1. The Arizona Wildcats do not play until next Wednesday and although they have won their first three games easily, they still have areas to work on before their next game. Sean Miller’s team is allowing opponents to make 39% of their threes so far in this early season and gave up 10 threes to Charleston Southern, nine to Humboldt State, and 14 to Long Beach State. They also are struggling to feed the post and are turning it over more than they would like from the point guard position. Big man Kaleb Tarczewski has only taken 10 total shots and Grant Jerrett is 1-10 on two-point field goals so far. Point guards Mark Lyons and Jordin Mayes have combined for 16 assists and 14 turnovers. Overall, the Wildcats are still a very good team and should improve as the season goes on, but slow starts are never a good thing.
2. Tad Boyle doesn’t care where Colorado is ranked. The Buffaloes were 23rd in this week’s AP poll, but Boyle is stressing to his team that being ranked doesn’t guarantee his team anything. He believes Colorado still has a lot of work to do and that they need to turn the ball over less and play better transition basketball. However, the good news for Colorado Buffalo fans is that the Buffs are 4-0 and ranked and their head coach still believes they have a long way to go.
3. Even though Shabazz Muhammad has only played two games this season, he’s already drawing NBA comparisons. Scouts were all around at the Barclays Center when UCLA played Georgetown and Georgia this past week and Muhammad’s physicality and aggressiveness on the floor were very apparent. What was also apparent was that Muhammad wasn’t attacking off the dribble from the perimeter. But, Muhammad is drawing comparisons to former Kentucky and current Charlotte Bobcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Ultimately, Muhammad’s NBA stock should rise and fall as the season goes on, and it’s evident in the first few games in his college career, that he has a place at the next level.
4. Because the Oregon State Beavers were unable to schedule an east coast game into their non-conference schedule, they decided to partake in some unusual Thanksgiving activities this week. They first went to the Capital Food Bank in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to fill out food bags for needy families and then made a trip to visit Craig Robinson’s brother-in-law at the White House yesterday for Thanksgiving. The players took a tour through the White House and also got to shoot on the basketball court. Although the Beavers were unable to get any real basketball in, it was a humbling experience for the team and the next best thing they could have done.
5. Switching to the gridiron briefly, Andrew back here with our weekly update on the pick ‘em contest that Connor and I have engaged in all year long. Entering last week, Connor was down four games on the year and he went all out in an attempt to get back in the game, a strategy that backfired. We differed on four games last week and I won all four of those matchups, giving me an eight game lead with eight games (including the conference championship game) remaining on the schedule. In other words, it’s all over but the shouting. But, as is typical of all the great rivalries around the conference, Connor’s not going to lay down while there is still the slimmest chance of victory. As a result, he’s picking the opposite of everything I pick this week – desperate times calling for desperate measures and all that. Our picks below, with our game of the week, below:
   

   Game	Connor’s Pick	Drew’s Pick
   Utah at Colorado	Colorado	Utah
   Washington at Wash. State	Washington State	Washington
   Arizona State at Arizona	Arizona State	Arizona
   Notre Dame at USC	Notre Dame	USC
   Oregon at Oregon State	Oregon State 37-34	Oregon 52-17
   Stanford at UCLA	UCLA	Stanford

