By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The college basketball Monday morning report but even I’ll be watching football night and I have a serious rooting interest. Go Irish.

Five rising:

Bryant: What a year it’s been already for the Bulldogs. It got better when they swept the sometimes difficult Western Pennsylvania trip in the NEC, beating Robert Morris (a real landmark victory) and Saint Francis. At 9-4, this team has set the school record for victories in a season and consecutive victories since the school moved to Division 1.

Gonzaga: The Zags have evolved into a formidable unit because of the stellar play of guard Kevin Pangos and center Kelly Olynyk (one of the most improved players in the US). Both have become outstanding players. Plus forward Elias Harris, who seemed to have leveled off after a great freshman year, has taken it up a notch in his senior season. The Zags are 13-1 and, amazingly, are 5-0 vs. the Big 12, beating West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Baylor, and Oklahoma State.

Minnesota: The Gophers are 14-1 and have won 10 in a row after beating Michigan State and Northwestern at home.

Northeastern: The Huskies have to be considered a CAA contender after winning at George Mason and then beating UNC Wilmington at home to open 2-0.

Saint Louis: The Billkens are 11-3 with an eight-game winning streak, the longest 2003 — and are 11-1 at home. UMass, winners of seven straight, comes to visit Thursday.

Five falling:

BU: The Terriers’ final season in America East is off to an awful start as they lost two close games, one to Maine on the road and another to Hartford at Agganis.

Illinois State: The Red Birds were a MVC contender, but then lost two tough home games to Creighton and Northern Iowa and are now 0-3 in the league. Their NCAA chances will now hinge on getting hot for Arch Madness.

North Texas: The Mean Green, with an NBA-caliber player in Tony Mitchell, have been really disappointing at 6-10, including dropping four of their last five.

Stanford: The Cardinal have been an underachieving bunch in the last few seasons and they lived up to that again by getting swept in Los Angeles.

Xavier: The Muskies continue to decline, losing four in a row to fall to 7-6.

This week’s George Mason: Murray State. The Racers are back on track.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Duke, Creighton

This week’s national champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

I also believe in aliens: It may sound crazy, but what happened to Colorado Thursday night in Tucson, Ariz., is what happens to schools that aren’t traditional basketball powers. In basketball, Colorado is a fatal flaw school. Something bad will always happen to prevent it from succeeding. What happened is that Colorado’s Sabatino Chen, who was 2 for 23 lifetime on 3-pointers, banked in a desperation heave just as time expired that would have won the game for Colorado in a huge upset over Arizona. The shot was ruled good. The officials went to the replay. It was close, as close as it could be, but it looked like it should have stood up. Instead, the official waved off the basket and undefeated Arizona went on to win in overtime. Of course. Once again, a fatal flaw school failed.

Surprising scores, amazing margins:

Northeastern 84, George Mason 74: Completely unexpected, but now that the Huskies have their full lineup in place, improvement can be expected. The Huskies have lots to play for in the CAA.

Bryant 84, Robert Morris 77: A huge NEC road win for the formerly downtrodden Bulldogs.

Fairfield 66, Canisius 45: A really disappointing performance from Baron and Son.

Sacred Heart 77, LIU 73: The Blackbirds have completely lost it.

St. Francis (Pa.) 67, Central Connecticut 60: First win of the season for the Frankies after 11 losses.

Southern Mississippi 135, Dillard 41: The purpose of this is what?

Michigan 94, Northwestern 66: A complete vaporizing. The Wolverines mean business.

Arkansas State 66, Middle Tennessee 60 in OT: Middle is a front-runner in the Sun Belt and has to avoid losses like this.

Stephen F. Austin 79, Lamar 43: Another surprisingly easy victory for the 11-1 Lumberjacks.

BYU 92, Loyola Marymount 51: The Jimmers might be rounding into shape for the WCC season.

Cal Poly 79, Long Beach 73: Maybe Cal Poly is a Big West contender based on this score.

UCLA 79, Cal 65: The Bruins continue to redeem themselves.

Looking ahead, games I want to see this weekend:
Saturday
Seton Hall at Notre Dame: The Pirates are probably in over their heads, but they should be confident after winning at DePaul.

Oklahoma State at Kansas State: It’s early, but a crucial game for both as Big 12 teams push to see who can finish second to Kansas.

Georgetown at Marquette: A traditional Catholic 7 meeting (Yes, I’m kidding).

Ohio State at Illinois: Illinois got beat at Purdue, but the Illini are really tough at home.

Indiana State at Creighton: I just love watching Creighton, plus when the good MVC teams meet, the games are usually close and intense.

NC State at BC: Now, we get to see if The Don’s kiddie corps can step up in competition.

Lehigh at Virginia Commonwealth: A chance to see C.J. McCollum of Lehigh against a team that’s really playing well. I hope NBCSN gives some air time to the great VCU band.

