The Owls’ perimeter trio asserted themselves right out of the gates on Saturday, scoring the game’s first eight points on two three-pointers and a steal and layup by Moore, who leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring (Wyatt is second in that category). That helped them build a 16-5 lead before the first media timeout and later a 16-point lead in the half.

Moore, who led the Owls with a game-high 22 points, has been especially driven during his senior season. It isn’t just because it’s his last go-round, although that’s surely part of it for a player who has steadily improved over his career. Moore changed his uniform number to 10 this season after the death of his cousin in a car accident. The reason behind it was adding up the digits in his cousin’s football jersey (55) and a birthday of March 10.

Wyatt was last season’s top sixth man in the Atlantic 10 and has moved into the starting lineup without a hitch. While Moore has led the team in scoring ten times this season, Wyatt has done it nine times, and both scored 20 or more points in the same game twice in the last two weeks. In the second half, Wyatt buried a very deep back-breaking three-pointer en route to scoring 13 of his 16 in that frame.

More than just the individuals, this unit is clearly bigger than the sum of their parts for a reason. They play well together and none is caught up trying to score the most points. Moore and Wyatt each average over three per game, while Fernandez is known for his passing but has a jumper that must be respected. In fact, all three shoot over 40 percent from long range on the season. In addition, all three are at least 6’4″, so they have good size, which creates matchup problems.

“They all can score, but they all like to get the ball up and help their teammates,” said head coach Fran Dunphy. “It’s as much fun for them to make an assist as to score.”

Temple has been quite reliant on its perimeter trio for a couple of reasons. One is the absence of Scootie Randall, who is likely redshirting this season after having a more difficult recovery from off-season knee surgery. Last season’s Most Improved Player in the Atlantic 10, Randall figured to start and play a major role on this team, but the way the Owls have overcome his absence is another example of the depth they have and how this team in recent years has had another player fill a spot when the opportunity for an expanded role has presented itself.

The Owls have also had to go without big man Michael Eric for some of the season, although he has returned recently. The big man suffered a patella tendon injury to his right knee in late November, the same knee he fractured last season. He had been playing well before the injury, and while he’s still not all the way back, the Owls are 5-0 since he returned to action against Maryland.

“He gives us a presence down in the paint,” said Wyatt. “Without Mike, we were pretty good, so having Mike back should make us better.”

With Eric out, then limited since his return, Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson has been a key for this team. At times, he has been their only frontcourt player on the floor, Saturday included, but he has made it work at both ends of the floor. He and Anthony Lee have teamed with Eric to form a solid, unspectacular frontcourt that gets the job done for this team.

There are more riches on the perimeter than just the three starters, and that was also on display Saturday. Sophomore Aaron Brown has been a solid reserve, giving them good offense once he comes into the game. Brown, who scored 15 points on 6-7 shooting (3-4 from long range) off the bench in Saturday’s win, has started ten games in his career as well and looks to be one of the next Owls who first produces in a relatively limited role, then becomes a key player after waiting his turn.

Temple is looking more and more like a team that can make a run in the NCAA Tournament. They have proven themselves against the competition, entering the week with an RPI of 13 and a 3-0 record against teams in the top 50. More impressive is that of those three wins, only the win over Duke came in Philadelphia, and that was at the Wells Fargo Center instead of on campus. The Owls are 9-4 away from campus on the season after Saturday’s win, including a 7-3 record in true road games.

“We’re pleased to be where we are, yet know we have eight really tough games to go,” said Dunphy.

The Atlantic 10 has six teams bunched together within one game at the top of the standings after Saturday. Temple is on top and playing better than any of them right now, but Dunphy continues to reinforce that it’s a tough conference. With the way his perimeter trio is playing, they are in a good place to try to stay at or near the top the rest of the way.

