As is usually the case in recent years, this game has significant importance in the standings, with both teams jockeying with Florida State for the top spot in the ACC. North Carolina enters the game at 7-1 in conference action, while Duke slipped to 6-2 after losing to Miami. Duke can ill-afford another loss, especially because the Seminoles and Tar Heels will not meet again this regular season.

Besides the usual hostility generated by one of the most intense rivalries in the game, the 233rd match up between these teams — UNC leads the all-time series 131-101 — is critical for both teams. Duke is facing more than its fair share of critics after a lackluster performance against the Hurricanes. Meanwhile, North Carolina needs to prove it can beat an elite team, sometime the Heels haven’t done in a few months.

For the Blue Devils, coach Mike Krzyzewski will be looking for renewed passion from his team after calling them out for lacking the energy to compete with the Hurricanes in the overtime loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Expect his team to rally around his battle cry, especially on the road surrounded by the Enemy in Powder Blue. To win, Duke will need to play smart defense, something the Blue Devils haven’t done consistently this season.

On the other hand, North Carolina seems to be on the rise, especially after a gutsy win in College Park last weekend in which Maryland tried to beat up the Tar Heels. Unlike the game in Tallahassee in which Florida State annihilated UNC, the Tar Heels responded after getting hit in the mouth and clamped down in the second half to erase a nine-point deficit to win by nine. However, the Tar Heels haven’t beaten a team guaranteed to be in the NCAA Tournament since they knocked off Wisconsin in Chapel Hill Nov. 30. North Carolina needs a win at home against the team’s arch rival to validate the argument that this team should be in the conversation for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

That adds a lot of pressure to both teams, and that might favor North Carolina. The Tar Heels have a roster full of players who have been through this rivalry at least three times after last season. Duke has struggled with leadership on the court, and the Blue Devils must get someone to step up or else things could ugly for Duke pretty quickly.

Let the battle begin.

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

Louisville coach Rick Pitino got his wish with Memphis, as the Tigers will be joining the Big East starting in 2013-14, according an ESPN.com news services report. Pitino had lobbied for the Conference USA’s Tigers to join the Big East to help replace the power that will be departing with West Virginia, Syracuse and Pittsburgh in coming years.

Florida coach Billy Donovan tried to preach that Kentucky faced all the pressure entering the Gators/Wildcats clash Tuesday night, with the home team trying to extend a 15-game winning streak and 48-game undefeated streak at Rupp Arena, according to the Associated Press. That psyche-out didn’t seem to work as the Wildcats clobbered Florida 78-58.

If Connecticut can rally around the toughness of coach Jim Calhoun, the Huskies won’t be out of the picture despite a bleak couple of weeks, including a horrid loss Monday night at Louisville. Calhoun told ESPN’s Andy Katz that he doesn’t plan to let spinal stenosis to force him into retirement, and the coach could return to the sidelines sometime this season if the pain in his legs and back subsides.

There’s also health concerns for another coach: College of Charleston’s Bobby Cremins. The 64-year-old Cougar coach took a leave of absence Jan. 27, and he told people that he’s just taking a break to recuperate from a lack of energy, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

Alabama’s tournament chances could be in some jeopardy after the team indefinitely suspended junior Tony Mitchell for misconduct, writes TideNation’s Alex Scarborough. The junior forward averages 13.1 ppg and 7.0 rpg in more than 30 minutes per game for the Crimson Tide.

Enter the 2011-12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame lost a great deal from last season’s team that entered the month of March playing about as well as any team in the country. Gone from that team are Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough and important role players Tyrone Nash and Carleton Scott, the latter a big defensive leader for that team and a surprise early defection. Already, projections for this team were going to be that they were unlikely to contend for the top of the Big East. When they went 0-2 in Kansas City, including an 87-58 thrashing at the hands of Missouri, it looked like they would be who many thought they would be.

That wasn’t all. The Fighting Irish were not certain to have Tim Abromaitis back, as he played in two exhibition games in the 2008-09 season where he redshirted. But the NCAA granted him this year, so that helped as he was an experienced player and was second on the team in scoring last season. Then in late November, he tore the ACL in his right knee in practice, putting him out for the season.

At that point, the outlook was decidedly not good. But no one told head coach Mike Brey and his team that, and after Saturday’s convincing 76-59 win over Marquette, the Fighting Irish are alone in fourth place in the Big East.

