1. Former Michigan State guard Korie Lucious might land a few hundred miles away in Ames, Iowa, if his visit to Iowa State means anything at all, according to the Associated Press.
2. Andy Katz dissects Larry Drew II’s surprising decision to bolt North Carolina four games after coach Roy WIlliams benched Drew in favor of freshman Kendall Marshall.
3. The mystery of the right big toe of Duke super freshman Kyrie Irving moved a little closer to a happy resolution for the Blue Devils when Irving had the hard cast on his right foot removed Friday, the Associated Press reports. Of course, there’s still no timetable for Irving to return to the lineup. One step at a time here, so to speak.
4. UCLA got the best of former Bruins coach Steve Lavin when Lavin’s St. John’s squad came to Westwood Saturday. But besides the sting of a ninth loss this season, don’t look for Lavin to hold any grudge against UCLA or Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who fired Lavin in 2003, writes Jeff Eisenberg for Yahoo Sports.com.
5. The New York Times’ Pete Thamel profiles San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who has escaped his controversy-riddled years at Michigan to guide the Aztecs to national prominence. Thamel thinly disguises some venting against a seamy culture of plausible deniability in college sports, but the profile of Fisher is flattering and should win the Aztecs some East Coast fans.
6. In his mailbag wrap-up, Seth Davis of SportsIllustrated.com discusses whether the less-than-dominant Ohio State Buckeyes are as impressive as their undefeated record.

2/4
• Princeton 65, Harvard 61

2/5

• Oregon 81, Washington, 76
• Villanova 66, West Virginia 50
• George Mason 62, Old Dominion 45
• IUPUI 100, Oakland 88
• UCLA 66, St. John’s 59
• Alabama 65, Tennessee 60 OT
• Baylor 76, Texas A&M 74 OT
• Butler 73, Cleveland State 61
• Boston College 58, Virginia Tech 56
• Northwestern 71, Illinois 70
• Oklahoma State 81, Oklahoma 75
• Kansas 86, Nebraska 66
• Pittsburgh 71, Cincinnati 59
• Connecticut 61, Seton Hall 59

2/6

• Ohio State 82, Minnesota 69
• Wisconsin 82, Michigan State 56
• North Carolina 89, Florida State 69

In the latest player ratings for the ACC and Big Ten, Michael Protos highlights the stellar play of Georgia Tech’s Iman Shumpert and the impact of a couple of Big Ten guards who won’t be available for their teams down the stretch.

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

Under way at Conte Forum with Virginia Tech-Boston College, a matchup of two middling ACC teams whose fortunes could change from this one.

It’s really been something to see Josh Southern emerge this year and do things like the drive and reverse layup he just did.

At the half, BC leads 27-24 despite no points from Reggie Jackson. Stats to come.

Malcolm Delaney now has 11, nine in the second half, and we’re tied at 42.

BC up 54-49 at the last media timeout, 3:58 left. BC has been adept at pulling out close games – 5-2 when it’s decided by 1-4 points.

Conte Forum is as alive as it’s been all season as BC gets a big steal with two minutes to play.

Virginia Tech got a good look at a three, going for the win, but it missed. Terrell Bell called for a loose ball foul with 1.1 left.

Cornell and Brown have played at a surprising scoring pace thus far, as we’re about eight minutes in and Cornell leads 19-17.

The shots aren’t going tonight for Sean McGonagill like they did last night, but he’s making others better as Brown leads 54-52, 13:08 left.

At the last media timeout, Cornell leads 81-74 with 2:26 left. The teams have been trading threes in recent minutes.

Free throws are the name of the game now for Cornell, up 86-74 with a minute to play after two FTs by Drew Ferry.

2/7
• Missouri at Kansas
• Pittsburgh at West Virginia

2/8

• Tennessee at Kentucky
• Xavier at Georgia
• Pennsylvania at Princeton

2/9

• North Carolina at Duke
• Georgetown at Syracuse
• Louisville at Notre Dame
• Texas at Oklahoma
• Texas A&M at Colorado
• Florida at South Carolina
• American at Bucknell

2/10

• Connecticut at St. John’s
• Illinois at Minnesota
• Penn State at Michigan State
• Alabama at Vanderbilt
• Saint Mary’s at Santa Clara

Such moments are a test of character, and more often than not, the way you handle such decisions are more important than the decision itself. With that in mind, Larry Drew II has botched an opportunity to handle adversity with class and grace.

The now-former North Carolina point guard went from Tar Heel starter to Tar Heel transfer in the span of three weeks. Drew and his family have not specified a reason for leaving North Carolina other than the generic response that it’s in his best interest to finish his studies and collegiate playing career elsewhere. Given that coach Roy Williams benched Drew in favor of freshman Kendall Marshall after a loss to Georgia Tech, everyone is assuming Drew is acting like a quitter and bailing out on the team.

That might not be a fair criticism. We don’t know why Drew left the team. And that’s the problem.

According to all available media reports and university releases, Drew never approached Williams this past week to indicate that he is frustrated about coming off the bench — even though he averaged only two or three fewer minutes per game than he played as a starter. In fact, Drew wasn’t the one to inform Williams that he would not finish the season he started with the Tar Heels. Instead, his father, who is coach of the Atlanta Hawks, placed the phone call that blind-sided Wiliams.

That’s just not right.

Drew and his family handled this entire situation horribly. Regardless of the truth, the perception that others will have is that Drew bailed out when times got tough. That’s not a quality many coaches want in a starting point guard. Someone will accept Drew into their program. But the damage has been done.

Drew’s fiasco is not nearly on par with LeBron James infamous Decision charade. However, my opinion is nearly the same for these two situations in which a player decides to change location. I’m not mad, sad or disappointed that the player left one team in search of a better opportunity as he perceives it. I’m disappointed that the player failed to show respect to the coaches, fans and teammates of his former team, instead opting to act selfishly and cowardly on the way out of town.