• Boston University was not rebounding well in the early portion of their seven-game winning streak. But in the last two games, the Terriers have dominated the glass, and keeping that up will only help. Granted, it came against two of the worst teams in the conference, but one of them (UMBC) is normally a decent team on the glass. Part of that has come from an emphasis on rebounding of late, but not just at the defensive end.“The last two games, we’ve done a much better job on the glass,” said head coach Joe Jones. “We’re just trying to make a concerted effort to be a better offensive rebounding team as well.”
• One of the keys to Marquette‘s play has been the play of transfer Jamil Wilson. The Oregon transfer isn’t putting up big numbers, but he had 16 points on Saturday night at Providence to go with three blocked shots. Three nights later, he blocked three more shots to help the Golden Eagles shut down USF, and he is filling the stat sheet more and more.”I think he’s become incredibly, incredibly important to what we’re doing,” said head coach Buzz Williams. “I think with each passing day, regardless of game day or practice day, I think his confidence continues to grow. I think he helps us hide some of our deficiencies because of his intelligence, particularly on the defensive end.”
• Northeastern somehow pulled out a win on Wednesday night over Delaware that may make a difference for them. The Huskies had lost two straight after a good start, but came home for a win that may get them going again. Joel Smith hit his second game-winning basket in less than a month, having made a buzzer-beater at Vermont on December 30, and looks to be playing much better although he struggled in the two recent road losses. The big key, he said, is being engaged at both ends of the floor, and head coach Bill Coen noted that they have only lost once when Smith has six or more rebounds.”I’m trying to be more involved, especially rebounding and defense,” said Smith. “Once you do the little things, the game just flows and it comes to you.”
• St. John’s showed on Wednesday night that although they are young, they will be able to beat a top team or two before the season is out. They beat West Virginia convincingly, and all along they have looked like a scrappy team that will not go down easily.
• Staying in the Big East, Notre Dame‘s win at Seton Hall is another solid win for the Fighting Irish. If they keep this up, Mike Brey should be in the mix for Big East Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, Seton Hall has come back to earth a bit of late as they are now 4-4 in Big East play.
• St. Mary’s picked up a big road win on Thursday night as they went to Los Angeles and came away with a 71-64 win over Loyola Marymount. There are more road tests ahead for this team, but getting a win in LA is a good way to keep up the winning.
• Five teams are tied atop the Atlantic 10 with 4-2 records, but Xavier and Temple are not among them. Instead, it’s Dayton, La Salle, UMass, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure. Temple and Xavier are right behind them, but chances are few figured a five-way tie would not include those two.
• Iona heads to Fairfield on Friday night in a game that may have lost a bit of luster from before MAAC play began in earnest. The Stags are 5-3, and they could make things a little more interesting with a win as Iona is 7-2 and being talked about as a team that should be in one of the better BracketBusters matchups.

As of Jan. 9, the Orange look an awful lot like the best team in the country. But considering that it’s still early January, that’s not terribly surprising. The question is whether Syracuse will still look like the best team in college hoops in another two months as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Since the Orange won the championship in 2003, Syracuse has made a habit of starting hot, building a record at least nine games better than .500 each season. In half of those seasons, the Orange have had a record as gaudy as at least 15 games better than .500.

But each season, the team has fallen apart for one reason or another. In some cases, it’s a lack of leadership to handle adversity when the team inevitably drops a tough Big East game or two. In other cases, the downfall has been rifts in team chemistry, sometimes leading to suspensions or poor play. And injuries have factored into a few of the collapses.

In sum, Syracuse has not finished a season better than three games above .500 after the Orange’s struggles creep into the picture. Why would this team be any different?

To start, this team has fantastic depth. Ten players average at least 12 minutes per game. Seven players contribute at least seven ppg, but no one scores more than 14.1 ppg, and that’s senior swingman Kris Joseph. In addition, the Orange have superior height than nearly any other team in Division I, with nine players who stand 6’4” or taller.

Coach Jim Boeheim has helped this team navigate through the tumultuous Bernie Fine affair without any semblance of a disturbance on the court. Compared to the off court drama, Boeheim must be happy dealing with any complaints about playing time that come from his talented players — if there have been any at all. Only two players are averaging more than 25 minutes per game, but as far as we can tell, everyone has embraced his role on the team. And that is leading to win after win.