“From the start of the season, no one thought we would be here,” said sophomore point guard Eric Atkins.

Notre Dame hasn’t compiled its record by beating up on the bottom feeders of the conference. Along the way, they have knocked off Louisville, Seton Hall and Connecticut on the road, and now Syracuse and Marquette at home.

“I am very proud of my group,” said Brey, who at this point looks like the runaway Coach of the Year in the Big East, if not nationally. “I told them in one of the final media timeouts that I felt like I was coaching men today. Last year’s team was men. That had a look of more than one fifth year senior on the court. I am thrilled where we are.”

Notre Dame can only get better given that this is a young team with a lot of players who are just finding themselves. Scott Martin is the only other senior besides Abromaitis on the team, while the emerging perimeter unit of Atkins, Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton are sophomore, sophomore and freshman respectively. Connaughton wasn’t expected to play much, but he scored 21 points on Saturday and now starts on the hardwood as well as the mound (the San Diego Padres drafted him last year).

“Right now, we’re really confident that we can beat any team – we can play with any team,” said Grant. “Our team confidence is really high right now, and I’d like to keep it that way because we are playing really well.”

That’s one thing no one can doubt at this point. The Irish have proven that to this point, and as a more confident team they will be even tougher to beat.

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

Arizona had a big weekend, sweeping their trip to northern California after a 56-43 win at Stanford on Saturday. The Wildcats may be starting to come alive at a good time.

Syracuse got Fab Melo back for Saturday’s game, and they rolled to a 95-70 blowout win at St. John’s. The win was the 879^th in Jim Boeheim’s career, tying him with Dean Smith for third on the all-time list.

Seton Hall’s struggles continued as Connecticut annihilated them 69-46 in Hartford.

Kentucky had an easy time at South Carolina, committing just three turnovers in their blowout win.

The Big 12 gets a little more interesting at Missouri rallied to knock off Kansas in a big rivalry showdown. Both teams are now 8-2 in conference play.

Who’s on top of the ACC? No, not Duke, although the Blue Devils will be tied if they beat Miami on Sunday. North Carolina is in a tie after a big 83-74 win at Maryland to move into a tie for that spot. The team they are tied with is Florida State, as the Seminoles are 7-1 after a 58-55 win over Virginia.

Temple is now alone in first place in the Atlantic 10 after a 73-56 win at Rhode Island, combined with Saint Joseph’s knocking off La Salle earlier in the day. Temple’s perimeter trio continues to be the driving force for this team.

Wyoming knocked off road-weary UNLV in a close one after the Runnin’ Rebels ran into snow-related travel delays en route to Laramie.

Northern Iowa beat Creighton on a buzzer-beater, right after Creighton had tied it on a big shot.

Iona won a big showdown against Manhattan for the lead in the MAAC.

George Mason grabbed a share of the lead in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 54-50 win over Old Dominion in a first-place showdown. The Patriots are joined by VCU, 59-56 winners over Northeastern, and Drexel, 65-57 winners at Towson, at 11-2 in the conference.

Mississippi Valley State is now 10-0 in the SWAC and two games ahead in the standings, after knocking off Alabama State.

Sunday’s key matchups:

• Michigan at Michigan State
• Miami at Duke
• Northwestern at Illinois
• Stephen F. Austin at McNeese State
• The biggest one of all: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI

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.

Kentucky probably has the most talent of any team in the country, but the Wildcats’ youth hasn’t been hard to see. Their freshmen have had their share of growing pains, from Marquis Teague’s early struggles taking care of the ball to Anthony Davis learning how physical the college game can be. It’s for exactly that reason that senior Darius Miller has never been more valuable than much of the early going this time around.

North Carolina is right up there with the Wildcats, but this is an older and more mature team. Whereas the Wildcats start three freshmen, the Tar Heels only played two freshmen yesterday and both came off the bench. But they start a senior, two juniors and two sophomores, and on the whole this is a team quite a ways from its ceiling just like Kentucky.

In the first half, North Carolina led by as many as nine and was the better team. They were hot from long range, going 6-9 from behind the arc in the opening frame. But Kentucky scored seven in a row at the end of the first and start of the second half, momentarily grabbing the lead and then staying right with the Tar Heels until they took the lead for good on a Davis jumper with less than eight minutes to play.

