The All "That Guy is Still in School?!" Team

We've all done it. You are watching a college basketball game and you see that player and you say, "Wait....he's STILLLL in school?" It happens a handful of times each year, and basically it means that the player is good enough to get solid playing time as a freshman, but not a sure thing at the next level that would lead them to leave school early.

This year is no different. Plenty of players out there that have been around around forever. Now presenting, the Daily Onions All "That Guy is Still in School?!" Team.

First Team
Peyton Siva - Louisville (Unanimous selection): Loyal reader Ramy actually sent us a text a few weeks back saying/asking "Siva is STILL at Louisville?!" See it really does happen.

CJ Fair/Brandon Triche - Syracuse: Fair has been a solid contributor for 4 years, but Triche is on the verge of getting the Craig Forth Award for starting every game of his four-year college career. Cuse fans will miss these two guys a lot next year (EDITOR'S NOTE: We had convinced ourselves that Fair had been at Syracuse for so long that he was a Senior. Well, he's only a Junior. So good news, he'll be back next year, and an automatic first teamer).

Miles Mason Plumlee - Duke: Good news, there is a younger brother Marshall, who is a redshirt freshman on the Duke roster.

Travis Releford - Kansas: Releford is a player that you might not know the name, but when you see him, you know exactly who he is...and then you wonder if he was a teammate of Mario Chalmers when Kansas won the National Championship in 2008 (he wasn't).

Kenny Boynton - Florida: We used to confuse Boynton with Erving Walker, who was a senior last year, similar type player. Probably leads to us thinking Boynton has been around for that much longer.

Second Team
Deniz Kilicli - West Virginia: The Turk. The Hook. The Beard. The no longer has the beard. Whatever you want to call him, he's been around way too long. Moutaineer fans are ready for him to be gone.

Mike Rosario - Florida: This one is a little tricky, considering Rosario started his career at Rutgers and then transferred to Florida. Rosario did match up against Johnny Flynn, who is now already (!) out of the league and playing in Australia. In fact, watch the video, maybe this is why Rosario left Rutgers




Derrick Nix - Michigan State: When you are a senior that is 6-7 and 290 lbs, its hard for people to miss you. Throw in the fact that you play for one of the nation's most recognizable programs, you are going to be seen a lot.

Rodney McGruder - Kansas State: One of Daily Onions favorite players, solely because of his last name...so close to McGruber!

Mike Brusewitz - Wisconsin: Big, white dude with a buzz cut that can shoot from outside and plays hard for Wisconsin. Sounds familiar, right? Well Brusewitz also used to have some flowing orange locks before he went with the Badger buzz, making him standout during his first two years on campus

Early look for next year's squad- Aaron Craft, Ohio State; Will Spradling, Kansas State. Both are juniors are could be honorable mentions this year.

Who'd we miss?

Return of the Onions

What happens when you are on an airplane for four and half hours, need a break from doing your "real" job (thank you wifi on Southwest!), and start seeing some tweets about college basketball media day? You rededicate yourself to your college basketball blog, that's what you do!

And then you go and post this song to get it stuck in everyone's head - throwback to high school anyone?



By the way, did you know that the Return of the Mack official video has 8,996,280 views on youtube? I have no bearing on whether or not this is super high or average. As reference, This is How We Do It by Montell Jordan has just over 9 million views, while Thong Song has over 17 mllion views. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you work The Thong Song into a college basketball blog post.

Now, onto more pertinent information regarding some college hoops. Here are a few stories we are following (not breaking).

Sunk my aircraft carrier? Our beloved Syracuse Orange were set to square off against San Diego State on November 9th on the retired USS Midway aircraft carrier flight deck, which is docked in San Diego. This would be the second straight year a basketball game was being played on a aircraft carrier (last year it was UNC and Michigan State).
As of this morning, it looks like this game is in limbo. Apparently the fan fest, concert, and other tomfoolery around the event are all being canceled because the inability to find a national sponsor. Interesting since the game is just over a month away. I'm sure Ron Burgundy and Champ Kind will have more details as this story breaks.
It would be ironic if the game does get canceled though. Syracuse, who gets a bad rap for not playing outside the state of NY until January most seasons, tries to not only go across the country to play again, but they aren't even playing the game on land. Maybe its just not meant to be. Stay at the Dome, Jimmy B.

SI.com

Jabari Parker: The top ranked player in high school hoops since LeBron James happens to reside and play in Daily Onions backyard on the south side of Chicago. The Simeon High School (same as Derrick Rose) senior has narrowed down his list to five schools. Unfortunately for those fans of in-state schools, DePaul and Illinois are nowhere to be found. According to ESPN recruiting folks, Simeon coach Robert Smith said DePaul was the toughest school for Jabari to leave off the list. Wonder if Oliver Purnell and company can use that in their recruiting pitch..."We were #6 on Jabari's list!!"

The top 5 for Jabari looks like this (in no particular order): Stanford, Michigan State, Duke, BYU and Florida (no Kentucky, thank goodness...Calipari did get the Harrison twin brothers yesterday though, both ranked in the top 5 of the class of 2013). Parker and his family are Mormons, so that explains BYU. From all accounts, Jabari is a great kid all around, (check out this article on him from Sports Illustrated) including the classroom, to go along with his basketball ability. Would be pretty cool to see him go to a BYU or Stanford. My early prediction that doesn't mean a damn thing, Michigan State. I'm basing this on Tom Izzo make a couple of extra trips to Chicago during the season last year, just to sit court side and make eye contact with Jabari.

Butler heading East: You didn't think we were going to get through our first post of 2012-13 without mentioning Onions favorite Butler and Brad Stevens did you? Well the Dawgs are on their way to the Atlantic 10 this season. Stevens and company were at the Jay-Z Center in Brooklyn today for the conference media day. Butler has some high expectations this season (despite being picked to finish 6th in the league), after missing the NCAA tournament last year. They bring everyone important back except Ronald Nored (graduation) and Chrishawn Hopkins (dismissed from team). They also add 6-6 freshman guard Kellen Dunham (2-time All-State player in Indiana), as well as senior Rotnei Clark, who transferred from Arkansas. Clark is said to be one of the best shooters in the country. As he'll soon find out, the measurements in Hinkle Fieldhouse are the same as his court back at home ("10 feet........15 feet").

Happy Birthday! Shout out to Daily Onions loyal reader, my dad. He's celebrating his birthday today (October 5th) poolside or green-side down in Florida. Appreciate all the support, whether it was while I was on the basketball court, on the blogosphere, or life in general. Enjoy!

