stretch.

“We just didn’t panic,” Hollins said. “We knew this would be a close game.”

Both teams shot poorly from the charity stripe — 59 percent for Minnesota, 20 percent for the Spartans — but the Gophers finished 4-for-5 in the closing minutes.

“We made our free throws when they counted, made the big stops when we needed,” Smith said.

Steals by Williams, Mbakwe and Coleman in the final minutes created fast-break opportunities for the Gophers as they flourished outside of their halfcourt set.

Williams finished with 15 points — four shy of 1,000 on his career — six rebounds and three steals in 33 minutes.

Smith’s bench didn’t play much, as every Gophers starter except for Mbakwe (28 minutes) notched at least 30 minutes.

Mbakwe had a team-high 12 rebounds and 11 points as he competed for the first time this season without a brace on his right knee.

The sixth-year senior said he’s fully recovered from his surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and doesn’t want “people thinking about it anymore.”

“Anytime you have Trevor out there at full health, it’s going to be trouble for the other team,” Williams said.

Minnesota hadn’t beaten Michigan State since March 12, 2010, in the Big Ten tournament and not since 2006 in the regular season.

“We can’t sit on this win for too long,” junior Austin Hollins said. “It’s just the first one in a long journey.”

The Gophers (13-1) play Northwestern (9-4) next on Jan. 6.

Notes

- Williams Arena has had back-to-back announced sellouts of 14,625.

- After not playing against Lafayette, center Elliott Eliason came off the bench for 10 minutes, notching six rebounds and a block.

- Minnesota shot 57 percent from the field behind Andre Hollins’ 7-for-10 shooting.

Parker announced his decision Thursday afternoon in the gym at his high school, Simeon Career Academy.

“In the fall of 2013, I will be attending Duke University,” Parker said. ”[Krzyzewski] knows a lot. He comes from a real prestigious background.”

Parker said staying close to home, Duke’s academics and Krzyzewski were the primary reasons he chose Duke.

In a long, back-and-forth recruiting battle—primarily between Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Krzyzewski—Duke finally prevailed over the Spartans, as well as BYU, Florida and Stanford, to win the 6-foot-8, 220-pound small forward’s services.

“I think Jabari Parker is about as big of a priority as I’ve seen Mike Krzyzewski put on a kid in a long, long time,” ESPN Senior Recruiting Analyst Dave Telep said just weeks after the Duke coaching staff arrived to Parker’s open gym in a limo last fall.

Krzyzewski’s persistent efforts have paid off. A truly unique prospect and prodigious talent, Parker can do it all on the hardwood. With a silky smooth jump shot, NBA size and a remarkably polished offensive repertoire, the Chicago prep basketball prodigy has game and body that bears an eerie resemblance to a young Carmelo Anthony.

Perhaps even more special is his character and work ethic. His devout Mormon faith differentiates him from his peers. Unlike many young superstars, Parker shies away from the spotlight and puts the team above himself at all costs.

His father, Sonny Parker—who played in the NBA—and his caring mother, Lola, have played invaluable roles in keeping Jabari on the right path while navigating through an incredibly hyped high school basketball career and recruiting process.

The hype, however, is warranted. Playing in one of the most fierce high school basketball hotbeds in the nation, Parker has led Simeon Career Academy to three-straight state championships. As a junior, he was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year, and last spring he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, being described as “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.”

With his senior campaign now underway, Parker will try to lead his squad to an unprecedented fourth-straight title, a feat that’s never been accomplished in big-school Illinois basketball.

Parker, however, is not in top form. While playing for the U.S. U-18 National Team over the summer, he sustained a foot injury, which required surgery. Consequently, the setback put him on the shelf for several months, forcing him to miss much of his final summer on the AAU circuit. Recently, Parker returned to the court and is slowly working his way back into game shape.

While recovering through the fall, Parker’s recruitment escalated. He took official visits to Michigan State, Duke, Florida and BYU, before December.

Following the official visit to Durham, rumblings began to surface that the official visit went very well for Duke, and a renewed sense of optimism spread amongst the fan base, who until that point had predominately felt Michigan State might have the slight lead.

Since setting the announcement date, the Spartan and Blue Devil fan bases have been on pins and needless knowing that the fate of a championship run could hinge on Parker’s announcement.

Ultimately, Duke won Parker over in a nail bitter. This, however, is not the first time Krzyzewski—a Chicago native himself— has experienced recruiting success at his old stomping grounds. The all-time winningest coach in college basketball has secured commitments from Windy City products Jon Scheyer, current assistant coach Chris Collins, Corey Maggette, Sean Dockery and Shaun Livingston.

Parker’s pledge, however, gives Krzyzewski one of his most talented players to ever come to Durham. Many recruiting experts feel that Parker is one of the best high school basketball players to come along in the last decade.

“He’s up there with Jason Williams, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden,” Telep said in an interview earlier this fall.

As talented and impressive as Krzyzewski’s current squad is—currently ranked No. 1—next year’s bunch could have an even higher ceiling.

Similar to the makeup of his U.S. National Team this summer, Krzyzewski will have one of his most versatile, athletic and deep lineups of the past decade at his disposal. Duke will likely return starters Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon, as well as reserves Amile Jefferson, Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston, Marshall Plumlee and Alex Murphy. Redshirt senior Andre Dawkins should be back on the court. The Blue Devils will then add talented Mississippi State transfer Rodney Hood, as well as promising incoming freshmen Semi Ojeleye, Matt Jones and the likely centerpiece of the team—Jabari Parker.

And as his career draws nearer to an end, Krzyzewski’s blueprint for the 2013-14 Duke team has finally come to fruition, and it’s a squad that promises to make another serious run at a national championship.

Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, though, they didn’t make the comeback that mattered most.

Down 84-80 with less than two minutes remaining in overtime, the Bulldogs hit two-straight 3-pointers to take the lead for good, as they knocked off the No. 1 Hoosiers 88-86 Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the Close the Gap Crossroads Classic.

Butler jumped out to an early lead in the first half, ahead 9-5, but the Hoosiers stormed back on the heels of junior guard Victor Oladipo.

A run that began with two free throws from Oladipo, he would go on to dish in two layups along with one of his signature fastbreak dunks that brought the crowd to its feet. The junior scored eight of IU’s 10 points in a run that put the Hoosiers ahead 15-12 with 11:04 left in the half.

With that run, Oladipo finished the half with 10 points to lead IU with 4-of-6 shooting from the field as the Hoosiers went into the locker room up 37-33.

And early in the second half, it looked as though the Hoosiers would have ample opportunity to stretch that lead after Butler committed six fouls in the first 4:03 to put the Hoosiers in the bonus for the remainder of the game.

But from there, the tables turned.

IU went cold from the field, going 5:18 without a bucket as the Bulldogs pulled ahead with the help of a 16-2 run to take the lead 66-59.

During this span, the Hoosiers allowed Butler to hit three 3-pointers, and IU Coach Tom Crean said his team’s poor perimeter defense allowed Butler to creep its way back.

“We cost ourselves at the end of the game defensively, and they made the plays and, they get the credit for that,” Crean said. “But we made the mistakes that got them there.”

Sophomore guard Remy Abell ended the drought with 3:42 left in the game to pull the Hoosiers back within four, but with four-straight points from Butler’s two big men Roosevelt Jones and Andrew Smith, the Bulldogs were ahead by seven and seemingly in control.

The pair, though would both foul out in the next minute, and from there on, Crean put his players into a full court press that he said helped reenergize the Hoosiers to work themselves back into the game.

“We didn’t waiver, and we felt like we could get up and pressure these guys,” Crean said. “We saw things that we felt we could really pressure them on, and it put us in the position and made us very aggressive.”

But even as the Hoosiers clawed their way back, freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell fell victim to the fast pace and urgency of IU’s offense. With 49 seconds left off a 3-point miss from senior guard Jordan Hulls, the ball bounced towards Ferell, but he fumbled it off his feet out of bounds.

Crean said, though, that he wasn’t worried about the mentality of his starting freshman guard, saying he’s always been a “next play guy.”

So Crean drew up IU’s final possession with Ferrell as an option to take the final shot, and with just six seconds left, Ferrell’s 3-pointer fell through the net and pushed the game into overtime to cap IU’s comeback.

The momentum seemed to follow the Hoosiers into the extra period, as they took a four-point lead with just over two minutes left, but Butler pulled off a few late threes of their own to steal the win from the top-ranked team in the country.

Oladipo and sophomore forward Cody Zeller led the five Hoosiers in double-figures with 18 points each as Oladipo excelled from the floor, shooting 7-of-10. Zeller was Butler’s most popular target to foul, shooting 14 shots from the line, and after missing three early, he finished 10-of-14 from the charity stripe.

Ferrell grabbed eight rebounds to lead the team to go along with his late 3-pointer, but his six turnovers highlighted one of Crean’s main points after the game.

He said his squad just didn’t have what it took to beat a determined Butler team.

“We just didn’t play well enough to win, we just didn’t,” Crean said.

“We are writing to inform you today that Marquette University, along with six other colleges and universities, has made a decision to end our association with the Big East Conference,” the pair wrote.

Joining Marquette in the split, about which rumors had been swirling for weeks, are the six other Catholic schools in the Big East that don’t play Division I FBS football. Georgetown, Villanova, St. John’s, Providence, Seton Hall and DePaul will leave with Marquette in the hopes of forming “a premier athletics conference centered on elite-level basketball,” according to the email

“This move will allow us to enhance the elite status of our men’s basketball program, which we were not willing to compromise amid the shifting landscape of intercollegiate athletics,” the email read. “It also allows us to develop new opportunities for student athletes in all 16 of our competitive athletic programs.”

Pilarz and Williams also provided insight into the university’s decision-making process.

“Over the past 15 months, the seven presidents and athletic directors of the universities previously named have been in a thoughtful dialogue to ensure we jointly solidify our vision and commitment to compete at the absolute highest levels of athletic excellence for many years to come,” they wrote.

According to the email, the conversations about a move “became more urgent and gained momentum” after Louisville and Rutgers announced their departures a few weeks ago.

The strategic locations of the six other schools joining the Golden Eagles contributed to the decision as well. In addition to Milwaukee, the Washington (Georgetown), New York (St. John’s) and Philadelphia (Villanova) markets “will provide an infrastructure needed to obtain the highest levels of success,” Pilarz and Williams wrote.

Last Sunday, representatives from the seven departing schools met with Big East commissioner Mike Aresco to discuss their long term future in the conference. On Thursday, the seven schools voted to leave the conference, according to several reports.

Director of athletics Larry Williams addressed the media following Marquette men’s basketball’s 71-51 victory over Savannah State Saturday, which marked win No. 1500 for the program.

“We couldn’t be more excited as administrators about the future of Marquette,” Williams said.

Prior to the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, the Big Ten earned nearly half a billion dollars from football revenue alone and profits somewhere around half of that. Yes, some of this goes to support other sports and supports Title IX-mandated women’s sports. The new TV deals stemming from the addition of Maryland and Rutgers are predicted to add some additional $200 million annually. Coaches make big bucks — Iowa’s football coach Kirk Ferentz is the highest-paid employee of the state of Iowa, commanding some $3.8 million annually. Minnesota’s own Jerry Kill makes at least $1.2 million a year. Announcers and TV networks profit. Vendors profit. Contractors are paid for the new facilities. All in all, college athletics is a high-dollar affair.

But where do the student-athletes fall in this scheme? Generously, a full-ride scholarship is in the ballpark (pun intended) of $50,000, covering tuition, room and board, books and health care. This figure omits the extra “gifts” players receive upon earning bowl berths. Of course, athletes are also prohibited from receiving fringe benefits from boosters, which at big-name schools can include big-ticket items like cars or money from selling jerseys. Violations have led to high-profile sanctions upon the biggest programs. Yes, such practices may not be completely ethical, but given the short end of the stick athletes get in the NCAA, it is hard to blame them for taking outside boosters up on their offers. Many students come from humble backgrounds and cannot even afford to fly family members to bowl or tournament games.

Recently, the NCAA decided to allow colleges to provide student-athletes with a pittance of an extra $2,000 stipend but quickly suspended the measure after backlash from institutions unwilling to commit the extra $1 million for athletes to pay for their families to travel to see them play. Student-athletes are also prohibited from earning more than that $2,000 working a part-time job. While, yes, receiving pay without working would be unethical, such a prohibition seems to only incentivize players to take advantage of those other offers given by boosters outside the NCAA’s ability to effectively monitor and control. Simply paying athletes a reasonable compensation for the services they provide in generating millions of dollars in profits for their university, which also fail to include the alumni donations brought in by exposure of the athletics programs that benefit the general student population, seems reasonable.

As the super-conferences align and the ever-increasing TV revenue deals continue to provide college athletics with expanded revenues, the time has come to abandon the antiquated and unfair idealism of clinging to amateurism. These institutions owe a lot to their athletes and should compensate them as such.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Majerus died at 3:30 p.m (PST) of heart failure in a California hospital.

Majerus, 64, had been in California undergoing evaluation for a serious heart condition that forced him to take an indefinite leave of absence in late August. On Nov. 16, it was announced that Majerus would be unable to return to Saint Louis.

“Tonight we join the rest of the basketball world in sending our condolences to Rick Majerus’ family and friends,” SLU director of athletics Chris May said. “Coach Majerus put his heart and soul into the Billiken program, and for that we will be eternally grateful.”

SLU interim head coach Jim Crews, who replaced Majerus in August, reflected upon Majerus’ passion for coaching, as well as their friendship.

“Nobody loved basketball and teaching kids more than Rick. His passion for the game and the coaching profession was unparalleled,” said Crews. “Rick was a true friend and was always there when needed. I, along with so many others, are going to miss him.”

During his career, Majerus established himself as one of the brightest coaching minds in college basketball while compiling a 517-216 record.

Majerus began his college coaching career at Marquette U. as an assistant in 1971 before taking over as head coach in 1983. After three years as Marquette’s head coach, Majerus had a brief stint in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. He spent two years as head coach at Ball State U. before moving to U. Utah in 1989.

Majerus helped revived a middling Utah program, reaching the NCAA tournament in ten of his twelve full seasons as head coach. The apex of his Utah tenure came in 1998 when he led the Utes to the NCAA Tournament final, losing a heartbreaking contest to the University of Kentucky.

Majerus’ time at Utah was marked by multiple health issues. He missed the bulk of the 1989-1990 season after undergoing heart surgery, and coached only one game of the 2000-2001 campaign before taking a personal leave.

Eventually, Majerus’ health problems led to his resignation in 2004. Later that year, Majerus accepted the head coaching job at U. Southern California, but resigned five days later, once again citing health concerns.

“I wanted this job so bad I was in denial where my health actually is,” Majerus said at the time.

Majerus spent three years as an ESPN studio analyst from 2004-2007 before being hired as SLU’s head coach on April 27, 2007.

Majerus helped return the Billikens to national relevance, collecting a 95-69 overall record. Last season, Majerus led the Billikens to their first appearance since 2000, reaching the third round before falling to Michigan State U.

Majerus was widely respected for his coaching acumen and off-court personality. Friends, colleagues, fans and players have expressed sadness for his passing and admiration for his actions both on and off the court.

“Majerus was a teacher and a thinker, an insatiable intellect and a fearless one. In a world full of passers-by on the highway of life, Majerus was never along for the ride,” Dana O Neil, ESPN college basketball writer, said.

“I thought we were being put in positions that were less advantageous to run good offense [in the first half],” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. The raucous crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium could sense the post-Thanksgiving hangover reoccurring for Duke.

After all, the Blue Devils were virtually in the same position a year ago—coming off the emotional-high of winning one of the premiere Thanksgiving tournaments in college basketball. Last November, a host of factors—fatigue, immaturity and lack of togetherness—led to Duke’s embarrassing 85-63 demise on the road against Buckeyes, who eventually marched on to the Final Four. The early-season setback foreshadowed the Blue Devils’ future: an upset loss on the opening-weekend of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils were seemingly on the verge of getting knocked out for the second-straight year in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. With its 96-game non-conference-home winning streak on the line and payback on the players’ minds, Duke came out of the locker room with a swagger in the second half—something fans never saw in last season’s squad.

“They got knocked back in the first half, and then played great in the second half, and just fought,” Krzyzewski said.

Chipping away at the Buckeye’s lead—that peaked at 10 points in the second half—the Blue Devils received resilient second-half performances from Rasheed Sulaimon, Ryan Kelly and Quinn Cook, who collectively scored 35 points in the second half to complement Mason Plumlee’s dominating 21-point, 17-rebound performance. Spearheaded by Cook at point guard, the newfound offensive rhythm allowed Duke to scrap and claw its way back, take the lead and ultimately get highly sought-after revenge.

“We certainly wanted [the win],” Kelly said, with regards to having lost to the Buckeyes last season. “We had to prove as team that winning our first championship, that we could put that behind us and take the next step. Last year is last year, but we couldn’t make that step last year.”

After going scoreless and playing his worst half in a Duke uniform, Sulaimon showed unique character, especially for a rookie, by bouncing back with a critical 17 points in the second half. In the process, the youngster illustrated his versatile game—creating his own shots both off the dribble and on deep 3-pointers.

“For a freshman to respond that way is superb,” Krzyzewski said. “It just doesn’t happen very often.”

But it was the three seniors that made it happen. The trio of leaders pulled the talented freshman shooting guard aside at halftime and demanded that the youngster step up in the second half—another telling sign that this Duke team is poised for a deeper postseason run.

“All three of them came to me and said I need to step it up,” Sulaimon said. “I just wanted to do it for them, not for me. I had a bad half in the first half, and in the second half I just wanted to do whatever I can to make those guys proud. ”

The team is clearly tougher and has taken a step it failed to last year. The Blue Devils escaped murderer’s row—No. 8 Kentucky, No. 21 Minnesota, VCU, No. 5 Louisville and No. 4 Ohio State—unscathed in the month of November.

“I have liked my group,” Krzyzewski said. “You just don’t know if they have the confidence, the endurance and the togetherness to go through a stretch like that. It’ll be hard to find anybody that has been through a stretch like this. They have gotten better. I knew my team was together, but through accomplishment they have gotten more together.”

Louisville will be an improvement to the ACC and be a much stronger competitor in many sports than the Terrapins. The Cardinals, if they beat the Rutgers in football on Thursday, will be the Big East champions. Louisville boasts a budget ranked higher than any other ACC team, and has a young football team with only five starters graduating after this season. In basketball, the Cardinals have finished either in the Final Four or the Elite Eight four times since the 2004-2005 basketball season. Currently, Louisville is the fifth-ranked men’s basketball team in the nation and maintains the most profitable basketball program in the country every year. The women’s team is ranked seventh. In 2007, the baseball team made it to the College World Series.

Although Louisville is ranked as the 160^th school in the country academically, the ACC believes that its reputation of high academic standards will not be heavily affected by one institute’s ranking. With the addition of the Cardinals, the ACC will have four new members shortly including Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2013 and Louisville and Notre Dame in 2014.

The student section was full for the first time this season and had been loud during the pregame ceremony when Michigan raised a banner to honor last season’s co-Big Ten Championship. But now, three minutes into the game, the crowd had quieted down, waiting for the Wolverines to get going.

Play started sloppily — the two teams combined for four turnovers in the first three minutes — and Michigan’s starting shooting guard, Matt Vogrich, had just picked up his second foul. Plus, the senior had started off the game with a turnover that led to an easy Wolfpack dunk for the first points of the contest.

In came freshman guard Nik Stauskas, who kick-started the Michigan offense. After a quick Stauskas bucket, the crowd was back into it. Stauskas, and Michigan, didn’t look back. The Wolverines ultimately overcame the relentless play of N.C. State to hang on to the seven-point lead late.

“I’m still coming off the bench, but at this point that’s something I’m fine with,” Stauskas said. “(Michigan coach John Beilein) likes me coming into the game and he is giving me the green light to shoot and do what I want, so you can’t ask for any more than that.”

After his first bucket of the game, Stauskas went on a stretch where he scored 10 of Michigan’s 12 points. He finished the first half with 13 points on five shots and helped key a 16-4 Wolverine run. The Wolfpack had their biggest run of the first half when Stauskas was on the bench, scoring seven in a row. With Stauskas back in the game, Michigan stopped the run and regained the game’s momentum.

The freshman finished the night with a game-high and career-high 20 points, a total that included four 3-pointers.

The other impressive night belonged to sophomore point guard Trey Burke, who tied his career-high in assists, nine, at the end of the first half. Burke finished the first half with zero points and zero turnovers.

The second half started a little differently for Burke. Less than seven minutes after halftime, he hit a pull-up 3-pointer to score his 10th point of the night — and secure his first career double-double. He finished the contest with 18 points, 11 assists and zero turnovers.

“I was getting deep in the paint and guys were kind of shading the perimeter,” Burke said. “(The second half was) when I could get to the rack … it was just matter of making reads.”

The Wolfpack were trying to push the ball at every available opportunity, and also attempted a full-court press at one point. The pressure caught the Wolverines napping at points during fast breaks but wasn’t as effective as N.C. State hoped.

Michigan finished the game with just six turnovers — two of which were given up in the first two minutes of the game. On top of that, the Wolverines’ first turnover of the second half came with 4:34 left in the game.

N.C. State had four players score in double figures, but couldn’t do enough defensively to slow Michigan down. The lead shrunk to within five points with less than a minute to play, but an offensive foul drawn by freshman Mitch McGary effectively sealed the game.

Coming off a championship in the weak NIT Season Tip-Off field, the Wednesday matchup was Michigan’s first real challenge of the season, a statement win against its first ranked opponent of the year.

“I think we have a lot of good options and I think most good teams do,” Beilein said. “I like coaching these guys … they are just good kids to coach. They buy into what you’re doing, whether they played six minutes, didn’t play or played 39 minutes, they have a similar attitude in the locker room.

“If we can maintain that unity, that’s going to be a big part of determining our success.”

After the break, IU delivered the knockout.

Indiana scored the first 13 points of the second half to claim a double digit lead it never came close to relinquishing as IU defended it’s No. 1 ranking with a 83-59 beatdown of No. 14 UNC.

Sophomore forward Cody Zeller led the Hoosiers with 20 points while juniors forward Will Sheehey and guard Victor Oladipo were close behind with 19 points each.

IU staked an early lead with 7 of its first 11 points supplied by sophomore forward Cody Zeller. The teams essentially traded baskets for several minutes to make the score 18-13 in Indiana’s favor before North Carolina rode a six-point run to its first lead of the game at 19-18.

The Hoosiers quickly responded with a three-point shot from senior guard Jordan Hulls, and never trailed after that, though the Tarheels did tie it at 23, 25, 27 and 31 at various points.

Despite a nifty backdoor move for a basket by Oladipo and a block by Zeller that swatted the ball into the stands, IU could not pull away until a pair of free throws by Oladipo – due to a Dexter Strickland flagrant foul – followed by a Zeller dunk tied what had been their biggest lead of the night at six points.

From there, the Hoosiers began to pile it on to end the half. Oladipo contributed another foul shot and a dunk as IU ran its lead to 44-35. All in all, four straight IU field goals were dunks as the Hoosiers closed the first half on a 15-6 run.

Several scoreless minutes started the second period before Indiana broke the drought with a dunk by Oladipo. From there, the Hoosiers simply made shot after shot, be it a Hulls jumper, Oladipo slam or anything in between.

Meanwhile, UNC made just one of its first 15 shots in the second half.

IU pushed its lead well into double figures and above 30, only dropping below that mark late in the game when the lineup consisted mostly of second-string underclassmen and walk-ons.

Big Ten.

So what’s the first word that comes to your mind?

Maybe it’s one of the sports like football and basketball that the conference is renowned for. Then again, maybe it’s one of the schools that make up its DNA, like perennial powerhouses Michigan and Ohio State. Or perhaps it’s even one of the great players that the league has produced over the years, like Heisman winners Desmond Howard, Eddie George and Ron Dayne to name just a few.

But who in their right mind would say Maryland or Rutgers?

It reminds me of my childhood learning programs like Sesame Street, where they played the game “one of these things is not like the other.”

This Big Ten’s conference expansion was sudden, but not unexpected. But it still seems baffling — until placed under closer examination — why the conference chose these two schools to incorporate into its ranks, and why these schools decided to bolt to greener pastures.

Geographically, Rutgers and Maryland couldn’t lay farther apart from the latest add-on to the conference, Nebraska. In fact, the distance between the campuses of Maryland and Nebraska is more than 1,200 miles. So, with the extension comes the destruction of the classic pre-held notion that the Big Ten is a Midwest-only collection of collegiate athletic programs.

That being said, Pennsylvania does border the states whose campuses the Big Ten’s newest members reside in, helping to expand the eastern flank of the conference’s reach.

The positive of this expansion lays in the fact that the move extends the reach of the conference across the nation not only in recruiting but also in terms of exposure.

For recruiting, the Big Ten will be able to open up — well, more than before — the East Coast and compete with other conferences for the region’s best players. Now athletes in the respective states of New Jersey and Maryland will get a chance to see the Big Ten first hand, not only in terms of the athletic contests themselves, but also in terms of regional penetration by the Big Ten Network, a key player in the allure of the conference to its two newest members.

Something that offers long-term security with the Big Ten is not only its strong record of athletic prowess and the revenue that its large enrollment schools and prestigious programs bring, but also the money that lays in its television market and its deal with the Big Ten Network. Those deals alone bring the conference’s schools several millions of dollars in revenue each year.

If the Big Ten Network can penetrate the basic cable market in its new states and the major metropolitan areas around them — Washington, D.C., New York, etc., it could make an absolute killing. And even if it doesn’t, the network will still make a disgusting amount in subscription fees. Because, keep in mind, the Big Ten has a strong base of alumni that populates the East Coast and there’s plenty of people willing to pay to see the conference’s games.

So money, money, money. Who does it go to? The schools, the conference and the network. Everyone gets a piece of the pie and money makes the world go around, so why not get in while the gettin’s good?

Additionally, the ACC and Big East are renowned as basketball conferences. What brings in more revenue? Well, besides overall numbers, maybe this imagery can explain it. The biggest basketball facility in the NCAA, seating wise, is 33,000 at the Carrier Dome, home of Syracuse, who coincidentally just joined the ACC — along with Pittsburgh — confirming the idea that the conference is a basketball-centered one.

The biggest seating facility for FBS college football? Try Michigan Stadium. The “Big House” holds 109,901 people. Based on ticket sales alone, revenue from football beats the hell out of basketball. Moving to a conference where the schools are bigger and the football is more relevant on a national stage makes too much sense for Maryland and Rutgers.

Also, keep in mind that Maryland was in a hole financially (the school lost $4.5 million last year) and had to cut a few sports programs. Rutgers’ football program is stuck in the rather weak Big East and apparently has some ambitious construction and upgrade plans for its campus and facilities planned. The needed financial boost that the Big Ten brings will only help revenue, boosting the schools to new heights both academically and athletically.

If there was 800 more words to this column I could go into much deeper detail and provide the solid figures and stats that would bore most readers to death and satisfy all the critics to this article, but keep this in mind: In 2008, the Big Ten had seven of its then 11 teams reported in the top 25 for total revenue earned from athletics.

It’s disappointing that rivalries and the geographic location that made the Big Ten special are largely taking the back burner to the reformation and expansion of the conference. But in a sport — and world — where money rules all, it’s a necessary evil in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.

The Terrapins announced they have accepted an invitation to join the leave the ACC and join the Big Ten, which will become a 14-team conference with the addition of Rutgers, which, at press time, is expected to depart from the Big East Tuesday.

Maryland will be required to pay a $50 million buyout to leave the ACC. The exit fee was raised to $50 million after the addition of Notre Dame for all sports except football, and Maryland and Florida State were the only schools to vote against the increase.

“Our best wishes are extended to all of the people associated with the University of Maryland. Since our inception, they have been an outstanding member of our conference, and we are sorry to see them exit,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement released by the conference. Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kevin White, director of athletics, both declined comment via Jon Jackson, associate athletic director for media relations and public affairs.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse are set to join the ACC next year after announcing last year they reached an agreement to leave the Big East.

Facing a Kentucky squad led by a quartet of freshmen, Duke’s seniors combined for 51 points—and the team’s first 28 points of the game—as the No. 9 Blue Devils beat the No. 3 Wildcats 75-68 in the Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome.

Curry finished with a game-high 23 points, 14 of which came in the second half, after Plumlee scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half.

“I think it was good, especially in the end-of game situation, having guys like myself, Ryan and Seth who have been in those,” Plumlee said. “Each possession becomes that much more important, so I think we had guys on the floor that understood the importance of a possession.”

Kentucky (1-1) did not hold a lead during the entire second half, with Duke (2-0) holding a 12-point lead with 6:30 to play after a Curry jump shot. Wildcat freshman Alex Poythress, however, threw down a put-back slam to reduce the margin to 10.

That sparked a run with Kentucky rallying to make the score 64-61 with less than four minutes to play. But Curry made two free throws to extend the lead to five. The Blue Devils did not score in the 4:26 between Curry’s points.

“We just said, it’s a three-minute ballgame. Let’s win a three-minute ballgame, and we did,” Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Seth was terrific. I think he was the difference maker in the game…. I think he took control of the game. We wanted the ball in his hands, and he made veteran, tough plays down the stretch.”

Poythress responded with a jumper on the next sequence, but another Curry bucket ensured that the Wildcats never came within a possession of tying the game for the rest of the way.

In the final 2:04, the Blue Devils made 7-of-8 free throws. Curry went 6-of-6 from the free throw line, and Plumlee—who typically struggles from the charity stripe—nailed all four of his attempts.

“I personally want to have the ball in my hands as much as possible to go up there and knock them down,” Curry said.

Rasheed Sulaimon gave the three seniors a boost in the final 20 minutes, after the freshman shot 0-for-7 in the first half. Sulaimon hit three 3-pointers in the second half—two of them coming in a critical stretch with Plumlee on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 16:04 to go. Sulaimon led Duke with six rebounds and five assists.

When Plumlee went to the bench after the foul call, the Blue Devils extended their lead to double digits for the first time.

Throughout the game, Plumlee fought a physical battle in the paint with Wildcat Nerlens Noel, who is regarded as the top freshman in the nation. Despite Plumlee picking up two early fouls that clearly frustrated him, he shot 5-of-6 from the field in the first half, guiding Duke to a 33-31 lead at the break.

“Especially when you’re playing a team as talented as Kentucky at every position, you have to get things from tons of areas and different players,” Kelly said. “As seniors we need to be there to lead our team through anything. That’s what got us through a game there like that when you had people in foul trouble and had to play with that.”

Kelly, who finished with 10 points, was most impactful on the defensive end guarding Kentucky sophomore forward Kyle Wiltjer. With Plumlee on the bench at times, Kelly’s defense in the post was thrust into the spotlight, and he responded with three blocked shots, all of which came in the first half.

After recording a team-high 19 points in the team’s season-opening victory against Maryland, Wiltjer scored just five points Tuesday night.

“They took him away. They did a great job of saying, ‘He’s not getting a shot off,’” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. “He played well against Maryland, shot the ball. Well this team said, ‘He’s not shooting it.’”

Quinn Cook, who did not start for the second consecutive game, also gave the team an early spark, playing 15 of the first 20 minutes while starting point guard Tyler Thornton played just seven. Cook subsequently started the second half in Thornton’s place.

Entering the game with Duke down by four, Cook took advantage of a Kentucky backcourt that was without starting point guard Ryan Harrow, who did not travel to Atlanta due to illness.

Cook orchestrated an offense that combined to turn over the ball just eight times, while recording 16 assists. The Wildcats recorded 13 turnovers and 13 assists.

“I thought he played with assertiveness. He pushed it. He played really good defensively,” Krzyzewski said. “Quinn Cook really gave us a lift. He scored in transition—it was kind of difficult for us to score in the halfcourt in the first half.”

Redshirt freshman Alex Murphy, who did not play in the team’s opener against Georgia State, played two minutes in the first half but did not see the floor for the rest of the game. Junior Josh Hairston played a critical 14 minutes, however, converting two offensive rebounds into baskets in the second half.

This was the first time the Blue Devils defeated a top-three opponent since a Feb. 2008 victory against then-No. 3 North Carolina, while Krzyzewski moved to 5-1 in his career against Kentucky and 2-0 against Calipari-led teams.

And Krzyzewski was able to count on Curry, who turned in a big-game performance reminiscent of his 22-point performance in Feb. 2011 in a Duke win against North Carolina.

“I’m proud of you,” Krzyzewski said, patting Curry on the back. “I’m glad you came to Duke.”

The violation, which was self-reported by the IU athletic department on June 22, involved Mark Adams, a booster of the IU Varsity Club who donated a total of $185 from 1986 to 1992 — before either Jurkin or Mosquera-Perea were born. Through his non-profit organization, A-HOPE, Adams allegedly helped both the freshmen and former IU basketball player Tijan Jobe, who played for IU from 2008-10. Adams created A-HOPE to support international athletes who hope to pursue athletic and academic dreams in the U.S.

Adams reportedly gave $6,000 to Jurkin and $8,000 to Mosquera-Perea for expenses covering food, clothing, housing, travel, toiletries, cell phones and laptops, among other items, while both players were being recruited by IU.

Fred Glass, IU vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics, said in a press release that though he was disappointed the events took place, he thinks the athletic department dealt with the situation in the proper manner.

“At the NCAA’s direction, we conducted an extensive and thorough review in cooperation and consultation with the NCAA Basketball Focus Group,” Glass said. “While I am very disappointed with these circumstances, I am very pleased with the way we have responded and appreciative of the NCAA’s professional guidance and assistance. I would also like to thank Mark Adams for his forthright candor and cooperation in this matter.”

The NCAA ruled that, in addition to the nine-game suspension, Jurkin must repay $250 of his impermissible expenses and Mosquera-Perea will have to pay back $1,589.69.

The IU athletic department said in the release that the team plans to appeal the suspensions, which will put both freshmen on the bench until the Hoosiers play Butler on Dec. 15 in Indianapolis at the Crossroads Classic.

“This is a process. We’re going to keep building, we’re going to keep playing the right way, we’re going to respect the game, this great university and we’re going to go out there and play with effort,” Ollie said.

The players noticed Ollie’s positive reaction to the negative start.

“It’s a lot better because he stayed positive with us and just told us to play hard, play our game and play UConn basketball,” sophomore DeAndre Daniels said.

Daniels grabbed nine rebounds and scored eight points at power forward.

“The mistakes, we would have heard about them a lot differently from Coach Calhoun,” sophomore Ryan Boatright said.

Boatright was second on the team with 14 points.

New Kids on the Block
The 2012-13 UConn Huskies feature four newcomers, three freshmen and a transfer to the program. Graduate student R.J. Evans started 88 games and averaged 12.4 points a game in four seasons as a Holy Cross Crusader. The Salem, Conn. native entered the game halfway through the first half with the Huskies down six. He immediately stole the ball and darted towards the hoop, made the lay-up and was fouled.

“R.J. is our rock that I look to, and he came in and settled us down,” Ollie said.

Evans finished the game with five points in 15 minutes.

The Huskies have found another talented New York City guard in Omar Calhoun. He was ranked No. 32 overall and seventh among all shooting guards by ESPN.com. He fumbled the ball out of bounds on his first touch and missed his first two shots. But Calhoun would rebound as he stole the show Thursday night, scoring a game-high 24 points and made 8 of 14 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 from three-point land.

“Being from New York, being a Brooklyn kid, it’s just something I was brought up with,” Calhoun said about his confidence on the court. “I’m definitely going to keep pushing it. I’m looking forward to getting better every day.”

The newest big man is Phillip Nolan from Milwaukee, Wis. Nolan missed all three field goal attempts, including back-to-back lay-ups early in the second half. He did grab a pair of rebounds, but fouled out after playing only nine minutes.

Ollie adds a third German to his squad this year, a 6’8” sharp shooter from Berlin, Leon Tolksdorf. He only played three minutes in the second half and did not record a shot.

Looking Ahead
UConn’s next and final exhibition is Sunday at 1 p.m. against another NE-10 opponent, the UMass-Lowell River Hawks at the XL Center in Hartford. Former UConn player Souleymane Wane is a part-time assistant at UMass-Lowell. He played at Connecticut from 1997-2001 and is a member of the 1999 national championship team.

In some ways the huge problems that happened at those programs and at other colleges across the nation have turned the NCAA into an over protective parent.

This was very apparent in an educational column posted on the NCAA’s Legislative Services Database Wednesday regarding pictures.

In some ways, it’s typical NCAA jargon – all photos are considered attachments whether they are sent via e-mail, text message or direct message on social media, and all attached photos have to fall under the guidelines set by the NCAA.

Those guidelines are that none of the photos may be staged or altered. This means no posed pictures of Coach Mike Anderson with Nolan Richardson in front of the 1994 National Championship trophy tweeted at top recruits.

Altering photos extends into photography applications, especially Instagram with its burgeoning popularity.

If you paused for a moment, then you are not alone.

The educational column read:

“Question: May a coach take a photo and use software (e.g., Instagram, Photoshop, Camera Awesome, Camera+,) to enhance the content of the photo (e.g., changed color of photo to sepia tones or add content to the photograph), and send it to a prospective student-athlete as an attachment to an email or direct social media message?

“Answer: No, a photograph that has been altered or staged for a recruiting purpose cannot be sent to a prospective student-athlete.”

When you think about the ways that Adobe Photoshop can manipulate images, the rule gains some ground.

It would be out-of-line for a coach to send a picture that had the recruit photoshopped over Corliss Williamson’s face on the April 11, 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated with the added words, “This could be you.”

But an action shot from that day’s basketball practice with the “Earlybird” Instagram filter applied is also considered out-of-line under these rules.

Is an Instagram filter really something that could mislead, manipulate and sway recruits to the point that it deserves to be outlawed by the NCAA?

At the end of the day, the NCAA is trying to protect student athletes from being exploited by boosters or recruiting agents. They have honorable intentions.

I’m not sure of the thought processes of the student athletes that universities are recruiting these days, but when I was choosing a college, I didn’t take the photography skills into the decision.

Immediately prior to a press conference to discuss the future of men’s basketball, Calhoun officially declared retirement via press release from UConn athletics.

“I always said that I would know when it was time, whenever that might be,” Calhoun said in the release.

Calhoun started his time as head coach of the Huskies back in 1986. Prior to coaching UConn, Calhoun had coached for 14 seasons at Northeastern University. When he came to the university, UConn was but a blip on the radar in the world of college basketball.

Fast forward 26 years and UConn is the dominant basketball power in New England, and one of the premier basketball programs in the country. Since the Huskies first won a national championship in 1999, the Huskies have three national championships, including that year’s.

No other school has that many within that span. Duke and the University of North Carolina both have two a piece. The Huskies’ rival, Syracuse only has one.

In his career, Calhoun boasted a record of 873-380. His record makes him sixth on all-time in NCAA history and the only active coaches with more wins than Calhoun are Duke’s Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.

Calhoun also brought the Huskies to four Final Fours in his 26 years of coaching.

All that success isn’t too bad for an institution that started as a minuscule regional basketball program. Once in the shadows of UMass, Boston College and even Providence College, the Huskies skyrocketed to what many would consider “the seventh blue blood” basketball program.

When asked what Boeheim thought about Calhoun’s rebuilding job at UConn, he had very high praise for the now-retired head coach. He referred to Calhoun’s tenure with UConn as, “The best building job in college basketball history.”

Boeheim also thinks that Calhoun does not get the praise he deserves from national media. 
“No question in my mind, he’s underrated,” Boeheim said.

With the UConn Huskies, Calhoun won 17 Big East Championships, ten regular season championships and seven conference tournament championships.

The man set to replace Calhoun is assistant coach, Kevin Ollie. Ollie played for the Huskies under Calhoun from 1991-1995, spending his final two years as team captain.

From there, the 39-year old went to the NBA, where he spent 13 seasons in the NBA until he retired in the 2009-2010 season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Ollie started his time as an assistant coach with the Huskies in the 2010-2011 season and continued through the 2011-2012 season.

“I am very honored and humbled to become the UConn men’s basketball coach,” Ollie said in the release.

It was also revealed that Ollie will be head coach until April 4, 2013 and will be paid $625,000 during that time.

Despite his rough and often-angry appearance, Calhoun will be dearly missed by players.

Right before the press conference, former player Jamal Coombs McDaniel expressed on Twitter how much he would miss Calhoun.

“All good things come to an end,” he tweeted. “[I’m] truly blessed to play under coach Calhoun…learned to compete every day..enjoy your retirement coach!”

“We have monitored the changing conference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us,” Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick said in a statement.

“The ACC was founded on the cornerstones of balancing academics, athletics and integrity,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. “Our partnership with Notre Dame only strengthens this long-standing commitment. Notre Dame enhances the league’s unique blend of public and private institutions that are international in scope.

“This is a terrific milestone in the evolution of the ACC and showcases tremendous solidarity and vision by our Council of Presidents.”

The Big East has housed all Irish non-football and hockey sports for the past 17 years. Notre Dame has won 116 conference titles in the Big East, the most of any school since the Irish joined the conference in 1995.

The league requires a $5 million exit fee and 27 months notice in order leave the league. Syracuse and Pittsburgh, however, have paid higher exit fees to leave the conference early. They will both join the ACC in 2013.

The ACC has 12 current members — Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Boston College — stretching up and down the East Coast.

Swofford said the ACC will not look to add a 16th member for non-football sports. The league will remain at 14 teams and two divisions for football.

The ACC will also implement a new $50 million exit fee, effective immediately and coming after speculation that Florida State and Clemson could join the Big 12.

With the move, the Irish football program must play five ACC opponents each year. Notre Dame will play each school at least once every three years. This season, the Irish football schedule features three current ACC members (Miami, Boston College and Wake Forest) and one future ACC school (Pittsburgh). The 2013 football schedule will have feature one ACC school — Pittsburgh.

“We’re coming off a couple years where we play four ACC schools. We have two years scheduled in the future with four ACC teams. I’m not going to say there won’t be any schedule changes because there will,” Swarbrick said. “We’re going to keep traditional rivalries and go around the country.”

The move also allows the Irish to join the ACC’s non-BCS bowl tie-ins. Prior to this season, the Irish had limited bowl options after accepting an invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl last season. The ACC currently has seven bowl tie-ins.

Joining the ACC will not impact Notre Dame’s relationship with NBC Sports, as the Irish will retain all revenue from home football games. Notre Dame’s football contract with NBC expires in 2015. In other sports, including basketball, Notre Dame will split the revenue as an equal member.

The Irish men’s basketball program will join a league that contains perennial powers Duke and North Carolina and will add old Big East rivals Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

“The opportunity to go to the Big East is a great, exciting challenge,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “I’m an ACC guy at heart. Being down [in North Carolina today] with Jack and Fr. John on Tobacco Road brought back a lot of memories.

Speculation about Calhoun’s potential retirement has increased over the past several days, including stories from Sports Illustrated that indicated he might be leaning toward stepping down. But as of yesterday afternoon, Calhoun told Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant that his status remained unchanged.

Shortly thereafter, Kevin Nathan of NBC Connecticut broke news that the coach would be retiring.

“Coach Calhoun told me that ‘nothing is finalized,’” Nathan said in a tweet. “But a source close to Calhoun tells me his retirement is ‘imminent.’”

Various reports that followed indicate that current assistant coach Kevin Ollie will be named as Calhoun’s replacement. Though the length or terms of a potential contract are not yet certain, it is believed that he will receive a one-year deal and will not be considered an interim head coach, according to reports by the Waterbury Republican–American’s Ed Daigneault. It is also believed that Karl Hobbs, George Blaney and Glen Miller will remain on the staff.

The coach has battled health problems throughout his career at UConn, twice dealing with cancer and several other injuries. Last season, Calhoun missed games due to a back problem that required him to have surgery. Most recently, he fractured his left hip after falling off his bike in early August.

Calhoun, who has two years left on his current contract, will leave the program he helped build in a bit of turmoil, as it enters a season in which the team cannot play in the postseason due to NCAA sanctions. The team’s Academic Progress Rate fell below the allowable minimum standard, and has been banned from the NCAA tournament this coming season. The Big East has also said they will not allow the Huskies to compete in the conference tournament.

Campus was abuzz with reporters Wednesday night, and students were talking about the news of their coach retiring.

“It’s kind of sad I guess, he’s been here a while and won three national championships, but I’m excited about a new coach coming,” said 5th-semester student Luke Scinto. “With everything the program’s been through recently, I think a new coach and a new start might be a good thing.”

While the change in the product on the court may not be significant, as Kevin Ollie is an in-house hire, Scinto says it will not be the same without the coach who helped build a basketball powerhouse in Storrs on the sideline.

“I’m from Connecticut – I’ve been a UConn basketball fan since I was like six,” Scinto added. “So definitely all I’ve known is Jim Calhoun.”

A press conference is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday in Gampel Pavilion for the announcement.

Thomas bought five pieces of jewelry worth $97,800, $30,000 of which he paid up front. The balance of $67,800 remains unpaid, according to the AP.

“We have been made aware of a lawsuit filed by a jeweler against former men’s basketball player Lance Thomas and we are currently looking into the matter,” said Jon Jackson, an associate athletic director who works with men’s basketball, per the AP.

Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is currently in Springfield, Mass. at the basketball hall of fame, has no further comment at this time, Jackson told The Chronicle.

The deal, which is with ABC/ESPN and FOX, will reportedly pay the conference an average of $200 million per year and run through the 2024-25 school year. That money will be divided equally amongst the Big 12 institutions, paying each school $20 million per year.

“The stability of the Big 12 Conference is cemented,” said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a news release. “We are positioned with one of the best media rights arrangements in collegiate sports, providing the conference and its members unprecedented revenue growth, and sports programming over two networks.”

Aside from the money, the big agreement which the Big 12′s board of directors voted to approve Friday morning is a grant of rights. The grant of rights assures the conference that if any institution leaves within the next 13 years, their media rights and all revenue would remain with the Big 12 and not their new conference.

The Big 12 joins both the Pac-12 and Big Ten as the only conferences to have grant of rights agreements and is on-par with each conference when it comes to distributed revenue per school.

Under the new media rights deal, ABC/ESPN and FOX will both broadcast Big 12 football while ABC/ESPN will have exclusive rights to the conference’s men’s basketball broadcasts.

This agreement replaces the old media rights deal the Big 12 had, which was slated to run through the 2015-16 school year.

Additional sanctions include a $50,000 fine and five years of probation.

The Division I Committee on Infractions determined that the university exhibited a lack of institutional control, according to the release.

The penalties will be enforced in conjunction with those self-imposed prior to the NCAA’s announcement, which included vacated wins for the men’s basketball team and a loss of scholarships, reduction in official visits, shorter recruiting time frame and a reduced amount of coaches permitted to recruit at one time for both sports.

The NCAA COI stated in a teleconference Tuesday that current athletes have the ability to transfer with limited options.

University employees met with the NCAA COI in April and presented a list of self-imposed sanctions, hoping to avoid further penalty.

The NCAA launched its investigation in April 2011 and released a 16-page report in November 2011 detailing its findings.

“The case centered on what the committee noted was an ever-increasing problem in college athletics today, namely the involvement of outside third parties with prospects and student-athletes,” according to the release.

The Notice of Allegations accused UCF of major recruiting violations in both football and men’s basketball, with the bulk of the allegations centering on the school’s involvement with Kenneth Caldwell and Brandon Bender.

President John C. Hitt announced that former Athletic Director Keith Tribble and assistant football head coach David Kelly submitted their resignations following the release of the Notice of Allegations in November.

The report describes Caldwell as “a recruiter for a professional sports agency” and stated that both Bender and Caldwell “assisted the institution in the recruitment of six men’s basketball and five football prospective student-athletes.”

The Notice of Allegations included details of direct communication between Caldwell and Tribble, and it stated that Caldwell had given UCF recruits a sum of $16,005.74 worth of benefits over the span of two years.

The New York Times reported in April 2011 that Caldwell and Bender were involved with the recruitment of basketball players Kevin Ware and Michael Chandler and football player Damarcus Smith.

The summer of 2012 promises to be one of Krzyzewski’s most pivotal. As he endeavors to assemble a blockbuster 2013 recruiting class for Duke, he will also be busy with his other team—the U.S. national squad, which will spend the coming weeks preparing for the London Olympics.

The stakes are higher than ever. Even with Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge and possibly Dwayne Wade out of commission, the U.S. is still heavily favored to bring home the gold medal for the second straight Olympics. The standards are no lower in Krzyzewski’s recruiting efforts, especially after he whiffed on top 2012 targets Shabazz Muhammad, Mitch McGary and Tony Parker and saw his 2012 NCAA Tournament end after one game.

Facing high expectations in Durham, Krzyzewski has targeted the top two players in ESPN.com’s class of 2013 rankings, forwards Jabari Parker and Julius Randle, and he will need to lasso at least one of those two if he hopes to call his efforts a success.

“It’s a significant summer,” ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep said. “[Parker and Randle] have both been prime targets for the better part of two years.”

A few weeks ago, Parker, a 6-foot-8 small forward, became just the sixth high school basketball player ever to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, where he appeared above a headline that named him “the best high school player since LeBron James.” Krzyzewski, who also hails from Parker’s hometown of Chicago, is fully entrenched in Parker’s recruitment.

“I think Jabari Parker is about as big of a priority as I’ve seen Mike Krzyzewski put on a kid in a long, long time,” Telep said just weeks after the Duke coaching staff arrived to Parker’s open gym last fall in a limo.

Although Parker has garnered more attention from the national media, Krzyzewski also traveled to Randle’s open gym in a limo last October, so the Dallas native hardly plays second fiddle. The 6-foot-9 and 230 pound lefty might be more of a need given the skill and tenacity he could bring to a Duke frontcourt that has not seen a true power forward or center garner first team All-ACC honors since Shelden Williams in 2006.

There is hope that the dry spell of a dominate post presence in Durham could end. The Blue Devils already have a commitment from Randle’s close friend and AAU teammate Matt Jones. Incoming Duke freshman Rasheed Sulaimon, another native of the Lone Star state, has also been in Randle’s ear about having a “Texas connection” in Durham.

As Krzyzewski officially begins Olympic training in July, the races for Parker and Randle will follow suit. Parker is expected to name five to eight top suitors in July, and Randle will likely start narrowing his choices down soon after that.

Keeping Duke among the top of those players’ lists will be challenging for the Blue Devil coaching staff, though. While Krzyzewski and assistants Steve Wojciechowski and Chis Collins are with Team USA through July and August, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Roy Williams and every other major head coach will be front and center to watch Parker and Randle during several evaluation periods in July. Perhaps more importantly, Parker and Randle will see Izzo, Self and Williams, among many other coaches, watching them. Kentucky head coach John Calipari, an obvious threat to Krzyzewski in both recruitments, could be the only other coach to miss the chance to watch Parker and Randle during July, if his Dominican Republic national team qualifies for the Olympics.

In Krzyzewski’s absence, Duke will lean on assistant coaches Jeff Capel and Nate James to recruit and evaluate for the Blue Devils through July.

Luckily for the Blue Devil coaching staff, the NCAA recently deregulated communication between coaches and recruits who have finished their sophomore year. Under the new rules, Krzyzewski and his assistants can now contact the Randle and Parker camps whenever they want to.

Needless to say, the year-round rodeo that recruiting has now become is not the same as it was 927 wins ago. Despite the seemingly favorable rule change, Krzyzewski has expressed some apprehension in utilizing limitless communication with prospects.

“I don’t know if there is a recruiting philosophy anymore,” Krzyzewski said.

What we do know is that it takes NBA talent to contend for NCAA national championships these days, and that means annually navigating high-profile recruitments to get top talent on campus. Of the past five national champions—Kentucky, Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina and Kansas—the Blue Devils are the only one that did not feature at least one lottery pick on that championship team.

The program needs an injection of game-changing talent, and Parker and Randle meet all of the typical Duke prerequisites.

“I think in getting to know them, Mike Krzyzewski sees them as Duke-type guys,” Telep said. “Guys who are coachable yet talented, intelligent on and off the court and seem to have that winning gene.”

A commitment from either would instantly catapult Duke from Sweet 16 hopeful to early national title contenders in 2013-2014. As Krzyzewski’s illustrious career draws toward a potential close in the not-so-distant future, a fifth national championship banner could hinge on landing one of Parker or Randle.

Even though Krzyzewski has already won every prize possible in college basketball, he is still riding and still not satisfied. For now, until he puts his boots and chaps up for good, he is just tying a knot and hanging on tight.

While the 2012 squad can’t match the ’92 team’s roster, which consisted exclusively of hall-of-famers — minus Christian Laettner — it has the opportunity to capture Olympic gold against the most competitive field yet.

Let’s be honest — when the original Dream Team was assembled in 1992, basketball was nowhere near the global sport it is today.

Back then, the NBA had only 21 international players. In 2010, the league had upped that number to 84, according to NBA.com.

If the Dream Team hadn’t done what it did in the manner that it did it, it would’ve been considered not only a disappointment but, frankly, a travesty.

Here was a team made up of the best professional players (once again, minus Laettner) plucked from the best teams from the best years from the best league from the country that literally invented the sport.

The best-of-the-best-of-the-best-of-the-best.

We weren’t expecting wins; we were expecting massacres. And massacres we received.

In Barcelona in ’92, the Dream Team averaged a margin of victory of more than 51 points during the six-game stretch, including a 79-point evisceration of Cuba in the first game of the tournament.

Twenty years later, gold is still the expectation, but it certainly isn’t guaranteed. In the past, USA faced teams with one or two NBA players; now, teams like Spain, France, Argentina and Italy boast starting lineups filled almost entirely with NBA talent.

If the U.S. team isn’t 100-percent committed to going for the gold, there are plenty of countries eager to place an arrow straight through the bulls-eye painted on the center of its targeted back.

Just take a look at the embarrassing 5-3 record compiled by the Larry Brown-led squad that won bronze in 2004 in Athens. Talent wasn’t the problem with that team — even the best foreign rosters paled in comparison to the U.S. The inevitable complacency that came with being the best basketball team in the world had finally set in, and the U.S. had lost its stranglehold on worldwide basketball supremacy as a result.

The team looked to the likes of Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Carmelo Anthony and a 19-year-old LeBron James for leadership; it was a team that lacked motivation.

But even before 2004, the question was never, “Who has the best basketball team in the world?” The U.S. will have the best team on the floor in every game it plays — that’s a given. The question has instead become, “How does this iteration of the U.S. national team stack up against its predecessors?”

And that’s how we have to look at the 2012 squad.

Can this team — whose roster has been thinned significantly by injuries to Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, LaMarcus Aldridge and, most recently, Dwyane Wade — win the country’s fifth gold medal in six Olympic games since professional athletes were allowed to participate? Can it enter the debate against the ’92, ’96,’00 and ’08 teams, all of which can claim the title as the greatest of all-time?

That is the (two-part) question.

And when the 2012 U.S. team steps onto the hardwood floors of the generically-named Basketball Arena at Olympic Park on July 28 in London, that question will be answered.

Hopefully in the affirmative.

How the Thunder lost: Oklahoma City was completely dominated on both sides of the ball. The Heat’s defense was stifling, and Miami imposed its will on offense. The Heat also got a major contribution from its bench — forward Mike Miller in particular, who scored 23 points on 7-of-8 from long range, including seven in a row.

Key stat: 27 points. The Heat’s lead ballooned to as much as 27 in the blowout win.

Key performer: Thunder forward Kevin Durant. Durant scored 32 points on 13-for-24 shooting from the field.

Key opponent: Heat forward LeBron James. James was named NBA Finals MVP after a triple-double performance, scoring 26 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing 13 assists.

What it means: The NBA season is over, but looking forward, the Thunder have gone from a team who won just 23 games three years ago to a team that made it to the Finals. The Thunder are a dynasty in the making — just not quite yet.

How the Thunder lost: Oklahoma City could not maintain a lead. After going up by as much as 17 points in the first quarter, the Thunder let Miami go on run after run until it was too late to recover.

Key stat: 24. The Thunder gave up 24 points to Heat guard Mario Chalmers. With guys like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade on the court, the Thunder can’t give up that many points to a role player.

Key performer: Thunder guard Russel Westbrook. The Thunder point guard completely took the the game over in the fourth quarter, finishing with 43 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Key opponent: Heat guard Dwayne Wade scored 25 points in the game but his more impressive contribution was on defense late in the game. He made several clutch plays, including a block on a game-tying 3-point attempt by Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha.

What it means: The Thunder face elimination Thursday and since the Finals are in a 2-3-2 format, Oklahoma City will face its first elimination game in Miami.

The Thunder have broken my heart the last two games, and the breakup’s epicenter has been at the free-throw line.

OKC led the NBA in free-throw percentage the last two years. This year, the Thunder kept a comfortable lead in the league, making 80.6 percent of their free throws.

That number improved in the first three rounds of this year’s playoffs to 83.5 percent. In a game where making 60 percent of the shots you take is pretty spectacular, an 83.5 percentage is ridiculous.

No matter what else the team did — poorly or spectacularly — the Thunder would always make their free throws.

And then the Finals started, and it all went to hell.

In the Thunder’s losses in Games 2 and 3, they shot a paltry 34-for-50 from the charity stripe. So, in the two most important games thus far in the franchise’s history — I refuse to acknowledge the Seattle SuperSonics’ history as the Thunder’s — they are shooting 68 percent.

Both games were decided by fewer points than the Thunder missed at the stripe. Bottom line: That’s not a statistic that wins championships.

The Thunder’s struggles at the line hark back to the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball tournament — an event that is close to my heart for all the wrong reasons.

I had filled out a March Madess bracket for the first time, and I hitched my horse to the Memphis Tigers. The Tigers had dominated all year, point guard Derrick Rose was the guaranteed No. 1 pick and coach John Calipari’s year had finally come — or so I thought.

Memphis (OKC) easily made it to the semifinals, beating perennial power UCLA (San Antonio Spurs) by 15.

The Tigers (Thunder) entered the final favored over the Kansas Jayhawks (Miami Heat). They had the best scorer in the country, Chris Douglas-Roberts (Kevin Durant), and an insanely quick point guard, Rose (Russel Westbrook).

Alright, this is just getting freaky.

Memphis had the game in hand — until they missed four free throws in the final two minutes, allowing an OT and losing the national championship. In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Game 3, while trailing by one, Durant missed two free throws to give the Thunder the lead, a missed opportunity OKC never recovered from.

Just to really hammer this metaphor home, a young point guard by the name of Mario Chalmers — none other than the current starting point for the Heat — hit a game-tying 3-pointer for the Jayhawks with nine seconds left in regulation to force the overtime.

If the Thunder don’t start making free throws, they’re going to make this a truly poignant juxtaposition, miss the big opportunity and lose the Finals.

The Thunder have plenty to worry about in these games without messing up the thing they do best. They’re free, Oklahoma City, so don’t break my heart again — stop leaving them at the line.

According to reports, Dunlap was one of ten candidates to interview for the job. Among the other finalists are such notable names as longtime Lakers and current Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw, current Lakers assistant Quinn Snyder and former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan — though Sloan withdrew his name from consideration.

Dunlap takes over a Bobcat team that won just seven games in the lockout-shortened season, finishing with a .106 win percentage, ranking dead last in NBA history.

How the Thunder lost: The Thunder again started very slow, going down 18-2 with less than five minutes left in the first quarter. The Heat led by 12 at half and 11 after three quarters. The Thunder made another great fourth-quarter push, taking the lead down to two. But it was a case of too-little-too-late for Oklahoma City.

Key stat: Seven. The Thunder missed seven free throws, enough to make a difference in a four-point loss.

Key performer: Forward Kevin Durant. Despite being in foul trouble the entire game, Durant still managed to lead the Thunder with 32 points and started the fourth quarter 7-for-7 from the field to make it a game late.

Key opponent: Heat forward LeBron James scored 32 points, including 18 in the second half.

What it means: The Thunder will head to Miami with the series tied 1-1. They will need to take at least one in the three games in South Beach to bring the game back to OKC in this series.

As the younger, quicker team, the Thunder have the luxury of being able to come back like that. But they shouldn’t count on that ability to win games.

Whether the slow start by OKC was a product of nerves or something else, they can’t spot the Heat double-digit leads and expect to win the NBA championship.

Thunder forward Kevin Durant scored 17 points in the fourth quarter of Game 1, proving he can score at will against the Heat. Durant needs to establish that earlier in the game.

The Heat started the game off small, starting 6-foot-8 forwards Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem at power forward and center, respectively, with forward LeBron James guarding Thunder center Kendrick Perkins.

This left the Thunder too slow to handle the Heat’s lineup. When the Thunder took the game over in the second half, they used a small lineup of their own with 6-foot-10 veteran forward Nick Collison at center.

Collison made a lasting impression, scoring eight points and grabbing an impressive 10 rebounds — five of them offensive — in just 21 minutes of playing time. However, his more important impact happened off the stat sheet, where his hustle and willingness to hit the deck for loose balls extended many possessions for the Thunder.

Oklahoma City would be well served to return to this lineup sooner rather than later in Game 2.

Coach Scott Brooks also took a risk by not putting defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha on James earlier in the game. Sefolosha stuck all over James in the fourth quarter, holding the three-time league MVP to just seven points while OKC outscored Miami, 31-21, in the final 12 minutes.

To beat the Heat again, the Thunder need to get over their nerves and start as strong as they finished Game 1.

Going to Miami for Game 3 up 2-0 would be infinitely better than tied 1-1.

How the Thunder won: The Thunder fell behind early, giving up seven 3-pointers in the first half, but locked down on defense in the second half, forcing six turnovers in the second half. On offense they turned the game over to their stars, forward Kevin Durant and guard Russel Westbrook who combined for 41 points in the second half — the Heat mustered just 40 as a team.

Key stat: Two. The Thunder gave up just two turnovers in the second half.

Key performer: It’s hard to choose between Westbrook and Durant, but Durant absolutely took the game over in the second half. The forward finished the game with 36 points and eight rebounds.