The Tar Heels had one more chance after Teague missed the front end of a one-and-one with 21 seconds left. They got the ball to John Henson, known more for his shot-blocking than scoring, and in a length-versus-length matchup, Davis got a hand on his short jumper and the Wildcats were able to run out the final seconds for a 73-72 victory.

It’s a game that many would love to see a rematch of, and considering that both teams are a ways from their respective ceilings, no one would be surprised if it materialized in the month of March.

While that was the best matchup of the day, there were a few other teams, conferences and player of note.

Marquette

Winning at the Kohl Center is hard for visiting teams to do, but Marquette pulled it off on Saturday and did so without their starting point guard. Before the game, the Golden Eagles announced that Junior Cadougan was suspended for the game due to a violation of team rules. Wisconsin has lost two straight, but neither is a bad loss as they lost to North Carolina earlier in the week. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are 7-0 with a blowout win over Ole Miss and Saturday’s win at Wisconsin.

Xavier

Xavier is becoming quite the second-half team. On Monday, they trailed by ten in the second half before rallying to beat Vanderbilt in overtime in Nashville. But yesterday they did themselves one better, as they trailed Purdue by 11 at the half and 19 in the second half before coming back to edge the Boilermakers 66-63. In the last 10:44, Xavier outscored Purdue 30-8.

Illinois

It seems like Bruce Weber has been on the hot seat forever in Champaign, but let’s acknowledge not only the job he has done thus far but especially what he is doing this season. After an 82-75 win over Gonzaga on Saturday, the Illini are 8-0 with wins over Richmond and at Maryland as well. Neither of those two is a big NCAA Tournament resume win, but they are worth noting because the Illini haven’t beaten up on a slew of terrible teams and could be 12-0 when they take on Missouri on Dec. 22, though they will have to get by UNLV at home before then. Saturday was the first time all season Gonzaga did not have at least four players score in double figures.

Brigham Young

No Jimmer, no problem for Brigham Young. After Saturday’s 79-65 win over Oregon in Salt Lake City, BYU is 6-2 with a win over Nevada included and the only losses being at Utah State and against Wisconsin. Granted, this isn’t the Oregon team we all thought we would see before the season with the departures of Jabari Brown and Bruce Barron, but the Ducks aren’t pushovers.

Head-scratching in the CAA

A number of conferences have their opening games this weekend before teams resume non-conference play for a little while longer. Perhaps none has had results that might leave one scratching their head as much as the Colonial Athletic Association, where three teams won on the road and preseason favorite Drexel lost to Delaware by 11 (albeit on the road). The Dragons have had a rough go of it thus far, but Chris Fouch is back so they’re closer to having their full team together. Still, Fouch was 0-9 yesterday and the Blue Hens won the battle on the glass by a 40-32 margin over a Drexel team that routinely beats up opponents on the boards.

The one other score that jumps out is Georgia State thumping William & Mary 66-34 in Atlanta. The Tribe didn’t look to be far from being a good team last season, but they’re struggling mightily out of the gates and Saturday may be the low point thus far.

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

• Ohio State didn’t miss a beat despite Jared Sullinger being out with back spasms.
• College of Charleston lost a wealth of talent and experience from last season’s team, but the Cougars are 7-1 overall and are one of four teams that went 2-0 in early Southern Conference games this weekend. Chattanooga, who the Cougars beat last night and was picked to win the North Division, is 0-2.
• Connecticut got a big lift from Ryan Boatright with 23 points and six assists in his home debut.
• UCLA is now 2-5 after a home loss to Texas that saw them blow an 11-point lead.

Some of Sunday’s Key Matchups

Sunday is a day full of interesting matchups of teams that we’re trying to find out something about. None of these are like North Carolina-Kentucky, but they will be worth keeping an eye on.

• Baylor at Northwestern
• UNLV at Wichita State
• California at San Diego State
• Dayton at Murray State
• North Carolina State at Stanford
• Notre Dame at Maryland
• VCU vs. George Washington (BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center)
• Kansas State at Virginia Tech

The growing pains of the Wildcats were all there for people to see on Sunday. Point guard Marquis Teague struggled with turnovers once again, as he’s had more of those than assists in all but one game in his young college career after handing out two assists and giving it away six times on Sunday. Their big men didn’t respond well to the physicality of the game, especially Anthony Davis, who had his moments early on but fouled out in just 20 minutes.