Bucknell at Missouri: The Bison are tough this season, Missouri better be ready.

Gonzaga at Santa Clara: Upset alert, I’m picking the Fightin’ Rambuses.

Washington at Washington State: Obvious rivalry game.

Sunday
Temple at Kansas: The Jayhawks have been shredding opponents; let’s see if the Owls can stand up to them.

Northwestern at Minnesota: I expect the Gophers to win pretty easily, but this has a chance to be good.

Oregon at Oregon State: Another obvious rivalry game.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

About last night: It was a Missouri Valley night for the most part as I switched between Creighton-Illinois State and Wichita State-Drake. Creighton has been a Final Four team in Sully’s Court since this season’s tip-off and nothing that happened last night changed my mind. The Bluejays took on a tough, well-coached, fired-up Illinois State team on the road and won a tough, close, intense game. Very impressive.

Meanwhile in Des Moines, Drake challenged Wichita for about 25 minutes then the Wheat Shockers took control and really asserted themselves. Wichita will be a tough opponent in the tournament.

Other channel-surfing observations: LaSalle looked tremendous in the first half against Miami in Coral Gables but just couldn’t sustain the effort. The Explorers are deep in the backcourt but are weak upfront. Miami is playing without center Reggie Johnson, but was still good enough to win this one going away.

I also caught the end of regulation and the overtime of St. John’s-Villanova. Neither team going anywhere as far as I can see. St. John’s was in control, but didn’t make any plays at the end and lost in overtime. Steve Lavin has had a fluid roster in his first two years, but his team didn’t distinguish itself in the end-of-game situations. Seton Hall beat DePaul 73-72 and I know it’s just DePaul, but this is a really good road win. Unlike St. John’s the Hall executed a really nice play at the end for the winning score.

Surprising results, amazing margins:

Maine 63, BU 58: I believe BU is the better team, but the Terriers couldn’t produce on the road.

Auburn 78, Florida State 72: The Seminoles are really hard to figure, I don’t envy Leonard Hamilton his job this season.

Delaware State 53, Marshall 51: The Herd can’t afford this kind of loss.

Kentucky 90, Eastern Michigan 38: Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars really rubbed it in. I guess this is better than playing Indiana.

Louisville 80, Providence 62: The Friars were able to compete for a half, but that was it.

VCU 109, East Tennessee 58: The Rams are really rolling. Looking forward to see how they start A10 play.

Wake Forest 66, Xavier 59: Good win for Wake, which should be near the bottom of the ACC. Bad loss for the Muskies, who are really hard to figure.

Loyola of Chicago 63, Valpo 54: Now, the Ramblers are officially Horizon contenders.

Purdue 68, Illinois 61: Illinois finds life on the road can be tough.

UMass 70, Miami of Ohio 69: This is a MAC/football program mandated game so it’s always good to survive, score doesn’t matter, it’s a nice win on the road.

Western Illinois 39, Savannah State 35: When are they going to play the second half?

Wyoming 59, SMU 56: Nice road win for the 13-0 Cowboys.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The Monday college basketball report while waiting for the conference season to begin. The Big 10 should be the most interesting.

Five rising:

Bucknell: The Bison (12-2) have equaled the best start in school history, equaling the 1983-84 and 1901-02 teams.

Loyola of Chicago: The Ramblers upended DePaul in a big rivalry game for their first win in the series since 1989. They’ve won seven of eight, are 9-3 and maybe a contender in the Horizon.

Stephen F. Austin: The Lumberjacks will be the team to beat in the Southland. They’re 10-1 including a victory at Oklahoma; the only loss was at Texas A&M.

UCLA: Overhyped freshman Shabazz Muhammad is starting to get his feet under him. He and his teammates can look like a talented group when they play like they did in beating Missouri Friday night. Could be a landmark win.

Virginia Commonwealth: The Rams have won seven in a row, most in blowout fashion, and are now 10-3. The three losses were to Wichita State (by two), Duke and Missouri.

Five falling:

Austin Peay: The Guvs, always a contender in the OVC, had an awful weekend in the Dr. Pepper tournament in Chattanooga, losing to Utah Valley State and High Point. I guess Murray State has nothing to worry about.

Lehigh: The Engineers were rolling with an eight-game winning streak, then got upset by Bryant at home. Figured they had advanced beyond losing games like that.

Ohio: The Bobcats, with All-Sully point guard D.J. Cooper, have come up short in every key game this season, losing on the road to UMass, Robert Morris, Memphis, and Oklahoma. Very disappointing for a team that returned all five starters from a Sweet 16 team.

Penn: Five players were suspended for failing drug tests (Does the Ivy League membership make that more surprising? It does for me). All five were back Saturday, but couldn’t help the Quakers in an overtime loss to Wagner.