Key opponent: Heat forward Shane Battier came out with a bang, scoring 17 points and giving the Heat the early lead.

Unsung hero: Thunder forward Nick Collison kept the Thunder in every possession, extending several with scrappy hustle plays, diving on the floor and poking long rebounds to his perimeter players.

What it means: With the Thunder coming back after trailing by 13 points, their defense and explosive scoring proved they can beat the Heat in tight games.

The suit, filed Wednesday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, names Sports Illustrated’s parent company, Time, Inc., and writer George Dohrmann as defendants. Nelson’s complaint alleges defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress after Dohrmann wrote an expose on the UCLA basketball program titled “Not the UCLA Way.”

Nelson is being represented by attorneys Keith Fink and Olaf Muller of the firm Fink & Steinberg. Fink is also a professor in the communication studies department at UCLA.

The suit claims damages in excess of $10 million. Reached late Wednesday, a spokesperson for Time declined comment, saying the company had yet to receive the suit.

The expose depicted Nelson as abusive, which 18 of his UCLA teammates dispute in sworn declarations attached to the suit.

In the declarations, current and former players deny some of Dohrmann’s anecdotes: that Nelson bullied Matt Carlino, which led to the guard transferring to BYU; that Nelson and former forward Mike Moser came to blows during a practice; and that Nelson tried to go after James Keefe’s already injured shoulder in practice.

Carlino, Moser and Keefe were not among the players who signed declarations for Nelson’s suit. However, a handful of players denied they were victims of Nelson’s alleged abuse, according to declarations.

Drew Gordon, who transferred to the University of New Mexico, said he never fought with Nelson. Tyler Honeycutt, now in the NBA, denied that Nelson ever urinated on a pile of Honeycutt’s clothes. Tyler Trapani said in his declaration that Nelson did not go out of his way to hurt him during a drill.

All of the players save two – former walk-ons Alex Schrempf and Blake Arnet – said in the declarations that they did not speak to Sports Illustrated, which anonymously sourced “more than a dozen (UCLA) players and staff members.” Schrempf said that when speaking with Dohrmann, he denied a secondhand account that Nelson intentionally hurt him. Schrempf’s denial was not included in the story.

Fink hinted at a possible defamation lawsuit during an appearance on a local radio station shortly after the story was published, but admitted that it was difficult to prove malicious intent and that such cases were hard to win.

“Now having spent two months speaking to everybody on this case,” Fink said Wednesday, “I think it’s pretty easy to demonstrate actual malice and defamation.”

In addition, the suit alleges Dohrmann has a long-standing grudge against UCLA. In 1996, Dohrmann reported that Baron Davis, then a top recruit who would eventually become a Bruin, was driving a car that belonged to then-UCLA coach Jim Harrick. The Pac-10 Conference and the NCAA found no wrongdoing in that case. Dohrmann also accused current UCLA coach Ben Howland of NCAA violations in his 2010 book “Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit and the Youth Basketball Machine.”

Fink said the lawsuit had to be filed within the one-year statute of limitations for defamation claims. He added that the proximity of the NBA draft gave greater urgency to filing suit.

Nelson was kicked off the team by Howland in December. Nelson signed with a professional team in Lithuania before returning home to Modesto. Since then, he has been training for upcoming workouts with NBA teams, according to Fink. The NBA draft is June 28.

Nelson was not available for comment.

The day the story was released, Fink sent a letter to Sports Illustrated’s editor in chief on behalf of Nelson demanding a retraction. Time and Sports Illustrated responded with a statement saying they “unequivocally stand behind George Dohrmann’s story, ‘Not the UCLA Way.’”

Barely.

The conference, already unstable from Colorado and Nebraska’s June departures, was shaken again when the Southeastern Conference extended an official invitation for membership to Texas A&M in August.

The Aggies quickly expressed their intentions to leave, which would drop Big 12 membership to just nine schools.

Movement rumors swirled around multiple teams — including OU — for months, and the Pac-12 emerged as the most-spoken-of potential destination for the Sooners amid the uncertain future of the Big 12.

Baylor struck back, threatening litigation if the Aggies tried to jump to the SEC and the Big 12 crumbled. Several other schools jumped in with the Bears in an attempt to salvage what was left of the conference.

The Big 12 sought to retain stability by inviting Notre Dame and Arkansas, but both schools declined.

With A&M’s move blocked and the rest of the conference waiting on Oklahoma or Texas to make a move, OU President David Boren was thrust into the limelight of conference realignment when the Board of Regents gave him the reins to the university’s future Sept. 5.

The schools threatening to negate A&M’s move said they would drop the potential lawsuit if OU reaffirmed its commitment to the Big 12 and ended all talks with other suitors.

“Very important to us as we consider the most important step for us to take is long-term stability for the university within a conference framework,” Boren said. “Obviously, we do not want to continue to have these kinds of situations where our membership in a conference is still undecided, has to be revisited every year.”

Though Boren stayed quiet about his dealings, he did make clear that the Sooners wouldn’t be going anywhere without Oklahoma State.

“Whatever we do, we’re going to do it together,” he said. “I think that’s very good news for the state of Oklahoma.”

The Big 12 was given new life Sept. 20, when the Pac-12 announced it would no longer seek other teams to expand its conference.

With the most promising moving option off the table, Boren said OU would stay, but only a “reformed” version of the Big 12.

Three days later, the conference ousted commissioner Dan Beebe and announced expansion plans.

Down four teams with at least two publicly declined invites, the Big 12 looked eastward for expansion possibilities.

In October, the Big 12 coaxed Texas Christian to renege on joining the Big East Conference and added the Horned Frogs to the fold.

The conference also added West Virginia after a legal battle over a settlement amount the Mountaineers owed the Big East for leaving.

With 10 schools again, conference members have said future expansion isn’t out of the question but that they’re done for now.

Even though the conference seemed to have stabilized, Missouri said it wasn’t through looking for other options. The SEC, in need of another team to balance its addition of Texas A&M, stepped up to the plate and invited the Tigers as well.

The initial reforming wrapped up Friday, when the conference officially announced Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby as its new commissioner.

Campus reporter Tim French contributed to this story.

Wednesday afternoon, university officials announced at a conference that Butler would move out of the Horizon League and join the likes of Xavier University and University of Dayton and 11 other institutions.

“We’re pleased to be the newest member of the Atlantic 10 Conference,” University President Jim Danko said at Wednesday’s announcement.

Values and commitment to the conference’s student-athletes fell in line with those exemplified currently at the university, Danko said. He said that the conference has consistently high graduation rates and emphasizes the importance of the work in the classroom.

“This is an opportunity to continue to push and challenge the university,” Danko said.

The conference recently ranked third among all NCAA Division I conferences in graduation rates, with 89 percent of student-athletes graduating.

The other schools in the A-10 are further away than schools that Butler currently plays, increasing the cost of travel.

Changes in budget will be dealt with, Danko said. He said the university and its athletics department, headed by Athletic Director Barry Collier have assessed how it can best be addressed.

“We are prepared to make investments for travel costs,” Danko said. “We’re not working with a fixed piece of pie. It will continue to change and grow as the university grows.”

Collier said the change was the next step for Butler athletics.

“It’s going to be a challenge that the athletes will step up to,” Collier said.

Despite earlier speculation that Butler would fill an absence in the conference, A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade said in a report that the conference was comfortable with 13 teams and not 14.

The presidents of the A-10 member schools unanimously voted to formally accept Butler’s application for membership, according to a release from the conference.

“Butler is a distinguished institution of higher education, it takes the academic success of its student athletes seriously, and its athletic programs have achieved notable success,” said Michael Graham, Xavier president and chair of A10 council of presidents. “In these ways and more, Butler University will enhance the values the A-10 presents all strongly affirm.”

All Butler sports except for football and women’s golf would make the switch. Butler football plays in the pioneer league. The A-10 does not host women’s golf, so the university will look to find a conference for the sport.

A-10 regularly earns more bids in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament, which leaves men’s basketball head coach Brad Stevens thinking toward the future.

“The A-10 has certainly had a lot more teams in that boat,” Stevens said. “And what that means for perception isn’t always reality.”

Recruiting and coaching philosophy will not change, Stevens said.

“It’s an interesting time as you’re on the road for recruiting time and knowing about potential change,” Stevens said “We have to continue to find really good people who are really good players.”

Still, Stevens said that his focus isn’t on the A-10 just yet.

“Our focus is on being the best team we can be this year,” Stevens said.

Hailing from Lithonia, Ga., Parker, who was rated the country’s No. 7 center by ESPN, will join fellow top-50 prospects Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams in UCLA’s highly rated and dynamic freshman class.

Parker was also considering playing for Duke, Ohio State and Georgia, the last of which is closest to home for him.

The 6-foot-9, 270-pound McDonald’s All-American led his Miller Grove High School team to four consecutive state titles and averaged 16.8 points and 11 rebounds in his senior season.

According to Parker, Muhammad, Anderson and Adams played important roles in his decision to attend UCLA. Adams is a fellow Georgian and played with Parker on the Atlanta Celtics, an Amateur Athletic Union team.

Another factor in Parker’s decision was UCLA assistant coach Korey McCray, hired last summer to help coach Ben Howland recruit from outside California; McCray coached Parker on that AAU team and was also important in recruiting Adams.

Parker adds size to a group with huge potential and has UCLA fans excited about the prospect of being relevant on the national stage once again.

Parker’s commitment could give UCLA the nation’s top recruiting class.

Earlier Thursday, the UW Athletic Department announced in a statement that Uthoff had been cleared to contact any schools outside the Big Ten, a decision reached by Athletic Director Barry Alvarez, Associate Athletic Director Justin Doherty and Ryan.

In media reports prior to the statement’s release, it had been reported that Ryan blocked Uthoff from contacting 25 schools. According to UW’s statement, Uthoff originally requested permission to contact 16 schools, to which four were denied. He appealed three of the four blocks.

Uthoff, a 6-foot-8 freshman who redshirted last season, informed Ryan he wanted to leave UW’s program last week. He was expected to be a key player off the bench next year and a starting forward by the 2013-14 season. He was named Iowa’s Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year while in high school.

Ryan said he never intended to prevent Uthoff from joining any school outside the Big Ten, but wanted Uthoff to first explain his reasoning for wanting to talk to such schools. To do that, Ryan said he placed the blocks on Uthoff figuring he would appeal, thereby forcing him to speak to UW administrators.

“If somebody wants to transfer, my thought process has always been, ‘Can you tell us [why]?’ That’s all I would ask,” Ryan said. “That is the only way a coach could get somebody to say ‘This is why I want to go to this school.’

“By blocking, you get the athlete to talk to somebody at the university.”

Ryan has frequently been charged as “petty” by sports commentators over the past two days. After being involved in a heated interview on ESPN’s radio show, “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” earlier Thursday, Ryan expressed frustration with the media’s apparent lack of understanding of his explanation for the blocks.

“The block is not, and never was, meant to say you cannot go to that school,” Ryan said, before addressing a reporter directly, “and you will not ever seem to get that point across. I can’t get it across to people.”

As part of the appeal process, Uthoff met with Alvarez and Doherty Thursday morning. Ryan later met with the latter two, whereupon it was decided to lift the block on schools outside the Big Ten.

According to the statement, Uthoff has been notified of the decisions.

“If Uthoff wishes to further appeal the ‘permission to contact’ denial to any Big Ten university, he may request a hearing to the Chair of the Athletic Board within eight business days,” the statement reads.

Because the appeal process remains confidential between administrators and the appellant, Ryan said he does not know what was said between Uthoff, Alvarez and Doherty.

Speaking in general terms, Ryan said he would want to know why a player would transfer in case it was for personal matters or if, perhaps, that player had been “tampered with” by another school prior to the release of their scholarship.

Uthoff originally told the Wisconsin State Journal he felt that he didn’t fit well in Wisconsin’s system. He has scheduled a visit with Creighton at the end of April.

Noel appeared on ESPNU’s signing day special Wednesday night to reveal his decision. The 6-foot-10 center channeled Miami Heat star LeBron James, announcing that he would be “taking his talents” to Kentucky before spinning in his chair to reveal the Wildcats’ logo shaved into the back of his head.

Noel ignited a firestorm this season by reclassifying to the Class of 2012 in February. He instantly replaced Shabazz Muhammad as the nation’s No. 1 prep star, slowly eliminating teams until he narrowed his list to three a few weeks ago before making his final decision Wednesday night, the day after his 18th birthday.

Hoya fans may be feeling a bit of déjà vu: Noel’s decision is quite similar to that of Andre Drummond. Last summer, Drummond surprised the nation by reclassifying to the Class of 2011 and caused a very late recruitment battle as the new No. 2 player in the country. The 6-foot-11 center narrowed his list to five finalists, the Hoyas amongst them, before settling on then-reigning national champions Connecticut.

Noel was seen by many as a perfect fit for Georgetown — widely known as “Big Man U” —which has produced such names as Ewing, Mutumbo, Mourning, Hibbert and Monroe. With the potential to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Noel would have given the Hoyas the title of being the only program to ever produce three No. 1 overall picks, the previous two being Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson.

Noel has been as popular a topic for conversation among the fanbases of all three schools he was considering. Kentucky and Syracuse spent the season trading the No. 1 and No. 2 national rankings, and Georgetown was among the nation’s biggest surprises, earning a top-10 national ranking after being picked to finish 10th in the conference at the beginning of the year.

The Everett, Mass. native attended Georgetown’s Selection Sunday celebration in O’Donovan Hall last month, when the Hoyas were picked as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Hoya faithful chanted his name and held up signs reading “Bring the flat top back to the Hilltop,” in reference to Noel’s signature haircut.

Former Georgetown head coach John Thompson Jr. was on hand in New Orleans during the Final Four to watch Noel play in a high school all-star game. It was during that time that Noel also watched the Wildcats win the national championship on the back of freshman center Anthony Davis, to whom Noel has been compared by many.

More pressing is the fact that the Hoyas do not have a clear replacement in the middle for graduating center Henry Sims. Freshman center Tyler Adams missed most of this season due to a heart condition, while sophomore center Moses Ayegba sat out the entire year with a torn ACL.

Georgetown is still in the running for Robert Upshaw and Devonta Pollard, both Top-50 prospects. Upshaw, a 6-foot-11 center from California, could provide a sorely needed inside presence. Pollard is a versatile 6-foot-7 swingman from Mississippi who can score in bunches and rebound well. Both players should make their decision within the next month. Upshaw is choosing between the Hoyas and Fresno State, while Pollard is considering Missouri, Texas and Alabama in addition to Georgetown.

Muhammad joins Kyle Anderson of New Jersey, a consensus top-five recruit, and Jordan Adams of Georgia in the Bruins’ 2012 recruiting class. Adams is the first UCLA commit from high school basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy.

Muhammad’s commitment gives UCLA the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation behind Pac-12 rival Arizona, according to ESPN’s Dave Telep.

“We are pleased that the Committee has agreed with the University’s self-imposed sanctions to resolve this matter,” said director of athletics Ian McCaw said in a press release. “The University has made significant investments in compliance staffing and infrastructure both prior to and since the investigation began. Moreover, we have outstanding coaches who are committed to operating their programs with integrity.”

The case was resolved without a hearing, as the NCAA Enforcement Procedures utilized a summary disposition in which all parties — Baylor, involved individuals and NCAA Enforcement Staff — agree to the facts and submit a written report.

“We are grateful that this matter has been resolved, and that the NCAA Committee on Infractions has agreed to the facts of this case as reported in the joint summary disposition,” Baylor President Ken Starr said in the press release.

Men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew will be suspended for the first two conference games of the 2012-13 season, as the NCAA cited him for “failure to monitor.”

“As head coach, I take full responsibility for these mistakes and am disappointed that we have failed to uphold both the NCAA’s and Baylor’s expectations of documenting phone calls and recruiting communications,” Drew said in a statement.

Drew also said the procedures have been corrected thanks to a new software tracking system.

“Approximately 90 percent of the calls later deemed impermissible were either unlogged two-three minute voicemail messages left during a permissible calling period or calls to individuals who were parents or relatives of prospective student-athletes who were also non-scholastic (i.e. AAU) coaches to discuss a player other than their son or relative,” Drew said.

Former assistant men’s basketball coach Mark Morefield was given a one-year show-cause order for his role in the violations, meaning he will be prohibited from any recruiting activity. Morefield released a statement Wednesday apologizing to Baylor University and Baylor Nation.

Morefield committed a major violation when he attempted to influence two AAU coaches to furnish the NCAA with false and misleading information regarding a series of text messages. Morefield resigned in July 2011.

Men’s basketball also lost one scholarship this year and will lose one for next season. The coach will be reduced five official visits for next season and reduced 15 recruiting evaluation days.

Women’s basketball will also be reduced two scholarships for next season.

Head coach Kim Mulkey will not be able to participate in any off-campus recruiting in the month of July, which is the full summer recruiting period.

Assistant coach Damion McKinney will not be able to place any recruiting calls during a four-month period from January to April 2012. “I believe strongly in following NCAA rules and will always try to do so in the future,” Mulkey said. “I do nothing without permission from our Compliance Office and will continue to ask questions to assure that things are done right. Any compliance-related mistakes, even those that are secondary, are disappointing.”

Mulkey also said many of the mistakes were in sending text messages, which are prohibited by NCAA rule, and failure to accurately document their phone calls. She said the other matters involved her speaking to recruits or their parents while attending summer basketball games her daughter, Baylor sophomore Makenzie Robertson, participated in.

“While I am and will always be a mother first, I do recognize that there has to be a balance between my role as a mother of a prospect and my role as a head coach,” Mulkey said.

The investigation reviewed nearly 900,000 phone and text message records, and found that 738 texts and 528 calls were impermissible under NCAA rules.

It was a fitting move by the soft-spoken sophomore guard who, for the last two years, let his game do the talking. Lamb decided against announcing his decision at a podium at Gampel Pavilion, as most of the UConn early draft entries have before him, and instead released a statement through the school.

“It was a difficult decision, but after much prayer and discussion with my parents, I feel that it’s in the best interest of me and my family to declare myself eligible for the upcoming NBA Draft and pursue my dream of playing professional basketball,” Lamb said, becoming the 14th Husky to leave early for the NBA. “I have very much enjoyed my two years at UConn, especially getting to experience one of the greatest feelings that a college player can have, winning the national championship.”

Lamb averaged 17.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game this past season, earning All-Big East first team honors in the process. UConn finished 20-14 and lost to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA tournament. In 2011, as a freshman from Norcross, Ga., Lamb played a key role in the Huskies’ run to a Big East and NCAA national title. He started in 40 games and averaged 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds.

“It’s never easy to lose a great player from your program, but Jeremy has a unique opportunity that he needs to take advantage of,” UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun said in a statement released by the university. “He’s been a great kid to coach for the past two years … his teams have won 52 games, been to two NCAA Tournaments, and won a national championship. I look forward to him developing into a terrific player in the NBA and secondly, as he’s promised me, to come back and finish his degree.”

Lamb joins Caron Butler, Charlie Villanueva and Rudy Gay as the only Huskies to leave following their sophomore campaign. Lamb finished with 1,060 points in his UConn career, good for No. 42 on the school’s all-time scoring list.

“I have learned a lot, both on and off the basketball court as well as in the classroom, and I feel as if I’m ready to take the next step in my basketball career,” Lamb said. “I intend to successfully complete the current semester academically as I get prepared for the draft… First, I want to thank God for blessing me with the ability to play this great game. I want to thank coach Calhoun for giving me the opportunity to play at UConn and I want to thank the entire coaching staff and all my teammates for helping me improve enough to hopefully be successful at the next level.”

Lamb’s final play in a UConn uniform was a missed windmill dunk at the buzzer of the Huskies’ 13-point loss to the Cyclones in tournament play, summing up the team’s season. But the guard with a game face gave fans plenty of highlights and memories during his two seasons in Storrs. It was Lamb who dribbled the clock out in the national championship game over Butler in Houston.

“I am proud that I will always be part of the Connecticut basketball family,” Lamb said.

The investigation was made public in an ESPN.com story Monday, citing an NCAA report the website had obtained.

“Regarding today’s premature public reports of the matter, the institution remains committed to protecting the integrity of the totality of the case in accordance with its obligations under NCAA legislation and therefore the University, and its officials, will make no comment,” said Nick Joos, Baylor’s executive associate athletic director for external affairs, in an official statement.

Baylor self-imposed penalties following the 2008 investigation but the NCAA can now decide to add harsher penalties as it sees fit.

Men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew, women’s head coach Kim Mulkey and their assistant coaches were said to be involved in the calls and texts, according to the summary disposition obtained by ESPN.com.

The calls are deemed “impermissible” due to restrictions in the NCAA Division I Manual. For men’s basketball, an institution is allowed to make one phone call per month to an individual or his parents/guardians between his sophomore and junior year and two calls per week during his senior year.

In women’s basketball, an institution is allowed “one telephone call during the month of April of the individual’s junior year in high school on or after the Thursday after the conclusion of the NCAA Division I Women’s Final Four,” as well as one the following May, two phone calls in June and three in July, according to the Division I Manual. From there, the school is allowed unlimited phone calls.

Once a school has reached its limit of calls to a prospective student-athlete, an institution may not initiate another phone call. This could be how many of Baylor’s phone calls were deemed impermissible.

Text messages to recruits are prohibited.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said the NCAA would not comment on the case because it’s still under review, according to the Associated Press.

“However, each member agrees to abide by the rules established by the association and our membership expects those who do not follow the rules will be held accountable,” he said in a statement.

The investigation began in 2008 during the recruitment of a current Baylor women’s basketball player, junior Brittney Griner. Members of the coaching staff spoke with Griner and her father about the basketball program, academic requirements and the school in general both before and after Baylor’s 2007 women’s basketball elite camp, according to the article on ESPN.com. This contact is a violation of NCAA rules.

Jason King, writer of the ESPN.com article and Baylor alumni, said in an interview with ESPN Central Texas Radio Monday that he thought Baylor had done a good job self-imposing the penalties.

“Taking Kim Mulkey off the road for the entire month of July this coming summer for recruiting,” King said. “That’s big. Docking two scholarships last year was certainly significant even though it didn’t hurt them too bad since they won 40 games.”

The men’s team lost one scholarship for both this season and next season, and the number of official visits has been reduced from 12 to seven.

King said the NCAA can now decide whether Baylor’s penalties are fine and close the case or can add harsher penalties, such as further scholarship reduction or the suspension of Drew and Mulkey for a few conference games.

The NCAA report found 405 additional impermissible phone calls and texts in nine other Baylor sports, ranging from football to equestrian.

Sullinger announced that he is leaving OSU, foregoing his final two years of NCAA eligibility and entering the NBA Draft during a Wednesday press conference at the Schottenstein Center.

The announcement comes just four days after OSU’s NCAA Tournament run ended with a 64-62 Final Four loss against Kansas Saturday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Sullinger said the decision was the result of OSU advancing to the Final Four.

“I sat down with my family and we pretty much came up with the decision, and I think it’s best for me to try to go at it at the next level,” Sullinger said. “And also, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt this program or any of the guys that’s a part of this program. I just thought it was best for me to (go pro).”

During his two seasons in scarlet and gray, Sullinger started 73 of the 74 games he played, scoring 1,282 points, hauling in 717 rebounds and tallying 59 blocks while also dishing out 89 assists.

The Buckeyes won 65 games during his two seasons at OSU, earning the team the No. 1-overall seed and a No. 2 seed in the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Tournaments, respectively.

OSU coach Thad Matta, who said it feels like he has coached Sullinger for more than two years, said the time is right for Sullinger to leave for professional basketball.

“The hardest part is you develop a friendship with a guy,” Matta said. “I’m going to miss Jared as a player, but I’m going to miss him more as a person on a daily basis. That’s always the hardest part for me.”

Sullinger’s father, Satch Sullinger, said he would not have been comfortable with a decision to leave for the NBA following his son’s freshman campaign.

“This year, I watched the peaks and the valleys,” Satch Sullinger said. “I saw that consistency start to come back … during the end-of-season run all the way through the Final Four.

“I was sitting down talking to my older two boys, and I had to come to the realization that I don’t have any little boys anymore. I have three grown men and I’m totally comfortable with the decision he’s made.”

Jared Sullinger again said he was not concerned with his draft stock Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean other people aren’t thinking about where he could land in the upcoming NBA Draft.

ESPN.com writer Chad Ford lists Jared Sullinger as the No. 11 player on his ranking of the top 100 collegiate prospects.

Jared Sullinger, who said he purposely gained five pounds during this past season to increase his strength, likened his game to that of Minnesota Timberwolves forward and former UCLA Bruin, Kevin Love.

“I wouldn’t say I’m as good as Kevin Love,” Jared Sullinger said. “But I have the body type and the skill set of Kevin Love.”

Matta said Jared Sullinger has the ability to make people say, “‘I didn’t know he could do that.’”

“I think that Jared has a lot of different things he can do on the basketball floor,” Matta said. “I think that’s going to be the beauty for him — that he’s going to the next level with a lot of different things that he can do. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s ready.

“Strictly from the standpoint of, yeah, he’s got a great skill set. He’s got a great understanding of the game. I think the biggest attribute that Jared Sullinger has is he’s a winner. He wins.”

Some OSU students agree Jared Sullinger’s move to the NBA is the right one.

Casey Goddard, a fourth-year in criminology, said he thinks Jared Sullinger has the potential to make millions of dollars in the NBA.

“He’s one of the faces of this team. You want him to stay,” Goodard said. “But you’d also like to see him represent Ohio State in the NBA. I think he’ll do all right.”

Casey Justus, who graduated after Winter Quarter with a degree in economics, said he thinks Jared Sullinger’s athleticism isn’t likely to improve and he should leave.

“He would be losing money if he stayed another year,” Justus said. “The NBA is so focused on potential, and his potential ceiling is not as high.”

As far as Jared Sullinger’s degree is concerned, he said he plans to complete it at some point. That was part of the agreement with his mother, Barbara Sullinger.

Barbara Sullinger forced her son to look her in the eye and promise he would finish his degree.

“If you’re going to be Barbara Sullinger’s son, you have to get a college degree,” she said.

While at OSU, the Buckeye big man helped the team claim the outright 2011 Big Ten regular season championship, the 2011 Big Ten Tournament Championship and a share of the 2012 Big Ten regular season title.

OSU also defeated the NCAA Tournament East Region’s No. 1-seed Syracuse, 77-70, to win the East Regional Championship March 24 at TD Garden in Boston.

Jared Sullinger received Associated Press First-Team All-American honors in consecutive seasons at the Schottenstein Center. Sullinger also racked up the 2011 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, as well as selections to the 2011 and 2012 Big Ten All-Tournament team. Most recently, he was named the NCAA Tournament East Region’s Most Outstanding Player.

Patrick Cooley contributed to this story.

Given that he himself had never won a title, and his two finest coaching performances would both be wiped off the record books due to NCAA sanctions, some viewed the fawning reception as unjustified. Those surrounding the program openly questioned whether the flash matched the substance with the former Memphis coach.

“Sure, he can coach . . . but can he coach here?” they asked.

Once he stepped to the podium at his introductory press conference, however, the perfection of the marriage was obvious.

Dressed smartly in a Kentucky blue tie, and without a hint of nervousness, he began, “This was a dream I had since . . . I believe it was 1992. . . . We came down here, and I could not believe the environment. And at that point I said, ‘I’d love to coach there someday.’”

For most elite programs, that ego-stroking statement alone would have been enough from its new coach, but he continued.

“The challenge of being here is not competing for national championships, but winning them. . . . They don’t hang banners up here for anything else except national champions,” he said. “That’s why you want to coach here.”

With those two statements combined, he not only acknowledged the tradition and legacy of the Kentucky basketball program, but also expressed his willingness to shoulder the burden of immense expectations that comes with being its coach.  In his three years on the job since then, Calipari has regularly and continuously announced that he feels he has the greatest job in the coaching profession, and I believe him.  Surely, his record in those three years both on the court and the recruiting trail serve as sound evidence to the statement’s validity.  It is important to note, however, that it might be the most demanding in the profession as well.

The Kentucky basketball program is a perfect storm of tradition, expectations and unwavering fan support. On the surface, those defining characteristics are all exceedingly positive and are not uncommon on many campuses across the country.

At Kentucky though, everything is magnified. Simply put, Kentuckians care more about their basketball program, and given the legacy of their flagship program, they have every right to be accustomed to excellence.

For many coaches, the daunting task of weathering the Big Blue storm would not be worth the headache. Surely, some have turned down job offers because of it. Others, like Calipari’s predecessor Billy Gillispie, have buckled under the pressure and have shown themselves woefully unqualified for the job. Calipari, on the other hand, is the perfect fit to helm the program.

What separates Calipari from Gillispie and others is not solely his God-given ability to coach. It’s not his unmatched recruiting record either. Calipari is the perfect coach for Kentucky because he needs the Big Blue Nation every bit as much as they need him.

To say that UK’s beloved coach Cal is the most misunderstood coach in sports today would be no great stretch of the imagination. He is far too often tagged with names such as “used car salesman,” with his critics quick to connect his blue chip-laden recruiting classes to unfounded rumors of impropriety. He will be forever linked to his two vacated seasons, at Memphis and the University of Massachusetts, despite that in both cases, he himself was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Even those who do not find Calipari to be as morally repulsive as his rivals find ways to criticize his record and recruiting philosophy. His history of recruiting the controversial “one-and-done” players is oft critiqued. College basketball championships cannot be won solely with NBA talent, they said.  For years, he has received an onslaught of criticism and vitriol from all sides.  He is public enemy number one among basketball purists.

But at Kentucky, none of that mattered. He was taken in by the fan base, and given full support to coach and recruit as he pleased. The only stipulation being that he won. And recognizing that the passionate Big Blue Nation was just as misunderstood as he was, Calipari agreed to those terms.

In October 2009, Calipari addressed a sold-out Rupp Arena during the annual installment of extravagance that is Big Blue Madness. In it, he announced “my vision is one of celebrations and banquets, diplomas and banners, rings and parades. A return of this legendary program back to its rightful place atop the mountain of college basketball.”

Monday night, he finally delivered on this promise, leading UK to its eight national championship. In doing so, he has not only vindicated himself, but has given Big Blue Nation the ideal wedding gift to celebrate a perfect marriage.

The Final Four should be a celebration of a sport rich in tradition and lore: the culmination of a basketball season that is founded on principles of integrity, discipline and hard work — traits that its professional counterpart can’t exude.

But the integrity and glory of college basketball seemed distant during the Final Four proceedings last weekend. As the Kentucky Wildcats cut down the nets Monday night after a decisive championship victory over Kansas, I sat in my apartment living room and watched in dismay.

This really, truly happened?

To be fair, the Wildcat players wielding those scissors after the championship game unquestionably earned it. Observe Kentucky for even a small stretch of time and it becomes increasingly apparent that this team operated in a different echelon than the rest of college basketball this year. There’s a grace in watching the team impose its indomitable will upon an inferior team. And the rest of college basketball was all inferior.

Anthony Davis out-rebounds you. Doron Lamb out-shoots you. Terrence Jones out-muscles you. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist out-everythings you. Then, in unison, they collectively out-defend you. This blend of talent and chemistry demands championships.

My unease with Kentucky’s championship begins with the realization that its six-man rotation of mostly freshmen and sophomores will not be on the team next year. Instead, the players will feed into a pipeline straight to the NBA, whether they’re ready or not.

This pipeline is overseen and was essentially constructed by Wildcats head coach John Calipari. He lures in top recruits with the notion that he will send them to the NBA immediately after their freshman year. Though this type of “one-and-done” courtship is within NCAA regulations, it renders the student-athlete into simply an athlete, showcasing them as a means for profit instead of representatives of higher education.

For years the NCAA title has eluded Calipari as if the basketball gods were preventing a total bastardization of the purest form of their sport. Two of his previous programs even had its Final Fours vacated, cementing his ambiguous recruiting practices despite any tangible evidence against him.

But the basketball gods could not impede this version of Calipari’s pre-NBA team, and Monday’s outcome ushered in a new era of college basketball. How long will this era last, though? The NCAA can’t idly stand by and watch athletes forego their educational responsibilities because of what is essentially a loophole in the system. NCAA brass has a decision to make in the very near future on how it wants to handle the NBA age limit in regards to student-athletes holding up the “student” end of the bargain.

Meanwhile, Calipari’s NCAA title run presents an eerie binary with a local college basketball figure in Champaign: former Illinois head coach Bruce Weber.

Weber provided ample reasoning for athletics director Mike Thomas to fire him, but it wasn’t an easy move. Weber maintained a .675 winning percentage in his tenure at Illinois. More importantly, he graduated an extremely high rate of his players from one of the finest public universities in the country and did so without a hint of a recruiting violation.

The above criteria normally would be the formula for a successful college basketball program, in terms of both athletics and academics. It’s how Gene Keady spent 25 years coaching at Purdue.

But the above criteria was not enough for Weber to keep his job.

Implicitly, this decision paints Thomas as a proponent of winning above all else. Thomas would refute this notion, of course, and for good reason: It’s probably not true. But it does signal a changing landscape in college basketball, and the terrain is rocky.

Coach Calipari has his coveted title now and will be mentioned in the pantheon of all-time great college basketball coaches. His reputation as an NCAA violation waiting to happen will subsist, though, and will continue to polarize college basketball fans. The product on the court is a wonder to behold, but the dealings off the court are murky.

The college basketball gods were never keen on Calipari before this year, and my gut tells me they will restore balance eventually. Everyone loses if they don’t.

The Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA Championship Monday night with a team loaded with “one-and-done” players, beating Kansas 67-59. UK freshmen Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Anthony Davis and Marcus Teague will likely be first-round picks in June’s NBA Draft.

Some argue it’s a problem that degrades the quality of play in the NCAA. Others believe it’s unethical to prohibit young men from pursuing a professional career.

The issue’s roots trace back to 2006: the year the NBA established a new age limit for the draft. Players who completed athletic eligibility at a U.S. high school could not declare for the draft unless they turned 19 years old in the same year as the draft and were at least one year removed from graduating high school.

This rule barred teenagers from bypassing college for the NBA. Since then, college coaches have recruited players that plan exclusively to play one year in the NCAA before going pro.

Texas coach Rick Barnes brought in four “one-and-done” players since the rule change, including Kevin Durant in 2006, Avery Bradley in 2009 and Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph in 2010. All four were first-round picks.

This June, several college freshmen will hear their names called at the NBA Draft. It’s an issue that’s not going away. And NCAA President Mark Emmert is not happy with it.

“I happen to dislike the one-and-done rule enormously and wish it didn’t exist,” said Emmert during a CBS broadcast on March 25. “I think it forces young men to go to college that have little or no interest in going to college.”

The NCAA makes millions of dollars in revenue each year from college basketball, so it’s no surprise Emmert wants to get free labor as long as possible (student-athletes aren’t paid).

NBA Commissioner David Stern responded on March 27 to Emmert’s comments.

“A college could always not have players who are one and done,” Stern told reporters. “They could actually require the players to go to classes. Or they could get the players to agree that they stay in school, and ask for the scholarship money back if they didn’t fulfill their promise. There’s all kinds of things that, if a bunch of people got together and really wanted to do it, instead of talk about it.”

Athletes can still bypass college and go to the NBA, though they still must wait one year from high school graduation. Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings played one season in Europe instead of college, then was a lottery pick in 2009.

Jennings is the exception to the rule.

Stern tried to avoid this clash years ago, but the NCAA didn’t play along.

“Years ago I said to the NCAA, I’ve got a great idea. We’ll insure a select group of basketball players. And that will make them more likely to stay in school, because they won’t feel the loss of a big contract,” Stern said. “We’ll designate a pool and those lucky enough to be drafted and make money will pay us back, and those that don’t, it’s our expense.

“The NCAA I think took it to a committee … and they said it will only work under our rules if we do that for all sports. And I said, I don’t think that’ll work.”

Kentucky is also the exception to the rule. Most teams loaded with talented freshman don’t get far in the NCAA Tournament.

So what’s the big deal? Money. The NCAA wants the best basketball players to play for them. For free.

“To me, it’s first tradition,” Weber said in his opening statement.

Currie had promised that when he began his search for a head coach, he would find the person who represented K-State to the highest degree, and when Weber stated his high priorities and values, he colored in the lines of the picture Currie had laid out for a new coach.

“The same way coach [Bill] Snyder and coach [Deb] Patterson have done with their programs with strong values,” Weber said about continuing the K-State tradition. “It is what I believe in and why I came here. Values of loyalty, discipline, honesty, respect and trust, those are the things that my parents gave me when I was growing up though all of my years and it has been the basis of my life through all the time that I coached.”

Despite the student picketers outside of Bramlage Coliseum and despite the somewhat harsh words posted on various social media outlets, Weber accepted his purple jacket from President Kirk Schulz and was introduced the head coach of K-State men’s basketball program on March 31.

A continuous theme on Saturday afternoon between Weber and Currie was their “players first” mentality. Currie wanted the players to know first. Weber wants to win over the players first.

“They’re the most important part of this,” Weber said when asked what he told the team in their meeting. “When you have change it’s very hard. I just lived it at Illinois, I sat with kids crying, and it’s a tough thing. So they’re the ones, you know, I’ve got to reach out to them and get them sold on what we’re about, what our philosophy is and who we are, and I’ve got to get to know them, and the more time I can do around them, hopefully, the more comfortable they’ll be.”

Currie also said he keeps the student athletes in mind and, while news travels fast, he wanted to get to them with Weber and the news as soon as he possibly could.

“I promised them that I would do everything I could to make sure that as soon as we knew who our head coach was, that that coach would be in front of them without having to wonder and wait or hear from everybody else,” Currie said. “It’s not about secrecy, it’s about remembering your primary responsibility, which is those young men.”

So K-State has a coach with good values, a coach Currie believes to be a good leader, a coach who will put his team first and value every player.

Now for a look at his track record.

Weber has an overall winning record of 313-155 (.669) and has spent 14 seasons as a head coach. He coached at Southern Illinois from 1998 to 2003 and at the University of Illinois from 2003 to 2012. He has taken his teams to the postseason in 10 of his 14 seasons as head coach and has been to eight NCAA Tournaments, saw three Sweet 16 appearances and one NCAA Championship game.

Weber signed a five-year contract with K-State, which starts at $1.5 million for the 2012-13 season followed by a $100,000 increase per year. By the 2016-17 season, Weber will receive $1.9 million, which does not include numerous bonuses that stack up if he achieves high levels of success during his seasons as head coach.

Junior forward Jordan Henriquez and junior guard Martavious Irving both said they were comfortable with their new coach and are glad he is a part of the Wildcat family.

“Some people have negative things to say about him,” Henriquez said. “I don’t have any negative things to say about him. I’ve watched him growing up and I’m excited to play with him.”

Henriquez said the team has been viewed as underdogs before and he is happy to show fans what K-State basketball is all about once again next season.

Irving also said that he disagrees with some of the negativity that fans had shared about Currie’s choice in Weber.

“Just wait for the season; once we start winning I don’t think there will be a problem any more,” Irving said. “I think it’s a big enough hire. It could have been some low-profile coach, and if we win, that’s how they become bigger, so I’m just happy we got a coach. I feel like he’s going to put us in a position to succeed and he should succeed himself here. We’re going to get good players here, we’re a big-time school, and hopefully it all works out.”

Fans can look forward to Weber becoming a part of the K-State family and community, as he holds that as an important part of his new job.

“Part of my job as head coach at K-State is to be an ambassador for the university, and it’s important that we’re involved in the community,” Weber said. “I think you’ll find out that I’m a real guy. I’m going to be in the grocery store, I’m going to church on Sundays and I’m going to be involved as many activities as possible and so will my wife. That’s what we love to do and I hope that the players are involved in the community. I think that that is important and it’s a positive thing.”

Currie said no matter who he brought in as new head coach, people would have disagreed, so he stuck with his process of trusting core values and looking at coaches’ histories. He said now that the decision is final, fans should look to support Weber.

“Let’s turn our energy and our focus to positively supporting our basketball program and our basketball coach,” Currie said, “because we have a bunch of student athletes in that room and this is their time; they’re not coming back to play basketball 20 years from now. This is their time, so let’s do everything we can. I know and I’m confident that the K-State family will indeed do that they always have to make this a great situation and have a great result.”

After leading against the Kansas Jayhawks by as much as 13 in the first half, OSU fell into a 56-55 hole with less than three minutes to play. The Jayhawks went on an 8-6 run in the closing minutes before fouling OSU sophomore guard Aaron Craft with 2.4 seconds to play, robbing OSU of a chance to tie the game with a 3-point bucket in the closing seconds.

After making the first, Craft attempted to miss the second free-throw intentionally and collect his own rebound, but was whistled for a lane violation, allowing KU (32-6) to inbound the ball and knock OSU (31-8) off, 64-62, in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament National Semifinal Game.

“I thought we played the first half very effectively,” OSU coach Thad Matta said after the game. “Second half, obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball to the level we needed to. I thought Kansas was much more active defensively, using their athleticism. We didn’t get as clean of looks as we needed.”

In his final game in Scarlet and Gray, OSU senior guard William Buford led his team with 19 points to help attempt to avenge a Dec. 10 loss at the Jayhawks’ Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

The 19 points pulled Buford into a tie with Jerry Lucas as the No. 3 scorer in OSU program history with 1,990 points.

Aiding the OSU effort was sophomore forward Jared Sullinger, who scored 13 points, and Craft, who added 11 points.

KU was helped to victory by junior forward Thomas Robinson’s 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field. KU will play Kentucky (37-2) in Monday’s National Championship Game at the Superdome.

Scoring came slowly in the early stages of the game, but it was Kansas that found itself playing catchup. OSU used 50 percent shooting in the first 12:20 to go up, 21-13, on KU.

On the Jayhawks’ final possession before the media timeout with less than eight minutes to play in the first half, three KU shots were denied on a single possession — the last of which was stuffed by Sullinger — before it turned the ball over. Craft absorbed a charging foul for the third time in the contest to help take his team into the timeout with the momentum.

Buckeyes sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas opened the game on 0-of-4 shooting, and was visibly frustrated when he was pulled from the court after committing a foul at the 9:04 mark of the half.

Thomas did the job on defense, though, Robinson to just two points on his first six shots. Robinson dumped 21 points on OSU during the teams’ regular-season meeting Dec. 10, and finished the first half with eight points, but only four of those came while Thomas was on the floor.

When Thomas re-entered the game, he provided a quick offensive burst that was good for five points, and pushed the Buckeyes’ lead to 26-13.

KU took a timeout, but was unable to make a significant dent in the OSU lead. A lay-in by Jayhawks junior guard Travis Releford as the first half buzzer sounded made the score 34-25.

Buford paced his team with eight points while Sullinger and sophomore guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. each scored seven in the first half. OSU shot more than 46 percent from the field, hitting 12-of-26 field goal attempts. KU hit 11-of-30 attempts to keep its deficits at nine points.

The Jayhawks’ bucket to end the first half was a sign of things to come, though.

Thomas was again forced to the bench after collecting his third foul early in the second half, and OSU was forced to proceed into the half with its top postseason scorer on the bench.

KU already began to cut into OSU’s lead when Robinson delivered a thunderous dunk at 15:40 in the second half to bring the Jayhawks fans to a full-throat cheer. The bucket cut OSU’s lead to just 36-33.

Then, the game was tied at 38 with less than 14 minutes to play. OSU coach Thad Matta decided to insert Thomas back into the game, and the move backfired.

OSU responded with a 5-0 run to reclaim the lead at 43-38, but Thomas picked up a fourth foul with 11:30 to play in the game.

During the media timeout that followed, Thomas brooded behind the Buckeyes’ huddle with a towel over his head. He quickly shook his disappointment off — Thomas was the first OSU player to stand, cheer and wave that same towel in the air after a 3-pointer by Smith Jr. put OSU up, 46-40.

Robinson hit two free-throws with less than three minutes to play to put KU up, 56-55.

Thomas hit two free-throws to restore OSU’s lead, but was again forced from the game, this time with what appeared to be an injury. Despite turning his ankle after being fouled while attacking the basket, Thomas stood in and delivered two shots from the charity stripe.

As in previous NCAA Tournament games, the final minutes were nervy for OSU.

Then, Craft stole the ball on KU’s next possession and contributed a lay-in to put OSU on top, 59-56.

KU took each of the next six points in the contest to reclaim and extend its lead to 62-59 with 1:04 to play.

A steal by Robinson led to a Jayhawks breakout, but Craft thwarted the KU big man’s attempt at the basket that could have put OSU in a hole it could not recover from. OSU managed to hold the Jayhawks on that possession and took the ball back with the shot clock unplugged.

Two shots from distance to tie the game went begging, but Buford slammed the ball home with 9.6 seconds to play to make the score, 62-61.

KU senior guard Tyshawn Taylor hit two free-throws with 8.3 to play in the game and OSU was down to its last change.

The in-bound pass from Craft to Buford was stolen by the Jayhawks, but thrown away. The Jayhawks then fouled to send Craft to the line, robbing OSU of a chance for a game-tying 3-pointer.

Craft hit the first free-throw, attempted to intentionally miss the second and was whistled for a lane violation when he ran in to collect the rebound.

Then KU inbounded the ball. It was all over.

OSU shot 24 percent in the second half on 8-of-33 field goals attempts, and that was a key factor in the loss, Matta said.

“You shoot 24 percent in the second half against a really good team,” Matta said, “it’s going to be hard to win.”

Sullinger said that the loss hurt, but he was still proud of his teammates.

“If you look at this team a month ago, people like y’all (media) said we wasn’t good enough to get here,” Buford said. “I’m proud of these guys and everything they overcome.”

For the Jayhawks, it’s on to the National Championship Game against Kentucky, the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1-overall seed.

The Wildcats used a game-high 18 points and 14 rebounds from freshman forward Anthony Davis to beat West Region champion Louisville, 69-61, during the first game of the national semifinal doubleheader.

Monday’s national title game will tip at about 9:30 p.m.

Just a day after naming a new coach for the women’s program, Thomas announced Ohio’s John Groce as the next head coach of the men’s basketball team.

In his four seasons with the Bobcats, Groce’s teams went a combined 85-56, with a 34-30 record in the Mid-American Conference. His best season came this past year when the Bobcats went 29-8, including winning the MAC Tournament and advancing to the Sweet 16 after victories over Michigan and South Florida.

Groce led Ohio to one other appearance in the NCAA tournament in the 2009-10 season after winning the MAC Tournament the first time. His team pulled off another upset when No. 14-seeded Ohio topped No. 3-seeded Georgetown in the first round 97-83.

Though his teams have fared well in the postseason, the regular season has been more of a challenge for Groce. His best conference finish is third, which came this past season. He finished fifth in 2010-11 and ninth the previous two seasons.

Before becoming the head coach at Ohio, Groce served as an assistant under Thad Matta at Ohio State. He was the lead recruiter and instrumental in bringing in Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook, all of whom played on the same AAU team.

In the one season with the three standout freshmen, the Buckeyes were national runner-up. Oden went on to become the No. 1 overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers, while Conley was selected No. 4 by the Memphis Grizzlies and Cook was picked No. 21 by the Miami Heat.

Groce also coached Evan Turner – a native of Chicago – for one season with the Buckeyes. That year, Ohio State would go on to win the National Invitational Tournament. Turner swept National Player of the Year awards two years later and was selected No. 2 overall in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Illinois’ head coaching position opened when Thomas fired Bruce Weber on March 9 with three years and $3.9 million left on his contract. Weber went 210-101 in his nine seasons at Illinois with an 89-65 mark in Big Ten play.

Illinois originally pursued Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart, but Smart declined what was believed to be an eight-year deal at more than $2.5 million annually. The 34-year-old elected to return to the Rams for his fourth season.

Thomas also reportedly sought out Butler’s Brad Stevens to fill the vacancy, but Stevens announced Sunday he will remain at Butler.

Groce is from Danville, Ind., and played basketball and studied Mathematics at Taylor University. He’s also spent time as an assistant coach at Taylor, North Carolina State, Butler and Xavier. He and his wife, Allison, have two sons.

And, depending on who is spoken to, one that is mired in controversy.

The relationship between UK head coach John Calipari and Louisville head coach Rick Pitino dates back to 1988, when Pitino reportedly played a key role in helping Calipari obtain the head coaching job at the University of Massachusetts.

Pitino claims to have written a $5,000 check to cover a portion of Calipari’s first-year salary, according to a March 26 Rivals.com article.

At the time, Pitino even referred to Calipari as one of his “three or four really good friends in coaching,” according to a 2011 Sports Illustrated article.

But, as far as fans know, that’s where the pleasantries stopped.

As each coached returned from unsuccessful stints in the NBA in the early 2000s, they found themselves competing at least twice a year in Conference USA: Pitino at U of L and Calipari at the University of Memphis.

That’s where the rivalry began.

Memphis and U of L battled for conference championships for four seasons before Pitino’s squad made the jump to the Big East in 2005.

When Sports Illustrated approached Pitino to talk about Calipari for that article, he said, “I really don’t know him, so I’d prefer not to.”

Somewhere in that time, the relationship went sour.

Calipari has had past contention with several coaches, including Jim Calhoun, University of Conneticut head coach, John Chaney, former Temple head coach, and Bob Knight, former Indiana University head coach.

He has always played the “little brother” role: leading the underdog to unprecedented heights while holding no punches in the process. Some say it’s his fatal flaw and his greatest attribute.However, it can rub people the wrong way.

Then there are Pitino’s recruiting battles.

In 2004, Rajon Rondo, a point guard from Louisville, wanted to play for the Cardinals.

But, Pitino had his eyes set higher, namely on Brooklyn phenom Sebastian Telfair.

Pitino stopped recruiting Rondo and went all in for Telfair, who gave him a verbal commitment at the start of his senior year.

Rondo gave up and signed with UK. In August, Telfair decided to put his name in the draft. He was selected 13th overall.

Not only was Pitino left with nothing, he lost a good player to the rival school in the state.

Now, Pitino was becoming the little brother. He was losing recruits to UK, he was losing games to UK (he’s lost eight of 12 in the rivalry) and he managed one Final Four while the late-Tubby Smith/Billy Gillispie years in Lexington managed zero.

And that’s how things have changed since 2009. Calipari’s hiring at UK was a perfect storm of sorts in the saga.

His fiery personality combined with the recruiting platform he now had was immediately dominant.

Since Calipari has taken the job at UK, he is now in control of one of the premiere programs in the country.

No longer UMass, no longer Memphis, but UK. Not only is he the head of one of the most historic programs in history, he is U of L’s, and Pitino’s, biggest rival.

When asked about their relationship on Tuesday in a press conference, Calipari said, “It’s fine. We don’t send each other Christmas cards, but if I see him in public and I’m recruiting, we’ll spend some time. But it’s fine.”

Fast-forward seven years from Rondo.

Another star point guard Marquis Teague was thought to be destined to play at U of L.

His father played for Pitino at Boston University and every recruiting guru was told he would give the Cardinals his commitment.

But, at the last moment, Teague had a change of heart and committed to UK in April. It was another loss for Pitino, but this was a loss to Calipari.

Pitino has had a successful season, taking a sometimes offensively plagued, injury-prone team to a Big East Championship and deep into the tournament.

And now, he faces UK and Calipari in the Final Four. There’s history, there’s controversy and there’s distaste surrounding it.

One coach will win and be one step away from the elusive national championship.

By some stroke of fate, the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals have both advanced to the Final Four and will face off in what some are calling the biggest game in NCAA Tournament history.

As if you need to be reminded.

Campus has been buzzing with excitement since UK’s win over Baylor, and rightfully so. Never before and, most likely, never again, will students have the opportunity to witness a national championship run like this.

Although the Cats have been chosen as the favorite in Saturday’s game, there’s no denying that the Cardinals are going to show up big in New Orleans.

With a rivalry as heated as ours and a national championship on the line, fierce competition is practically guaranteed.

That being said, I want to emphasize how important it is for UK students, faculty and fans in general to conduct themselves appropriately before, during and after Saturday’s game. Win or lose, there will be plenty of opportunity for rowdy behavior.

I encourage everyone to enjoy the contest, but I also hope that our fans will remember that they are representing not only UK, but the city of Lexington and the state of Kentucky.

By now everyone has heard about the couch-burning and breast-revealing that took place in Lexington following our victory on Saturday. There’s just something about tournament time that makes everyone a little bit crazy.

I can imagine that Lexington police and firefighters are preparing for madness of even greater magnitude following the Final Four game.

Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are already exploding with comments about the match.

I’ve learned that fans will express their love for the Cats in any way they can. And obviously there is no shortage of outlets for them to do so. Unfortunately, fun is sometimes had at the expense of our university’s dignity.

When students behave drunkenly in the streets and make snide marks about U of L, they may not realize their actions reflect poorly on our school, city and state.

The media documents much of this foolery to be shared with others and I’m sure that not everyone is as impressed with our means of celebration or comments about the upcoming game as we are.

You may already be shaking your head and dubbing me “Negative Nancy,” but let me finish.

I was raised a die-hard UK fan and despise U of L as much as anyone else on this campus. On Saturday, you’ll find me making jabs at the brave U of L fans who dare to enter Lexington, yelling at the TV screen (Calipari-style) and going wild somewhere on State Street after the game.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; I’m certainly going to embrace it. However, I plan to do so respectfully. There are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, and as college students we should be mature enough to recognize them.

I urge everyone to focus on cheering the Cats to victory this weekend, rather than talking smack about Rick Pitino and Peyton Siva.

No matter the outcome, I know that my basketball team, my university and my city are superior.

People love to hate UK. I’ve always chalked it up to jealousy. Let’s give everyone one more reason to be envious: a big, humble fan base that beats any other in college basketball.

As the saying goes, the two go together like peas in a pod.

This may be changing in the near future, however.

Butler could make a jump to the Atlantic 10 conference as a replacement for Temple, according to a report released by ESPN two weeks ago.

Associate athletic director Jim McGrath said that the report is merely speculation at this point and that Butler has not even received a phone call about such a jump from those in charge of the A-10 conference.

McGrath also said he has heard that Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason are possible replacements for Temple in the conference.

Upon hearing this, the question Butler athletes, coaches and fans should not be asking is “Will Butler make the jump?”

Instead, they should be asking why Butler would make such a move.

The recent success of the Butler men’s basketball team would seem to be the most obvious reason to move.

One of the teams the Bulldogs have played in recent seasons is Xavier, a member of the A-10 and a Sweet 16 finalist of this season’s NCAA tournament.

Moving to the A-10 would provide Butler with tougher competition both in and out of conference play. This could give Butler a better chance at the NCAA tournament.

This was despite the fact that Valparaiso finished with a better winning percentage than both Xavier and St. Bonaventure, another A-10 team that cracked the tournament field.

Better competition and a greater chance at making the NCAA tournament field each season would also bring more exposure to the school as a whole.

Butler might also like to join a conference that has some lucrative ties to corporate partners such as Powerade and Geico.

The A-10 primarily features East Coast schools.

However, Xavier, Dayton and Saint Louis are all Midwestern schools within the conference.

Also, the average enrollment between the two conferences is separated by fewer than 600 students.

However, the negatives of a conference jump may outweigh the positives in this case.

The effect of moving to a bigger conference could be troublesome to Butler’s other athletic teams.

Many of Butler’s athletic teams have to battle and claw their way through both non-conference and Horizon League play, and a berth in their respective NCAA tournaments is a great achievement.

The A-10 is not the Big East or Big Ten, but it is not a cakewalk of a conference either.

Butler’s athletic teams would have to make their way past 13 other teams instead of nine to achieve at least a conference championship.

In sports with individual competitions, some Butler athletes could go from being near the top of the Horizon League to the middle of the A-10 pack thanks to better competition.

Situations like this could factor into the loss of potential athletic scholarships, costing current and future Butler students.

The fact that most of the A-10’s teams are on the East Coast also changes the amount of time Butler’s student-athletes would have to spend on the road.

Currently, Butler’s longest in-conference road trip is approximately 350 miles to Youngstown State. Eleven of the 14 teams in the A-10 are further from Butler than that.

Butler has stability in the Horizon League. If something is not broken, it does not need to be fixed.

Butler should not make this move simply for the money, increased recognition and benefit of the men’s basketball team.

If moving to the A-10 benefits Butler and all of its athletic teams, then the school should go for it. Otherwise, Butler should continue its tenure in the Horizon League.

So what can these early-season encounters tell us about what is to come over the course of the next week? Even though both Final Four matchups have already occurred this season, the likelihood that we can glean anything from those games is slim for various reasons.

When Ohio State faced Kansas this past December, the Jayhawks beat the Buckeyes by 11 on their home court at the Phog Allen Fieldhouse. That being said, some guy by the name of Jared Sullinger didn’t play that night. Sullinger is a huge part of the OSU offensive and defensive efforts, evidenced by being named the Most Outstanding Player of the East region, so this one could play out quite differently.

For each team, you can pretty much throw out any confidence or moral victories from the first game. Ohio State will feel good about getting to play on a neutral floor and the fact that they will have Sullinger in this game, while Kansas just took out a number one seed in North Carolina. Even though the victory was against a Tar Heel squad without star point guard Kendall Marshall, Saturday will most likely be a shoot-out.

In that respect, Kansas should be sweating heading into this matchup. Outside of Kentucky, there is no team playing better basketball down the stretch than Ohio State. Not even Louisville that has won eight straight games dating back to the beginning of the Big East tournament.

The Buckeyes looked poised to drop early in the Big Dance after going just 6-4 in its final 10 games before the NCAA tournament, but the inconsistent and unsure nature OSU portrayed before the tournament is now replaced by confidence, which helped it win its first four tournament games by an average of 12 points per game and gain a victory over top-seeded Syracuse.

Kansas, on the other hand, has stumbled its way through the entire tournament, barely avoiding the major potholes. Sure, Kansas beat Detroit by 15 in their opening round, but the Jayhawks were a Robbie Hummel heave away from having to play overtime against a hungry Purdue squad. And while Stilman White filled in for injured-Kendall Marshall admirably, UNC can’t play its transition game without Marshall, giving Kansas a huge handicap in that game.

If the Jayhawks are going to earn a title game appearance, Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson will have to have career games to combat Sullinger and company. As of now, Ohio State looks to have the upper hand on Saturday.

How about Kentucky-Louisville and the battle for the Bluegrass State? Good luck to Rick Pitino coaching Louisville to a win in this one. There hasn’t been a team like Kentucky built top to bottom with this much talent since the 2005 North Carolina team that featured the likes of Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants, Sean May and Marvin Williams.

Louisville should feel fortunate to have only lost by seven to Kentucky on New Year’s Eve, when freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored a team-high 24 points and collected 19 rebounds. Somehow, the Cardinals were able to hold the Wildcats to 29.8 percent shooting in that game, but UK balanced itself by attempting a ridiculous 43 free throw attempts, making 32 of them. It also seems unlikely that Louisville sophomore Russ Smith will score 30 points again.

Defensively, these two teams are evenly matched. The Wildcats rank first in field goal percentage defense at 37.5 percent and Louisville third at 38 percent, but offensively there is little comparison between the two squads. Louisville is ranked 220th in the country, shooting just 42.5 percent from the field, while Kentucky ranks eighth at 48.8 percent.

In the NCAA tournament, the margin is even wider. The Cardinals are shooting just 41.9 percent from the field, whereas the Wildcats are shooting an incredible 53 percent from the floor. Not to mention that in just four NCAA tournament games, Kentucky has attempted 128 free throws, making 98 of them (76.6 percent).

The numbers don’t match up well for Louisville, and the players on the floor certainly don’t either. The early lines have Kentucky as an eight and a half point favorite. Get your bets in now, because this one could be a blood bath. They may call it March Madness for a reason, but based on how the four remaining teams are playing right now, it’s looking like a Kentucky-Ohio State final is in our future.

Also known as the 2012 Big East Tournament Champions, named just two weekends ago, this team from The Ville has truly overcome great adversity, by never looking back. In just a season, Coach Rick Pitino’s team has fought like warriors to earn a trip back to the Final Four, the first time since 2005.

“Outside of the births of my six children, this is the happiest day of my life,” Pitino said Saturday after the Cards defeated Billy Donavon’s No. 7 seed Florida in a 72-68 come-from-behind victory.

After defeating Davidson and New Mexico State last weekend in the first two rounds of the tournament, the Cards faced No. 1 seed Michigan State. Pitino held a 9-0 record, winning the Sweet 16 in all of his NCAA Tournament appearances, but MSU was one of the strongest teams in the country this season. Michigan State is also remembered for wiping out the No. 1 seed Cardinals in the Elite Eight just three years ago, in 2009.

This time, the Cards avevenged that loss, gaining a 57-44 triumph over the Spartans in Phoenix, Ariz., Pitino’s average winning margin in his undefeated Sweet 16’s was 21.1 points.

The game was everything but the usual, with just one field goal making up the first half’s 23-18 lead, the rest hit from beyond the arc. Even more unusual were the scorers: Gorgui Dieng hit his first career 3-pointer, shocking fans, and disturbing Michigan State’s play in just about every way.

“I was just wide open when I take that shot,” said Gorgui Dieng, with a smile after the game. “I took it, and it went in.”

Dieng finished the game with 5 points, 9 rebounds, 7 blocks and 3 steals.

“He was very disruptive,” Michigan State’s Draymond Green said, of Dieng.

Behanan led scoring with 15 points, all in the second half, along with a valuable 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Siva dished out 9 assists along with his 4 points, setting up his teammates with key plays to make the victory possible.

“It couldn’t be a very nice game. We knew we were going to come to a war,” said Dieng. “We try our best, we listened to what Coach wanted us to do, and… we win this game.”

Pitino was thrilled with the win. “These guys are complete warriors,” he said.

In less than 48 hours, the Cards would take on the No. 7 seed University of Florida Gators.