At some point, the Orange will likely drop a game or two in Big East play. Road games against Cincinnati, St. John’s, Louisville, Rutgers and Connecticut are potential land mines. But unlike in recent years, this team seems built to overcome the struggles of one night. Boeheim has the Orange playing their best basketball in eight years, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. If Syracuse can maintain its 1.202 points per possession on offense and 0.883 points per possession on defense, both those numbers will be the best marks for offensive and defensive efficiency for the years that Pomeroy has data available (since 2003).

In a season filled with talented teams, Syracuse has earned its No. 1 ranking, and the Orange should remain near the top from wire to wire. And for Syracuse fans, a strong finish to bookend a strong start would be a refreshing change of pace.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman is in the thick of serious allegations after several people at the Bears’ game at South Carolina State said the coach punched Morgan State senior Larry Bastfield during the game, according to ESPN.com news services. The school has indefinitely suspended Bozeman while looking into the accusations. Bozeman and Bastfield say the news is much ado about nothing — with that nothing being an accidental bump during the game, as Bastfield described it.

Xavier coach Chris Mack made his point, then paid the price. Mack missed the past couple of days after tearing a tendon in his left knee while dunking to re-energize the struggling Musketeers, who are 2-5 in the past few weeks, writes USA Today’s Marlen Garcia.

Arizona State coach Herb Sendek has accepted the departure of leading scorer Keala King, who left a few days after Sendek suspended him for unacceptable conduct, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. King’s departure is a massive loss for a pretty bad Sun Devils team. King averaged 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 3.3 apg.

St. John’s scored a talented point guard when former Texas A&M sophomore Jamal Branch decided to transfer to the Red Storm, writes the New York Daily News’ Roger Rubin. Branch averaged 4.2 ppg and 2.5 apg for the Aggies, and he chose St. John’s over several other suitors.

Michael Jordan’s son Jeff has decided to leave Central Florida, according to an Associated Press report. His brother, Marcus, remains with the Golden Knights, as Jeff cited personal reasons for his decision.

It would have been easy to have inflated expectations for transfers Billy Baron and Andre Malone, with the idea that they would make an instant impact on this team’s fortunes as they became eligible. While that has happened with Baron, who had a big game on Monday, it’s not in his stats that it can be found. That’s not to say he hasn’t played well after having to shake some rust off early. But his value has come in what he does for the lineup and two other guards.

The Rams started the season with two freshmen point guards, and that’s not a position a team wants to have inexperience at. While Baron isn’t exactly a seasoned veteran, compared to Mike Powell and T.J. Buchanan, he is, and together the three of them are significantly better. Baron can play either guard spot, so at times they have multiple ball handlers on the floor, and that has taken pressure off Powell as the starting point guard. The end result has been nothing but positive.

“When we’re out there, we can handle the ball and take pressure off each and every one of us,” said Baron, who scored a game-high 25 points. “Mike doesn’t have to bring the ball up every time.”

Now the Rams have a triumvirate of point guards that is getting better, with Powell showing a lot of growth lately. The freshman matched his career high with 21 points, which he scored in the prior game as well, and it’s his fourth straight double-digit scoring game. In those four games, he’s 10-18 from long range and has also handed out at least three assists in each.

“He’s learning how to really use his body. He’s 5’9″, but he’s got a huge heart,” said Baron. “I love playing with him out there, because he takes pressure off me and I take pressure off him.”

For a while in the second half on Monday, it looked like overtime wouldn’t be needed. The Rams kept the Eagles at arm’s length, leading by as many as nine about nine minutes into the half. Boston College eventually grabbed the lead several minutes after that, but then neither team did much offensively as only six points were scored in the final 6:54 of regulation. When the Rams couldn’t hang on to that lead, then saw Boston College send it to a second overtime with a buzzer-beater by Patrick Heckmann, they could have been sunk psychologically. But they took control in the second overtime to take home the win.

The Rams still have a lot of room for improvement. Finally getting a couple of wins lately, including one on the road, will help the team’s confidence and overall psyche. They’re still trying to fully integrate Baron and Malone, with Baron saying he feels good about how he meshes with the team although there’s still some rust to shake off. That’s a plus since it helps the backcourt, but it’s just one part of the team trying to put it all together.