Providence: The Friars had showed a lot of promise this season with a short-handed group. Then they got some reinforcements and promptly lost to BC and Brown. BROWN? Yes, Brown.

This week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State lost at home to Valpo 66-64 Saturday -- a tough one -- but the Racers are going to be battle-tested when they get to March. I still think they’re the best mid-major.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Duke, Creighton

This week’s national champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

It was a slow week, need some good games to watch this weekend:

Kentucky at Louisville: This game’s not life or death ... it’s more important than that. It’s actually a must win for the Cardinals since it’s being played at the Pitino Palace. Big-man Gorgui Dieng returns from injury, which should make the Cardinals a solid favorite. The state legislature might not let him, but you figure Coach Cal would like to get this game off his schedule. Maybe more so if he suffers a big loss.

Santa Clara at Duke: The Fightin’ Rambuses are really improved. They won’t win, but I just have a feeling this could be closer than you’d think. Noon start can’t help the West Coast team, however.

Holy Cross at BC: Great win over Providence for the Eagles, now they have to follow it up by establishing their superiority over the Cross.

Virginia Tech vs. BYU in Salt Lake City: Not a neutral court despite the site. Still an interesting intersectional matchup between two inconsistent teams that could use a win to propel them to greater heights.

Loyola of Chicago at DePaul: This is an old-fashioned rivalry game. Heck, the old Bob Newhart show framed an entire episode around it.

UNLV at North Carolina: I love the Rebels, but I wonder about their chemistry. Perfect place to prove me wrong. The Heels have to see this as an opportunity to prove wrong everyone who are says they’re underachieving.

Valpo at Murray State: A great mid-major matchup and I love watching the Racers.

Xavier at Tennessee: X has had some big troubles but things could get straightened out in this winnable road game. The Vols need to protect home court. Should be close.

George Mason at South Florida: Haven’t seen either team yet. Great chance for Mason to get a good road win.

Pacific at Long Beach: Have to think this will be close between two decent mids.

Ohio at Oklahoma: All-Sully point guard D.J. Cooper needs to elevate his play and get Ohio a big road win. The Sooners are vulnerable.

Butler at Vanderbilt: Given these two schools' traditional strengths, maybe this should just be a game of H-O-R-S-E.

North Texas at Western Kentucky: A rare chance to see Tony Mitchell of North Texas.

Evansville at Creighton: The first Missouri Valley game of the season, Bluejays have to be alert to avoid upset against a decent unit.

UC Santa Barbara at Fullerton State: Want to see if either of these two will be Big West contenders.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The weekly college basketball evaluation where I won’t whine about the demise of Christmas tournaments and instead look forward to the good non-conference matchups.

Five rising:

Cincinnati: The Bearcats won a rock fight over arch-rival Xavier, showing some exceptional toughness, and now they’re 12-0.

Kansas: It’s hard to keep the Jayhawks out of the Final Four projection, but I can’t find a reason to take another team out. They’ve been crushing people while winning nine in a row, including an impressive one at Ohio State Saturday.

UMass: Quietly, the Minutemen have won four straight, including a nice one over Ohio and are now 7-3. They could win their next three to get to 10-3 before opening A-10 play at Saint Louis.

Tulane: The school that will be forever known as the one that forced the Catholic 7 to detach itself from the Big East has actually won seven of its last eight and is 10-3.

Utah State: The Aggies have won eight in a row, including a couple of road games (they don’t play many of them). They’re 10-1.

Five falling:

Illinois Chicago: The Flames were burning brightly at 8-1, but couldn’t sustain it and lost to Western Illinois and Miami of Ohio.

Saint Joseph’s: The Hawks were the preseason pick to win the Atlantic 10, but are now 5-4 after an inexcusable home loss to Fairfield Saturday.

Texas A&M: The Aggies are 8-3, but had an inconceivable home loss to Southern of the SWAC Saturday.

Wisconsin Milwaukee: The days of Bruce Pearl and NCAA tournament upsets are in the past. The Panthers have lost nine of their last 10.

Xavier: First, the Muskies got overpowered by Cincinnati in a big rivalry game, but even worse followed that up with a home loss to Wofford.

One falling and rising: Temple, the Owls lost at home to Canisius, but then rebounded to upset Syracuse, handing the Orange their first loss.

This week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State. I’m still a big Racers fan despite the tough road loss to Dayton.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Duke, Creighton

This week’s national champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Games I’m looking forward to watching this weekend as long as those pesky Christmas celebrations don’t interfere.

Friday

Stanford at Northwestern: They should hold a competition like the old College Bowl TV quiz show at halftime. This is actually an important game for two decent teams who are ambitious.

Saturday

Murray State at Dayton: Great matchup for the best college basketball fans in the land. The Flyers lost a tough one at home to Illinois State the other night, another loss would be really deflating. Murray continues to play tough road games.