Once again, the match-up had history: Pitino coached Florida head coach, Billy Donavan at Providence, a member of Pitino’s first Final Four team celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

Over the past week, Pitino continually reffered to Donavon as being “like a son to me.” Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino’s son, returned from Donovan’s coaching staff at Florida for his first season as assistant coach at Louisville, just this year. The West Regional title would be bittersweet for either coach.

“If we lose to Florida, I’ll be professionally very down about not going to a Final Four, but personally I’ll be very happy for Billy Donovan,” Pitino said before the game. But the fans, and players were out for only one thing: a win.

“We want to get him back to the Final Four so he can get inducted to the Hall of Fame while we are there,” said Chris Smith.

Dieng’s developed a mindset during the Big East Tournament that he seems to be living up to, one game at a time, “Just win it. Win it all.”

After starting off down 7-0 to the Gators Saturday afternoon, the Cards whizzed by on a 10-0 run, offering hope after an opening act of countless failed attempts. With two fouls on Behanan, Deing and Siva before the half, the Cards trailed 43-31 at halftime. An immediate three to answer the start of the second half by Florida’s celebrated Bradley Beal forced a dark cloud over Louisville’s chances of winning. The Card’s shots simply weren’t going in, while Florida seemed to bank three, after three, after three.

Louisville’s foul trouble followed them right into the second half. This was not a game that could afford to let foul-laden Siva to rest; Siva was required on the court to handle and distribute the ball around Florida’s demanding defense. Siva’s third and forth fouls, which came within just seconds of each other, forced Pitino into a frantic frenzy.

It was reported that Pitino was yelling at Siva about his foul, when official Karl Hess gave Pitino a technical. Pitino approached Hess about the confusion, but was told to step back into the coach’s box.

Star Gator Erving Walker made all four free throws to put Florida up 58-47. Just when it seemed Louisville would never catch a break, Russ Smith immediately responded with a jumper. A minute later, he clenched a lay-up.

This glimmer of hope went on to spark a shocking 23-8 run for Louisville. Louisville’s constant and leader, Siva fouled out with 3:58 to play, with eight points and a whopping nine assists. The Cards were down just one, 65-64, and had not led the game since 12:43 into the first half, when up by one.

The next few minutes were nothing short of a whirlwind of gripping emotion. Russ Smith was on his own to man the point, something he had yet been put in the burdening position to do.

“I was actually pretty nervous because this is one of the first times I really handled the one in a situation that was so serious,” recalled Russ Smith. “I was very nervous and I had to find a way to calm myself down. I had to get Chane the ball.”

He did just that. Behanan made a jumper to tie the game 66-66. A series of game clenching free-throws and a Behanan-jumper later, the Cards swarmed the court in victory, raising a trophy and cutting the net, yet again. Coming back from a hopeless chain of fouls, questionable calls and clanked shots, Louisvile claimed the Midwest Regional title. Freshman Behanan was MVP.

“I was MVP?” Chane questioned, after mention of his recognition following the game. “I swear I [didn’t] know that.”

When asked about the adversity he overcame, staying in the game to score 17 with four fouls, he just shook his head.

“Four fouls, I [don’t] let it bother me…[I say], calm down, I got it—trust me. On defense, I don’t think about the fouls. I play hard.” Previously referred to by Pitino as a “man-child”, it is safe to say freshman Behanan is no rookie in giving his all.

Though the win cannot be accredited to any one person, Russ Smith’s last minute heroics, along with the game-high 19 points truly locked in the “W.” With one of the most jovial spirits among a team of amazingly humble attitudes, Smith continued to joke around after the game. Coach Donovan called Smith’s style of play “crazy,” and Smith had no problem with that.

“If Coach Donavan called me crazy… then I guess I’m crazy!” Smith laughed.

It soon came out that the unlikely leader, quiet Kyle Kuric, was the team’s source of calm in midst of the storm.

“After the T [on Pitino] Kyle grabbed everyone together and said. ‘Listen, we’re going through adversity…. Let’s just get some stops…We’ve been here before.’” revealed Behanan. “And ever since that– we took off… and got the win,”

Dieng and Siva were also named to the Midwest Regional All Tournament Team.

There were no hard feelings between the two head coaches and friends.

“I said, ‘Billy, I feel bad. I feel terrible, man,’ “ Pitino said after the game. “He said, ‘Are you kidding me, coach? I am so happy for you.’ That just doesn’t happen in this world.”

Something else that just doesn’t happen in this world? Louisville and the University of Kentucky, arguably one of the greatest rivalries in all of college basketball, gearing up to go head to head as two of the final four teams left the big dance.

Louisville will play South Regional Champion and No. 1 seed Kentucky in the Final Four in New Orleans this coming Saturday.

“The state would be crazy. It would be the most hyped up game- ever,” said Chris Smith after Saturday’s game, still awaiting Kentucky’s vicorty of Baylor. “I want to play Kentucky more than anything. I know we can beat them.”

But for Pitino, just returning to the Final Four is enough.

“I kept telling the guys, ‘We’re going to the Final Four. Win the BIG EAST tournament, you’re going to the Final Four,’ and they did.”

“I’ve never wanted a Final Four more than for these guys.”

This is Pitino’s sixth career Final Four appearance.

For these Gators, Saturday’s 72-68 loss in the Elite Eight was painful if not just because it of the way it happened and the fact that put a disappointing bookend on their season, but because it ended a second straight NCAA Tournament run just two games shy of the ultimate prize.

“It hurts more for me, personally, and probably for a lot of guys that returned,” forward Erik Murphy said. “A lot of people don’t get the shot to go to Final Four ever, and we’ve had it twice and did the same thing both times.”

Florida led from the 12:27 mark of the first half to the 1:06 mark of the second, establishing a 41-33 lead at halftime and extending it to as many as 11 midway through the second half. But a 10-0 run coinciding with a nearly six-minute scoring drought brought the Cardinals back into a game they had been shot out of by the Gators, who made 8 of 11 from beyond the arc in the first half before being held to 0 of 9 when it mattered most.

Last year, Florida allowed an 11-point lead at the 9:26 mark of the second half to evaporate down the stretch against Butler in the Elite Eight. This year, Florida held the lead by the same 11-point margin at the 9:04 mark of the second half.

“Same feeling,” said Boynton, who sat slouched backward in his locker while reporters surrounded him following the game, using his white iPhone as a distraction. “We made mistakes on our own. It wasn’t that they were playing good, it wasn’t anything that they did, it was just we lost the game on our own, our mistakes.”

The Gators were 0 of 4 from the field during the Cardinals 10-0 run and 1 of 12 in the final eight minutes. Walker, a senior, missed two key free throws after drilling four straight earlier in the game after a foul and technical called on Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

Beal, who was named to West regional All-Tournament Team, also committed a turnover which led to a jumper from Louisville guard Russ Smith, and he was called for a travel with just 18 seconds left after coming up with a steal. In all, Florida turned it over 14 times, giving Louisville 15 points.

But the Gators and Beal had their chance late. Beal, who scored 63 points on 23-of-38 (60.5 percent) shooting and grabbed 33 rebounds in UF’s four tournament games, had a layup attempt blocked with 48 seconds left and Florida trailing by one.

“It’s terrible,” Beal said of letting the game slip away. “I was thinking about that as soon as I saw the shot miss. … When you foul and you’re walking down to the other end, you’re like, ‘Dang, we had the game in our hands.’”

Still, with the Gators down two after a couple of free throws from Russ Smith, who scored six of Louisville’s final eight points, Beal had a chance to tie it. But his three-point attempt from near the top of the key clanged off iron, as did Boynton’s second attempt with just eight ticks left.

“I felt I was open for a minute, and then I let it go,” Beal said. “It went off. I got the rebound back, kicked it to Kenny, it was off. It just happens. We just didn’t execute plays down the stretch at all.”

Florida was 21-1 when leading at halftime before Saturday’s loss, and now head into an offseason uncertain about the future at point guard with Walker graduating and of Beal, who is projected as a first-round pick in the NBA draft but said he wasn’t even thinking about next season yet.

Five Gators scored in double-figures, with Murphy and Beal leading the way with 14 apiece. Murphy also grabbed eight rebounds, while Beal had seven. Walker, who afterward in the locker room clutched a towel to his face to block the tears, finished with 12 points and seven assists in his final collegiate game.

Pitino is now 7-0 all-time against Florida coach Billy Donovan, who played under Pitino at Providence College 25 years ago. Both talked fondly of the other leading up to the game, and that didn’t change after a closely contested game with everything on the line.

“I personally, for me, am very happy for coach Pitino,” Donovan said. “Certainly emotionally going into the game it’s always a difficult situation like that, with our relationship, but I don’t think any coach enjoys losing in this type of situation. But if I had to lose, it would be to him.”

After saying Friday that it’s not difficult for him to play against a coach he loves, Pitino backed off that statement and was similarly effusive Saturday.

“It was very difficult because of the way the game ended, because they outplayed us,” Pitino said. “For 32 minutes they outplayed us. And it really hurt inside. As much as I felt like celebrating, it really hurt because he did such a masterful job of coaching.”

UK. Louisville. A rematch with raised stakes, raised unbelievably high, no matter what the teams actually playing in the game may say.

While some of Louisville’s team were looking toward the potential matchup after its win — “There will be people in Kentucky who will have a nervous breakdown if they lose to us,” Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said at his press conference — UK’s team stayed away from playing up the rivalry angle.

At least three different players (Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Doron Lamb) said it was just another game, a sentiment their coach echoed.

“I’m not worried about who we’re playing,” head coach John Calipari said. “I’m just happy we’re still playing.”

But come on — it’s not. A Final Four matchup between two schools from the same state hasn’t happened since 1962.

“I’m happy myself that it’s two Kentucky teams,” said Darius Miller, a Maysville, Ky., native.

“It’s an honor for our state,” Doron Lamb said.

The anticipation started as soon as Louisville made a furious comeback to beat Florida in its Elite Eight game Saturday. Almost immediately after that buzzer sounded, attention shifted to a potential rivalry rematch in the Final Four.

“It’s already crazy in our regular-season game, just the Kentucky fans and the Louisville fans going at it,” Miller said Saturday. “So I can’t imagine what it would be like in the Final Four.”

He won’t have to imagine anymore after UK took care of its half of the bargain. The Cats certainly didn’t appear to be looking ahead against Baylor, storming out to a 20-point halftime lead en route to an 82-70 victory.

Once that item was checked off, though, a good portion of the post-game locker room chatter centered on a game sitting at the opposite end of the weekly calendar.

“Oh, man, I can’t wait,” said Twany Beckham, a Louisville native. “It’s going to be fun. They’re playing really well right now, but we’ve got a week to prepare for them, and I think we’ll be ready when the time comes.”

It will be a reprise of the New Year’s Eve game, an offensively challenged slugfest that UK won somewhat comfortably, 69-62.

At the time, it felt like bragging rights for another year. It usually is.

But now, the teams will meet again, exactly three months later — Dec. 31 to March 31.

“Hopefully we’ll have some fun this week,” Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said.

It will be five (and a half) straight days of over-analyzing, of fan bravado, of giddy anticipation.

And then, hopefully, it will be a great game on Saturday.

“We know it’s gonna be a good game,” senior guard Darius Miller said. “They played us really close the first game, so we gotta come out ready. Right now, we’re just trying to enjoy the win that we had today.”

The physicality of the game was evident from the start, with a Flagrant 1 foul charged to Baylor forward Quincy Acy in the opening minutes, and the Cats struggled to keep up with Baylor’s length, falling behind despite an early lead 10-5 with 16:15 to go in the half.

“We knew they were going to make runs,” freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer said. “We just wanted to stay calm and just play our game, and we did and that is why we got off to a pretty good start ourselves.”

Freshman point guard Marquis Teague sunk a 3-pointer to tie the Bears at 10-10, then a steal by sophomore forward Terrence Jones led to a one-handed slam from freshman forward Anthony Davis, bringing Cats fans to a roar and that gave a timeout opportunity for the Cats to refocus.

“I just told them, ‘We got to stop on the gas here, guys,’” UK head coach John Calipari said. “I didn’t want them to build too much confidence.”

UK was on a 7-0 run at that point, and it fueled a 16-0 run to lead 21-10 with 11:30 left in the half.

“This team hasn’t been rattled all year,” Calipari said. “We’ve had teams come at us and play absolutely out of their minds, but to do it for 40 minutes is a little tougher.”

That seemed to set up the first of a series of runs for the Cats. Baylor would end a run just in time to spark another. After a dunk by Davis and a 7-0 run, the Cats led 30-15 with 7:12 to play in the half. The Bears ended that in time for UK score another six straight points, leading 36-17 with 5:03 left.

“We knew we just had to get solid on the defensive end and we wanted to be aggressive on offense, get out in transition and make plays,” Teague said.

Jones had one point in the first half, but tallied a career-high six assists by the end of the first 20 minutes. He scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had six assists on the game.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Jones said.” Once I got to the hole, Anthony (Davis) was just so wide open out of the basket, I was just throwing lobs at him.”

The Cats filtered into the locker room at halftime leading by 20 at 42-22 led by freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Kidd Gilchrist had 19 points (17 at the half) and five rebounds on the game.

“He wants to win so bad, he’ll do whatever it takes,” Teague said about Kidd-Gilchrist. “He just came out on fire and we kept feeding him. He’s been aggressive and he was finishing, so he played great today for us.”

UK expanded on its 20-point lead at the start of the half and led by as many as 23 points on the game.

But fouls slowed the pace of the game more so than they did in the first half.

The teams combined for 50 fouls on the game, and a hard foul on Davis sent him to the bench on and off in the second half, recovering from a minor knee injury. Davis recorded 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“I just bumped knees with Perry Jones and it started hurting real bad,” Davis said. “But I knew my team needed me to play. I wasn’t going to sit out, especially with a trip to the Final Four, and all of us want to go to the Final Four.”

While the game transformed from a game of runs to a game of 50 percent second half shooting from the field, Baylor showed up in the second half to cut its deficit, although it didn’t come within single-digit range.

“I think we made it tough on them on every shot, even shots they did make,” Jones said. “There was a hand up or two people on somebody. I think they played a really good game, especially in the second half to fight back the way they did.”

After several trips to the line for both teams, disrupting either from getting into any particular rhythm, UK led 73-56 with 3:32 left to play.

The Cats are set to play Louisville in New Orleans for the NCAA Tournament semifinals. Tip-off is set for 6:09 p.m.

“It feels real good to accomplish this,” Teague said. “This was one of our goals, to make it to the Final Four, but we still got work ahead of us.”

South Region All-Tournament Team:

MOP: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – 43 points, 15 rebounds

Anthony Davis – 27 points, 23 rebounds

Doron Lamb – 35 points

Quincy Acy – 42 points, 23 rebounds

Christian Watford – 27 points, 5 rebounds

These were celebratory jumps and chest-bumps. They were higher than any attempt for a rebound or a basket, and the smiles that accompanied them unmistakable — they were the smiles of a team headed to the Final Four.

Because that’s what the second-seeded Buckeyes were on Saturday at TD Garden in Boston — a team that defeated top-seeded Syracuse, 77-70, in the NCAA Tournament East Region Final to gain passage to the Final Four in New Orleans in a week.

In a game marred by questionable officiating decisions and foul trouble for both the Orange (34-3) and the Buckeyes (31-7), OSU outlasted its opponent in the nervy, closing moments of the game. After missing most of the first half with foul trouble, sophomore forward Jared Sullinger ended the night with a game-high 19 points. Sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas added 14 points and fellow sophomore Lenzelle Smith, Jr., had 18 points of his own.

OSU, which advances to the Final Four for the first time since coach Thad Matta led the team to the National Championship game in 2007, does not yet have an opponent for its next game.

The Buckeyes will play the winner of the Midwest Region Final between top-seeded North Carolina and second-seeded Kansas in the Final Four on Saturday. The Tar Heels and Jayhawks will tip Sunday at 5:05 p.m. in St. Louis, Mo.

“Obviously, I thought a high-level college basketball game, probably the way it’s supposed to be in the Regional Finals,” Matta said after the game. “We beat a tremendous team tonight.”

The Buckeyes bumped and hassled their way to an early 9-8 lead, which held through the first media timeout. Sophomore guard Aaron Craft had a hand in Orange senior guard Scoop Jardine’s face early and often.

Buckeyes starters were falling fast, though — guard Smith Jr. took a blow to the head and went back to the locker room before the first media timeout.

At the 13:42 mark, Sullinger was slapped with his second foul of the half and forced to retreat to the bench.

Smith Jr. would return minutes later, but the significance of Sullinger’s absence from the court wasn’t lost on Matta. When play stopped at the 11:22 mark of the first half with the Buckeyes leading, 16-15, Matta walked across the court and shouted to the CBS television broadcasting team to see if the correct call was made.

The broadcasters appeared to indicate the call was incorrect, and Matta stomped on the floor in frustration.

Sullinger zipped his warm-up jacket up — he was in for a long break from the action.

The player said he wasn’t expecting Matta to call him back to the bench.

“These guys have played without me before, so they know what they have to do,” Sullinger said. “We just kept competing on the defensive end. I think that’s what won the basketball game.”

Matta said the team pulled together after Sullinger was forced to the bench.

“It’s something we’ve been preaching with this basketball team, and came down (in) the second half to guys making big plays,” Matta said.

The game was called tight both ways, and each team had multiple players in foul trouble. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim was called for a technical that led to a made free-throw for senior guard William Buford.

Boeheim, who said after the game that he thought the technical foul was the first called on him about three years, declined to comment on the officiating decisions during his post-game press conference.

Boeheim wasn’t getting the foul calls, but his team’s famed zone defense was working just fine. The Orange forced OSU into a shot clock violation with less than four minutes to play in the half.

The Buckeyes stumbled without Sullinger in the lineup, scoring just 13 points after his departure. Despite the lack of scoring, OSU held Syracuse in check and the teams went into half tied at 29.

The Buckeyes shot just more than 34 percent, connecting on 10-of-29 attempts in the first half. The Orange were just as ineffective and shot at a clip of nearly 35 percent.

Senior guard William Buford and Thomas each scored six points in the opening 20 minutes to pace OSU while the Orange were led by Jardine’s seven points.

Officiating decisions continued to impact the game after the intermission as Orange freshman forward Rakeem Christmas was whistled for his fourth foul and had to leave the game.

OSU took advantage and quickly built a five-point lead with less than three minutes gone in the second half, forcing an Orange timeout.

OSU’s quick start became a 13-3 run that saw it extend the advantage to 45-36 with 13:51 to play. Sullinger was back, and the entire building knew it. The big man dumped six points on the Orange during that run.

All the calls were going the Buckeyes’ way now. The many thousands of orange-colored T-shirts sat quietly as the Scarlet and Gray-clad OSU supporters that dotted the stands roared with approval at the very top of their lungs.

But the fouls kept coming.

Both teams were in the penalty by the 12:09 mark of the half, and OSU had only connected on 15-of-25 attempts from the charity stripe.

Syracuse used its bonus free-throw attempts to narrow its deficit before back-to-back buckets by Jardine cut OSU’s lead to 52-50 with 8:01 to play.

Then Smith Jr. and Orange junior guard Brandon Triche traded 3-point baskets with less than seven minutes to play.

A crowd of 19,026 was rocking, the end was nearing and OSU held a one-point advantage.

Given the high stakes of the game, some might have expected a back-and-forth slugfest down the stretch, but what fans got was a free-throw free-for-all. Sullinger made the most of the chances, though, and used the double bonus to push OSU to a 60-55 edge with 3:45 to play.

A bucket by Thomas with less than two minutes to play pushed OSU out in front by seven.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Craft fouled out of the game with 48.8 seconds to play after he fouled to send Triche to the line. Triche connected on two free-throws to make the score 68-64.

Before leaving the court, Craft said he issued instructions to each teammate that would remain in the game.

“I had a couple words for everybody,” Craft said, “but I don’t know if they were too good. I was just trying to keep us all together (and) help everyone understand the game wasn’t over.”

Smith Jr. made it a six-point game on OSU’s next possession, but Orange sophomore guard Dion Waiters completed a 3-point play to halve the deficit.

Syracuse continued to foul after that point and it became evident that the Buckeyes would need to earn their ticket to New Orleans at the foul line.

Trailing by four with the shot clock unplugged, Triche pulled up for a 10-foot jumped that clanked around the iron and was rebounded by OSU.

Smith Jr. went back to the line and connected on two additional free-throws to make the score 73-67.

The Orange missed their next shot.

That was it.

In what could have been his last game, Buford iced the contest with two more free-throws. And Thomas tacked on two more.

Cue the celebration for Ohio State, and the leaping.

And don’t forget the hoisting of the East Region Championship Trophy, and cutting the nets off the basket.

Thomas said he planned to sleep with the portion of the net that he cut off.

“(The win) just feels great,” Thomas said. “We’re going to try to cherish this game.”

Buford agreed.

“It feels great,” he said. “Nobody on this team has ever made it this far. In past years, I got put on the Sweet 16. To make it this far is kind of a relief to know that hard work pays off.

“We’ve been working hard throughout the summer and throughout the season, and to make it to the Final Four is just great for us.”

Start time for OSU’s National Semifinal game has not been announced.

Ohio’s season ended with a 73-65 overtime loss to North Carolina in Friday night’s Midwest regional semifinal.

The Tar Heels (32-5) entered the game as a double-digit favorite and got off to a quick start.

North Carolina mounted a 15-point first half lead while Ohio (29-8) struggled to make shots, missing 17 of its first 20 field-goal attempts.

But Ohio’s defense kept it in the game as the Bobcats limited the nation’s second-highest scoring team to 29 first-half points and trailed by only seven points at the half.

“The only reason we were in the game at the half was because of how well we defended the last 10 minutes in the first half,” Groce said. “That kept us in the game until we started making some shots in the second half.”

After the Tar Heels pushed the lead back to double digits in the opening minutes of the second half, Ohio began to chip away and took its first lead of the game with 8:30 remaining on a Nick Kellogg 3-pointer.

Ohio point guard D.J. Cooper extended Ohio’s lead to 67-63 with 3:49 to play, but North Carolina tied the game two possessions later.

Ohio shot 8-for-13 from 3-point range in the second half to get back in the game.

A Reggie Bullock 3-pointer with 40 seconds remaining gave the Tar Heels a two-point lead, but Ohio guard Walter Offutt responded by dropping a layup and drawing a foul.

Offutt missed the bonus attempt, and the game went to overtime.

Bullock hit another 3-pointer to open the scoring in overtime, which would be enough to hold on for the win as the Bobcats shot 0-for-6 from the field in overtime.

“They made some big plays in overtime,” Cooper said. “They just stepped up and made some plays and we didn’t.”

North Carolina had a height advantage at every position against Ohio, and used that to outrebound the Bobcats 63-30.

Those 63 rebounds is the second-most ever scored by a North Carolina squad in the NCAA Tournament and 33 is the largest rebounding margin in the Tar Heels’ NCAA Tournament history.

North Carolina forward Tyler Zeller led the Tar Heels with 22 boards, also an NCAA Tournament school record.

“They’re huge,” Groce said about Ohio’s opponent. “We’re not the only team that they’ve done that too. What was able to cancel that out was that we were able to turn them over 24 times. That helped us offset that a little bit.”

Offutt led all scorers with a career-high 26 points while Zeller led North Carolina with 20.

“We feel like we got away with one,” Zeller said. “Ohio played the better game. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. Thankfully we were able to pull one out.”

Ohio finishes the season with a school-record 29 wins, the second most ever by a Mid-American Conference team.

“It’s great for the program,” Offutt said. “We went on a heck of a run. Obviously we’re not happy with this loss but we’re fortunate to win two games in the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Sweet 16.”

Senior Quincy Acy led the Bears with 20 poinrs and 15 rebounds on 8-11 shooting. Junior Pierre Jackson and sophomores Perry Jones III and Brady Heslip all finished in double figures for the Bears.

“[Advancing to the Elite 8] feels good considering last year. Last year was a letdown,” Jones III said. “It’s exciting to be in the Elite Eight, especially experiencing it with the guys that have been here before. We’re just looking forward to go a little further and make a little history.”

The Bears opened the game strong with a 12-2 run which forced Xavier to take a timeout. Xavier was having trouble dealing with Baylor’s length and turned the ball over frequently to start.

“They came out, and they knocked us back. They put us on our heels early,” Xavier head coach Chris Mack said. “When they’re that talented, you can only do so much.”

The Bears’ early offensive success came from good ball movement and easy shots. Jones III attacked the glass on both ends. He eventually cooled off and finished the first half with just six points and three rebounds, two of which came on offensive put backs.

This ball movement allowed many players to get touches. At halftime, seven of nine Baylor players that took the floor were able to put the ball in the basket.

Baylor contained Tu Holloway well in the first half. Holloway only recorded six points and one assist. The problem was 7-footer Kenny Frease. At the beginning of the half, the Bears denied entry passes to the big man. When he did get the ball in the post, the help defense was able to get steals or blocks.

This all changed after a flagrant foul was called on Acy. Frease turned this into a four-point possession, swinging the momentum in Xavier’s direction and allowing the Musketeers to get back into the game.

Frease finished with 18 points, but was only able to grab three rebounds

“We outrebounded [them] 35-29, but we’ve done a little bit better as far as getting second-chance points,” head coach Scott Drew said. “Hopefully we can do that in Sunday’s game.”

Baylor and Xavier exchanged blows for much of the second half. Acy and Jones III took charge of the game by throwing down dunk after dunk. The game seemed out of reach for the Musketeers when Jackson hit two free throws with 1:41 left in the game to put the Bears up by 12.

Xavier would not go away without a fight, however. A three-point play by Holloway followed by a 3-pointer by Justin Martin made it a six-point game with 1:21 to go. Holloway and Acy exchanged pairs of free throws before Holloway made a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to cut Baylor’s lead to 68-72.

Holloway finished with a game-high 22 points but was just 6 of 13 from the field and 1 of 5 from the 3-point arc. As a team, Xavier finished the game 3 of 15 from the arc.

In the final 18 seconds, Heslip went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to put the game out of reach.

Baylor will play Kentucky at 1:20 p.m. CDT on Sunday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. The regional final game will be televised on CBS.

“That was a fast game,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “I love coaching those kinds of games … There are games that are going to be like that, and we’ve got to be prepared to play.”

UK (35-2) shot 95 percent from the line in its win over Indiana (25-8) to advance to the Elite Eight game against Baylor (27-7) at 2:20 p.m. on Sunday.

Of the 37 free throws UK attempted, four Cats shot perfect from the line. Freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist shot 10-for-10, sophomore guard Doron Lamb was 8-for-8, freshman point guard Marquis Teague was 6-for-6 and senior guard Darius Miller shot 5-for-5.

“Today in the pregame, we all made our foul shots,” Lamb said. “So I knew today would be a great time for making foul shots today, and we did.”

The Cats opened up with a 3-point basket by sophomore forward Terrence Jones, who went on to score the first five points for the Cats.

Both squads battled in the opening minutes of the half, but UK went on a 9-2 run to lead 16-11 with 14:58 to play.

Early foul calls on both teams slowed the pace of the game and sent freshman forward Anthony Davis to the bench in the first half after six minutes of play.

“By the second half, my teammate told me, ‘You’re fine,’” Davis said. “‘Just come out and play your game. We need you to steal, block shots, rebound and score the ball.’ So that’s what I did in the second half.”

After a dunk by Jones that brought fans to their feet, UK led 31-22 with 9:56 to play. But Indiana strung together a 6-0 run to close that gap 31-28 with 8:15 left in the half.

The Cats allowed the Hoosiers to shoot 58 percent from the field, but held them shooting 2-for-7 from behind the arc.

“I don’t think we came out lacking intensity or lacking focus or anything like that,” Miller said. “They just did a great job of executing their game plan and coming out ready to play.”

Junior forward Christian Watford was the lone Hoosier scoring in double-figures in the first half with 17 points, while Jones recorded 12 points and four rebounds for the Cats and Kidd-Gilchrist tallied 11 points and five rebounds.

“I was in a slump for a long time,” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “It was just confidence, I think. It was just building up.”

The two teams battled throughout the first half, swapping four lead changes in the first 20 minutes of play.

“We didn’t start as well as we would have liked tonight,” freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer said. “We knew they were going to make some shots, but we kept playing hard and then finally started making some stops.”

But both squads also combined for 22 fouls in the first half, Indiana with 12 and UK with 10. The Cats held a three-point lead over the Hoosiers at 50-47 at the half.

Although Indiana opened the second half with a bucket, with Davis back in the game, the Cats pieced together a 6-0 run at the start of the half.

Miller scored eight straight points for the Cats, expanding their lead at 64-56 with 15:42 to play. He finished the game tallying 19 points.

Kidd-Gilchrist braved three IU defenders in the post, drawing a foul on his and-one layup that forced Indiana to take a timeout and gave the Cats a 77-66 lead with 9:50 left in the game and UK held on to a lead throughout the second half and led by as many as 13 points while Kidd-Gilchrist led the Cats with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

“Mike’s a spectacular player,” Davis said. “He brings a lot of energy, scores the ball, rebounds.”

The Cats shot 50 percent from behind the arc and 48 percent from the field.

The regional final against Baylor Sunday is set to tip-off at 2:20 p.m, and the Cats are ready to refocus and concentrate on the Bears.

“We just have to be ready, listen to Coach Cal, get as much rest (Friday) and in the morning as we can,” Wiltjer said, “but then we’ve got to be ready for a quick turnaround against Baylor.”

Obama spoke before an almost full crowd about his energy policies.

The president’s speech at OSU was to discuss “a strategy where (America will) produce more oil, produce more gas, but also produce more American biofuels and more fuel-efficient cars, more solar power, more wind power, more power from the oceans, more clean and renewable energy,” Obama said.

The chiefly pro-Obama crowd was energetic to begin with, and was even more so after Obama weighed in OSU’s men’s basketball team, which played Thursday against Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, and was one of the president’s picks to reach the Final Four.

“I think Sullinger is going to have a big game tonight,” Obama said. “And I promise you I didn’t (pick OSU to go to the Final Four) because I knew I was coming here because I am cold-blooded when it comes to filling out my brackets. So I genuinely think you guys are looking good.”

When Obama listed the four Ohio teams in the Sweet 16, a record for any state, he was met with a chorus of boos when he mentioned Cincinnati. (The other two teams are Xavier and Ohio.)

“I’m not going to get in the middle of this,” Obama said. “I do want to just say no state has ever done this before. So it’s a testimony to Ohio basketball.”

That energy briefly subsided.

About halfway through his speech, Obama stopped to address a heckler who continually shouted during his speech and held up a book, which Obama asked him to pass forward so he could read it.

“Sir, I’m here to speak to these folks,” Obama said. “You can hold your own rally. You’re being rude.”

Obama went on to address oil consumption and drilling. He said the U.S. has produced more oil right now than at any point in the last eight years, and said the number of operating oil rigs has quadrupled to a record high.

Drilling is not the problem, Obama said.

“There are probably a few spots where we’re not drilling, it’s true,” Obama said. “I’m not drilling in the South Lawn. We’re not drilling next to the Washington Monument. We’re not drilling in Ohio Stadium.”

However, Obama said America uses 20 percent of the world’s oil, but only has 2 percent of the world’s reserves.

Even if the U.S. drilled every square inch of the country, it would still rely on other countries for oil, Obama said.

“We shouldn’t have to pay more at the pump every time there’s instability in the Middle East, which is the main reason gas prices are going up right now,” Obama said. “We should not be held hostage to events on the other side of the world. This is America. We control our own destiny. We forge our own future. And I will not accept an energy strategy that traps us in the past.”

Obama called his energy strategy an “all-of-the-above” strategy, saying he will develop and invest oil and gas safely, but also wind and solar power, biofuels, next-generation nuclear reactors, and vehicles and homes that are more energy efficient.

He said by the middle of the next decade, cars will average 55 miles per gallon, which will save the average family $8,000 at the pump over the life of a car.

“And we’ll do it by harnessing the same type of American ingenuity and imagination that’s on display right here at Ohio State,” Obama said.

At OSU and across the U.S., Obama said.

“I am not going to cede the wind and solar and advanced battery industries to countries like China and Germany that are making those investments,” Obama said. “I want those technologies developed and manufactured here in Ohio, here in the Midwest, here in America.”

Before delivering his speech at the RPAC, Obama appeared at the Center for Automotive Research’s shop on Kinnear Road. The team houses the Buckeye Bullet, an electric vehicle that holds multiple speeds records and has traveled north of 300 mph.

The Buckeye Bullet team is now attempting to surpass speeds of 400 mph, Obama said.

“I don’t know who’s going to need to go that fast,” Obama said, “but it is a testament to the ingenuity here at Ohio State and what is essential to American leadership when it comes to energy – our brain power.”

Undergraduate Student Government President Nick Messenger said OSU will provide many of the minds needed to implement Obama’s energy initiatives.

“It’s students at Ohio State, regardless of their political belief, who are engineering students, who are environmental engineering students, who are focusing on environmental policy, who are going to lead the way for the next generation of really achieving this goal of getting off foreign oil and looking for clean solutions,” Messenger said.

Vijay Gadepally, president of the Council of Graduate Students and a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, opened for the president.

Gadepally said “it was difficult” opening for a good speaker like Obama, but also said it was “a lot of fun.” He said he got to meet the president.

He also said he agreed with the president that the U.S. needs to continue exploring alternative sources for energy, such as wind and solar power.

“I think the current trends and the amount of energy we’re using today, we need to look for brand new ways of utilizing resources that we already have existing,” Gadepally said.

Others were not as supportive of Obama’s plan.

A group of Ron Paul supporters congregated outside of RPAC, holding up signs. Paul has been the U.S. Representative for Texas’s 14th Congressional District since 1997. He ran for president in 1988 as a Libertarian and in 2008 as a Republican. He is also running this year.

John Thomas, 46, of Columbus, and Patrick Raymond, also 46 and from Columbus, said the U.S. is not at a point to need to explore energy alternatives.

“It’s awful,” Thomas said of Obama’s energy plan. “Our dependence on foreign oil – I think enough studies have been done – we have enough energy resources, from what I understand, to last us 250 years. So us being preemptive in wars – to be after other countries’ resources – it costs American lives, it’s cost lives overseas. It’s just totally unnecessary.”

Other students had a more positive reaction to the president.

“I thought it was awesome,” said Zach Jeffers, a first-year in political science. “It’s been consistent with the rest of the speeches throughout the country so far. I think he’s got a good message. He’s got the stuff behind him – he’s proven his point.  He’s not just saying stuff that’s a bunch of hoopla.”

Ryan Crell, a first-year in electrical computer engineering, also said he liked Obama’s speech.

“I thought it was inspiring for his election year,” he said. “It’s an election year so he’s trying to get votes. And I really like the idea of sustainable energy and all the new wind and solar power.”

Representatives from OSU College Republicans and College Democrats, as well as the Ohio Republican Party and Ohio Governor John Kasich, did not immediately return requests for comment.

Obama called politicians against sustainable energy “charter members of the Flat Earth Society,” referencing those who once believed the Earth was flat. He said “there will always be cynics and naysayers who just want to keep on doing the same things the same way that we’ve always done them.”

“Then we wouldn’t have a black President, but we do!” one audience member said in response.

After failing to advance past the round of 16 during its two previous postseason runs, No. 2-seed OSU defeated No. 6-seed Cincinnati, 81-66, Thursday to advance to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament.

Thursday’s East Region semifinal game at TD Garden in Boston was a tale of two halves as OSU (30-7) took a 12-point lead into halftime against Cincinnati (26-11). But the Bearcats went on a 21-6 run to open the second half and take the lead. OSU didn’t panic though and managed to restore its lead, and pull away for an 81-66 victory.

UC was led by junior guard Chasmere Wright’s 18 points, but it wasn’t enough. The OSU sophomore forward tandem of Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger combined for 49 points. Thomas scored 26 points while Sullinger collected a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

“Well, obviously, it was a great college basketball game,” OSU coach Thad Matta said after his team’s triumph. “We were able to put together a run there in the first half. Give Cincinnati credit — they came out and stung us to start the second half and we had to take some timeouts there to kind of refocus what we were doing on the defensive end.

“I thought we did a pretty decent job for the most part, especially when we were dialed in. But great, great win for us tonight.”

OSU advances to face No. 1-seed Syracuse Saturday. The Orange outlasted No. 4-seeded Wisconsin in the first game of the East Region doubleheader Thursday, 64-63.

Early in the OSU-UC game, it appeared OSU would easily advance to face Syracuse.

UC coach Mick Cronin used his first timeout of the game at the 12:11 mark of the first half as his Bearcats had fallen behind Matta’s Buckeyes, 15-9. Thomas was already pacing the Buckeyes with eight points by that time.

The bounces went to OSU in the first half — a shot by Thomas was blocked, but fell to Sullinger, who caught the ball in mid-air and laid it in to put the Buckeyes up, 21-15, with 8:40 to play. OSU also had a 13-6 rebounding edge against Cincinnati.

The final three minutes told the tale of UC’s play in the first half.

Cronin and the Bearcats were forced into another timeout after back-to-back 3-pointers by Thomas extended OSU’s lead to 11 at 33-22.

UC committed a turnover that led to a lay-in by freshman guard Shannon Scott immediately after the timeout.

After an offensive rebound, the Bearcats attempted to hold the ball for the last shot of the half, but a pass into the low post was fumbled by UC sophomore forward Justin Jackson and rolled out of bounds for a turnover.

OSU eventually took a 37-25 lead into the locker room after a half in which it shot at a 45 percent clip, hitting 14-of-31 attempts. Thomas was 8-of-12 from the field and dumped 20 points on Cincinnati before the break.

OSU appeared to be well on its way to advancing to play Syracuse, and UC wasn’t doing much to stop it. The Bearcats shot 38 percent and turned the ball over nine times.

Thomas helped OSU’s cause by finishing the half with a game-high 20 points. After the win, Thomas said he thought he played well against UC’s zone defense.

“I was really good… flashing and kicking it down to (Sullinger) and just getting in the open area and just knocking down shots,” Thomas said, “and that’s what got me going.”

The second half was a different story, though, as the Bearcats used a 21-6 run to cut their deficit to a single point at 41-39 by the first media timeout, and eventually take the lead.

UC senior center Yancy Gates, who finished the night with seven points, tied the game at 41 by the 15-minute mark, and the Bearcats grabbed a 49-45 lead three minutes later.

Senior guard William Buford answered with his first bucket of the game — a 3-pointer — immediately after UC went up by four points.

Sullinger said that Matta told the team during half that UC would come at them. Sullinger also said the team went into “cool guy mode” and let its guard down.

“Cincinnati is just the type of team that does not give up,” Sullinger said. “I mean, we just came out and decided to be cool guys, and they came out and they stung us, and then we got ourselves back into another basketball game.”

The battle for Ohio was raging, but not for long, as OSU had a run of its own for the Bearcats.

A bucket by sophomore guard Aaron Craft restored OSU’s lead at 53-52 at the midway point of the half, and a put-back by sophomore forward Lenzelle Smith, Jr., after a UC turnover capped a 7-0 streak that the Buckeyes back up by three points.

Smith, who finished the game with 15 points, then added a 3-pointer to make the score 58-53. As OSU came back on defense, Craft motioned to the OSU supporters for noise, and they responded.

OSU was back up by 12 with 5:21 to play. The Buckeyes then held their double-digit lead with fewer than with two minutes to play, and though many Syracuse fans had already left the arena, supporters of all teams began to head for the exits after Craft put his team up, 72-59.

Craft finished the game with 11 points.

Meanwhile, UC had a lid on its basket and missed multiple baskets down the stretch to help OSU put the game out of reach.

The Buckeyes began to remove players from the game with just more than a minute to play, and dribbled-out the clock down the stretch.

Cronin said he was proud of his team’s effort after the game, but rued the 18 turnovers it committed by game’s end.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t take care of the basketball,” Cronin said. “We gave ourselves no chance to win. They’re hard enough to guard, but with 18 turnovers, we just gave ourselves no chance.”

Sullinger said that if feels good to be in the Elite Eight, “but we still have one more game on our schedule.”

“We have to focus on (the Syracuse game,” Sullinger said. “Hopefully, the train doesn’t stop here.”

Saturday’s game against Syracuse at TD Garden in Boston is set for a 7:05 p.m. tip.

Marquette (27-8) shot a season-low 30.8 percent from the field. Its previous low was 32.2 percent against Vanderbilt on Dec. 29.

Coach Buzz Williams was gracious in defeat, giving credit to the Gators (26-10) for a solid performance on both ends of the floor.

“I have the most respect for coach (Billy) Donovan and for his staff and their players were outstanding,” Williams said. “I thought they beat us straight up from start to finish.”

The loss ended the Marquette careers of guard Darius Johnson-Odom and forward Jae Crowder, who finished with 14 and 15 points, respectively.

The seniors were a combined 10-of-30 from the field and Crowder attributed that shooting performance to him having an off night.

“I just think I didn’t shoot the ball well,” Crowder said. “I tried to impact the game in a different way on defense somewhat.

Junior guard Junior Cadougan picked up his third foul with 4:49 left in the first half and played just 21 minutes.

Williams didn’t attribute his being out with foul trouble as a reason for the team’s struggle in the final moments of the first half and first six minutes of the second half after Cadougan picked up his fourth foul just one minute into the second half.

“I think we struggled being in rhythm throughout most of the game,” Williams said. “This was our 35th game and it was the only game we didn’t get to the bonus in the first half.

“It wasn’t just the second half, but it was the first half as well and it’s a rhythm that’s established not just offensively but defensively as well.”

The first half included six ties and seven lead changes, with Marquette owning a 28-27 lead after a 3-pointer by freshman guard Todd Mayo with 4:14 left.

That was the last Golden Eagle field goal of the first half, however, as Florida closed with a 9-2 run to lead 36-30 at halftime. Marquette didn’t score for the final 3:53 of the first half.

Freshman guard Bradley Beal lead all scorers in the first half with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. The Gators were relatively quiet from distance in the first half, however, converting on just 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) attempts.

Florida entered the game shooting 38.3 percent from the field from distance.

The Golden Eagles did themselves no favors by shooting just 31.4 percent from the field, compared to 43.3 percent for Florida.

Junior forward Erik Murphy’s three with 15:15 left gave Florida a nine point lead. The basket was Murphy’s first make in eight tries. The basket sparked an 8-0 run, capped by a Murphy layup with 13:24 left.

Marquette responded with a 6-0 run to cut Florida’s lead to eight at 48-40, but could not come up with a basket when it needed it the most.

Erving Walker hit a cold-blooded step-back three with 2:07 left to give Florida a 61-52 lead. Marquette would not get closer than six points the rest of the way.

Beal lead all scorers with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and also had six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals, numbers that impressed Williams.

“In a lot of ways, I think Bradley Beal is their swing vote, because he’s so multi-versatile and talented and can guard multiple guys,” Williams said. “I mean he missed two shots, that’s a heckuva line. Really good.”

But against a Syracuse Orange team that had battled its way past a bevvy of distractions all season long, the Badgers just didn’t have enough. With four players scoring in double figures, top-seeded Syracuse (34-2) rode a balanced offensive attack to a 64-63 victory over No. 4 seeded Wisconsin (26-10) in the East Regional semifinals. The Badgers led by as many as six points and overcame multiple Orange runs to take a one-point lead late in the second half.

Ultimately, Wisconsin just couldn’t manufacture enough offense to compensate for Syracuse’s potent attack, led by sophomore forward C.J. Fair with a team-high 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Scoop Jardine added 14 points and four assists, while sophomore guard Dion Waiters added 13 points and junior guard Brandon Triche scored 11.

For the Badgers, senior point guard Jordan Taylor and junior forward/center Jared Berggren each had 17 points. No other Wisconsin player scored in double digits, though sophomore guard added nine points on 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range.

According to sources, Smart denied an Illinois offer Wednesday that would have paid him in the range of $2.5 million per year. Money was not the main factor in Smart’s decision, as he turned down multiple attempts from Thomas to land Smart in Champaign, the sources said.

“I am very grateful for the support and belief in the coaching staff and basketball program that comes from the very top of our university’s leadership … as well as our phenomenal fans,” Smart said in a press release. “There are great things to accomplish at VCU and I’m looking forward to building on the successes of our program and university.”

According to multiple reports, Smart was Thomas’ first choice to replace Weber after firing him on March 9. The 34-year-old Smart has accumulated an 84-27 overall record in three seasons with the Rams, including a run to the Final Four in 2010-11 season when VCU became just the third team ever to make it to the national semifinals as a No. 11 seed.

The Oregon, Wisc., native earned $1.285 million last season, leading the Rams to a program-best 29-7 record and their second-straight NCAA tournament appearance as a double-digit seed. VCU upset No. 5-seed Wichita State to advance to the Round of 32 last week before falling to Indiana for the right to play in the Sweet 16.

According to sources, Thomas will most likely continue his pursuit of African-American candidates. This comes after two members of the Board of Trustees voted against the hire of Illinois head football coach Tim Beckman at its January meeting, citing race as the reason. Illinois has never had a minority head men’s basketball coach, and the hiring of Smart, an African-American, would have changed that.

Thomas met with the trustees behind closed doors last week to discuss contract provisions of the new men’s head basketball coach. Board chairman Christopher Kennedy told reporters that diversity was a point of discussion during that meeting.

The idea that State could make it to the Final Four is not farfetched. There is history, albeit slim, of 11 seeds that have made it to the Final Four since the tournament switched to a 64-plus team tournament.

As we all know, State was the last team selected to the NCAA tournament, but was not the last team in. Instead, State received an 11th seed, which many Wolfpack fans thought was a little high considering teams State defeated during the season were ranked lower. But, considering the history of the NCAA tournament since 1979, the 11th seed may be a blessing.

Let’s all be honest. We knew the Pack would not be ranked lower than an 8 seed.  But an 11th seed now seems perfect. There have only been four years where there was a team ranked higher than an 8 seed in the Final Four. Three out of those four years, the “Cinderella” team in the Final Four was an 11 seed. Those teams were LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006 and VCU in 2011.

In 1986, 11th seed LSU defeated 6th seeded Purdue by 7 in the first round, 3rd seeded Memphis State by a mere basket in the second round, and beat the 2nd seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by 6 in the Sweet Sixteen.

Going into the Elite Eight, LSU faced a No. 1 seeded Kentucky team that was heavily favored over the lowly Tigers. Kentucky had swept the Tigers during the SEC regular season and beat them again in the SEC tournament.

The Tigers pulled off their biggest upset of the year, beating Kentucky by 2 to advance to the Final Four, where they lost to Louisville, who would go on to win the national championship game. In the same year, 6th seeded N.C. State lost to the No. 1 seed Kansas in the Elite Eight.

In 2006, George Mason, also the 11th seed, faced 6th seed Michigan State in the first round. George Mason defeated the Spartans by 10, setting up a matchup between the Patriots and 3rd seed UNC Tarheels. The Patriots again pulled off the upset, stunning UNC by a final score of 65-60.

In the Sweet Sixteen, George Mason faced an underrated Wichita State team but jumped out to an early lead. George Mason proved victorious again by a score of 63-55 setting them up against 1st seeded UCONN. UCONN was regarded as one of the favorites to win the national championship all year long, setting George Mason as the underdog for the fourth-straight game.

The Patriots pulled off their biggest upset of the season, defeating UCONN by 2 in overtime. George Mason lost in the Final Four to Florida, who won the 2006 national championship. N.C. State also made the tournament as a 10 seed and lost to 2nd seed Texas in the round of 32.

Just last year, 11 seeded VCU made a spectacular run to the Final Four, sparked by cohesive team play and strategic coaching. VCU blew its first two opponents out of the water, winning each game by 18 points — first against 6th seeded Georgetown, then against 3rd seeded Purdue.

VCU then beat 10th seeded Florida State by one point, 72-71, in the Sweet Sixteen to face the 1st seeded Kansas Jayhawks. VCU continued its winning ways, defeating Kansas by 10 to advance to the Final Four. Last year marked the first time in tournament history that a 1 or 2 seed did not make the Final Four.  VCU lost to Butler by eight, 62-70.

The Pack seeks to become the fourth team to make the Final Four as an 11 seed, but will have to beat Kansas and the winner of the UNC/Ohio game. If State and Carolina both advance, this will set up the fourth game of the year between the two teams.

Just like the 1986 LSU Tigers, could the Pack defeat a 6 seed, a 3 seed, and then defeat a 1 seed that swept them during the regular season as well as the conference tournament? Will the fourth time be the charm? First thing’s first. The Pack will have to play another hard fought game against the Kansas Jayhawks, Friday night at 10:17 pm.

Not everyone agrees. Michael Prell’s 2011 book “Underdogma” posits that people irrationally favor underdogs while demonizing favorites. He presents numerous case studies to argue that we should resist our human instinct to succumb to “underdogma,” even when it comes to sports. That also means you should have no qualms about rooting for perennial overdogs like the New York Yankees, the Miami Heat, or the Green Bay Packers. But is rooting for the little guy really such a bad thing?

Well, maybe, at least if you put money on the line. If you’re smart, a majority of your brackets should favor top seeds to last deep into the tournament—these teams are overdogs for a reason. Those who fill out their brackets strictly based on seeding usually finish near the top. This “strategy” may not yield much satisfaction, and it is certainly anathema to devout fans, but nobody can argue with the results.

“You picked three No. 1 seeds to go to the Final Four? Pshhhhhh.” We’ve all been on the receiving end of comments like this—I know I have. Yet seeding, for all intents and purposes, actually tells us more or less who is going to win. The numbers speak for themselves: A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 or No. 12 seed, no team seeded below No. 8 has ever won the tournament, and No. 1 seeds make the Sweet 16 over 92 percent of the time.

These numbers don’t surprise most of us, but we still love picking upsets. Pundits spend more time speculating which teams are potential Cinderella stories than considering who will actually win the tournament. Sure, sometimes we pick underdogs because we genuinely think they are underrated and are the true favorites, but in most cases we choose long shots to satiate our craving to see David defeat Goliath. Even if underdogma isn’t reflected in our brackets, we still love when the upsets occur. I didn’t pick Lehigh to beat Duke, but, like most people, I was happy to see the Blue Devils collapse.

For all the heartbreak and headaches, I love being a Columbia sports fan, and I think underdogma is partially responsible. We attend a college whose athletics teams are at times mocked by students, faculty, newspapers, and even our own marching band. Since we are expected to lose, at least when it comes to sports like football, winning is extra sweet. Watching our humble teams, comprised of student-athletes not on athletic scholarships, compete against much larger sports-oriented schools, is enough to make anyone an underdogmist.

Take, for example, our basketball team’s nationally televised season-opener against fourth-ranked UConn. We were clear underdogs entering the contest—UConn was bigger, faster, and more skilled. They even had home-court advantage. The Lions lost 70-57, but they kept pace with the reigning NCAA champs. Since experts predicted much wider margins, we underdogmists commended the Light Blue for its heart, hustle, and resilience.

Ivy League students should be the biggest proponents of underdogs because we truly understand what it means for a sports team to be at a disadvantage. While it is simplistic to support a team just because it is expected to lose, supporting the underdog should have a special place in our hearts. We should also embrace underdogma for the excitement these matchups yield. Three underdogs—Ohio (No. 13), N.C. State (No. 11), and Xavier (No. 10)—will compete in the Sweet 16 over the next two days for a spot in the Elite Eight. Let the Madness continue.

Not even a year transpired between Athletics Director Debbie Yow hiring Mark Gottfried as N.C. State’s 19th head basketball coach and Georgetown’s Jason Clark missing a three-point heave at the buzzer to make a Wolfpack trip to the Sweet 16 official.

Somewhere in between, State came together and shocked even its most ardent supporters.

“I bet nobody in the world thought we’d be here right now,” junior forward Richard Howell said.  “I just want to prove a lot of people wrong by keeping on going.”

After pulling off upsets of No. 6-seeded San Diego State and 3-seeded Georgetown, the Pack has earned a ticket to St. Louis, Mo. to face Purdue/Kansas under the bright lights of the Edward Jones Dome – home of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. NCSU had to hold off a ferocious rally from the Hoyas in the final minute, as an 11-point lead evaporated down the stretch.

Sophomore point guard Lorenzo Brown made several key plays in the final minute, including a pair of vital free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining, but all he could do was rejoice in the 66-63 triumph after Georgetown’s last attempt went begging. Clark could only mutter two sentences when asked about the miss.

“I feel like I had a shot,” Clark said. “But it was off.”

Much has changed in the past 348 days since Brown saw his new coach take over. Perhaps the biggest change is success — Gottfried is the first Pack coach in program history to deliver a Sweet 16 appearance in his first year.

“I’m extremely proud of our team and these young guys,” Gottfried said. “They’ve grown up a lot this year. I think today, when you look how were were down early and came back and took the lead, just shows how tough-minded they have become. It makes you very proud, as a coach.”

C.J. Williams, Scott Wood and C.J. Leslie led State against the Hoyas with 14 points a piece. For the senior Williams, getting an opportunity to bounce back after a disappointing 15-16 season is indeed a sweet feeling.

“I told C.J. [Williams], when we had like three minutes left, this is not his last game,” Brown said. “He said he knows, he’s ready to make some big shots, get some rebounds. He just played his heart out today.”

Prior to dominating the offensive glass and defeating the Hoyas, State battled the Aztecs of San Diego State two days earlier. With four Pack players in double digits, Howell led his team with 22 points en route to a 79-65 victory inside of Nationwide Arena. Although Howell made more of an impact in Sunday’s game apart from scoring — the Marietta, Ga. native had 10 rebounds against Georgetown — his performance against San Diego State caught everyone’s attention.

“I wanted to win, I didn’t want this to be my last game,” Howell said. “I felt free in the first half; I felt like I could do anything because I didn’t have any fouls. Things changed in the second half, but I didn’t want to lose focus just because I was in foul trouble.”

One part of the transition from an April 5 press conference introducing Gottfried and advancing to the Sweet 16 was Howell’s transformation. The big man who lost 30 pounds during the offseason has impressed his head coach.

“He made himself much more agile and quicker, and I think he’s done really well in our offense this year,” Gottfried said. “He’s typically smaller from a height position than everybody he plays against, he’s always going against taller guys. He’s played pretty good this year. [Friday] was probably his best half offensively this year.”

Complementing State’s size, athleticism and basketball IQ, Aztec head coach Steve Fisher had high praise for the way Howell and his teammates competed against his team.

“It’s one thing to be big. It’s another thing to be good. They’re big and good,” Fisher said. “Today was more about what North Carolina State did than what we didn’t do.”

The game ended with boos from the Aztec fans after the SDSU defense left an open lane to senior guard C.J. Williams, who took advantage of the lenience and closed the scoring with a powerful one-handed dunk with 13.1 seconds left.

The Pack would close out the competition with a 14-point victory leading up to Sunday’s victorious battle versus Georgetown. Joining the Pack in St. Louis will be the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks, who face off Sunday night in Omaha, Neb.

When asked about the time that has elapsed since the Wolfpack’s basketball glory days, Gottfried made his intentions clear.

“We always talk about how we have such great history at State,” Gottfried said. “But it’s time to build some new history.”

Florida made sure it didn’t go down as part of Norfolk State’s fairy tale Sunday, throttling the Spartans and ending all hopes of a magical run. Instead, it’s the Gators (25-10) who will travel to Phoenix on Thursday for a matchup with No. 3 seed Marquette in the program’s seventh, and second straight, berth in the Sweet 16 after winning 84-50 Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

They did it by pounding on the Spartans (26-10) early, going on a 25-0 run over 6:28 after NSU established a 6-4 lead four minutes in. Florida made 9 of 11 from the field during the span, while also holding Norfolk State to 0-of-10 shooting and forcing four turnovers.

“I haven’t ever been a part of anything like that,” guard Kenny Boynton said. “We did a great job at getting stops and converting on the offensive end, and that showed the level of focus we had out there.”

Afterward, freshman Brad Beal talked about the importance of establishing an early lead and eliminating any notion that Norfolk State could hang with Florida.

“Once we went on the 25-0 run, they kind of shutdown from there on,” he said. “We knew they were capable of making threes, and we didn’t want them to keep the game close and get back into the game. We did a great job of putting the pedal to the metal and knocking down shots and playing good defense.”

Coming into the game, much of the talk was about NSU’s advantage in length, with each starter listed at 6-foot-5 or taller. But it was UF that dominated the boards, and in turn, dominated the game.

Florida outrebounded Norfolk State 27-13 in the first half, helping it to get out in transition and score points in a hurry while also wearing down a team that had to grind it out for all 40 minutes Friday. The Gators, on the other hand, were able to rest key starters down the stretch of their blowout win against Virginia, which helped contribute to the team’s largest rebounding margin of the season Sunday, a plus-17 effort (48-31).

“That’s our focus of having your body in play and boxing out and going after the ball,” said Beal, who finished with 14 points and nine boards.

Junior Kenny Boynton led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting after scoring just 10 points combined in Florida’s past two games.

His biggest contribution may have come on the glass, as the 6-foot-2 guard pulled down a career-high eight rebounds, one of three Gators to reach that mark Sunday.

“I’ve never seen him rebound like that before,” center Patric Young said. “His rebounding probably got him a little fired up. Going in there and just tearing one down one time, he sees how it feels to be a big man and go in there and rip one down.”

Young finished with just six points and four boards, playing 26 minutes. But his defense on Norfolk State center Kyle O’Quinn helped hold the Spartans big man to just four points and three boards one game after he exploded for 26 and 14 against Missouri.

Young said Florida wanted no part of helping Norfolk State continue its Cinderella story.

“We came into this game with a mindset knowing that everyone was going to be cheering for the Cinderella team. Everyone is all about that: the underdog story,” he said. “Everyone wants to see how far they can go — the George Masons, the VCUs, the teams like that.

“We don’t want to be a part of that team’s run. We’ve just got to go out from the gate and let them know that we’re not here to play around.”

But both Young and reserve guard Mike Rosario, who contributed 12 points and two key offensive rebounds off the bench, said the Gators will not be satisfied with a trip to the Sweet 16.

“We want more and want to keep going as far as we can,” Rosario said.

For the immediate future, more means No. 3 seed Marquette, which will be waiting for Florida in Phoenix in the West regional semifinals after beating No. 6 seed Murray State on Saturday.

“It feels like we haven’t really accomplished anything yet. We’d like to go further,” Young said. “We’re here to win. We’re here to cut down nets. We’re here to not just make it to the tournament.

“We’re coming here to finish it strong, the best way we can, hopefully all the way to the end with a championship.”

The loss brings an early end to a season in which Georgetown, picked to finish tenth in the Big East conference and far from the tournament field, was nationally ranked for most of the year and earned a No. 3-seed in the NCAA tournament.

“This team, in spite of whatever downs we’ve had and losses like today, has been a really special group that I think has represented themselves, represented our institution, represented their families, represented each other, very well,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been as proud to be associated with a group of men, with a team, as much as I am with this team this year.”

It was a roller-coaster of a game, and one that looked to be over well before the buzzer, when N.C. State took a seven point lead with 1:11 remaining in the game. But junior forward Hollis Thompson resuscitated the Hoyas by hitting a long three with two defenders in his face to cut the deficit to four.

After the Wolfpack missed a free throw, senior center Henry Sims got a quick layup for his first points of the game. N.C. State sophomore point guard Lorenzo Brown then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Sims knocked down two free throws to cut the lead to one.

Junior forward Scott Wood split a pair of free throws after being fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass, and the Hoyas grabbed the rebound. Suddenly, Georgetown looked like it could walk away with the comeback.

But it wasn’t to be. Out of the timeout, the Hoyas got the ball down to Sims in the post, but the senior elected not to force up a shot. Sims kicked the ball out to freshman forward Otto Porter, who drove left and missed a contested midrange jumper.

“[Porter] was open, ended up getting a decent shot. The ball just didn’t go in,” Thompson III said.

Brown grabbed the rebound and Sims fouled out of the game in order to send him to the line. Brown hit both shots and Clark quickly drove coast-to-coast for a quick layup, but NC State still had the ball and two-point lead.

Brown was fouled again, but this time, he gave the Hoyas one last glimmer of hope. The point guard missed his second free throw, and the Hoyas had four seconds to attempt a three for the tie. Clark drove down the sideline, appeared to get a good look at the basket, but the shot was a too strong and sailed over the hoop.

“I felt like it had a chance, but it didn’t,” Clark said.

Despite the wild final minute of the game, Georgetown’s true opportunity to survive came midway through the second half. N.C. State took an 11-point lead at the 14:20 mark and looked to be in control, outscoring the Hoyas, 30-9, in a 10-minute run that spanned both halves.

Then, Thompson took control. The Los Angeles native hit two free throws and two three-pointers, and had a block, an assist and a dunk in a seven-minute span that cut the Wolfpack lead to just three. Thompson finished with a game-high 23 points, five rebounds and three assists, despite a slow start that saw him go 0-of-3 with two turnovers.

But with Clark and Sims cold and on the bench with foul trouble, respectively, and Thompson the new focus of the NC State defense, the younger Hoyas had to shoulder more of the offensive load. Sophomore guard Markel Starks, Porter and freshman forward Greg Whittington all missed rushed three-pointers, allowing the Wolfpack to extend their lead to seven before the final minute.

“We had the right guys taking the shots, they just didn’t go in as much as we would like,” Thompson III said.

A 25-15 Georgetown lead at the 5:17 mark of the first half became a 30-27 lead for the Wolfpack by the end of the half. The run was capped by a steal and transition dunk by sophomore forward C.J. Leslie, one of three NC State players with 14 points. The Hoyas committed five turnovers in the span.

“When you turn the ball over against a team that’s good in transition, that opens up a lot of baskets for them,” Clark said.

It was a particularly stinging loss for Clark and Sims, who combined to shoot just 4-of-14 for 14 points, grab six rebounds and commit four turnovers in their final game wearing the Blue and Gray. Despite the poor last shot, Porter played another solid game, notching nine points, eight rebounds and four steals.