“We’re still trying to put our chemistry together working in the transfers,” said head coach Jim Baron.

Jim Baron said the Rams are still trying to work other players into the mix. The Rams haven’t looked like the “Runnin’ Rams” much this season, as they haven’t been able to control the pace much although they did that for a fair amount of Monday’s game. Even if they did control the pace often, they might have been exposed from a depth standpoint until now. With a full roster available save for the departed Jamal Wilson, the potential to do that is there, and he wants to go nine or ten deep.

Powell said the chemistry is better of late and the practices have been more competitive. The team moved on from Wilson’s dismissal and appears to be gaining confidence. Jim Baron said his team might have played a non-conference schedule that was a bit much for this young team, as it was far from a cake walk, and with little to show for their efforts on the bottom line the team’s confidence can be flagging. But Monday’s game may be a sign that they are handling adversity better, as they had their share of it but won the game. Atlantic 10 play is around the corner, and the feeling is that the team is getting better at a good time.

“Things are definitely getting better,” said Powell. “We’ll be feeling good once league play gets going.”

“We’re not good enough. Plain and simple,” said head coach Phil Martelli. “What we did wasn’t good enough. 9-16 from the foul line, two guys in double figures, it’s not good enough. I’ve been honest with this team, we’re inching up on being good, but we’re not there yet, and this is another indication that we’re not there yet.”

The Hawks shot a sizzling 79.2 percent from the field in the first half, but didn’t play very good defense and as a result went into the locker room with just a ten-point lead. Gradually, they wore down at both ends, especially the offensive end, and the Crimson chipped away at what was still an 11-point lead near the halfway point of the second half. Harvard shot 50 percent in the first half to stay in it, then shot 52 percent in the latter frame while the Hawks shot an ice cold 29.6 percent.

Martelli said he felt the Hawks lost their edge in the second half, and also thought his team wore down. He did all he could to manage the team’s rest, as he didn’t bring them over for a shootaround, but in the end it was all about managing the minutes come game time. In particular, Carl Jones played 36 minutes and Langston Galloway 35, and neither was the same player in the second frame.

“I’ve got to do a better job of shortening the stints that some of those guys, particularly (Jones) and Langston,” said Martelli. “I’m really conscious of getting them out in the first half, and should have done a better job of that.”

Saint Joseph’s doesn’t have a senior on the roster, while bringing back much of last season’s team. While that team struggled for a while, they were clearly better than the young group from a year earlier, and the freshman class from that team is largely gone now. With only three juniors on the roster, this is still a very young team, and players like Jones and Galloway need to be leaders as juniors.

The Hawks came out of Saturday’s game with some good things, much like the non-conference slate. They had a very good stretch offensively into the second half, and at times their frontcourt gave Kyle Casey fits in the first half before he took the game over in the second. C.J. Aiken is another Hawk who played well early but wasn’t a big factor in the second half, and they need him to be a better rebounder to go with his shot-blocking.

Likewise, the Hawks showed a lot of reason for optimism over the first couple of months. They have wins over CAA favorite Drexel, Creighton and Villlanova. The only remotely questionable loss came at American, as Seton Hall, MAAC contender Iona and Harvard are the teams to beat them. The loss at American isn’t unforgivable as the Eagles have had a respectable non-league showing. The Hawks have had a favorable draw in the sense of having seven home games, and they are 7-0 at home, but this team didn’t win a lot of those games the past two seasons. The wins have helped the confidence of this team, and the effect of that can’t be underestimated.

“Everybody on the team has a confidence and a swagger about themselves,” said Jones. “We all know how good we can be, we’ve just got to keep working to get better each and every day.”

Saint Joseph’s might have an outside shot at an NCAA Tournament bid if they have a good run through the Atlantic 10 that includes a couple of wins over the likes of Xavier, Saint Louis, Temple and Dayton. They play the Musketeers only once, in Cincinnati, so that will be easier said than done, but they get two cracks at Temple and have the Billikens and Flyers only at home. The key stretch for this team may come in the middle of the month, when they play three straight on the road at UMass, Xavier and Penn.