As may happen often this season, Darius Miller was a key because he was the steady senior. He’s not as talented as the freshmen, but he’s experienced and knows the game, and more importantly knows his role. Miller scored 13 points and had five assists, which aren’t numbers that will leap out at you from the stat sheet – but that’s not what he has to do.

“We are what we are,” head coach John Calipari said. “We’re a young team, we’re still learning, and we got out of here alive somehow, and the reason we got out alive is because Darius played. If he didn’t play, we’d probably get beat by 10 or 12 easily in my opinion.”

Old Dominion doesn’t have the size or length that they had a year ago. If they did, this game would have been even more interesting than it already was, especially since that Monarch team led the nation in rebounding margin while the Wildcats won the battle on the boards by 10 on Sunday. But the Monarchs stayed within striking distance of Kentucky and were within a point when the Wildcats scored ten unanswered points to seal the game late.

Davis nearly had a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds to go with three blocked shots despite the foul trouble. That shows what he will be capable of as he matures and gets used to the physicality of the college game, especially since more teams are likely to play them the way Old Dominion did, something Calipari noted.

Besides that, the 21 turnovers the Wildcats had bothered Calipari, and understandably so. It wasn’t just Teague who gave the ball away, but when your point guard is leading the way in that category it’s not a good beginning. That’s probably the most concerning item in the stat sheet, and Calipari sees how inexperience played into it.

“We had 21 turnovers – I told them after the game, we will not win in the SEC with 21 turnovers,” said Calipari. “It’s based on the fact that guys are trying to make the hardest plays they can make.”

The potential of this team is easy to see because of the talent. It was seen a day earlier when the Wildcats humbled Penn State, and a few days earlier they showed growing pains but also how good they can be in beating Kansas going away at the Champions Classic. As the season goes along, it will be seen more just from the Wildcats playing more. However, that won’t translate into the team being as good as many projected if they play like freshmen more often than not.

“We’re a good team, but we have a long way to go, and if we want to be special, guys have got to start making incremental steps in how they’re playing,” Calipari said. “They can’t go from game to game and do the same things.”

Talent can cover up a lot of things, but not everything. It can also make it easy to forget a team’s youth. Right now, Kentucky is winning, so it can be easy to forget that this is a young team. The potential is obvious, but if they play too often like a young team, others will have a chance to beat them.

No one really keeps track of which conferences go the longest without a loss, but hoops pundits love to banter about which conference is tops in the game. The ACC hasn’t been part of that conversation for a few years now, despite claiming two of the past three champions and a contender or two for this year’s title.

As of this week, the ACC has North Carolina, Duke and Florida State in the top 25. No other team even received a vote from the pollsters. As Rodney Dangerfield often lamented, this conference doesn’t get any respect these days, with everyone focusing on Tobacco Road and ignoring most of the rest of the conference. That would be a mistake this season.

Already, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Virginia have flashed plenty of promise. They’ll need to bring down some of the big boys from conferences like the Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten before they rise into the public spotlight. That’s probably going to start happening in the next couple of weeks as the early season tournaments gain steam and more power conference squads go head to head.

When it’s all said and done this season, don’t be surprised if at least five different ACC teams spend some quality time in the top 25, and the conference once again joins the discussion as tops in the land.

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

• New Providence coach Ed Cooley and the Friars returned to his former employers at Fairfield Monday, and Providence escaped with a hard-fought 80-72 win, according to a CBS Sports.com report. The Friars’ head honcho had plenty of reason to feel emotionally torn after enjoying success in the MAAC in his first coaching gig and building strong relationships with players such as Rakim Sanders, writes Matt Norlander.
• UCLA suspended Reeves Nelson for bad behavior after the junior forward blew off a practice Monday and looked selfishly frustrated in the Bruins’ opening loss to Loyola Marymount, writes Peter Yoon for ESPN Los Angeles. The Bruins dropped their second consecutive game Tuesday when Middle Tennessee State handled the Nelson-less squad.
• After an 0-2 start, UCLA fans must be yearning for the golden age led by the legendary John Wooden. Those days are long gone, but Wooden — or at least a statue bearing his resemblance — will greet every player and fan entering the renovated Pauley Pavilion, Peter Yoon writes on ESPN.com.
• St. Bonaventure will play the rest of the season without forward Marquise Simmons, who tore his Achilles tendon against Cornell, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report. The junior provided solid depth for St. Bonaventure, averaging about four points and rebounds per game last season.
• If “best” refers to most talented, CBS Sports.com’s Jeff Goodman explains why Kentucky, not North Carolina, is the best team in the country this season.
• No sleep till Brooklyn! The Beastie Boys can lend that motto to Kentucky and Maryland next year when the Wildcats and Terrapins meet in the first-ever Barclays Center Classic, to be held at the new arena under construction in Brooklyn, N.Y., according to the Associated Press.