For now, it’s another stinging loss for a successful Georgetown squad. N.C. State had played tournament teams Vanderbilt, Indiana, Syracuse, Duke, Florida State and North Carolina during the regular season and had lost to all of them. They are now 2-0 in the NCAA tournament against higher seeds.

The Hoyas played good defense overall, holding the Wolfpack to 37 percent shooting for the game, but the defensive effort was undone by three-point attempts and poor rebounding. N.C. State shot 47 percent from beyond the arc and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds that resulted in 15 points.

“I thought for the most part our defense was pretty good,” Thompson III said. “They were just throwing it up and going and getting it, and getting second and third shots.”

For now, Georgetown is left to reflect its overall season, one filled with tremendous victories but even closer losses — by four points to Kansas in Maui, by three at Syracuse in overtime, by two in double-overtime to Cincinnati in the Big East tournament and now a three-point loss to NC State in Columbus. All were tough losses for a team that that proved everyone wrong yet never bragged about it.

Thompson III said all week that seeding and rank mean nothing in March, which is true. But that won’t do much to heal the Georgetown faithful, who have hungered for a return to the Final Four since 2007. The Blue and Gray finished 24-9 on the season. Clark ends his career having started 99 straight games and departs the Hilltop as one of Georgetown’s all-time leading scorers, with 1,342 career points.

The conventional thought is to hold the ball for the last shot. Maybe Indiana could call a timeout, draw up a play and get an open look.

Will Sheehey didn’t want any part of that.

After sophomore guard Victor Oladipo drove the lane and couldn’t convert a layup in traffic, the loose ball fell into Sheehey’s hands with 14 seconds to play. Without hesitation, a wide opened Sheehey rose, fired and knocked down his trademark midrange jumper to put IU ahead for good.

“Once I caught it, I realized I was open and I don’t think we’re going to get a better shot than that with 12 seconds left,” Sheehey said. “If I would’ve pulled it out, then we would’ve set up some play and maybe go into overtime.”

Sheehey’s game-winning jumper gave No. 4 IU (27-8) the 63-61 victory against No. 12 Virginia Commonwealth (29-7) to advance to the program’s first Sweet 16 in 10 years.

“For him to hit that shot, it just proves we’re here to stay,” IU junior forward Derek Elston said. “No matter what happens during a game, we can find a way to overcome it and that’s exactly what happened.”

In the 39 minutes and 46 seconds before Sheehey’s dagger, IU played right into VCU’s hands.

VCU, who came into Saturday night’s showdown ranked No. 1 in the country in steals, forced IU to turn the ball over a season-high 22 times.

“It’s hard to believe we came out with a win,” Elston said. “Nothing but smiles right now.”

But IU didn’t have anything to smile about until the end of the first half. The Hoosiers trailed the Rams 42-33 after a 9-0 VCU run.

As he had done in big moments before, junior forward Christian Watford rose to the occasion. Watford knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to get the Hoosiers back in the game.

“Christian Watford with the four threes he hit, I think it was three in the first half and then one early in the second half, those were daggers,” Smart said. “We were playing really good defense and we were there, just not there enough. And he stepped up.”

Despite Watford’s efforts, the Hoosiers still trailed as the clock and their postseason aspirations faded fast. Elston said all they needed was that one push to get them over the hump.

“We knew the entire time that once we started getting the fans into it, once we started getting a little momentum, anything could happen,” Elston said. “When you get these guys all hyped up, it’s hard to stop.”

VCU couldn’t stop the Hoosiers from overcoming the two-possession deficit with one minute and 31 seconds to play.

VCU couldn’t stop Oladipo from driving the lane and converting a three-point play to tie the game.

VCU couldn’t stop Sheehey from getting a wide open look that gave IU the lead.

But Sheehey’s quick trigger on the go-ahead jumper meant that VCU would have one more chance to tie or even win. When VCU sophomore guard Rob Brandenberg’s three-point attempt bounced off the rim, a frenzied IU squad stormed the Rose Garden floor.

The realization that IU was heading to the Sweet 16 culminated into one moment that Elston said was anything but expected.

“No one – no one – would’ve thought in the beginning of the season that we would make it to the Sweet 16,” Elston said.

But that’s exactly what lies ahead for IU. The Hoosiers will get the highly-anticipated rematch against No. 1 overall seed Kentucky next Friday night at the Georgia Dome.

Sheehey’s shot might not be remembered like Watford’s game-winner that dethroned No. 1 Kentucky. IU fans didn’t storm the court and players didn’t stand on the scorer’s table in celebration.

But was that still a pretty big shot for Sheehey and the Hoosiers?

“I don’t think there’s a question about that,” Sheehey said.

“I’m proud, really proud of the entire team, but what I like is they competed,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “They played smart. They knew what we had to take away from Iowa State and they did it.”

Iowa State scored the first bucket of the game, but the Cats scored seven straight points to force a timeout for the Cyclones.

With UK holding a 9-4 lead, the Cyclones strung together two more baskets to close the gap to 11-8, and Iowa State sophomore forward Royce White was fouled on the play to close the deficit to two.

White had been the Cyclones’ leader in scoring for the game until fouling out late in the second half. He recorded 23 points and nine rebounds.

“When he wasn’t backing down, we tried to use our strength in our legs and force him out,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “He likes to catch the ball on the mid-post instead of backing all the way down and face up and try to beat you off the dribble.”

A 3-pointer and long 2-pointer by senior guard Darius Miller gave the Cats an 18-11 lead immediately followed by another three by freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer to extend UK’s lead to 10 points. A jumper by freshman forward Marquis Teague finished off a 10-0 run for the Cats.

Teague scored a career-high 24 points along with seven assists and four rebounds.

“I felt more like myself tonight,” Teague said. “I was more comfortable out there. Things were just going good for me tonight.”

Teague continued with two minutes left in the half to dunk, shoot a mid-range jumper and score a layup on a fast break to give UK a 36-26 lead with 59 seconds to play.

The Cats ended the half leading 38-27 after two free throws from Davis.

The Cats were scoreless in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the second half while the Cyclones went on a 7-0 run to shorten the lead 38-34.

“We knew they were gonna make a run,” Davis said. “That’s what all great teams do, so we got in the huddle. Coach Cal told us we’ll be fine.”

The two squads battled the next two possessions, with a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Doron Lamb and a layup and-one from Iowa State’s White.

The Cyclones then scored back-to-back baskets to tie the score at 42 with 15:59 to play, but UK answered with a 6-0 run to lead 48-42 with 14:25 left.

Another Miller 3-pointer gave the Cats a 53-44 advantage with 12:38 to play and brought UK fans to a roar.

“He played great,” Teague said. “He made great rebounds when we needed them, he knocked down big shots for us that we needed. He just played with a killer mentality tonight.”

After one technical foul for each team, Teague managed to sink another 3-pointer to propel the Cats to a 64-46 lead with 9:46 in the game.

UK shot 6-for-7 from 3-point range to gain a comfortable lead late in the half and led by 20 with 7:11 to play at 72-52.

“You take your hat off to them,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “They hit tough shots. Hit shots with the shot clock running down.”

The Cats then easily cruised to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, leading by as many as 24 points.

UK will have a rematch with Indiana, its first loss of the season back in December, on Friday.

The Cats are looking at it not as an opportunity to advance to the next round and to see how the two teams have improved throughout the course of the season.

“We talked about how we could get a chance to play them again, but we weren’t really worried about it,” Teague said. “We focused on the games we already knew we had to play. We want to take it one game at a time.”

The Buckeyes (29-7) will play in a third consecutive Sweet 16 after defeating No. 7-seed Gonzaga, 73-66, in a third-round NCAA Tournament East Region game Saturday at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

The OSU sophomore tandem of guard Aaron Craft and forward Deshaun Thomas pulled the Buckeyes out of a first-half rut and scored 17 and 18 points, respectively. It was sophomore big man Jared Sullinger, who finished the game with 18 points, that put the game away in the closing moments.

Sullinger helped sink Gonzaga after the Bulldogs fought back to tie the game, 61-61, with fewer than four minutes to play. Sullinger dumped six points on the Bulldogs in the final minute of play, including a lay-in against Gonzaga’s 7-foot senior center, Robert Sacre.

Senior guard William Buford and sophomore guard Lenzelle Smith Jr., combined for five free-throws to help put the game on ice and advance the Buckeyes.

OSU will play the winner of No. 6-seed Cincinnati and No. 3-seed Florida State in Boston, Mass., in the Sweet 16. The Bearcats, one of four teams from the state of Ohio to advance to the tournament’s third round, is scheduled to tip their game against the Seminoles Sunday at 9:40 p.m., in Nashville, Tenn.

In the early moments, OSU’s scoring came via the 3-point shot, with Sullinger hitting each of his first attempts while Buford nailed his first. Craft hit another 3-pointer to help OSU tie the game, 12-12.

OSU fell behind in a back-and-forth affair and trailed Gonzaga, 24-20, 10:12 into the game. The Bulldogs put their size to use and owned the paint, collecting four offensive rebounds to that point and outscoring OSU, 14-2.

Sacre laid a basket home as he was fouled with 7:58 to play. He converted the free-throw to make the score 27-20.

Through his first 35 games of the season, Craft averaged nine points per game. Against Gonzaga, Craft matched his average by the 3:36 mark in the first half. The nine points were only good enough keep the Buckeyes’ deficit at 32-27.

A partisan CONSOL Energy Center crowd was backing the Buckeyes, and a surge late in the half by Thomas brought those fans to life.

Thomas did all of his first-half scoring in the final 5:01 of the half, but the 12 points he deposited helped OSU claim a 37-37 tie. A lay-in by Craft in the closing seconds put the finishing touch on a 10-3 run that put the Buckeyes up, 39-37, heading into the locker room.

Both teams shot a high percentage from the field by halftime — OSU shot 62 percent on 16-of-26 from the field while Gonzaga connected on 14-of-31 attempts for 45 percent.

Craft continued his offensive surge with six points before the first media timeout in the second half. Sullinger stole an in-bound pass and heaved the ball up-court to Craft who finished at the hoop and was fouled.  Craft hit the free-throw attempt to follow, putting OSU up, 46-39, with fewer than 16 minutes to play.

Sullinger was assessed his third foul with 14:43 to play, and was exchanged by Matta for junior forward Evan Ravenel. OSU’s offense was rolling with Sullinger, though.

Thomas deposited a 3-pointer just before Sullinger’s exit from the game, and Buford hit one immediately after to put OSU up, 52-42. The lead was the biggest of the game for the Buckeyes to that point, and Gonzaga coach Mark Few called a timeout as fans donning Scarlet and Gray rose to their feet.

To that point, OSU had shot 47 percent from 3-point territory, connecting on 8-of-17 attempts.

Then OSU went cold.

Gonzaga cut into the lead by the 7:24 mark of the second half, and trailed, 58-54. After moving to within four points, Sacre, who finished with eight points, came back on defense and called Bulldogs fans to make noise.

Minutes later, Gonzaga pulled to within two points and forced Matta to call a timeout with 5:48 to play. By the 3:58 mark, the game was tied.

Neutral fans in the crowd turned and began to support the mid-major program from Spokane, Wash., which posted 25 wins in the regular season and West Coast Conference Tournament. The Bulldogs also dismantled West Virginia on Thursday, 77-54, to advance to the third round.

Then OSU turned to Sullinger to ice the game.

Sullinger’s six points, plus the free-throws from Buford, Thomas and Smith, finally put the game out of reach and sent the Buckeyes through to the next round of the tournament.

Start time for OSU’s Thursday game in Boston has not been announced.

Third-seeded Georgetown ended an NCAA tournament losing streak dating back to 2008 by beating No. 14 seed Belmont Friday afternoon.

“I will be misleading if I were to say it was not a relief,” Head Coach John Thompson III said.

During their 74-59 thumping of the Bruins, the Hoyas showed intensity, focus, and above all, motivation. Seniors Jason Clark and Henry Sims led the way, each earning their first NCAA tournament victory wearing the Blue and Gray.

“I think it was definitely a sense of urgency, not just for me but the whole team,” Clark said. “We’ve known what we’ve done in the past. So it was a big thing for us to get this win today.”

Sims had a more forward-looking mindset on the matter.

“We didn’t come here just for one game,” he said.

Clark was unstoppable all day, shooting 9-of-12 from the field to lead all scorers with 21 points and adding four rebounds and two steals. The senior was particularly deadly in the first half, hitting a trio of three-pointers that kept Belmont at arm’s length.

“I thought Clark making those three 3’s in the first half — and they weren’t real easy ones — were really big for them,” Belmont Head Coach Rick Byrd said.

Sims, meanwhile, carried over his tenacious play from the Big East tournament, tallying 14 points, five assists and four rebounds despite spending a large chunk of the first half on the bench after picking up two fouls in the first 10 minutes. The Hoya attack was rounded out by freshman forward Otto Porter, who added 16 points and eight rebounds.

“I got those two fouls early. It’s hard to get down when you know you’ve got teammates who can pick up the slack,” Sims said.

That’s not to say the Bruins didn’t make things interesting. The Hoyas were able to stretch their lead to 13 points early in the second half, but Belmont used a 9-2 run in less than three minutes to cut the deficit to just six points.

The crowd — mostly a combination of North Carolina State and Belmont fans — ignited at the comeback and Nationwide Arena began to rock. But after sophomore guard Markel Starks missed a three-pointer, it was Clark who grabbed the rebound and got the second-chance layup, cooling the crowd and leading Georgetown on a 13-4 run, capped by a fastbreak dunk by freshman forward Greg Whittington, that extended the lead to 15.

“There was no let-up or looking past anyone. We’re not going to do that,” Thompson III said.

The run was helped by Georgetown’s outstanding defense. The Hoyas easily outsized the Bruins — as they do most teams — but the size of the Hoya defenders in their aggressive zone defense made it almost impossible for Belmont’s ball handlers to even see open shooters.

“I didn’t expect as much zone defense,” Byrd said. “But it’s a great [zone]. [Georgetown is] well taught and they’ve got great athletes. If Syracuse is better than that, I’m glad we didn’t play Syracuse.”

Georgetown’s offense had a historic day as well, as the Hoyas shot 61.2 percent for the game, the highest percentage Belmont has allowed all season. North Carolina State fans were hoping their No. 11-seeded Wolfpack — which upset No.6-seeded San Diego State just a half hour earlier — would play the lower-seeded Bruins rather than the bigger and more impressive Hoyas.

Georgetown’s struggles since its 2007 Final Four run are well-documented. As a No. 2 seed in 2008, the Hoyas were upset by tenth-seeded Davidson in the second round. Following a first-round exit to Baylor in 2009 NIT, No. 3 seed Georgetown was stunned by No. 14 seed Ohio in 2010. Last year, No. 6 seed Georgetown was pulverized by No. 11 seed and eventual Final Four squad VCU. It’s worth noting, though, that the 2007 Final Four run started with a win over Belmont.

As impressive as the win was, Thompson III still had some criticisms.

“Let’s back up for a second. I mean, they hit 10 [three-pointers]. They got off 27. We didn’t want them to get that many off,” Thompson III said. “So let’s not act like our defense was impenetrable today. I mean, we had a good defensive effort, but it’s got to be a lot better if we want to have success on Sunday.”

Tipoff is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. EST at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

“He’s our toughest kid,” said K-State head coach Frank Martin on Samuel’s absence. “He gives us the ability to make some shots against that zone. It gives us a frontline guy who’s a fifth year senior to deal with the adjustments that you got to make during the course of the game. Not being able to have that practice or play a game, it’s hard to make adjustments to change what you then have to do with the new players that you have.”
It was a game of runs in the first half as K-State (22-11, 10-8 Big 12) started off hot from the field. The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead on the Orange just minutes into the game.

Syracuse (33-2, 17-1 Big East) answered with a 19-2 run of their own to take a 21-11 lead behind the offensive attack of senior forward Kris Joseph and sophomore guard Dion Waiters.

The No. 8 seeded Wildcats clawed their way back into the game as they closed out the half on a 13-4 run as junior guard Rodney McGruder and junior forward Jordan Henriquez carried K-State offensively in the first half. McGruder had seven points in the half and Henriquez finished the half with six points, respectively.

The Orange took a 25-24 lead into halftime.

“I was extremely pleased at halftime,” said Martin. “We went through about a four minute stretch where we turned it over, I want to say, either four or five times that led to straight baskets for them. If we eliminate those four or five turnovers, I think they made three in there, it was nine points without going through our defense, which is what they do. They’re real good at it. If we can eliminate that, make a couple more free throws, we actually maybe got a five or six point lead at halftime.”

Shortly into the second half, Henriquez scored inside to give K-State the lead but Syracuse would quickly respond behind senior guard Scoop Jardine’s offensive explosion. After scoring just two points in the first half, Jardine put in 14 points in the second half.

“Scoop, as a fifth year senior, made the plays,” said Martin on Jardine’s performance against the Wildcats. “He made difficult shots, made the right pass, and played extremely aggressive in the second half.”

K-State couldn’t match Syracuse’s offense in the second half and failed to develop offense against Syracuse’s patented 2-3 zone defense.

“We just didn’t hit the shots we normally hit,” said McGruder on the Wildcats inability to executed against the zone. “We had open looks. We just didn’t take advantage of the open looks that we had. We missed a lot of shots, a lot of open shots, too.”
After Syracuse extended the lead on the Wildcats, K-State was able to cut the lead to five, but that’s as close at they would get.

Syracuse went on a 16-5 run to stretch the lead to 16 points and would coast to a 75-59 victory, eliminating the Wildcats from post-season play and ending K-State’s season.

Syracuse was led by Waiters who finished with 18 points. Jardine added 16 points and junior forward James Southerland tallied 15 points.

McGruder led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points.

Henriquez continued to perform at a high level as the 7-footer collected another double-double with 14 points and 17 rebounds, 11 of the rebounds coming on the offensive end of the floor.

“We knew that we’d be able to do it at the beginning of the season,” said Henriquez on the Wildcat’s season. “Some people had us finishing last in the Big Twelve or something like that but we don’t play attention to that. We just work. I’m sure that no one expected us to be there and especially give Syracuse this type of fight.”

Junior forward Richard Howell led the team with 22 points while sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown finished close behind, with 17 points and nine rebounds. Two other starters, sophomore forward C.J. Leslie and junior forward Scott Wood, also threw down double digits, scoring 15 and 10, respectively.

“Around the basket, we were able to get a lot done,” first year head coach Mark Gottfried said. “I thought Richard [Howell] in the first half was just sensational. It wasn’t just him, it was a lot of guys; but Richard set the tone for us offensively.”

The first half began with back-and-forth success for both teams, responding to one another with four tied scores and six lead changes. Howell could not be stopped in the paint while he threw down 15 points, successfully draining 7 of 9 attempts in the first half alone. Brown continued his score-supporting ways, supplying 5 assists on top of his 8 points.

“I wanted to win, I didn’t want this to be my last game,” Howell said. “I felt free in the first half; I felt like I could do anything because I didn’t have any fouls. Things changed in the second half, but I didn’t want to lose focus just because I was in foul trouble.”

The Aztecs defended Wood from the three with great effect, causing him to miss all attempts from beyond the arch in the first half and only completing one of three attempts on goal while in the paint. The San Diego State defense held NCSU back to 16.7 percent from range, forcing the Wolfpack to pound the ball inside. The Pack went into the half with a 4-point, 33-29 lead.

“I think we’ve been through a lot this year,” Brown said. “We’ve played a lot of great teams. The confidence comes from playing teams like Syracuse and UNC. Coming down the stretch, we just tried to focus on making big shots.”

State began the second half and did not look back, as the Aztecs trailed on their coattails for the remainder of the competition. San Diego State had no response for Howell, who continued his streak of unanswerable jump shots. Howell only showed difficulty, as usual, with fouling, drawing his fourth foul with just under ten minutes remaining in the game.

“I’m really proud of Richard [Howell],” Gottfried said. “On April 4, he weighed 275 pounds at 6’7″ and then he got himself down to the 240′s. He made himself much more agile and quicker, and I think he’s done really well in our offense this year. He’s typically smaller from a height position than everybody he plays against, he’s always going against taller guys. He’s played pretty good this year. Today was probably his best half offensively this year.”

The Aztecs began to struggle at the end of the half, giving up free balls on offense after missing shots and foregoing offensive rebounds. San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher called in a full-court press in the dying minutes, but to no avail, with his team having little luck in forcing turnovers.

“It’s one thing to be big. It’s another thing to be good. They’re big and good,” Fisher said. “Today was more about what North Carolina State did than what we didn’t do.”

Leslie continued his characteristic foul-drawing drives at the goal and drained 5 of 9 free-throw attempts in the second half. The game ended with boos from the Aztec fans after the SDSU defense left an open lane to senior guard C.J. Williams, who took advantage of the lenience and closed the scoring with a powerful one-handed dunk with 13.1 seconds left. The Pack would close out the competition with a 14-point, 79-65, victory.

State will face the winner between Georgetown and Belmont in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

The game began with Vermont and UNC neck and neck. With 11:27 remaining in the first period, sophomore Clancy Rugg hit a three making the score 11-9 with UNC on top. In response to the three, first-year James Michael McAdoo shook the building with a dunk at 9:23. UNC began pushing the score in their favor as the clock ticked away and the half finished 37-25.

The second period was a different story as the Tar Heels earned a sizeable lead over the twenty-minute half. Senior Tyler Zeller came off the court with 3:50 remaining having earned 17 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 blocks. McAdoo followed behind Zeller as a top performer with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist. UNC topped Vermont 77-58.

Unable to stop star guard D.J. Cooper and the tenacious Bobcats, the favored four-seed Michigan basketball team found itself under attack all night and couldn’t muster a comeback, falling 65-60.

The Wolverines, who looked so tough and so resilient all season long en route to claiming a share of their first Big Ten title since 1986, were unable to fight back when it mattered most on their sport’s biggest stage. They exit the NCAA Tournament without winning a game, the first time the team has come up empty-handed in Michigan coach John Beilein’s three trips to the Big Dance.

Michigan (13-5 Big Ten, 24-10 overall) trailed most of the game after No. 13 seed Ohio (27-7) seized control early. Cooper paced the Bobcat attack all night, displaying his toughness with several tough finishes in the first half and even more of them in the second, with the Wolverines desperately trying to fight back.

Unable to muster offense for himself or his team almost the entire game, freshman point guard Trey Burke finally began taking the ball to the basket with authority late in the second half. With his team trailing 57-48 with 8:35 remaining in the game, Burke went on a 12-6 run, hitting a 3-pointer with 4:12 left to cut the score to 63-60.

That remained the deficit for the heart-stopping next few minutes. The Wolverines and Bobcats traded physical blows and missed shots in the game’s final stretch, with Michigan failing to capitalize on several opportunities to tie the game.

At the 2:25 mark, the Wolverines had four straight possession that saw them miss a 3-pointer — Burke missing three of them — and grab the ensuing rebound. But on the final one, sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz lost control of the ball and turned it over to Ohio with seven seconds left in the game.

Smotrycz was forced to foul. The two made free throws by Bobcat guard Walter Offutt that followed ended the game and the season for Michigan, a campaign that saw so much progress for the program but will be remembered for this final heartbreak.

Missouri became one of only five schools in NCAA Tournament history to fall to a No. 15 seed Friday, suffering an 86-84 loss to Norfolk State that ended the Tigers’ season.

The atmosphere in the Missouri locker room after the game told the entire story. Agony, anguish, despair and disbelief all resonated from the heart-broken Tigers.

“Damn,” a bewildered Kim English said, head down with his hands covering his face.

‘Damn’ says it all. The Tigers had accomplished the second most wins and the second Big 12 Conference Tournament championship in school history. And it’s all for naught.

Norfolk State had never knocked off a ranked team. The Spartans had never been in the NCAA Tournament before, much less won a tournament game.

But behind 52 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 54 percent shooting overall, the Norfolk State Spartans pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.

“There will only be one team to cut down the nets at the end of the day and we would have loved to have a chance to continue through the tournament,” Haith said.

Down two with 2.9 seconds left, senior guard Matt Pressey inbounded the ball to brother Phil Pressey. The sophomore point guard lowered his shoulder, heading up the court with Norfolk State guard Chris McEachin backpedaling to stay in front of him. With 1.3 seconds remaining, Pressey pulled up, creating distance between himself and McEachin.

Pressey rose up and released a three-point attempt from NBA range. The shot sailed through the air. With it were the collective hopes of Tiger faithful everywhere. The shot was online, but it was just a bit too far, bouncing off the back of the rim and out, bouncing the Tigers from the tournament and ending the Tigers’ magical season.

As hysteria ensued from the Norfolk State bench and the pro-Norfolk State crowd, Phil Pressey buried his head in his jersey and collapsed onto the floor.

“I got a great look,” he said. “Nobody shoots 100 percent from the field so you’re going to miss some, unfortunately that’s one I missed.”

Prior to Norfolk State’s stunning upset, a No. 15 seed had defeated a No. 2 just four times since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. No. 15 seeds are now 5-105 all-time.

Norfolk State (26-9) entered the NCAA Tournament winners of seven straight, after defeating Bethune-Cookman for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

The Spartans continued their hot streak early, jumping out to a 15-7 lead six minutes in.

The Tigers were just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Marcus Denmon kept the Tigers in the game early, accounting for 11 of the team’s first 13 points. The team found its groove offensively as the half went on, finishing the half shooting 48 percent from the field on 7-of-16 shooting from long range.

Missouri lagged defensively, surrendering open looks and second and third chances to Norfolk State, who also shot 48 percent from the field in the half to have the score nodded up at 38 apiece at the break.

The Tigers took their offense to another level in the second half, shooting 58 percent. But Friday was Norfolk State’s day, as the Spartans shot a remarkable 61.5 percent from the field in the second half and a mind-boggling 83 percent from deep.

With 34 seconds left, as the game and the two teams’ fates hanging in the balance, center Kyle O’Quinn tipped in an air ball from the corner while drawing contact. O’Quinn buried the free throw, putting the Spartans up three.

After Demon missed an ill-advised three, O’Quinn was back at the charity stripe, where he made one of two. With it being a two-possession game with so little time remaining, the Tigers appeared doomed.

But a clutch three-pointer by Phil Pressey pulled the Tigers back within one with 11 seconds remaining. Norfolk State guard Rodney McCauley made the first free throw, but missed the second. O’Quinn out jumped senior Ricardo Ratliffe, tipping the ball in the air twice before coming down with it as the same time as Phil Pressey, prompting a jump ball call.

The possession arrow pointed Norfolk State’s way. O’Quinn missed both free throws. Haith called a timeout to set up the final play with 2.9 seconds left. The rest is history.

The versatile O’Quinn finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season. As a team, the Tigers were outrebounded 37-25.

“They killed us on the glass,” Denmon said. “A lot of them were off us playing good defense initially, and then they would get a loose ball, an air ball or a three that rebounded long.”

Seemingly every time Missouri would hit a big bucket, Norfolk State responded. The magnitude of the moment is supposed to overwhelm small schools like Norfolk State. But this No. 15 seed was fearless.

“We thought we had a good chance with match-up, we thought we were bigger at all positions and we thought we had a good chance of winning this game if we played together,” McEachin said.

Missouri junior guard Michael Dixon led the Tigers with 22 points. Denmon and Pressey chipped in 20 apiece and Ratliffe totaled 14.

English struggled, scoring just two points in the contest.

“They made shots and we didn’t execute,” English said. “We weren’t the same team that we have been all year today. That hurts more than anything.”

“Western, you knew, wouldn’t go away,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “They make plays down the stretch to try to win.”

The Cats started with an early eight point lead in the first two minutes of the game after a goaltending call on sophomore forward Terrence Jones and an early foul on freshman forward Marquis Teague.

Teague created shots for teammates throughout the game and ended with 12 points and four assists.

The Hiltoppers didn’t score their first bucket until the 16:46 mark in the first half.

But WKU’s persistence allowed them to climb into the game, contesting shots and going on a 7-0 run over less than two minutes to close the lead 10-7 with 14:58 to play in the half.

WKU later took the lead 12-10 at 14:29 after a three by TJ Price, but UK quickly took it back after back-to-back buckets by Jones. He recorded his third double-double in four games with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

“We try to get (Jones) going early,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “We know if Terrence plays well, it’s gonna be a big day for us.”

Davis recorded 16 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks.

UK was able to pull away after the Cats strung together an 8-0 run to lead at 18-12. From then, WKU had trouble handling the Cats’ defense, as it held WKU to 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the half, and UK coasted to a comfortable 45-26 lead at halftime.

Sophomore guard Doron Lamb came out of his shooting slump from the SEC tournament, and helped lead scoring at the half with 14 points while Jones recorded 15. Lamb ended the game with 16 points.

“We’ve got confidence in (Lamb),” Davis said. “He’s making shots now, so he’s making us a better team. We’re very confident in just kicking it out to him knowing he’s gonna make it.”

The Cats opened up the second half with a 5-0 run and WKU missed its first five shots to trail 50-26 with 17:15 to play.

UK did no slowing down as the time wound down. The Cats shot 55 percent from the field on the game and the Cats led by as many as 32 points at 74-42 with 8:42 left.

But that deficit wouldn’t keep the Hilltoppers away. WKU 16-1 run cut the lead 81-66 with a minute left.

“We kind of slowed down and let off the gas,” Teague said. “It’s hard to keep playing like that when you’re up so many points, but we can’t do that. We’ve gotta finish the game out.”

Now, UK looks to advance to the next round of the tournament, and while fans are pulling for a rematch with Connecticut, the Cats have no preference between UCONN and Iowa State.

“I just want to advance,” Jones said. “Whoever wins, I’m just trying to get ready for them and hopefully we have a game plan.”

Head coach Frank Martin spoke about what McGruder has meant for this team all season.

“When you see guys like him have the success he’s having individually, it makes you feel real proud, because that’s what it’s about. You put in the time, you commit yourself to the people that believe in you, and you go get better,” Martin said of McGruder. “As a coach and a teammate, there’s a reason we’re playing on Saturday, because of his personality, his work ethic, his toughness.”

The Wildcats (22-10) will take on the Syracuse Orangemen on Saturday, the No. 1 seed of the East Region who defeated the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs 72-65.

McGruder paced the Wildcats in scoring throughout the game, with 18 points in the first half and 12 points in the second half.

Freshman guard Angel Rodriguez made up for a handful of turnovers and ill-advised shots throughout the game with some crucial plays near the end of the game.

“It’s not like I trust him with 10 minutes to go and not trust him with two minutes to go,” Martin said of Rodriguez. “I’ve got tremendous faith in him. That’s why you saw him out there making the plays he made towards the end of the game.”

As the Wildcats held onto a 3-point lead with 2:12 remaining in the game, Rodriguez made an acrobatic up-and-under layup to stop a Golden Eagle 4-0 run. Including that bucket, Rodriguez scored 7 of the Wildcats’ final 8 points to finish the game with 13 points and four assists.

“I think all that happened because coach is always talking to us and telling us, especially in this tournament, teams are going to make runs. His words are, ‘we got to stop the bleeding,’” Rodriguez said. “They made a great run. But we were fortunate enough to take the punch and stop the bleeding by making another run, getting stops, executing on offense.”

Junior forward Jordan Henriquez continued to play as consistently as anyone on the Wildcat roster, scoring 15 points. Henriquez scored 9 of his 15 points from the free-throw line on 10 attempts.

The 6-foot-11-inch forward made his presence felt down low with nine rebounds and six blocks, providing some security to his teammates.

“I would say it’s great to have a guy like that back there because you know if you slip on defense or you get back cut, he has your back. There’s nothing better than that,” McGruder said of Henriquez.

The Wildcats’ frontcourt was too much for the Golden Eagles to handle as K-State outscored Southern Miss 32-18 in the paint.

The Wildcats not only got to the free-throw line twice as many times as the Golden Eagles, 34 to 17, but they also made a higher percentage, 76.5 to 70.6.

Sophomore guard Will Spradling and senior forward Jamar Samuels both struggled to contribute, combining for 3 points on 1-of-4 shooting, all from Spradling, as Samuels, whose lone point came on a free throw, failed to attempt a field goal.

Down 3 at the half, the Golden Eagles rallied behind senior guard Darnell Dodson’s 14 points, all in the second half, and sophomore guard Neil Watson’s 16 points. They claimed a 45-40 lead off a 3-point basket from Dodson only to see the Wildcats climb back and take a 51-47 lead after a McGruder 3-point basket with 9:04 to play.

The Golden Eagles bench provided 35 points, all coming from Dodson, Watson and sophomore guard Cedric Jenkins, compared to the Wildcats’ 9, but that was not enough to overcome their 36.7 percent shooting on the game.

The Golden Eagles, in their first tournament appearance in 21 years, tied the game at 1 point 51-51, but a 7-0 run from the Wildcats gave K-State the breathing room it needed to come away victorious.

Junior guard LaShay Page rounded out the Golden Eagles’ scoring with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, but that was not efficient enough to give head coach Larry Eustachy a successful return to the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats’ next opponent, the Orangemen, will be without a key frontcourt member in Fab Melo, who was declared ineligible before the NCAA tournament began. The Orangemen struggled against the Bulldogs early, down 34-30 in the first half, and failed to put away the Bulldogs until late in the game.

Martin said it is great to be in this tournament on a regular basis.

“You know, we’ve elevated our program to one of the better programs in the country. We have been in this thing consistently. I don’t know how many people can claim they’ve been in it four out of five years,” Martin said. “We have to do what I’ve told the team: we got to be on a bunch of one-game winning streaks.”

K-State will take on the Orangemen in Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., on March 17.

The first-half collapse by the Mountaineers proved too much as they fell 77-54 to Gonzaga to abruptly end their season.

“They out-toughed us tonight,” said senior guard Truck Bryant, in his final game as a Mountaineer. “That’s just a bad way to end your career. We’ve never been out-toughed like that before.”

The Mountaineer offense went stagnant, and the defense was nowhere to be found in the first half.

Gonzaga used a 16-1 first-half run to build a comfortable 27-10 lead with 7:53 remaining in the first half.

The Mountaineers didn’t have a field goal for more than eight minutes in the first half.

Freshman Gary Browne hit a 3-pointer at the 14:31 mark. Their next field goal was a Kevin Jones field goal at the 6:16 mark to make it 27-12 in favor of the Bulldogs.

“This is the worst defensive team I’ve ever had in 30 years,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “We don’t give help. We don’t get loose balls. We just don’t do the things that we’ve been doing for years and years.”

Gonzaga took a 40-22 lead in the break. The major difference between the two teams in the first half was shooting. The Bulldogs shot 50 percent, while West Virginia managed to shoot just 23.1 percent.

“We didn’t have time to be down at halftime,” Jones said. “We were already down in the game.”

Gonzaga was 6-of-10 from behind the arc in the first half, which enabled it to jump out ot the lead. The Mountaineers made only one of the ten 3-pointers it took.

“They played great defense,” said senior forward Kevin Jones, also playing in his final game. “They had confidence and they played well together. We weren’t making open shots. It was just a combination of things.”

Gonzaga continued to pour it on in the second half.

The Bulldogs out scored West Virginia 37-32 in the second half, and again used their shooting advantage to get there. The Bulldogs shot the ball better in the second half with 63.9 percent.

West Virginia shot 43.5 percent from the field, but again, was just 2-of-7 from 3-point range.

Gonzaga had four players finish in double-figure scoring.

Robert Sacre and Gary Bell Jr. each had 14 points. Kevin Pangos had 13 points and Elias Harris had 10.

“They just made shots,” Kilicli said, who finished with 10 points. “They had a hell of a game.”

Kilicli said the Achilles heel of this team – not being able to make open shots – was what came back to bite West Virginia against Gonzaga.

“Every team has weaknesses, and this was our weakness all year,” Kilicli said. “We have to make open shots and take what they gave us. That’s what the tournament is about. We deserved to lose.”

The loss also marks the last time seniors Jones and Bryant suited up for the Mountaineers. Jones finished with a 13 points and only four rebounds, while Bryant had 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting from the field.

Browne added 15 points on 10-of-11 from the free throw line.

“They played great defense on me,” Jones said. “There were three guys on me the entire time. That’s better than anyone else has done.

“It’s tough knowing that this is my last game. You just hope for the rest for the younger guys.”

The Lowdown

Iowa State ended the defending national champions’ run in the tournament Thursday night on the strength of performances from the Cyclones’ seniors, Chris Allen and Scott Christopherson, as well as Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-Big 12 forward Royce White. The trio combined for 50 points.

The Cyclones got off to a fast start in their opening-round game, jumping out to a 38-16 lead with 7:03 remaining in the first half. But a pair of fouls for guard Chris Babb — who was responsible for stopping the Huskies’ best player, Jeremy Lamb — landed the junior on the bench.

The result was a 12-0 UConn run and a 42-32 lead for Iowa State at halftime.

In the second stanza, the Cyclones weathered another Husky run — UConn was within six at 58-52 midway through the second half — and closed out the 2011 national champs at the free-throw line.

Iowa State was led statistically by Allen, who had 20 points and three rebounds. He was followed by White, who ended with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Christopherson, who had 15 points on 3-of-3 shooting from 3-point range.

The Cyclones move on to face No. 1 overall seed Kentucky following the Marquette-Murray State game, which tips off at approximately 6:45 p.m. Central time.

The X-factor

Senior guard Chris Allen

Allen, who came into the NCAA tournament with 14 career tournament games played — the most in the field — finished with the scoring lead for the Cyclones at 20 points, as well as grabbing three rebounds and dishing out two assists.

An and-one basket midway through the second half ended a brief push by UConn, which had shrunk the ISU lead to 58-52. Then, late in the game, Allen iced the game from the free-throw line, where the senior went 5-for-5.

By the numbers

6: points scored by UConn guard Jeremy Lamb while being guarded by Chris Babb. The sophomore ended the game with 19 points, but only made one field goal and four free throws while Babb was on the floor.

12: offensive rebounds for the Cyclones, half as many as the Huskies’ total of 24.

15: points for White and Christopherson, who finished first and second on the team in scoring this season, White finishing at 13.1 points per game, Christopherson at 12.5.

15: games Chris Allen has now played in the NCAA tournament, more than anyone in the field

17: rebounding margin in favor of Iowa State. The Cyclones had 41 total rebounds on the night, 29 on the defensive glass to go with the aforementioned 12 on the offensive glass.

20: points for Allen. That tied his career-high in an NCAA tournament game, which he previously achieved in a 2008 matchup with eventual NCAA runner-up Memphis.

48.1: percent the Cyclones shot from the field against the Huskies.

95: percent the Cyclones shot from the free-throw line, going 19-of-20.

Next up for the Cyclones

Iowa State will face off against No. 1 overall seed Kentucky at approximately 6:45 p.m. Central time.

“Syracuse is better than Asheville,” he said. “Tonight, Asheville was better than Syracuse.”

He was right.

A No. 1 seed has never lost to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and it appeared the No. 16-seeded Bulldogs had a chance to be the first in Thursday’s second-round East Region matchup.

That is, had it not been for those calls.

The Bulldogs were called for a questionable lane violation when Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine missed the front end of a one-and-one. Jardine then made both free throws and extended the lead to six points with fewer than two minutes to go in the game.

Game official Ed Corbett said the right call was made.

“It was a clear violation,” Corbett said. “The player released early, before the ball hit the rim. We’ve since watched the replay 20 times and it was the right call.”

Later, when pressing in the backcourt, Syracuse, up three at the time, appeared to throw the ball out of bounds in front of the Bulldogs’ bench with less than a minute to go, but the officials awarded the ball to the Orange.

Corbett said that play was not reviewable.

“No, that’s not reviewable and it is not a play that we would discuss (with one another),” Corbett said. “I’m not going to comment on it any further because it is a judgment call.”

In those situations, refs need to either keep the whistle in their pocket, especially on that lane violation, a violation that often goes uncalled, or keep an extra-attentive eye on bang-bang plays when they occur late in the game.

The majority of the 18,927 in attendance in the CONSOL Energy Center seemingly agreed. Apart from a swath of Orange-clad fans, the crowd was largely on UNC Asheville’s side, and it boisterously voiced its displeasure with those late calls.

As did Biedenbach.

When asked if officiating crews, who remain largely together during the regular season, should be kept together during the NCAA Tournament, Biedenbach made it known he was not pleased.

“They should keep the good ones together,” Biedenbach said.

But that’s how it goes. As the old mantra says, “Don’t put yourself in a position to let the refs decide the game for you.” UNC-Asheville did that, after relinquishing its halftime lead of four, which was as many as seven in the first half.

The Bulldogs largely took advantage of a complacent Orange squad. Without star center Fab Melo, Syracuse struggled to capitalize on its height and athletic advantage over the under-matched Bulldogs.

UNC-Asheville relied a bit on outside shooting, even if leading-scorer Matt Dickey only connected on 1-of-13 field goal attempts, which was a 3-pointer. The Bulldogs tossed up 23 3-point attempts, connecting on nine. Had UNC-Asheville attacked inside a bit more against a Syracuse defensive interior depleted without Melo, it might have seen a few more favorable calls.

As it stands, even if the Bulldogs were the better team Thursday, it doesn’t matter any longer. They’re going home.

It wasn’t a flashy win, but the No. 2-seeded Buckeyes did the job that was required to defeat No. 15-seeded Loyola (MD), 78-59, at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Sophomore guard Deshaun Thomas scored a career-high 31 points on 13-of-22 shooting in a game that started Thursday night and ended early Friday morning to help OSU (28-7) knock the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association champion Greyhounds (24-10) from the tournament.

Thomas added 12 rebounds in the game while sophomore forward Jared Sullinger contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds. Loyola was led by junior forward Erik Etherly’s 16 points.

With the win, OSU advances to face No. 7-seed Gonzaga in a the third-round of the Tournament. Gonzaga bounced No. 10-seed West Virginia, 77-54, on Thursday to advance to the third round.

After the game, OSU coach Thad Matta said that the Buckeyes did uncharacteristic things in the win.

“This tournament is about advancing,” Matta said, “and that’s what we did tonight.”

Sullinger was quick to credit OSU’s survival to Thomas.

“I don’t think we would have won (the game) without (Deshaun Thomas),” Sullinger said. ”

Loyola came out firing and jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Sullinger answered in kind, delivering the Buckeyes’ first six points to give OSU its first lead.

By the 12:28 mark of the first half, the Buckeyes pushed the lead to 17-9. Thomas, who averaged 18 points per game in last weekend’s Big Ten Tournament, continued his offensive productivity with a team-high 14 points in the half.

Loyola got into foul trouble early in the half — OSU was in the bonus just more than 10 minutes into the game. The Buckeyes had ample opportunities to extend their lead from the charity stripe, and a free-throw by senior guard William Buford put his team in front, 33-22, with 6:30 to play.

Buford finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting.

Minutes later, and one play removed from having a shot blocked, a determined Sullinger fought for a score underneath the basket to put the Buckeyes up, 35-22.

OSU led by as much as 15 in the half and took a 42-31 lead into the intermission. OSU shot 34 percent while Loyola used 41 percent shooting to keep its deficit at 11 points.

The Buckeyes extended their lead as the game went deeper into the night.

A CONSOL Energy Center-record crowd of 19,413 attended the second session of NCAA Tournament basketball at the venue, though many fans began to exit the arena as midnight approached.

The Thomas-led OSU squad stuck around to finish the game. Thomas scored nine points in the first eight minutes of the half to give OSU a game-high 19-point lead with 12:35 to play.

“I was just trying to get in the right spots at the right time, run a play, run with place like coach always tells us,” Thomas said. “Then I was just knocking them down. I was just feeling it a bit.”

Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos credited OSU’s sophomore forward after the game.

“Thomas is a great player,” Patsos said. “Enough said.”

Loyola kept OSU from blowing the game wide open, but the Buckeyes’ offensive attack was a well-rounded one — eight players scored in the game.

OSU junior forward Evan Ravenel missed the first of two free-throw attempts with just more than six minutes to play in the game. Ravenel cringed and smiled after the miss — victory was in-hand for coach Thad Matta’s team.

Sullinger, Thomas and Buford were lifted from the game shortly thereafter, but returned with less than three minutes to play as Loyola cut its deficit to 11 points.

Buford hit two 3-pointers as time wound down to put the Buckeyes up by 19. That advantage held as time expired.

Having watched Gonzaga pick West Virginia apart during the second half of that game, Sullinger said OSU needed to play better or risk seeing its tournament run end.

“Honestly, if we come out the way we played today (against Gonzaga)… and play the way we played, we’re definitely going to be packing our bags and going home for sure,” Sullinger said.

Tipoff for OSU and Gonzaga’s third-round game at CONSOL Energy Center Saturday will tip 30 minutes after No. 1 Syracuse and No. 8 Syracuse finish their East Region third-round game.

As if the occasion wasn’t already a memorable one, the coaches of the two teams addressed the media after the game and vented their emotions.

UNC-Asheville (24-10) led Syracuse (32-2) for long stretches of a second-round NCAA Tournament game at CONSOL Energy Center, but lost, 72-65. Several disputed calls in the late stages of the game directly resulted in turnovers or points for the Orange to help sink the Bulldogs.

Syracuse advances to a Saturday third-round match against Kansas State. The No. 8-seed Wildcats defeated No. 9-seed Southern Miss, 70-64, in the first game.

With the backing of many of the 18,927 in attendance, UNC-Asheville took a 34-30 lead into halftime thanks to 50 percent shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The Orange also saw their 16th-seeded opponent knock five 3-pointers down and hit 7-of-7 attempts from the free-throw line.

UNC-Asheville senior guard J.P. Primm finished the second-round matchup with a game-high 18 points.

Syracuse charged back with fewer than 10 minutes to play, and took the lead for good with fewer than six minutes remaining. In the closing moments, the Bulldogs were called for a lane violation after a missed free-throw by Syracuse junior guard Brandon Triche.

In a later play, replay showed that Triche knocked a ball out of bounds near the Bulldogs bench, but the ball was awarded to the Orange.

After time expired, UNC-Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach did not directly comment on the officiating, but hinted at his displeasure with the calls that went against his team.

“I don’t want to comment on officiating,” Biedenbach said. “I think to answer your question best — that big replay machine up on top. You heard the crowd reaction. I liked the crowd tonight. I thought they were great. If you can evaluate the crowd, can you get 18,600 answers for that question?”

About an hour after the game, game official Ed Corbett released a statement about both the lane violation and out of bounds plays in question.

“No, (the out of bounds play is not reviewable,” Corbett said, “and it is not a play that we would discuss (with one another). I’m not going to comment further on that because it is a judgement call.

The (lane violation) was a clear violation. The player released early, before the ball hit the rim. We’ve since watched the replay 20 times and it was the right call.”

Biedenbach also said he contended that UNC-Asheville was the better of the two teams in the game.

“I thought we played better than Syracuse tonight,” he said.

Orange coach Jim Boeheim disagreed and said his team earned the victory.

“Luck had nothing to do with (the win),” Boeheim said.

The Hoosiers only had to wait four days to get their first NCAA tournament win since 2007.

Thanks to a fast-paced game that played right into the hands of Indiana, the No. 4 seed Hoosiers beat No. 13 seed New Mexico State 79-66 at the Rose Garden in Portland.

Any fear of playing on the game’s biggest stage was quickly put to rest as IU (26-8) jumped out to a 14-4 lead less than five minutes into the game, and forced 13 turnovers in the first half.

A seven-point halftime lead reached as many as 21 points in the second half as the Hoosiers cruised into Saturday’s third round match-up with No. 12 seed VCU.

“For a team that had not been in this environment, had not been in this type of arena, I don’t mean the Rose Garden but the NCAA Tournament arena, they handled it very, very well,” Crean said.

Junior guard Jordan Hulls lead all scorers with 22 points including three three-pointers in a 2:13 stretch in the second half.

“I was just getting open looks from my teammates, coming off ball screens,” Hulls said. “I hit the first shot and so then it started feeling a little bit better once it started leaving my hand and I was able to knock down some shots.”

The Hoosiers had four players in double figures with junior Christian Watford, sophomore Will Sheehey and freshman Cody Zeller each adding 14 points.

Heading into Thursday night’s game, IU Coach Tom Crean preached the importance of keeping the Aggies (26-10) off the offensive glass and away from the foul line.

The Aggies shot almost 300 more free throws than anyone else in the Western Athletic Conference this season and finished the year third in the nation in rebounding margin.

NMSU did not get into the bonus in either half and finished the game with just a 22-21 edge in rebounds, six below the Aggies season average.

“I thought we had great verticality in the post,” Crean said of his players staying out of foul trouble. “Our whole thing was attack on offense, have verticality on defense, and block out like crazy.”

In defending the WAC’s leading scorer and rebounder Wendell McKines, the Hoosiers talked on Wednesday how they needed to limit his touches.

The Aggies star had just 10 shot attempts Thursday evening compared to the past 10 games where McKines had attempted at least 15 shots in every contest.

“He said some things in a press conference earlier that were a little questionable, so we took it upon ourselves to make sure he didn’t get those touches,” Sheehey said.

IU’s attention now turns to Saturday as the Hoosiers will look to advance to their first Sweet Sixteen since 2002.

Standing in IU’s way will be the Rams of VCU (29-6), the darlings of last year’s tournament.

The Rams knocked off No. 5 seed Wichita State 62-59 on Thursday evening thanks to a full court press that wrecked havoc for the higher seeded Shockers.

“VCU’s full court pressure is the real deal,” Crean said. “That’s probably not something we see on a nightly basis in the Big Ten. We’ve seen it. But that will be the biggest adjustment we’ll have to make in a short period of time outside of us learning their sets and their concepts and things like that.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—John Jenkins had 27 points to lead fifth-seeded Vanderbilt to a 79-70 defeat of Harvard in the second round of the NCAA tournament Thursday afternoon.

The Commodores (25-10) hit their first seven shots of the second half and opened up an 18-point lead on a fast-break dunk by Jeffery Taylor with under eight minutes to play.

But a 14-3 Harvard run over a three-minute span—capped by a pair of free throws by Crimson co-captain Keith Wright—cut the Vanderbilt advantage to 70-65 with 1:51 left.

The Ivy League champion’s dream season was not to continue, however, as Jenkins hit six free throws in the final minute to help the Commodores avoid their fourth opening-game loss in the tournament in five years.

Sophomore wing Laurent Rivard had a team-high 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting from three for the 12th-seeded Crimson (26-5), which was making its first appearance in the tournament since 1946.

A three by junior Christian Webster gave Harvard a 20-17 lead with 5:28 to go in the first half, but Vanderbilt closed the period on a 16-3 run to head into the locker room with a 10-point advantage.

Vanderbilt moves on to the third round of the East Regional, where it will face No. 4 seed Wisconsin, which routed Montana earlier in the day.

Turnover after turnover led to basket after basket and before you could blink a one-point halftime lead turned into a 15-point deficit, not even halfway into the second half.

Colorado State basketball looked to be in a position to pull off the upset, but Murray State jumped the Rams in the second half and turned a nail-biter into a 58-41 blowout at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.

The Racers ramped up the intensity in the second half, throwing hard defensive pressure at CSU and attacking the basket offensively.

“They were just very physical in the second half,” guard Jesse Carr said. “We didn’t respond to that very well.”

That defensive pressure led to 14 CSU turnovers in the second half, nine of them in the first 10 minutes as the Rams looked like a team that was scared and rattled on the big stage of the NCAA Tournament. Murray State ended up scoring 20 points off of CSU turnovers.

“Yeah,(we were) a little rattled,” Wes Eikmeier said. “It’s hard to pinpoint why that is. You can probably pinpoint it to a couple of different factors.”

The Rams looked like a team unable to cope with the pressure and that may have been part of what caused almost all of the players to perform below expectations.

Of the eight CSU players that saw significant time, only Pierce Hornung and Carr met or exceeded their season averages in scoring.

Eikmeier, the Rams leading scorer on the season, hit only 4-of-12 shot attempts, Greg Smith scored three points while his brother Dwight scored only one. Starters Kaipo Sabas and Dorian Green were both held off the scoreboard.

“Our main focus was to come out and play aggressive, to not allow any easy baskets inside,” Murray State’s Ed Daniel said. “That’s what we did.”

The team stats aren’t any prettier. The Rams scored a season low 41 points, shot a season low field goal percentage (.333), had a low for free throws attempted in a game (9) and tied a low in field goals made (16). CSU also had the most turnovers it had committed in a single game (22).

While the Rams struggled offensively, Murray State took over the paint on the other end of the floor. The Racers entered the game as the fifth-best 3-point shooting team in the nation, but hit only 5-of-17 threes.

Since the threes weren’t falling, Murray State kept going inside, scoring 18 points in the paint after the intermission.

“You look in our locker room and those kids were really disappointed, very frustrated and their coach feels the same way,” CSU coach Tim Miles said. “Nobody wants to go out and perform poorly. Everybody is disappointed when you do.”

The Cougars found themselves down by 19 in the first half, but were able to make defensive adjustments to cut the lead to 6. But the Golden Eagles put the game out of reach with several conversions on free throws down the stretch to win 88-68. Marquette will move on to play Murray State on Saturday.

The major disparity in the game was rebounding. Marquette outrebounded the Cougars 48-32, including 16-8 on the offensive side. Senior forward and Big East player of the year Jae Crowder executed the majority of the damage, scoring 25 points and grabbing 16 rebounds.

“He’s a very versatile player,” BYU senior forward Noah Hartsock said. “He can shoot the ball and get in there and rebound. He’s one of those special players, that when they find them, they just want to keep them as long as they can. He’s a great competitor.”

The Golden Eagles shot 45.5 percent from the floor and 45 percent from beyond the arc, as well as being able to score second-chance points to pad their lead over the Cougars.

“That’s one thing that you see on tape but don’t know until you experience,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said. “We knew this was a really aggressive offensive rebounding team. But our game plan was to try to keep them away from the basket and make them make shots, and they did that as well. When they make nine threes, you’re going to have a hard time beating them. They were terrific tonight.”

The Cougars found themselves down by 15 at the half, but they were able to make a good run by adjusting their defense and playing more physical and getting the ball to junior forward Brandon Davies. But Marquette was able to remain poised to put the game out of reach.

“We knew they were going to come out with a run,” Crowder said. “This team has a lot of heart, just like any other team in the tournament. They don’t want to go home. So we knew it was coming, we just wanted to hold on and stay poised.”

Davies led BYU with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while senior forward Noah Hartsock contributed 15 points after only playing 10 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Junior guard Craig Cusick contributed 12 points off of 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

I was glad to see that we had opportunities to come back and win,” Cusick said. “That’s reflective of our team’s season. I’m proud of all our teammates and coaches. Everyone was believing the whole time that we could come back. Unfortunately, Marquette did a good job with holding that lead that they had.”

The Cougars finish the season 26-9, marking their sixth consecutive tournament appearance and sixth consecutive 25-win season. Hartsock and Charles Abouo, the two seniors, have been part of the last four of those.

“These two seniors, Charles and Noah are special guys,” Rose said. “They’ve been involved in more wins than any player in the history of this school. We will miss them. I will miss them personally. With the challenge of changing leagues and traveling to venues that no one’s played at, it was important to us to get back to the tournament and being able to win a game. It was a special year.”

The season had its lows and its fair share of highs, but the ending was anything but fairytale.

The Rams, for the second time in as many weeks, fumbled away their second half lead falling to Murray State 58-41 on Thursday afternoon, the fewest points for CSU on the season. The loss leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of coaches and players despite and otherwise exceptional season for a program bereft of success.

“Am I frustrated and ticked off? Hell, who wouldn’t be,” CSU coach Tim Miles said of his team’s second half performance. “You stand out there for an hour. That’s no fun.

“But these guys, this group, I’d take anywhere, any time against anybody.”

And he did.

This season opened with questions surrounding how CSU would replace the production of leading scorer Andy Ogide and fellow senior Travis Franklin. The lack of height and depth inside meant the Rams would have to play small ball, relying on their strong core of guards.

CSU was stilled picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West and a second NIT appearance seemed likely.

“A lot of people were looking at us like this was going to be a down year,” junior Wes Eikmeier said. “We proved that we were going to be a good team.”

Miles challenged his team with a tough non-conference schedule with games against Northern Iowa, CU-Boulder and national powerhouse Duke. The Rams limped through the first nine games with a 5-4 record, highlighted by close wins over CU and Manhattan.

But CSU responded, exploding in late December and early January with eight straight wins improving its record to 13-4. The soft mid-season schedule gave the Rams much needed momentum going into conference play, earning a high RPI and strength of schedule.

MW games proved to be the most difficult, as expected, where every good win seemed to get matched by a disappointing loss. However, the one constant was Moby Arena.

For the first time since 1960-61, CSU finished conference play undefeated at home, and lost just one game the entire season at Moby. Big wins at home over three ranked opponents (San Diego State, New Mexico and UNLV) helped propel the Rams to fourth place in the MW and NCAA Tournament contenders with a 19-10 record.

“Hell it (the season) was great,” Miles said. “You can’t get more out of a group of guys…they won 20 games, got to the NCAA, finished top four in the fifth best conference in the country.

“For the first time ever in school history, they beat three ranked teams. As a coach, I just can’t be prouder of a group of guys.”

Sometimes pain is the catalyst for change.

“We had a good season; it’s always unfortunate to end it this way,” guard Dorian Green said. “The guys coming back have to use this loss as motivation for next year.”

Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the 2011-12 season was establishing an atmosphere of winning. With just two seniors leaving the team, plus the addition of a seven-footer and a talented slasher, the Rams look poised to return stronger than ever.

“The special teams pop through (disappointing losses),” Miles said. “This is our first time through this at CSU. I just think that you need to go through this. You need to feel the shame and to bounce back and do it again.

“They’ll live to see a brighter day.”

Minutes later, Kentucky head coach John Calipari jumped out in front of any potential rumors — and over the past few years, there’s been a lot of them, especially concerning the Knicks — and reaffirmed his desire to stay at UK.

“As I’ve said before, I have the greatest job in basketball at any level. Why would I be interested in another job?” Calipari tweeted. “I love being the coach of the commonwealth’s team. To the #BBN& all the recruits that are coming or want to come, I will be at Kentucky.”

About an hour after that, Calipari was asked at an NCAA Tournament press conference if the possible rumors would be a distraction.

“Every job that’s open, including high school and AAU jobs, my name is mentioned,” Calipari said. “So no. I just wanted to say, I have a great job. The best in the profession.”

The Cougars overcame a 25-point deficit to come back and beat the Gaels 78-72, setting the record for the largest comeback victory in NCAA Tournament history. They secured the 14-seed in the West Region of the tournament and will move on to play third-seeded Marquette on Thursday in Louisville, Ky.

Iona started off hot from everywhere on the court, especially from 3-point range , climbing to the largest lead of 25 points in the first half. They shot 58.5 percent from the floor and hit 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, the Cougars struggled early to keep up with the frenetic pace that has become the Gaels’ trademark. They started off just 31 percent from the floor, but were able to finish the half shooting 45.9 percent, ending the half on a 9-0 run that planted the roots for the comeback.

BYU senior forward Noah Hartsock led all scorers with 23 points, 17 of which came in the second half to spark the comeback. Junior forward Brandon Davies contributed a double-double, with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

At the beginning of the second half, the Cougars went on a 17-0 run to pull within one point.

Senior forward Mike Glover and sophomore guard Sean Armand led the way for the Gaels in the first half, scoring 10 points each, while senior guard Scott Machado reached his nation-leading average in assists by halftime with 9 dishes.

However, the Cougars got it together in the last four minutes of the half, finishing on a 9-0 run to close the gap to 55-40 at the break. Junior forward Brandon Davies led all scorers with 12 points and 5 rebounds, while freshman guard Anson Winder added 8 points on a perfect 2-for-2 shooting from 3-point range.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to represent Georgia Tech and be a part of this basketball program,” said Head Coach Brian Gregory. ”There are certain standards that have to be met both on and off the court, and there has to be accountability when those standards aren’t met. I’m disappointed that we have to take this action.”

Rice began the season serving a three-game suspension before averaging 13 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He was then suspended for the last six games of the 2011-12 season. In his three seasons, Rice averaged 9.9 points and 4.8 rebounds.

Use that argument about size that critics have used from the beginning, from before the team went on a stunning 30-4 record capped by last weekend’s Big 12 Conference Tournament championship. You have a fair argument there, no one on this roster cracks 6 feet 10 inches. Only two in this starting rotation are taller than 6 feet 8 inches.

Save for Thomas Robinson, you point out that this is a team that hasn’t seen forces like Anthony Davis or Jared Sullinger. You say that this is a team that cannot match up.

But as you argue that, remember: This is a team that can bolt. It’s shown all year what makes it one of the more enjoyable teams to watch in the country. It’s become a thing of eye candy to watch sophomore Phil Pressey (“I can’t imagine there being a better point guard in the country,” coach Frank Haith said).

Pressey, along with three other guard companions in the starting five, can make this attack dart but, even more importantly, he has shown in the second half of the season that he can slow the tempo and allow senior guards Marcus Denmon and Kim English to fire away.

For all the matchup dilemmas the Tigers have faced this season, they’ve presented their own in the form of junior guard Michael Dixon, probably the most valuable sixth man in the country and arguably one of the most problematic curveballs any team presents to its opponent.

You point out that this is a team with only seven members in its rotation. You say that this is a team that will be running on fumes before long.

You have a fair argument there, after all, this is a roster of humans, not exempt from the laws of physical capacity.

But as you argue that, remember endurance was questioned long, long ago and, well, this team shows no signs of slowing down. Players have provided consistent minutes all year, regardless the circumstances.

Just during this past weekend, Missouri looked dominant even when Denmon dealt with a bothersome ankle and with English wearing a thigh pad over a bruised quad. (“I would’ve played even if they had to amputate my leg,” he said after getting tournament MVP.)

“We have a great training staff,” Haith said. “Pat Beckmann was outstanding. He kept those guys up doing treatment. I think he got very little sleep. But you saw it. Kimmie wasn’t 100 percent. Marcus wasn’t 100 percent. Both those guys played well.”

