Washington St

ESPN's 24-hour college hoops tipoff marathon will get off to a good start at midnight as rivals Washington State and Gonzaga meet at The Kennel in Spokane. The Cougars have embarked on life without Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto, and while that means they've got a lot of scoring to account for Ken Bone's got some established returnees back to lead a solid recruiting class. As for Gonzaga, the best news for them may be the health of junior foward Elias Harris.

With more games come more opportunities to see who actually wants to go to the NCAA Tournament. Now that the Big 12 (for the most part) has sorted itself out it's time for conferences such as the ACC, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac-10 and SEC to begin their tournaments in earnest (the Mountain West and Pac-10 had games yesterday but none had an impact on the field of 68).

One game to keep an eye on tips off late in Greensboro with banged-up Virginia Tech taking on Georgia Tech in the final game of the day.

Saturday night's matchup between Illinois and Michigan State didn't set up to be the marquee meeting expected when the season began, but it definitely didn't lack for importance with both teams needing wins to ensure an NCAA Tournament appearance. And in a battle of seniors who needed to step up it was Kalin Lucas who came through, scoring 25 points in Michigan State's 71-67 win over the Illini.

Two of the best players in the Pac-10 will be on display Thursday night, but the paths their respective teams have taken this season are a bit different. Arizona (21-4, 10-2) forward Derrick Williams has become a serious threat to run away with the Pac-10 Player of the Year award, an amazing statement to make considering the play of an Isaiah Thomas at Washington. Washington State's (17-8, 7-6) Klay Thompson has been outstanding as well, but with many postseason honors team success is weighed in the voting process which could have him behind Williams and Thomas in the pecking order.

Outperformed, outworked and outclassed. That would sum up what happened to the Connecticut Huskies in the second half at Madison Square Garden, where the St. John's Red Storm built upon the momentum gained from a Malik Boothe buzzer-beater before halftime to win 89-72 in one of their best performances of the season. Just days after scoring 32 points in a losing effort at UCLA, Dwight Hardy once again lived up to his nickname ("Buckets") in scoring a new career-high 33 points and D.J.

If Notre Dame can play defensively against Syracuse and Connecticut the same way they did last night, Mike Brey's team will be situated well within the Top 10 at the end of a rough slate to begin Big East play. Georgetown, one of the nation's best three point shooting teams, made just four of eighteen in a 69-55 loss in South Bend. Tim Abromaitis led Notre Dame with 20 points and Tyrone Nash added a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) in a game that the Irish controlled for most of the way thanks to their defense.

While Mike Krzyzewski going for win number 880, which would push him past Dean Smith and into second place all-time, is a big deal that does not make Duke playing UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum the game of the night. That distinction goes to the Big East opener for #9 Georgetown (11-1) and #15 Notre Dame in South Bend.

Thursday provided quite the test for Josh Pastner's Memphis Tigers, with the more experienced Georgetown Hoyas invading the FedEx Forum. While Memphis' competitive spirit can't be questioned their execution, especially on the defensive end, was of no match for the Hoyas who diced up the Tigers to the tune of an 86-69 win. Austin Freeman scored 24 points while Chris Wright added 19 and Julian Vaughn 15 points and 10 rebounds in arguably Georgetown's best showing this season in moving to 11-1.

Coming off of a tough loss at North Carolina, which featured a somnambulant Terrence Jones failing to shake off the after-effects of a pregame nap, the Kentucky Wildcats needed to get back on the winning track. And after a slow start against Notre Dame in the second game of the SEC/Big East Invitational, John Calipari's team woke up late in the first half and carried that effort over after the break. The end result: a 72-58 win for the Wildcats at Freedom Hall to give the SEC a sweep of the first two games (another doubleheader will be played in Pittsburgh on Saturday).

Overall Rank: #75