ONIONS Rivers

In the words of loyal reader @mpenz21, "welcome to the Duke-UNC Rivalry, Austin Rivers." The only thing that would have made last night's ONIONS moment better, would have been if Bill Raftery was on the call....(check that, two things would have made it better) and if Rivers pulled a Sam Cassell and did the big marbles dance after he hit the shot.

Just in case you missed it live, like @bradsmit did, here's Rivers firmly planting himself into the greatest moments of the Duke-UNC Rivalry.



Let's say this first. Unbelievable individual performance from freshman Austin Rivers last night. Check out this line: 39 minutes (out of 40), 29 points on 9-16 shooting, including 6-10 from behind the arc. Also chipped in with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

Now, let's really look at what happened in the last few minutes of last night's game. Bottom line, North Carolina should have never lost that game, especially on their home court.

• Duke went on a 13-2 run to end the game.
• Seth Curry got a way with a walk prior to hitting a three with 1:48 left, which brought Duke to within four points.
• Tyler Zeller not only scored in his own basket (accidentally tipped in an errant three pointer) in the final 20 seconds to cut the UNC lead to 1 point, but he also missed a a free throw with 13.9 seconds left, which would have given the Tar Heels a 3 point lead (Zeller actually went 2-4 from the line in the final 44 seconds of the game). Oh, and he also was the one guarding Rivers when he hit the three, giving him too much space for Rivers to get a great look at the game winner. Zeller, who picked up Rivers on the switch, needed to guard him closely and make sure he didn't get off a three. Even if Rivers goes around you, the worst thing that happens is he hits a two and we are going to overtime. Definitely a final few minutes that Zeller will want to forget.
• 2:35. That was the point at which UNC scored their last FG of the game, a Harrison Barnes jumper.
• In the final 4 minutes of the game, Duke had 3 offensive rebounds and a steal, which directly led to 10 points. 

Remember before the season when everyone thought North Carolina wouldn't lose a game? Barnes, Henson, Zeller returning, a couple of McDonald's All-Americans coming in. Well the Tar Heels are now 20-4, 7-2 in the ACC (same exact record for Duke). Their first conference loss was a 33 point loss at Florida State three and a half weeks ago. Their second came last night, at home, to their biggest rival, after blowing an 11 point lead in the final 3:54. This was is going to sting...for a while.

Heavyweight Week - Top Ten Matchups Highlight College Basketball

If last week was "Feast Week," according to ESPN's marketing department, because of the great games/lineup in the Maui Invitational (along with that whole Thanksgiving holiday thing), then Daily Onions is dubbing this week "Heavyweight Week." Think about it, the only suitable follow up to a week of feasting, is a week of being a heavyweight.

Actually, "Heavyweight Week" references the all the Top 10 match ups that we have this week. Last night's hyped up game (no, not Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan), featured #2 Ohio State vs. #4 Duke. Not sure we can even say Duke was there though. After dropping behind the Buckeyes 11-0 to start the game, the Blue Devils were able to get back into the game to make it close halfway through the first half. From that point on, it was ALL (and I mean all) Ohio State. A few thoughts from the game:

-Austin Rivers crossover.....oh my. Quickest since.....Iverson? D. Rose? Man, that thing is impressive. He's got a decent jumper too. With that said, let's remember, Rivers has only played 7 college basketball games. Still lots to be learned.

Aaron Craft arguably the best PG in the country (Pic: US Presswire/SI.com)

-Sullinger, Buford, Craft and.....Deshaun Thomas (who?): We all knew Ohio State would depend on their big three of Sullinger, Buford and Craft. We rode the Buckeyes hard last year, and then Sullinger and mostly Buford pulled the disappearing act in their Sweet 16 loss to Kentucky.  These two (Sullinger 21, Buford 17) along with Craft (17 and 8 assists) were on top of their games on Tuesday night, and it was a bit of a coming out party for sophomore Deshaun Thomas. Check out the 6-7 swingman's line: 8-12 from the field, 2-4 from 3, 18 points and 5 rebounds. Thomas now averaging 12 points a game on the season. He'll be key for the Buckeyes, who try to replace the scoring of David Lighty and  Jon Diebler.

-I think I heard Dick Vitale cheating on Duke a bit, as he praised Sullinger and Buford throughout the night.

-LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were in attendance for the big game as well. LeBron was comfortable being there, since there isn't a 4th quarter in college basketball games (heyoooooo).

-One more thought on Duke: They are really going to miss Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler. Rivers is the only player on that team can create his own shot, and he isn't really a distributor yet. Curry is deadly from outside, but Ryan Kelly, the Plumlees, etc shouldn't really scare people.

With last night's game being a bit of a dud. We'll hope the rest of the marquee match ups live up to the hype.

Tonight: #9 Wisconsin vs. #5 UNC - The Tar Heels were anointed the head and shoulders favorite coming into this season, but have been knocked off their pedestal after a loss to UNLV in Vegas over the weekend. Harrison Barnes has a slightly injured ankle coming into tonight's game. UNC's Kendall Marshall is one of the best PG's in the country (from a getting teammates involved standpoint), but is a liability on defense. It will be interesting to see if he can match up with Wisconsin's preseason All-American Jordan Taylor. Daily Onions is a fan of freshman P.J. Hairston (McDonald's All-American last year), who leads the team in 3-point percentage and can get to the rim as well. We also like what we saw from junior guard Dexter Strickland against UNLV. Look for him to be a spark for the Heels tonight.

Friday: #4 Syracuse vs. #10 Florida - By far the toughest test for the Orange thus far this season. They needed to comeback wins in NYC last week to beat Virginia Tech and Stanford. Besides those games, they've handled the likes of Colgate, Eastern Michigan, Albany, Manhattan, etc. Will be interesting to see what Jim Boeheim does with Rakeem Christmas, Michael Carter Williams, and even James Sutherland. In tight games w/ Tech and Stanford, Boeheim tightened his rotation (as we've seen over the years) to 7 guys (Joseph, Scoop, Waiters, Triche, Fair, Fab, and Keita). Florida, whose only defeat this year was a seven point loss at Ohio State (ask Duke if its tough to play there). Last year, many people thought the Gators were a year away from being a contender. Well, now we're here. Keep your eye on freshman Bradley Beal, who hit 5 three pointers last time out. Throw in Kenny Boynton in the backcourt, the Gators will be ready to chomp (too easy) on the 'Cuse 2-3 zone.

UK's Davis (Kentucky.com)

Saturday: #5 UNC vs. #1 Kentucky - UNC took a little air out of this matchup after losing to UNLV. A loss tonight to Wisconsin would raise even more questions about Roy Williams' squad. Kentucky once again is stacked with freshman. Their starting five, which includes three freshmen, all average in double figures. Anthony Davis, from Chicago, might be the number 1 pick in the NBA Draft next year. Sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb (leading the team in scoring this year) add some experience for the Cats this season, who have already beaten Kansas by ten two weeks ago. Before they get UNC, Kentucky hosts St. John's on Thursday.