If you’re persistent, you point out that sheer odds are against a team like this. You say that this is a team destined for doom. Teams like it just don’t go all the way. The makings just aren’t there.

People like you have tried this argument all year. And yes, at times, I have shared your side. But people on your side have only been made foolish.

You are among the many whom have stacked the odds against this team all year, beginning with the preseason projectors to the tournament committee that dubbed it the No. 2 seed in the West region, the eighth seed overall, the first 30-win squad to not be a No. 1.

It’s the time of year where you choose to side with logic.

But as you do that, remember: This team has warned you.

Fortunately, I don’t fit into any of the categories of aforementioned people, but I do follow my fair share of Nevada athletes, just to get their thoughts on random topics and maybe see some craziness — and Saturday, I finally saw a glimpse of it.

After the Wolf Pack men’s basketball team lost in Friday’s second round of the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament, Nevada hoopers tweeted messages saying they were disappointed, but still proud of their season. Senior forward Olek Czyz tweeted, “There is nothing worse than feeling that you (came) up short of your ultimate goal…,” which about summed up the Wolf Pack’s feelings.

But junior guard Malik Story had a different gripe. He tweeted, “The threats I got on my Twitter needs to stop for real I don’t play that.” Junior guard Keith Fuetsch tweeted, “La tech played out of their mind give them credit. But beyond ball, people who threaten players over a game need to get a life.”

Agreed.

I couldn’t believe people were tweeting players, telling them that they lost a bet because of Nevada’s loss. I’m unsure of what other messages Nevada’s ballers got, but even the aforementioned message was way over the line.

To be honest, It took a lot for me not to reply to the perpetrator in question and tell him to go jump on something sharp.

Critiquing athletes over poor choices on the court/field is one thing, but threatening them is utterly despicable.

Simply because athletes are placed in the public spotlight does not open them up to endure unjustified criticisms. It’s a barrier that’s crossed many times in sports and it’s one I hate the most.

The next time someone wants to throw personal attacks and threats at a public figure, do us a favor and don’t.

“They stacked the region,” Calipari said. “The only thing I was happy about – I heard they were trying to get an exemption for the Heat to be the second seed in our bracket, and they weren’t allowed to get that so they couldn’t put them in there too.”

Although the team had found out their placement in the tournament once their plane touched down in Lexington, they still watched much of the selection show at Calipari’s house.

Cal said that he likes his team and that they are ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’re happy we’re not playing on Tuesday (in the play-in round) – I thought they may try to do that. The first game will be hard, the second game will be a war, if we move on from there it will be one after another,” Calipari said. “We play all comers right now. I’ve had some stuff thrown at my teams before. ”

The Cats will open tournament play in Louisville Thursday at 6:50 p.m. (TBS) against either Western Kentucky or Mississippi Valley State.

Those two teams, both 16 seeds, will face off Tuesday in Dayton at 7 p.m (TruTV).

Western Kentucky made a coaching change mid-season and won the Sun Belt conference tournament to earn an NCAA bid despite having a losing record (15-18)

“For those guys and that coach to do what they’ve done is just phenomenal,” Calipari said.

Mississippi Valley State is coached by former-Cat Sean Woods. Woods is a member of the UK “Unforgettables” and has his jersey hanging in the rafters of Rupp Arena. It is also the 20th year anniversary of the fabled UK-Duke Elite Eight game which many still call the greatest college basketball game of all time. Before Christian Laettner hit “the shot” to give Duke the win in that game, Sean Woods hit a leaner in the lane to give the Cats an all-too-temporary lead.

Mississippi Valley State (21-12) had a tremendous run in the conference season, and won the SWAC tournament to gain a NCAA automatic bid

“Great kid – great coach. Done a terrific job. We’re all proud of him,” Calipari said.

The Cats are looking forward to a fresh start and a chance to bounce back from the loss Vanderbilt handed them in the SEC championship game.

“We’re not worried about that loss, we’re moving on to something bigger,” freshman guard Marquis Teague said. “We just missed some shots down the stretch – shots that we usually make. ”

The team said they did not want to lose, but that it is possible the loss may motivate them over the coming weeks.

“We are very competitive people and we are still upset about the loss we had today and aren’t really over it just yet. Hopefully we use it to motivate us,” senior forward Darius Miller said. “I feel like we were going to ready to play either way. We need to make sure we are focused on what we need to do to win a national championship. ”

During the course of the last nine minutes of Sunday’s game, UK shot 0-15.

“Today for the first time in the last four minutes of the game – we didn’t make shots. I’ll be honest, I was stunned. Wide open shots, with no one near anybody. We just missed, and that happens,” Calipari said. “I’d rather it happen now than next weekend or the following weekend. We had our chance, I watched the tape.”

Calipari re-iterated that he felt the Cats have a tough draw.

“Seed matters. Matchups matter,” Calipari said. “There are some that get that path, and there are others that are in foxholes with bazooka shots coming at them.”

“But I enjoy going in with good teams, and this is a good team.”

The 79-61 defeat to Purdue was the 11th double-digit loss of the season, which finished with just four Big Ten victories.

“I have decided to make a change in the basketball program,” NU Athletic Director Tom Osborne said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “I’ve had to do some difficult things in my lifetime and I’d say this is as difficult as any of them. Doc Sadler is a good man, an honorable man and I consider him to be a good friend.”

Sadler spoke to reporters for about five minutes after Osborne finished. He was visibly emotional, having to leave the room for a moment while holding back tears.

“Obviously you’re not looking one of the smarter guys in this business,” Sadler said. “But you’re looking at a guy that … that tried.”

Sadler finished his career at Nebraska with 101-89 record in six seasons. Sadler only once coached the Huskers to a .500 conference record, going 8-8 in the Big 12 in 2009.

In his six seasons at NU, Sadler led the Huskers to four winning seasons and three NIT appearances.

“Six years ago when I came here, I meant what I said,” Sadler said. “And that meant I came here to do a job. This is where I wanted to be. That hadn’t changed until today.”

There was a lot of optimism surround the program with the move to the Big Ten at the beginning of the season. The Huskers added state-of-the-art basketball facilities this year and are prepared to move in to a new downtown arena in 2013.

“I thought personally that this would be Doc’s best team,” Osborne said. “It looked pretty promising at the start of the year.”

But throughout the season, Sadler’s team seemed overmatched in the physical Big Ten. The Huskers ended their season losers of nine of their last 10 games.

Nebraska finished last in the Big Ten in points scored, scoring margin and field goal percentage defense.

“I know the reason I made the decision because there comes a point in every athletic program and every team where you either begin to build to momentum and things begin to look brighter or you begin to lose momentum,” Osborne said. “When you start losing momentum then recruiting gets more and more difficult.”

Sadler’s contract was extended last March to June 30, 2016. NU will owe Sadler approximately $3.4 million for the remainder of his contract.

“It’s going to cost some money, but we felt we had to give Doc every opportunity,” Osborne said. “So we extended his contract and raised the guaranteed money. We thought when you talk about commitment, that’s part of it. I have no regrets about that. Doc has many good qualities. No one wanted Doc to be successful more than I did.”

Osborne praised honesty and positive attitude during the 12-18 season. Sadler said Friday that when we spoke to a small group of reporters Thursday night after the team’s loss to Purdue, he didn’t think he would be fired.

He was informed he was relieved of his coaching duties Friday afternoon by Osborne, a decision Sadler said he didn’t all together agree with, but one he accepted.

“This is a very, very special place and it’s been a great, great place for the Sadlers and it’s one that we will always remember,” Sadler said.

Just one day after Thursday’s loss to Iowa in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, athletic director Mike Thomas called a press conference at 11 a.m. Friday to announce that he has decided to go in a different direction.

“As you can imagine, it’s difficult to make this decision when you’re talking about the quality of person that Bruce Weber is,” Thomas said. “Bruce is everything you should want in a coach, as it relates to how he represents the university, his student athletes, the program.”

Thomas met with Weber Friday morning, allowing him to meet with the assistant coaches and student athletes afterward. Thomas met with them as well and named Jerrance Howard the interim head coach for the immediate future.

If Illinois gets an NIT bid, Thomas said Illinois will accept and Howard would be in charge. Illinois will not accept a bid to a different tournament, such as the College Basketball Invitational.

There is still $3.9 million remaining on Weber’s contract over three years. Thomas said he plans to move quickly in the national search and will likely use a search firm, in large part to ease the burden of conducting two searches at once – women’s basketball head coach Jolette Law was fired last week.

Thomas did not limit the search to those with head coaching experience nor Chicago ties, but is considering those factors.

“The thing that trumps all is someone that has a track record of success and a clean record,” Thomas said. “And integrity is part of their DNA.”

Thomas said he looked at Weber’s total resume, not just the past few months, to make his decision.

Weber’s Illinois career began with success. In his first season, 2003-04, Illinois won the Big Ten title and went to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

In just his second season, the Illini advanced to the Final Four, the first time since the 1988-89 Flying Illini season, and later the national championship game. Illinois went 37-2 that season, led by future NBA All-Star Deron Williams.

Since that season, Illinois has not won a Big Ten title, has won two NCAA tournament games and missed two NCAA tournaments. Illinois had an above-.500 record in eight of his nine seasons.

The Illini finished last season at 17-15 with a 6-12 conference record after starting 15-3, with multiple weeks with a top-25 ranking early on. Since defeating Ohio State on Jan. 5, Illinois went 2-14.

After losing to Purdue at home Feb. 15, Weber was somber and blunt in his postgame press conference. He reflected on his career and the choices he has made at Illinois. Since then, speculation began building as to whether Weber would be fired.

This marked the longest tenure for Weber as head coach, with nine years at Illinois. He finished with a 210-101 overall record and 89-66 in the Big Ten.

Weber will make a statement later Friday afternoon.

Screaming in agony, his right leg useless, Indiana guard Verdell Jones III had one request. Not that wheelchair.

With 5:46 to go in the first half, the senior guard was leading a fast break down the court when Penn State guard Jermaine Marshall stepped up to defend him. Jones stopped at the foul line, and with his left foot planted, rose up with the ball and immediately felt pain.

The ball bounced innocently beside him as Jones held his right knee with his right hand and used his left to support the fall. His face showed
his pain.

Jones helplessly laid down for three years as the opposition walked all over him and the Hoosiers.

This time, though, he couldn’t get up.

“When a guy like that, who does so much for your team, goes down like that, it’s real heartbreaking,” freshman guard Austin Etherington said. “He’s an amazing brother to all of us.”

Alone on the court, Jones curled up in a ball, holding his injured knee until the team trainers arrived to assist him. The crowd — made up mostly of IU fans — watched in silence. A wheelchair was brought out, its empty seat beckoning the fallen senior to finally retire.

Jones sat up, a small sign of life that brought cheers from the crowd.

Etherington and senior forward Kory Barnett rushed to help their fallen brother.

“Once I saw him go down, it wasn’t a question,” Barnett said. “I wanted to go out there and help him and pick him up.”

With one arm draped over Barnett to his right, and the other over Etherington to his left, Jones hobbled off the court, careful to not put pressure on his right side.

The foreboding wheelchair waited for him in the tunnel.

“He didn’t really say anything,” Etherington said of Jones. “He just said he didn’t want to be in the wheelchair. He didn’t want a wheelchair. He wanted to go off the court on his own.”

Maybe Jones wasn’t doing what was best for him. Maybe he was being stubborn. But he was being the man who has gotten him to this point in an embattled college career.

“It’s a sign of toughness,” Etherington said.

As Jones was toughing out what is officially being called a right knee strain, the rest of his “brothers” and their paternal figure were sharing his pain.

“It’s tough,” Barnett said. “Just as a senior, being with him as a roommate for three years, I love the kid. I’ve seen him go through so much. He’s matured so much, and to go down like that in a game like this — we’re just praying for him.”

IU Coach Tom Crean doesn’t cry.

He didn’t after upsetting the No. 1 team in the country, and he didn’t throughout a six-win season.

But following Thursday’s game, in a postgame interview with the Big Ten Network, Crean’s emotions came out.

While talking about being stagnant in the second half during the interview, you could hear the pain starting to creep up into Crean’s throat, as he spoke about Jones and his prognosis.

“It’s not good,” he said.

The IU coach continued at the postgame press conference.

“Just watching him in pain, that’s hard,” Crean said. “It’s like there’s no worse feeling than when your own children are sick or hurt, and it’s really a lot like that when you coach.”

The Hoosiers are wandering into unchartered territory.

Never before in the Crean era have they won a postseason game, and now IU is poised to make a run in the Big Ten Tournament before tackling its first NCAA Tournament berth with Crean at the helm.

And unfortunately, I think this journey will be without a healthy Jones.

No official word has been given on his injury or return beyond that the injury is a sprained right knee — a ligament tear by definition.

But seeing the suffering on Jones’ face and his inability to walk, I think he has played his last game in an Indiana uniform.

The Hoosiers will not continue this climb without their senior leader, as I’m sure he will still be a presence on the sidelines.

But it won’t be the same without the depth and leadership on the court.

“I could feel it, when he’s not in there,” Crean said.

Jones eventually succumbed to the wheelchair, sitting in it as he entered the tunnel and Etherington and Barnett returned to the court.

“It’s unbelievably painful for him and his family,” Barnett said. “How hard he’s fought, it’s not fair.”

In his last season, Jones is finally on a team that has a legitimate chance to cut down the nets.

But even if the Hoosiers reach that point, Jones might not even be able to walk up the ladder to get to them.

Weber was fired today after his Illini team made a first-round exit in the Big Ten tournament yesterday against Iowa. Illinois was 17-15 this season, with a 6-12 record in Big Ten play.

Weber still had three years left on his contract with Illinois, which Weber said will turn into a $3.9 million dollar buyout according to ESPN.

Since its appearance in the NCAA national title game in 2005, Illinois hasn’t made it past the second round of the tournament. The Illini missed the tournament twice in that span, with a third missed tournament likely after yesterday’s loss.

Weber was head coach of the Salukis from 1998 to 2003, and several sources have reported Weber has interest in returning to Carbondale.

SIU fired coach Chris Lowery last Friday after setting a new school record for losses in a season with an 8-23 record. Lowery was an assistant on Weber’s staff from 2001 to 2004, including a year at Illinois before Lowery was named head coach of the Salukis in 2004.

SIU Athletic Director Mario Moccia said last Friday that he’d hate to speculate on Weber, who was still employed at the time, but he didn’t want to rule him out as a candidate if Weber became available.

The move gives the Big East eight football-playing schools for the 2012 season. The conference could end up with up to 20 basketball schools by the time Temple joins in 2013.

“This is arguably the greatest day in the history of Temple Athletics,” said Bill Bradshaw, director of athletics, in a press release today.  “For the first time we will have all of our athletic programs playing in one conference, and there is no conference that is a better fit for Temple than the Big East.”

The Big East needed a team to replace West Virginia for its 2012 football schedule. The Mountaineers recently negotiated an early exit from the conference, effective this year, so they could join the Big 12 for football.

The Big East first targeted Boise State, set to join the conference for football only in 2013, as an immediate replacement. But the Broncos couldn’t pay the early exit fee mandated by the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences, so the Big East turned its attention to Temple.

The Owls, who had been playing football in the Mid-American Conference and all other sports in the Atlantic Ten Conference, had to negotiate exits from both conferences before Temple could make the move into the Big East.

The buyout from the MAC with less than a year’s notice is $6 million, while Temple would have to pay the A-10 $1 million for leaving next season with less than two year’s notice. The Big East will be covering both of those expenses entirely, according to Assistant Vice President of University Communications Ray Betzner.

“No college money will be used to pay for this,” Betzner said.

“This move will benefit Temple financially as well as competitively,” added Lewis Katz, the chair of the Athletics Committee of Temple’s Board of Trustees. “We are grateful to the Big East for working cooperatively with us to structure our payments in a way that assures that the move is a win in all respects.”

Temple will replace West Virginia on the Big East schedule for 2012, meaning the Owls would play home games against Syracuse, Rutgers, Cincinnati and USF, while traveling to Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Louisville for road games.

Boise State and San Diego State will join the conference as football-only members for the 2013-14 season, while Houston, Memphis, SMU and UCF will be added as all-sports members. Navy will join for football only in 2015.

“Having been a part of the Big East before while at Syracuse, I know what a great conference we are in,” football coach Steve Addazio said. “Temple is a natural fit in a very exciting national conference.  This is a great time for Temple University, the Big East, and Philadelphia.”

Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Villanova, Providence and DePaul are the basketball-only schools in the Big East.

“Over the last three decades we have built great relationships and wonderful rivalries in the Atlantic Ten Conference,” men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. “Now, with the changing landscape of intercollegiate athletics, we are able to have all of our sports in one conference, the Big East Conference. So, after next season, we will be saying goodbye to old friends, which is never easy, but making new ones which is exciting.”

If Pittsburgh and Syracuse, which have already negotiated exits to the Atlantic Coast Conference, cannot leave the Big East prior to the 2013 season, the conference would have 14 football schools and 20 basketball schools during that year.

Temple was a member of the Big East for football from 1991-2004, when they were kicked out due to a lack of university support. Since then, the football program has resurged under coaches Al Golden and Steve Addazio, who led the Owls to a combined two bowl games and three winning seasons.

This past year, Temple won its first bowl game since 1979, a 37-15 blowout against Wyoming in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The Owls also defeated eventual Big East champion Connecticut in the 2010 season.

Upon his arrival at UCLA, one of his assistant coaches once told me that if you work hard for coach Howland, he will always be there for you in your life. He was absolutely right. Coach Howland cares deeply about every member of his program, and makes us all part of the UCLA family. Although our paths hadn’t crossed in a while since I graduated UCLA, upon hearing of my recent hospital stay last year, he visited me on several occasions. He made those visits during the season when a coach has almost no disposable time. When I take inventory of my life and reflect on the man that I have become, many of the character-shaping lessons came from my time with the UCLA basketball program and from coach Howland directly. I’m proud to call him a mentor, coach and friend.

The contest lived up to its Big Ten title implications.

Senior guard William Buford made a long 2-pointer with one second left in the game to defeat the Spartans and give the Buckeyes a share of the Big Ten regular season championship.

OSU overcame a 15-point deficit behind Buford’s 25 points and the Buckeyes left East Lansing with a win.

An OSU victory didn’t always seem likely, though.

From the opening tip, MSU came out pressuring the ball. The Spartans forced five Buckeye turnovers in the first six minutes as OSU struggled to get open shots.

Offensively MSU pushed the ball up the court in transition and took quick control of the game.

Tied at seven, MSU exploded on a 12-0 run to take a 19-7 lead with 13:21 remaining in the first half.

OSU’s offense appeared stagnant early, often settling for contested jump shots.

When the Buckeyes tried to feed it to sophomore forward Jared Sullinger, the MSU defense collapsed on the Buckeye big man.

Sullinger made just one of his first eight shots from the floor and OSU connected on just three of its first 16 shots.

But trailing, 32-19, with less than four minutes left in the first half, OSU got right back into it.

Sophomore guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. threw down a dunk to cap off an 8-0 run and draw the Buckeyes within five points.

Spartan coach Tom Izzo called timeout and his team immediately responded.

Sophomore guard Keith Appling hit a 3-pointer out of the timeout and then completed a three-point play after driving past sophomore guard Aaron Craft and finishing at the rim.

MSU led, 38-29, heading into halftime.

OSU opened up the second half on a 6-0 run. Buford was fouled as he nailed a step-back jumper just inside the 3-point line. His free throw brought the Buckeyes within three points.

Despite a Spartan run that saw the lead swell to nine, OSU continued to battle back and took their first lead since 18:09 in the first half when Thomas drove inside, banked in a layup and put the Buckeyes out front, 52-51.

Sullinger was called for his fourth foul as MSU regained the lead, 58-55, but a three-point play from Sullinger’s replacement, junior forward Evan Ravenel, knotted the score up at 58 with 7:10 left on the clock.

Ravenel continued his strong play, scoring OSU’s next four points and then assisting Thomas on a layup to give OSU a 64-63 lead with 3:40 remaining.

Tied at 70 with less than a minute remaining, Ravenel forced a tough shot from Draymond Green. The MSU senior forward had 19 points and 12 rebounds on the night, but his jumper clanked off the iron and OSU gained possession.

With time winding down, Craft handed the ball off to Buford.

The Buckeyes’ only senior took one dribble to his left and made a long jumper to give OSU a 72-70 lead with one second left on the clock.

Green’s desperation 3-pointer fell to the floor and OSU’s comeback was complete.

Three Buckeyes finished in double figures on the night. In addition to Buford, Sullinger and Thomas accounted for 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The OSU win means they share the Big Ten regular season title with the Spartans and the Wolverines. The Buckeyes finish the regular season with a 25-6 overall record and a 13-5 record in the conference.

OSU will be the three seed in the upcoming Big Ten tournament. The team will play the winner of the game between the six and 11 seed Friday in the final game of the evening.

“(The Gators) are good,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “That’s as good as we’ve played all year.”

In claiming their first 30-win regular-season in school history, the Cats also became the only No. 1 team to ever play in the O’Connell Center.

“It’s a great accomplishment just because I feel we did it together,” sophomore forward Terrence Jones said. “Every player that played contributed and played with confidence.”

Jones scored the Cats’ first eight points to give them an 8-2 lead. Three minutes in, Doron Lamb buried a three to bring the Cats’ lead to 11-4.

“(Jones) came out very strong,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “I think if Terrence played like that every game, I think it’d be very hard for anyone to beat us.”

But the Gators strung together a 10-2 run to give Florida its first lead of the game ,14-13, with 13:56 to play in the half.

UK’s deficit didn’t last long. The Cats immediately reclaimed the lead, scoring six straight points to make the score 19-14. Later UK pieced together a 9-4 run to lead 28-18 with 7:44 to play in the first half.

The Cats continued to maintain control of the pace, leading 36-22 with five minutes to play in the half. Jones counted for 15 points in the first half and ended the game with 19 points, four rebounds and two steals.

“If he plays that way for us, we’re not just good,” Caliari said. “We’re real good.”

UK went into the locker room at the half with an eight point lead at 40-32.

Florida came out attacking at the start of the second half. The Gators strung together a 12-6 run to close the lead to 46-44 with 16:31 to play. While the Cats were defending the perimeter throughout the first half, Florida found a way around it and attacked down low to score from all angles.

“Florida played well,” Calipari said.

Young, a sophomore forward, ended the game with 21 points and nine rebounds, performing on pace with Davis, who recorded 22 points and 12 rebounds.

“They couldn’t get their threes up because we are long, but Patric Young is a beast. If Patric Young plays like that, they’re fine in the postseason.”

But the Cats matched Florida in scoring. Davis pulled up for a 3-pointer — his second of the season — and Jones made a three to give UK a 64-55 lead with 7:41 to play.

As the SEC tournament approaches next week, UK prepares for New Orleans to kick off postseason play, and the idea of the potential help a loss could bring is not in the players’ minds.

“We don’t worry about losing,” Davis said. “We just try to go out here and play as hard as we can and try to get better.”

No. 13 Michigan held on for dear life against the last-place team in the Big Ten, finally topping Penn State, 71-65, on Sunday afternoon. Its task accomplished, the team turned its eyes to East Lansing, where Michigan State was set to tip off with Ohio State on senior day at the Breslin Center.

Hours after the Wolverines defeated the Nittany Lions, the Buckeyes prevailed over the Spartans, 72-70. The result? A three-way tie for the conference title, and Michigan’s first share of the Big Ten championship since 1986.

Michigan coach John Beilein and his players were hesitant to talk about the possibility of a league title after besting Penn State, since it was out of their control at that point. But they knew what was at stake.

“Our kids will value this win very much,” Beilein said. “It puts us in position to be in position, if the right breaks go our way, (to win) a share of the Big Ten championship, which is something that’s very important at the University of Michigan.”

The Wolverines have to feel lucky they were even in that position after nearly blowing a lead that reached 19 points in the second half. The Nittany Lions made a desperate charge on their senior day, capitalizing on Michigan’s sloppiness to go on a 13-0 run late in the game, nearly erasing the deficit in the process.

Freshman point guard Trey Burke, who led his team with 19 points, seemed to regain control for Michigan (13-5 Big Ten, 23-8 overall) with a four-point play to push the lead back to 10 points with 4:39 left, but Penn State (4-14, 12-19) answered with a four-point play of its own, courtesy of Trey Lewis. Jermaine Marshall, who spurred the Nittany Lion surge and finished with 27 points to lead all scorers, made a jumper with 2:38 left and cut the score to 62-58.

“When you go up by 20 with about 10 minutes to go, that’s a tough position to be in, because you’re not going to be as aggressive on offense,” said senior guard Zack Novak. “You want to run some clock and they’re going to turn it up aggressively. … I’m just proud of the way we fought back after they cut it down.”

But Penn State would get no closer. Sophomore guard Tim Hardaway Jr. hit a short jumper near the left elbow to extend the lead back to six points with 41 seconds left and also grabbed the rebound when Marshall missed the next time down the floor.

The Wolverines made enough free throws to seal the game from there.

It’s somewhat shocking the game got as close as it did. Penn State started out hot on Sunday, making its first three 3-pointers and leading the rebounding battle 9-2 by the first media timeout of the game. But Michigan quickly responded to take control of the game, as a Hardaway Jr. 3-pointer with 10:37 left in the first half erased the last lead the Nittany Lions would have.

Following his 25-point, 11-rebound performance on Thursday at Illinois, Hardaway Jr. continued to show signs that he had broken out of his slump against Penn State. He made three of his first four attempts from deep and finished with 13 points on the day.

“He’s progressing every single day,” Douglass said. “He had that turnover toward the end of the game, then he came back and hit that big shot. It didn’t faze him. … He’s not letting his offense dictate the rest of his game, which is good.”

That 3-pointer began a 23-5 run for the Wolverines, who clamped down on defense.

With Hardaway Jr. and freshman point guard Trey Burke out of the game, Michigan went to a trapping 2-3 zone and promptly forced two turnovers, each punctuated by a basket from senior guard Stu Douglass.

Michigan also got a key contribution from sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz, who led all scorers with 12 points in the first half and had a couple key baskets after the break. Smotrycz’s driving layup with 14:42 left in the game put the Wolverines back up by 16 points, and his 3-pointer two minutes later gave his team its largest lead of the day at 54-35.

That’s when the Nittany Lions made their run. Though star guard Tim Frazier shot just 4-for-16 on the afternoon, Marshall was there for key baskets. But Michigan had enough poise to stay on top.

Upon returning to Ann Arbor, the Wolverines found out their reward for doing so.

“You do go into it (knowing the stakes), and we talked a lot about it — this is what champions do on this day,” Beilein said.

“They play with poise, they play with confidence, they do the little things.

“We certainly weren’t perfect today, but we did a lot of things we needed to do to win this game.”

Needing to win four games to take the Horizon League tournament championship and earn an automatic bid, the Bulldogs fell short in a semifinal 65-46 loss to top-seeded Valparaiso Saturday night.

Junior forward Ryan Broekhoff  led the way with 19 points and 16 rebounds before a near-capacity crowd in the Crusaders’ home arena.

Coach Brad Stevens said his team would accept a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament or the College Basketball Invitational, if offered.

“We’re not an NCAA tournament team,” Stevens said.  “Our overall success this year is not worthy.”

Butler (20-14, 11-7) entered the game having won seven of its last eight.  The Bulldogs dropped all three matchups with Valparaiso (22-10, 14-4).

“Any team that’s the age we are is going to be inconsistent,” Stevens said.  “We played like a green, young team today.”

The Crusaders play Detroit Tuesday at 9 p.m. in the conference championship game, which was won by Butler the previous two seasons.

“It’s different,” senior guard Ronald Nored said.  “Credit to them for the way they played.  They scored on us and made it tough for us to get the ball where we wanted it.”

Sophomore guard Chrishawn Hopkins kept the Bulldogs within striking distance until midway through the second half.  He scored 18 points.  Sophomore forward-center Erik Fromm had 12 points and six rebounds.

No other Butler player had more than four points.

“Butler got some pretty good looks,” Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew said.  “The ball just wasn’t going through.”

After making more than half their field goal attempts in the first two rounds, the Bulldogs shot 33.3 percent Saturday.

Junior center Kevin Van Wijk and junior point guard Erik Buggs contributed 11 points apiece for the Crusaders, who shot 53.5 percent.

Butler led 7-2 about three minutes into the game after Hopkins rattled home a jumper.  Valparaiso then went on a 17-1 run over the next 7:25.

Hopkins finally ended the drought with a 3-pointer to draw the Bulldogs with 19-11.

But Stevens dealt with a shortage of other players on whom he could rely for offense.  Starters Roosevelt Jones, Khyle Marshall, Andrew Smith and Nored combined for eight points in 94 minutes of playing time.

“They really struggled,” Stevens said.  “I don’t know why.”

The Crusaders dominated the glass by a 39-22 margin.  That helped them to a 31-24 lead after the first half, when 11 of Valparaiso’s 14 field goals were either layups or tip-ins.

“We’ve been focusing on getting the ball in the paint,” Buggs said.

Broekhoff, the Horizon League Player of the Year, wouldn’t allow Butler to come back.

“He was the best player on the floor by far,” Stevens said.  “You’ve got to be incredibly tough to win in an environment like this.  We got beat pretty good.”

Sophomore guard Jay Harris added nine points and junior center Richie Edwards scored eight to lead the Crusaders’ reserves.

Harris made a layup and a 3-pointer in a two-minute span of the second half to give Valparaiso a 41-30 lead with 13:44 remaining.

Things only went downhill from there, as the Bulldogs fell behind by as many as 21 points in a game that reminded some of their 71-59 loss in the regular season finale here at the Athletics-Recreation Center.

“The two frontline guys [Van Wijk and Broekhoff] killed us again,” Stevens said.  “It’s a loud gym.  We had more fans here than we normally do.  We didn’t get as [many] good looks as last time.”

The Crusaders remembered the result from a week ago, when they raced out to an 18-4 lead against an overmatched Butler team.

“We were quietly confident we could repeat what happened,” Broekhoff said.

A Horizon League official said he expects Butler’s postseason status to be resolved by the evening of March 12 at the latest.

The Sports Illustrated piece, rumored for days and ultimately published Wednesday, is titled “Not The UCLA Way” and chronicles the problems plaguing the Bruins since their third-straight Final Four appearance in 2008, tracing each back to ninth-year coach Ben Howland.

The story was penned by senior writer George Dohrmann, who spoke to more than a dozen players and staff members from the last four teams during his two-month long investigation.

Among anecdotes of drug use, infighting and physical abuse by UCLA players comes a damning critique of Howland and his handling of players’ transgressions.

Last week, Howland toed the sidelines for his 300th game as UCLA skipper. Around the same time, he said, he was asked to comment for SI’s story. Howland was aware of its imminent publication during Tuesday’s regular weekly UCLA media availability, but would not speculate on the story’s content.

Asked if he believed he had handled the program’s issues well, Howland said: “For the most part, I have,” adding, “No one’s perfect. I would never claim to be that person.”

One of the sources whose identity wasn’t held anonymous is Reeves Nelson, whom Howland dismissed from the team in December.

Nelson, an all Pac-10 First-Teamer in 2010-2011, confirmed several instances of physical abuse inflicted upon teammates in practice to SI, saying “I have no trouble admitting that I lost control of my emotions sometimes. I take responsibility for my actions.”

Nelson also once came to blows with Mike Moser and verbally chided Matt Carlino for missing time because of a concussion, according to the story. Both Moser and Carlino transferred and now start at UNLV and BYU, respectively.

Though those instances all occurred during Nelson’s first two seasons with the program, he wasn’t disciplined by Howland until the beginning of his junior year, which eventually led to his dismissal.

While Howland has had trouble retaining top players who elect to turn professional, he has had a separate, steady outflow of players.

The story details the undoing of UCLA’s top-ranked 2008 recruiting class which arrived in Westwood Village with much fanfare: Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Lee, J’mison “BoBo” Morgan, Drew Gordon and Jerime Anderson.

Holiday and Lee, both currently NBA guards, were described as “serious and professional,” while their three classmates’ “immaturity and lack of effort” was a detriment to UCLA’s success. According to teammates, Anderson, Morgan and Gordon partied regularly and sometimes showed up to practice intoxicated.

Gordon left the team five games into his sophomore season by “mutual agreement” with Howland and is now New Mexico’s starting center. Morgan was dismissed from the program after his sophomore year. He transferred to Baylor and became eligible to play immediately, though is redshirting this season.

Anderson, Gordon and Morgan did not comment to SI. At media availability, a school spokesman said players – including Anderson, the only member of that class who made it to his senior season at UCLA – would not comment on rumors of the then-unpublished story.

Lee, currently inactive for the Minnesota Timberwolves after early season knee surgery, said he first heard about the story Tuesday and was not contacted by SI.

“I had the sense that everybody was abiding to (Howland’s) rules,” Lee said of alleged misdeeds by teammates. “I really don’t know.”

Kevin Love, Lee’s NBA teammate and one of 11 Howland-coached Bruins in the league, said after the Timberwolves’ win over the Clippers at Staples Center on Tuesday night that he had only heard rumors of the story.

“I knew there were a few bad eggs in the program, but (that happens) at every program,” said Love, the lynchpin of Howland’s last Final Four team as an All-American freshman center.

Dohrmann won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for uncovering academic fraud within Minnesota’s men’s basketball program and more recently uncovered a scandal within the Ohio State football program that led to a “failure to monitor” sanction by the NCAA.

Little of Dohrmann’s story seems to be sanction-worthy, though the mark left on the storied UCLA program could last.

In the agreed settlement between the two parties, the Big 12 will withhold approximately $12.41 million from A&M — money that would otherwise be distributed to the Aggies by the conference in fiscal year 2012. A&M expects, however, to receive some monetary benefits from the Big 12 signed television contract with Fox Sports, among other unspecified concessions.

A&M’s total losses from the settlement, all considered are expected to be $9.31 million. A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said he was thankful for the way the negotiation was conducted.

“We appreciate the Big 12 working with us on a quick and amicable settlement,” Loftin said in the press release.

Big 12 commissioner Chuck Neinas expressed similar sentiments.

“This agreement was accomplished through a collegial, respectful process among the conference, its institutions and Texas A&M University that led to a resolution that all parties believe is fair,” Neinas said.

The Aggies will leave the Big 12 as the highest ranked overall athletic department in the conference.  A&M finished eighth in overall athletics in the annual Learfield Sports Cup in 2011. John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, said the SEC would allow the Aggies to expose their successful athletics — and academics — more efficiently.

“Texas A&M’s move to the SEC increases the University’s geographic footprint and will bring national recognition to this great institution, which it certainly deserves,” Sharp said. “We look forward to the increased exposure that the SEC will provide Texas A&M, not only in athletics but also in teaching and research.”

One of the initial members of the Big 12 Conference in 1996 after the dissolution of the Southwest Conference, A&M won a record nine conference championships in 2011. Conference championships in women’s soccer, women’s swimming and men’s and women’s indoor track give the Aggies four titles this season.  A&M will take that momentum into the SEC.

“I’m happy that A&M settled the deal with the Big 12 Conference,” Liz Gunther,  junior marketing major, said. “I look forward to see A&M play in the SEC next year.”

Second question: Which active Division I coach has the most Final Four appearances? Again, this might seem pretty simple after his team just won the NCAA Championship last year, but the answer is Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K has 11 Final Four appearances and is tied for second all-time with legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

OK, third and final question for the bonus point: Which active coach has the second-most Final Four appearances, all with the same school (Coach K is also first in this active category with all 11 appearances coming with Duke)? Here is your hint: This coach is also tied for fifth all-time in Final Four appearances with two other coaches. I wish I could get a count on how many of you said Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.

To die-hard college basketball fans it may not seem that tough of a question either, but in general it seems that despite everything he has accomplished at Michigan State, Izzo rarely gets the credit or placement he deserves among the top coaches in college basketball today and maybe of all time.

Izzo has not only become the face of the Michigan State Spartans basketball program, but in some respects he has become the face of Big Ten basketball, serving as the longest tenured coach in the conference and the fourth longest tenured coach in the six power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC), just behind Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Krzyzewski and Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun.

The MSU head coach began prowling the East Lansing sidelines during the 1995-96 season after 12 years as an MSU assistant coach. Now, in his 17th season, he’s putting the finishing touches on his seventh Big Ten regular-season championship team with eyes set on another Final Four and NCAA Championship.

Izzo has been around a while, not seen in any school colors outside Spartan green and white since the 1982-83 season as an assistant at Northern Michigan. He has six Final Fours to his credit and one impressive national championship in 1999-2000, but how does he rank with some of the greatest coaches of all time?

It seems unlikely that anyone would ever approach the greatness of John Wooden and his UCLA teams of the 1960s and ’70s that won 10 national titles, and even if they did it would be foolish for anyone to be compared to Wooden anyway. If there is a “Golden Laws of Sports” book somewhere, page one certainly reads, “Nobody will be nor can ever be as good of a coach as John Wooden.”

How about the polarizing figure of Bob Knight, a former Big Ten man himself? Izzo doesn’t necessarily match up win-for-win with Knight. After all, Knight is second all-time in wins with 902 Division I victories, but it was over the course of 42 years as a head coach. Izzo, again just in his 17th season, has won 407 games at Michigan State, putting him on a 24 wins per season average, about 2.5 wins per season more than Knight. Being 47 years old, it is unlikely that Izzo will come anywhere near Knight’s 42-year head coaching career, but if he did, his pace would break the 1,000 win barrier, something no Division I coach has yet accomplished.

Like Knight, Izzo also pulled off something pretty amazing, winning the NCAA Championship in just his fifth year after taking over a Big Ten program. Granted, Knight won three national championships with the Hoosiers including an undefeated season, but he has already fallen behind Izzo’s Final Four mark. Knight reached the Final Four five times in 29 years at Indiana. Izzo had five of his appearances from 2000-10.

Not even the great Wooden, Coach K, Hall of Famer Dean Smith or current North Carolina coach Roy Williams, the four coaches with more Final Four appearances than Izzo, won national championships that early in their tenures.

One final coaching giant, I believe, holds the best comparison to Izzo, and that’s Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Obviously at the pinnacle of his profession, Coach K generally seems to be put far ahead of any other current coaches. Coaches like UConn’s Jim Calhoun, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim or UNC’s Williams all seem to fall short in comparison to Coach K, but if anyone comes close to matching the accomplishments of Krzyzewski, it should be Izzo.

Izzo doesn’t have the longevity of Coach K, as many national titles, the wins or many of the accolades that 32 years at Duke have afforded Krzyzewski. But it is very difficult to find a coach that has done more with less than Izzo. With only 13 High School All-Americans to ever play for Izzo, it is remarkable that he is the third coach to reach three consecutive Final Fours. Krzyzewski has coached more than 40 Blue Devils selected in the NBA draft; Izzo has just 12.

2012 may be Izzo’s greatest coaching job yet as he just grabbed a share of his seventh Big Ten Championship this week, a testament to his entire career after Michigan State began this season unranked and 0-2. Yet once again, MSU is poised for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and has a Player of the Year candidate in Draymond Green.

Izzo deserves to win his second National Coach of the Year award, and he just might get it. Perhaps then the nation will know the greatness that is Tom Izzo.

The Hoosiers (23-7, 10-7) beat No. 5 Michigan State (24-6, 13-4) 70-55 on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall, marking the first time IU has defeated three top five teams since the undefeated 1975-76 season.

Despite Draymond Green’s game-high 29 points, the Hoosiers pulled out the victory. No player on Michigan State besides Green finish in double figures.

IU on the other hand, finished with five players in double figures. IU freshman forward Cody Zeller led the way with 18 points.

Sophomore guard Victor Oladipo finished with 13, junior guard Jordan Hulls finished with 10 and junior forward Christian Watford finished with 10. To go along with his 10 points, Watford finished with a career-high 14 rebounds.

The IU victory snaps Michigan State’s eight-game winning streak and marks the first time in the Crean era that the Hoosiers have defeated the Spartans.

The New York Times broke the story on Wednesday, Feb. 22, citing a source “briefed on the talks.”

Temple athletic teams currently compete in the Atlantic Ten Conference in all sports except football, which competes in the Mid-American Conference, and gymnastics, which competes in the Eastern College Athletic Conference.

MAC commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher issued a statement the same day, responding that the conference is “aware that Temple has been in discussions with the Big East.”

To leave the MAC, a school would have to provide a two-year notice and pay a $2.5 million exit fee. Leaving the A-10 would require a $2 million exit fee and a one-year notice. Terms for a more immediate exit would have to be negotiated.

Temple had also been in talks about joining a merger between Conference-USA and the Mountain West Conference.

“I think it’s an outstanding opportunity for Temple University, the students themselves, the athletes, as well as the university as a whole,” said Frederick Saporito, a junior sports and recreation management major, and vice president of marketing for the Cherry Crusade, Temple’s official student section. “This can only help being in a major conference, people will recognize [that] you’re in the Big East.”

The Big East has to fill gaps in its scheduling after ending a legal dispute with West Virginia University earlier this month, allowing the school to leave the conference for the Big 12 before the 2012 season.

The Big East also lost Sycracuse, Pittsburgh and Texas Christian University to conference expansion last fall, while adding Boise State, San Diego State and Navy for football and Houston, Southern Methodist, Central Florida and Memphis for all sports.

Temple was a football-only member of the Big East from 1991 to 2004, until it was voted out of the conference for non-competitiveness, poor attendance and unwillingness to fund the football program at a level that was comparable to its Big East peers.

Since being voted out of the Big East in 2004, the Owls have played in two bowl games, including a win in the 2011 Gildan New Mexico Bowl, defeating Wyoming, 37-15. Temple also beat Big East champions Connecticut during the 2010 football season.

In basketball, Temple is 5-3 over Big East Opponents in the past three seasons.

Director of University Communications Hillel Hoffmann deferred questions to athletics. Temple’s athletic department was unable to comment by time of press.

A main motivation for entering the Big East is money. Should Temple become a full member of the Big East, the university would take a larger slice of college athletics’ overall revenues from three sources.

The first is tied to college football’s Bowl Championship Series, which during the 2010-11 Fiscal Year, gave $22,515,095 of its $181,912,310 in total revenue to the Big East to divide among its member institutions, while the MAC received $2,633,683 according to the NCAA’s website.

The second source is tied to NCAA revenues from the men’s basketball tournament in March. During March Madness, a conference receives a “unit” for every game its member institutions plays in except the championship game. In the 2009-10 fiscal year, one unit was worth $222,206 adding up to a total of $167.1 million in revenue. The Big East received $23,109,436 in such revenue, while the A-10 received $6,443,977.

The NCAA encourages conferences to share the money evenly, but the conferences are not obligated to do so.

The third is with the Big East’s television contract with ABC and ESPN, which is set to expire in 2013 and is currently being renegotiated. Under the current deal, universities that play both football and basketball in the Big East receive a little more than $3 million a year.

Boasting shirts that read, “Big 12 conference 8STR8 Champs,” Taylor, Robinson and the entire Kansas team finally got to celebrate cementing their place in Kansas history.

“We were too tired to do anything on Saturday,” Bill Self said. “We didn’t celebrate much, but we celebrated some in the locker room just now.”

Just 48 hours after that emotional overtime victory over Missouri, Kansas beat Oklahoma State 70-58, and clinched an outright 2012 Big 12 championship.

The students weren’t the only ones whose voices were still hoarse Monday. Tyshawn Taylor’s scratchy voice could not be ignored after the game, and the reason he gave for his vocal chords’ struggles was a just one.

“Celebration, baby,” Taylor said. “Celebration, that’s it.”

This team deserved to rejoice in its victory. Many doubted them from the start, and until these past two games, that doubt hung over Allen Fieldhouse.

But now that’s all erased, and this unlikely team of Big 12 champions will be one that people should and will remember.

They’ll remember the three freshmen that never played. They’ll remember the showdown with Duke and turnover Taylor. They’ll remember Taylor’s incredible run in Big 12 play. They’ll remember the Missouri game – for a long, long time. And most of all, they’ll remember Thomas Robinson.

But what needs to be remembered as much as the players and the games, is what Bill Self magically pulled off once again.

Through the bruises and bumps of this season, he took an inconsistent Tyshawn Taylor and made him the leader of a team that is 25-5 this season. He took Thomas Robinson from an averaged 7.6 points points per game in 2011, to the possible Player of the Year Award winner.

And he somehow won with a team whose bench consisted of one former walk-on and one current walk-on — Conner Teahan and Justin Wesley — and a transfer, Kevin Young.

And when Taylor sat down after the Jayhawks had just made sure that they wouldn’t be sharing their Big 12 trophy with anyone else, it’s clear he felt a load lift off his shoulders.

“It feels amazing, because a lot of people didn’t think we’d be this good this year,” Taylor said. “Our goal was always to win the Big 12 championship.”

While Kansas was picked to win the conference before the season started, the players still felt and heard the doubting hush around Lawrence, and rightfully so.

When Robinson and Taylor both sat down, they deserved to finally smile. Through the criticisms and shaky start, this group of inexperienced players came together and became a team — the best team in the Big 12 conference.

And their smiles showed it.

Unequivocally, The Temple News would call such a return a major victory for the university. Students will be able to see the Owls play elite competition in all sports. Athletics will also have the opportunity to bring in significantly more revenue, as Brian Dzenis and John Moritz report in “Move to Big East develops” on page 1.

However, a return to the Big East doesn’t mean that it’s time to celebrate, this is where the real work begins for the athletics. The Temple News has a to-do list for athletics upon entering the Big East:

Goal number one is maximizing the amount of scholarships athletics can offer. Former athletics CFO Eric Roedl told The Temple News in April 2011 that some of Temple’s sports teams could not give out a full number of scholarships that’s allowed by the NCAA because of a lack of funding. Athletics’ mission statement said that it is committed to providing student athletes opportunities to “maximize their athletic, academic and life-skill potential.” With the additional revenue coming in, increasing the amount of scholarships Temple can provide should be a priority.

Goal number two involves reducing the amount university funds needed to subsidize athletics. This year, athletics will likely not generate enough revenue to cover even a third of its approximately $29 million in overall expenses. The biggest issue in college sports is that expenses are growing at a disproportionate rate to revenues and even if Temple is bringing in more revenue, it won’t help if expenses are also growing exponentially. The Owls have shown in previous years that they can win on a budget and that mentality needs to continue while they are members of the Big East.

Temple has received a second chance at being an elite athletic power and cannot take this opportunity for granted. Becoming a big time program brings big time expectations, both on and off the field.

With 17 seconds remaining, Ryan Boatright, who finished with 14 points and was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, took a three-pointer. But Dion Waiters, who scored 10 points, was there to block the attempt. After the ball went out of bounds off the Orange, the Huskies took a timeout.

“We were trying to get penetration,” said UConn coach George Blaney. “They played it pretty well.”

Following the in-bounds pass, Jeremy Lamb, who scored a team-high 19 points, had the ball behind the three-point line. Syracuse’s 3-3 zone defense stretched beyond the perimeter and Roscoe Smith found the soft spot in the zone. Lamb found Smith with the clock winding down. And with one second, Smith was blocked by C.J. Fair. The clock ran out.

Close, but no cigar.

The No. 2 Orange (29-1, 16-1 Big East) bested UConn (17-11, 7-9 Big East) 71-69 before a raucous standing-room only crowd at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies, who trailed by as much as 16 points in the first half, erased a 14-point halftime deficit.

“Our offense was rather anemic early,” Blaney said.

The crowd was the loudest of the season and was still energized following ESPN’s College GameDay show that morning.

“I thought the crowd was anxious for us to do well,” Blaney said. “They kept urging us. We certainly didn’t do anything to gain their respect in the first half.”

UConn rallied back and tied the game at 63 points with 4:18 remaining on a Drummond lay-up. Syracuse answered with baskets from Kris Joseph and Melo to take a four-point lead and the teams traded scores until Smith’s tip-in tied it at 69 with 47 seconds remaining. Melo’s put-back slam on the next possesssion proved to be the game-winner.

“We had to keep scoring because they kept scoring,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim pointed to key plays from Melo, who scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Waiters, who scored 10 points and Joseph, who finished with a game-high 21 points. The long-time Syracuse coach said the clutch plays are common practice from his players.

“It’s everything,” Boeheim said. “They make all the key plays.”

Drummond scored 17 points and grabbed 14 boards and Smith, who started, finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Alex Oriakhi had eight points and four rebounds. The Huskies didn’t have much help coming off the bench as DeAndre Daniels, Niels Giffey, Tyler Olander and Shabazz Napier all went scoreless. Napier was 0-of-3 from the field.

The win was Syracuse’s first at Gampel Pavilion and clinched the Big East regular season title and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament for the Orange.

“I don’t think too much about those things… Hartford is tough too,” Boeheim said.

Coach Jim Calhoun is expected to return to the sidelines against Pittsburgh on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion for the team’s final regular season game. The Huskies take on Providence at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Tuesday at 7 p.m. on SNY.

OSU squared off against Wisconsin in the 
last home game of the season Sunday, but poor free-throw shooting and 
turnovers cost the Buckeyes late as they fell to the Badgers, 63-60.

OSU coach Thad Matta said his team wasn’t able to get in a rhythm.

“I think in today’s game our ability to sustain what needed to be sustained be it offensive execution or defensive stops and we weren’t able to get those things done,” Matta said.

Guard William Buford, OSU’s only senior, scored 15 points and grabbed 
nine rebounds, but his final home game ended on a sour note.

“We just weren’t playing together. We just didn’t look like we had it today,” Buford said. “It’s real concerning leading heading into March. We should be together by now.”

OSU shot 10-18 from the free throw line and committed 12 turnovers in the game.

Wisconsin turned OSU’s miscues into 11 points on its offensive end.

“We can’t push it to the point where we’re playing out of control and I think we did that a little bit,” sophomore guard Aaron Craft said.

Sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas provided the early offense for the 
Buckeyes. He hit six of his first eight shots from the floor and had
 13 points in the game’s first 13 minutes. Thomas finished with a game-high
 23 points, while also adding seven rebounds.

Buford added 10 first-half points and the Buckeyes led for the 
majority of the period, but a 3-pointer from Wisconsin junior forward
 Jared Berggren with less than a minute remaining to tie the contest at 29 
as the teams headed into the locker room.

With the game tied at 33 and 15:58 remaining, Thomas converted a 
four-point play after connecting on a 3-pointer in the corner and 
absorbing the foul. He hit the free throw and OSU led, 37-33.

But after Thomas put in an offensive rebound on the next possession to 
extend the Buckeye lead to six, Wisconsin responded with a 7-0 run and
 took a 40-39 lead.

Buford had a response of his own.

OSU’s senior caught a pass in transition, sliced through two Badger 
defenders and finished at the rim while being fouled. After making 
the free throw, Buford was fouled on the other end while bringing down
 a defensive rebound. The Buckeyes were in the bonus and Buford sank 
both shots from the line to increase the Buckeye lead to six.

Wisconsin came right back led by senior Jordan Taylor. The 
Badger point guard continued to hit tough shots deep in the shot clock 
and prevented OSU from pulling away.

Taylor hit a fall-away 3-pointer, a long two-pointer and two free throws to 
help Wisconsin take a 54-53 lead with less than three minutes remaining.
 He finished with 19 points.

Trailing by one with less than a minute remaining, the Buckeyes went to
 sophomore forward Jared Sullinger. After getting the ball poked away,
 the Buckeyes’ big man regained possession and banked in a right-handed 
hook shot.

But a 3-pointer from Berggren gave the Bager’s a two-point advantage and erased the last lead of the night for the Buckeyes.

“Wasn’t that huge?” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “Give the kid a lot of credit. He’s done that before.”

After Thomas missed a hurried shot with less than 30 seconds to play, Berggren nailed two free throws and Wisconsin 
had a two-possession lead with 14 seconds left in the game.

A series of missed shots from the Buckeyes ate up too much time and
 the Badgers left Columbus with a win.

The Buckeyes have now lost three of their last five games and two of their last three home games.

Craft said the recent struggles can be blamed on the team’s immaturity.

“We have two games left in the season and it feels like we started a week ago,” Craft said. “We can’t keep our heads down. We need to come back and try to refocus.”

The loss drops OSU’s record to 23-6 on the year and 11-5 in the Big Ten.

The Buckeyes next travel to Northwestern to face the Wildcats on Wednesday. Opening tip is set for 8:30 p.m.

Both shots clanked off the rim and Kansas eventually lost 74-71.

Shortly after, one of Taylor’s friends told him he would face a similar situation when the Tigers traveled to Lawrence.

Taylor finished with 24 points while playing 44 out of a possible 45 minutes and committed just one turnover. But his final two points stole the show.

Kansas came back from a 19-point deficit in the second half and forced overtime. Missouri senior guard Marcus Denmon hit a floater along the baseline to give the Tigers an 86-85 lead with 12 seconds left.

Kansas almost never had a final chance to score.

Junior guard Elijah Johnson inbounded the ball while Taylor was peering up at the video board for a quick check of the time. The ball bounced a few feet past Taylor, leaving the nearly 16,300 fans in attendance momentarily gasping for breath.

“I’m sure I did,” Taylor chucked when asked if his near-fatal slip-up scared the Jayhawk faithful.

There was plenty of time to smile about the play at that point.

In the timeout moments before Denmon’s score, coach Bill Self told his team to “go flat” on offense if Missouri scored, meaning he wanted everyone to spread out along the baseline to create space for Taylor.

With just 12 seconds on the clock, there wasn’t much time to think.

“We have to go score and get a good shot, but get it as fast as possible,” Taylor said of his thought process as he received the pass. “I just put my head down and saw a little seam and attacked.”

He was fouled on a layup attempt, not unlike the final seconds in the first game against Missouri. But with the crowd holding its arms in the air in silent support of the four-year starter, Taylor cooly knocked down both attempts to give the Jayhawks the lead, 87-86.

“He got fouled,” Self said. “And for him to make the two free throws in the same scenario that he missed them in Columbia, I thought that was good for him.”

“He was absolutely right,” Taylor said of his friend’s prediction. “It was the same team again, but not the same circumstances and I came through this time. I’m actually glad I got to shoot those free-throws. Words can’t describe how I feel.”

“Second halves have been very good in our last two games,” head coach Scott Drew said. “Maybe it’s our depth and wearing people down a little bit. Maybe it’s just us making more plays and playing with more energy. Holding them to 33 percent [shooting] second half was tremendous.”

The guards had a big role in this game for Baylor.

Junior guard Pierre Jackon led the Bears with 17 points. He also had two steals, two assists and three rebounds. Sophomore Brady Heslip had 16 points on 4 of 9 shooting from the beyond the arc. Junior A.J. Walton had five rebounds, three assists and block.

“We three guards, I think we flow a lot better,” Walton said. “We got the defense and scoring, so it all works.

The Bears’ defense, fueled largely by the three-guard lineup, held Oklahoma to zero 3-pointers. This was the first time in 510 games that the Sooners have not made a 3-point shot.

“Any lineup they throw out there is a challenge,” Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger said.

Oklahoma’s Steven Pledger led all scorers with 21 points.

The Sooner held a 34-31 lead going into halftime.

“We had a hard time getting into our offense,” Jackson said. “We just had to slow down. In the second half we came out and we just had more focus and executed better.

Freshman forward Quincy Miller provided the early offense for the Bears with 10 points and seven rebounds. He would finish with 12 points, eight from free throws, and nine rebounds.

With the three assists, Walton is now on Baylor’s top 10 list for assists.

The Bears play their final home game of the season Monday against Texas Tech. It will be senior night for Quincy Acy, Anthony Jones and Fred Ellis.

“It is tough Monday night, I know,” Drew said. “If you can come out, if you got to leave early, I understand, but when we introduce them, I think a packed house would be something they would really appreciate and look back on and be able to say, “Thank you” to Baylor nation.”

It will also give Baylor a chance for a season sweep of all other Texas schools in the Big 12.

The group around the nearest chair motioned him over.

Davis declined, opting instead for the chair in the back-left of the media room. It’s his customary spot, the one he’s gone to from the beginning. He’s not about to change now — even if everything else is, from his spot on the national scene to his own game.

His 28-point, 11-rebound, five-block performance against Vanderbilt had the feel of a game from a future National Player of the Year.

In the locker room after the game, head coach John Calipari went around complimenting his players. They all “did their thing,” played how they were supposed to, turned in completely normal and competent performances.

And then he reached Davis.

“I said, ‘you were pretty good, too,’” Calipari said. “And the whole team started laughing. They thought it was hysterical.”

That’s mostly because they’re on the same sideline as Davis. They don’t have to try and shoot jumpers over him, or box him out, or anything like that.

“He’s special. He’s a different kind of player,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “Again, I’m very impressed with how he goes about his business, not just how he plays.”

And, if his game against Vanderbilt is any indication, opponents will have to do even more against him now. Davis flashed a full array of skills. He drove for a scoop-in layup from the top of the key. He splashed a few mid-range jumpers. He didn’t have a single lob, the play that was once the entirety of his offensive arsenal.

“I’ve been holding him back,” Calipari said with a smile. “I’m trying to get him to stay in school another year.”

That’s not happening. Davis will be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Everybody’s known that for while.

But he’s starting to tilt the reasons why he will be the top pick further from potential and closer to proven production.

“On defense and on offense, he’s just a monster,” said Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who compared Davis’ impact on a game to LeBron James, a former No. 1, freak-of-nature draft choice himself.

For now, Davis is entrenched in the college game.

He’s asserting himself as the best in it with every game he plays.

Asked if Davis should be the national Player of the Year, Terrence Jones said, “I think so. I mean, I think we have the best players in the country. So if it’s anybody, it should be somebody from this team.”

Davis would be that man.

“It would be great to get that award,” Davis said. “At the same time, my main focus is to win a national championship.”

Those two goals — player of the year and national championship — just might be more interconnected than he thinks.

Miller had yet to score any points until he sparked an 11-2 run by the Cats with 9:59 remaining in the second half. During the course of that run, the senior guard scores seven of his nine points.

UK head coach John Calipari said that he was upset with Miller for passing up two shots in particular during the first half. At halftime Miller was 0-5, including three missed three-pointers. His only stats were an assist and a rebound.

“I said that’s the old you. You got to keep shooting. You can’t do that to your team, ” Calipari said about Miller.

Entering halftime, Miller had combined with sophomore Doron Lamb to go 1-9 shooting.

Just minutes into the second half, Lamb connected on the Cats’ first three pointer of the game after going 0-8 in the first half.

Preceding Lamb’s three, National Player of the Year candidate Anthony Davis returned the Cats to the lead with a jumper and a vicious put-back dunk.

Davis scored a career-high 28 points (11 rebounds and six blocks) and on an assortment of shots: dunks, layups and mid-range jumpers. Davis missed only a single shot, going 10-11 from the field.

“I’ve been holding him back,” Calipari jokingly said following the game. “I’m trying to get him to stay in school another year.”

Said Vanderbilt center Festus Ezeli, “He did whatever he wanted to do. I didn’t offer much of a resistance and he played very well today. He did a good job protecting the basket and blocking shots. He did a good job of contesting shots.”

Davis and freshman teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were the Cats’ biggest producers in the first half.

Kidd-Gilchrist’s point total of eight all came within the first twenty minutes of play to combine with 15 by Davis for 23 of UK’s 36 points at the half. He also contributed eight rebounds and three assists to the Cats effort.

“I thought Michael (Kidd)-Gilchrist fought like crazy,” Calipari said.

During postgame interviews, Kidd-Gilchrist said that his “little brother,” Anthony Davis, is the best player in the country and compared him to a current NBA superstar.

“Ant is like, let me see who to compare him to; LeBron (James),” Kidd-Gilchrist said. “On defense and offense, he’s just a monster.”

Freshman guard Marquise Teague’s three turnovers sparked a couple of Calipari timeouts only minutes after the game tipped off.

He would only add one more turnover for the remainder of the game. His matchup against Vanderbilt guard Brad Tinsley could’ve been considered a mismatch with the way Teague was able to blow past for an easy lay-in.

Teague would finish the game with 16 points, four rebounds and six assists.

Aiding in the run sparked by Miller in the second half was Terrence Jones. Jones, who didn’t see any court action with five minutes remaining in the first half, was pulled from the game yet again by Calipari a little under two minutes into action.

Following the game Calipari said , “When I talked to them before they went on the court, I didn’t like the stare I got, from two or three of the guys, so at the beginning of the game I knew what was happening.”

Jones would go add two free throws and a dunk in the final minutes to finish the game with 12 points and six rebounds.

The No. 1 Cats (28-1, 14-0 SEC) next challenge is a senior day matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs (12-15, 3-10 SEC) on Thursday, March 1. UK’s first encounter with the Bulldogs was in Athens and the Cats prevailed 57-44.

The surgery will require Calhoun to remain hospitalized for up to two nights after the medical procedure. He will then return home for more recovery time. His coaching status will be evaluated day-to-day during the recovery process. No timetable on his return has been released.

“I’m glad we have finally determined the best course of treatment to deal with the problem,” Calhoun said. “I’m looking forward to having the procedure done, hopefully recovering as quickly as possible, and putting it all in the past.”

Calhoun will not be able to coach this Saturday against Syracuse or this Tuesday at Providence, making it eight games the Hall of Fame Coach will miss due to his medical leave of absence. During the six games that Calhoun has missed, the Huskies have gone 3-3 under associate head coach George Blaney.

Blaney’s first game was a 69-46 home victory against Seton Hall. The Huskies would drop their next two games by a combined differential of 39 points losing 80-59 at Louisville and falling to the Orange 85-67 at the Carrier Dome. The Huskies would return home for two games, beating DePaul 80-54 at Gampel Pavilion and losing 79-64 to Marquette at the XL Center. On Tuesday the Huskies pulled off a 73-70 overtime victory at Villanova as point guard Shabazz Napier hit a 29-foot shot with 0.6 seconds left to win the game. Shooting guard Jeremy Lamb set a new career-high with 32 points in the game.