Providence at BC: Want to see Chris Dunn and Sidiki Johnson play for the Friars after they missed the first semester. Maybe the step up in competition will elevate BC’s play.

Kansas at Ohio State: Kansas has been crushing all opponents; I want to see if that level of play translates to the road.

Missouri vs. Illinois in St. Louis: A great rivalry game usually played before a sellout crowd, both Top 25 caliber teams. I just hope realignment doesn’t eventually kill games like this.

Davidson at Drexel: Drexel’s had injury problems but they’re playing at home against a tough opponent.

Sunday

Siena at Fordham: Hard to justify this to non-believers but it’s a chance to see two teams I haven’t seen yet.

Tuesday

Expecting a San Diego State-Arizona final in the Diamond Classic, at least it’s at night. Christmas will be over.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Rivalry night: I love those rivalry games, even more since realignment and coaches who are afraid to lose any games continue to threaten their existence.

-- First up was Xavier-Cincinnati, played at the big arena in town rather than on campus because of the fight during last season’s game. No fight Wednesday night, not much well-played basketball either. It was intense and hard-fought, but both teams could never get anything going offensively. Cincy finally was able to score some baskets in the second half and wore down X. Sometimes intense games deteriorate into sloppy play and that’s what happened here. Doesn’t mean the result wasn’t any less important to Cincy or less disappointing to X fans.

-- New Mexico State actually has two non-conference rivalry games -- New Mexico and UTEP -- that they play home and home EACH SEASON. I don’t think anyone else does that. It’s all gone bad for the Aggies this season; they lost their first one to UTEP earlier this season and Wednesday night New Mexico completed a sweep with a 68-63 win in Las Cruces. New Mexico State played well, but undefeated New Mexico is a team that has good size, good speed, tremendous shooting and good coaching (Steve Alford). I was really impressed. It was a big road victory for the Lobos, who were seriously challenged.

Amazing margins, surprising results:

Canisius 72, Temple 62: A shocking home loss for the Owls, but there’s no question Baron and Son is an improved business.

Louisville 79, Florida International 55: Rick Pitino pummels his own son, Richard. “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.’’

Green Bay 49, Marquette 47: Geez, maybe the Marquette people should stop talking about how elite they are.

Illinois State 74, Dayton 73: Tough loss for the best college basketball fans in the land, but Illinois State is an NCAA team.

Texas 85, North Carolina 67: The Tar Heels are going to fall out of the Top 25. They remain a mystery.

UTEP 91, Oregon 84: In three overtimes!! Very entertaining, exciting game and a victory UTEP needed after falling short against UNLV in its last game.

Saint Mary’s 74, Pacific 46: It’s the second time these two have played and Pacific won by 10 the first time. I guess the Gaels are improving.

By Craig Larson, Globe Staff

Steve Addazio has turned to a pair of familiar faces to work as coordinators on his new football coaching staff at Boston College.

Former Northeastern and UMass head man Don Brown, defensive coordinator the past two seasons at the University of Connecticut under Paul Pasqualoni, will direct the Eagles' defense.

And former University of New Hampshire quarterback Ryan Day, wide receivers coach at BC for five seasons (2007-2011), returns to the Heights as offensive coordinator after serving in the same role on Addazio's staff at Temple in 2012.

"Coach Addazio has presented me with a great challenge -- one that I am very excited about," Brown said in a statement. "I'm excited to be back in the ACC (he worked two years as the defensive coordinator at Maryland).

"I'm a firm believer that you play the game on the balls of your feet, not on your heels. From day one, we're going to be aggressive. We're going to attack the line of scrimmage. We're going to get after the quarterback. ... We're going to attack."

This season, his defensive unit at UConn ranked 10th in the nation in yards allowed (309.9 per game).

As head coach, Brown directed UMass to the FCS national championship game in 2006. In 1998, as defensive coordinator under Mark Whipple, he played an integral role in the Minutemen's march to the I-AA title win over Georgia Southern.

Addazio called Day "one of the bright young minds in college football. He knows Boston College and he is thrilled to be back."

That sentiment was echoed by Oregon's Chip Kelly, who coached Day at UNH and then worked with the Manchester, N.H., native on the Wildcats' staff under Sean McDonnell.

"I think that he is one of the best young coaches in the country and it was just a matter of time before he was running the show, offensively, somewhere," said Kelly after practice Thursday.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The talent dilemma: Sometimes you can have too many players. North Carolina State has four returning starters from a Sweet 16 team plus three McDonald’s All-Americans joining the team. So far it’s been a difficult task for coach Mark Gottfried to mold this group into a real team. The Wolfpack were picked to win the ACC, but now Duke looks like the best team in the league (some would say best team in the country). There’s still plenty of time for Gottfried to make this work.