Daily Onions picks for Heavyweight Week: UNC over Wisconsin, Cuse over Florida and Kentucky over UNC.

***Now you can get Daily Onions posts delivered to your email inbox! In the upper right hand corner, type in your email address and a new blog entry will be emailed to you once it is posted. Thanks for reading! *** 

College Basketball is Back! (Kind of)

A wise man once said, "I don't know if it will make any change, but I figure its time for me to start playing ball." That wise man was Jimmy Chitwood. And in the spirit of Jimmy, Hoosiers and basketball, Daily Onions doesn't know if it will make any change, but we figure its time for us to start writing about basketball.

Check out video of Jimmy Chitwood Gettin' Back into the Game

With the official kickoff of college basketball season (practices at least) tonight with "Midnight Madness", Daily Onions takes a look at what's on tap for the upcoming season:

1. Preseason Rankings!! We actually wrote about how stupid preseason rankings were last year in December after Harrison Barnes, a preseason 1st Team All-American before he even put on the baby blue Tar Heel uniform, struggled out of the gate, and UConn, the eventual National Champion catapulted to #9 a few weeks into the season, after being left out of the Top 25 preseason poll. This season's Top 5 Preseason Poll looks like this:

• UNC: Harrison Barnes, Kyler Zeller, John Henson, Kyle Marshall all return. That should be enough. Throw in two McDonald All-Americans....the early favorite to win it all and run the table.  
• Kentucky: Terrence Jones surprised everyone and came back to school, along with Doron Lamb (the 2nd best Lamb in college bball), and Darius Miller. Coach Cal, the snake oil salesman, also brings in the two of the best freshman in the country in Anthony Davis (Chicago) and Michael Gilchrist (NJ). Good combo of NJ and Chicago there.
• UConn: The Defending Champs bring back Jeremy Lamb, the little brother of Daily Onions loyal reader, Ramy. He joins one of our favorite big man underclassmen from last year, Alex Oriakhi, along with Shabazz Nappier, Roscoe Smith, and Tyler "White" Olander. Stud newcomer Andre Drummond will help as well.
• Syracuse: Oh, no (Cuse is in the House). High expectations for the Orange this year? That can't be good for the Cuse faithful. Everyone's favorite PG to hate, Scoop Jardine is back to run the show. All reports say that Scoop had a great summer at various camps and a stint w/ Team USA. Let's hope he learned how to be smart with the ball. The Cuse also returns Kris Joseph, who was picked as a 1st Team All-American. And that's right there is why we talk about how preseason rankings don't mean anything. We love Joseph, but a 1st Team All-American?!? Prove me wrong, Kris. Rounding things out for the Cuse are Brandon Triche, CJ Fair (Daily Onions Favorite), Dion Waiters (hopefully with a new attitude), Fab Melo, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland, Mookie Jones, Andy Rautins, Otis Hill.......right, you get it. The Orange return a lot. They also bring in 2 McDonalds All-Americans in Rakeem Christmas (lots of puns coming your way) and Michael Carter Williams. Trevor Cooney is another frosh, who folks are hoping can light the Dome up from outside.
• Ohio State University: No THE this year for OSU. Since we picked them to win it all, and they decided to bounce in the Sweet 16, you get no love from Daily Onions....for now. Once we see that large backside of Jared Sullinger (he actually slimmed down, though), I'm sure we'll rekindle the love. William Buford and Aaron Craft important returners for the Buckeyes.
• Duke: Yes, we can count. Duke is #6. Quick thought on the Blue Devils. They have arguably the best freshman in Austin Rivers, they return guards Seth Curry and Andre Dawkins, and now have three, yes THREE Plumlee brothers (not that that means anything). We are very excited to see Austin Rivers play. When we saw him at the McDonald's All-American game, we called him "Steph Curry with a little more pop".....whatever that means.

2. Basketball: Yep, it's that simple. The fact that basketball will be played is a huge thing to look forward to. With no NBA season in sight, the youngsters will have center stage, and that will be awesome. Throw in the fact that the greatest basketball conference ever assembled, The Big East, will be playing one of its final seasons (could be final, could have one or two more) as the dominant conference, culminating with the basketball orgy that is the Big East Tournament in March. Man, are we going to miss that tournament.

3. Road Trippin': While the schedule Gods did not grace us with a Big E Hoops Weekend Round 2 scenario, Daily Onions is planning on hitting the road to catch lots of games in person this season. We'll catch the Cuse at Notre Dame in January, we are taking a trip to see Brad Stevens and Hinkle Field House for a Butler game, we'll see what Big East teams roll through the Windy City to play DePaul, and will be sure to catch some Big Ten action up in Evanston. In short, we love college basketball, and we can wait to watch it....as I am sure that goes for the First Lady of Daily Onions as well.

With that said, in order to live up to our Jimmy Chitwood promise, we'll be posting weekly leading up to the start of the season, and then will get things going a bit more from there. We are only 9 posts away from 100, so we'll be sure to have a HUGE celebration commemorating some of our favorites from the first 100, and previewing what the second hundred have in store.

Thanks for reading, and here's to a great college basketball season.

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Syracuse in the Eye of Conference Realignment Hurricane

There aren't many things that could bring Daily Onions out of hibernation before the start of the college basketball season. However, there are a few things...in no particular order:

• A face to face meeting with Daily Onions favorite Brad Stevens
• Winning a contest that allows us to go to the Final Four the next 10 years
• Daily Onions being bought by a huge sports website
• A monumental move that changes the landscape for Syracuse and Big East Athletics.

We really wish we were writing about one of the first three items on that list. But instead it looks as if Syracuse, one of the founding members of the Big East Conference back in 1979, is packing its bags and heading to the ACC.

Our initial reaction, as you would expect from a life-long fan and alum of Syracuse, is anger, disgust and sadness. While football is obviously driving this decision, we immediately turn our thoughts to the effect on Syracuse basketball. Let's think about the potential changes we'll see:

• Long-time rivalries with Georgetown and UConn, become yearly matchups with Wake Forest and Virginia (yes, as well as Duke and UNC....still, not the same).
• The Big East Tournament every March at Madison Square Garden turns into a trip to Greensboro, NC...I hear its lovely in early March.
• At least 4-5 games on ESPN's Big Monday, with Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery calling the game, the obvious best team of college basketball announcers in the business. We'll now have to endure Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale making out with each other on the air while talking about how good Duke is.