The Huskies are 17-10 this season entering Saturday’s game against the Orange, the second and final time these teams will play in the regular season. The Huskies are 10th in the Big East standings with a 7-8 record in conference play. The Orange is first in the rankings with an 11-3 record, clinching a bye to the Big East quarterfinals.

Blaney will resume his duties as associate head coach during Calhoun’s absence with assistant coaches Kevin Ollie, Karl Hobbs and Glen Miller.

After spending all of Indiana’s 75-56 win against North Carolina Central sitting on the bench, fulfilling the duties of a manager, 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh had to respond when his brother-in-law, IU Coach Tom Crean, was asked about Harbaugh’s role.

“I was trying to contribute!” a booming voice yelled from the back of Assembly Hall’s press room.

Sure enough, Harbaugh, clad in his signature NFL gameday attire — khaki pants with a black, long-sleeve 49ers shirt — had to reveal his position and answer for himself.

“Oh, there he is, there he is,” Crean said among a sea of laughter. “I didn’t even know he was in here.”

Harbaugh, who spoke to the Hoosiers before and after the game Wednesday, sat at the very end of IU’s bench, doing his best to fold up stools before and after timeouts — duties that were all Harbaugh’s idea.

It was the most bizarre sight.

The same man who marched up and down the sidelines of Candlestick Park in the NFC Championship game exactly a month ago, January 22, was now watching his brother-in-law do the same in Assembly Hall, as he played the role of assistant.

“Well, I’ve never sat on the bench before, so I felt like I should be contributing in some way,” Harbaugh said.

A former quarterback at the University of Michigan and then for the Colts, Harbaugh proved that competition knows no bounds.

It was evident, even doing so little, that this coach and former player still wanted to win.

“I think you bring up something like that,” Crean said in response to a question about Harbaugh folding the stools. “And it goes to show why he’s a very successful leader as a player and certainly now as a coach because there’s no job above him, there’s no job beneath him. It’s all about winning.”

There must be something to it.

As Crean pointed out in his postgame press conference, the last time Harbaugh and his brother, Ravens’ Head Coach John Harbaugh, spoke to the team was before the win at Purdue.

IU sophomore guard Victor Oladipo said it was an “honor” to have the NFL Coach of the Year setting up stools during the huddle.

“For him to speak to us and sit on our bench, I know he’s relatives with Coach Crean, but at the end of the day, he’s still who he is,” Oladipo, who scored 16 points, said. “For him to come in and talk to us and motivate us, it’s a blessing.”

But there still lingered that whole Michigan connection. Espionage, perhaps?

“No, he’s not a Michigan spy, trust me,” a joking Crean said, but he needed reassurance. “Are ya?”

“Hell no!” Harbaugh once again shouted from the back.

“Yeah, no worries there.”

After 27 games of disappointment, struggles, frustration and failure, the Binghamton U. men’s basketball team finally pulled out its first victory of the season Tuesday night at the Events Center, by topping U. Vermont 57-53.

The Bearcats defeated one of the conference’s elite teams — UVM came to Binghamton tied for first in the America East with a 12-2 conference record and 19-10 mark overall.

“We just beat a heck of a team,” head coach Mark Macon said in a post-game press conference.

As the clock struck double-zeroes and the buzzer sounded, the Bearcat faithful poured out of the student section bleachers and stormed the court — creating a scene slightly reminiscent of March 14, 2009, the day the Bearcats won the America East tournament en route to their first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament.

This wasn’t a conference championship or even a postseason game, but for fans, coaches and most importantly the players, the context didn’t matter. All that did was that Binghamton had won.

Since transitioning to a 29-game season, only one Division-I program has completed an entirely winless campaign — the 2007-08 New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders.

BU will not join NJIT in infamy.

Sophomore Rob Mansell led all scorers with 18 points for the Bearcats while freshman Ben Dickinson added 16 and pulled down 11 rebounds.

“I’m so proud of them,” Macon said of his team. “You talk about monkeys? We had a whole zoo on our back.”

The Bulldogs started off hot, streaking out to a 12-2 lead over the Cats in the first five minutes.

Senior guard Dee Bost led the MSU first half effort, scoring 16 points.  Bost hit 2-of-4 3-pointers in the half and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 13 at the half (41-28) fueled by 6-for-12 shooting behind the arc.  The 13 points was the largest halftime deficit for the Cats this season.

“I thought for the first 20 minutes, we were about as good as you can be at both ends.  Defensively we controlled the game and offensively we were very precise,” said Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury.

The Cats took over to start the second half, pulling to within four at 43-39 with 16:02 left in the game with a 11-2 run.

The game stayed between a four and seven point lead for MSU for the next nine minutes, until sophomore forward Terrence Jones drove to the basket and scored a layup to pull the Cats to within two at 55-53 with 7:18 remaining.

MSU quickly went on a 5-0 run after a rim-rattling Arnett Moultrie follow-dunk and yet another 3-pointer from Dee Bost.  That put the Bulldogs ahead seven again with a little over six minutes left in the game.

From that moment on, the Cats controlled the game – ending the game with a 20-4 run.

Senior guard Darius Miller started the run by nailed three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer.

Freshman forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist contributed a jumper, four free throws and one driving layup to the bucket with a Bulldog defender draped all over him.

The drive by Kidd-Gilchrist gave the Cats their very first lead of the game at 63-62 with 4:06 left.  The Cats never trailed again.

Miller also was huge down the stretch, nailing two 3-pointers along with the 3 free throws to start the run.

“I just knew we were all going to have to make plays.  Everyone else was making plays so I had to step up too,” said Miller.  “The guys did a great job of providing opportunities for me.”

Miller was scoreless until hitting his first bucket with 7:51 left in the game.  He finished with 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting behind the arc.

“Darius Miller is the fiber that holds that team together.  He is the key to them and was the total difference in the game tonight,” said Rick Stansbury.  “He stepped up and made plays when he had to make plays for that team.”

Along the way, the Cats locked down the Bulldogs defensively, holding the Bulldogs to 2-for-7 shooting and two turnovers in the final six minutes.

“At the end there it got away from then (Mississippi State).  Darius Miller made some big shots.  We made some free throws,” said UK head coach John Calipari.  “We did some stuff down the stretch – we had a couple of good blocks and defensive stops.”

Bost, who had lit the Cats up for 16 points in the first half, was limited to five points on 1-for-6 shooting in the second half after Calipari assigned Kidd-Gilchrist to cover him.

“I love that challenge. I love playing defense,” said Kidd-Gilchrist. “That is just my game right there.”

The Cats had five players reach double-figures in points and two players hit for double-doubles.  Kidd-Gilchrist scored 18 points and ten rebounds. Freshman forward Anthony Davis had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Jones and sophomore guard Doron Lamb both added 11 points each.

The No. 1 Cats (27-1, 13-0 SEC) next face the Vanderbilt Commodores (19-8, 8-4 SEC ) at Rupp Arena Saturday at Noon.  Vandy gave UK a strong test in Nashville two weeks ago, with the Cats coming away with a 69-63 win thanks to strong defense down the stretch.

Two years later, after that dream has come true, it is still tough for members of that Bible study group to realize that the 6’3” Taiwanese-American student they knew is now the newest star of the New York Knicks.

Who could expect Lin’s close friends Kai-Cheng Ho and Benjamin Wu to believe the headlines—when, after his first NBA start against the Utah Jazz, Lin talked with them until the wee hours of the morning about Ho’s work and community issues in China?

Even as Lin has emerged in recent days as an international superstar, he has stayed true to the friends and faith that helped get him to where he finds himself today.

FAITH AT HARVARD

Lin forged strong bonds with Wu at Harvard over their shared interest in video games. According to Wu, their game of choice was Defense of the Ancients, a real-time strategy game that pits two players against each other in a battle to destroy the other’s base.

“He was extremely competitive,” Wu said. “Besides his faith, besides basketball, DotA dominated a large portion of his time. It’s pretty hilarious, because you would imagine that he wouldn’t be sucked into these things, but that was a large drag on our free time. I think that just speaks to the kind of person Jeremy is, never indulging in what mainstream society would think a star basketball player would be like.”

Wu said that the two became closer during their senior year when Lin led their Bible study group. Every Tuesday, a group of 8 to 10 students gathered to learn about the Bible and about each other.

Beyond committing his Tuesday evenings to Christian education, Lin went to church near the Quad every Sunday morning. On Saturday, he would text Wu and others, reminding them to go to bed early so they could get their rest before waking up for church. On Sunday morning, Lin and Ho rounded up the others to head over to church together.

“Jeremy’s one of those guys who just never strayed,” Wu said. “He helped me find my motivation and inspiration to get up every Sunday morning and go to church.”

TWO YEARS OF TURMOIL

After Harvard, Lin spent two tumultuous years trying to make it as a professional basketball player.

He went undrafted and then had the chance to prove himself to the Mavericks in summer league play. When that team did not sign him, Lin joined the Golden State Warriors. During that time, he shared an apartment with his former Harvard roommate Eric Lee ’10. Lee saw the fringe NBA player struggle firsthand.

“When times were tough, it just made him work that much harder,” Lee said. “It was a roller coaster ride. He was always plugging away, trying to outwork the next guy, trying to better himself.”

At its start, this season was only harder for Lin. He was waived by the Warriors on Dec. 11. Then after joining the Houston Rockets for a few days, he found himself without a team again by Dec. 24.

Shortly after Lin was picked up by the Knicks, he visited Ho’s apartment in New York.

“He was very discouraged,” Ho recalled of that meeting. “Everyone thinks NBA life is glamorous, but they don’t understand how challenging it is. Everyone was telling him what to do and what not to do. At that time, I thought this might not be the right path for him.”

To encourage Lin, Ho brought up the sensation of the moment, Tim Tebow.

“I mentioned to him that Tebow is a guy who had been through the same situation. He was someone who didn’t get enough playing time and then busted the seam—and everything he does is a credit to God,” Ho said. “I see a lot of similarities.”

Lin and his college friends talked for the rest of the night before crashing on couches at around 4 a.m. The next morning, Ho and Wu took Lin to the same church where the two had brought the fledgling NBA player when he was trying to get drafted and again when he signed with the Warriors. Perhaps the third time was a charm.

Still, it took another month of uncertainty and another stint in the NBA Developmental League before Lin’s shot at stardom came along.

KING OF NEW YORK

Wu sat down to watch the Knicks game on Feb. 4, as he had done every time the team played since his former classmate joined the squad just over a month earlier. Wu was hoping for a blowout so that Lin might get some playing time.

But for whatever reason, Lin came in early against the Nets on that Saturday night, and the rest is history. While Lin was dropping 25 points, seven assists, and five rebounds on an unsuspecting New Jersey team and a surprised world, Wu was just as shocked as anybody.

“I was ecstatic. I was going nuts in my own living room,” Wu said. “It’s amazing what he did that game. I was texting him every five minutes saying, ‘This is crazy. This is nuts.’ I was shell-shocked.”

The amazement hardly subsided when the final whistle blew.

“Watching the highlights come up, everyone was talking about Jeremy Lin, and it was so surreal,” Wu said. “I couldn’t really believe this was happening. But I knew this was real, because we all knew he was capable of this. That’s his game.”

Halfway across the country, in Indianapolis, Ho was at an NFL party on the night before the Super Bowl and could not watch the Knicks game. When he saw someone at the party scanning NBA scores on his smartphone, Ho leaned over to ask how Lin was doing.

“He said, ‘He’s doing pretty well. He’s scored 19 points so far,’” Ho remembered. “When he said that, my eyes lit up. I was…screaming and jumping around. People thought I was crazy, psychotic. I was beyond thrilled.”

That night, Ho gave Lin a call and learned that the newest NBA hit was just as shocked as his two friends.

“He was extremely happy,” Ho said. “He was overwhelmed with everything at that time.”

Two nights after Lin’s breakout against the Nets, he got his first opportunity as a starter against the Jazz. Once again, he exceeded expectations, piling up 28 points and eight assists to secure his spot in the lineup.

But following the contest, it would be hard to tell that Lin’s life had changed irrevocably. He did not go out partying; he did not seek out media attention; and he declined to spend time with the celebrities who wanted to meet the new sensation.

Instead, Lin met with Ho and Wu, as he had done all through college. The three chatted outside of a Papaya Dog take-out restaurant until the wee hours of the morning—not about the fact that Lin was quickly taking the world by storm, but about Ho’s work with the NFL in China.

It was typical Lin, his friends said.

“It was never about him. The last thing he wanted to talk about was basketball or himself,” Wu said. “He wanted to hear about us.”

When Lee called Lin, he noticed, “Nothing’s changed. Our relationship is still very much the same. If I was living under a rock, I would have no idea this was going on by talking to him.”

Lin is changing the attitude on the Knicks—in New York, in Asia, maybe even the whole world. But the world seems not to have changed Lin a bit.

“Who you see in the media, the interviews, is Jeremy Lin,” Wu said. “This is who he is.”

Senior Quincy Acy led the Bears in scoring with 14 points. Freshman Quincy Miller recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Brady Heslip added 13 points on 50 percent shooting.

“We’ve had some great games with K-State the last couple of years. This was just like the last one up at their place. The difference is we ended up on the losing end,” head coach Scott Drew said after the game.

Wildcat Freshman Angel Rodriguez finished with 15 points and six assists. This was a big improvement over his previous performance against Kansas where he shot 0-8 from the field and had seven turnovers. Junior Rodney McGruder also finished with 15 points.

“We’ve been in the same situation 5 times in conference play and we’ve come on the short end all five times,” Kansas State head coach Frank Martin said. “The thing I was the proudest of is that even though we missed some shots coming down the stretch there, outside of the Pierre Jackson 3, our defense was rock solid.”

With time winding down in the second half, Pierre Jackson drove the lane with the Bears down by one. He dumped the ball off to Quincy Miller in the post, but Miller was unable to finish over the tough Kansas State defense.

“I like any of our players. I have faith in all of my teammates to make the final shot,” Heslip said. “I’ll take any of them any day to shoot that shot.”

Baylor started each half with energy. They managed to score with ease, but Kansas State recovered each time to tie or take the lead. The Wildcats finished the first half on a 19-8 run.

“That’s been something we’ve needed to work on all season. We get big leads and then we let teams back in, so we just have to get better with that,” Acy said.

Losing the turnover battle also hurt the Bears. In the previous meeting with Kansas State, the Wildcats turned the ball over 20 times to Baylor’s 18. Early pressure by Baylor forced Kansas State to turn the ball over 7 times in the first 9 minutes. The Wildcats were able to make adjustments and finish the game with 13 turnovers. The Bears finished with 18.

“18 turnovers is by far too many, and that really hurt us,” Drew said.

Kansas State scored 18 points off of Baylor turnovers.

The Bears will travel to Austin on Monday to take on the Texas Longhorns. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. at the Frank Irwin Center.

In the intervening 20 hours, Beilein passed out doughnuts to the Maize Rage at sunrise, attended ESPN’s College GameDay, dispensed interviews, took his team through its walkthrough, and for dessert, beat archrival Ohio State.

In front of a packed Crisler Center crowd and a nationally televised audience on Saturday night, the Wolverines led throughout and stormed to a perfect 15-0 home record with a 56-51 victory.

“To walk into that arena today was a bit moving,” Beilein said. “I felt it wasn’t just a rivalry game. It was contending for a Big Ten championship. I thought it was special.”

Freshman guard Trey Burke overcame stingy defense from Buckeye guard Aaron Craft to put up one of his most spectacular performances, scoring 17 points and adding five assists. Though Craft limited Burke in the half-court, the freshman found other ways to lift the Wolverines.

Burke’s electrifying assists, layups in transition, and clutch basket with 11 seconds to go helped Michigan overcome the team that pounded the Wolverines by 15 in Burke’s hometown Columbus just three weeks ago.

His childhood best friend, Jared Sullinger, along with forward Deshaun Thomas did what they could to bring Ohio State back. The forwards accounted for almost all of the Buckeyes’ offense, but the comeback attempt fell short.

Sophomore forward Tim Hardaway Jr. continued his emergence down the stretch of the Big Ten season after bricking his way through the first two-thirds of the conference schedule. He made four of five shots and swished both of his 3-point tries, finishing with 13 points.

In the first half, Ohio State didn’t make a 3-pointer, and when the team tried to take it to the basket, it often found itself called for an offensive foul. The Buckeyes finished the game 3-for-16 from behind the arc and were called for five charges.

“We knew that a couple of their players go to the rack hard, attack the rack really hard,” Burke said. “We knew that if we could step over and take a charge, then the game would go in our favor.”

Craft drew one of the charging fouls, and was forced to sit for the last four minutes of the half. Meanwhile, Burke found Buckeye freshman Shannon Scott guarding him and took advantage. He penetrated and kicked it out to senior guard Stu Douglass for a 3-pointer, he drove the baseline and drew a foul on Scott and he buried a step-back jumper from the free throw line two possessions later.

That field goal gave Michigan a 25-18 lead, but a layup just before the buzzer from Thomas cut the Wolverine lead to five at the half. It was Ohio State’s lowest-scoring first half of the season.

Michigan emerged from the locker room with some flash.

On a fast break early in the second half, Burke completed a smooth, one-handed bounce pass to a streaking Jordan Morgan, who finished with the left-handed flush.

Two possessions later, Burke spiked another bounce pass to Morgan, the redshirt sophomore center, in transition. Craft tried to kick out his leg to stop the ball and the Michigan break, but Morgan picked up the ball and created a mirror-image replay of his previous dunk on the right side.

“Craft is such a tricky defender,” Burke said. “I kind of looked him off with my eyes, and just gunned it in there. I knew Jordan was going to run for me. After the first dunk he got, I knew he was going to continue to run for me and I was going to be able to get him the ball.”

Morgan finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds to give him his first-career double-double, against one of the top big men in the country, nonetheless.

Thomas did all he could to keep the Buckyes within shouting distance. He put up eight points and seven rebounds in the first half, and then scored the first ten Ohio State points in the second half. Thomas had already recorded a double-double just minutes into the second half and finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds — both were game-highs.

Sullinger also began to come alive, scoring six straight points to cut the Michigan lead to four.

Ohio State whittled the lead to three, and appeared to have a chance at tying the game when forward Lenzelle Smith Jr. drove into the lane and made a bank shot, knocking over Morgan. Once again, the Buckeyes were called for a charge and Douglass capitalized on the other end with a fadeaway jump shot with the shot clock expiring.

The next possession, the other senior guard, Zack Novak, also drained a jumper late in the shot clock to put Michigan up five.

“When the shot clock goes down and you find the ball in your hands, you’ve got to make a big play,” Douglass said. “And if Zack and I don’t hit those shots, we don’t come out of here with a win. Plays aren’t drawn up for us, but you’ve got to make big shots sometimes when things are going crazy.”

Another Burke drive from the left side here, a travel call on Ohio State there, and Michigan found itself up 54-49 with under a minute left. Craft made two free throws to cut the lead to three and the Buckeyes needed a stop to have a chance to tie.

Burke didn’t give it to them.

“I was waiting to call that timeout and I just saw some space there,” Beilein said. “And we just decided to go with it, thinking that I think we know what to do up three with ten seconds to go, nine seconds to go.”

Burke took Craft off the dribble, went to his right, put it high off the glass and gave Michigan its first victory in seven tries against the Buckeyes.

“I just told the team that we were not going to lose this game,” Burke said. “We’re undefeated at home, we knew we had to protect the house, the whole team was down with it that we weren’t going to lose this game.”

They didn’t and John Beilein can finally go to sleep.

After Jeremy Lin’s clutch buzzer beater in Toronto on Tuesday night, the Knicks were gel-lin (cheap, I know, but it’s too tempting) on Wednesday, capturing a 100-85 win over the Sacramento Kings in front of a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden. With seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Knicks had a 30-point lead, but the fans, gripped by Linsanity, were still glued to their seats.

Tonight was a true illustration of what Lin has been saying repeatedly since he burst on the scene: success is a team effort. But that’s not to say the former Harvard standout didn’t do his part, as he dished out a barrage of alley-oops and Nash-like passes to his teammates in the first five minutes en route to a 25-17 New York lead after one quarter.

New York never looked back and by half time, the Knicks (15-15) had managed to extend the lead to 18 points over the lifeless Kings (10-19). Seven different Knicks tallied at least 10 points, and in an impressive display of depth, the bench added 39. The Kings struggled to guard the plethora of options Lin had at his disposal.

While tonight’s action may not have had the nail-biting finish of last night’s game against Toronto, Lin played an effective game. Shooting four for six from the field, scoring 10 points, and dishing out a career-high13 assists, Lin earned a double-double on the way to the dominant victory and the continuation of his undefeated status as a starter. He also showed some impressive displays of defensive grit when he stood strong to take a charge early in the first quarter and wrestled with Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins in order to earn a jump ball and a change of possession.

However, Lin also turned the ball over six times. Though that’s better than his eight the previous night, turnovers remains an issue for the point guard.

Meanwhile, naysayers who claimed Lin would be relegated when the other Knicks stars returned to the lineup were silenced for at least the time being. Amare Stoudemire fit well into the Lin-led system, fighting his way to 11 points and five rebounds and keeping the ball moving in a display of unselfish play.

Fields and Chandler also added strong physical play on the defensive end to back the team’s high-paced offense.

There still remains the question of how Carmelo Anthony will fit into Lin’s offense when he returns from injury, but Knick superfan Spike Lee seems to have no concerns. When one Knicks fan tweeted, “if Melo’s return slows down #linsanity , knicks fans will be calling for his head,” Lee responded, “This Will Not Happen. Melo Is Cool”.

But tonight’s win should be taken at face value. A victory over the Sacramento Kings should hardly be something that is sensational. With home games against the tough Mavericks and Hawks and an away tilt against the Heat on the horizon, Lin and company will need to continue their strong, unselfish play to stay on their winning streak.

For me, one play from the sea of awesome Lin assists characterizes the night. Lin drove towards the basket with :04 left on the clock for the first half. After successfully weaving through defenders, he dished a perfect no look pass to Tyson Chandler who dunked the ball as time expired. And it is this simple and unselfish play by the Knicks that’s earning them win after win. #Linning.

Not even the likes of Homer and George Lucas, creators of some of the most famous archetypal heroes, could have scripted Harvard grad Jeremy Lin’s ascent and performance Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors. Hero rises as the underdog, struggles initially, gets hurt, but ultimately prevails. As cliché as it might sound, that’s exactly how New York Knicks starting point guard Jeremy Lin’s night went.

Lin finished with an impressive stat line of 27 points, 11 assists, two rebounds, and a steal in 43 minutes. But what he, and all basketball fans, will remember most about Tuesday’s game are the last three seconds.  After an offensive rebound gave New York possession with the game tied at 87 with 20 seconds left, the ball went straight to Lin about 40 feet from the basket.  There was never any doubt about who would be taking the last shot as Lin drained the clock to three seconds, crept up to the three-point line, and drilled a 25-foot three pointer right in the face of Raptors guard Jose Calderon. The game-winner capped off a 24-12 fourth quarter in favor of the Knicks, who have now won six in a row with Lin at the helm.

His team down five points with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Lin was seen going to the sideline to be treated for a bloody cut on his arm following a costly turnover. Whatever they did or said on the sideline must have worked—55 seconds later, Lin drove to the basket and converted an impressive floater over Raptors center Amir Johnson while being fouled and falling to his back.  Lin then hit the pivotal go-ahead free throw. Call it fearlessness or a short-memory, but Lin’s drive to basket ignited the Knicks just in time to pull out the victory.

With his shifty drives, confident shooting, and impressive court vision, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni seems to have found an aggressive and smart point-guard to lead his high-scoring offense.  At least Spike Lee, who has become the Knicks unofficial mascot, surely thinks so.

@SpikeLee: “When Will The World Understand Jeremy Lin Is A Baller?Is There Still Any Doubt.Da Orange And Blue Are Going For The Ring.Don’t Sleep.Ya-Dig?”

But back to reality. The Knicks (14-15) still needed a last second three-pointer to beat the lowly Raptors (9-21), who were missing their 2006 first overall pick and leading scorer Andrea Bargnani. And Lin still needs to improve on ball security (eight turnovers against the Raptors) as well as his 61% free-throw percentage over the past two one-possession games. Lin set the record for most turnovers by a player in his first five starts.

And that comes one day after boxer (and now criminal) Floyd “Money” Mayweather tweeted,

“Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

With all due respect, “Money,” it’s actually because as an undrafted free agent on his third team, Lin set the record Tuesday night for most points scored over a player’s first five career starts in the NBA. And that includes all races.

We can only hope that Lin’s electrifying streak will continue, if not for basketball’s sake then at least to see how many more puns “Linsanity” will create.  But in the end, Spike Lee will always say it best:

@SpikeLee: “Jeremy” I Got Dem Brotha’s Stumb-Lin And Bumb-Lin-MUMB-LIN TOO. HEE HEE HEE”

WVU announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with the two pending civil actions in West Virginia and Rhode Island to officially begin full membership in the Big 12 Conference in July.

“I would like to emphasize how excited we are as an institution, not just as an athletic department,” said WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck. “The member institutions are much like us.”

WVU President James P. Clements said the move will help shape the future direction of the University.

“We are in great company in the Big 12, joining a group of world-class research universities – many of them large public land-grant flagship institutions like WVU,” Clements said. “Our partnership with the Big 12 is an investment in WVU’s future. We’re looking forward to the tremendous opportunities it presents all across our University.”

The financial details of the settlement between West Virginia and the Big East were not disclosed, but multiple reports claimed it totaled near $20 million.

WVU has already paid half of the required $5 million exit fee.

Luck said the move to the Big 12 will establish firm financial footing for the University’s athletic department for years to come with the annual Big 12television payout currently totaling between $18 and $19 million.

“It’s a very healthy television payout, and it’s important we maintain our self-sufficient status,” Luck said. “I think with our move to the Big 12, we’ll be in excellent position to do so.”

Luck said that while WVU will be a full member of the conference, it will enter with a prorated payout for the first three years and will receive 50 percent in the first year, 67 percent in the second year and 87 percent in the third year.

The Big 12 recently signed a 13-year, $1.17 billion television contract with Fox and an 8-year, $480 million deal with ESPN /ABC.

“We will be in very strong financial shape through the first couple years as well as when we get into years three and four and see the full payout,” Luck said.

Luck said that all sports, with the exception of men’s soccer and rifle, will begin competing in the Big 12 next year.

The rifle team will continue to compete in the Great American Rifle Conference, while men’s soccer is exploring options as the Big 12 does not sponsor the sport.

The athletic department is now obligated to add a men’s sport, but Luck said it won’t happen until at least 2013.

“We are looking at a handful of sports which at one point were sponsored by our athletic department,” Luck said. “We haven’t made any decision to which sport will be added nor when it will be added.”

Men’s tennis, men’s golf, and men’s track and field are being considered.

WVU announced on Oct. 28, 2011 that it would become full members of the Big 12 on July 1, despite the required 27- month waiting period required by Big East bylaws.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto, who has been adamant to not allow West Virginia to leave the Big East early, announced Tuesday that the Big East Board of Directors had voted to terminate West Virginia’s membership effective June 30, 2012.

The Big 12 released its television schedule just after West Virginia announced its settlement with the Big East.

For the first time since 1942, West Virginia will not play rival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.

Luck said he has a close relationship with Pittsburgh Athletic Director Steve Pedersen, and that it’s a possibility the two would talk about a future non-conference game.

“We had a great legal team. Our administration was extraordinarily supportive of our inclusion in the Big 12. As a University, it was an absolutely solid move for us as a financial perspective, from an academic perspective, from a research perspective and from an athletic perspective,” Luck said.

“I think we all decided that we weren’t going to waver one bit. We were going to see this through because at the end of this day it’s a tremendous move for West Virginia University.”

It might be the soft spot in my heart for small guards who get overlooked (see: Nash, Steve) or it might just because I like watching good basketball.

But I can not get enough of Lin in my life.

His elegant cuts to the hoops through multiple defenders that culminate with a crafty lay-up or a pass to an open teammate are a godsend for a New York franchise, which has been downtrodden as of late.

After Knicks fans have suffered through watching the likes of Toney Douglas and Nate Robinson, Lin has essentially been a godsend.

People highlight his race more than anything, as he is the first American player to be of Chinese or Taiwanese decent, but it’s more than just that.

He’s such a crafty player, but not in the sense of what we are used to. Superstars in this league have a plethora of moves that can go to and string together to attack the hoop.

Lin, on the other hand, has only a handful of moves but uses just one or two per possession to create open space for himself and his teammates.

He’s not a good shooter in any sense of the word, but he uses his jumpshot effectively enough that teams have to respect it, unlike some other point guards in the NBA (see: Rondo, Rajon).

However, the days of his steady production may be short-lived with the returns of both Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire on the horizon.

Nonetheless, I think Lin can flourish with the return of Stoudemire as both of them can effectively use the pick-and-roll to get open looks.

Lin does turn the ball over more than Knicks fans would like, but what he did to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers should more than cement his place in New York folklore.

In case you missed it, he dropped 38 points and seven assists on 13-23 shooting. I don’t know how you can’t love a guy who went from sleeping on a couch to tearing up Madison Square Garden on the daily.

Lin has single handedly made basketball in New York relevant again and I applaud what he has accomplished in a short span of time.

He has seemingly broken color lines with the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders and I could not be happier for him.

But seriously, can Lin keep up this level of play?

Some of you may remember Ronald Murray (better known as “Flip”) who played for the Sonics from 2002-2005.

He reminds me a whole lot of Lin.

Murray came in after Ray Allen got injured and flourished for 10 games, the dude seriously could not be slowed down by anyone in the league.

He rolled off nine games with at least 20 points during that stretch and then faded right back to mediocrity after Allen returned to the line-up.

I hope all the best for Lin, because he has been nothing short of Lincredible. But, I also know how basketball works and all of this could be a figment of our imagination.

Linception, anyone?

Insert the new spark plug of the New York Knicks: Jeremy Lin. The six-foot-three point guard continues to impress, leading the Knicks to five-straight wins and scoring 134 points in his first four career starts. Lin is the only player in the NBA who has at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his four starts. He also scored 32 points in the first 22 games.

“Linsanity” may be the answer for fans craving a new hero, but should his emergence be a surprise? Yes and no.

Lin graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in economics, and he was also a tremendous basketball player. In his junior year, he was the only NCAA Division I men’s basketball player who ranked in the top 10 in his conference for scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and four other categories. Lin also was a consensus selection for All-Ivy League First Team.

In his senior year, he averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists and was again a selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He was one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award and was one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. Even Kansas’ starting point guard Tyshawn Taylor isn’t a finalist for the Cousy Award this year.

Even though Lin had a successful college campaign, he was not selected in the NBA draft. Lin and other undrafted players had to impress organizations in the 2010 NBA Summer League, and several have been successful in their NBA careers.

Ben Wallace, center of the Detroit Pistons, is one of two players who has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times. Bruce Bowen, small forward of the San Antonio Spurs from 2001 to 2009, was named to eight-consecutive NBA All-Defensive teams and won three titles.

Being an undrafted player may not be rare, but a Harvard graduate playing in the NBA is a different story.

If Harvard held an alumni game for its former basketball players who went on to play in the NBA, it would be a game of two-on-two. The list only consists of four players: Lin, Edward Smith, Saul Mariaschin and Wyndol Gray. Lin is the first Harvard graduate to play in the NBA since 1954.

Even if drafted, Lin would have been the first Ivy Leaguer selected since Jerome Allen of Penn in 1995. The last Ivy Leaguer to play in the NBA was Yale’s Chris Dudley in 2003.

Still, many rally behind Lin for a different reason. Lin, an Asian-American, is the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA. Yao Ming, retired center of the Houston Rockets from 2002 to 2011, is one of China’s best-known athletes. Lin may not be a seven-foot-six center, but as an Asian-American, he is developing into the next big thing.

The NBA advertisements kept saying “BIG things are coming,” but the league didn’t know they were talking about Lin.

But let’s be realistic, as good as he has been, the media attention he is receiving is directly fueled by the need for New York to be relevant in all sports — especially in basketball.

If Lin were balling out in, say, Portland, Ore., would the effect be the same?

Before Lin came along, the Knicks hadn’t been relevant since the Patrick Ewing era. Even after they acquired the superstar tandem of Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, the brooms of rabid Boston fans swept them out of the NBA playoffs in the first round last year.

And before Lin became a rock star this month, the Knickerbockers sat seven games under .500, with their fan base wondering if a quality basketball team would ever call Madison Square Garden, one of the most famous sporting venues in the world, home again.

Now, he’s the hero of basketball, the next great American underdog story, the next, dare I say it, Tim Tebow hype machine.

I hold nothing against either Tebow or Lin; they both seem like upstanding citizens (although Tiger Woods showed that athletes aren’t always who they appear to be), but I can’t stand the hype media outlets pump out about their play.

Lin has received major playing time in such a small number of games that it is impossible to know how he will play over the course of an NBA career,

And if you check out Lin’s statistics, he really hasn’t been as good as billed. He does most of his scoring in the paint and is not a great three-point shooter, making just three of 17 shots from beyond the arc during his five-game miracle stretch.

And while the New York media made a big deal about his 38-point outburst against the nationally feared and overrated Los Angeles Lakers, an impressive feat nonetheless,, they forgot to mention that the Lakers are a terrible road team this season (5-10 record) and that the main man responsible for guarding Lin was a well past his prime, 37-year old Derrick Fisher.

So if you want to buy into the hype, go ahead, I’m not going to stop you. It’s a good story, and 15 years down the road there will probably be a Disney movie made about Lin. But let’s wait and see if he can continue to play this well throughout a season before campaigning to give him a spot in the NBA All-Star Game.

The main key to the victory was that the shots were falling for the Bears. Baylor shot 60 percent in the game including 21 of 29 in the second half. A big part of this was shot selection. The Bears shot 15 of 16 in the paint in the second half alone

“Shooting 72 percent in the second half, that was outstanding,” head coach Scott Drew said. “When you make shots, it makes everything go better.”

Jones III opened the game with four quick points. These points, two of which came from the free-throw line, were important for him to shake off his recent slump.

“As long as he’s aggressive like that, that’s a good thing. Today he was aggressive. And really, his teammates deserve a lot of credit,” Drew said. “In the last two games, we did have some shots that we missed. Today we made them. That’s coaching for you.”

“The coaching staff and my teammates kept me confident,” Jones III added.

Baylor recorded 24 assists compared to just eight turnovers.

Freshman Quincy Miller finished with 16 points and six assists. This marked his 14th game in double-figure scoring this season.

“At first it was kind of a struggle, but this is how we’re supposed to play,” Miller said about team chemistry.

The Bears forced sophomore Royce White to turn the ball over seven times. White is often the man that creates plays for the Cyclones, so forcing him to make mistakes helped even out his 14 points and five rebounds.

“So many defenses key on him. We just tried to make things difficult tonight,” Drew said. “I thought we did a good job with that and that’s why he had so many turnovers. But he’s one of the best players in the country. A lot of people don’t know about him.”

Senior Anthony Jones came off of the bench and finished with 12 points and five rebounds on five of seven shooting in 25 minutes.

“Me, being a senior, I tried to be out there and be their leader,” Jones said.

“He had great energy. He played very well at Missouri too. [Jones] rebounded well, shot well. Again, this is when you need your leaders to step up,” Drew added.

Jones, along with fellow seniors Quincy Acy and Fred Ellis, helped the Bears win their 92nd game on their watch. This makes them the most successful senior class in program history.

Baylor’s next game is at 12:45 p.m. Saturday against the Kansas State Wildcats at the Ferrell Center.

Sixteen presidents and chancellors met on Sunday in Dallas to discuss the future membership plans.

All sports for each university will be a part of the conference, with the exception of Hawaii which will be a football-only member.

Universities involved in the discussions were the Air Force Academy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Colorado State University, East Carolina University, Fresno State, University of Hawaii, Marshall University, University of Nevada, University of New Mexico, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Rice University, University of Southern Mississippi, University of Texas-El Paso, Tulane University, The University of Tulsa and University of Wyoming.

The discussions currently involve 16 universities, but the new conference will likely consist of somewhere between 18-24 universities.

The conference will likely be broken into two divisions based upon region and will have a championship football game that includes semi-final matchups.

The new conference will span all five time zones.

Day eight and no signs of stopping yet—114 points in that time-span and no hints of slowing down. Three games started and the only thing bigger than the stats of Jeremy Lin on Friday night was the smile on his face after hitting yet another shot.

When the final buzzer sounded and the New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-85, the Madison Square Garden crowd chanted and chanted “MVP”, held up masks of Lin’s face and signs reading “Nothing is Linpossible.” And for the night, that slogan held true for the Harvard alum, as he posted a game-high 38 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and two steals, leading his team to its fourth-consecutive win.

In just the two hours following the win, nine topics relating to Lin trended worldwide, including “Legend in New York [LIN]” and “Super Lintendo”.

“I am really not too worried about proving anything to anybody,” said Lin in his post-game interview. “As a team, we are growing and I think everyone is buying into it and that is why we are becoming more dangerous.”

Modesty aside, his game was nothing short of record-breaking. Lin has scored 89 points in his first three games starting for the Knicks, a number that proves to be the most since the ABA/NBA merger in 1976.

This game was anticipated by many as a test for the second-year guard, who would, for the first time, face one of the league’s leading defenses. The Lakers boast of two seven-footers in their front-line, making their height a formidable challenge for many opponents—but, in this game at least, L.A.’s bigs could not stand as tall as the 6’3 guard, who topped his previous career-high by 10 points.

Prior to the game, when the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant was asked about Lin, the NBA veteran’s response equated to a shoulder shrug and a shake-off of the question: “I know who he is, but I don’t really know what’s going on with him. I don’t even know what he’s done.” After more prodding from reporters, and having acquired Lin’s recent stats, Bryant added: “He’s averaging 28 and eight? No [expletive]. If he’s playing well, I’ll just have to deal with him.”

After tonight’s game, Bryant was a little more complimentary.

“It’s a great story. It’s a testament to perseverance and hard work and a good example for kids everywhere.”

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni agreed with Bryant’s sentiments, emphasizing Lin’s big plays down the stretch.

“What he’s doing is amazing,” said Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni. “He answered a lot of questions tonight. Can he make an outside shot? Can he pull the trigger in a big moment? He hit two 3s that just broke the game open. There’s so much stuff that he’s doing.”

With the Knicks’ website now advertising a new “Lin-Sanity” iPhone app and ESPN finishing a Harvard alumni montage that included the likes of John Adams and JFK with Lin’s smiling face, the entire league is awaiting for his next move. Fans won’t have to wait long, however, as Lin and his Knicks take on the Linnesota Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

The annual Rookie-Sophomore Challenge at the NBA All-Star Game has a new format this year: Teams will be selected by former superstars Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal from a pre-selected group of first and second-year players. With “Linsanity” sweeping the nation, it seems certain that Jeremy Lin ’10 should be one of the first guards picked—but there’s a problem. The Harvard alum wasn’t chosen as a candidate for the game, and, therefore, cannot be selected to play for either team.

As Lin has continued to set record after record this week, the snub seems a bit unfair, at least according to Cheng Ho ’10. Ho, just hours after Lin and his New York Knicks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, created a Facebook event in the hopes of convincing the league to let Lin in on the game.

With less than two weeks left until All-Star Weekend, Ho is pulling out all the stops to get his former classmate into the anticipated frosh-soph matchup.

“If you think J Lin has earned and deserved an invitation, join this event, voice your support, and let’s get him a spot on the squad!” Ho wrote on the event page. “While the roster has been solidified, it’s never too late to try. Together. We have a good chance. J Lin never gave up. We will not either!”

Though it will take work and would be unconventional to add to a solidified roster, it could happen. After all, if we’ve learned anything this week, it would be that nothing is Linpossible.

The loss snapped a 39-game home win streak for OSU and dropped the Buckeyes into a tie atop the Big Ten standings.

The Buckeyes struggled shooting all night and the Spartans found their edge inside, totaling 14 offensive rebounds for the game. OSU’s 48-point output was their lowest of the season.

“I feel fortunate because I think they missed some shots they normally make,” MSU coach Tom Izzo said after the game. “Defensively we were as good as we’ve been all year.”

MSU senior forward Draymond Green and sophomore center Adreian Payne dominated, combining for each of the Spartans’ first 15 points.

It wasn’t until 9:12 remaining in the first half that another MSU player scored a bucket when sophomore Keith Appling hit a 3-pointer to give his team the 18-14 advantage.

OSU went on a 3:46 scoring drought that saw MSU take an 8-point lead in the opening period. Sophomore guard Aaron Craft broke the streak with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer from sophomore forward Jared Sullinger cut the lead to three.

The Spartans continued to have success in the paint. Payne followed an MSU miss with his second tip-slam of the game and Sullinger had the ball poked away on the inside on the other end.

The turnover by Sullinger — his fifth of the game — occurred with OSU trailing 33-25 with under a minute remaining in the half.

An acrobatic layup by Appling gave MSU a 35-25 lead at intermission.

“We looked out of synch,” Sullinger said of the Buckeyes’ first-half performance. “We didn’t run our offense.”

The Buckeyes cut MSU’s lead to four at one point in the second half, but couldn’t get closer.

OSU tried to work the ball into Sullinger down low throughout the final 20 minutes, but the Buckeyes’ big man continued to struggle finding his touch. Sullinger finished the game on 5-of-15 shooting.

The rest of the Buckeyes didn’t fare much better as the team connected on just one of their first nine shots of the half.

OSU head coach Thad Matta said the shots just weren’t falling.

“We opened up the second half. We got the ball at the rim,” Matta said. “We’re getting fouled and it just wasn’t going in.”

The Spartans’ lead swelled to 12, but an alley-oop finished by senior guard William Buford brought the sold-out crowd to its feet and cut the lead to 10 with 14:37 remaining.

After an Appling layup with 11:48 remaining, the Buckeye defense stepped up and MSU was held scoreless for the next six minutes.

Sullinger was able to put in a bucket from the left block and bring OSU’s deficit down to six, 44-38.

He then connected again on a baseline jumper to bring OSU within four, but poor shooting killed any chance of an OSU comeback victory — the Buckeyes shot 26 percent from the floor and 13.3 percent from behind the arc.

A layup by Green and pair of free throws by Appling again put MSU up by double digits and OSU never threatened again.

Sullinger finished the game with 17 points and 16 rebounds, but also had 10 turnovers.

He said MSU’s double team gave him trouble.

“I wasn’t expecting the double because that’s not what Michigan State shows if you look at the film,” Sullinger said. “They had a great game plan and they stick to their system and that’s what happens when you stick to the system.”

Craft added 15 points and was the only other Buckeye to finish in double figures.

Payne was the high scorer for the Spartans finishing with 15 points, hitting all six of his shots.

The loss drops OSU’s record to 21-4 overall and 9-3 in the conference.

Matta said his team needs to move forward.

“It’s got to be a learning experience for a relatively young basketball team,” Matta said. “You’ve got to stay together. You’re still sitting atop the conference. As a I told them, we’ll see what kind of team we have tomorrow.”

OSU next travels to Minnesota where to take on the Golden Gophers Feb. 14. Tip is for 9 p.m.

After winning the first possession on the tip-off, Vandy came out scoring the first bucket to take an early lead, but it switched leads with UK throughout the first 10 minutes of play and continued to go shot-for-shot for the bulk of the second half.

“We need all this,” head coach John Calipari said. “I’d rather be up 23, but this was a good game.”

UK strung together an 8-0 run to widen the margin to lead 18-11 with 8:05 to play in the half after sophomore guard Doron Lamb lobbed to sophomore forward Terrence Jones.

The Cats continued to increase the lead 30-16 with 3:14 to play in the half. Jones led the Cats in the first half with 14 points and five rebounds. He finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Calipari said running the floor in Memorial Gymnasium would be a challenge, but Teague recorded eight points, six assists and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

“All of the sudden he’s transformed into what one of our typical point guard plays like,” Calipari said. “He’s running the team; he’s defending, making layups, making good decisions and getting us in an offense.”

He finished with 13 points, eight assists, four rebounds and one turnover.

The Cats led at haltime 36-23, but Vandy scored an early seven points to close the lead 38-30.

The Commodores continued to close the lead, splashing back-to-back threes, trailing 41-44 with 14:05 left to play.

“They’re a great three-point shooting team and they came out shooting threes,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “They got back in the game, so we knew we had to lock up defensively.”

Each time UK pulled up by a few possessions, Vanderbilt climbed back within reach. The Commodores tied the score at 48-48 with 11:57 to play after going on a 7-0 run.

“We just needed a game where we had to fight,” Teague said. “This was a good game for us to build up on our experience.”

The Cats have a week-long break before playing Ole Miss at Rupp Arena on Feb. 18., but Calipari said the team approaches home games the same way they approach games on the road.

“This was another game for us. We didn’t play this any bigger than any other game,” Calipari said. “We handled this exactly like we (have) and exactly like we’ll handle our game this weekend against Mississippi.

The university requested the waiver as a result of the men’s basketball team’s Academic Progress Rate scores, which fell below the new minimum standards that were implemented by the NCAA this past October. UConn will appeal the decision.

Because the school’s APR scores fall below the minimum standard, UConn will be ineligible for the 2013 postseason unless the decision is overturned on appeal. UConn could also become eligible if the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance votes to allow schools to use the most recent possible APR scores available at its next meeting on Feb. 20.

In that scenario, UConn would be able to use its APR scores from 2010-11 and 2011-12 instead of 2009-10 and 2010-11. UConn’s APR scores from those years would meet the minimum standards to be eligible for the 2013 postseason.

The minimum standards passed in October dictate that a school must have a four-year rolling APR average score of 900 or an average of 930 between 2009-10 and 2010-11. In 2009-10, UConn’s APR score was a dismal 826, which caused the school to fall short of both marks. The 2010-11 score is reportedly around 975, and the school has indicated that the academics of this year’s team has improved greatly as well.

Here is the university’s statement in its entirety.

—

The University of Connecticut was informed on Friday by the NCAA that its waiver request to participate in men’s basketball postseason competition for the 2012-13 season, including the 2013 NCAA Tournament, has been denied.

Connecticut will now appeal the decision to the NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance Subcommittee on Appeals.

The waiver was submitted to the NCAA as a result of the UConn men’s basketball team’s performance in the Academic Progress Rate (APR).

“We are deeply disappointed that our request for a waiver was denied, but we look forward to continuing in the process,” said UConn President Susan Herbst. “We continue to believe that we have made a very compelling case in our waiver to the NCAA and we are pleased with the recent outstanding academic success of our men’s basketball student-athletes.

“I want to be clear that during my entire career as a scholar and a teacher, I have been in full support of high academic standards in collegiate athletics. However, in this case, there are good students who could be penalized for the problematic behavior of students who have not been enrolled for years.

“Educators and parents need to do what is right for their students, and not allow them to be caught in the dynamics of public relations.”

“Well, two years got vacated,” Calipari said to start the day’s press conference, “so I’m 51.”

Calipari had been asked about how undergoing the rigors of running the UK program had aged him. He got around to that after his opening quip.

“There’s bumps in the road, and this thing’s all over you, you need to step away from it,” Calipari said. “I haven’t had a whole lot of time to do that.”

Calipari said he’s enjoying himself at the program and mentioned the lengths UK goes to connect with the fans.

“We’ve been as transparent as we can for everybody, because everybody wants to be a part of it,” Calipari said. “This is one of those programs, you can’t go in that office and hide. Just not something you can do here.”

Lin-ning and grinning. Lin-tensity. Lin-ning streak.

We’ve heard all the nicknames and wordplay, but none captures the hype surrounding Jeremy Lin better than Lin-sanity. Sports fans around the nation—and especially in New York—have a huge case of it, and it’s pretty clear why.

Before the season started, huge expectations were placed on a team that features two NBA All-Stars and a defending NBA champion center. The Knicks were supposed to vie for one of the top spots in the Eastern Conference and make a big run in the playoffs, but for the first 23 games, New York fans watched incredulously as their team moved into 10th place and lacked the chemistry needed to win it all. Critics blamed it all on the lack of a true point guard, and though rookie Iman Shumpert played well at the one spot in his first few starts, Shumpert was not consistent and exposed his tendency for playing as a combo guard.

New York coach Mike D’Antoni had already tried Toney Douglas, but he was clearly not the answer. D’Antoni also gave veteran Mike Bibby a try, but he couldn’t get a fluid offense going. The Knicks then signed former All-Star Baron Davis, hoping that once back from a herniated disc injury, he could save the team from a losing season. New York also picked up Lin off of waivers in December to reinforce an inconsistent backcourt, but the second-year player was primarily kept on the bench, and in his limited time on the court, Lin didn’t do so well, to say the least.

Over a month passed since then—a period that saw Lin briefly go to the D-League—and Knicks fans had begun clamoring for D’Antoni’s head and hoping for Davis to speed up his recovery. Last week, New York entered its only back-to-back-to-back series of the shortened season, and many analysts expected D’Antoni’s head to roll if the Knicks did not grab at least one win from either the Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, or the New Jersey Nets.

Two losses later, the Knicks hosted the Nets at Madison Square Garden, and D’Antoni needed to throw a Hail Mary. And so, D’Antoni gave Jeremy Lin a shot, and we have all been witnesses to Lin did to Deron Williams and the Nets, Devin Harris and the Utah Jazz, and John Wall and the Washington Wizards.

Lin may not have only saved D’Antoni’s job for now but his as well. The former Harvard guard played well just in time for his contract to become guaranteed for the rest of the season. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports radio affiliate 95.7 The Game, Lin stated that the general manager told him Wednesday that his contract was guaranteed, admitting the news was “a sigh of relief.” Lin did not disappoint later that night with a 23-point, 10-assist outing, despite the fact that the Knicks were still missing key players Carmelo Anthony (groin injury) and Amare Stoudemire (death in the family).

As Bill Simmons pointed out on Twitter earlier today, Lin is currently second in all of basketball in the player efficiency ratings, right behind none other than LeBron James. In his 12 games played, Lin is posting a PER of 26.83, .23 better than NBA All-Star Kevin Durant. With his improved play and the impressive stats, there are people already thinking about Lin’s future and how the Knicks should try to keep him.

Had D’Antoni not given Lin the opportunity, the former Crimson standout may have faced a similar fate as he did with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets—both teams waived Lin to make space in hopes of signing a center. Now Rockets GM Daryl Morey is lamenting his decision to cut Lin, stating on Twitter that “we should have kept @jlin7. Did not know he was this good. Anyone who says they knew misleading U [sic].”

Another person who can’t be too happy is Wizards coach Randy Wittman, whose son, Ryan, used to play against Lin on the Cornell men’s basketball team. After the game last night, Ryan texted his father, joking how he and his Cornell teammates did a better job containing Lin than the multi-millionaires on the Washington team did.

While some are realizing their regret and pain, several others are rejoicing the emergence of the newest Knicks star. As described by The Post Game, the Asian-American community is excited to see the first Taiwanese-American player in the NBA thriving on one of the league’s biggest stages. The last time a player of Asian descent generated so much buzz came in 2002, when Yao Ming arrived in the NBA.

The NY Knicks Store is capitalizing on Lin’s breakout performances as well, sending out emails with the subject, “Pre-Order Your Jeremy Lin #17 Jerseys!” It’s a smart idea, especially since Knicks fans have chanted M-V-P to their new hero in the past two home games. Other T-shirt makers, like this one, also plan on reaping in the benefits.

Even though all these people and companies are happy with Lin’s success, no person can be happier than D’Antoni. He finally has a point guard who in three games has demonstrated that he can run the pick-and-roll, and that is what D’Antoni’s offensive system is all about. As The Back Page pointed out in December, Lin is efficient at scoring but can set up his teammates for the easy PNR. Center Tyson Chandler has found a new best friend in Lin, who is very good at sending passes Chandler’s way for the easy finish. The chemistry is so apparent that Madison Square Garden commentator and NBA Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier always states how Chandler will be “taking [Lin] out to dinner soon.”

There is little doubt that Lin’s pick-and-roll should also work with Stoudemire, who is notorious for finishing those types of plays. What will be interesting to see is how Lin coexists with Anthony’s tendency to take over the ball and act as a forward-point guard. Apart from the two absentee stars, Lin has been playing well with the rest of his teammates, setting up open three-point opportunities to Steve Novak and helping Landy Fields, with whom Lin has developed a dorky handshake, take good shots.

Has D’Antoni found his new Steve Nash? It remains to be seen, though Nash himself is liking what he’s seeing. After three games, some, like Jalen Rose, are buying in to the hype, while others, like Stephen A. Smith, are still wary about the young point guard. But one thing is clear: Lin-sanity has hit the nation hard, and it’s showing no signs of letting up.

Amongst the penalties proposed is reducing the number of games it will play next season. The school is currently barred from the 2013 tournament due to low academic progress rate scores. The reduction would total four games, according to a statement from associate director of athletics, Mike Enright. Under normal NCAA rules, the Huskies would play 27 regular season games and a three-game preseason tournament. Under the proposal, UConn would play 26 total games in the regular season instead of 30. So the Huskies would schedule 23 games and the three-game Paradise Jam.

“We believe that we have made a very compelling case to the NCAA and will be deeply disappointed if our request for a waiver, from the 2013 men’s basketball postseason ban, is denied,” said President Susan Herbst in a statement. “Our team’s academic performance improved tremendously in 2010-11, and in the fall 2011 semester. We developed a new long-term academic plan for our team, and it has already shown positive results.”

UConn would also forfeit Big East profits they would earn for participating in the national tournament as well as preventing coach Jim Calhoun from meeting with recruits off-campus during the fall of 2012. UConn, who applied for a waiver last month from the new rule approved in the fall of 2011 that would bar them from playing in the postseason, hopes the current players aren’t penalized due to APR shortcomings by previous teams.

“It is unfortunate that our current men’s basketball student-athletes could be punished for the problematic academic performance of other students — students who have not been enrolled at UConn for over two years,” Herbst said in the statement. “That decision would be unfair to innocent young people, which is baffling to us. Regulatory bodies should not change rules retroactively. The NCAA should focus on the future, so that people have the chance to work toward positive change. They should not dredge up the past, and then hurt innocent parties of the present..”

“On a personal level, and as an educator, I would be very sorry to see such harsh punishment of the outstanding young men on our current basketball team,” Herbst continued. “I believe that it would be wrong to punish these students, caught in the fallout from a sudden passage of new rules – rules that did not exist when they enrolled at UConn. That would be a fundamental injustice to our team and to our university.”

According to the AP, UConn also said exhibition games would be eliminated from the schedule and all hours that would be spent on the basketball court would be dedicated to school work, including extra study halls, tutor sessions and adviser meetings. The AP also reported that Calhoun and a current or former NBA player would travel to “inner-city” schools for five academic importance sessions.”

“My thanks go out to so many wonderful professionals at UConn who have made great strides in our academic approach over the past few years, as well as to our students, whom we treasure, along with our dedicated faculty and coaches. And I cannot think of many people in this world who have improved the lives of young men more profoundly than Jim Calhoun, our Hall of Fame coach, and highly-valued member of this university community.”

The leaders for the Bears were junior Pierre Jackson and senior Quincy Acy with 16 and 11 points respectively. Acy also tallied 10 rebounds and recorded his 15th career double-double.

The Bears started the game strong on both ends of the floor. Their full court press forced Kansas to turn the ball over four times in the first five minutes. Kansas had a tough time dealing with Baylor’s double team in the post.

“The first 12 minutes, that was ugly,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “I mean that was some ugly ball.”

On the offensive end, Baylor was winning the battle in the paint. Easy baskets were falling, and Baylor had a 10-point lead with nine minutes left in the first half.

Kansas was eventually able to stretch the floor and get the looks they wanted. A run of its own would tie the game, and the teams would go back and forth until half time, when Kansas went into the locker room with a 33-30 lead.

“The end of the first half was really a turning point,” said head coach Scott Drew. “We should have finished with momentum and we didn’t.”

Thomas Robinson may have been the focus for the Bears defensively, but it was Jeff Withey that kept the points coming for Kansas. He finished the first half with 17 points on 5-6 shooting. He was also 7-8 from the line and was the only player in double figures at half for either team.

“He was huge tonight. I’m happy for him,” Tyshawn Taylor said.

Thomas Robinson only had four points, and Taylor was only 2-6 from the field going into the locker room for the Jayhawks. Jackson and Acy finished the half with eight points each.

The Bears came out slow in the second half, but the Jayhawks came out firing. A 19-4 run gave the Jayhawks a lead the Bears could not overcome for the rest of the game.

“We just let one mistake lead to two, and they got some easy transition buckets,” Acy said.

Sophomore Perry Jones III finished the game with five points and three rebounds on just 1-8 shooting.

“That was obviously a big blow to them and a big help to us,” Self said about Jones III and Miller’s combined eight points.

The Jayhawks held the Bears to a 0-5 performance from the arc and 36 percent shooting in the second half.

Baylor uncharacteristically shot just 57 percent from the free-throw line and 37 percent from the field. Kansas shot over 50 percent from the field and grabbed more rebounds than the Bears.

Bench play partially made up for the hole that Kansas was digging for the Bears. Sophomore Cory Jefferson finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and three blocks in 23 minutes of play. In the end, however, Baylor couldn’t put together a big enough run to counter the way that the Jayhawks opened the second half.

The Jayhawks (19-5, 9-2) lost to rival Missouri in their last game, but they haven’t lost back-to-back games since the 2005-2006 season.

Baylor (21-3, 8-3) will take on the Big 12–leading Tigers at 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena. The last time Baylor played Missouri, the Tigers took the win at the Ferrell Center 89-88.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Austin Rivers had already played the game of his life on the season’s biggest stage. But the Blue Devils still trailed by two, and the 6-foot-4 freshman stood dribbling on the right wing, guarded by 7-foot senior Tyler Zeller.

Looking first at the clock, then the imposing body in front of him, Rivers subtly jabbed, creating all the space he needed to swish a 3-pointer and give Duke an 85-84 victory over North Carolina at the Dean E. Smith Center.

Although the play was designed for Rivers to attack the lane and attempt to draw a foul, the guard came off Mason Plumlee’s pick and exploited his quickness advantage against Zeller, who could not reach his attempt.

“The team, they had a lot of confidence in me,” Rivers said. “Once Zeller switched I thought ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got Zeller on me.’ I just looked up and saw the time, did my little jab and shot it.”

Rivers finished the game with a career-high 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, with 18 of his points coming from beyond the arc, where he was 6-of-10, as the No. 10 Blue Devils (20-4, 7-2 in the ACC) matched a season high with 14 3-pointers.

The No. 5 Tar Heels (20-4, 7-2), who had led every second of the second half until Rivers’ buzzer-beater dropped, stood shocked in the middle of a silent crowd that had witnessed a 10-point lead vanish in just over two minutes.

“I’ve never seen an arena stunned like that,” Seth Curry said. “It was great. It was quiet as can be. That’s what you want to do when you come into a hostile environment.”

North Carolina had led by as many as 13 points in the second half and consistently held a margin of at least seven for the majority of the period. With 2:38 remaining, Harrison Barnes—who scored 19 of his 25 points in the final 20 minutes—extended the Tar Heel lead to 10 points, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

But, after Ryan Kelly missed a 3-pointer on the next possession, Duke recovered the ball and Tyler Thornton launched it from deep, making the first and only of his six attempts from beyond the arc. 17 seconds later, Mason Plumlee stole the ball from the usually infallible Kendall Marshall.

Moments later, Seth Curry drained a transition 3-pointer to bring the game within four points at the 1:48 mark.

“I thought that shot by Seth was really worth more,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I was shocked by it. He was almost sitting in my lap. He was really far out, and he didn’t have his feet completely set. He just nailed it.”

After Kelly drew a charge on Barnes, forcing another North Carolina turnover, the 6-foot-11 Raleigh native lined up a second consecutive time from deep, only to miss. The long rebound came right to him, and he calmly drilled a pull-up jumper along the baseline, making it 82-80.

Zeller, who finished with 23 points, 19 of which came in the first half, then made one of two free throws leading up to a very strange sequence that placed the Blue Devils down by one with 14 seconds to play. Kelly airballed from deep, and even though he thought he was fouled on the attempt, his effort was rewarded by a stroke of good fortune as Zeller batted the airball into the hoop, bringing the Blue Devils within two.

Thornton fouled Zeller just two seconds later, and the post player made the first of his two attempts, only to miss the second. Mason Plumlee grabbed the rebound and immediately fed Rivers, setting up his last second heroics.

“With three minutes left when everybody thought we were going to lose, we just kept fighting,” Rivers said. “I shot it with confidence and God put the ball in the rim.”

Despite trailing for almost the entire second half, the Blue Devils maintained a small lead for almost all of the first 20 minutes. Barnes made two free throws with 44 seconds remaining, however, to give the Tar Heels a 41-40 lead.

North Carolina entered the locker room at the break with a three-point lead, one they would not surrender until the game’s final seconds.

“It hurts a lot,” Tar Heel forward John Henson said. “We had control of the game the whole time, and they came back – it’s a crazy game.”

Henson and Zeller controlled the paint throughout the entire contest, grabbing 42 rebounds compared to Duke’s 35. Henson received credit for 17 of those, matching a season-high.

The fate of the game, though, rested on Duke’s outside shooting, where its success fluctuated. After going 7-of-17 in the first half, the Blue Devils went cold, going just 4-of-14 at one point in the second half. But, their comeback came as they made three of their last four from deep, giving them just enough to come out on top.

This victory comes as a part of an emotional rollercoaster for Duke, which had come back from a double-digit second-half deficit against Miami at Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday, only to fall in overtime 78-74.

Tonight’s win for Duke, though, ranks among the most dramatic in college basketball’s most storied rivalry, with a freshman playing the lead role.

“To hit a game-winner like that is storybook,” Krzyzewski said. “For me, that’s one of the best ones.”