There was a step in the right direction Tuesday night with a solid home victory over a decent Stanford team. Lorenzo Brown is not a natural playmaker, but he can overpower smaller defenders, which he did last night. C.J. Leslie can be inconsistent, but is capable of greatness. Scott Wood was the big difference with his outside shooting against Stanford.

The conclusion is it’s going to take some time in the oven before this meal is ready for greatness.

Amazing margins, surprising scores:

UNC Asheville 79, Northeastern 73: The Huskies get their best player, Jonathan Lee, back from an injury and lose a home game to a beatable opponent. Noon start couldn’t have helped.

Yale 112, Albertus Magnus 63: What does Al Mag get out of this? A visit to downtown New Haven?

Providence 79, Colgate 45: The Friars will bear watching with their mid-season additions.

Miami 72, Central Florida 50: The U is going to be among the best in the ACC.

VCU 76, Western Kentucky 44: The Rams have been winning by some big margins. Julian Benbow might even have to start paying attention.

Kansas 87, Richmond 59: The Jayhawks continue to maul people, but they play Ohio State Saturday

Michigan State 64, Bowling Green 53: Here’s to Tom Izzo for playing this game at Bowling Green. Hopefully, his team will benefit.

Stephen F. Austin 56, Oklahoma 55: The Sooners struggled against Northwestern State at home earlier this season too. Not good news for their fans.

Holy Cross 71, San Francisco 65: The Cross traveled a long way to get a really nice win.

San Diego State. 76, Point Loma 49: The Aztecs have to find a better opponent.

UCLA 89, Long Beach State 70: Big win for Soap Opera U.

UC Riverside 91, Whittier 62: Beating up on Nixon’s alma mater. It usually takes the Highlanders three games to score this many points.

Thinking differently:

It seems to be a given that the seven schools leaving the Big East can poach any schools they want to form a new basketball-centric league. Here's are two counterintuitive pieces about it from the great Joe Lunardi, the inventor of bracketology, and the University of Dayton fan site's editor.

Lunardi (subscription required): Bracket concerns for 'Catholic Seven'

Dayton site: RPI crash and burn: 'Big East Seven' worse than A10

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Vegas is a riddle: UNLV has a talented group of players even without star forward Mike Moser, who’s out with an injury. Anthony Bennett is the best freshman I’ve seen (haven’t seen Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart yet). He looks NBA ready to me, big body, inside-outside game, can handle the ball, tries on defense).

However, the Rebels have chemistry problems. I’m not a believer in the theory that you have to have a “true’’ point guard, that is one little guy who just distributes the ball. If you have players who know how to play together, you can all share the ball and succeed. Right now, Vegas doesn’t have either.

For example, they should have coasted home with an easy victory over UTEP Monday night, but struggled to leave El Paso with a 62-60 victory as the Miners missed a three at the buzzer. It’s going to be a challenge for coach Dave Rice.

Meanwhile, UTEP looked great in the Texas Western throwback uniforms. I say just keep wearing them. The Miners should be a Conference USA (or should we call it the new Big East) contender, they’re young but getting better. They feature two sons of former college basketball bad boy Chris Washburn. No one said he couldn’t play and his two sons, Julian and Chris, are talented too

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Monday’s weekly report while wishing the Holiday Festival was still an eight-team tournament at Madison Square Garden. It’s where I saw Bob Lanier score 50, Rick Mount display deadly shooting and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he was known as Lew Alcindor.

Five rising:

Arizona: The Wildcats stamped themselves as the Pac 12 favorite after beating previously undefeated Florida 65-64 in Tucson Saturday. Here’s to Billy Donovan for scheduling the game and taking the tough loss, too.

Butler: The Bulldogs slipped last season, but after their victory over No. 1 Indiana it’s obvious they’re set up for a great 2012-13 and look like the favorites in the Atlantic 10. Of course, who knows how long they’ll stay in the Atlantic 10? I assumed they’ll stay long enough to play out this season.

Louisville: Big victory for the Cardinals as they rallied from 15 down in the second half to beat Memphis on the road. Their only loss is to Duke.

New Mexico: The Lobos are 11-0 after crushing archrival New Mexico State 73-58 at The Pit Saturday. The two meet against Wednesday in Las Cruces.

Notre Dame: Since losing to St. Joe’s in OT, the Irish have won seven straight.

Five Falling:

Alabama: The Crimson Tide won their first six but have now lost three in a row after getting beat badly at Virginia Commonwealth.

UC Riverside: The Highlanders could be the worst offensive team in the country. They lost to Southern Cal 70-26 Saturday. That was after 62-40 loss to Pepperdine. Plus there was a 39-30 loss to Fresno State earlier in the season. Doesn’t seem possible. As a team, they’re shooting 38 percent from the field and 24 percent on threes.

