1. Cincinnati picked up a huge road win at Georgetown Wednesday night, and the Hoyas suffered a huge loss, mostly because senior guard Chris Wright broke his left hand in the game, according to the Associated Press. One of Georgetown’s self-proclaimed DC Three — co-starring Austin Freeman and Jason Clark — Wright averages 13.1 points per game. However, the team is hopeful that Wright will return by the start of the NCAA Tournament.
2. Kansas coach Bill Self suspended point guard Tyshawn Taylor for a violation of team rules, according to the Associated Press. Sophomore Elijah Johnson stepped in to help the Jayhawks romp all over Oklahoma State Monday, inspiring Self to reference Wally Pipp after the game. The former New York Yankee became legendary for losing his job to Lou Gehrig and never getting it back. Taylor can’t like the sound of that.
3. If you somehow missed all the coverage regarding the NCAA’s punishment of Connecticut and coach Jim Calhoun, here are the highlights. Calhoun will miss three Big East games (next season), the Huskies avoid any post-season ban, and the team has one less scholarship to offer, among other recruiting restrictions, for the next three seasons, according to a CBSSports.com wire report.
4. Tennessee also received bad news from the NCAA this week when the infractions committee determined that coach Bruce Pearl committed recruiting violations and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance, according to the Associated Press. The Volunteers will learn their fate at an NCAA hearing in June.
5. Although Calhoun and Pearl aren’t the happiest coaches in the world this week, they are far better off than John O’Connor, coach of Division II Holy Family. O’Connor is in legal trouble with a former player after trying to preach some tough love to his recently embarrassed team. In the process, he roughed up Matt Kravchuk, who has left the team and filed a criminal complaint against O’Connor. But the story is more complex than a coach just freaking out, writes Dick Jerardi for the Philadelphia Daily News.
6. Nebraska coach Doc Sadler credits the Billy Gillispie 2 Percent Theory for his team’s recent success, in an interview with YahooSports.com’s Jason King.
7. Texas reserve forward Alexis Wangmene, who averages 2.4 points per game, is in hot water after police arrested him early Sunday morning and charged him with driving while intoxicated. Coach Rick Barnes suspended Wangmene for two games, according to the Associated Press.
8. Renardo Sidney is a lightning rod for controversy, and his media ban — aka protection program — lightened this past week when he spoke with the SEC Network, which mostly tossed him softball questions, writes Diamond Leung for ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog. That’s not going to help a coddled young player develop a much-needed sense of accountability.
9. A “Lost Lettermen” blog post discusses the recipe for disaster in rushing the court, referencing the season-altering “Malice in the Palace” brawl between the Indiana Pacers and a slew of Detroit Pistons fans.
10. But you’ll have to forgive Caltech fans for storming the court after the Beavers beat Occidental 46-45 Tuesday. It was Division III Caltech’s first win against a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent since I was 4 years old (Jan. 23, 1985 to be precise).
11. But even mascots can cause drama, in certain situations. The “Lost Lettermen” blog notes Vanderbilt’s Mr. C clocked a Commodore fan who supposedly grabbed the mascot’s genitals.

2/21
• Kansas 92, Oklahoma State 65
• Syracuse 69, Villanova 64
• Central Florida 74, UTEP 68
• Green Bay 81, Valparaiso 80 OT

2/22

• Ohio State 89, Illinois 70
• Tennessee 60, Vanderbilt 51
• UNC-Asheville 61, Coastal Carolina 58
• Michigan State 53, Minnesota 48

2/23

• Duke 78, Temple 61
• Cincinnati 58, Georgetown 46
• Arkansas 77, Kentucky 76 OT
• BYU 84, Colorado State 76
• Purdue 72, Indiana 61
• Wisconsin 53, Michigan 52
• North Carolina 75, North Carolina State 63
• Maryland 78, Florida State 62
• Missouri 77, Baylor 59
• Kansas State 61, Nebraska 57
• Miami 73, Boston College 64
• Akron 72, Miami, Ohio 55
• Drexel 64, VCU 60
• Rhode Island 77, Duquesne 76
• UNLV 77, New Mexico 74 OT

2/24

• Marquette 74, Connecticut 67 OT
• Milwaukee 87, Cleveland State 83
• Appalachian State 85, Charleston 70
• Florida 71, Georgia 62

Neal Heston dissects the Missouri Valley Conference’s struggles in last weekend’s BracketBusters event. The conference’s contenders — specifically Missouri State and Wichita State — failed to move any closer to an at-large bid with losses against Valparaiso and VCU, respectively.

