The 49ers loaded up their nonconference slate with the likes of Kansas, North Carolina, San Diego State, Louisville and Xavier. The team struggled through many of those games, ending up with a 7-6 record heading into Big West play.

But don’t be fooled. The 49ers were more than competitive against the big boys, with single-digit losses on the road at San Diego State, Kansas and North Carolina. Plus, the 49ers beat Pittsburgh, Xavier and Auburn. None of those are particularly outstanding — the Xavier win came during the Musketeers’ tailspin following the brawl against Cincinnati. But in short, Dan Monson’s team learned how to win and how to believe in itself.

This team has taken that lesson and applied it well through the first seven games of Big West play. Long Beach State sits atop the conference standings with a 7-0 record, and only Cal Poly stayed within 10 points of the 49ers.

If Long Beach State can continue to plow through the Big West and claim an automatic to the NCAA Tournament, the 49ers should be a popular first-round upset pick. Their lack of hefty wins will prevent the team from earning a seed much higher than a No. 12 or 13 spot. But that just makes this team a sound pick to upset any No. 4 or 5 seed from a major conference on a neutral court.

The benefits of such a tough schedule might not show up in the win-loss columns immediately. But if Long Beach State goes 1-1 or 2-0 during the first weekend of March, that tournament success will be partially due to the team’s preparation early in the season.

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

Murray State will get back leading rebounder Ivan Aska, who grabs 6.0 rpg and scores 12.6 ppg, for the team’s game against Eastern Illinois Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Michigan could have big Jon Horford back for the Wolverines’ game against Purdue Tuesday, coach John Beilein told Wolverine Nation’s Chantel Jennings for ESPN.com. Horford has been out with a stress fracture since early December.

Arguably the most intense and spite-filled rivalry in the ACC, Maryland and Duke will clash for the first time this season Wednesday night in College Park. And the Terrapins will likely have freshman 7-footer Alex Len, even though he twisted his ankle during the Terps’ loss at Temple last weekend, according to the Washington Post’s Liz Clarke.

Of course, that’s no disrespect to the North Carolina vs. Duke rivalry. And this year, coach Roy Williams won’t have his best defender, Dexter Strickland, who tore his ACL in the team’s win against Virginia Tech Thursday, according ESPN.com’s Robbi Pickeral.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson is considering adding a hometown hero to the Razorbacks squad, according to the Associated Press. Former Oklahoma State guard Fred Gulley has enrolled at Arkansas and plans to play for Anderson as a walk-on or scholarship player. He was a star high school basketball player in Arkansas before leaving the state to play for the Cowboys.

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan railed against the rule that allows graduated players to transfer and play immediately during a news conference Monday, writes Benjamin Worgull for Badger Nation.com.

Friday:

• Creighton at Illinois State
• Cleveland State at Butler
• Missouri State at Northern Iowa
• Seton Hall at South Florida

Saturday:

• UNLV at San Diego State
• Alabama at Mississippi State
• New Mexico at Wyoming
• Kentucky at Tennessee
• North Carolina at Florida State
• Rutgers at West Virginia
• Texas at Missouri
• Colorado at Stanford
• St. Bonaventure at Xavier
• Connecticut at Notre Dame
• Kansas State at Oklahoma
• NC State at Wake Forest
• Oregon at Arizona
• Ohio at Akron
• UCF at Marshall
• La Salle at Dayton

Sunday:

• Indiana at Ohio State
• Cleveland State at Valparaiso
• Youngstown State at Butler
• Loyola (Md.) at Iona
• Georgia Tech at Maryland
• Washington State at Washington

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

In case you missed it earlier this week, Pitt kinda struggled against Rutgers. And by kinda, we mean the Panthers totally stunk. According to ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nationg” blog, the Panthers had their worst home performance in more than 60 years, scoring only 39 points in the 23-point embarrassment against the Scarlet Knights.

Texas Tech’s Terran Petteway will miss tomorrow’s game against Texas A&M because coach Billy Gillispie suspended Petteway for elbowing Kansas’ Connor Teahan, earning himself an ejection, according to an Associated Press report.

Chairs, beware. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said he has no regrets for slamming a chair on the court to motivate the Hawkeyes during a 28-point beatdown at Michigan State, according to an Associated Press report.

Fresh off a national championship in football, Alabama fans got to stick it to LSU once again Wednesday night when the Tigers came to Tuscaloosa. One of the more creative Bama fans brought a sign that mocked the Tigers football team’s struggle in getting past midfield in the BCS Championship Game, writes USA Today’s Nicol Auerbach. Check out the Tide fan’s cheeky taunts here.

