Keep your eyes glued to the Big Ten this season, because it's absolutely loaded.Not only does the conference boast #2 Ohio State, #12 Illinois and #14 Michigan State, but 9-1 Purdue is ranked #19 and 10-1 Minnesota checks in at #21.
Then there's Northwestern, creeping up on all of the well-known names. In 2008-09, the Wildcats went 17-14. Last season, 20-14, and this year, they're off and running with a 7-0 start, after dismissing American U. Thursday, 78-62.
As usual, leading the charge for the Wildcats was junior forward John Shurna, who upped his scoring average to 23.7 per game after going for 28 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Shurna, 6'8", 215 lbs., comfortable both on the wing and in the paint, canned 3-of-6 outside the arc and was 6-of-8 inside. He also made 7 of his 8 free throws. He's shooting an exceptional 64.3% from the field, which includes 62.2% from three-point land. Shurna leads the Big Ten in scoring, followed - from a distance - by Purdue's E'Twaun Moore, at 20.6.
Shurna's been held under 20 points just once this season, when he played 27 minutes and scored 17 in a 71-45 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
In Thursday's win, Shurna also contributed 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots.
With the spread of talent and coaches in the college ranks, big conference teams simply cannot afford to take small conference teams lightly. That point was never more vividly expressed than in Tuesday's 
There are a slew of teams trying to stamp their identities on the NCAA map, but maybe none more than the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who were denied an invitation to the NCAA tourney last season, despite a fine, 23-11 record and a one-point loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament final.
Conference-USA has, for the better part of the last five seasons, been the exclusive stomping grounds of the Memphis Tigers, though that condition has changed dramatically since the departure of head coach John Calipari and the three years of probation leveled against the team in 2009, following the revelation of violations involving superstar Derrick Rose.
With no Top 25 teams in action on Friday, it offers the chance to highlight some of the top players from some of the smaller schools in the college hoops universe.
The oohs and aahs over Kentucky freshman 
As the second game of the Jimmy V Classic, the match-up between Syracuse and Michigan State appeared to be a good one, but midway through the first half, the Orange took control and pretty much turned the rest of the night into a real yawner.
There hasn't been much to get excited about in Providence since the Whalers left town, as the Friars have become sort of a whipping boy for the elite teams in the Big East over the years, but they have their moments and a share of some of the top talent in the league.
After losing their first three games, the Iona Gaels had to be wondering if the whole season was going to be a bust. Playing in the Metro Atlantic Association, the Gaels are normally one of the better clubs, and since two of the three losses were close (one point to Kent State and two points at Bryant), the worries would fade as soon as the Gaels found some help for their leading scorer and rebounder, 
With their season on the brink of disaster, the North Carolina Tar Heels knew they'd have to be at their best to avoid a fourth loss on the early season when the Kentucky Wildcats came calling to the Dean Smith Center.
Connecticut's 
Ranked #11 in the nation, the Baylor Bears are one of 23 undefeated teams in the college basketball universe. On Thursday, the Bears took on Arizona State as part of the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series, coming away with a 
As far as returning national championship teams are concerned, the 2010-11 version of the Duke Blue Devils is looking pretty good. Having graduated Jon Scheyer, the Devils appear to have found an adequate replacement in freshman guard 
After two days of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, the normally-superior ACC doesn't seem up to the task, with just two wins in the first six games. Five more games are scheduled for Wednesday, and the conference normally perceived as one of the best in the nation has some seriously heavy lifting ahead if they intend to even the score with their Northern rivals.
A college basketball game consists of two twenty minute halves, or forty minutes, so for one team to score nearly 160 points would necessitate a complete lack of defense and the probability of quite a few turnovers.
The champions of the 76 Classic is UNLV, now 6-0 after defeating Virginia Tech, 
In the consolation game, Oklahoma State defeated Murray State, 
Early-season holiday tournaments have been brutal to highly ranked teams this season as Purdue became the latest Top 10 team to taste defeat.
sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb at the Chicago Invitational Challenge tournament, the Purdue Boilermakers smothered their undersized opponent, Southern Illinois, 
Notre Dame's Fighting Irish may not be a Big East powerhouse, but for now they're 5-0 and one of the flashiest teams in the nation, scoring an average of 91.6 points per outing after beating a much-improved Georgia team in double overtime, 
Denied an invitation to the NCAA tournament last season, the Dayton Flyers did the next best thing by winning the NIT tournament, winning five straight games over Illinois State, Cincinnati, Illinois, Mississippi and finally, North Carolina, 79-68, in the final.
Coach Bob Huggins is right where he wants to be: at the school for which he played in younger days, now coaching what appears to be another Top 15 team at West Virginia.
Last year, St. Mary's turned the tables on Gonzaga in the West Coast conference. The Bulldogs had won the conference title for so many years that it had become almost a foregone conclusion. They did win the regular season title for the 10th straight year, but St. Mary's - who had lost to them twice during the regular season, came back with a vengeance to win the tournament championship with an 81-62 win and an automatic berth in the NCAA tourney.
Nobody likes to take a loss this early in the season, but good teams will interpret tham as learning experiences and hope to build off the mistakes.
Last season was a seriously down year for the PAC-10, usually one of the stronger conferences in the national basketball elite, as they sent only two teams - Cal and Washington - to the NCAA tournament.
For Florida State, playing basketball in the ACC is a mixed blessing. Sure, they get some big crowds when North Carolina or Duke head down for a visit, but the results are generally not great. The Seminoles generally get lost in the shuffle of the top teams from Tobacco Road.
Improving to 3-0, with a 
Last season, the Gonzaga Bulldogs accomplished almost everything they set out to do, but almost wasn't good enough, as they lost the WCC tournament title game to up-and-coming St. Mary's and were bounced out of the NCAA tourney in the second round by Syracuse.
To get their teams in shape and work on various aspects of the game, in the early days of any new college hoops season major conference teams usually play a number of games against lesser foes, teams from smaller conferences who are just supposed to hang in and eventually roll over.
Last season, the Longhorns were ranked for much of the time, though they faded late under the pressure of the Big 12 schedule. During their slow descent, however, freshman Jordan Hamilton emerged asa big time playmaker with dazzling ball skills and the ability to provide instant offense off the bench.