Memphis marks the fourth school to have been poached from Conference USA as part of the Big East’s revival, product of some of the drastic changes in conference realignment within the past year. The Tigers will join UCF, SMU and Houston in making the move to the automatic-qualifier conference.

Memphis is a natural fit for the basketball-elite Big East, with a program that has been the class of C-USA for some time. Doubts about the Tigers’ ability to join the AQ league predominately were rooted in the school’s weak football program, which has been a bottom-dweller in C-USA as well as the FBS, in general, for the past few years.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto expressed his faith that the Tigers’ football program will rise to the occasion when they make the transition in 2013, and that after meetings with Memphis administrators he believes the program is heading in a positive direction.

The move by Memphis means UCF fans can look forward to more intense matchups between the Knights and Tigers on the hardwood. The past two times the two programs have met at the UCF Arena have come down to the wire, with the Tigers winning a thriller last season and the Knights winning a classic of their own last month, a historic win that saw the students present storm the court.

Reports are circulating that Conference USA, reeling from losing yet another member, is drawing closer to inking and announcing a formal merger with the Mountain West Conference, though nothing is confirmed yet.

Now in his eighth year as head coach of No. 3 Ohio State (20-3, 8-2), Matta’s team finally exercised the demons of the Kohl Center Saturday, defeating No. 20 Wisconsin (18-6, 7-4), 58-52.

It’s also the first time the Buckeyes have won at the Kohl Center at all since January 2000.

“I’m going to state the obvious, it’s a great win because I think when you look at Wisconsin basketball, it has withstood the test of time,” Matta said. “How many times we and a lot of other teams have come in here and gone home without a win, it definitely is a good win for our program.”

The loss dropped Wisconsin to fourth place in the Big Ten and confirmed Ohio State’s position as the conference leader – who otherwise could have been drawn into a tie for first-place had it lost.

Star forward Jared Sullinger led the way for the No. 3 Buckeyes, hitting 8 of 16 shots for 24 points while grabbing 10 rebounds – five offensive.

He was backed up by Deshaun Thomas and William Buford, who scored 16 and 11 points with each earning six rebounds apiece.

Buford, a 43.3 percent field goal shooter heading into Saturday’s contest, had a bit of an off day, 4 of 15 shots. Nevertheless, it was he who Matta turned to late in the game with the lead hanging in the balance.

In less than two minutes time, Wisconsin whittled down Ohio State’s seven-point lead to just one with 3:46 remaining, thanks to a three-point play from Jordan Taylor, two baskets from Ryan Evans and a three-pointer from Mike Bruesewitz.

Bruesewitz’s three brought the Kohl Center audience of 17,230 into a frenzy.

But the Buckeyes then immediately called a timeout and, in the huddle, drew up a play to get the ball in Buford’s hands behind the perimeter.

Ohio State was 0-for-6 from three-point land at the time, but no matter: two possessions later Buford hit the three with 2:47 left and Wisconsin never came within four points again.

It lived on as Ohio State’s only three-pointer on the day.

“It was designed and we felt like, with Jared coming under, (UW guard Josh) Gasser was going to stay home and help and Will came up and… it was a big time shot,” Matta said. “I’ve got great faith in Will.”

Evans lead the Badgers sith 14 points, hitting 7 of 14 shots in the process while Bruesewitz chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor added another 12 while Jared Berggren scored 10.

Despite OSU’s lack of three-point power, the Buckeyes converted 43.1 percent of their field goals Saturday, along with 13 of 16 free throws falling inside the rim. That made it pretty difficult for the Badgers, who shot 40 percent on the day, from catching up.

Wisconsin hit just 5 of 27 three-pointers and earned a mere three attempts from the line. Ohio State cleaned up rebounds as well, topping Wisconsin 32-28.

UW last had the lead with just over four minutes gone at the start of the game but 10 points off turnovers in the first half, compared to OSU’s zero, helped the Badgers keep the deficit between one and four points consistently.

But at that time it was Sullinger who the Buckeyes were riding on. He had 16 points at halftime – on 6-for-8 shooting – and had no fouls to his name. Only two other Buckeyes had scored baskets.

Sullinger was at it from the first possession for OSU, scoring the team’s first nine points.

“At the start of the game, didn’t do a good job of limited his touches; let him get a couple easy ones early and it set the tone from there,” UW forward Jared Berggren said, who spent the majority of the afternoon guarding Sullinger. “A great player like him, once he gets a little bit of confidence, he’s hard to stop.”

“A lot of it came early on, I let him get going and I got to take a little blame, myself.”

Wisconsin eventually lost that points-off-turnovers advantage in the second half with OSU outscoring UW in that regard, 9-5. With threes not falling and players failing to get to the line, Wisconsin’s scoring outlets shrank and Ohio State was able to maintain a lead that fluctuated between four and seven points for the majority of the second half.

Down by one point, Wisconsin earned possession once more just before Buford’s three but Taylor turned it over.

And in the wake of what followed, the Badgers could hardly muster any more offense. The final two and a half minutes saw UW miss two three-pointers and commit two more turnovers.

“I think I had my turnover and then Buford’s three was a pretty key sequence in the game going forward,” Taylor said. “It was kind of a big momentum swing, but we just didn’t execute.”

With 41.3 seconds left and his team trailing 72-71, Taylor stood at the free throw line. The yellow blur of Missouri’s student section boomed and swerved behind the hoop he faced. First attempt: too long, back rim. Second attempt: same fate.

10 seconds left, same score and Taylor darted toward the hoop, seeking the lead once more. Missouri junior guard Michael Dixon planted his left foot, embraced Taylor’s contact and flew backwards and onto the hardwood, drawing a charge and clinching No. 4 Missouri’s 74-71 victory over No. 8 Kansas (18-5, 8-2).

“I feel like I cost us the game,” Taylor said. “That’s a sucky feeling.”

Several Jayhawks and coach Bill Self disagreed with the referee’s charge call on Taylor. A charge requires two planted feet from the defender. When Dixon halted his body to defend Taylor, his right foot slid across the floor. The call was one of many that upset Self and the Jayhawks, who felt that they had the game won but threw it away.

“I was told I don’t want to see the tape,” Self said of the charge call.

Just before Taylor’s missed free throws, Missouri senior guard Marcus Denmon, who finished with 29 points, connected on two deep, contested three-pointers, one from the right elbow, the other from the left corner. Denmon’s heroics led Missouri’s 11-0 run to finish the game.

“He made two threes with his body turned sideways,” Self said. “Those are big time shots.”

In the first frame, Taylor scored 17, half of his team’s points. When Robinson struggled to manage multiple defenders and produce with his back to the basket, Taylor relieved the Jayhawks with fearless attacks to the basket and calm, accurate jump shots.

“He’s damn good,” Self said of Taylor. “He is damn good.”

Yet at the end of the game, Missouri’s pressure rattled Taylor, who turned the ball over twice in the final 1:15.

“We had a lead and we didn’t want to play safe, but we wanted to still try to score,” Taylor said. “We just turned it over.”

After the game, reporters flocked a glossy-eyed Robinson.

“I don’t want to lose anymore,” he said.

But to UK head coach John Calipari and his Cats, the game felt like it was played at Rupp Arena.

“It felt like a home game,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said, “so much blue in the crowd.”

Even before tip-off, “Go Big Blue” chants erupted throughout Colonial Life Arena and a sea of blue flowed into the vacant seats.

“I’m not used to seeing that,” sophomore forward Terrence Jones said. “That was crazy (Saturday).”

UK scored early and often throughout the half, depriving the Gamecocks of any opportunity to close the lead. The Cats led by as manyas 21 after 15 minutes of play.

“We played well at LSU, but not like this,” Calipari said. “This is the best we’ve played.”

The Cats took an early lead with two made free throws by sophomore guard Doron Lamb followed by a steal and dunk by Jones.

“They played outstanding,” USC head coach Darrin Horn said. “They looked like the No. 1 team in the country.”

Lamb tallied his first eight points in less than three minutes of play and finished the game in double figures, along with Jones, Davis and freshman forward Kyle Wiltjer, with 18 points and four rebounds.

“From Kyle (Wiltjer) to Eloy (Vargas), to the other six, every guy played pretty well,” Calipari said.

UK stripped the ball from South Carolina throughout the first half and freshman forward Anthony Davis recorded six blocks in the first 20 minutes. Davis surpassed Shaquille O’Neal to own the SEC freshmen single-season blocks record with 116 blocks.

With just under 14 minutes to play in the first half, two consecutive alley oops by Davis created momentum for the Cats as they led 21-10 with 13:41 to play.

UK continued to hammer South Carolina tossing lobs to Davis and Jones, who both scored in double figures before heading to the locker room for halftime.

“I just think everybody began the game with a lot of energy,” Jones said. “And it just carried over on offense from the defensive side.”

Davis ended the half with 18 points, six rebounds and five blocks while Jones tallied 16 points and three rebounds. Davis ended the game with 22 points, eight rebound and eight blocks. Jones finished with 16 points and six rebounds.

While the Gamecocks kept trying to put a run together to shorten the point margin, they trailed 52-25 at their home court. The Cats’ point margin was 27, making it their largest lead until the second half.

As the game resumed, UK went on a 7-0 run to increase its lead at 25-59 after nearly two minutes of play.

“They seem to have a much better understanding of what they’re trying to do and who can do what,” Horn said. “They move the basketball extremely well. Their execution is better.”

From then on the Cats took the game away, allowing USC five points in over eight minutes of second-half play. South Carolina went nearly five scoreless minutes before making a three-point basket which made the score 71-33 with 9:41 left in the game.

UK scored on nearly every offensive possession it had and limited USC’s possessions by maintaining strength on the boards from Gamecock missed shots.

UK snagged 41 rebounds to end the game, but its defense ultimately shut out the Gamecocks’ penetration.

“I don’t think they get near enough credit for the kind of defensive team that they are,” Horn said. “They’re extremely good on the basketball. They’re very big on the perimeter.”

But Calipari said any of the remaining SEC teams to play in the league (Florida, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Mississippi and Georgia) have a chance to beat the Cats as conference play comes to an end.

“All those teams can beat us,” Calipari said. “Every one of them.”

That’s a scary sentence. The Cats are the nearly unanimous top-ranked team in the nation, have beaten everybody on their schedule except one team, and stand one shot from perfection (which actually is a good thing, as the “will they go undefeated?” chatter” would be heating up right around now).

And they’re just now starting to round into dominant form.

In the past two games, UK has converged on fully realizing its vast potential. The Cats eviscerated LSU on Saturday, then went platinum against Tennessee on Tuesday, 69-44.

Would this be what head coach John Calipari envisioned a few weeks ago when he said, once everything started coming together and the Cats started resolving their few glaring weaknesses, that UK could be “scary” good?

“I would,” he said.

But it wasn’t Anthony Davis, he of the 18 points, eight rebounds and seven turnovers, that Calipari said has been the primary reason for making his team go.

It wasn’t Terrence Jones, he of the 11 points and six rebounds, whose physical play has taken UK up a notch.

It wasn’t Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, he of a quiet 16 points and eight rebounds, either.

Those three players all help immensely, sure. But they don’t get going without the player Calipari said was the crucial component to making the offense click.

It was Marquis Teague, he of nine points, four assists and two turnovers.

“The guy that has the ball, if he’s playing well, you’ve got a chance,” Calipari said. “If he’s not playing well, you have no chance.”

UK had more than a chance against Tennessee. It was the most guaranteed thing I had seen since watching 4 a.m. infomercial promises (and waiting to hear more) on Saturday night. The Cats made their first shot of the game, then another, and then nine more to start the game. They didn’t miss until 11 minutes had elapsed.

While the offense is slowly getting to the point where it can consistently manufacture points, the defense has been a constant shut-it-down entity.

UK held the Volunteers to 28.1 percent shooting, the Volunteers’ worst shooting night of the season. Other than Renaldo Woolridge’s five straight 3-pointers in the first half (he had made one of seven attempts in SEC play before this game), Tennessee was getting rebuffed from every spot on the floor. The Volunteers finished with 44 points, their lowest scoring output of the year.

But for opponents playing UK, it was another night facing the same shredding defense. UK has held three straight opponents to 50 points or less for the first time since 1950-51.

That’s a damn long time.

Between that opening stretch and the full-game defense, UK showed it’s not just the current No. 1 team in the nation. It also has, far and away, the highest ceiling. And the closer March comes, the closer UK comes to getting all the way to the top.

“Coach Cal always says he doesn’t care about winning or losing, he just wants to get better as a team,” Davis said. “If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

Right now, the Cats are doing both. And they’re doing more than jut fine.

The Lowdown

A back-and-forth second half came to its breaking point with 8:04 remaining in the game with the score tied at 53. KU guard Elijah Johnson fouled ISU guard Tyrus McGee on an acrobatic jump shot that went in, and McGee followed it up with a free throw to give Iowa State (15-6, 5-3 Big 12) a three-point lead. Kansas (17-4, 7-1 Big 12) responded with two made jumpers after ISU forward Royce White scored on a pair of layups.

With 1:21 remaining, ISU junior guard Chris Babb intercepted a pass by Johnson, passed the ball up to his backcourt mate Scott Christopherson, who fed it back to Babb for a 3-pointer which Babb knocked down in front of the ISU bench. Kansas responded with a five points on their next two possessions, but the Cyclones’ free throw shooting down the stretch kept the game in ISU’s favor. With 15.2 seconds left in the game, Christopherson was fouled and KU coach Bill Self substitued his entire lineup so that it would not be injured by ISU fans rushing the floor when the game ended.

After trailing by three at halftime, the Jayhawks started off the second half with an 11-2 run to take a 45-39 lead. The Cyclones recaptured the lead four and a half minutes later as junior forward Anthony Booker made a three-pointer from the corner to give Iowa State a 50-49 advantage. Kansas would lead only once more in the game following a Johnson dunk that gave the Jayhawks a 53-52 lead with 8:15 left.

The two teams combined for 22 turnovers in the first half but a plus-7 rebounding margin and 11 points from sophomore forward Melvin Ejim keyed Iowa State’s 37-34 halftime lead.

Turning Point

With 2:18 on the clock, KU guard Tyshawn Taylor hit a floater to cut Iowa State’s lead to 62-59. White was fouled on the baseline by KU forward Thomas Robinson and knocked down a pair of free throws. Babb picked off a pass from Johnson on the other end of the floor and pushed the ball up the floor to Christopherson. Christopherson passed the ball back to Babb on the left wing and with 56 seconds on the clock Babb rose up and drained a 3 from the left wing. The bucket gave Iowa State an eight-point lead and forced Self to call a timeout.

The Jayhawks would cut Iowa State’s lead down to five but Christopherson and McGee combined to make four of five free throws down the stretch to seal the victory and spur a mass of ISU fans to storm the court in celebration.

X Factor

ISU sophomore forward Royce White

The 6-foot-8, 270-pounder went toe-to-toe with national player of the year candidate Thomas Robinson and led all players with 18 points and nine rebounds. White, who entered the game shooting 38.8 percent from the free throw line, took care of business at the stripe making all six of his second-half free throws after missing all three in the first half. The Minneapolis native also finished 6-11 from the field and led the Cyclones with five assists.

By the numbers

0: 3s made by Babb against Kansas this season before knocking one down with 56 seconds left in the game to give Iowa State a 67-59 lead. It was Babb’s tenth attempt through both games.

5: players in double figures for Kansas led by Taylor’s 16 points.

13: first-half turnovers for Iowa State. The Cyclones entered Saturday’s game only turning the ball over more than 13 times in nine of 20 games this season.

13: consecutive losses for Iowa State against Kansas dating back to a 63-61 overtime win at Kansas on February 19, 2005.

17: years since Iowa State had defeated a top 5 team at home dating back to a win against No. 3 Kansas on Jan. 14 1995.

19: turnovers for Iowa State, a season-high.

36-23: rebounding margin in favor of Iowa State, marking the second time the Cyclones outrebounded the Jayhawks this season. Kansas has only been outrebounded four times this season in 21 games.

14,376: fans in attendance at Hilton Coliseum, the second sellout of the season (December 9 vs. Iowa)

Up next for Iowa State

The Cyclones will remain at home on Tuesday when they’ll take on the other Big 12 squad from the Sunflower State, Kansas State. The No. 22 Wildcats (15-4, 4-3 Big 12) host Oklahoma at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Coach Frank Martin’s squad is led by the Big 12′s leading scorer in conference play in junior guard Rodney McGruder who averages 20.6 points per game. Iowa State dropped both games to Kansas State last season including a 86-85 loss at home.

But, like the Hawks, they will not make it to the Final Four.

Make no mistake about it: Murray State is a good team. At the end of last season, former Head Coach Billy Kennedy defected for the greener pastures of Texas A&M and three starters graduated. No one would have expected the Racers to stay at the top of the OVC.

But Head Coach Steve Prohm has had one of the best collegiate coaching debuts ever, skillfully guiding Murray State through half of a season and putting himself smack-dab in the middle of the conversation for national coach of the year.

That the Racers’ streak has gone on so long is all the more impressive given that senior forward Ivan Aska — who was averaging 12.6 points per game — was sidelined for six games, including three road contests.

Aska is, however, only one third of Murray’s leading trio. Junior Isaiah Canaan leads the team in scoring at 18.7 points per game. The versatile 6-foot guard also shoots 47 percent from beyond the arc and distributes the ball effectively, as evidenced by his four assists against 2.5 turnovers each game.

The Racers’ other leader is senior guard Donte Poole, who, while not as stellar as Canaan, still contributes 14.6 points per game. He also demonstrates good range, shooting better than 41 percent from beyond the arc.

The weakest links of Murray State’s roster are Jewaun Long and Ed Daniel, both good shooters who rarely take the opportunity to make a bucket.

All of these players are talented, and could find a spot somewhere on almost every team’s roster. But none of them, with the possible exception of Canaan, have the potential to play at the next level.

For now, they have found a groove where they seem to play very well together. But just how far can they go?

While the Racers really haven’t played anyone notable this season, it isn’t for a lack of trying. They travelled to the Great Alaska Shootout, one of the better early-season tournaments for mid-majors, but only encountered Division II Alaska Anchorage, San Francisco and Southern Mississippi.

Southern Mississippi, part of the best Conference USA class since Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida left in 2005, is one of three C-USA squads Murray State has faced this season in Prohm’s attempt to beef up his team’s nonconference resume.

But these attempts have failed. Memphis, while a contender for the league title, is not the powerhouse many predicted. Alabama-Birmingham, another C-USA opponent, is a league laggard that will struggle to win 10 games.

Because of the weakness of these opponents, it could be argued that Murray State’s toughest game was a convincing victory at Morehead State, usually one of Murray’s rivals for the Ohio Valley Conference crown. Morehead was particularly strong last season, when Kenneth Faried led the Eagles to an upset of Louisville in the NCAA tournament’s opening round.

Murray State isn’t without a tournament history, either. They’ve never reached the Sweet 16, but in the two years that they have gotten out of the first round, they have lost by fewer than three points to eventual Final Four squads. That they ran into red-hot Butler in 2010 and Kansas in 1988 is incredibly bad luck.

Last season, Murray vied with Morehead all winter long, winning the regular season title but falling in the conference tournament. Not only do the Racers remember that game, but they undoubtedly remember a costly turnover with three seconds left when they trailed Butler by just two points in the 2010 tournament.

With their talent, coaching and motivation from those bitter memories, this year’s Racers will go further than any of their predecessors ever have. They will likely reach the Sweet 16 or even Elite Eight. But without an NBA-caliber talent in the mold of Butler stars Gordon Hayward or Shelvin Mack, the road to New Orleans will prove a bit too tough for Murray State.

Behind junior forward Jack Cooley’s 17 points and 10 rebounds, Notre Dame topped No. 1 Syracuse 67-58 Saturday night, its first win over the highest ranked team in the land since 1987.

“It’s a great win. We’re good enough to beat the No. 1 team in the country,” Cooley said. “We just have to play like it the rest of the season.”

Notre Dame (12-8, 4-3 Big East) hit its first four shots en route to a first half in which the Irish shot 54 percent from the field. The hot shooting, coupled with Syracuse’s poor start, helped the Irish jump out to a 35-23 lead at the half.

Notre Dame connected on six of 10 attempts from three-point range in the first half, neutralizing Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense. The Irish also outrebounded the Orange 38 to 25, assisted by freshman guard Pat Connaughton’s seven boards.

The Irish ripped off a 12-3 spurt over the span of 10 minutes in the first half, eventually opening up an 18-point lead over the Orange (20-1, 7-1). Six different Irish players scored during the run.

The Orange came out strong to start the second half, but the Irish withstood their 13-3 run that spanned halftime, responding with seven unanswered points of their own. Cooley keyed the Notre Dame run with four points.

“[Cooley] was just a beast on the front line, which he’s done before,” Irish coach Mike Brey said. “Some of those plays where he ripped out loose balls and got second shots made his teammates believe even more. Our crowd loved it, it got our crowd juiced.”

The Orange took the court without sophomore center Fab Melo, who did not travel with the team due to academic reasons, and shot 28 percent for the game. The Irish held Syracuse under 60 points for the first time this season.

Notre Dame returns to action Wednesday night when it travels to Seton Hall for a matchup with the Pirates.

No. 3 Baylor, undefeated and flush with all the talent that an NBA scout could conjure, routed Oklahoma State for 106 points on Saturday. The Bears were merciless, just as network know-it-alls preached they would be.

Then No. 7 Kansas (15-3, 5-0) squelched them on both sides of the floor.

A layered, sturdy defense and an offense unafraid of attacking Baylor’s lengthy zone led to the 92-74 victory on Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I think the nation saw how tough they are,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said.

The Jayhawks were out to prove it, too.

Just more than three minutes into the game, senior guard Tyshawn Taylor swiftly dribbled down the right side of the floor and lobbed a pass behind junior forward Thomas Robinson’s head. The national player of the year candidate leaped into the air, slung his right hand backward to catch the ball, and pounded the lob through the hoop with one hand, ensuring that Allen Fieldhouse would never hush.

“He pressed the up button,” said Taylor, who scored 28 points for the second consecutive game.

Robinson’s dunk underlined how the game would continue. It was the Jayhawks, not the Bears, who would dictate on both ends.

Robinson’s increased patience with the ball provided him with cleaner shots and fewer mistakes. He finished with 27 efficient points and consistently freed space for his teammates in both fast break and half-court sets.

“He’s become more a guy that understands the game and how he can take advantage of his skill set and his body,” coach Bill Self said.

When the Bears attacked with forwards Perry Jones III, Quincy Miller and Quincy Acy, Robinson acted as the interior muscle to hassle shot attempts and swallow all rebounds.

“If you make it past that stage,” junior guard Elijah Johnson said, “you’ve still got to go over a seven footer who’s athletic and can do just about anything.”

Johnson was referring to junior center Jeff Withey, who played aggressively from the opening tipoff and never quit bothering the Bears with his long, shot altering arms.

After Withey clogged the opposition, Taylor initiated the fast break that broke the game open.

“I’m not saying that people are sleeping on us,” Taylor said. “But people didn’t really know what to expect coming from this team. They didn’t really know what we have or what we can do. I think the last two games, we showed them we can be the best team in the conference if we play how we’ve been playing.”

The win was much needed for the Wildcats after back-to-back heartbreaking conference losses.

“We’ve had two agonizing losses against Illinois and the overtime game at Michigan,” coach Bill Carmody said. “It was two possessions from being 3-1, and you’re 1-3.”

Michigan State (15-3, 4-1 Big Ten) opened the game on a 12-6 run, torching NU’s 1-3-1 defense by hitting contested shots. Behind three three-pointers in the first 10 minutes by forward Draymond Green, the Spartans opened up a nine-point lead.

“We didn’t start off great,” Carmody said. “We didn’t stop them in the first half. They made every shot they took. But they turned it over eight or nine times, so we were fortunate that way.”

Then Shurna and Curletti took over.

The pair combined for 22 first-period points, allowing junior guard Alex Marcotullio to give the Cats the lead by nailing a three with one minute and 21 seconds remaining in the opening frame. Michigan State responded with a three of its own, but a falling-down Shurna gave NU a two-point advantage going into halftime with an acrobatic trey of his own.

“The energizer bunny – Curletti, he really brought something to the table today,” Carmody said. “In the first half he got some offensive rebounds, sort of snatched them out of guys’ hands. He got everyone psyched up.”

“I try to be the energy guy whenever I can,” Curletti said. “In practice, in games, on the bench, at alltimes.”

The game marked the third-straight time NU brought a lead into halftime, bringing up memories of the losses to Illinois and Michigan.

This time, however, was different.

“We told them at halftime that you can’t just be competing,” Carmody said. “You’ve got to take the game. You’ve got to be the aggressor. You have to go after it a little harder.”

Led by junior forward Drew Crawford, who had 11 of his 20 points in the second half, the Cats extended their lead after the half, pushing their advantage to as many as 12 midway through the frame. Crawford, who was a game-time decision because of the stomach flu, helped keep NU from reliving the nightmares of their past two contests.

“I knew I was going to play the whole time,” Crawford said. “The training staff did a great job of helping me get better. Once the game started, I see Davide working hard, I see all my teammates working so hard, it kind of fuels you and gets you going.”

“A lot of guys play when they’re sick,” Carmody added.” ”But not a lot of guys play well when they’re sick. He certainly did tonight.”

Despite a couple late runs from Michigan State, NU never allowed the Spartans to get within four points of their lead after the 13-minute mark and put the game away to give the program its first win against a top-ten ranked team since Carmody’s squad beat No. 6 Purdue two years ago.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had nothing but praise for NU after the game.

“I had a couple concerns all week in our prep for these guys,” Izzo said. “They were a much better team. They could have won the Michigan game and the Illinois game both, and if they were 13-3, everybody would be talking about how this is and incredible matchup.

“They deserved to win the game,” Izzo added. “We didn’t.”

NU now faces two tough road challenges against Wisconsin and Minnesota, but Curletti said he’ll be ready for any opponent no matter his role in the upcoming contests.

“I’ve been coming off the bench my whole career,” Curletti said. “It doesn’t matter to me whether I start or come off the bench as long as we get big wins like this.”

In front of new football coach Urban Meyer and his staff, Sullingerand his team got just that.

Meyer introduced his coaching staff to the crowd at theSchottenstein Center at halftime, but the basketball team kept the focus squarely on themselves.

The Buckeyes attacked the Hoosiers on both ends of the floor and avenged their Dec. 31 road loss, beating Indiana, 80-63.

“This is exactly what we wanted,” Sullinger said. “We just wanted to come out and play our game and give the crowd a good show.”

Sullinger may have pledged revenge, but it was Lenzelle Smith Jr.  who got the Buckeyes started. The sophomore guard, who said he was coming off a case of strep throat, connected on his first five shots from the field.

Smith Jr. hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game just before the first half buzzer sounded and walked into the locker room with 18 points, four more than the entire Indiana team.

“Throughout the game, I just saw my man leave me every single time,” Smith Jr. said. “This game we capitalized off that and we were able to get some easy buckets.”

Along with Smith Jr., OSU’s recipe for success was its defense. The Buckeyes forced 12 first-half turnovers and held Indiana to 27.3 percent shooting while holding the Hoosiers to 14 points.

“Pressure, pressure, pressure,” Sullinger said. “We just wanted to get up in their jock strap according to coach Matta and just stop them from turning the ball from side to side.”

OSU head coach Thad Matta said he was pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

“The defense today is what I dream about,” Matta said. “We’ve shown signs of five players coming together and playing defense, but today we did a good job of playing total team defense.”

Sullinger was held to just two points in the first half, but got things rolling after intermission.

Sullinger said in the first half Indiana was double teaming him, but after Smith Jr. caught fire, he found more open space.

Sullinger found position inside and tallied six quick points in under five minutes for OSU in the second half. With over 15 minutes remaining, the Buckeye big man grabbed a rebound and lost his balance, but as he was falling backward, threw a long pass to senior guard William Buford, who caught the ball in stride streaking down the sideline. Buford dumped it off to a trailing Smith Jr. who finished with a two-handed dunk.

The duo of Sullinger and Smith Jr. kept Indiana at bay for rest of the game as the Hoosiers never cut the Buckeye lead below 16 points.

“They stopped leaving Lenzelle,” Sullinger said. “It works both ways with me and Lenzelle. If I kick it out to Lenzelle, Lenzelle is wide open in the first half. Then all the sudden they start sticking to Lenzelle … It was a two-way street which worked perfectly for our game plan.”

Indiana coach Tom Crean said Sullinger’s ability to move the ball out of the post was essential to Smith Jr.’s success and that skill played a big role for the Buckeyes.

“If you don’t take the ball from Sullinger, he is so good at not having to score it for his team to score,” Crean said.

Sullinger finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Smith Jr. finished with a career-high 28 points and added 7 rebounds.

Buford and sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas also finished in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Buckeye victory brings their record to 16-3 on the season and 4-2 in Big Ten play.

OSU will have five days off before traveling to Nebraska for the team’s second matchup with the Cornhuskers. OSU won the first contest, 71-40.

Tip for the rematch will be Saturday at 8 p.m.

It’s one of the most prominent hobbies in my life. Some of my favorite writers are back in action and most importantly, I no longer turn a Nick Saban shade of red when someone uses the words “NBA” and “lockout” in the same sentence.

It’s great, and through just a couple of weeks, I couldn’t be happier. Who cares if the condensed schedule might cause roughly 35 season-ending injuries? I get to watch basketball again!

You’ll notice, in the preceding sentence, that I said “basketball” without identifying it as “professional” or otherwise. What about Pac-12 basketball, which did not suffer a maddening work stoppage (though wouldn’t that be fun?) and started back in early November?

I meant what I said. It was only on Christmas Day, when the NBA returned in earnest, that I really felt like I was watching basketball again. Whatever is happening in the Pac-12 right now is something else entirely.

OK, that’s just a bit harsh. What we’re watching two nights a week is, indeed, basketball, but it would hard to make the argument that it’s up to the conference’s normal standards. As I sat in Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday and watched Oregon slug it out with Cal, struggling to score even a modest 60 points, I wondered what had happened to the conference that once housed such star attractions as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Roy and James Harden. Was it really just four years ago that Love and Westbrook (who were roommates) duked it out with USC’s O.J. Mayo in the Pac-10 Championship semifinal? Did I really watch Harden play in person back in the Mac Court days?

It all seems so foreign now. These days, I look at the Pac-12 landscape and can hardly think of a single player with NBA talent. UCLA’s Josh Smith might actually be the best prospect, and he’s an undersized center whose weight pushes to Eddy Curry levels. Says ESPN’s Chad Ford on his big board: “He’s big, super talented and doesn’t seem to care at all about getting in shape or playing basketball.” Sounds splendid!

Now, to be clear, the Pac-12 is not defined by how many NBA draft prospects it has in a given year — nor should it be. But no matter how much of a college basketball diehard you are, it can’t be denied that there is a noticeable correlation between draft prospects and overall level of play. It’s only natural — highly talented players bring higher levels of play. At times, their presence can be toxic, especially if they abide by the NBA’s idiotic one-and-done policy (see: O.J. Mayo and USC). But if given the choice between now and 2008, even the most passionate fan of the college game would have to choose the latter.

That choice is easy. But since we’re stuck in the present, what can we do to solve this crisis? Well, that’s the frustrating part. It’s hard to tell, exactly, why the Pac-12 has suffered such a precipitous fall from grace. You can blame some of it on Tim Floyd and USC for being so blatantly dirty that no one wants to go near the program. You can also blame UCLA coach Ben Howland, to some extent, for continuing to recruit big names and then failing to do much with them on the court.

But really, when you look at the big picture, maybe the Pac-12 is just going through a nasty streak of bad luck. Oregon has been plagued with underperforming recruiting classes since that infamous 2008 class (Michael Dunigan, Teondre Williams, Matt Humphrey, Josh Crittle, Drew Wiley) arrived on campus. Arizona State just kicked its leading scorer, Keala King, off the team. And two springs ago, just when Washington looked to have signed a bona fide talent in Terrence Jones, John Calipari and Kentucky snatched him away.

Maybe that, more than anything else, is the problem that the Pac-12 faces right now. Even the homegrown products (Jones is a Portland native) are fleeing well beyond the borders of the conference, with greener pastures so clearly waiting out East. At this point, there isn’t one Pac-12 school — not even UCLA or Arizona — that can truly be labeled as a top-tier basketball school. When I look at Jones or any other top prospect, I can hardly blame them for jumping time zones. The best talents want to play against the toughest competition and the Pac-12 certainly doesn’t provide that.

And so, for now, I can actually identify with Josh Smith. If this is basketball, I’m not sure I even like it anymore.

“That’s a Big East game,” Head Coach John Thompson III said after the game.

With the game tied at 70, senior center Henry Sims dribbled through the lane before dishing to Thompson in the left corner, who nailed a three-pointer with 20 seconds to play. Marquette Head Coach Buzz Williams was irate, as Sims appeared to charge into Marquette senior guard Darius Johnson-Odom just after he passed off to Thompson. The refs let it go, however, and Thompson sent the Verizon Center into chaos.

“We say this in jest, but Hollis’s confidence is always flowing and our confidence in him is always going,” Thompson III said. “We did a good job as a group of going back to him and getting him the ball and, more importantly, he came through.”

Thompson finished 6-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from long-range, totaling 16 points in a game in which Georgetown shot 63 percent as a team. However, it was senior guard and captain Jason Clark that spearheaded most of the comeback for the Blue and Gray.

Clark finished with 26 points, 12 of them coming during the Hoyas’ 34-14 game-ending surge. Clark was able to overcome an uncharacteristically awful night from the free throw line, where the 83 percent shooter made just six of 13 attempts.

“From the very first possession of the second half you saw his focus change,’ Thompson III said. “As he focused in on his defense his shot started to fall. His defense set the tone and his offense followed.”

With 13:12 remaining in the game, Marquette freshman guard Todd Mayo buried a three-pointer, giving the Golden Eagles a 56-39 lead and prompting Thompson III to call a timeout. The Hoyas rattled off five quick points before Johnson-Odom, Marquette’s leading scorer, nailed a three-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up by 15 with about 11 minutes left.

Then things started to click for the Blue and Gray. Freshman forward Mikeal Hopkins had two consecutive assists to start the comeback, and from there on out the upperclassmen took over. Clark scored seven consecutive points, Sims had seven points and three assists, and Thompson had eight points, including the game-winner, in the same eight-minute stretch.

“Our poor decisions, be it turnovers or poor shots, led to their baskets,” Thompson III said. “So we stopped turning the ball over and we started getting shots and giving us a chance to play defense, because before they were out and running every time we made a mistake. I think our guys just became more attentive.”

Marquette had two chances to the tie the game in the final seconds, but Johnson-Odom and senior forward Jae Crowder both missed attempts from beyond the arc.

Sims finished with 13 points, five rebounds, five assists and two blocks and freshman forward Otto Porter contributed eight points, five boards and three dimes.

“I thought he was the key to their game,” Williams said about Sims. “I think within how they play he’s their point guard. His ability to have the offense run through him is similar to what it was when everything was going through Greg Monroe.”

Overall, the Hoyas shot 16-of-21 and forced 12 turnovers while committing just five in the second half.

“That’s what is going to win us games in this conference, you have to get stops,” Thompson III said.

It was a complete turnaround from an ugly first 20 minutes that seemed to be a spillover from the Providence game. Georgetown committed 12 turnovers and went just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc. Marquette capitalized on the Hoyas’ poor ballhandling, going on a 20-5 run in the last nine minutes of the half.

“We’re not even going to talk about the first half. I thought that was embarrassing,” Thompson III said.

There were also several scary moments in the game, the first when sophomore guard Markel Starks collided with Marquette forward Jamil Wilson. Both players were on the court for a little while but eventually reentered the game.

Johnson-Odom and Porter also suffered injuries in the physical game. Johnson-Odom hit his head on the floor after Sims blocked his shot, but continued to play and appeared fine. Porter landed on his wrist after being fouled on a steal, but shook it off and was able to continue.

The Blue and Gray have now won 11 consecutive games, the most since their Final Four season in 2006-2007. They will attempt to extend the streak in yet another tough road matchup this Saturday against West Virginia, but for now the players are basking in the win.

“It’s a really big win for us, we were down by a lot and it was a big comeback,” Clark said. “We did it as a group and that shows how good of a team we are.”

Following defeats of No. 8/8 Tennessee in 2008, No. 3/3 Villanova in 2009 and No. 9/10 Georgetown last year, the Owls stunned the No. 3/5 Duke Blue Devils at the Wells Fargo Center Wednesday night with a 78-73 victory.

“I’m not sure it’s really hit me yet,” redshirt-senior guard Ramone Moore said. “It was a great win and some guys really stepped up to help us get over the hump. It just feels great.”

Owls’ junior guard Khalif Wyatt led all scorers with 22 points and added five steals. At one point around the four-minute mark, Wyatt hit back to back threes that extended the Owls’ lead from three to nine, creating a cushion that Duke wouldn’t be able to overcome.

“Tonight just happened,” Wyatt said. “I was making shots. My teammates trusted me. I just kept coming through for them.”

Wyatt’s performance was typical of a Temple player in these kinds of games during the past four years.

In the 2008 win against Tennessee, Owls’ guard Dionte Christmas hit seven threes and scored 35 points. Now a senior, guard Juan Fernandez put up a similar performance against Villanova in his sophomore season. He hit seven threes of his own and scored 33 points. Last season versus Georgetown, Moore took over in the second half and scored a then career high 30 points in the Owls’ upset.

As Wyatt scored eight points in the final five minutes of this game against Duke, he joined the company of some of Temple’s finest players of the past five years.

“My teammates trusted me,” Wyatt said. “I wanted to come through for them…and I did.”

Though Fernandez and Moore have proven themselves reliable in Temple’s previous upsets of Top-10 programs, the team feels comfortable with the ball in the hands of any of their three starting guards in crucial situations.

“[Wyatt] has huge courage,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “He just has no fear. I think that’s what you need in a game like this.”

“Whoever has it going, we put the ball it that person’s hands,” Moore added.

Playing on a national stage in a game broadcast on ESPN 2, the Owls outshot and outrebounded the Blue Devils, who came into the game scoring the sixth-most points per game in the country and averaging a shooting percentage of better than 50 percent.

Dunphy said the perimeter defense of Temple’s trio of guards was just as important as their prowess on offense.

“We wanted to take away the three and try to run them off the three-point line a little bit,” Dunphy said. “When you can win a game like this, everybody has to play well and you have to get a little lucky, and I think we did that.”

“I think there was only one way we could win, and that is to manage the game and have those three guys [in control],” Dunphy added. “They’re pretty good basketball players and they’re going to be able to make good decisions with the ball.”

Temple did all of this without two of their regular starters. Graduate center Micheal Eric is out indefinitely with an injured right kneecap, and senior forward Scootie Randall may miss the entire season while recovering from offseason knee surgery.

But just as Temple fans celebrated after the game on the home court of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, Temple can celebrate the fact that the injury-plagued Owls upset one of the most lauded programs in college basketball due to their depth at guard and an outstanding late-game performance by an unlikely star.

“[Duke] is an incredible basketball program and for us to come out on top tonight is very, very nice for a lot of people,” Dunphy said. “We’re thrilled to be standing here as winners tonight.”

Three weeks to the day after No. 15 Indiana shook the college basketball world by beating No. 1 Kentucky, the Hoosiers had one more upset left in them in 2011.

On a night where the whistles were plentiful in Assembly Hall, it was the Hoosiers (13-1, 1-1) who outlasted No. 2 Ohio State (13-2, 1-1) in earning a 74-70 win Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd of 17,472.

“Our crowd was not only responsible for some baskets but for some stops,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “The building was electric and the Hoosier nation is so incredible. To not have that many students here at all, obviously because of the break, and to have that kind of energy in the building (was huge).”

In a back and forth game that saw 42 fouls called and six players end the game with at least four fouls, IU was able to make the plays it needed down the stretch without its leading scorer.

Freshman forward Cody Zeller battled foul trouble and played just four minutes in the second half, fouling out with 2:24 remaining.

Without their leading scorer, the Hoosiers got it done on the defensive end in the game’s final two minutes.

Down 70-69, IU forced back-to-back turnovers, the second of which came via a sophomore guard Victor Oladipo deflection. Senior guard Verdell Jones III came up with the loose ball and found Oladipo for the eventual game-winning layup.

The Hoosiers caused another turnover on the next possession and then forced a contested three-pointer by Ohio State guard William Buford to go along with hitting 3-of-4 free throws in the final 13 seconds to preserve the four-point victory.

“Our defense was really what got us the lead in the first place and that’s what kept us in the game,” junior guard Jordan Hulls said. “(Oladipo) did a great job there at the end forcing the turnover, making (Ohio State guard Aaron Craft) throw a bad pass and getting a deflection. That’s something we’ve been harping on all year is our defense needs to be the key.”

Bouncing back from a 2-of-10 performance against Michigan State on Wednesday night, Hulls led the Hoosiers with 17 points and hit four of the five made three-pointers for IU.

Crean said his point guard headed straight for the gym when IU returned from East Lansing, Mich. early Thursday morning and the extra work paid off as Hulls twice hit three-pointers late in the second half to regain the lead for IU on both occasions.

Playing without sophomore guard Will Sheehey for the third straight game, the IU starters paved the way with all five of them in double figures.

Even with the starters scoring 70 of the 74 Hoosiers points, the play of the bench from both teams played a crucial role in the outcome.

Ohio State’s starting frontcourt of Deshaun Thomas and Jared Sullinger both picked up two fouls in the first half and sat for the final 10:38.

IU turned a 10-point deficit into a one-point halftime lead and Jones credited the foul trouble and lack of depth for the Buckeyes as a factor in earning the first Big Ten win of the season.

“A lot of the film they watched, they went six deep, maybe seven, and today they had to use a lot of their players that usually don’t get that much playing time and may not play in an atmosphere like this,” Jones said.

The Hoosiers now turn their attention to Thursday evening as they welcome the Michigan Wolverines (11-2, 1-0) to Assembly Hall for a 9 p.m. tip.

The wins over the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the same season is the first time in IU history that a team has accomplished that feat.

Those accolades are something the Hoosiers will look back on in the off-season but for now they close out 2011 with a win over a team that has beaten IU by an average of 18 points the last six times they have met.

“All that stuff we go through (the past couple of years) we can’t get punked,” Oladipo said. “We just went toe-to-toe with them. They’ve been punking for the last couple of years and we realized that. This year we had to go toe-to-toe with them and we came out with a victory.”

The agreement will entail significant reconfiguration of future schedules in Olympic sports, basketball and football to include matchups between the 24 teams from the two conferences.

Pac-12 commisioner Larry Scott and Big Ten commisioner Jim Delany addressed reporters in a conference call and said the deal is beneficial for both conferences.

“To me, this is a creative and inventive approach through collaboration to achieve some of the same objectives that expansion can help you with,” Scott said. “It gives our conference more of a national platform, more play on the Big Ten Network and higher quality programming on our network without having to expand.”

The deal would likely begin during the 2012-13 seasons in all of the sports with the exception of football, which will honor non-conference scheduling agreements previously in place.

By 2017, the football schedule is expected to include a 12-game schedule that will feature each member of the Big Ten playing a team from the Pac-12.

The Big Ten had previously planned to play a nine-game conference schedule in football starting in 2017, but because of the deal, the conference will continue with an eight-game conference schedule.

The way the matchups will be determined has not been completely worked out, but Delaney said that “competitive equity” would “play a significant part.”

This likely means that top-level teams would be paired against each other on a year-to-year basis.

Both commissioners acknowledged that possible-marquee matchups could hinder their conferences chances of being represented in the national championship, but said the benefits outweigh the negatives.

“I think it helps our football programs,” Delaney said. “I think it will engage fans, help our recruiting, help in the presentation of television. If fans follow it, our partners will be rewarded and we will ultimately be rewarded.

Although nothing has been decided, the football matchups will most likely take place early in the season before conference play begins.

The two conferences are already linked through the Rose Bowl, which annually pits the champion from the Big Ten and Pac-12 on a New Year’s Day bowl, but this agreement furthers the relationship between the conferences across multiple sports. Despite the strengthened relationship, the commissioners said not to expect any form of official merger in the future or any similar agreements with other conferences.

“We have a common DNA but a tremendous recognition that 90 percent, 80 percent of what we do is in our region,” he said. “Those who think regional rivalries and local rivalries don’t mean anything any more, I think that’s erroneous…Our goal is to build something new here on a very strong foundation of history.”

“[Starks] hit some big shots for us tonight when we needed shots to be made,” Head Coach John Thompson III said. “He made some big plays and his defense got better in the second half [too].”

The story of the night, though, was the play of Otto Porter. The freshman forward notched his first career double-double, scoring 14 points and hauling down a career-best 14 rebounds. The Missouri native was particularly strong down the stretch, as his offensive rebound and putback broke the game’s final tie with 1:41 left, after the Cardinals had erased an 11-point deficit to knot the scores at 63. Porter would go on to grab three more rebounds and make four clutch free throws before missing a pair from the charity stripe with just eight seconds left and the game already in hand.

When the game started, though, it didn’t look like Starks or Porter would get the chance to be the heroes. The Cardinals, who had won their last 20 home games, raced out to an early 12-3 lead as the Blue and Gray struggled to cope with the hosts’ full-court pressure and repeatedly allowed Louisville shooters — most notably senior guard Kyle Kuric —open looks from behind the arc.

Key to surviving Louisville’s first-half onslaught were Trawick and, perhaps more surprisingly, freshman forward Mikael Hopkins. Hopkins, who has played sparingly this season, logged all eight of his minutes in the first half and provided a much-needed physical spark for the Hoyas.

“Otto, Jabril [and] Mikael came in and gave us outstanding minutes,” Thompson III said. “They are freshmen and this is their first Big East experience, but they’ve been doing that since the summer. It’s a group that plays hard and competes.”

Despite an offense that struggled to the tune of nine first-half turnovers, the Blue and Gray found themselves down only three at halftime thanks largely to an 18-13 edge on the boards. The second half started inauspiciously, as senior center Henry Sims was called for a travel on the opening possession, but the Hoyas bounced back to score the half’s first four points and take a 36-35 lead. The game went back and forth for a while after that until the Hoyas ripped off a 13-2 run that turned a one-point Louisville lead into a 10-point Georgetown advantage. Minutes later Starks scored his final points of the game on a pretty backdoor cut to stretch the lead to 11, but the Cardinals’ press went to work and forced turnovers on three of the Hoyas’ next four possessions.

“We were bad coming down the stretch,” Thompson III said. “You play Louisville and they turn you over. That is what they are very good at.”

Although turnovers cost the Hoyas their lead, it didn’t end up costing them the game due to Porter’s heroics and a defense that was able to shut down the Cardinals’ scorers in the half-court.

Despite the win — Georgetown’s first against a top-five team since a win over Syracuse in March 2010 —Thompson III won’t be letting his team get too complacent.

“It was a very good, big win against a very good team in a difficult place to play,” he said. “With all that being said, we’re fortunate to get away with a win. They turned up the heat on us. We had some careless turnovers. We have to tighten things up as we go on.”

Thompson III and the Hoyas will have just two days of practice to fix those problems when they host Providence (11-3, 0-1 Big East) on New Year’s Eve at Verizon Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday.

Baylor finally pulled ahead on junior Pierre Jackson’s driving layup with 28 seconds left and blocked the Bulldogs’ final shot attempt for a 54-52 victory, improving Baylor’s record to 13-0 and tying a school record best start.

“Any time you’re part of history, it means a lot,” head coach Scott Drew said. “And I think for what the upperclassmen have done, with leading this team from day one, they’re a group that deserves this credit and deserves that honor.”

Jackson led all scorers with 14 points, and freshman Quincy Miller followed with 12 for the Bears.

The Bears hauled in a defensive rebound and called timeout with 46 seconds remaining to set up the winning bucket. Out of the timeout, Jackson used a screen from senior Quincy Acy to drive through a wide open lane and softly lay the ball in for a 54-52 lead.

Jalen Steele and Renardo Sidney, who fouled out with 1:35 left in the game and then committed a technical foul, both scored 10 for the Bulldogs.

Sidney’s foul, Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said, proved the most difficult obstacle to overcome late in the game.

Mississippi State held a 52-50 lead when Sidney was called for a push trying to rebound a missed Baylor shot. It was his fifth foul, and his subsequent argument cost his team another two free throw attempts. Miller hit one of two technical free throws, and Acy made just the front end of a one-and-one to tie the game at 52.

Less than a minute later, the Bears executed their offense and snatched the victory.

“Quincy Acy set a great ball screen. It forced them to play the screen and not the person who had the ball,” Jackson said. “We had a couple good shooters in the game, so if [Mississippi State] stepped up, I had the kick out.”

On the floor during the play was Brady Heslip, who went 3 of 5 from behind the arc, tallied 11 points and now has double-digit point totals in each of his last six games.

“We know that when it comes down to it, we’re going to come through, and we’re confident we’re going to do that,” Heslip said.

On the final play of the game, Jackson took the task of covering Mississippi State’s Rodney Hood, who had a 10-inch height advantage over Jackson. When Hood tried to shoot over Jackson, Acy rotated over and swatted the shot away. Jackson then slapped the ball up the court to kill the final seconds on the clock.

Wednesday’s game featured two contrasting halves, with Baylor topping Mississippi State by one point in both periods. The difference was a combined 39 points from the teams in the final 20 minutes compared to the first half, after which Baylor led 34-33.

The Bears struggled to 6 of 28 shooting in the second half, while the Bulldogs didn’t fare much better at 8 of 23. With such smothering defenses, Miller was asked if Wednesday was a man’s game.

“It was. The big men were tough, physical,” Miller said. “It was a very tough game.”

Baylor forced three ties in the second half after Jalen Steele’s 3-pointer put the Bulldogs ahead 38-36 at 17:34. After the first two ties, though, the Bulldogs responded by silencing the Baylor fans in attendance.

Hood answered a Perry Jones III dunk with a runner in the paint to retake a 40-38 lead, and Dee Bost later nailed a jumper in the paint after another Jones III dunk momentarily tied the game at 48.

Jones’ dunks were two of only four field goals he netted in the game, as he finished 4 of 13 with eight points. Jones is now 11 of 34 in his last three games.

The first half of Wednesday’s game was a seesaw affair, with three ties and five lead changes. Heslip had 11 points at the halftime buzzer, while Jackson had 10.

The Bears now turn their attention to their conference opener against Texas A&M, which tips at 6 p.m. Monday at the Ferrell Center.

As for just the aesthetics, the new design looks great, at least based on the conceptual renderings. The bland gray box will have its outside stripped and replaced with glass, with a few undulations included to make it not look like a — well, a box. Some of the casing will be translucent, allowing those on the outside to see through to the inside.

The new design will put Rupp Arena at the forefront of best-looking college arenas. Louisville’s is, too (and the two could share similarities, from the glass exterior to the occasional curve in the building’s structure). And really, that’s where Rupp Arena should be. As it stands, the outside is completely nondescript and hardly memorable. It’s literally just a big box attached to a convention center. The actual Rupp Arena insignia is tucked away on a small corner. Walking toward it, nothing about the outside appearance even says “UK basketball,” much less “gold standard.”

Of course, the inside of the building does say all of those things. With the new move, the outside will finally be able to say the same.

“Most of the game, we were doing some really good things,” Coach Mark Gottfried said. “We also had times when we didn’t do things well. We have to learn to sustain our good moments throughout the game.”

State led 12-4 in the early going and played well enough early in the second half to keep it interesting, pulling to 63-61 with 8:47 to play. But the Pack couldn’t keep pace with the Orangemen, who used a pair of crucial runs to keep the Pack at bay. Down 29-23 in the first half, Syracuse scored the game’s next 23 points to prove worthy of their high ranking and to make it 47-33 at halftime.

“I think it’s the best they have shot from the three-point line since they have started playing,” Brown said. “We weren’t expecting that and that is what hurt us, that and our turnovers.”

But the Pack responded by starting the second half on a 13-1 run that made it 48-46.

“We never give up, that is our motto,” Brown said. “We talk about it every game, if we’re down, we have to come back. There’s no giving up for us.”

Thanks to big nights by Williams and Brown and 13 points from sophomore C.J. Leslie, State stayed in it until shortly after the nine-minute mark. That’s when Syracuse pulled away on a pair of three pointers from Scoop Jardine and a dunk and three by Dion Waiters to make it 74-63 with 6:47 remaining. The Pack was effectively out of it at that point, but Gottfried came away as impressed with Syracuse as upset about the loss.

“Once you lose a game, you sit up here and say, ‘They’ve got a great team, yada, yada, yada,’” Gottfriedsaid. “I’ve been around a lot of good teams, guys, and that team right there might be playing on Monday night in April. We did a lot of good things tonight. We just didn’t do enough of them.”

See, the Buckeyes lost without their best player. Sullinger, a preseason All-American, sat on the sidelines in street clothes for the second consecutive game because of back spasms stemming from OSU’s Nov. 29 win against Duke.

Since Sullinger has donned Scarlet and Gray, he’s been the center of the team (literally and figuratively). Everything runs through him.

It’s been the classic inside-out mentality.

Have a stud inside player, feed him the ball and kick it out to the wing players who can make open shots when the double team comes.

It worked with Hakeem Olajuwon and the 1997 Houston Rockets (NBA Championship). It worked with Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor at UCLA during the John Wooden-era (NCAA championships), and it almost worked with the 2009 Orlando Magic and Dwight Howard (NBA Finals appearance).

So far, it’s worked pretty well for the Buckeyes, too. Including Saturday’s loss to Kansas, OSU has compiled 42-4 record during Sullinger’s time at OSU.

But the problem with the inside-out mentality is that it all revolves around one man. If that man goes down, so does the team’s entire identity.

OSU looked like a team without an identity Saturday. At times, scoring was definitely a struggle. The open shots that the players were accustomed to being there all of the sudden weren’t. Players forced shots and, with 39 percent shooting from the field and a 29 percent clip from behind the arc, it showed.

I think OSU coach Thad Matta said it best in the postgame press conference.

“In a lot of ways Jared is a security mechanism because, if things aren’t going right, he always gets open,” Matta said. “It may be at two feet from the bucket or it may be at 20 feet from the bucket. When the ball is in his hands, you know good things are going to happen.”

On Saturday, the security mechanism was gone and OSU’s other players couldn’t bail the team out.

Don’t get me wrong. OSU is not a one-man team. In my opinion, senior guard William Buford is an NBA-caliber player, sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas may have more potential than anyone else on the team and sophomore guard Aaron Craft is about as solid of a point guard as there is in college basketball.

If Sullinger had left for the NBA, I think OSU would still be a top-15 team. Kansas coach Bill Self said he thinks OSU is still a top-5 team without Sullinger.

But no matter what anyone says, Sullinger is the focus.

Here’s why all of this is good, though.

I’ve always heard that if someone goes blind, the other senses are strengthened. They can smell and hear better than ever before, almost as if the body is compensating for what it’s missing.

Sullinger is the Buckeyes’ sense of sight, and Saturday, the team was blind. I think the team grew and other players started to compensate. Thomas showed flashes of brilliance and, despite a slow start, Buford really started to create some offense for himself when the team was in desperate need in the second half.

They learned how to walk without seeing, and while it wasn’t enough in the end, the experience was invaluable.

Luckily for OSU, Sullinger could be back as early as Wednesday for its game against South Carolina-Upstate. The team will get its sight back and other senses will be strengthened as well.

In tough spots, the Buckeyes will be able to look at other players to step up in the future.

For a basketball team, that’s important — maybe more important than a marquee road win in December.

“I think there could have been a couple of other words thrown in there,” Self said. “Maybe describing the holiday.”

Matta couldn’t have been thrilled at the time. In the Buckeye’s first road game of the young season, he had no choice but to sideline sophomore forward Jared Sullinger, national player of the year candidate, for the second consecutive game with back spasms.

Despite the second consecutive game with a torn meniscus in his right knee, senior guard Tyshawn Taylor tossed a career high 13 assists, helping No. 13 Kansas beat No. 2 Ohio State 78-67.

“I wasn’t missing this game,” Taylor said.

Taylor turned the ball over seven times, but Self said that he couldn’t have won either of the past two games without him. Self also said that junior forward Kevin Young was the difference against the Buckeyes.

Formerly stuck on the bench with foul trouble and inconsistency, Young played his best game in a Kansas uniform since transferring from Loyola Marymount. He scored 14 points, hit two of three from behind the arc, drew charges and energized the Jayhawks with his surprising effort.

“I haven’t seen that,” Self said. “If I have seen it, we’ve made a mistake by not playing him as much. That was his coming out game.”

Young’s previously unseen aggression complemented Robinson, who scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds without Sullinger to worry about. After the victory, Robinson can look back on the three toughest tests so far and feel better about his team.

“The main three were Kentucky, Duke and Ohio State,” Robinson said. “The non-conference would have been incomplete if we didn’t get one of them.”

The Jayhawks wanted to prove their place among the nation’s elite. They lost to Kentucky in New York City, Duke in Hawaii, then faced Ohio State without its best player. No matter, they held one of the premier shooting teams in the nation to 38.7 percent from the field, compared to their own 58.3 percent.

Self said that even without Sullinger, Ohio State is still a top 10 team.

“I don’t think you put an asterisk with the win,” Self said.

Indiana U. students not only filled their entire 7,800 seat allotment, but they arrived loud and early Saturday evening, making their presence felt with an environment the No. 1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats hadn’t seen all season.

Heading into its first true road game of 2011, Kentucky’s youth, with three freshmen and two sophomores in the starting five, was evident in the early minutes of the game.
Sophomore forward Terrence Jones came into the game as a 72-percent foul shooter and missed his first two attempts.

Less than a minute later, 89-percent shooter Doron Lamb made 1-of-2 foul shots and went on to miss four free throws during the game.

“I think we came out and weren’t ready for (the atmosphere) at the beginning, being our first (true) away game,” Kentucky senior guard Darius Miller said. “They did a great job of feeding off their crowd. It seemed like it hyped them up, had them making shots we didn’t expect them to make.”

To say the environment only affected the visitors would be naïve, as IU committed six turnovers in its first 12 possessions.

After playing eight games in 23 days to start the season, the Hoosiers had an entire week to prepare for Kentucky. Amid all the hype of the No. 1 team coming to Bloomington, Crean said his team’s level of focus never wavered in the days leading up to the game.

“I didn’t even think we were over-anxious to play,” Crean said. “We were very mature, and I think Coach (Tim) Buckley said it the best. I said, ‘I hope they’re enjoying this,’ and he said, ‘Well, if they were giddy, they may not believe they could win.’”

IU battled through having its leader taken out of much of the game, as Kentucky had 6-foot-7-inch forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist hound junior point guard Jordan Hulls.

In the first half, Hulls committed a career-high five turnovers, but he hit two three-pointers following intermission and didn’t turn the ball over in the game’s final 20 minutes.

“The biggest concern I had on the day, with energy and the crowd, was that they weren’t going to hear me a lot,” Crean said. “They had to hear each other. There had to be great echoes because there’s no way I was going to get two, three or four guys’ attention.”

At the other point guard position, Marquis Teague was the target of the IU student section throughout much of the evening.

Teague hails from Indianapolis but elected to head to Lexington and attempt to follow in Kentucky Coach John Calipari’s lineage of first-round draft picks at the point guard position.

In Saturday’s first half, Teague missed all five of his shot attempts, including several point-blank layups, to go along with three turnovers. Calipari said he expected his point guard to struggle in that environment, thus benching him to start the second half.
“Indiana made us, and this crowd made us, play the way we played,” Calipari said.

Following the game, Crean praised the energy of the 17,472 fans as the scattered blue around Assembly Hall was drowned by the “red out.” Saturday’s game marked the first time the Hoosiers had faced a No. 1 ranked team since 2006. Crean said he sees multiple games like this down the road.

“We have envisioned and sold this program in the sense of this happening a lot,” Crean said. “Crowds like this a lot, and having fans be at a fever pitch, and maybe it was because of the week-long buildup. I think that’s when we’ll know this program is really accomplishing things where there’s that kind of feeling for more than one, two, three games.”

During the last few weeks, talk has surfaced through the Kentucky program that the Wildcats might drop IU from the schedule. The two teams have met every season since 1969, and after Crean’s first win in the rivalry, he said sees no reason why this tradition would cease.

“I think it means we are back in the hunt on it,” Crean said. “It hasn’t been much of a rivalry the last couple years. It’s a hypothetical to me. I don’t know why this game would go anywhere. It’s great for everybody.”

The anticipation of Saturday’s game started following the North Carolina State game on Nov. 30 and reached a new level when students began camping out roughly 100 hours before tipoff.

IU players raved about the environment after Saturday’s game, and senior guard Verdell Jones III said his ears were still ringing more than a half hour after his game-winning assist.

Jones was part of an IU team that watched its fans storm the court after beating an unranked Minnesota team two seasons ago. Now, under far different circumstances, no one would question the Hoosier faithful spilling onto the court seconds after Watford’s swish.

“This is the epitome of what Hoosier Nation is all about, and the fans and everybody that supports this program from close and far, young and old, they deserve it because it’s one of those moments that everybody’s going to remember,” Crean said. “They deserve to storm the court. They deserve to stand on chairs and tables and be excited. They do, and our players deserve it.”

After watching a double-digit second half lead wilt away, it was junior forward Watford who twice regained the advantage for the Hoosiers in the game’s waning minutes.

Down by two with 5.6 seconds remaining, senior guard Verdell Jones III penetrated the arc and kicked the ball back out to Watford on the left wing, who then hit the game-winning three-pointer as time expired, giving the Hoosiers (9-0) a 73-72 win against the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats (8-1).

“When I got the ball out, I knew (Watford) was going to be sprinting down as the trail man,” Jones said. “I just drove it, and he yelled, ‘V, V.’ I just turned around and passed it to him, and the rest is history.”

