Nevada

Looking at the semifinals of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic on paper many expected Duke and Kansas State to advance to Tuesday's title game, and they took care of business at the Spirit Center in Kansas City. But while the Wildcats had some perimeter shooters other than the explosive Jacob Pullen step up in their 81-64 whipping of Gonzaga, Duke had to rely on a change from last season's title team to get past Marquette.

Nevada Wolf Pack

Western Athletic Conference (20-12, 11-5)

Talk about making an impact. Darington Hobson's first season of D1 basketball was certainly a memorable one. The CollegeHoops.net High-Major Player of the Year led New Mexico to an MWC title by averaging 16.2 ppg, 9.3 rpg, and 4.5 apg. He's joined on the High-Major First Team by guards Jordan Crawford, Jimmer Fredette, and Randy Culpepper, as well as WAC Player of the Year Luke Babbitt.

 

Louisiana Tech

Nevada

New Mexico St

Utah St

Other (Boise St, Fresno St, Idaho, San Jose St)

Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest - 16.0, 11.0, 1.5)

Luke Babbitt (Nevada - 21.3, 9.7, 1.9)

Jordan Crawford (Xavier - 19.7, 4.8, 2.8)

Sylven Landesburg (Virginia - 18.1, 5.2, 2.9)

Greg Monroe (Georgetown - 15.4, 9.5, 3.6)

Isaiah Thomas (Washington - 17.4, 4.4, 2.6)

Klay Thompson (Washington St - 21.1, 4.8, 2.5)

Willie Warren (Oklahoma - 16.2, 3.5, 4.2)

Elliot Williams (Memphis 19.2, 4.3, 3.9)

Other (Davis, Ebanks, English, Fortson, Green, Rosario, Thompkins, Walker, White)

College basketball on the first Monday of the new year provides nearly sixty games to whet the appetite with key contests in the Big East and WAC grabbing the headlines. Pittsburgh, fresh off of their win at Syracuse on Saturday, takes on Cincinnati in the Queen City in a matchup of teams undefeated in conference play. The return of Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown has added much-needed experience and depth of Jamie Dixon's rotation, something they were in need of in order to navigate the Big East.

The Missouri Tigers hadn't beaten rival Illinois since 1999, losing games in which they've been favored as well as those they weren't expected to win. Wednesday's game was more of a toss-up with a slight edge going to Bruce Weber's team, who had already won at Clemson thus far. But the Tigers were able to control the flow of play, forcing 22 Illinois turnovers on their way to an 81-68 win. While Illinois outrebounded the Tigers 44-32 and all five starters reached double figures Missouri forced 22 turnovers and held the Illini to 39.7% shooting from the field.

Betting odds are a great guide to college basketball action. Unlike fans, who often ride the wave of media predictions, betting lines tend to be a bit more focused and can give you an objective picture of how teams matchup (though lines too can get caught up in the wave of human emotion).

 

Wednesday sets up to be a light day in regards to games of national interest but there are two games out west that you should pay attention to. Nevada makes the trek from Reno to Las Vegas, taking on in-state rival UNLV in arguably the game of the night while Utah State visits Utah. A pair of Top 10 teams are in action as well with Texas hosting Western Carolina while Butler visits Northwestern in Evanston.

Nevada has perhaps the league's best player in Luke Babbitt, but a lack of depth should help keep the likes of Utah State and NMSU in the midst of the league race. .