It's obvious that Big East die-hards and traditionalists are disappointed with this move. However, with conference realignment such a fluid situation (seems like you sound smarter if you say something is "fluid"), this could be a case of Syracuse making a proactive move to ensure that they aren't "standing up when the music stops" (credit to 'Cuse fan @cbombard for that analogy).

Hurricane Realignment headed straight for Big East

We'll take it one step further. Conference realignment is a hurricane, and it is coming straight for the Big East. Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross gets a call that says "if you know what's good for you, evacuate now." The storm is coming, and you are better off getting to a safer place now because we don't know how bad this could get.

How bad could it get for the Big East? Well, there might not BE a Big East (somewhere Mike Tranghese is crying). With rumors of four super conferences emerging - Pac12, Big 10, SEC and ACC - said hurricane could take out what we all once knew as the Big East.

If Syracuse ignores the evacuation warning, and like a stubborn homeowner on the east coast in the eye of the storm, says "I built this place, I'm not going anywhere," they could end up standing on the roof of their house waiting for someone to rescue them. If Syracuse waits to long, there might not be anyone coming to pick them up.

We're not quite ready to embrace this potential change, and it will indeed take some time to get used to it. But if this hurricane is as bad as it could be, we should be glad Syracuse got out before it was too late. 

McDonald's All-American Game Nuggets

I know earlier this week I spent some time talking about bad headlines, but how can you resist the nuggets and McDonald's connection. It's like trying to resist a McDonald's breakfast sandwich when you are hungover...tough to do.

With the game being played at the United Center, Daily Onions was able to earn a media credential for the evening, which allowed us a media room pre-game meal (boy, have we missed these!), the ability to rub shoulders with Doc Rivers, and also chat with players after the 40-minutes of action. Here are some news, notes and thoughts from the evening.

From a college conference perspective, the SEC cleans up having seven players in the game, thanks to that slick salesman Mr. Calipari. Kentucky has 4 of the 7 SEC players in the game, including game MVP and New Jersey native Michael Gilchrist. We won't get into the fact that World Wide Wes was at the McDonald's practices rocking the UK gear (not shady at all). The Big East and the ACC each had five players, the Big Ten claims four, while the Big 12 has two and Conference USA has one.

Duke had three players in the game including the high school player of the year Austin Rivers. We (along with the rest of the hoard of media) had the opportunity to chat with Austin after the game. As impressive as he is on the court - compare him to Stephen Curry with a little more pop - he is just the same off the court. Well-spoken kid, who says the right things and just gets it. Not surprised since he has been around elite athletes his entire life. In addition to Doc, Austin's older brother plays hoops at IU, while his sister was a volleyball player at Florida. If Kyrie Irving ends up staying at Duke, the Blue Devils automatically have the best backcourt in the country. Even if Irving leaves, Rivers will be able to step right in and make an impact from Day 1.

Carter-Williams and Christmas headed to the Cuse (Syracuse.com)

Speaking of the Blue Devils, they'll now have THREE Plumlee brothers on the roster. Mason and Miles' younger brother Marshall will be joining them next year. The Dukies also get Quinn Cook, a 6-0 guard out of Oak Hill Academy.

Let's get on to more important, Orange colored things, as in Syracuse. Two members of the East squad are headed to CNY next season. Rakeem Christmas (Philadelphia), who is listed at 6-10, didn't look that big on the court during the game. However, standing next to him afterwards definitely gave us a crick in the neck. He looks to have the potential to be a solid man in the middle, despite only getting one bucket (a 12-ft jumper). He doesn't have a ton of weight (235 lbs in your program) on  him right now but looks to have a pretty athletic build and a long wingspan. Will he be able to replace I'm Sorry Rick Jackson next year? Probably not, but in two years could be a double-double guy in the Big East. We also have a soft spot in our heart for him now, as he showed us a lot of love with a handshake into a half hug, when he learned of the 'Cuse connection. Can't wait for Christmas in Syracuse (heyoooo).

The other player to head to the Salt City is Michael Cater-Williams (from Mass.). First thing that stood out about MCW was the 'S' shaved into the back of his head. Nice. The second thing that stood out was the fact that he was swimming in his uniform. He's listed at 6-5, 175. I think its probably closer to 6-3, 135. Syracuse will need to put him on the 40 meals per week once he steps on campus. No disrespect to the skinny kids. Daily Onions was once just as skinny and Cuse helped us bulk up freshman year (15?). MCW won the skills competition at on Monday night and will be a slasher/shooter coming off the bench next year. We LOVED the fact that he took a charge...in an All-Star game! We've taken a charge in a scrimmage at a summer camp played on tennis courts, so we like the effort. With Scoop, Triche, Waiters, Fair, Mookie (?), and Joseph playing the 2 and 3 positions, MCW may take some time to see the court next season. In the long run though, a McDonald's All-American is a McDonald's All-American.

16 Sweet Things To Look Forward To: Part 1

Just 16 teams left standing today, but a few days from now there will only be four. Here is what we are excited about seeing over the next two days, 16 things to be exact. To make sure you don't get Daily Onions-coma, we'll give you eight today and eight tomorrow. In no particular order, eight things to look forward to in tonight's four games.

1. Jimmer: We might have said in no particular order, but Jimmer is always at the top of our lists. In Round 1 he had 32, in Round 2 he had 34, do I hear a 36 for Thursday night against Florida? Bottom line, Jimmer has been a joy to watch this tournament, just as he has been all season long. Hopefully the SI cover jinx won't affect him this week, but either way, this is a pretty sick cover picture. Will Florida be able to contain him? That is the question. In case you don't remember, these two teams met last year in Round 1 of the Tournament...and no, the Gators could not contain Jimmer, as he dropped 37 in the Cougs victory. Expect a pro-Gators crowd down in New Orleans, thanks to its proximity to the Sunshine State. Plus, I'm not sure if BYU students are allowed in the city limits of NOLA.

2. Brad Stevens: If Jimmer is our favorite player, then Brad Stevens is by far our favorite coach. Is it a coincidence that Daily Onions was born the day after we spent a night watching Stevens in person against Loyola back in early December? Probably not. We complimented Stevens in our first post for his sideline demeanor and the way he interacted with his players. That rang true once again on Saturday night at the end of the Butler-Pitt game. With such a bizarre ending, Stevens was calm, cool and collected (we'll call him the anti-Mike Rice), which trickles down to his players. You can tell his guys love playing for him, and there are plenty of top high school recruits out there that will as well. The real question becomes, when does he leave Butler? We don't think he leaves for any of the openings now (Tennessee, Oklahoma, NC State, Mizzou), but instead waits for his dream job  -whatever that might be - We are thinking textbook, traditional college basketball programs like a Duke or an Indiana, etc. With those two schools well off with their current coaches, Coach K and Tom Crean (another Daily Onions favorite), maybe Stevens will indeed stay at Butler for years to come, and bring the Bulldogs to a perennial top 10 team, all while staying cool, calm and collected.