Ohio: The Bobcats, despite having All-Sully guard D.J. Cooper, had a ridiculous loss to Winthrop Saturday. This isn’t the Winthrop of five years ago that was an NCAA team; this is a team that lost to Virginia Commonwealth by 36. It’s Winthrop’s first victory of the season over a Division 1 team. The game was played in Athens, Ohio, too.

Virginia Tech: The Hokies looked like they had something working this season, but then they lost at home to Georgia Southern Saturday. Hard to imagine. Georgia Southern isn’t some upstart, tough mid-major; it’s now 4-5 after the upset.

West Virginia: What a bad week for Bob Huggins. First, his team blows a 15-point lead in losing to Duquesne (which turned around and lost to Robert Morris 91-69), then it couldn’t compete against Michigan, losing 81-66.

This Week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Duke, Creighton

This week’s National Champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

Games I’m looking forward to see on TV this weekend while applauding the Big East basketball schools for standing up for themselves. I hate the idea they’ll mess up the Atlantic 10, however.

SATURDAY
Indiana vs. Butler: Indiana’s the better team and this might not even be close but it should be a great atmosphere in a great arena (Bankers Life Fieldhouse). Would love to see the upset.

Akron at Detroit: Two non-BCS schools with potential, should be a close game

Eastern Michigan at Illinois-Chicago: I haven’t seen the 8-1 Flames, plus Eastern Michigan beat Purdue.

Cincinnati vs. Marshall in Charleston, W. Va.: The Bearcats have mostly played home games. This isn’t a true road game (Marshall is located in Huntington) but an interesting test nonetheless.

Northern Iowa vs. Iowa at Des Moines: This is part of the Big Four Classic. Drake and Iowa State meet in the second game. What a great idea, a rivalry doubleheader with the state championship on the line. I think Northern and Iowa State will be the winners.

Louisville at Memphis: An old Metro Conference matchup that could have been a Big East matchup ... aw, never mind. Discounting all the realignment nonsense, this is just a good matchup of two good basketball schools. Sometimes the best way to deal with all the angst over the changes is to just enjoy the games.

Alabama at Virginia Commonwealth: Former VCU coach Anthony Grant brings his team to Richmond. Great chance for VCU to get a quality non-conference victory. I believe this was part of the deal that let him get out of his contract to go to Alabama.

New Mexico State at New Mexico: This is a blood-on-the-floor rivalry I like.

Belmont at Kansas: Belmont is a veteran unit, which means this has possibilities, but Kansas is playing great.

Canisius at Syracuse: The Golden Griffs, a.k.a., Baron and Son, are much improved. Syracuse needs to be focused.

Mount St. Mary’s at Loyola of Maryland: Just have to channel surf to it to see my favorite nut job, Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos. Never know what could happen with him.

West Virginia at Michigan: West Virginia has big problems; Michigan is playing as well as anyone so this has rout potential. I’ll still check in.

Kansas State vs. Gonzaga in Seattle: Should be a rugged, physical battle but Zags will eventually prevail.

BYU at Weber State: I keep saying it but it’s true, I love the in-state rivalry games. I hope realignment doesn’t kill all of them.

Florida at Arizona: It’s great that Billy Donovan will play a road game like this. Two undefeated teams meeting in the desert.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The weekly college basketball update, evaluating things on a Monday morning.

Five rising:

Arizona: In the Lute Olson era the Wildcats would hardly ever leave Tucson for a non-conference game. In the Sean Miller era, the Wildcats went to Clemson and won their seventh straight without a loss.

Charlotte: The Fightin’ Cornbreads are 9-0 and had a big victory at Davidson to win the City Championship. Maybe they'll be a surprise Atlantic 10 contender in the their final season in the league.

Illinois: The Illini are 10-0 after going to Spokane and winning a tough game at Gonzaga. The Illini look battle-tested already after winning the Maui Classic too. Point guard Brandon Paul played like an All-American.

Illinois Chicago: The Flames have come out of nowhere to be 7-1 after beating Colorado State at home Saturday. They also have road victories over Northern Illinois and Northwestern.

Kansas: Since losing to Michigan State way back on Nov. 13, the Jayhawks have been steamrolling everyone including three Pac 12 teams, Washington State, Oregon State and Colorado. Colorado, an improved unit, got a real dose of reality when they were vaporized 90-54 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Five falling:

Delaware: Following a really interesting victory at Virginia in November, the Blue Hens have lost six of seven including an inexcusable disaster to Delaware State Saturday.

Fordham: The Rams had a real good chance of upsetting St. John’s at MSG Saturday but just couldn’t finish. They’re now 1-8 with the only win a two-pointer over Penn. Life’s always tough in the Bronx.

Northeastern: Since beating Belmont in the Great Alaska Shootout, the Huskies have lost four straight including three homes games (all tough ones). Jonathan Lee can’t get back soon enough.

