1. Twitter is off limits for Mississippi State players if they intend to use it to bash the team or its fans, Eamonn Brennan writes for ESPN’s “College Basketball Nation” blog.
2. Brennan also shares his thoughts on the emergence of Isaiah Thomas and the Washington Huskies, including a link to Sports Illustrated’s anecdote about Isaiah meeting Isiah Thomas — of Detroit Pistons fame and New York Knicks managerial infamy. Oh yeah, he’s also coaching Florida Atlantic to an 8-1 start in Sun Belt play.
3. Andy Katz dissects the disappointment in East Lansing, Manhattan (Kan.) and four other places for ESPN.com.
4. On the flip side, SI.com’s Luke Winn picks the eight teams that form a group guaranteed to produce a champion this season. Noteworthy omissions: Kansas and Pittsburgh.
5. Matt Norlander shares the bad news, via CBSSports.com’s “Eye on College Basketball” blog, that Northern Iowa senior Lucas O’Rear will miss the rest of the season with a broken ankle.
6. The writers at “CAA Hoops” blog take stock of the Colonial Athletic Association entering this weekend, observing that George Mason is ripping everyone to shreds.
7. Peter Bean, writing for the “Burnt Orange Nation” blog, begins the hype of Texas going undefeated in Big 12 play with a look at the statistical probability that the Longhorns make that happen.

1/31
• Texas 69, Texas A&M 49
• Georgetown 62, Louisville 59

2/1

• Mississippi 71, Kentucky 69
• Wisconsin 66, Purdue 59
• Florida 65, Vanderbilt 61 OT
• Illinois 68, Penn State 51
• North Carolina 106, Boston College 74
• Boston U. 88, Maine 78
• Wichita State 70, Indiana State 54

2/2

• Syracuse 66, Connecticut 58
• Oklahoma State 76, Missouri 70
• Indiana 60, Minnesota 57
• Iowa 72, Michigan State 52
• Northeastern 91, VCU 80
• Charlotte 66, Xavier 62
• Evansville 77, Missouri State 65
• Duke 80, Maryland 62
• Villanova 75, Marquette 70
• San Diego State 56, Colorado State 54
• Tulsa 68, Memphis 65
• George Mason 87, Hofstra 68

2/3

• Charleston 79, Wofford 54
• Cleveland State 76, Valparaiso 65
• Coastal Carolina 77, Liberty 71
• IUPUI 86, IPFW 77

Michael Protos describes how North Carolina’s offense has improved with Kendall Marshall starting ahead of Larry Drew II, who actually is posting better stats off the bench. Go figure.

Game day tweets and retweets from Phil Kasiecki’s season-long tour:

USF is off to a 9-4 lead early against Providence, doing a good job at the defensive end.

Providence has gained the lead in large part from playing better defense, and they just forced a shot clock violation.

USF-PC has turned into a slow-down affair both in game and scoring pace, tied at 27 with 1:54 left at the last media timeout.

South Florida’s personnel issues aren’t up front, as they have plenty of talent there. The backcourt leaves something to be desired.

Providence has regained the lead and now leads 54-47 with all the momentum. The way USF struggles to score, that could be insurmountable.

So far, a small crowd at Conte Forum for North Carolina-Boston College. We’ll see soon if it’s just a late-arriving one.

BC leads 11-6 behind some good defense in the halfcourt and a few early three-pointers.

BC started out well defensively, but Bullock’s three-pointers have started a downward trend and UNC leads 31-22 with 7:36 left in the half.

Joe Trapani has had a great night for BC, but hasn’t had much help. He was too unselfish on a fast break just now and turned it over.

North Carolina will cruise home, up 97-68 with 3:15 left at the last media timeout. Only drama is if they’ll reach their season high of 107.

Michael Protos also is on Twitter these days, and you can follow him at ProtosHoopvile. Here’s a roundup of his observations this past week from Louisville’s trip to Georgetown and Duke’s season sweep of Maryland.

Peyton Siva’s willingness to mix it up in the post for rebounds is impressive. He has skied through traffic twice to grab a loose ball

Louisville’s refusal to even look into the post is making life easier for the Hoyas. That and more than a dozen turnovers with 15 min to go

Louisville has tied it at 49 with threes, full court pressure and Terrence Jennings. How will the Hoyas respond after blowing 11-point lead?

Siva’s would-be game-tying buzzer beater goes wide right and Georgetown wins huge Big East game over the Cardinals 62-59

Maryland = 14-7 overall, 72 RPI, 1-6 against RPI top 50. This is mus win cuz profile right now is Not In Tournament

At first break, both teams are executing at a high level: Terps with dribble drive off screens, Devils with crisp passing and unselfishness

At under 8 break, Duke 23, MD 18. Terps’ offense entering lull with little flow. Singler off to hot start with 9 points on 4-of-5 shooting

Terps’ offense looked only average in first half. Game heading to blowout if Maryland doesn’t shoot 13-of-15 from FT line. Season avg: 64%

Singler is ready to shoot every time he touches the ball. Very confident, too, which 8-of-12 will do for you

Duke continues to torment MD, winning 80-62. No need to burn benches/couches/random other property in College Park tonight

2/4
• Harvard at Princeton

2/5

• Kentucky at Florida
• Old Dominion at George Mason
• St. John’s at UCLA
• West Virginia at Villanova
• Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
• Connecticut at Seton Hall
• Illinois at Northwestern
• Kansas at Nebraska
• Oklahoma at Oklahoma State
• Alabama at Tennessee
• Murray State at Austin Peay

2/6

• Ohio State at Minnesota
• Michigan State at Wisconsin
• Florida State at North Carolina

The NFL dominates a huge portion of the U.S. sports mind share from September until the first Sunday in February. But within hours of the conclusion of the biggest annual event in this country, the attention shifts elsewhere.

The NCAA and ESPN have capitalized on the void created by the end of the football season by scheduling some of the biggest games of the season during the week after the Super Bowl. It’s become tradition now for the first installment of the Duke/North Carolina rivalry to occur on the Wednesday after the Super Bowl. This year, rivalry week also includes Pittsburgh at West Virginia, Georgetown at Syracuse and Tennessee at Kentucky.

By the end of February, the first conference tournaments will begin. Shortly after that, we’ll be speeding toward Selection Sunday, when we’ll have the first ever Field of 68. Between now and then, teams will traverse the dreaded bubble, and their résumés will be inspected more closely than applicants for a Secret Service job.

All that is great news for the hoops nation. We get hundreds of games to watch, and a huge percentage of them will feature teams fighting tooth and nail for an opportunity to reach the Big Dance. For a few dozen frontrunners, the next few weeks will be an audition for a lengthy run through the tournament. The four teams that will be playing in Houston in April will need to lay the groundwork for that run in February.

So grab some friends, food and refreshments, and enjoy the Super Bowl. Then sit back and soak in the joys of February, March and April hoops.