The highlight of today’s action will be the North Carolina vs. Michigan State match up, which — if you somehow haven’t heard yet — will be played on an aircraft carrier in San Diego. The move is a fantastic way to honor our military services on Veterans Day and kick off the season with two of the sport’s premier programs.

In addition to the top-ranked Tar Heels and Spartans, here’s a  list of other noteworthy games.

1. Marist at No. 2 Kentucky, one of the frontrunners for this year’s national championshipWright State at No. 3 Ohio State, which returns Jared Sullinger, possibly the best big man in the country
2. Columbia at defending national champs No. 4 Connecticut
3. Belmont at No. 6 Duke, which needs two wins for coach Mike Krzyzewski to match his mentor, Bob Knight, for most Division I wins in NCAA history
4. Oregon at No. 7 Vanderbilt, one of the only match ups between power conference teams
5. North Florida at No. 17 Alabama, a potential sleeper in the top-heavy SEC
6. Rhode Island at George Mason, a solid match up of mid-majors in Paul Hewitt’s first game as the Colonials’ coach
7. BYU at Utah State, the in-state battle continues to rage on, even without Jimmer-mania in effect in 2011-12
8. Army at Air Force, on Veterans Day, the two services look to claim a little bragging rights for superiority on the hardwood
9. Citadel at VMI, another military-centric match up worth highlighting

Kentucky’s Terrence Jones and Stacey Poole were in a car accident at 2:30 a.m. last night when a driver crossed into their lane on the road and hit the car they were in, according to Sports Illustrated.com. Everyone was fine, and the driver of the vehicle that hit Poole and Jones has been charged with driving under the influence.

The bad luck continues for Jim Larranaga in Coral Gables. Miami’s new coach will be without DeQuan Jones for the entire season as the NCAA investigates allegations that Jones received $10,000 from a booster while he was a recruit, according to a report at Rivals.com. Jones figured to play a bigger role for the Hurricanes this season, especially with Reggie Johnson and Julian Gamble injured.

Go coast to coast with a round up of the nation’s top stories.

1. Although Phil Jackson seems pretty convinced that there won’t be a next season for the NBA next season, several college players are gambling that they’ll still be making NBA money within a few months. Here are a few of the players who announced during the past few days that they’ll be entering the NBA Draft.

• Arizona’s Derrick Williams, with agent
• Butler’s Shelvin Mack, no agent
• Connecticut’s Kemba Walker, with agent
• Florida State’s Chris Singleton, with agent
• Kansas’ Josh Selby, with agent
• San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, with agent
• UCLA’s Malcolm Lee, with agent

2. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz breaks down the NCAA Legislative Committee’s proposal to move up the deadline for declaring for the draft. If the Board of Directors approves the measure, players will need to decide by April 10 whether they intend to declare for the draft — and they can’t turn back. It essentially ends the test-the-waters approach, which isn’t good for the kids, Katz writes.

3. One player who won’t be testing the waters this season is Baylor’s Perry Jones, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz writes. Somewhat surprisingly, Jones will return to the Bears, who had a disappointing season but will return a start-studded team, anchored by Jones.

4. Despite the uproar about the early entry deadline, that’s small change compared to the fiasco in San Diego. The Associated Press reported this week that the FBI is investigating former members of the Toreros program for running a sports betting business, and 10 people have been charged in the case, including the team’s all-time leading scorer, Brandon Johnson. In addition to Johnson, former player Brandon Dowdy is accused of fixing games.

5. Jorts-mania could be coming to a town near you. Kentucky’s Josh Harrellson will be launching a Jorts Tour — after his now-famous nickname — to sign autographs and hawk his clothing line, according to Diamond Leung of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.

6. As Nebraska prepares to move to the Big 10 next season, the Huskers have reworked coach Doc Sadler’s deal to pay him an extra $100,000 per year, making his salary $900,000 per year through 2015-16, according to a CBS Sports.com wire report.