And Michael Protos unveils Version 3.0 of his projected NCAA Tournament field, with a close examination of the candidates for the overall No. 1 seed.

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

Maine at New Hampshire

UNH is doing Senior Night ceremonies a little before the tip of their final home game against Maine.

Maine has been able to drive and dish when the help comes on a few occasions thus far.

Maine has been able to get just about anything they want on offense, all predicated on getting it inside and not forcing bad shots.

At the half, Maine leads New Hampshire 35-25. Stats to come.

Dane DiLiegro has come out aggressive to start the second half for UNH at both ends and has been the best player on the floor.

Maine has boosted the lead to 58-38 as we reach the under-8 media timeout, 7:36 left. Chris Matagrano with two FTs for UNH when we resume.

Final score: Maine 70, New Hampshire 53. Maine snaps a six-game losing streak with the win.

Miami at Boston College

A little over 30 minutes to the tip of Miami at Boston College. The last three meetings between these teams have been decided by six points.

BC is scoring now, but the defense still leaves something to be desired as Miami leads 14-10 with 11:30 left in the half.

It’s bad enough that BC has struggled on defense, because that’s been the case all season. But the offense has suffered and BC trails 29-12.

At the last media timeout, Miami leads Boston College 31-12 with 3:34 left in the half. Simply put, the Eagles are not playing well.

BC has come to life for the first time all night. They’re close to some offensive rhythm and are playing a little defense, now down 43-30.

The last few possessions showed why Haith wanted Johnson back in the game so badly, as he’s scored eight in a row to put Miami up 51-38.

Reggie Johnson got Miami going again, and now the three-point daggers are falling as Miami is up 57-42 with 6:21 left.

Malcolm Grant’s first basket of the second half is a back-breaking trey in front of his own bench with the shot clock running down.

Final score: Miami 73, Boston College 64.

Michael Protos shares his thoughts and observations from around the hoops nation.

Pretty much everyone agrees with an apparently obvious observation: Big East has 11 tourney teams, only 2 or 3 Final Four contenders.

Over/under on Syracuse and Villanova combined wins in NCAA tournament = 1.5

It’s gotta be an NCAA violation for an active coach to be meddling in NBA affairs, right? Not like that would stop Isiah. Just sayin… #melo

2/26
• BYU at San Diego State
• Duke at Virginia Tech
• Syracuse at Georgetown
• St. John’s at Villanova
• Florida at Kentucky
• Texas at Colorado
• Texas A&M at Baylor
• Missouri at Kansas State
• Arizona at UCLA
• Memphis at UTEP
• Wichita State at Missouri State
• Wofford at Furman
• IUPUI at Centenary

2/27

• Pittsburgh at Louisville
• Connecticut at Cincinnati
• Purdue at Michigan State
• Maryland at North Carolina
• Xavier at Dayton
• Washington State at Washington

The Hoyas lost senior guard Chris Wright to a broken wrist in an ugly 58-46 defeat to Cincinnati at the Verizon Center. Without Wright in the last portion of the second half, Georgetown sputtered, posting the team’s worst offensive game of the season, according to Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats. The team averaged less than 0.8 points per possession.

Georgetown projects to be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament as of today. However, that seed could drop precipitously if the Hoyas stumble without Wright and his wrist is slow to heal. The initial word out of Georgetown is that Wright will miss about two and a half weeks, which is oddly precise and happens to coincide with Selection Sunday.

With two regular-season games remaining, against Syracuse and at Cincinnati, Georgetown could easily go into the Big East Tournament riding a three-game losing streak. A loss in the first day or two of action would put the selection committee in a tough spot. Will Wright really be back for the tournament? Will he be 100 percent? If the Hoyas don’t look good without Wright, they won’t deserve a No. 3 seed. They’ll probably resemble a No. 5 or 6 seed.

The next couple of weeks will be critical for the Hoyas. If they find their way past the Orange and win the rematch at the Bearcats, I have a feeling Austin Freeman will emerge as a legitimate Big East Player of the Year favorite. If the team struggles, that will cement Wright’s status as an irreplaceable cog in the Hoyas’ engine.