Thus far, the Hawks have shown good progress. They could be better, and they know it, but they’re not in a bad place and Martelli is looking forward to what is ahead.

“We’re getting on the bus 10-4 because that’s what we earned, to be 10-4 over the first six weeks,” said Martelli. “Now let’s see what the next six weeks bring.”

Already, about half of Division I conferences have played at least one conference game. The Summit League’s South Dakota State sits at 3-0, giving the Jackrabbits the most conference wins of any team in the country. There’s a random fact for you.

In many ways, it feels like the season starts anew when conference play begins in earnest when the calendar turns to a new year. Yes, there are plenty of fantastic nonconference games throughout the season, and some of the best rivalries involve teams from different conferences, such as this weekend’s bout featuring Louisville and Kentucky. However, no matter how intense those rivalries might be, the stakes just aren’t as high when the winner doesn’t gain ground in the win-loss column of its conference standings.

I like to view the nonconference schedule as a time for growth. Teams get two months to adjust to new arrivals — on the roster or coaching staff — while playing only a few games conference games. That gives the coaching staff a chance to settle on an effective rotation and integrate any late additions because of transfer rules or early season suspensions.

In addition to growth as a team, the nonconference slate gives teams a chance to build their résumé for the NCAA Tournament. For the vast majority of D-1 programs, the only route to an NCAA Tournament is the automatic bid awarded with a conference tournament championship. However, for a bunch of teams, November and December help set expectations for conference play. Just look at Indiana, which entered the season unranked. The Hoosiers beat up some overwhelmed competition, which wouldn’t do Indiana any good in the eyes of the selection committee members come March. Then the Hoosiers went out and beat Kentucky. That’s a massive win that will help solidify Indiana’s NCAA Tournament status, even if the Hoosiers scuffle a bit in Big Ten play, finishing with only a .500 Big Ten record.

On the other hand, teams like Vanderbilt enter conference play knowing they have some work to do. The Commodores started the season as a top 10 team, but they have dropped games to Cleveland State, Xavier, Louisville and Indiana State. A couple of those losses are surprising while a couple are missed opportunities. Right now, the Commodores’ best wins are against Oregon, Oregon State and North Carolina State. None of those teams is a lock for the NCAA Tournament. So Vanderbilt must make hay in the SEC, especially against Florida, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi State. The Commodores get those teams six times, and Vanderbilt probably needs to win at least three — preferably one on the road — to feel secure about an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

And that just spices up already-compelling conference slugfests.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

We’ll have at least two undefeated teams heading into 2012, as Baylor and Syracuse don’t play again in 2011 after winning last night. And that’s more than previously unbeaten Indiana and Louisville can say after dropping their first game of the season last night. Missouri plays Old Dominion Friday, and fellow unbeaten Murray State will also be in action Friday, against Eastern Illinois.

Connecticut might not be undefeated, but the Huskies are 1-0 without Jim Calhoun on the sidelines this season, CBS Sports.com reports. The Huskies beat South Florida last night, the first game of Calhoun’s three-game suspension, which is his punishment from a recruiting scandal in which he was cited for creating an atmosphere of compliance in Storrs.

Rhode Island is 1-11 this season, and that’s with senior guard Jamal Wilson in the lineup for 11 of those games. Life won’t be any easier for coach Jim Baron after he suspended the team’s leading scorer for breaking team rules, according to an Associated Press report. Wilson is averaging 17.5 ppg for the struggling Rams.

One of the complaints about conference expansion/realignment/destruction is the loss of rivalries that get the fans going. The Big Ten and Pac-12 are looking to avoid those situations via a strategic partnership that will allow the conferences to schedule multiple games between its members to encourage compelling match ups, which could include rivalry games, according to an ESPN.com report.

Maryland had to wait 10 games to get Ukrainian big man Alex Len on the court, writes Eamonn Brennan for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. However, he could become a critical player quickly, as evidenced by his 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in his first game Wednesday against Albany.

In case you missed the big news of yesterday, Louisville coach Rick Pitino announced that he intends to call it a career when his contract expires in 2017, according to the Associated Press. At 59, Pitino is already looking ahead to the end of his coaching run, which includes trips to the Final Four with three different teams (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville).