7. One of Nebraska’s former Big 12 rivals, Iowa State, is dealing with some drama after police arrested freshman center Jordan Railey for punching a man late Wednesday night along a hot spot for Ames restaurants and bars, according to the Associated Press. Coach Fred Hoiberg has suspended Railey while gathering more information about the incident.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE

Man, what a rough week for news in the world of college basketball.

Several players landed in trouble with the law (Nebraska, Florida). An NBA-minded freshman skipped his team’s season-closing banquet to work out in Vegas (Kansas). And speaking of Sin City, the gambling bug apparently migrated south to San Diego, where the very integrity of the game is in question after the FBI unearthed a supposed sports business ring that included former Torero players who are accused of fixing games.

And just to pile on, the NCAA looks pretty selfish and uninterested in the welfare of student-athletes after moving forward with a proposal to give players until about a week after the championship game to decide whether they want to return to school or enter the NBA Draft. Needing only an affirmative vote by the NCAA’s Board of Directors to become official, the proposal applies tortured logic that benefits schools and coaches but not players. And the players already are limited because the NCAA won’t let them profit from their name or likeness in commercial products, such as video games. However, the NCAA is happy to take its cut from those sales.

That’s enough to get you pretty down about the game.

Thankfully, I watched the Harlem Globetrotters play tonight on ESPN. And that evaporated my creeping cynicism. The figure-eight weaves, between-the-legs passes and crowd-pleasing interludes don’t look like traditional basketball. All those fancy moves make for great entertainment, and everyone in the arena is having fun — even the tough-luck Generals.

Basketball is supposed to be fun. Yes, the game can be a means to a career — and a small fortune — for the most talented players. But for the 99 percent of players who don’t come within sniffing distance of an NBA pay check, the game needs to be fun. If it’s not, why play? The Globetrotters take fun to an extreme, but they embody the soul of the game.

Despite the spate of bad news, the game goes on. By November, optimism will be the mood du jour as nearly 350 Division I teams embark on the journey toward a 2012 championship. And with any luck, most of them will have plenty of fun along the way.

VCU had more than its fair share of adversity, some of which wasn’t expected. This is a team picked third in the Colonial Athletic Association before the season, with some picking them second. The non-conference slate went reasonably well, but had some missed opportunities. It included blowing a lead at UAB right before Christmas, then a couple of wins right before CAA play that left head coach Shaka Smart concerned about leadership – not exactly what one would expect of a senior-laden team. Joey Rodriguez remembered going home after the UAB game, namely that it felt like an even longer drive (he drove from Birmingham to his home in Florida) because it was a missed opportunity.

Then there was the month of February, which has been well-documented. The Rams had a fine month of January and led the CAA when it was over, including a big win at arch-rival and preseason favorite Old Dominion. But after February, this was a team that appeared to need to win the CAA Tournament if they were to reach the NCAA Tournament.

The rest, as they say, is history. But the Rams didn’t get here unscathed.

“We went through some adversity this year as most teams did,” said Smart. “We weren’t 35-2 coming into this game, but we’re playing our best basketball when it matters most, and that’s why I’m sitting up here right now with a net around my neck.”

The same is true of Butler. The Bulldogs also looked like a team that needed to win their conference tournament to make it to the NCAA Tournament, thanks largely to a couple of missed opportunities in non-conference play and a three-game losing streak that ended with a loss at Youngstown State and had them at 6-5 in league play. That was also the last time they lost.

The Bulldogs’ seed in the tournament doesn’t suggest they needed to win the Horizon League, but they did to make that moot. They had a better non-conference slate than VCU with a couple of good wins, but also looked quite unimpressive at times and their start in the Horizon didn’t help.

“Getting to this point isn’t easy and staying together isn’t easy when everything is going wrong,” said junior Ronald Nored. “And that was the thing that I think has gotten us to this point.”

Connecticut got off to a roaring start as Kemba Walker carried them early. But in Big East play, the Huskies came back down to earth, especially at the end of the regular season as they lost four of five. About a month earlier, they lost three of four. They finished 9-9 in Big East play, good for ninth place, which set the stage for their legendary run through the Big East Tournament.