A sold-out Assembly Hall crowd of 17,472 fans watched the game become history, as IU beat a No. 1 ranked team for the first time since knocking off Duke in the 2002 Sweet Sixteen.

For much of the early season, Jones and Watford have been pushed by the bench play of sophomore forward Will Sheehey and junior forward Derek Elston.

In perhaps the program’s most anticipated game under Crean, it was the veterans who hit the first and last shots of the night for the Hoosiers.

“Verdell did a tremendous job of finding him, and then … the one vivid image is how picture-perfect that shot was,” Crean said. “(Christian) stayed in his shot. He didn’t fade. He didn’t leg kick. It was a picture-perfect form. I’m so happy for him.”

Just a minute earlier, Watford’s spin-move layup had regained the lead at 70-69 after Kentucky had its first advantage since the 18:00 mark of the second half.

The Wildcats answered with a layup by guard Marquis Teague and a free throw from guard Doron Lamb before the shot by Watford ushered a sea of red onto Branch
McCracken Court.

“I haven’t felt anything like that,” Watford said. “That was probably the most memorable moment of my life. It’s the biggest shot, definitely, of my career.”

The shot by Watford came after Lamb, an 89 percent foul shooter, hit 1-of-2 foul shots.
IU inbounded the ball following Lamb’s successful free throw and, despite having two fouls to give, Kentucky was not successful in fouling Jones when he brought the ball down the floor.

“We were fouling,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said. “We were going to foul them. We had two fouls to use, so the whole timeout was about fouling. Marquis (Teague) tried to foul, and they didn’t call it. No one fouled.”

That allowed Watford to knock down the first game-winning 3-point field goal at the buzzer IU has had since Kirk Haston hit one from the opposite wing to defeat No. 1 Michigan State on Jan. 7, 2001.

Overshadowed by his game-high 20 points was Watford’s defensive effort against Kentucky’s leading scorer Terrence Jones. Watford neutralized the 6-foot-9-inch, 252-pound Jones to four points, one rebound and six turnovers in 28 minutes.

Watford was the lone Hoosier to score during the game’s final 7:53. to help IU overcome a near five-minute scoring drought in the second half.

“We knew that we had some matchup problems, but we also felt they might have one with (Watford), and he needed to be able to utilize that a lot of different ways,” Crean said. “He made plays in the post. He made plays on the glass, and he made four threes. You can’t win games like this without your best players really bringing it, and he did.”

Having the chance to knock off a No. 1 team was no easy task for the Hoosiers as Calipari brought in a handful of McDonald’s All-Americans to face an IU roster with just one.
Crean said the Hoosiers could not mirror Kentucky’s length, but they did overcome early season woes on the glass to outrebound the Wildcats 14-10 on the offensive end.

Controlling Kentucky’s runs was another important factor for Crean as the Wildcats struck late in the first half with a 7-0 spurt before intermission.

Kentucky once again dug itself out of a deficit in the second half as it fell behind by 10 before Indiana native Teague paced the Wildcats down the stretch, scoring all 15 of his points following halftime.

“You have to close a team like Kentucky out,” Crean said. “You have to continue to be really good on both ends of the floor. It was not a textbook way to close a game, but it really came down to who had the ball last, and our guys never wavered throughout
the game.”

In the last three years, IU has lost to Kentucky by an average of 18 points. For the five senior players who joined the mob of students on the court, a 9-0 start to their final campaign is far from the 6-25 pains they suffered as freshmen.

“We went through some trying years, but we stayed with it,” Jones said. “I’m particularly proud of our senior class. It could have been easy for us to transfer, leave or just quit, but we stuck with it, and I feel like the fruit of our labor is starting to pay off.”

Impossible? No, but the Badgers knew to do the impossible it needed to be spot on for 40 minutes and get a little bit of luck in the process. It was mission accomplished … until a heated timeout conversation in the North Carolina huddle certainly lit a match.

The Tar Heels broke out of their game-long shooting slump with a decisive 18-5 run, engineered by All-American Harrison Barnes scoring 10 of his game-high 20 points, to help North Carolina stave off Wisconsin to a hard-fought 60-57 victory in front of 21,750 that extended its home court winning streak to 19 games.

It wasn’t easy, not by a long shot.

Wisconsin — denied its first 7-0 start since the 1993-94 season — was doing everything it wanted to do in order to beat a team like North Carolina. With 11:58 left, Wisconsin controlled the pace, shut down the Tar Heels’ perimeter game, limited fast-break opportunities and even outmuscled the fifth-ranked team in the country in their baby blue backyard.

Problem was that it’s hard to keep a good team, or a good player for that fact, down for too long.

Barnes, who was a game-time decision after tweaking his right ankle in Saturday’s 90-80 loss to UNLV, simply exercised his will against a Wisconsin frontcourt not used to his size. He used his teammates to create screens and hit 3-pointers from the perimeter, he used his length to score inside and he used his size to draw fouls and make free throws.

“I think that they won (the momentum battle) early in the game, but towards the second half we started pressing a little bit more,” said Barnes, whose team scored eight points from the free-throw line on the run. “That kind of sped the pace up which was more our style.”

But the Badgers were denied their first victory over a top five team on the road since beating No. 4 Ohio State 72-71 on Jan. 26, 1980, a span of 16 straight games, because the basket wasn’t kind to them.

Entering the night shooting 47.2 percent from three-point range (second best in the nation) and 49.4 percent overall, Wisconsin was cold from the start and never truly heated up, finishing eight of 28 from three-point range (28.6 percent), 35.9 percent overall (23 of 64) and made just three of six free-throw attempts.

Senior guard Jordan Taylor was the biggest culprit. He scored 18 points to lead UW but missed 14 of 20 field-goal attempts, including eight of his 11 from three-point range. Taylor was 2-for-5 in the final six minutes, including an open three-pointer with 17 seconds left that could have cut the score to 59-57.

In a hyped match-up of premier point guards, neither Taylor nor UNC sophomore Kendall Marshall (four points) blew the top off the Dome, but the program was a bigger detriment to Wisconsin considering the importance of its senior.

“Some (shots) were forced; definitely in that run we forced some shots, but we had quite a few good looks that just didn’t go down,” Taylor said. “A lot of people might attribute that to their length, but those are shots we’ve been taking every day since a week after the season ended last year.”

Juniors Jared Berggren (14 points) and Ryan Evans (10 points, 7 rebounds) were big contributors but couldn’t help Taylor and Wisconsin extend the game in the final second. Even though UW scored buckets on four of its final five possessions, the Tar Heels cashed in by going 16-18 from the free throw line in the second half.

“Getting good looks isn’t the easiest thing in the world,” said UW coach Bo Ryan, who was an assistant on that staff in 1980. “I always keep referencing back to Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) when he told the little kid in ‘Airplane,’ ‘You tell your dad to try and drag those guys up and down the court.’ It was hard. It was hard to get a good look. That was as hard of fought game as I have been in as a head coach.”

For all the things that went wrong in the first half for Wisconsin, the 25-24 halftime deficit was a minor miracle. Wisconsin shot 32.2 percent (10 of 31) from the floor and 20 percent (3 of 15), but were in the game because of eight first-half UNC turnovers and a 12-2 run over an eight minute, 12 second stretch late in the first half that gave Wisconsin a 22-21 lead with 2:25 to go. Throw in North Carolina missing 13 of its last 16 shots, and the confidence was building on every possession.

In the end, everything went right for the Badgers except for the final outcome.

In an unusual move, the sold-out crowd at Value City Arena was treated to a pre-game hype video taking aim particularly at the Blue Devils. Footage of Dick Vitale and other ESPN analysts praising the No. 3 Blue Devils was mocked, and ended with the tagline, “It’s time to talk about THIS,” as the No. 2 Buckeyes took the floor.

After Ohio State’s performance in Columbus, it now looks like no one will be talking about anything else.

In the premier game of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the Buckeyes (7-0) handed Duke its worst loss since its season ending blowout to Villanova in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, defeating the Blue Devils 85-63. Four Ohio State starters scored more than 16 points, and the team shot 59 percent from the field compared to Duke’s 47 percent clip.

“Sometimes you just get your butt kicked. We got our butt kicked,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said following the loss. “Tonight my butt’s sore.”

After being knocked down by an 11-0 run to start the game, the Blue Devils (7-1) battled back behind the offense of Mason Plumlee and Austin Rivers to cut the lead to one point with 12:33 to go in the first half. The Buckeyes responded, though, as Jared Sullinger, William Buford and Deshuan Thomas combined to score 19 of Ohio State’s next 23 points as the lead ballooned to 13.

But the true dagger didn’t come until later in the half. After a three-point play by Rivers brought the lead back down to ten with 4:15 to go, Duke looked poised to make a run and narrow the deficit before halftime. While Buford answered Rivers with an impressive fade-away jumper, however, the Blue Devils lost their shooting touch. Tyler Thornton, Quinn Cook and Rivers missed four open threes, two of which were airballs, and Duke would only score two points the rest of the half.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were flummoxed by Thomas, who scored nine straight Buckeye points following Buford’s jumper and even exploited a rare zone defense implemented by Krzyzewski.

Duke found itself down 19 at the half, and would not close the lead to less than 17 the rest of the way.

“They went out there and they took a punch at us,” Rivers said. “We just put our hands up and fell back into the ropes. We never ever struck back, not once.”

Although Duke’s defense was the main culprit of the blowout loss, the Blue Devils also struggled to find an offensive rhythm in a hostile environment. Rivers and Plumlee accounted for 38 of Duke’s 63 points and took nearly 55 percent of the team’s shots.

Seth Curry scored only seven points, his lowest total of the year, after taking only four shots in the first half. Ryan Kelly, coming off MVP honors at the Maui Invitational, was invisible in Columbus. The junior captain took just two shots in 14 first-half minutes, and played only one minute the rest of the way. He finished with no points and three rebounds.

The team accumulated just ten assists and is now ranked 242nd in Division-I basketball in assists per game.

According to Krzyzewski, though, the trip to Maui played a major role in Duke’s lackluster effort Tuesday. The Blue Devils had just come off a grueling schedule of seven games in thirteen days, while Ohio State has not left Columbus yet this season.

“They haven’t been on the road. We just got back from a hellacious tournament in Maui,” Krzyzewski said. “We weren’t able to get juiced up in this short amount of time to go on the road. That had a bearing on it. Even if we did that I’m not sure if we would have beaten that team.”

The Buckeyes were also on the end of every bounce—in the first half alone Ohio State had ten second chance points, compared to none by Duke. And a team that is shooting below 35 percent from beyond the 3-point arc this season went 5-for-5 in the second half to stymie any hope of a Blue Devil run.

Regardless, Duke was never able to overcome those first half runs that turned a top 5 matchup into a laugher.

“I just think they were more ready to play,” Plumlee said. “You can tell by the way the game started. We just didn’t come ready.”

Trevor Mbakwe will miss the rest of the 2011-12 season after tearing his right ACL in the Minnesota Gophers’ 86-70 loss to Dayton on Sunday.

An MRI scan Monday confirmed the injury, which caused Mbakwe to have to be assisted off the court after an awkward landing in the second half.

“My family and I would like to thank everyone for their support,” Mbakwe said in a release Monday.

A Preseason All-Big Ten First Team honoree, Mbakwe was the Gophers’ leading scorer (14.0 points per game) and rebounder (9.1 rebounds) through seven games in 2011-12. He also led the team with 13.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in 2010-11.

“You hurt for him, but you know he’s a guy that has the will power and has been through it before and can recover again,” Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith said in the release. “We are certainly going to miss him. He’s having a great year. He’s been a big emotional leader for us. Our players look up to Trevor, not just because of his talent, but because of his work ethic, and the type of person he’s been.”

Mbakwe suffered a left-knee sprain in his 2007-08 season at Marquette that caused him to miss the season’s first 23 games.

I’m hesitant to praise Coach K’s character because of the events of the last few weeks, which have shown us that nobody is immune to a dramatic fall from grace. It can be said that Coach K did things the right way, however, and his 903 wins stand as one of the cleanest records in a world where Barry Bonds is still acknowledged as the all-time home runs record holder.

In his career, he’s never been stricken with NCAA sanctions as a result of recruiting violations like many of his peers. Coach K’s success serves as a direct contrast to those like John Calipari, whose first untainted Final Four appearance came this past spring despite its being his third visit. In this day and age, it’s rare to find a major college coach who hasn’t committed some form of a recruiting violation.

It’s almost nauseating how much of a role model the coach for a school like Duke can be. When he’s not keeping J.J. Redick from picking up a DWI until after his Duke days end, Coach K serves his country as the coach of a revamped national basketball team. Like his incredibly disciplined Duke teams, Krzyzewski ran the U.S. team without egos and successfully channeled the talents of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to a gold medal (Erik Spoelstra, the Heat’s coach, could take a few pointers here). It’s safe at this point in time to ask if anyone in the country could possibly run a more successful clean program.

Or, for that matter, can any current coach run a more successful program at all? Looking at the win totals for active coaches, Coach K’s record could be safe for many years to come. The two closest coaches to Krzyzewski, Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim, are both older than Coach K, making it unlikely that they will catch him. The trend for the rest of the list is very similar; any coach over 600 wins currently is either too old to seriously contest Coach K or — in the case of Bob “Huggy Bear” Huggins — parties a little too hard to have the stamina to reach 900 wins.

So where does that leave Coach K’s record? Assuming he continues coaching (he’s only 64 years old), Krzyzewski may set the bar so high that his record remains untouched for generations to come. One must look at the next crop of rising coaches to find a serious challenger.

The challenger that immediately comes to mind is Brad Stevens, Butler’s boy wonder coach. At the age of 35, Stevens has amassed 117 career wins while leading his mid-major university to two NCAA championship games. (It took Coach K until the age of 43 to reach his second title game.) Considering that Krzyzewski had already reached 219 wins at the age of 40, it isn’t hard to project that Stevens could collect 20 wins per year and celebrate his 40th birthday with a number close to K’s.

This speaks more toward Coach K’s achievements than Stevens’, though. It takes a large amount of optimism to believe that Stevens can keep winning for the next 30 years and enter the same conversation as this legend. Even J.J. Redick’s rap career has a better chance of making it than a challenger to his former coach’s accomplishment.

Very rarely is there a situation in sports when a nice guy truly finishes first. Mario Lemieux and Jim Valvano were forced to battle cancer during their careers and Roberto Clemente tragically died in a plane crash. It’s refreshing to see Coach K be rewarded for his career, one that saw his players excel on the court and in the classroom. Between 2004 and 2008, 92 percent of Duke basketball players graduated, a percentage significantly above the national average.

In basketball and life, Coach K is a winner and a role model, and this record only serves to draw attention to this living legend. It’s just a shame he accomplished all this at Duke.

Davis said that Fine began the abuse in 1983, right after Davis entered the seventh grade. Davis became the ball boy in 1984, and said that he dealt with the abuse for six years.

Kevin Quinn, Syracuse’s senior vice president of public affairs, said that Syracuse heard of the allegations in 2005, but Syracuse police did not investigate because the statute of limitations had expired.

On Thursday night, Fine was placed on administrative leave by the university.

The 49ers senior went off for a career-high 28 points, leading the 49ers to an 86-76 victory over the Pitt Panthers, which broke a 58-game win streak against nonconference opponents at home.

“We came in here hungrier,” Ware said. “Because [the Panthers are] ranked, they thought they had it.”

It was another slow start for the Pitt men’s basketball team, which fell behind 45-36 in the first half. The defensive struggles continued as the Panthers allowed the California squad to shoot an impressive 66 percent from the field in the first half.

“We got beat every which way,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “We were indecisive on what we need to do defensively, and that’s slowing us down.”

Transition defense helped win the game for Long Beach State: The Panthers allowed 25 fast break points.

“They did a lot to try and stop us from running, but we’re too fast for that,” Ware said.

Dixon recognized the 49ers strength in transition, but mostly blamed Pitt’s lackluster defense.

“Our transition defense is not good enough. It hasn’t been good enough,” Dixon said.

Offensively, the Panthers continued to play inconsistently. They had 12 turnovers compared to the 49ers’ 10, but still managed to score 76 points.

Once again, Pitt was led by senior guard Ashton Gibbs, who scored 20 points and shot 8 of 21 from the field. The last lead the Panthers held was 14-12 with 13:02 minutes left in the first half. After losing it, the closest they got to regaining the lead was 62-56 with 9:53 remaining.

“There were certain spots we were supposed to be at certain points in the game, and we weren’t there,” Gibbs said. “They played harder than us.”

Nasir Robinson played a consistent supporting role throughout, scoring 19 points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Still, the senior forward felt the effort of the team was not enough.

“They worked harder, ran harder, got back to loose balls, executed better than us, outsmarted us,” Robinson said. “They just wanted it more.”

In the second half, the Panthers switched to a zone defense that had some spotty success. Long Beach State was running zone as well, and head coach Dan Monson said a big reason for the zone was Robinson.

“Robinson was a load for us,” Monson said. “We probably went to the zone more for him than anything else.”

For Long Beach State, the win was a long time coming. Playing in a mid-major conference, the 49ers have faced teams like Duke, Syracuse, Notre Dame and North Carolina over the last four years without ever getting a major win.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Ware said. “It’s a big win, we feel good. But we expected to win this. We knew we were going to win this game.”

“First, I want to thank Coach Dixon for giving us the opportunity today,” Monson said. “A lot of coaches wouldn’t do that. He knew we had a veteran group coming back, he did it because he’s a friend and I appreciate the opportunity to come in here today.”

However, Monson stressed that his team was just getting started.

“This group has not been to an NCAA tournament yet,” he said. “That goal for the end of the year is not attained in one game. We’ve got to play better.”

For the Panthers, point guard Travon Woodall also had a strong showing, scoring 17 points on five of six shooting from the field. He shot three of four from beyond the arc. The redshirt junior injured his arm in the first half, but returned in the second half. He received an X-ray after fouling out at the 1:44 mark, but results have not come back yet.

Pitt will be back in action next Tuesday against La Salle.

“I had anticipated us being a much better team, but obviously we’re not where I want us to be at this time,” Dixon said. “We always get better as the year goes on, and we’ll have to do that again.”

There it was, emerging in the second half, making No. 12 Kansas at times look like a No. 12 seed, trying desperately to keep pace with a team that was simply better at playing the game of basketball.

After a 28-28 tie at halftime, UK ripped off an 11-0 run coming out of it. From there, the lead never fell below double digits in a 75-65 win.

It was how UK can play at its best. When it’s hitting threes, when it’s smothering teams on defense, when it’s making the easy plays on offense, only a handful of teams in the nation stand a chance at winning. UK is simply more talented than everyone else.

“I don’t want to say (this is the best team I’ve had),” UK head coach John Calipari said, “but they have a chance to be special.”

The special part showed up, although it took a half to shake off the blinding glare of the big-city lights.

In the first 20 minutes, Kansas, which started four juniors and a senior, played like a team that has been together for three years. UK, which started three freshmen and two sophomores, played like a team that has been together for three months.

Because those two things are true, UK’s slow start is a legitimate issue. Does it need to get fixed? Certainly. Should it have been already? Probably not, considering it’s the second game of the season.

“Kind of expected what happened in the first half,” Calipari said. “A bunch of young guys out there doing their own thing.”

UK played all sorts of out-of-sorts basketball in the first half. Freshman Marquis Teague threw the ball to Kansas or out of bounds more often than he was throwing it to teammates. He had one point and six turnovers.

“Yeah, he was a little frustrated. He tried to go one-on-one in the first half,” sophomore Doron Lamb said. “But he settled down.”

Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, usually a spark of efficient energy at the beginning of games, looked visibly nervous on the big stage with plenty of family and friends in attendance.

And then, UK — behind the very same players who looked so distraught in the first half — got comfortable.

Lamb, a New York native, knocked down a couple threes and couldn’t help but smile at doing so in the arena he reveres the most. Every starter scored in double figures.

“I think we made a good statement today,” Lamb said. “We played a top team, that was ranked, and we beat them.”

This game is indicative of how most of the season, especially before tournament time, will look for UK.

Here are three stats from the game: 19 turnovers, 14 assists, 13 blocks. UK alternates between playing fast and foolish and freakishly good. The two halves both existed in equal amounts. Neither’s realism can be discarded.

“We’re not bad,” Calipari said, “but we’re not a good team yet.”

At times, the Cats will look immature and shaky.

But more often than not, UK will just beat people down.

This was the Cats’ first matchup with Kansas since the 2006-07 season when they lost under former head coach Tubby Smith.

After nearly two scoreless minutes, the Cats were finally able to make the first bucket, a layup from sophomore Terrence Jones, who ended the game with 15 points and three blocks.

“Those guys have been exposed to some things that a lot of guys their age haven’t been exposed to,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “They’re beyond their years.”

UK trailed early in the first half, down 7-2 with 16:14 remaining.

“We don’t believe we have to truly play together yet,” head coach John Calipari said. “It’s not talent that wins, it’s good teams that win.”

Kansas committed some early fouls in the first half (five in the first five minutes) and allowed UK to start climbing back within striking range.

After a technical foul, UK began to close the gap being down 10-7 around the 13-and-a-half minute mark, where sophomore Doron Lamb made both free throws.

UK then took the lead with an 8-0 run leading to freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scoring a fast break layup to put UK up 11-10 with about 11:30 to play in the half.

That lead didn’t last long, though, as the Jayhawks continued to make plays offensively and were successful shooting behind the arc.

The Cats continued to shoot throughout the first half, but the rim wasn’t as generous as it was for Kansas.

But a steal forced by Jones along with a dunk at the other end of the fast break served as a momentum changer for the Cats as he closed the gap again, putting them down by three with around 6:30 to play.

UK trailed throughout the first half but was able to hang with the Jayhawks.

The Cats and Kansas left the first half tied 28-28 with Jones leading the Cats in scoring with nine points, three rebounds and one assist.

UK almost looked like a different team in the second half, jumping to an 11-0 run to lead the Jayhawks 39-28.

“We’ve got a lot of scorers on this team,” Lamb said. “A lot of weapons on this team.”

The Cats contested everything Kansas had to offer offensively, pressing its defense to force turnovers and blocking shots into the stands.

It was all UK from there. The Cats and the Jayhawks essentially switched positions after the first half, and UK remained in control of the game in the last 20 minutes.

After numerous Kansas attempts to close the lead and get ahead, no lead changes occurred in the half as the Cats closed out the game.

“They had a will to win. That’s what I wanted to see,” Calipari said. “That’s the hardest thing to teach in what we do: a will to win.”

UK continues with another road game against Penn State at noon Saturday in Uncasville, Conn.

“That was about as high-powered of a basketball game as you’re going to see at this time of the year,” OSU coach Thad Matta said after the game. “For our program, we beat a great basketball team tonight.”

The Buckeyes were hindered by a sluggish start, as Florida center Erik Murphy connected on his first three 3-point shot attempts to give the Gators a 14-6 lead.

OSU responded with a 7-0 run, but didn’t manage to grab a lead over the Gators until senior guard William Buford’s jumper gave the Buckeyes a 31-29 advantage at the 2:48 mark of the first half.

After not attempting a field goal in the first five minutes of the game, OSU sophomore forward Jared Sullinger scored 10 first half points — two of which came from a fade-away baseline jumper as the shot clock expired with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

OSU took a 35-32 advantage into intermission, but not before two personal fouls on sophomore point guard Aaron Craft forced Matta to take out the player who Florida coach Billy Donovan called the key to the game for the remainder of the first half.

“He physically beat up our guards. And I’m not saying our guards got fouled,” Donovan said. “Totally within the context of the rules of the game, he physically manhandled our guards.”

Craft returned to play the second half, finishing with 13 points, seven assists and two steals.

A 9-3 run helped the Buckeyes gain some breathing room in the second half before a third personal foul sent Sullinger to the bench.

With their leading scorer out of the game, the Buckeyes extended their lead to as many as 16 points, and were helped by a 3-3 shooting performance from junior forward Evan Ravenel.

“That’s what he does in practice, that’s the way he plays,” Sullinger said of Ravenel. “He played really well today.”

A late charge by Florida brought the OSU advantage back down to a single-digit lead with a minute remaining in the game, but could never get closer than five points to the Buckeyes, who converted seven of their eight free throw attempts in the final 60 seconds.

Freshman guard Bradley Beal led Florida in scoring with 17 points and Murphy and sophomore center Patric Young each scored 14 points for the Gators.

Buford finished with a game-high 21-points and pulled down six rebounds for a Buckeye team that for the second consecutive game attempted more than 30 free throws, as OSU went 27-34 from the charity stripe on Tuesday.

“We always want to get to the line,” Matta said. “We always want to keep them off of the line as much as we possibly can, but I’m pleased with how we shot them tonight, that’s for sure.”

The Buckeyes return to action on Friday when they’ll host Jackson State at 9 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.

No. 6 Duke will take on Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in the opening game of the inaugural Champions Classic, which will showcase the Blue Devils, Spartans, Kansas and Kentucky. The game will tip off at 7 p.m., followed by the Jayhawks against the Wildcats two hours later.

“I can remember as a kid, going to… Chicago Stadium and watching doubleheaders,” Krzyzewski said. “There weren’t teams on TV, so you got a chance to see guys…. It’s a cool concept.”

Forty-six years after the Duke head coach once saw the Blue Devils play Notre Dame in one of those doubleheaders, he is on the cusp of becoming the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history. But, to get there, he will have to get through an experienced head coach who has 383 wins and a national title on his own resume.

“You never want to be the guy that threw to Hank Aaron,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “It’s an incredible feat he’s trying to get to. I hope he gets there. I just hope it’s not on our night.”

The two programs met last season at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a 84-79 win for Krzyzewski. Seven of the 10 players who started in that game are no longer with their respective programs, though, leaving both teams reliant on their youth. Five of the 10 Michigan State players to see at least 10 minutes of playing time in the team’s opener were freshman or sophomores. The biggest early issue has been at the point guard position, where converted shooting guard Keith Appling started last Friday. Freshman Travis Trice is the team’s only true point guard, but whether he is ready to start at the collegiate level remains to be seen.

The Duke backcourt, which Izzo said has “not as much depth” as it has in recent years, is still trying to single out an effective primary ballhandler. The duties have so far been split between Seth Curry, Tyler Thornton and Quinn Cook, but the team is still looking for the best way to utilize its guards in orchestrating an efficient offense.

“We are not a selfish team, but at times we dont see other people because we get immersed in what we’re doing individually,” Krzyzewski said after his team’s Saturday win over Presbyterian. “That’s part of what a young team does.”

Krzyzewski said his biggest matchup concern, though, was with Draymond Green. The 6-foot-7, 230-lb forward racked up 19 boards against North Carolina’s John Henson and Tyler Zeller last week.

“Chris Collins [advance scouts] Michigan State, and he just said, ‘Coach, they really rebound,’” Krzyzewski said. “We don’t have Henson [who had nine blocks against the Spartans] so we better block out before they get that first rebound.”

Green, along with teammate Adreian Payne, will provide tougher matchups for Mason and Miles Plumlee, along with Ryan Kelly. who have been dominant during the early season. The trio has tallied 74 points and 48 rebounds in the team’s first two games.

“Duke has a better inside attack than they’ve had [in recent years],” Izzo said. “It’ll be a different kind of game.”

The NFL lockout ended without missing any games.

The NBA is involved in a lockout of its own, yet the uproar exhibited by the fans has not been nearly the same. This is as the NBA is coming off the most hyped final series in recent memory, when the league’s biggest star, LeBron James, tried to prove he could handle the pressure.

Why is the outrage that existed this summer not there for the NBA? There is an obvious answer: The NFL is just more popular than the NBA.

The NFL has a system where parity reigns king, and a team from a town with a population barely north of 100,000 can win the championship. The NBA, however, is dominated by the big market teams picking on the little guys, signing the best players to big contracts and forcing the small market clubs to relocate to another market to try and compete.

The other thing working against the NBA lockout is timing. When the NFL lockout hit its peak in late June and July, the only other sports news fans had to focus on was the baseball season.

In the Internet age of rumors and instant information, fans don’t have attention spans long enough to focus on just one sport. Sure, for one weekend golf or tennis is thrust into the spotlight because of a major tournament, but those sports fade to the back of people’s minds just as fast as they came to the forefront.

People aren’t noticing that the NBA is cancelling games. The fans have so much else to focus on right now. Football is halfway through the season, and the playoff races are starting to heat up.

Even the cities out of contention are engulfed in a competition for the right to select the next “sure thing quarterback” in Andrew Luck.

College football is involved in one of the most unusual seasons I’ve ever witnessed. People are talking about the possibility of two teams from the same conference meeting in the BCS championship game.

When will fans start to cry out for the NBA the same way they did for the NFL? If the sides don’t come together quickly, they’ll have to wait until the NFL playoffs come, when fans are being eliminated weekly and looking for something to fill their need for sports.

Additionally, the football team’s top recruiter, assistant head coach David Kelly, has also resigned. Both resignations came after the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations specifically cited Tribble and Kelly for unethical conduct when meeting with NCAA investigators.

Head coach George O’Leary was not implicated in the report.

Hitt also announced the suspension of men’s basketball coach Donnie Jones for three conference games without pay. The suspension was self-imposed by the university; not the NCAA.

“These are serious charges that are as unacceptable to me as I am sure they are to all of our fans,” Hitt said. “I expect our Athletics leadership to set the standard for compliance, and that is  not what took place.”

Adm. Al Harms will serve as the interim athletic director in place of Tribble. Hitt says that there is no timetable for a decision to name a permanent director of athletics. O’Leary will look to fill Kelly’s position.

The 16-page report details the involvement of Ken Caldwell, of Chicago, described as “a recruiter for a professional sports agency”, and his associate Brandon Bender, of Louisville. The two men were found to have violated recruiting rules by having “assisted the institution in the recruitment of six men’s basketball and five football prospective student-athletes.”

The report goes on to detail the several instances of rules violations. According to the report, Caldwell and Bender had repeated telephone and in-person interaction with prospective recruits (whose names have all been blacked out in the report to protect the student-athletes), with Tribble, Jones and assistant men’s basketball coach Darren Tillis all having knowledge of the contact.

Caldwell and Bender also had repeated telephone and in-person contact with football recruits, all of which Tribble and Kelly were aware of, the report states.

More damning was the report’s detailing of email communication between Caldwell in Tribble. Several subject lines of the email exchanges were cited, including a message from Caldwell to Tribble sent on December 18, 2010 with the subject line, “Your next receiver from me.”

Tribble had previously denied a relationship with Caldwell. The email correspondence extended to Jones, Kelly and other individuals within the program.

Caldwell also was found to have “provided impermissible benefits to men’s basketball and football student-athletes and prospective student-athletes.”

Some specific instances include allegations that Caldwell made deposits into a men’s basketball player’s bank account and provided a laptop computer to prospective football recruit.

The NCAA also found Caldwell to have been paying tuition expenses and travel expenses for current and prospective student-athletes.

Both Tribble and Kelly were cited for ethical violations when both men provided false and misleading information during the course of the investigation. Tribble denied knowledge of Caldwell’s involvement in the recruiting of specific prospective student-athletes, as did Kelly.

Hitt implied on Wednesday that those ethical violations played a pivotal role in the two individuals choosing to resign. Jones was cited in the report for having “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance” within his program.

The allegations state that Jones was aware of Caldwell’s role in assisting with the recruitment of prospects and “failed to try to stop or discourage the activities.”

“As the program’s head coach, I accept responsibility for mistakes when they occur,” Jones said. “I respect Dr. Hitt and the University of Central Florida and believe the decision in this case is fair. I look forward to representing UCF in a positive manner on and off the court.”

UCF senior basketball player A.J. Rompza was mentioned by Hitt as a player involved in the NCAA investigation. Rompza continues to sit out of games while practicing with the team. The university has recommended a course of action to the NCAA, which, Hitt says, has not been approved yet.

The release of the NCAA’s findings comes at a time when UCF is on the verge of joining the Big East in all sports. Amidst concern that the violations would factor into the school’s realignment prospects, Hitt assured students and fans that that would not be the case.

“This is not a game-changer,” Hitt said. “The report will not impact our conference realignment process.”

Hitt stated that he contacted the commissioners of both Conference USA and the Big East after he received the allegations and that the Big East’s commission, John Marinatto, has been aware of and following the investigation throughout the realignment process.

“I called [Big East] commissioner [John] Marinatto today…we talked a little about the events that led up to [today's press conference] and we also talked about [the Big East's] expansion program they have announced,” Hitt said. “[The conversation] went rather nicely.”

All of the resignations and suspensions announced Wednesday are self-imposed by the university. The NCAA allows institutions 90 days response time once they release their allegations. Hitt stated that he is hopeful that school’s preemptive actions, as well as a renewed “Commitment to Compliance”, will be taken into consideration by the NCAA.

“When you are a repeat offender, you do go to enhanced penalties,” Hitt said. “My hope is, the way we have dealt with this…will be taken into account by the NCAA.”

The university has begun a comprehensive review of the Athletics Association and has also made some policy changes. Hitt announced that UCF is immediately requiring the Athletics Association’s compliance office to report to the university’s chief compliance and ethics officer, as well as the interim Athletics Director.

Hitt acknowledged being disappointed with what has transpired, but wanted the university community and fans to know that the school and the Athletics Association will move forward.

“To our fans, I pledge this: UCF will address these problems in a clear, consistent and just manner,” Hitt said.

That’s when Chesterton, Ind. native Mitch McGary committed to the Wolverines. McGary, the consensus top power forward recruit in the nation for the class of 2012, is rated No. 2 overall by both Scout.com and ESPN.com.

The left-handed big man picked Michigan over Duke and Florida. He was also considering such programs as North Carolina, Kentucky and Maryland before recently cutting the list down to his three finalists.

“I felt most comfortable being (at Michigan) and I trusted the coaches, mostly, out of any other coaching staff,” McGary said during his announcement that aired on ESPNU. “(I felt) I could talk to them about anything.

“And I know (Michigan’s) on the rise again, and I felt like I can build that program up and make an impact my freshman year.”

McGary’s probably right about his ability to make an early impact, especially since he’ll be a year older than most freshmen. Originally a member of the 2011 cycle, McGary reclassified to 2012 after his junior year.

No one on Michigan’s roster has the combination of size, athleticism and skill that the 6-foot-10 power forward/center possesses.

McGary’s stock went through the roof last summer after he dominated the AAU circuit for the SYF Players.

“Offensively, he can do a lot on the court,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Brian Snow in an interview with The Michigan Daily. “He’s a good athlete, plays very hard down low, scores with his back to the basket or facing the rim. One of the most impressive things for a center, he can handle the ball and face up a taller, slower player.

“He can really create his own shot.”

For the Michigan program, landing McGary is nothing short of a coup. He’s the highest-rated recruit to commit to the Wolverines since LaVell Blanchard in 1999 and could be the most dynamic Michigan player since Detroit native Chris Webber — part of the famed Fab 5 — roamed the Crisler Arena court 20 years ago.

It’s a sign, too, that concerns about Michigan coach John Beilein’s recruiting competence might be overblown. Some have criticized him for an inability to pull in star recruits in the past.

McGary adds to an already strong 2012 class, joining AAU teammate Glenn Robinson III and Canadian wing Nick Stauskas. ESPN.com now ranks Michigan fifth in its 2012 recruiting rankings, after not being in the top 25 before McGary committed. The Wolverines also already have four commits for 2013.

It’s also a mark of status, as elite national recruits typically just consider the traditional basketball powers. Having McGary might not help land any future recruits, since they wouldn’t likely get to play with the post man — he’s widely considered a one-and-done player. Still, McGary’s decision indicates that Michigan is a program on the rise, and one that can battle with the elites — one that recruits would want to consider.

“Winning on the court is what gets recruits, and if Mitch McGary helps you get victories, that’s going to help you recruit,” Snow said. “That’s the bottom line. … He’s going to help Michigan win games, and good programs that win games get good recruits.”

McGary initially attended Chesterton High School, the alma mater of current senior guard Zack Novak. Though McGary was a freshman at Chesterton when Novak was a senior there, they rarely played together — McGary was on JV and only occasionally played varsity.

After two solid years on varsity, McGary transferred to Brewster Academy — a prep school in Wolfeboro, NH. known for its basketball prowess — to repeat his junior year. McGary, who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was having maturity and grade issues at Chesterton. His parents thought the discipline of Brewster would be good for him.

“I think he just took a bit more (time to mature),” said Chesterton coach Tom Peller. “Sometimes these taller kids aren’t as mature, and he just needed another year for maturity, so I think it was a smart move for him to go to the Academy.

“(Now) you can see he’s matured a lot, just by talking to him.”

A lot of the credit for McGary’s commitment should go to Michigan assistant coach Bacari Alexander, who Snow said did a “hell of a job” recruiting him.

It also didn’t hurt that McGary’s AAU coach, Wayne Brumm, was a big advocate for Beilein and the Michigan program.

Still, the decision was ultimately McGary’s to make.

“His main factor is committing to a coach that he believes can bring the best out of him,” Brumm said on Monday. “Somebody that he can trust, and (a) program where he really gets along with the guys, where he sees himself going to a campus that he (can say), ‘Hey, I really feel comfortable here.’ ”

In the end, Michigan was that program.

This fact brings up a very basic question: How does the NCAA still allow him to coach?

Known for being a tireless recruiter and vicious competitor on the court, Calipari started off his head coaching career at UMass in 1988. While UMass was not a typical basketball powerhouse, Calipari, with the not inconsiderable help of one Marcus Camby, was able to take the Minutemen to five straight NCAA tournaments. His last season in Amherst was by far his most successful, as the team went 35-2 in the regular season and made it to the 1996 Final Four. Except the NCAA says that his team was never there.

The aforementioned Camby, the best player in college hoops during the 1995-1996 season, was found guilty of taking over $40,000 in illegal benefits while at UMass. Agents supplied him with money, jewelry, rental cars and prostitutes, which he willingly accepted and even requested. The idea was that the agents would throw a little swag his way in hopes that they would be hired to represent him when he made it to the NBA.

After the NCAA uncovered this little arrangement, they stripped UMass of its 1996 tournament victories. Calipari pled ignorance, and people widely accepted his excuse because it was the first time his name had ever been dragged through the mud. Even so, Calipari decided to leave Amherst at the end of the season.

After a failed coaching stint in the NBA, Calipari decided to try his hand at the college game again. This time, Memphis was his destination, and he intended to win there at all costs.

The first scandal Calipari had to withstand was in 2001, his first season as head coach, when he successfully recruited his first star player to Memphis: Dajuan Wagner. In the process, Wagner’s father was able to secure an assistant coaching job at Memphis as part of his son’s commitment, despite lacking a college degree himself. While not technically a violation of the NCAA rules, it was a pretty shady practice.

Things quieted down on the scandal front for a few years, and Calipari was able to win at a pretty steady clip. After two consecutive Elite Eight appearances in 2006 and 2007, the Tigers were poised to get over the quarterfinal hump. Besides returning all five starters from a team that had won 33 games, they welcomed super-freshman Derrick Rose.

The team, led by Rose, ended up winning 38 games en route to an appearance in the national championship game. But after the season, it was discovered that Rose had had a stand-in take the SAT in his name and was retroactively ruled ineligible. Therefore, the entire season was forfeited and the banners taken down.

During the investigation, it was found that teammate Robert Dozier was guilty of the same offense. After scoring a very solid 1260 on his SAT the first time around, the University of Georgia had asked Dozier to retake it due to his heinously low PSAT score. He did and scored a 720, which, according to the Educational Testing Service, was one of the biggest drops in SAT history. Dropping from the ranks of the top 20 percent of test-takers to the bottom five percent raised a red flag for Georgia, but don’t worry: Calipari found a way for him to become a college student.

Accordingly, Dozier enrolled at the Laurinburg Institute, which had become a pipeline for the Memphis basketball program. After he had found a way to become academically eligible with Calipari’s help, Dozier enrolled at Memphis and became a starter on the Final Four team. After the season, the NCAA launched an investigation of the Institute. They concluded that courses, grades and diplomas from the school would not be accepted due to concerns about its academic programs and oversight.

These are just a couple of examples of the kind of program that Calipari runs. Indeed, I didn’t even mention the Tyreke Evans nepotism scandal, which is eerily similar to the Wagner situation. Or how Eric Bledsoe’s GPA jumped from a 1.9 to a 2.5 from his junior to senior year. Or Enes Kanter’s getting paid for playing in Turkey, which, luckily for Calipari, was exposed before Kanter could play at Kentucky. Or … well, you get my point.

Calipari certainly had to be a good salesman to convince Kentucky that scandal wouldn’t blight his program again, but maybe the school just wants to win. Regardless, Calipari will bounce to another job before a new scandal can rock his program, which leaves Kentucky to clean up the mess. Bob Knight, who was also known to tango with the NCAA, says it best: “We’ve gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking, and that’s why I’m glad I’m not coaching. You see, we’ve got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he’s still coaching. I really don’t understand that.”

Me neither, Coach.

“The Redskins need a quarterback,” Durant’s friend Randy Williams yelled, “and we may have just found him.”

And why not. With the NBA lockout dragging into its fourth month, there isn’t much to do for the superstar.

And that’s why he found himself in Stillwater, on a random Monday night, playing quarterback and safety for Oklahoma State’s Sigma Nu flag football team.

It all started early in the day, with a simple tweet from Durant.

Durant: “This lockout is really boring..anybody playing flag football in Okc..I need to run around or something!”

George Overbey, a member of Sigma Nu, saw the tweet after class and decided to Tweet back at his favorite player, not expecting a response.

“About five minutes later I get a retweet from him,” Overbey said. “He goes, ‘Can you play?’ And I go, ‘Can you catch?’”

Through direct message, specifics were drawn out and numbers were exchanged. And there Durant was, outside of Overbey’s house, ready to put on his Sigma Nu 35 KD jersey.

“He picked me and my buddy up,” Overbey said. “He’s got a big, big van. He didn’t have a limo…When his car pulled up to my house, I was like, ‘this is really happening.’”

And once Durant made his way to the intramural field, word got out quickly – there was an NBA superstar in Stillwater.

By the time Durant had picked off the first of his three interceptions, the field was packed. College kids filling the sidelines, policemen patrolling the area.

“This is probably the coolest moment of my life,” Overbey said. “It was a blast. I’m pretty stoked…When is Lebron or Kobe — the best basketball player in the world going to come up here and hang out with Stillwater kids. It says a lot about Oklahoma City. It says a lot about Kevin Durant. We love him here.”

As for Durant, he seemed pretty pleased with his performance.

From his Twitter: “I had soooo much fun at Oklahoma st playing flag football! Shoutout my new buddy (George Overbey) for inviting me! I threw 4 tds and had 3 ints!!”

Here are photos from the night.

“The real surprise in this to me is that Kansas invested so much time in Kaleb,” said ESPN Analyst Dave Telep. “For Arizona to get him, to beat out Kansas for a guy like this, it’s a huge commitment.”

Between Tarczewski, and power forwards Grant Jerrett and Brandon Ashley, the Wildcats now have an “embarrassingly talented frontcourt,” according to Telep.

Ashley, a 6-foot-8, 215 athletic forward from Findlay Prep, is the No. 4 ESPN-rated recruit, while Jerrett, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound banger, comes in at No. 9.

“I think all three of those guys have a real good chance to be professional basketball players,” Telep said. “They’re all very different. It’s an imposing collection of guys. I think it’s interesting how they just re-tooled the backcourt and retooled the frontcourt for the following years.”

Telep said that Tarczewski, a more traditional post player who visited Tucson during Arizona’s Red-Blue Game, will mesh well with the more athletic and versatile Ashley.

“He’s a guy who’s capable of owning his area,” Telep said. “He’s going to play off the athleticism of Brandon Ashley really well. He’s a more upright guy. He’s a true back to the basket player.”

What impressed Telep most about Tarczewski, of St. Marks School in Massachusetts, committing to Arizona is the Wildcats’ ability to now recruit on a national level — something that didn’t even exist during UA’s days as an annual Final Four contender.

“The real interesting part in this to me is how Arizona can go both coasts,” Telep said. “They’re bi-coastal right now. I don’t ever know if they’ve ever been like that before. Even when they were playing for championships and final fours I don’t know if their reach was as big as it is right now. They are back to being a national recruiting power.”

With Jerrett, Ashley and shooting guard Gabe York, the Wildcats already had the No. 1 2012 recruiting class according to ESPN. Now with Tarczewski, Arizona’s class is undoubtedly the best in the country. Assuming 2011 guards Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner stay in Tucson until next season, Miller will have unlimited options and an extremely balanced roster moving forward.

But, it’s official: West Virginia will join the Big 12 Conference as a full conference member effective July 1, 2012 after the Big 12 Board of Directors voted unanimously to accept West Virginia, according to a release from the University. The Mountaineers will begin playing in the Big 12 for the 2012-13 season.

“The Big 12 is a perfect fit for West Virginia University,” said WVU President James P. Clements. “It is a strong conference that, like WVU, values quality academic and athletic programs, and has a great tradition of success. This is a very exciting time for WVU and Mountaineer nation. I am confident that the future of WVU athletics has never been more promising.”

West Virginia will be required to pay a $5 million exit fee to the Big East. Multiple news outlets reported Friday that West Virginia had already send the conference the first installment of $2.5 million.

The Big 12 does not offer rife or men’s soccer.

Conference USA is a plausible landing place for the Mountaineers’ men’s soccer team. While Conference USA would not say whether or not WVU has applied for membership, it did say there was a structure in place.

“We would accept bids and a bid would be submitted. It would be a vote done by our membership. That bid can be accepted by us, but the final vote would be done by our membership,” said Courtney Morrison-Archer, assistant commissioner for public affairs. “We do have the structure to put that process in motion. We currently have three affiliated members in men’s soccer (South Carolina, Kentucky and Florida International).”

It appeared the Mountaineers would become the Big 12′s 10th member on Tuesday. This came after multiple media outlets reported Big 12 officials would be in Morgantown on Wednesday to officially announce the move.

However, the press conference was never held, and reports swirled late Wednesday night about Louisville being considered as the Big 12′s possible 10th member and not West Virginia.

Beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 Conference will be comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

The closest member institution to Morgantown is Iowa State which is 871 miles away, while the furthest is Texas Tech which is 1,472 miles away.

Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that the move does not come as a surprise for the league, but said the 27-month notification period will be in effect, contrary to the University’s release.

“League officials, members of our conference and the candidate schools to whom we have been talking were aware of this possibility. We have taken West Virginia’s possible departure into account as we have moved forward with our own realignment plans,” he said. “West Virginia is fully aware that the Big East Conference is committed to enforcing the 27-month notification period for members who choose to leave the conference. We are confident that in the coming weeks we will complete our own realignment program, adding a number of high-quality members to remain among the top conferences in both football and basketball.”

Big East members Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced earlier this fall they would be leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference, but will not leave until their 27-month waiting period is over.

West Virginia is the second team to join the Big 12 in recent weeks, after TCU left the Big East for the Big 12.

It was reported Tuesday that West Virginia would hold a press conference with Big 12 officials to announce the Mountaineers as a new member, but later reports surfaced the Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell made a last-minute pitch for Louisville to halt West Virginia’s invitation.

“It’s a terrific day for West Virginia and for college football writ large – the merits won out and WVU is back in the Big 12,” said West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller in a statement. “The Big 12 picked WVU earlier this week because of its first-rate football program, its stand-out athletes, and its fine university, academics and fans. The intervening days have been troubling, most especially the reports of an eleventh-hour political intervention to undermine the first, merits-based decision. Those reports prompted me to get involved, too – to push everyone to get back to the merits. It is encouraging that the Big 12 stuck to its guns and is following through on its commitment to add WVU to the conference.”

Kennedy’s health concerns were made apparent after taking a temporary leave from coaching due to back and shoulder injuries. After days of stress and lack of sleep due to pain, Kennedy sought information on the root of the problem.

“Through testing, it has been discovered that I am dealing with an early stage of Parkinson’s disease,” Kennedy said. “At this time, I am heeding the advice of my doctors and addressing the disease and its symptoms.”

Despite the diagnosis, Kennedy expects to return to coaching soon and said he appreciates the support given from the surrounding Aggie community.

“We have begun a long-term treatment plan and recovery. My doctors are encouraged and are tell ing me I will be able to come back soon,” Kennedy continued. “I am very grateful for the outpouring of support from friends, family and the Aggie Network.”

Associate head coach Glynn Cyprien and the rest of the Aggie basketball staff will continue to work with the team in Kennedy’s stead.

“My intention is to return to the court as soon as it is prudent,” Kennedy said. “I have great confidence in coach Cyprien and the staff I have assembled to lead this great group of young men and this basketball program.”

A&M athletic director Bill Byrne added his thoughts and sentiments on the situation.

“Our foremost concern is for coach Kennedy and his family. Billy knows he can count on us and the Aggie Network for support,” Byrne said. “I fully expect Billy to have a long and illustrious career here in Aggieland when he is cleared to return to the court. Meanwhile, I have confidence in the staff Billy has hired and in our basketball team. I’m anxious to get the season started and to get Billy back on the basketball court as well.”

Senior point guard Dash Harris said Kennedy has the team’s full support and, despite the situation, great things are coming for Aggie basketball.

“After speaking with Coach Thursday, he knows that we’re there for him and we know that he’s there for us. He’s doing better and we’re just trying to get him back on the floor as soon as possible,” Harris said. “He looks well, he seems happy and he’s the same coach Kennedy that he always has been. Our prayers are with him. We’re looking forward to a great season, a season with him on the sideline.”

Though Kennedy’s diagnosis is troubling, senior history major Trevor Beaty said he is confident the Aggie Network will do its part to help as Kennedy continues to recover.

“His health is the main concern. It’s the Aggie way to step in when someone’s down and out so I’m sure A&M will help him through this hardship,” Beaty said.  “Even though he’s somewhat new to the family we all need to help out in whatever way we can get him through this and have a successful season.”

The rules, adopted by the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, state that a school cannot participate in the 2013 tournament if its two-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) average is below 930, or if its four-year average is below 900.

The rules won’t be implemented until after this coming season, however, so UConn will be able to compete in this year’s tournament.

UConn’s single-year APR score in 2009-10 was 826, and its most recent four-year APR average was 893. Reportedly, UConn’s single-year APR score from this past season was 975, but even with the improvement, the Huskies’ averages would still fall below the threshold, with a two-year average of 900.5 and a four-year average of 888.5.

The NCAA clarified that the two years used in the averages would be the 2009-10 and 2010-11 years.

“The University of Connecticut has received clarification today that the two APR years for determining eligibility for the 2012-13 NCAA Championships will be 2009-10 and 2010-11,” UConn said in a statement to the Associated Press.

There are some possibilities that could help UConn improve its numbers before the 2013 tournament. Mike Enright, associate athletic director of athletics/communication, said that it was premature to say that UConn would not be eligible, and that there were likely to be some finishing touches before anything could be certain.

UConn President Susan Herbst said in a statement that she agreed with the NCAA’s new rules and that she hoped they could be implemented in the fairest way possible.

“It is my understanding that the NCAA has already begun examining the fairest method for implementing the new rules and I encourage them to make the time frame between a violation and a punish ment as short as possible,” Herbst said. ” Again, we are pleased with the outcome of today’s NCAA decisions and they certainly fit where I want to take this university. Our newly implemented academic plan has already produced an extraordinarily high APR score for our men’s basketball team in 2010-11.”

According to the Hartford Courant, the NCAA is studying the possibility of using numbers from 2010-11 and 2011-12 instead of 2009-10 and 2010-11. For that to be possible, the APR scores would have to be released earlier. They are currently released in May, after the NCAA Tournament.

The Courant’s story reported that the NCAA Committee on Academic Progress has asked NCAA staffers to work with individual schools to determine the feasibility of gathering data more quickly. The story noted that one complication is the fact that some schools run on semesters, others on trimesters and still others on quarters.

One plan that has reportedly been discussed is a system that would release APR scores for winter and spring sports in January and the scores for fall sports in the summer after the conclusion of the College World Series. That would allow scores to be released before the tournament, and a program would learn midseason if it would be eligible, not before the season.

Another possibility would be for UConn to appeal, although Walter Harrison, the president of the University of Hartford and the chairman of the NCAA’s Committee on Academic Progress, indicated that the appeals process would be very strict.

West Virginia senators Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller, as well as Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, issued statements Wednesday regarding West Virginia University’s place in conference realignment.

Manchin said he hopes the rumors about McConnell’s involvement in the issue aren’t true.

“If that happened, I will ask for a Senate investigation. I don’t believe that’s the way the game should be played,” Manchin said. “I hope the stories we’re hearing have no merits or facts to them, but with that being said, this is the action we have available to us, and this is the action I would take as a representative of the state of West Virginia.”

Rockefeller said teams should be chosen solely based on their performance, and should not be swayed by political influences.

“The Big 12 picked WVU on the strength of its program – period,” Rockefeller said in a statement. “Now, the media reports that political games may upend that. That’s just flat wrong. I am doing, and will do, whatever it takes to get us back to the merits.”

In Capito’s statement, she questioned why politicians were getting involved in the ever-changing landscape of college football, instead of focusing on other important issues.

“With 9.2 percent unemployment rate, it’s disappointing that folks in Washington (D.C.), are meddling in our college sports,” Capito said. “WVU brings with it a strong athletic program, loyal fans and a strong alumni base – and deserves to be in the Big 12. If there is political interference going on, it needs to stop now.”

The New York Times was the first to report the new developments Wednesday.

The report claimed that McConnell had been communicating with Oklahoma U. President and former senator David Boren and Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, a former congressman, to lobby for Louisville, his alma mater, to join the conference.

Reports from CBS Sports also claimed the deal that would have added West Virginia to the Big 12 was so close to being sealed that Interim Commissioner Chuck Neinas and Deputy Commissioner Tim Weiser planned to be in Morgantown Wednesday at a press conference to announce the move.

However, before the conference could make the move official, the league’s board of directors wanted to perform its due diligence and hold off before officially inviting WVU.

“If these outrageous reports have any merit, and especially if a United States senator has done anything inappropriate or unethical to interfere with a decision that the Big 12 had already made, then I believe there should be an investigation in the U.S. Senate, and I will fight to get the truth,” Manchin said in a statement. “West Virginians and the American people deserve to know exactly what is going on and whether politics is interfering with our college sports.”

The New York Times reported late Wednesday night that Hance responded to Manchin’s comments.

“Mitch McConnell talked about the merits of Louisville and nothing else,” Hance said. “Why shouldn’t he be sticking up for Kentucky? I think the guys from West Virginia got caught flat-footed not sticking up for West Virginia.”

The Mountaineers are expected to be the Big 12′s 10th member. The Charleston Gazette reported they will join the conference whether Missouri, which has been rumored to be on the verge of leaving for the Southeastern Conference, remains in the league or not.

Reports on Tuesday claimed that Big 12 officials will be in Morgantown today, and a press conference is expected to take place as early as this afternoon.

However, WVU issued a statement late Tuesday night stating there would be no press conference.

“Contrary to media reports, there is no press conference scheduled for Wednesday concerning WVU’s athletic conference affiliation. There are no further comments at this time,” the statement read.

The reported move comes just a week after West Virginia voted in favor of the Big East raising the exit fee from $5 million to $10 million.

WVU will not be held to the $10 million fee if it leaves now, as the increase in the exit fee would be put in place only if the Big East was able to execute its expansion plan.

When West Virginia will be allowed to begin Big 12 play is still unclear because of the Big East’s 27-month waiting policy that it is currently keeping Pittsburgh and Syracuse from joining the Atlantic Coast Conference.

If West Virginia does leave for the Big 12, it would be the fourth school this fall to announce its exit. TCU also announced its intentions to join the Big 12 earlier this month.

West Virginia football coach Dana Holgorsen said Tuesday that he has not had any input on any possible moves for the University. His focus has been solely on the Mountaineers’ game against Rutgers this weekend.

“I don’t have any dealings with that. If I had an opinion, I don’t even know who to call,” Holgorsen said. “If I called (WVU Athletic Director) Oliver (Luck) and (WVU President) Dr. (James P.) Clements, they would probably say, ‘You need to worry about Rutgers,’ which is 100 percent true.”

Holgorsen, who coached in the Big 12 with Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, also said that none of the coaches in the conference he knows have reached out to him.

“All my connections (in the Big 12) are coaches,” he said. “What do you think they’re doing this week?”

The first-year head coach did talk about some of the differences he’s encountered in his first season at WVU in the Big East compared to what he used to face in the Big 12.

“It’s different. If you look all the Big 12 teams … they’re all spread,” Holgorsen said. “I’m only two games into what I’ve seen in the Big East, but from what I’ve seen, it’s a little different. It’s still a little tougher, old school mentality (in the Big East).”

The Big 12 offers all the varsity sports that WVU has, with the exceptions of rifle and men’s soccer.

Currently, the West Virginia men’s soccer team is heading into the final stretch of its regular season ranked No. 18 in the country.

It’s likely that the Mountaineers will have to follow Kentucky and South Carolina and affiliate its men’s soccer program in a different conference than the rest of the varsity sports. While Kentucky and South Carolina belong to the SEC, the two schools play their men’s soccer games in Conference USA.

WVU head coach Marlon LeBlanc declined comment until anything has been made official.

The rifle team currently is a member of the Great American Rifle Conference and is ranked No. 1 in the country.

Charming the crowd with jokes and pranks, National Basketball Association icon Shaquille O’Neal spoke in front of about 3,200 people at U. Florida on Tuesday evening.

O’Neal has played for teams like the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat, and his TV appearances and endorsements have made him a household name.

“When it comes to thinking about ‘making it,’” O’Neal said, “I haven’t made it yet. And that’s what keeps me going.”

Accent Speakers Bureau paid O’Neal $70,000 to speak.

Taking the stage shortly after 8 p.m., O’Neal sat in one of two low-slung mocha lounge chairs on stage while moderator Laura McKeeman asked him about life on the road, his relationship with Kobe Bryant and his upcoming career move to TNT commentator.

But the “Shaq Attack” is also hard at work off the court.

From his past work as an undercover cop investigating Internet crimes involving children to his recent efforts to finish his Ph.D. at Barry University, O’Neal is, as Accent Chairman Corey Portnoy put it in his introduction, a “Shaq of all trades.”

“Shaq was truly an entertainer,” Portnoy said. “But, more importantly, [he] is a good teacher and a phenomenal leader to hear from about all of his accomplishments both in the professional world and the athletic world.”

Jemima Douyon, a 21-year-old French senior, attended the event with a friend.

“He was a little inappropriate at times, but it was fun,” Douyon said. “I learned a lot about him, especially his doctoral degree, which surprised me.”

Finishing his appearance by spanking Portnoy and hosting an impromptu dance contest on stage, O’Neal stayed the center of attention with his towering height and nonstop stream of jokes, jibes and mock-orders for security officers to “Tase that person.”

“When it comes to being a professional athlete, I just want to give people a good time,” O’Neal said. “I love to laugh, so in anything I do, I want to see them have a good time.”

No, it’s not those emotions he’s feeling.

“It’s just boring,” Rondo said.

Boring, even though the lockout came as “no shock” to him and the other players. Everyone saw it coming. But now it’s here, and Rondo isn’t playing the game he’s played his entire life. Instead, he’s peeling off his shirt in Jon Hood’s locker after another exhibition game.

Rondo is still trying to stay ready for that coveted day when the lockout lifts and basketball returns.

“I stay in shape,” Rondo said. “That’s why you see me out there the entire 24 minutes in the second half, getting up and down, to make sure I’m game-ready when the time comes.”

That philosophy isn’t entirely shared by some of the other members of the Big Blue All Stars. Chuck Hayes looked a little bit, um, out of shape during the game.

“Not close yet,” Hayes said when asked how close he was to being game ready. “I won’t be in game shape ’til I play games.”

Enes Kanter said he hadn’t played a game in two months and struggled during the game because of it.

“Here, everybody’s jumping so high and stronger,” Kanter said. “I just need to work harder.”

Besides that, players have social freedom to do whatever they want.

“I get to spend a lot of time with my family and friends,” Jodie Meeks said.

As for Rondo, it seemed like he was just riding along.

“I just live my life,” Rondo said, “And enjoy what I’m doing every day.”

Can you blame Missouri for getting hypnotized by the bright, glamorous lights of the SEC? To be fair, this is the conference that has won the last five BCS National Championships and sends more players to the NFL than any other conference.

But let’s be realistic: Missouri is not Alabama, LSU or Florida. Missouri is a football program that did not start seeing consistent success until 2003, and as much as Missouri wants to believe that it can compete for SEC titles, the Tigers have never won an outright Big Eight or Big 12 title. Missouri’s lone Big Eight championship was a shared title with Nebraska in 1969.

Kansas fans know better than most about the difficulties of sustaining success in football. The 2008 Orange Bowl win over Virginia Tech seems like a distant memory considering the current state of the football program. The upgraded competition on a weekly basis in the SEC could ultimately send the Tigers to bottom-feeder status along with Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.

Missouri has to consider that much of its success is due to head coach Gary Pinkel’s recruiting prowess in the state of Texas. Missouri’s football team currently has 35 players on roster from Texas, but Pinkel can expect that pipeline to shrink considerably if the school moves to the SEC.

Yes, the Aggies will provide the SEC with a Texas school, but merely Texas A&M’s presence in the SEC is not reassuring to families that want to see their sons play annually. Texas A&M is expected to be in the SEC West division, while Missouri will reportedly join the SEC East. As a result, it could be years until the Tigers ever step foot in College Station.

Missouri will also regret turning its back on the 120-year rivalry series with Kansas. It’s been well-documented that the Kansas-Missouri rivalry will end if Missouri leaves the Big 12, and the Tigers will find themselves lacking a true rival in the SEC.

Not only do long-standing, heated rivalries excite fans, but it also provides a financial boost to the rival universities and communities. Though it rarely gets the national attention of the Red River Rivalry or Michigan-Ohio State, the KU-MU rivalry is one of the most intense and culturally