3. Fab 5 Revisited: Two weeks ago we had the Fab 5 documentary air on ESPN, last week we had Duke squeak by Michigan, and if all goes well Thursday night, we could have Steve Fisher and Coach K meet in the Elite 8 with a trip to Final 4 on the line. Talk about things coming full-circle. The NCAA Selection Committee may have screwed up a lot of seeding in this year's tournament, but they have helped Jalen Rose and Co. in keeping the Duke-Michigan/Fab 5 era story lines going throughout the tournament.

4. Kyrie: There was no question that Duke was the best basketball team in the country this season when Kyrie Irving was healthy. A freak toe injury caused him to miss the majority of the season, and he saw his first action since mid-December in Duke's opening round games. His only made FG on Sunday proved to be the game winner against Michigan. Now he's had another few days of practice and should have his "sea-legs" back for Thursday's game. We don't think Kyrie will be back to 100% quite yet, but he should be better than he was last weekend, which makes Duke that much tougher.

5. In the Zona: If you haven't seen Derrick Williams play yet this season, (a) what have you been doing all year? and (b) tune into tonight. The 6-8, 241 lb sophomore is one heck of an athlete. His 3-point play won the game for the Wildcats on Sunday, while his blocked shot against Memphis saved the day in Round 1. What is he going to do for an encore....walk on water?

6. Zebras: How do you like your officials, one's with with a quick five count and a quick whistle, or ones that don't know the correct back court violation rules? Regardless, unfortunately refs were taking quite a lot of heat after the first weekend of the tournament. Throw-in the debacle at the Big East tournament and it hasn't quite been the officials' month. It should be interesting to see if there are any noticeable differences in this round's games - officials calling things a little tighter/looser, possibly a few more end of games conferences/reviews with the other officials on the court to make sure they got it "right". In any case, let's hope head of officials, John Adams isn't prominently featured in the studio shows like he was last weekend.

7: Bo Knows: We know that Bo Ryan knows where the best place to vacation/retire is, the beaches of....NEW JERRRRRSEY. He also knows a thing or two about Midwest basketball. Before coming to Madison, Ryan was the coach of Milwaukee, and before that he was the coach of UW-Platteville. We'll see just how much Bo knows about Midwest basketball when he has to deal with the Butler Bulldogs. This game probably won't be the track meet that UNC vs. Washington was, instead it will be closer to the Wisconsin-Penn State Big Ten tournament game that had a combined 70 points. Wisconsin may be favored by 5 points, but Butler has figured out a way to win games in March, both this year and last. The Duke-Arizona game might be the more exciting later game, but make sure your you have you eye on Butler-Wisconsin down the stretch.

8: Huskies Run: Saw this interesting stat that means absolutely nothing on the Twitter Machine about UConn. The Huskies are 0-7 since 1992 in NCAA games held in their opponent's state. For the geography majors (from UConn), San Diego is in California, as is Anaheim, where Thursday night's game will be held. That stat aside, can UConn's magical March run continue? The Fighting Kemba's won five games in five days to capture the Big East Tournament Championship, they dismantled Bucknell, and then sent Cincinnati home. Thursday night they'll be in unchartered waters, taking on San Diego State in their backyard. Let's see how the cross country flight and "road game" works out for the dogs this time around.

Happy watching and we'll see you tomorrow with eight more sweet things for Friday night's game.

Big: East Region

We've saved the best for last. In my opinion, and the opinion of many others, the East Region is the toughest out there. Let's dive right in because there is lots to discuss.

'Cuse is in the House: The Orange are taking their talents to Cleveland for Round 1 and will take on the Fighting Larry Birds from Indiana State. If they are able to avoid the upset bid from the #14 seed, they'll either play #6 Xavier (in Cleveland - Thank you selection committee!) or #11 Marquette, a Big East foe that Syracuse lost to in January. Not going to lie, but the second round scares us. Xavier is a sneaky team and they'll have somewhat of a home-court advantage, while Marquette is a team that knows Syracuse, plays them every year, and has a victory against them two months ago. If Cuse can get out of Round 2, we'll feel better about things.  The East Region is located in Newark, NJ aka Syracuseville East. Potential Sweet 16 opponent is North Carolina, a match up we kind of like. Hold that thought.

Big East Tournament, Part 2: We know Cuse and Marquette are in this bracket, but there's also #9 Villanova and #5 West Virginia. Nova hasn't won a game in ages, so we are going to go with everyone's favorite flashback Cinderella, #8 George Mason. Meanwhile, Huggie Bear and the boys will actually tip in the first game on Thursday in Tampa, taking on Clemson (a team that just played late Tuesday night in Dayton - Thank you Selection Committee! Love, Clemson). What will definitely be a grind it out, physical game, we are going to take WVU. An added bonus would be Bob Huggins rubbing one of his player's faces, or at least getting nose to nose during a timeout. Potential second round game for WVU puts them against Kentucky, the team they upset last year to go to the Final Four. Huggins also owns Calipari, so while Kentucky looks to have more talent, don't count out the Eers.

You Never Forget Your First: Get your mind out of the gutter. Just about three months ago, Daily Onions made our first Final Four projection of the year. Since then, we've been riding the bandwagon of Sullinger, Diebler, Lighty, Buford, Lauderdale and Craft, aka THE Ohio State University. In case you forgot, this is what we wrote back on December 21 on why OSU would make the Final Four: Dominant Player (Sullinger) + Experience (Lighty played with Havlicek) + Tough, but not too tough of a schedule (Two road losses to the second and third best teams in the conference) = OSU in Final 4. We are sticking to our guns, and Ohio State will be in Houston. It pains me to say, but after taking down Kentucky, OSU will take out Syracuse in the Elite 8 (who would have beat UNC in the Sweet 16) to cut down the nets in Newark.

And then what? Our Final Four includes OSU, Duke, Kansas and Florida. When we first filled out our bracket on Monday, we had OSU beating Duke. Even with new information available and all signs pointing to Duke's Kyrie Irving ready to see some action this week, we are still going to go with OSU. (By the way, the "Chance Irving plays this week" news on Twitter on Tuesday was the equivalent of the public address announcer saying "Daniel LaRusso is going to fight" at the All Valley Karate Championship in 1984. I can only imagine what Twitter would have looked like if people heard what Myagi did in the locker room). OSU will face the Rock Chalk Jayhawk in the National Championship Game, and with a final score of 70-66, Jared Sullinger does his best Carmelo Anthony impression and leads his team to a National Championship as a freshman.

