Nothing but nets

Who's Hot: With our self imposed boycott of November basketball over, we dove into college basketball on Dec. 1 with a purpose to find the best team in Boston. In two days we saw Boston College, Boston University and Harvard. And after a quick analysis right now we give the edge to Dennis Wolff's BU Terriers.

It wasn't just the 75-59 win over Harvard on Wednesday night. It wasn't their tough win over Northeastern on November 25th.

It was the way the Terriers went about their business. Sound fundamental basketball, good defense, solid rebounding and against Harvard, at least outstanding three point shooting.

While Corey Lowe continues to be the key figure for the Terriers, we love the athleticism of sophomore John Holland, who was last year's America East Rookie of the Year.

So does Wolff, who after finishing talking to reporters following the win over Harvard, looked over to where Holland was holding court with the media, yelled over to his player, "Just don't call me Dennis.''

When that brought a puzzled look from some other reporters, Wolff explained. "At the luncheon last year before the tournament when he was Freshman of the year, he got up and thanked his family and his friends and he said and I really want to thank Dennis for all that he did,'' said COACH Wolff with a laugh.

If Holland and company continue to play the way they have in the early part of the season in which they have won 4 of their first 6 games, Wolff will allow Holland to call him anything he wants.

It is a nice switch from last season, when BU stumbled out of the gate with a 3-11 record, which was enough to offset a strong finish in which they won 11 of their last 14 games and finished with their third consecutive sub .500 record.

This team looks more like the Wolff coached teams of a few years ago who made four consecutive post season appearance and won 20 or more games for four seasons in a row.

With games home games coming up against Marshall (Saturday), Yale and Delaware and road games against Notre Dame and Cornell, the Terriers should be able to dive into the America East season in January with a positive flow. Beating Notre Dame in South Bend would be a huge stretch obviously, but the other games are all winnable, although Cornell could also be a challenge on the road.

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Although Harvard did not win against BU, the athleticism in the Crimson is noticeable. Coach Tommy Amaker's team has seven freshmen, led by Max Kenyi and Keith Wright, who were the heart of Amaker's recruiting class.

"That doesn't look like any Harvard team I've seen,'' said BU assistant coach Orlando Vandross. "They're going to do some damage in the Ivy.''

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After watching BC slide past Iowa, we're not sure what Coach Al Skinner's Eagles are right now. We see athleticism with freshman Reggie Jackson and Dallas Elmore, we see star power with All-ACC guard Tyrese Rice, but as Mr. Basketball Bob Ryan pointed out, we also see lots of parts, but not one cohesive unit -- yet.

Want an early season sleeper among the low mid major teams? Try Mercer. The Bears were picked to finish in the lower reaches of the Atlantic Sun in preseason have won six of their first eight games, including back to back road wins at Alabama and Auburn. Mercer did that last year when it shocked USC a year ago, but then stumbled to an 11-19 record, which cost Coach Mark Slonaker his job. First-year coach Bob Hoffman was brought in as Mr. Fix it, someone who has won at both the professional and collegiate level with both men's and women's programs, although much of the success was against NAIA competition.

Who's Not?:First-year UMass coach Derek Kellogs didn't expect the Minutemen to be contenders in the A10 right away, but UMass is coming off a 57-56 loss to Toledo Wednesday which was regarded as second tier MAC team and had lost five of its first six before beating the Minutemen. As tough as the Toledo loss was, a 75-74 loss to Jacksonville State in the Minutemen's home opener was even tougher to take. Next up for the Minutemen is BC at the Mullins Center Saturday night.

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Worth Noting: It's not one of your classic rivarlies, but UCLA-Texas is turning into it. The last two years, the two teams have gone down to the final seconds in their games. Texas won by a bucket, 63-61 a year ago at Pauley Pavillion and Thursday night, the Longhorns made it two straight with a 68-64 win in Austin. Leading the way was Texas guard A.J. Abrams, who poured in 31 points. Abrams wasn't on anybody's All American team in pre-season. That might change.

Did you know: That Oklahoma's 73-72 win over USC raised the Sooners record to 7-0, which is their best start in five seasons.