Former Clemson guard Cory Stanton hopes he’s found a basketball home in Knoxville after walking on to the Volunteers, according to an Associated Press report. Stanton arrives at Tennessee via Lipscomb after playing one season at Clemson.

As mentioned in the latest TIQ stats for the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC, I’m taking a look at head-to-head comparisons from each conference. Here’s who’s on tap:

• ACC: North Carolina State’s Lorenzo Brown vs. North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes
• Pac-12: Washington’s Tony Wroten vs. Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham
• SEC: Florida’s Patric Young vs. Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins

North Carolina State’s Brown is off a phenomenal start to this season, putting up solid stats across the board for a TIQ of 36.1 points per 40 minutes. That’s especially impressive considering that Brown has played more than 80 percent of the team’s minutes this season. In other words, he’s consistently producing at a high level throughout an entire game — regardless of fatigue or opponent.

My props to Brown don’t mean to take away from North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, who is also having a strong season. He’s got a TIQ of 30.4 points per 40 minutes, which is well above the ACC average of 21.2 points per 40 minutes. However, he’s only fifth on his team in TIQ, largely because the Tar Heels have been on fire in recent weeks. That bodes well for North Carolina, which has plenty of talent, including P.J. Hairston and Reggie Bullock on the bench, that can step into the lineup and be productive in more ways than just making shots.

Florida’s Young is simply one of the most athletic players in the SEC and a dominant presence near the hoop. He’s not scoring tons of points per game (12.1 ppg), but he grabs about seven rebounds per game, including about three at the offensive end. Young also is a good passer, averaging 1.8 apg compared to 1.5 turnovers per game. In sum, Young is the total package for the Gators, with a TIQ of 32.0 points per 40 minutes.

In contrast to Young, Jenkins is a one-trick pony for Vanderbilt. One of the top scorers in the nation, Jenkins is averaging 20.5 ppg. If your defense loses track of Jenkins, he can put up points in a hurry. But despite playing more than 33 minutes per game, he only contributes 2.6 rpg, 1.0 apg and less than one steal or block per game. That’s good for 25.8 points per 40 minutes on the TIQ rating scale.

Although Jenkins is a solid shooter, the Commodores are a poor offensive rebounding team, so the volume of his attempts and misses hurts Jenkins more than Young’s misses counts against the Gator big man. Of course, it helps that Young shoots better than 62 percent from the field and the Gators grab 37 percent of their missed shots. Florida is likely to score points at some point during a possession more than 70 percent of the time when Young takes a shot.

Oregon State’s Cunningham is one of the Pac-12′s premier players and figured to have a strong season after making a gigantic leap between his freshman and sophomore seasons, increasing his scoring from 6.2 ppg to 14.2 ppg. He’s posting strong numbers thus far at 17.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 2.8 apg. And he’s an excellent defensive stopper, with nearly three steals per game. That gives Cunningham a TIQ of 27.7 points per 40 minutes — nothing to sneeze at.

However, he doesn’t match the overall production of Washington’s Wroten, who’s putting up 16.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg and 3.4 apg in five fewer minutes per game than Cunningham plays. Wroten remains under the national radar as a freshman phenom for the Huskies, but that could easily change with a few standout performances on national TV in conference play. His TIQ of 32.3 points per 40 minutes is fourth in the entire Pac-12 and tops on a team that features outstanding talent, such as Terrence Ross and Abdul Gaddy.

So the lesson is that it’s not all about points. Players who do all the other things that coaches ask — sometimes in substantially fewer minutes than what star players receive — end up becoming the most productive guys out there.

If all you do is look up the scoring averages of each player, you’ll come up with an oversimplified — and probably wrong — answer for each comparison. That’s the limitation of using scoring averages as a measure of a player’s productivity. And that’s where the Total Impact Quotient can reveal far more relevant information by estimating the total points that a player contributes on offense and defense. You can find out more details about the TIQ system if you’re interested.

Meanwhile, based on the TIQ, the answers are the opposite of what you might think: Brown bests Barnes, Young passes Jenkins, and Wroten makes his mark ahead of Cunningham. Read more about these players and find out why less frequent scorers can be clearly more productive on the court.

For now, let’s get to the stats. Here’s the average TIQ per 40 minutes for each of the three conferences.

ACC = 22.7 points
Pac 12 = 21.5 points
SEC = 22.9 points

In comparison to Dec. 4, the ACC has jumped up by 1.5 points, a noteworthy improvement. The Pac-12 remains nearly identical, while the SEC dipped by 0.6 points. That’s not terribly surprising, with the bottom teams in the SEC bringing down the cream of the crop, like Kentucky, Florida and Alabama.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 most productive players for each conference, ranked by TIQ per 40 minutes. Here are the conference averages.