Now that we've gotten that all taken care of, we can watch some basketball! Odds that our picks are even relatively close to what actually happens....no chance. Odds that your picks are close...you tell us! Show us YOUR Onions. Lots of entries came in on Wednesday, so make sure you don't miss out on the fun. I mean who wouldn't want an entire Daily Onions post about them??

How It Will Be Won: West Region

We've digested the weaker side of the tournament with the Southwest and Southeast Regions, now we head to the big boy brackets and we'll start with the West.

Like A Box of Chocolates: Cause you never know what ya gonna get, when it comes to teams like Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, with a little side of UConn thrown in there as well. All these teams have shown signs of greatness (Tennessee beat Pitt early in the year; Texas won at Kansas and was in the Top 5 most of the year; Missouri was great at home and awful on the road; UConn won the Big East Tournament with 5 games in 5 days, but struggled in the month of February), but who is to know which ones show up with their season on the line. We like UConn to win a few games, but not sure how long their legs hold up. Texas and Tennessee each win a game, but bow out in Round 2 to Arizona and Duke respectively. We'll lean in favor of the Big East when Cincy takes on Mizzou.

Pennsylvania Pride: How do you like your PA basketball? Heart of Philadelphia Temple style, or Big Ten Penn State style? We'll see which one prevails in this 10-7 match up, but we are picking Temple to advance to face #2 San Diego State. The Owls could give the Aztecs trouble, but we think Temple will be headed back to the City of Brotherly love after Round 2.

Don't I Know You? Thanks to 11 Big East teams getting into the Tournament, there is a chance this bracket could see UConn going up against Cincinnati in Round 2. For those of you scoring at home, the Huskies defended their home court and beat the Bearcats by 8 in late February.

What will happen? Call it chalk, call it boring, call it what you will, but we have #1 Duke playing #5 Arizona, and #2 San Diego State playing #3 UConn in the Sweet 16. As we predicted back in mid-February, Duke will advance to the Final 4, after ending San Diego State's storybook season.

Our next post will breakdown the toughest region of them all, the East. Funny how the Big East is the best conference, and the East is the best region on paper.

Now that you've seen our picks for region, show us YOUR onions. Send us an email (jrsacks22@gmail.com) with your Elite 8, Final 4 and Championship game (winner) picks, or post them in the comments section!

The Weekend That Was

FINALLY!!! The regular season of college basketball is over. Postseason is here, or has been here for a few days thanks to a few conference tournaments that got underway last week. Lots to catch up on from the weekend, including the first four tickets being punched for the dance, rush season on college campuses and some crying in one NBA locker room (there's no crying in basketball!?)

Indiana State scored an upset and an automatic bid this weekend

First Four In: The past few weeks we've been hearing hypotheticals of the last four teams in the tournament and which four teams are the last four out. Well now we have four teams that are officially in. Congrats to Belmont (Atlantic Sun), UNC-Asheville (Big South), Morehead St. (Ohio Valley) and Indiana State (Larry Bird! - Missouri Valley) for guaranteeing their spot in the dance. Indiana State pulled the upset over Missouri State to get in, which means Mizzou St. will be one of those mid-majors now hanging out on the bubble. Take note of Morehead St. as well, as they feature Kenneth Faried, the nation's (not conference, the NATION) leading rebounder. The kid averages 14.5 per game and is slated to be a late first round pick in the NBA draft.

Five for Fighting: As in five days for fighting in Madison Square Garden because this year's Big East Tournament is sure to be a slug-fest. Top four seeds (Pitt, ND, L'ville and Cuse) get the double-bye (winning!) and are off until Thursday. Who would have thought that Villanova and UConn would be playing on Tuesday, as the 9th and 10th seed. Well, we kind of did and that's why we featured them in our teams not peaking at the right time post last week. Take the Villanova name off their tournament resume and it's nothing special. A loss on Tuesday would probably put them on the good side of the bubble, but I think a big reason for that comes from some name recognition. Throw in the fact that Corey Stokes is questionable for games this week with an injury, Jay Wright and his pinstripes have to be a bit nervous. Meanwhile, Syracuse is in the New Jersey/New York portion of the bracket, as they'll face the winner of St. John's and Rutgers/Seton Hall. Daily Onions doesn't see a team out of the top four seeds winning this tournament, but then again it is the Big East and anything is possible.

Great win for UNC, but storm-worthy? Not so sure.

Take Your Shirt Off: North Carolina, come on and raise up. It's official. The Tar Heels are back. We missed you last year, but are glad to see you are here just in time for March! UNC pretty much led the whole way against Duke on Saturday night, and with the win clinched the regular season ACC title. Freshman Harrison Barnes is finally starting to live up to the expectations and the Tar Heels have settled in with their new point guard Kendall Marshall running the show (15 pts, 11 assists). Daily Onions is still standing by their claim of Duke as a Final Four team, although we'd like to see a little more toughness from Blue Devils from here on out.

Elsewhere: Daily Onions first Final Four pick, THE Ohio State University made a statement on Sunday, telling the rest of the nation that they are the team to beat heading into the NCAA tournament. A near perfect performance by the Buckeyes yesterday led to a butt-whooping of Wisconsin, avenging the earlier loss in Madison. OSU was 14-15 from 3 pt. land (Diebler was 7-8) and shot 68% from the field. Jared Sullinger and his backside went for 22 and 8. In the SEC, Florida is quietly playing some of the best basketball in the country and locked up the SEC title yesterday at Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, Kentucky FINALLY got a win on the road, taking care of Tennessee 64-58. Are the Wildcats finally starting to grow up and learning how to win on the road? It will take more than a win at Jekyll and Hyde Tennessee to convince us.

Storm Troopers: It was a tough day to be a court side security guard in college basketball this weekend. Court storming was contagious as we saw it in Iowa's win over Purdue (acceptable); in Chapel Hill after UNC beat Duke (HIGHLY disappointed in Tar Heel fans - National Championship 2 years ago, beating your rival handily at home, act like you've been there); out west San Diego State fans stormed to celebrate a share of the Mountain West Conference title (ehhh, sure why not - it's been a Cinderellaly type of year for the Aztecs). We'll probably see a few more storms this week as some of the smaller conference tournaments come to an end. In these cases, Daily Onions says go ahead and storm the court, Bethune Cookman fans. Enjoy your 15 minutes, and then make sure you buckle up for your 15 or 16 seed in the Big Dance.

