A light dosage of hoops last night. Here's what went down.

Everyone was thinking, This is the year! This is the year the Big Ten finally wins this! Eh ... not so much. Here's why ...

1. Kansas (63) 2. Texas (1) 3. Villanova 4. Purdue 5. Kentucky 6. Duke 7. West Virginia 8. Syracuse 9. Michigan State (down 7) 10. North Carolina 11. Tennessee 12. Washington 13. Florida (NR) 14. Connecticut 15. Ohio State 16. Georgetown 17. Gonzaga 18. Clemson 19. Texas A&M (NR) 20. Louisville (down 4) 21. Florida State (NR) 22. Cincinnati (NR) 23. Butler (down 12) 24. UNLV (NR) 25. Portland (NR) Top 5 outside looking in: Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Marquette, Mississippi, Miami (FL). Dropped out: Michigan (15), Illinois (20), Maryland (21), Minnesota (22), Notre Dame (23), ... Read More

The Sports Hernia will probably think Christmas came early. In case you missed it out there in the Interwebs, Mark Titus, of Ohio State, is one of the best personalities in the game. That's him with the wannabe-epic mustache. Titus' blog, Club Trillion, is one of the better college basketball reads out there. Forget the fact Titus gives us a perspective few see so openly, he's self-aware and self-deprecating in a way ... Read More

• What's the over-under on the number of Oregon State games Obama attends while in office? Four seems like a fair number through one term. Here are some photos from his trip to catch the Beavers play at George Washington over the weekend. Love the two secret service agents sitting behind him. {Huffington Post} • Something amiss at Oklahoma? Many believe Willie Warren lacks the maturity and ability to lead. {NewsOK.com} • ... Read More

—UPSET—Alabama 68, No. 15 Michigan 66. Going to be a lot of movement in today's AP poll, for sure. Michigan, which barely got by a Creighton team that isn't as good as I thought it was, fell to Marquette and the Crimson Tide. Buh-bye, ranking. Manny Harris had 26 points, and it's possible that Alabama exposed the fact the Wolverines are relying on their star too much. He will not ... Read More

The Bruins plunged to a 2-4 record when they fell to Long Beach State earlier today. It's a certified Code Red for Ben Howland's club, which was 2-1 before getting off the bus in Anaheim. The two wins came against storied prorgrams: Pepperdine and Cal State Bakersfield. It was the first time in the program's history if finished in last place in a preseason tournament. Two years ago, the 76 Classic ... Read More

—UPSET—Florida 77, No. 2 Michigan State 74. Spartans were nearly knocked off by Gonzaga and were sideswiped by the Gators last night. The two teams met for the first time since the 2000 title game. Pretty remarkable that these clubs have combined for seven Final Four appearances since that Michigan State beatdown. This was certainly the biggest victory for Florida since Joakim and Co. won the second title in '07. Florida will ... Read More

NEW YORK — It was an ugly day inside the Garden. The fours teams involved looked like I did after my massive meal yesterday. There was a lot of sloppy play, uneven tempo and a collective "come ON" feeling in both games. Duke won despite shooting 29 percent from the field. UConn allowed the Blue Devils to rack up 25 offensive boards. After a freakishly fast start, Duke adjusted its game ... Read More

• Top five frontcourts in college basketball, according to Yahoo!. {Yahoo} • And the 10 best sophomores in the land, according to Seth Davis. Lists are fun! {Hoop Thoughts} • Statistically trying to line up the biggest busts in college basketball in the last 12 years. {Stat Sheet} • Another list! And I love the No. 1 choice. Ten best games of the decade. You bet your ass I'll have a list like ... Read More

—UPSET—Texas A&M 69, No. 19 Clemson 60. Clemson's winning streak in November, which was approaching 40 games, is over. A great win for Aggies hoops, but those in College Station would rather drown in sorrows after losing that epic shootout last night to Texas on the gridiron. —UPSET—Houston 100, No. 25 Oklahoma 93. Stock is plummeting for the Sooners, who clearly didn't want to be in Anchorage for the Great Alaska ... Read More

Hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving that was filled with all the usual things that make the holiday so great and the unpredictable-yet-predictable things that make the stories worth telling. I foolishly got involved in yet another two-on-two brothers' football game in the backyard. I may have a sore muscle or two in the morning. Tomorrow, I'll be tweeting/updating the site from the Big Apple, as there will be a story ... Read More

My sportswriting duties require me to cover high school football this morning. I don't mind so much; the NFL games are probably going to be yawn-inducing, anyway. We got some great, great basketball last night. If you were out reluctantly making vapid conversation with old faces at many a bar last night, here's a recap. —UPSET—Wisconsin 78, No. 21 Maryland 69. Game probably played out how it should have. Wisconsin is ... Read More

There is a lot bland, trite crap being put out into the Twitterverse when it comes to coaches, players and even some fellow writers/TV personalities. Nolan Smith is a welcomed ray of sunshine that goes against all of that. The Duke junior tweets with regularity; I anticipate what he's going to type next. He's an entertaining follow, and really, that's all you can ask for. Looking forward to interviewing Smith briefly when ... Read More

• Dana O'Neil with another terrific effort. I called her the Tom Rinaldi of college basketball yesterday on Twitter. She was confused by that, but it's a good thing. {ESPN.com} • Roy Williams had surgery yesterday, which was required after he slipped a celebrity golf event in October. He'll be patrolling the sidelines in a sling for the next month. You think he'll lose any of his intensity. {AP} • Plenty of ... Read More

—UPSET—Cincinnati 69, No. 21 Maryland 57. No upset in my eyes. I alluded this was a good possibility yesterday. After last night, the Big East is 58-5 this season. Until the conference starts losing with some regularity, you're going to hear that pregnant stat repeated ad nauseum. As for Maryland, it looked like it did during really bad parts of last season. I don't want to become the hater I ... Read More

Is it too early to write this conference off? Probably, but when you look at what small-time schools have already knocked of Pac-10 clubs, there's legitimate cause for concern.

• Touched on this last week, but it's not surprising nor bothersome: officials give leniency to home teams. {ESPN via AP} • Cornell was liking its chances at knocking off Syracuse when Le Moyne won in a game that was insignificant than and is insignificant now. {Ithaca Journal} • So much fun to go back and read about the game 40 years ago. Here's a great piece on UCLA. {SI Vault} • Matteen ... Read More