These statistics are for games played through Sunday Jan. 1.

ACC

Pac-12

SEC

Here are some of the top players from each conference based on percent minutes played. Players who log at least 80 percent of the possible minutes are basically playing more than 30 minutes per game and remaining very productive throughout that playing time. We’re calling those Heavy Usage players. For guys who play 60 to 80 percent of the game, we’re calling them Major Contributors. And we’ll use the designation “In the Rotation” for players logging 40 to 60 percent of his team’s minutes.

In some cases, a player hasn’t logged a high percentage of his team’s possible minutes because of injury or suspension. That should change throughout the season if the player continues to put up big minutes.

ACC

Pac-12

SEC

And here’s the full TIQ player ratings for the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC. The TIQ listings are sorted by team and Real TIQ per Game.

ACC

Pac-12

SEC

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).

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.

That means we have a decent sample size to evaluate players by the Total Impact Quotient rating system. We broke out the first set of 2011-12 player ratings a couple of weeks ago, starting with the Bigs — the Big 12, Big East and Big Ten conferences. We’re going with the other power conferences in this edition: the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC.

If you’re new to the TIQ, please check out our full description about the player rating system. It takes into account a whole bunch of stats that players put up and boils them down into a single number. That number represents the points that a player contributes to offense — either by scoring directly or doing something that contributes to someone else scoring — plus the points that the player helps prevent on defense through actions such as steals, blocks and rebounds. The TIQ adjusts for teams’ tempo and applies D-I averages for info like offensive and defensive efficiency. In plain English, that means that it’s fair to use the TIQ to compare players from different teams even if they play vastly different styles.

The average TIQ for a player from these three conferences is 22.1 points. That should help give you a basis for comparison. Here’s the average TIQ for each of the three conferences.

ACC = 21.2 points
Pac-12 = 21.4 points
SEC = 23.6 points

Here are some of the top players from each conference based on percent minutes played. Players who log at least 80 percent of the possible minutes are basically playing more than 30 minutes per game and remaining very productive throughout that playing time. We’re calling those Heavy Usage players. For guys who play 60 to 80 percent of the game, we’re calling them Major Contributors. And we’ll use the designation “In the Rotation” for players logging 40 to 60 percent of his team’s minutes.

In some cases, a player hasn’t logged a high percentage of his team’s possible minutes because of injury or suspension. That should change throughout the season if the player continues to put up big minutes.

These statistics are for games played through Saturday Dec. 3.

ACC

HEAVY USAGE

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS

IN THE ROTATION

PAC-12

HEAVY USAGE

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS

IN THE ROTATION

SEC

HEAVY USAGE

MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS

IN THE ROTATION

And here’s the full TIQ player ratings for the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC. The TIQ listings are sorted by team and by minutes played.

ACC

PAC-12

SEC

From top to bottom, the Big Ten has the most quality, and those teams were on display Tuesday as the conference grabbed a 4-2 lead in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Among the premier teams, Ohio State thumped Duke 85-63 as the Buckeyes tore through the Blue Devils’ Swiss cheese defense. Four of Ohio State’s five starters scored at least 17 points, led by Jared Sullinger’s 21. As a team, Ohio State shot nearly 60 percent from the field and from 3-point range. When they did miss, they collected the rebounds nearly 30 percent of the time, which is actually off their season average of about 34 percent, according to Ken Pomeroy’s stats. But when you’re already shooting 60 percent, any second chances at all could be devastating for your opponent.

Although the convincing victory is excellent, it’s not altogether shocking. Duke entered a hostile environment in Columbus coming off a tough trip to Maui last week in which the Blue Devils battled tooth and nail three straight days to claim the EA Sports Maui Invitational title. Yes, they had nearly a week off, but Duke looked tired, as several players launched air balls from deep throughout the game. With eight days off until their next game, look for the Blue Devils to rest up and rebound well.

Perhaps the best win of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last night was Northwestern’s 16-point victory at Georgia Tech. For a team searching for its first NCAA Tournament bid in school history, the Wildcats had to win this one. Georgia Tech does not figure to be competitive for the ACC title this year, but the Thrillerdome remains a tough place to play. Northwestern was on its game, shooting 55 percent from the field, with John Shurna leading the way with 25 points. The Wildcats’ win is impressive because it’s not like the team is totally unfamiliar to the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory was an assistant to MIchigan State’s Tom Izzo for several years, including in 2003, Bill Carmody’s first season in Evanston. And it’s not like his style of play has changed much in eight years, according to Pomeroy’s stats.