We'd hide too if we lose four in a row

Cry-ami Heat: According to Coach Spo, a couple of the Heat players were crying in the locker room after yesterday's 1-point loss the Da Bulls. Maybe crying will help the team that has lost four in a row and five of their last six. Bottom line, the Heat can't close. They are 1-9 against the league's top five teams, and 0-6 against the Celtics and the Bulls. Most of those games have been close, and down the stretch they are 1-18 from the field in the final 10 seconds with the chance to tie or take the lead (on odd days of even months). We all knew it'd take time for the Heat to really become a dominating team, but the fact that LeBron, Wade and Bosh have been coming up short in the clutch is a bit surprising (well, minus Bosh). That'll have to change come May, as the Eastern Conference playoffs will have five pretty scary teams in play (Celtics, Bulls, Heat, Magic, Knicks). Big shots will need to be made, and there won't be much time for tears.

Daily Onions Final Four Projection

Back on December 21st, Daily Onions announced our first 2011 Final Four team, which was THE Ohio State University. The prediction was made after ten games, and is still looking pretty strong. Now, almost two months later, we are already to project our next team for H-town (Houston, where the Final Four is this year).

After 25 games, Daily Onions is projecting the Duke Blue Devils to be in the Final Four. Now, without the injury to Kyrie Irving, we probably would have projected this about 3 months ago. But Irving was arguably their best player, so we needed more time to see who Duke was without him. Here's why we believe in the Blue Devils:

Daily Onions thinks Smith and Co. will cut down nets and return to the Final 4.

-Mr Smith: As in Nolan Smith. The senior guard has nudged his way into the National Player of the Year conversation, along with Jimmer (Jimmer Mania....ahhhhhhhh) and Jared Sullinger. Not only is Smith leading the team in scoring and assists, but he's been the emotional leader on the court as well. He was the reason the Blue Devils were even in the game against UNC last week, and then willed his team (with some help from Seth Curry) to a comeback win over the Tar Heels. It's great that Nolan is doing this in the regular season, but he showed he can do it when it counts too. During last year's run to the National Championship, Smith was the South Region's Most Outstanding Player, and was also named to the All-Final Four team. Kid's got it.

-Depth and Experience: Nolan Smith is a senior, Kyle Singler (preseason All-American) is a senior, and the Plumlee brothers both have two solid years of experience in the post. Throw in a couple of guys that come off the bench (all of which saw significant minutes last year) and you have a nice looking rotation. Duke legitimately plays 8 guys, 7 of which average more than 17 minutes a game. In the rotation you have a pure sharp shooter in Curry, a big man in Ryan Kelly that poses and inside/outside threat, a dependable back-up point guard in Andre Dawkins, and a couple of energy guys in Thornton and Hairston.

-National, World Championship Coach: We've mentioned this before, but we'll say it again. One of Coach K's greatest accomplishments has to be what he has done to turn around USA Basketball. Getting that many egos to play hard, to play together, to win a gold, and then following that up with a World Championship with what some called "The B Team" this past summer, was truly amazing. Oh yeah, 4 National Championships at Duke isn't too shabby either.

-Turn It On: I'm starting to believe that Duke has the capability to "flip the switch" and turn things on when needed, similar to how the Lakers and Celtics have been able to in previous NBA seasons. I think how they responded to the embarrassing loss at St. John's was pretty impressive (winning at Maryland, then two games later coming from behind to knock off UNC). Between Coach K, and the leadership of Singler and Smith, I just think they have the potential to put together 4 straight wins when its needed, to get to Houston.

Two teams selected as Daily Onions Locks for the Final Four. THE Ohio State University and Duke. Not sure we'll be able to select any more prior to the bracket being announced, but these two we are sure of, regardless of who stands in their path.

Things Fall Apart

Shout out to my high school freshman year Honors English class in today's title. A little Chinua Achebe references for the literature buffs. Daily Onions wants to show its more than just basketball. I'd say its 99.9% basketball, and 0.1% of random mentions.

So, what exactly fell apart last night in the college hoops world? Where to start? North Carolina, Villanova, Syracuse?

Let's begin close to our heart. Syracuse and Georgetown. One of the classic rivalries in college basketball. After a back and forth first half, in which Cuse took a two point lead into the locker room, there was more of the same in half number two. Coming down the stretch though, it seemed like the Orange were taking control of the game. The surprise was that they were doing this with Rick Jackson on the bench in foul trouble. Daily Onions favorite CJ Fair did what he does, 12 points and 5 rebounds, while Baye Mousa Keita patrolled the middle of the lane (4 points, 4 rebounds, 5 blocks) with Jackson out. With about five minutes left, "I'm Sorry" came back into the game with Cuse holding a slim lead. From that point on, it was all Hoyas. G-town ends the game on a 14-3 run (two touchdowns to one field goal), and that's that. It seemed like the game just evaporated before the Orange's eyes. And with the loss, they've dropped three straight at the Carrier Dome.

Less than an hour later, off the NJ Turnpike, the Rutgers-Villanova game was coming to end. With 4:28 left in the game, Nova's Corey Fisher drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 67-54 lead. Time to head for the exits right? Not so fast, my friend (Corso, Lee). Four minutes later, James Bell drained a 3 pointer to give the Cats a 75-70 lead with 17 seconds left. Let's leave now, beat the traffic, all Nova has to do is make some free throws. Nope. A three by Rutgers made it 75-73 with 11 seconds left. They foul Corey Fisher with 9 seconds left. Fisher, a NJ native and a 79% FT shooter, could seal the game with two makes. He makes one. As a Villanova fan, you have to think, "That's ok, we are still up three with 9 seconds left, there is no way we should lose this game in regulation. At worse, we go to OT." Hmm, not quite. Rutgers makes a three with 0.8 seconds left.....and gets FOULED! Now, when you watch the replay the call is definitely questionable. It looks like there was some contact on the elbow, but that play probably doesn't get called just as much as it does. Jonathan Mitchell makes his free throw, and the Rut pulls off their biggest win of the Mike Rice Era.

Right around that time, down in Durham, North Carolina, arguably the best rivalry in sports was underway, Duke vs. North Carolina. Blue Devils were the preseason favorite, but with an injury to their top player, they've shown they are beatable. UNC has started to turn things around recently, winning 7 of their first 8 conference games.  But this game was at Cameron Indoor, so most experts were picking Duke to win this one. Three minutes into the game, the score was 10-2. North Carolina. At the half, UNC led 43-29. Just like everyone expected. Dukies, have no fear because you got two guys by the names of Nolan Smith and Seth Curry. Smith went for 34, and Curry went for 22, as they combined for 21 made buckets. The comeback, granted it was at home, shows that Duke's still got it (even with out Kyrie), and is one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the country.