St. Francis of Pennsylvania: The Fightin’ Porters are 0-8 and things are not looking up. Hard to tell when the first one will come.

Texas: The Longhorns had a chance to get there season moving in a positive direction with two big intersectional matchups and lost to both Georgetown and UCLA (in particularly ugly fashion).

This week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State. Watching the Racers against Evansville Saturday, I saw a team that’s rapidly improving defensively with a surprising developing big man in Brandon Garrett. Plus there’s All-American guard Isaiah Canaan and all-hair first-teamer Ed Daniel. There's a lot to like about the Racers who will be hard to dislodge from this spot.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Duke, Creighton

This week’s National Champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

The Monday college basketball report after navigating through college football championship games and the NFL:

Five rising:

Cincinnati: The Bearcats are 7-0 after handing Alabama its first loss after six victories Saturday. Plus they had nice wins over Iowa State and Oregon in Las Vegas last week.

New Mexico: The Lobos are 8-0 and had a sneaky good win at Indiana State Saturday. Who even goes to play at Indiana State except Missouri Valley teams?

Providence: The Friars have only seven scholarship players healthy or eligible to play. Ed Cooley has done a great job, getting them to 6-2, with the two losses coming by a total of five points.

Virginia Tech: The Gobblers are 7-0 but there’s an asterisk -- six games have been played in Blacksburg, the other was a road win at North Carolina Greensboro.

Wyoming: The Fightin’ Fennis Dembos are 8-0 after beating Colorado in Laramie Saturday. Coach Larry Shyatt is in his third season in his second go-round at Wyoming. The first time he left after one season to go to Clemson. All was forgiven and he was welcomed back. So far, so good.

Five falling:

Florida State: The Seminoles looked like a tough unit after winning the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament in Brooklyn, but this past week lost consecutive home games, one to Minnesota (excusable) and the second one to Mercer (inexcusable).

Houston: Phi Slamma Jamma is a faint memory. The Cougars lost to Prairie View A&M last week and followed up with a loss to Texas A&M at home.

Kentucky: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars lost at home to Baylor, ending a 55-game winning streak against non-conference teams.

Northwestern: I’ll never figure out the Mildcats, who opened the season with six straight victories but then lost back-to-back home games against Maryland and Illinois Chicago.

Siena: The Saints blew a big lead to lose at home against UMass, then lost the city championship game to UAlbany. A bad week.

This week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Duke, Michigan, Creighton

This week’s national champion: Indiana

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

About last night:
True story: I was watching BC totally manhandle Penn State and when they got up 20, I switched to Ohio State-Duke. During a timeout I switched back and Penn State was within six. It happened in a flash. I had to text the best BC fan I know to ask what happened. “Turnovers, ugh,’’ he replied. The Eagles were able to stay above water and got the win. This is life with such a young team; they could lose to Bryant, play their best for 30 minutes then collapse. One night they’ll play really good for 40 minutes against a quality team and show what the true potential is. Tough for coach and fans, however.

Duke again: What’s left to be said? The Dookies were pushed around by Ohio State for 30 minutes and still were able to get the win. Seems like they’ve played every imposing team except Indiana.

High-wire act: UMass trails by 17 in the first half but rallies to beat Siena 64-63. Life with Chaz and the boys is going to be up and down.

Better than you think: BU beating Coastal Carolina 74-44 is really impressive. The Terriers have been unlucky, this time they left nothing to chance.

Alaska hangover: Northeastern finished second in the Great Alaskan Shootout but then loses at home to Maine. It had to be the aftereffect of the long trip.

About last night:

There’s no doubt: Indiana is No. 1 after the Hoosiers manhandled North Carolina 83-59. In a blink of an eye, the Hoosiers turned this into a rout in the second half. It was in Bloomington, so the loss is forgivable, but the verdict is still out on the Tar Heels.

Typical: Northwestern wins an early-season tournament, looks good doing it and I get on the bandwagon that the Mildcats can finally make the NCAA Tournament. Then ... they get blown out on their home court by Maryland.

Upset averted: Colorado, also receiving plaudits for winning an early-season tournament, nearly gave it all back before beating Texas Southern in two overtimes. Two observations: Mike Davis, the former Indiana and UAB coach, obviously has Texas Southern playing well despite a 1-5 record. It was also fluky. Omar Strong, a 5-9 guard from Baltimore, entered the game shooting 25 percent for Texas Southern and he banged in nine threes. Texas Southern should win the SWAC, the goal would be to avoid the First Four.

The Gophers: Minnesota couldn’t compete with Duke but it’s doing OK with everyone else, as evidenced by an impressive 77-68 victory over Florida State in Tallahassee Tuesday night. The Gophers are 7-1.

Harvard: It’s a shame, this should have been a big season for the Crimson, but after Tuesday night’s loss to Vermont at home, it’s going to be a real struggle without Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry. If they return next season, the Crimson will be really tough.