The Big Ten will look to continue its strong play tonight, highlighted by a huge match up in Chapel Hill between North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Here are some other news and notes from across the college basketball nation.

North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes is expected to play in that clash with the Badgers tonight after spraining his ankle in the Tar Heels’ loss to UNLV last weekend, ESPN reports.

Bernie Fine is out at Syracuse after new and more troublesome allegations of sexual abuse emerged during the past week. However, the Associated Press’ John Kekis writes, Orange coach Jim Boeheim isn’t worried about his own job security, despite vehemently defending Fine when the allegations first appeared, going as far as to call the accusers liars. The investigation continues in this case, so Fine is innocent until proven guilty. But there apparently was enough smoke for Syracuse to find cause to ditch the veteran assistant before a raging fire broke out.

USC forward Dewayne Dedmon, averaging 7.7 ppg and 6.0 rig, will miss about a month because of a stress injury in his right foot, the Associated Press reports. The Trojans have been struggling already this season with one of their big men in the lineup. This certainly won’t help the cause.

Eamonn Brennan notes for ESPN’s College Basketball Nation blog that Florida coach Billy Donovan picked up win No. 400 in his career when the Gators dismantled Stetson 96-70. At age 45, Donovan is one of the few coaches in the game who have the early success that could put him in position to challenge Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s record for Division I wins — whenever Coach K calls it a career.

Results:

• Consolation: NC State 77, Texas 74
• Championship: Vanderbilt 64, Oregon State 62

 1. Resiliency

This word has been used frequently as a number of teams have shown the admirable trait of coming from behind, especially in the face of second-half deficits. In the consolation game, NC State battled back from an 18-point deficit to defeat Texas 77-74. As several Wolfpack players noted, coming off Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt, it would have been easy to pack it in faced with a long road back in the consolation.

In the final, Oregon State fell behind by nine early in the second half. Vanderbilt seemed to be in control with momentum. Regardless, the Pac-12′s representative never quit and remained in the game down to the final possession.

It is early, so you could say teams are in a better mindset and more willing to battle back. That is part of the story, and there’s also a rationale for crediting comebacks to coaches who are working to establish a good attitude. By instilling that concept, teams will know it’s not time to hit the panic button when staring at a double-digit deficit.

2. Players should not use profanity, especially when you can be heard.

With just more than eight minutes to play in the consolation game, Texas’ J’Covan Brown was whistled for his fourth foul. As coach Rick Barnes was substituting, Brown walked to the bench, remarking that the call was BS. Brown did not use those initials. He was hit with a technical, which spelled a fifth foul and disqualification. Minus their main offensive threat, Texas eventually gave up a 12-point lead and lost to NC State.

Officials are instructed to use game management techniques. For instance, if Brown made that remark so that only he and the official heard it, the official might have just warned Brown to watch his language and that another outburst could hurt his team. Brown made the remark so that it was audible on press row and probably by a few front row patrons. The official, Earl Walton, had no choice but to call a T. Even coach Rick Barnes said it was the right call, adding that Brown “is a veteran and should be more aware that something like that hurts your team.”

3. Tempo free.

Texas posted a 117 offensive efficiency against Oregon State in the semifinals and 111 in the consolation game against NC State. Those figures should get you two wins, but not when you allow a 127 and 113 against your respective opposition. Clearly, there is some defensive work needed for these young Longhorns.

Vanderbilt survived a 32 percent turnover rate in the final against Oregon State. Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings was quick to credit Oregon State’s tough defense but did note his club needed to care for the ball a lot better. Although Vanderbilt committed 22 turnovers, Oregon State had 17 of their own for another high 24 percent turnover rate.

Vanderbilt — and specifically Jeff  Taylor — did a nice job holding Oregon State’s Jared Cunningham, a 26 ppg scorer, to nine points. OSU coach Craig Robinson said Cunningham will see a lot of defensive pressure but can impact the game in other ways. The senior guard did just that with seven steals in the championship.

The Manley efficiency formula shows MVP John Jenkins had only a 6 for the championship game against Oregon State. That was not a problem for the Commodores as he scored 14 points and hit a big 3-pointer late in the game.

Former St. Anthony’s High School product Devon Collier led all scorers with 19 in the final. The Oregon State sophomore forward had an outstanding Manley efficiency of 25.

Honors:

MVP: John Jenkins, Vanderbilt

All-Tournament:

• C.J. Leslie, NC State
• Sheldon McClellan, Texas
• Jared Cunningham, Oregon State
• Jeff Taylor, Vanderbilt

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.