“It’s not easy. It’s challenging right now,” said a subdued head coach Jim Baron after the loss.

Granted, the Rams started three freshmen and a transfer on Friday night. But this team doesn’t look much like the Runnin’ Rams of recent years, as even though they had their moments running they instead got run out of the Ryan Center by the Friars, who won there for the first time. While there is potential with some of the young players, it’s going to take time to get there and it’s hard to see this group being the leaders of a team that is as good as the Ram teams of two and three years ago.

Compounding that problem for this year’s team is leadership. The past few years, the leadership on the team has been tremendous, from Jimmy Baron and Kaheim Seawright to Keith Cothran and Lamonte Ulmer and then Delroy James and other classmates last year. This year’s senior leaders don’t appear to be of the same caliber. Orion Outerbridge is a nice player and nice young man, but doesn’t strike one as the leader type, and Jamal Wilson didn’t seem like that, either, before getting kicked off the team due to an unspecified violation of team rules.

While Wilson didn’t seem like the best leader, he was their leading scorer. He averaged over 16 points and five rebounds per game, and that production won’t be easily replaced. But at this point, it might be better that it opens up an opportunity for someone else to have an expanded role and perhaps earlier than one might have originally projected. Plenty of players could benefit, especially if Baron goes with small or big lineups at different times.

And at this point, it’s hard to imagine things getting much worse. This is a team that looks like they may have hit rock bottom.

“Guys are down, obviously,” said Outerbridge. “We’re down after every loss.”

Mike Powell and Jonathan Holton have shown potential among the freshmen, while guys like Dominique McKoy and T.J. Buchanan have to grow up faster if this team is to win more games. Nikola Malesevic will be out for some time with a broken hand, so that opens up more minutes and is also another hit to the team’s offense. The opportunity is clearly there for the young players.

The second half has been an Achilles heel for this team. The Rams have been outscored by 77 points in the second half on the season, an average of more than six per game. On three occasions, they have led at the half but lost. The loss against Providence showcased this problem, as the Friars started turning misses and turnovers into easy baskets at the other end in the second half, doing to the Rams what the Rams want to do to opponents.

Rhode Island has now lost eight straight, their longest losing streak since the 2004-05 season. Baron and his players seem subdued, and that’s not surprising considering that losing is tough on everyone.

“We’re trying hard not to let it affect the guys,” said Outerbridge. “1-11, that’s terrible. Some of these guys haven’t lost 12 games in their whole high school career. A lot of guys don’t know how to deal with it, but it’s just something we’re going to have to get through. It’s the reality. All we can do is try to get better.”

The Rams will take that streak south to the UCF Holiday Classic, where they open with James Madison on Thursday and then play either host UCF or Stetson on Friday. The Rams know things can get worse than they are now, and they aren’t prepared to let that happen without putting up a fight.

“We can lose every other game from here on out. That’s nobody’s mentality,” said Outerbridge. “We go into every game thinking we’re going to win. Everybody’s hyped before the game. The way we act before the game, you would think it’s the NBA Finals. We go out there and play hard, we’re just having a hard time playing a full game.”

That’s especially true when a juicy story comes along that’s sure to rile up the masses, generating lots of readers and charged opinions. Those stories force editors and reporters to make critical decisions about the validity of sources and effort required to seek comment from an opposing side.

In the emerging brouhaha about the transfer of Todd O’Brien from Saint Joseph’s to UAB, we have an awful lot of information spewing from the O’Brien side and almost nothing from the Hawks’ side.

If you missed the background, Sports Illustrated’s website ran a lengthy column by O’Brien, who outlined his journey through college basketball, which has landed him at UAB as a graduated senior with one remaining year of eligibility. However, before O’Brien can play for the Blazers, Saint Joseph’s must grant him a full release from his scholarship. And supposedly coach Phil Martelli refuses to do so. Without that release, O’Brien won’t play college hoops again.

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine a legitimate reason for not letting a guy play, especially for a team in a different conference and not on the Hawks’ schedule. But that’s not the point.