So what team had the bigger collapse last night? Congratulations, Villanova. No reason you should give up a 13 point lead to Rutgers in the final four minutes, and no reason you should even be close enough to someone shooting a three with two seconds left that the official could mistakenly think you fouled him. I'm sure Jay Wright already has this game in their rear view though. They have Pitt coming to town on Saturday night. Should be a real dog....I mean cat fight.

I Got Five On It

Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a basketball game about to start and you need to compile a team from this year's group of college kids. Make sure you fill each position and you might as well pick a coach as well. What do you do? What do you do!? Here's what I do:

C - Jared Sullinger (Freshman, Ohio State): Best player on the best team in the country right now. Sure, I'll take him on my squad. A dominant force in the low post and a good rebounder, also provides some bulk inside to make up for any smaller forwards.

Johnson (center) would be celebrating a lot with this team.

PF - JaJuan Johnson (Senior, Purdue): He's 6-10 and just 225 lbs. He's long and can score from anywhere on the floor. He's developed a nice turn around jump shot, and has shown he can make the big one when needed (hit the game winner against Penn State last night, after leading Purdue with 26 points against WVU on Sunday). On the defensive side of the ball, he can lurk on the weak side and provide a nice shot blocking presence.

SG - Jimmer Fredette (Senior, BYU): Jimmer fever is sweeping the nation, and he leads the entire NCAA Division 1 in scoring. It's a shame the majority of the country doesn't get to see him on a daily basis, but make sure you do some Jimmer homework before the tournament starts, as he will be sure to be a human highlight come March. Let's just hope Gus Johnson or Bill Raftery is announcing his games because we are guaranteed a couple of "From the parking lot" and "Whews" when Jimmer steps on the court.

PG - Kemba Walker (Junior, UConn): Daily Onions hasn't always been the nicest to Kemba Walker. We've acknowledged the good and the bad, but the more and more we watch him we realize that he's got "it". Like when he hit the game winner last weekend at Texas, and then did it again on Monday against Villanova. We still think he shoots a little too much, and might get a little out of control, but he can make it when it matters.

I struggled finding a SF, so I am going to play it safe and go with Kyle Singler (Senior, Duke): He's won a national championship, he's a hard worker, and he'll do anything on the court to win the game.  I can see him taking a back seat to Kemba, Jimmer and Sullinger getting a lot of the shots, and not complaining/worrying about it. Always good to have a do-it-all, unselfish player on your squad.

I'm a little worried about playing with only one basketball, and that's why I am taking Coach K to lead this team.  You have to be impressed with what he's done with USA Basketball over the last 3 years. Getting all those superstars to buy in and play together. We'd need that same game plan with this team.

Who's got next?

Still Perfect After All These Games

We'll return to our regularly scheduled Big E Hoops Weekend preview later, but we couldn't let last night's jam-packed Top 25 slate pass without any comments.

It's Storm Season in College Basketball, as seen in Tallahassee last night (AP)

-The big news going into last night's games was that the five remaining unbeaten teams were all in action (#1 Duke, #2 Ohio State, #3 Kansas, #4 Syracuse and #6 San Diego State). Most people thought UNLV over San Diego State or St. Johns over Syracuse would mark one of the undefeated's going down. Instead, it was the top-ranked Blue Devils that fell on the road to Florida State.  Big deal? I don't think so. There was no way Duke was going unbeaten this year. A loss on the road in ACC play won't hurt them that much and puts to rest all the hype of a possible undefeated season. Duke is usually always good for a road loss in conference play to a Florida State or a Virginia Tech, etc. In fact, I see the Blue Devils losing another game or two in conference play, even if they are the ONLY ACC team ranked in the Top 25. We all know Duke isn't the same team without Kyrie Irving, but they are still a top 3 team and I'd be surprised if they weren't in Houston come early April (Daily Onions Final Four Projection??). Breathe easy, Dick Vitale, your boys in blue will be just fine.

-With Duke losing, THE Ohio State University will take over the #1 position after their four point win at Michigan. OSU is 4-0 in the Big Ten, but three of those four games have been decided by 5 points or less. The Buckeyes host red-hot Penn State on Saturday.  The Nittany Lions are coming off back to back home wins against Michigan State and Illinois.  Can they make it three in a row over top 25 teams? In a word, No.

-Kansas was able to hold off the Mayor Fred Hoiberg and his Iowa State Cyclones, 84-79 in Ames. Don't sleep on the Cyclones. Hoiberg has them playing good basketball and while I don't think they'll make the tournament this year, they won't be a cake walk in the Big 12.

-Syracuse does what it does best, wins at Madison Square Garden, beating St. John's, 76-59. For the first time in a long time though, Syracuse has some company from another basketball squad in orange and blue that is playing well at the Garden (Knicks are 22-16, currently 6th in the Eastern Conference).

-A hundred percent of the time, San Diego State wins every time this season. The Aztecs kept its 18 game winning streak alive with a win over UNLV. They now own the longest active win streak in Division 1 basketball (and they ate a whole wheel of cheese). Stay classy, San Diego...State.

More Big E Hoops Weekend news coming later.

Say it Ain't Toe

The most famous toe in college basketball belongs to Duke freshman point guard, Kyrie Irving.  After a freak injury to ligaments in his toe during last weekend's game against Butler, Irving could be out for the entire season. If that is the case, it will be a shame.

Will we see Irving back on the court this year?
(AP Photos)

Irving has been head and shoulders the best freshman in this young college basketball season, and even entered the conversation for National Player of the Year after the first month of games. Even if you are a Duke hater, which I believe is approximately 92% of college basketball fans, you have to be a bit upset (ok, you don't have to, but...). Bottom line, Irving can flat out play. He can get to the rim and finish, he can knock down 3s, and he can distribute to one of the many weapons he has surrounding him on Duke's roster.

If he stayed healthy all year, he would have been in talks to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft next summer. If they shut him down for the rest of the year, let's hope he comes back for his sophomore year so we can get to enjoy his game at the college level. At that point, he'll have another heralded freshman playing along side of him, Austin Rivers (Doc Rivers' son).

As a team, Duke will come back to the rest of the pack a bit if they lose Irving - but still a top 5 team.  They are very deep at the guard position, with Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins.  We'll also get to see a lot more of Seth Curry, and see if he can live up to the hype his brother, Stephen, left behind.

So as a fan, here's the dilemma: Irving comes back at close to 100%, we get to watch a super talent and Duke is far and away the best team in the land.  On the other hand, without Irving in the lineup, the top of the college basketball world just got a whole lot more interesting.