The supporting cast for Walker at times looked to be emerging, and at other times it didn’t. But it’s definitely here now, with Jeremy Lamb growing up tremendously during the season and Shabazz Napier emerging, while Alex Oriakhi continues to improve inside. And with that and Walker on a roll that is the stuff of legends, the Huskies are in Houston.

Then there is Kentucky. The Wildcats faced adversity right away as Enes Kanter was declared ineligible by the NCAA. Kanter was widely believed to be a possible difference-maker for this team, and without him they looked a little less formidable. But they never had him, so it’s not as if they had to adjust to life without Kanter.

That wasn’t all. Once SEC play got going, the Wildcats had a hard time winning away from Rupp Arena. Their only road wins came at struggling South Carolina and at Tennessee, the latter on the last day of the regular season as the feast-or-famine Volunteers were limping into the conference tournament. Since then, the young Wildcats have grown up, winning seven more in a row away from home.

Even in some of the games each team won, there was some adversity. The phrase that a season is a marathon and not a sprint may be a cliché, but it is true. The teams that play through it the best are often the ones left standing.

None of the four teams playing in Houston made it here unscathed. As is often the case, sports has imitated life when it comes to the 2011 Final Four.

Kentucky 76, North Carolina 69

Possessions:

Kentucky 69

North Carolina 71

Offensive efficiency:

Kentucky 110

North Carolina 97

The Kentucky defense was a big story here. The Wildcats held North Carolina, as noted above, to an average defensive showing in the efficiency department. The tempo was more in line to the Tar Heels’ liking. Part of the reason was due to Kentucky getting out and running their own fast break to establish an early lead. John Calipari’s club did a great job limiting the Tar Heel finishes on the break, as Carolina scored only 12 points on fast break opportunities.

DeAndre Liggins drew a starting assignment for the Wildcats. The senior guard’s main task was containing UNC lead guard Kendall Marshall, especially in not allowing him to ignite the Tar Heel transition. Liggins did the job and on his own behalf hit a huge three that increased UK’s lead to four with just under a minute remaining. The Kentucky defense was also reflected in their holding the opposition to a 46 percent eFG percentage.

John Henson of North Carolina was limited to a 4-point, 9-rebound performance before fouling out. Henson played only 23 minutes. Coach Roy Williams missed Henson’s presence to grab offensive boards and block shots. A further point can be made that Henson’s absence allowed Kentucky to pay a little more attention to Tyler Zeller, who did lead UNC with 21 points, down low.

The semifinals:

North Carolina 81, Marquette 63

Possessions:

Marquette 73

North Carolina 69

Offensive efficiency:

Marquette 86

North Carolina 117

The first half was a “Murphy’s law” twenty minutes for Buzz Williams & Co. Marquette had an efficiency of .44. Worse, they had twice as many turnovers (12) as field goals (6) and no assists. The TO rate was an astounding 35 percent. A 19-0 Tar Heel run during the opening twenty minutes was instrumental in building a 40-15 lead at the break.

The second half saw the Big east representatives settle down. Their offense improved (52% ercent shooting) as did a defense that limited the Tar Heels to a 38 percent field goal percentage after intermission.

Tyler Zeller (27 points) and John Henson (14 points) did the damage inside for Carolina. Harrison Barnes with 20 was effective inside and out. Defensively, Dexter Strickland frustrated Marquette’s Darius Odom-Johnson 97 points) into a tough 2-of-9 shooting night.

Kentucky 62, Ohio State 60

Possessions:

Kentucky 59

Offensive efficiency:

Kentucky 105

Ohio State 100

The pace was right in line for both clubs. Kentucky was hurt on the boards as the Buckeyes had a 39-26 percent advantage in offensive rebounding percentage. That was offset by a defense that limited Ohio State to a 38 percent eFG mark. Known for forcing turnovers on defense, Ohio State could only disrupt the Wildcats into a 19 percent TO rate. That figure is better than the 20 percent cutoff and showed UK’s ability to care for the ball. Jared Sullinger led Ohio State with 21 points 16 rebounds 98 offensive). The freshman phenom was forced to work for everything by Josh Harrellson, a 17-point, 10-rebound performer in his own behalf.

It all came down once again to Brandon Knight. The UK freshman struggled (nine points on 3-of-10 shooting) but came up big late as he did in round one against Princeton. Knight hit a crucial three-pointer late in the game and nailed the eventual game-deciding shot with nine seconds to play.