By Joe Sullivan, Globe Staff

College basketball is really interesting on Thanksgiving weekend, mostly with neutral site, eight-team tournaments played in places that never see basketball at any other time of year. Empty gyms are the other thing these tournaments have in common.

The weekly update:
Five rising:
Charlotte: The 49ers are sort of lost souls, playing their last year in the Atlantic 10 where they’ve never been competitive and heading to Conference USA because of football. Quite unexpectedly, they won the Great Alaska Shootout. Sorry to say it came at the expense of Northeastern, which had a nice tournament up north.

Duke: Man, was I off target with the Blue Devils, they’re tremendous again. Many players have surprised me. Sophomore guard Quinn Cook is healthy and a decent point guard, Seth Curry looks much improved, freshman Rasheed Sulaimon is a deadly shooter, center Mason Plumlee looks bigger and is tough to handle down low, and Ryan Kelly, a small forward in a center’s body, is a dependable player. Looks like Coach K has it going again.

Northwestern: Could this finally be the year the Mildcats make the tournament? It’s possible based on their gritty victory over Illinois State in the South Padre, Texas tournament final. They’re 6-0.

Michigan: The Wolverines looked awesome in beating Pitt and Kansas State in the tip-off NIT. They are Final Four material.

California: The Golden Bears have been totally overlooked, but they do have three starters back from an NCAA team and they showed they’re going to contend in the Pac 12 (maybe no longer the Lack 12? Wait. UCLA lost to Cal Poly? Jury still out).

Five falling:
Old Dominion: The Monarchs are often a threat for an at-large bid out of the CAA. Not this season. They’re 1-5 with losses to Holy Cross, Texas San Antonio and VMI. Elevator going down.

Mississippi State: First-year coach Rick Ray inherited zero starters and it has showed. The Bulldogs couldn’t compete while finishing last in the Maui Tournament.

Northern Iowa: The Panthers figure to be a contender in the Missouri Valley, but they couldn’t compete in the ultra-tough tournament in the Bahamas and finished last.

Saint Mary’s: The Gaels, a personal favorite with All-Sully guard Matthew Dellavedova, were really disappointing in the Disneyland tournament. They were manhandled by Pacific in the semifinals and then failed with the game on the line against Georgia Tech in the third-place game. I liked those semi-throwbacks Tech wore. Made me thing of Rich Yunkus playing in the NIT at MSG in the late 60s.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores did salvage one victory in the Disney World tournament, but that came after they were physically overwhelmed by Davidson in the first round and then embarrassed by Marist 50-33 in a consolation game. This team’s going to compete in the SEC?

This week’s George Mason (best mid-major): Murray State.

This week’s Final Four: Indiana, Michigan, Creighton, Duke

This week’s national champion: Indiana

Always a tough choice with me: The NFL or college basketball? The conflict was impossible to avoid Thursday so except for the Patriots-Jets game, which I watched in its entirety, I resorted to much channel surfing.

The observations:

-- Thanksgiving basketball tournaments continue to produce the best non-conference matchups. I’m really looking forward to Duke-Virginia Commonwealth Friday. I bet coach K remembers when the Rams knocked them out of the NCAAs a few years ago. VCU looked strong beating Memphis Thursday. They led the whole way and constantly fought off Memphis’ surges. Duke is much better than I thought they’d be. The Dookies are huge up front and Seth Curry has really improved. Minnesota, a team I thought had great potential, couldn’t keep up. Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports, a must-read, tweeted that Gophers’ big man Trevor Mbakwe just didn’t have the lift or explosion he had before ACL surgery. What a shame. I had him targeted as All-American and All-Sully.

-- Matthew Dellavedova: Seeing him briefly against Drexel I forgot how much I loved his game. He’s improved, maybe because he played with Australia in the Olympics. I wonder if someone from Saint Mary’s can be first-team All-American but he’s certainly a candidate.

-- Missouri looked good beating Missouri and Phil Pressey impressed again. He’s highly entertaining and an incredible competitor.

-- Vanderbilt could be in trouble in the SEC, Davidson took care of them pretty easily.

-- Bad loss for Xavier against Pacific. Pacific is a well-coached until the Muskies need to win games like that.

Meanwhile Wednesday night:

-- Illinois won the Maui Invitational and is off to an outstanding start under first-year coach John Groce, who guided Ohio into the NCAA tournament last season and has been an assistant under Thad Matta at Ohio State. Groce is a rising star but remember this: Bruce Weber was unfairly fired after last season and this is his team. If he were on the bench, they could have won the tournament too. It’s not the best field ever assembled at Maui either.

-- Wichita State’s Greg Marshall can really coach and the Shockers are 6-0 after winning the Cancun tournament. I expect them to be in the tournament this season, they play tough defense and are balanced offensively.