As the media outcry has sided with O’Brien — who is seeking legal recourse to force his way onto the court — only a handful of commentators have taken a measured approach to this story. So I tip my hat to CBS Sports’ Gregg Doyel, a man with plenty of strong opinions, for leaping into the fray waiving a gigantic caution flag.

While everyone is crying foul, Doyel cried, “Wait!” He rightfully observed that Saint Joseph’s is remaining mum because they are respecting student-athletes’ privacy. The bottom line is we don’t know the Saint Joseph’s side of the story, and we might not for some time. So it’s presumptuous at best and flat-out wrong at worst to side with the supposed victim in this story.

Of course, it’s far less engaging to remain on the fence when others are going all in and calling for Martelli’s ouster. That bloodlust is unhealthy and not reflective of this country’s innocent-until-PROVEN-guilty judicial system. If mob rule dictated justice, we’d have a lot of major mistakes to apologize for whenever we learned the truth — if we ever learned the truth.

A good journalist’s duty is to present clear, accurate and precise information. Commentators who espouse opinions based on incomplete information aren’t doing anyone any good. As unsexy as it may be, we all need to follow Doyel’s lead and wait and see. Let the established rules play out in the NCAA, and if the courts get involved, let the state and local laws as interpreted by the courts decide the matter.

But there’s no need to call for Martelli’s head on a platter until there’s substantiated evidence that he acted like a callous, vindictive control freak.

We go coast to coast with news from around the college basketball nation.

Kentucky had no problems getting past Samford, 82-50, even without Terrence Jones, who missed the game to recuperate from a dislocated pinky, writes the Associated Press’ Colin Fly.

California will be without one its big men this week as sophomore Richard Solomon recovers from a left foot injury, writes Diamond Leung for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. The sophomore forward is one of the team’s best rebounders, averaging 6.9 rpg, and he’ll miss at least the team’s games against UNLV Dec. 23.

Miami will get back DeQuan Jones, who figured to play a bigger role for the Hurricanes this season — if for no other reason than he’s one of the bigger players on the teams. Jones missed the first month and a half of the season because the school suspended him for the season while the NCAA investigated his possible involvement in the recruiting scandal that has rocked the university. However, according to an Associated Press report, the Hurricanes have reversed that decision, and Jones could be back in the lineup as early as this week.

Some tech-savvy pranksters punked Oregon’s website Sunday night and Monday morning, writes the Washington Post’s Steve Yanda, and the hackers posted some disparaging comments about Virginia that were attributed to Oregon coach Dana Altman. The Ducks lost to the Cavaliers 67-54, and the hacker made up comments ranging from Mike Scott’s hair to the Ducks’ pregame meal. Oregon apologized to the Cavaliers for the malfeasance.

New Mexico State is bringing suspended guard Christian Kabongo back into the fold after the sophomore had been suspended for two games for making obscene gestures in a game against UTEP, writes ESPN.com’s Diamond Leung for the “College Basketball Nation” blog.

NCAA Division I programs couldn’t get enough support to overturn a rule that bans universities from hosting high school prep tournaments, according to an Associated Press report.

Houston boosters might have lost as much as 40 percent of their investments in the David Salinas Ponzi scheme affair, according to the Associated Press. Salinas committed suicide last year, a few weeks before the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit that detailed the deceptive investments and behavior that swindled a bunch of Division I programs and coaches.

The NCAA is entering new levels of ridiculous mismanagement. The Associated Press reports that the NCAA might reconsider giving new scholarship student-athletes a $2,000 stipend, though it would have to allow players who have already signed letters of intent to receive the extra cash while banning those who sign later.

Ohio State superstar Jared Sullinger is still hurting from recurring back spasms, and coach Thad Matta didn’t want to say when Sullinger will be back in the lineup for the Buckeyes, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. But Sullinger answered that question Wednesday night when the Buckeyes beat down USC Upstate 82-58 and Sullinger played 24 minutes and got 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Nobody will face criminal charges in the Xavier/Cincinnati brawl, the Associated Press reports. Joe Deters, a Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor, looked into the matter, deciding not to pursue charges against anyone. One of the factors was Xavier center Kenny Frease’s satisfaction with an apology from Cincinnati’s Yancy Gates, who decked Frease in the head during the debacle.

Seton Hall will gain some more depth this weekend with the return of freshman Brandon Mobley, who had been out with a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum since the summer, according to the Associated Press.

Don’t skip your court appearances. Nothing good can happen. Just ask Kansas’ Ben McLemore. The freshman is under arrest after skipping a Dec. 6 court appearance for a citation related to underage alcohol possession, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

Also on the list of bad behavior is taunting fans by grabbing your crotch. New Mexico State sophomore Christian Kabongo did that, and now he’s suspended, writes Diamond Leung for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.

Syracuse still has Melo — Fab Melo that is. If you thought I was talking about Carmelo Anthony, well, I kinda was. The NBA star who led the Cuse to a championship is convinced that Melo 2.0 and the rest of the crew have the talent to win another championship for the first time since 2003.

I’m not gonna lie — I love the fan experience. And if you tell me that a team in California’s tradition is to throw tortillas when a victory is in hand, I find it amusing. I mean, a flying tortilla — presumably uncooked soft tortilla — won’t hurt anyone. Except when your team is only up two and the officials consider giving the home crowd a technical. Yep, that’s how UC-Santa Barbara’s 65-61 win against San Diego went down, writes Diamond Leung for ESPN.com. When the fans started tossing tortillas, the officials considered tossing out a T. They opted to go with a public announcement that any more thrown items would produce two free throws for the Toreros. The fans settled down, and the Gauchos won.

Saturday:

• Kentucky at Indiana
• Ohio State at Kansas
• Long Beach State at North Carolina
• Washington vs. Duke at Madison Square Garden
• Cincinnati at Xavier
• Oklahoma State vs. Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden
• UNLV at Wisconsin
• Creighton at Saint Joseph’s
• Michigan State at Gonzaga
• Akron at Cleveland State
• Milwaukee at Northern Iowa
• Clemson at Arizona
• Villanova at Temple
• Miami at West Virginia

Sunday:

• Murray State at Memphis
• Iona at Marshall
• Norfolk State at Virginia Tech

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

• Before we even get to the games today, there’s intrigue building in Cincinnati with the Bearcats’ Sean Kilpatrick calling out Xavier’s Tu Holloway, writes Myron Medcalf for ESPN’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. Kipatrck told a radio host that Holloway isn’t good enough to start for the Bearcats, which seems laughable considering Holloway is averaging 17.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 4.7 apg for one of the top teams in the country. But there you have it. That should make the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout extra spicy today.
• Northern Arizona is in the market for a new coach already after Mike Adras resigned unexpectedly Dec. 9, according to the Associated Press. The Lumberjacks are off to a rough start at 2-7, with no Division I wins yet. However, in his previous nine seasons as Northern Arizona’s coach, Adras had only two losing seasons for a 133-131 record at the school.
• Marquette will play without one of its biggest defensive presences after center Chris Otule injured his left ACL in the Golden Eagles’ win against Washington Dec. 8, according to Fox Sports’ Andrew Wagner. Otule has been averaging 5.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 1.6 blocks in just less than 18 minutes per game.
• Arizona State won’t get its top recruit this season after the NCAA Eligibility Center ruled Jahii Carson academically ineligible for 2011-12, according to an Associated Press report.
• You also won’t see Washington’s Scott Suggs this season. The senior guard broke his foot in October and had hoped to be ready to go by late December, but coach Lorenzo Romar announced that Suggs will redshirt this season, according to the Associated Press.
• Staying in the Pac-12, UCLA has dismissed embattled junior forward Reeves Nelson, according to the Associated Press. Coach Ben Howland had already suspended Nelson twice this season for conduct detrimental to the team before making the decisions to kick him off the team.
• The last thing we want to report is more molestation charges, but here we go again. ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reported that two former basketball players are accusing Amateur Athletic Union president Robert “Bobby” Dodd of molesting them more than 20 years ago. The AAU gets plenty of criticism already, but nothing of this caliber. The AAU said that Dodd has colon cancer and will not be returning to his post, according to a CBS Sports report.