1. Billy Gillispie is long gone from Texas Tech, and it’s doubtful his name will ever arise again in Big 12 circles for as long as he’s alive. And yet he’s still having an enormous impact on our game, even as he sits at home without a head coaching job. As CBS’ Gary Parrish astutely points out, Gillispie is almost solely responsible for the new preseason tournament formats in college basketball. After his Kentucky team lost to Gardner-Webb in the regional site of the 2K Sports Classic at Rupp Arena, GWU advanced to Madison Square Garden and left thousands of UK fans scrambling to cancel flights and sell tickets. Since then, only the Preseason NIT Tip-Off has kept the old format– you know, the one where the team that actually wins advances to the Garden. Parrish interviewed Delaware coach Monte Ross about his team’s experience in the Garden after knocking off Virginia in Charlottesville, and you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who thinks his squad didn’t deserve to make the trip to NYC this year. Tickets and flights be damned.
2. Speaking of New York City and that NIT Tip-Off, there’s a biggie tonight at the Garden between Kansas State and Michigan. After dispatching a really good Delaware team with difficulty, the Wildcats get to throw down with a top five team on national television in perhaps the most historic venue in basketball. Tell us, guys. How do you feel? “We’re privileged to be playing in Madison Square Garden… We came here to prove a point, me and my teammates and our coaching staff. We’re just ready to play,” guard Angel Rodriguez told The Wichita Eagle. If Kansas State wins, it’ll be near impossible to leave this team out of the Top 25.
3. After Maryland and Rutgers announced their departures from the ACC to the Big Ten earlier this week, it started up the whole Realignment Apocalypse firestorm again. Kill us now. According to the Lawrence Journal-World, there’s some sort of rumor the Big Ten might now try to complete its conference by adding North Carolina and Kansas. That’s a rumor Bill Self laughed off immediately. “I don’t even think that’s worth discussing,” he told the paper, adding that the idea of North Carolina playing in a conference without Duke “makes no sense.” Which is hilarious, because Kansas and Missouri no longer play in the same conference either.
4. There’s no Marcus Smart or Le’Bryan Nash in this class, but Oklahoma State officially announced its 2013-14 recruiting class on Thursday. It ain’t bad. Headlined by four-star Detrick Mostella, Travis Ford signed four prospects with some size (relative to their positions) and promise to them. Mostella, a 6’3” combo guard with major potential, might be the centerpiece, but Jeffrey Carroll and Leyton Hammonds are both solid wings who might be able to make up for the expected loss of Smart and Nash (whenever that may be). Ford also added some much-needed size with 6’10” juco center Gary Gaskins.
5. This article’s a little old, and it’s the 800th story written about the tragic situation former Kansas forward Thomas Robinson faced, but it’s worth your time. Very well-written, and unique compared to some of the other pieces on Robinson. He may not play for the Jayhawks anymore, but as his NBA career begins to soar, it’s always nice to keep an eye on a guy like this.

1. The Gators continue to roll, but something else rolled on Tuesday in Florida’s 58 -40 win over Savannah State — Kenny Boynton’s ankle. Boynton turned his ankle in the second half, tried to return to play, and eventually had to be helped off the court after just five points in 24 minutes. According to coach Billy Donovan, Boynton “was capable of going back into the game. We held him out.” Donovan added that he didn’t anticipate his senior guard would miss any additional time. That’s positive news for the Gators, as Boynton has increased his shooting percentages (he currently has an effective field goal percentage of 58.1%) and offensive efficiency rating (127.3, but be sure to read the small sample size oath).
2. In quite a change of events from recent years and even earlier this year in its first exhibition game, Florida is relying on its defense to win games. “We’re getting better,” Donovan said. “I think the one thing I tried to do in the offseason was really show and display what and how teams scored against us and what we were going to try to do to try to correct those things. It’s an everyday process, but I think those guys are committed and I think those guys are working hard.” Florida’s adjusted defensive efficiency ranks fourth in the nation and its effective field goal defense ranks second. And the Gators’ defense might have won them the game against Savannah State. “Our defense saved us because we were not very good at all on offense,” Donovan said. Right now, Florida appears more balanced than it has been in many years.
3. Kentucky point guard Ryan Harrow appears to be feeling better, but now will be out one more game, this time with a family issue. Prior to UK’s victory over Morehead State, Calipari said Harrow “called (Tuesday) and said, ‘Coach, I got an issue that I’ve got to deal with, and my mom’s here. I’m going to go deal with it.’ ” Harrow has struggled this year, only amassing 10 minutes of play this season. When asked whether or not he thought Harrow was having difficulty adjusting to the high pressures of being the starting point guard, “I don’t think so,” Calipari said. “I don’t think it’s that. It might be some of it, but I don’t believe that. He was getting better. That’s the sad thing about it.” Kentucky would certainly like to see its starting point guard back. Harrow’s first game back could be next Thursday against Notre Dame.
4. Vanderbilt went into its game with Davidson on Thursday with a laundry list of items to work on. “We just have to get better at everything,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “Our post play in the game the other night was really bad. I mean, just from top to bottom — offensively, defensively, we fouled too much, we didn’t get picked up in transition, we made careless turnovers, we took bad shots. We just did a lot of things you do when you play poorly. It’s a process. These guys are young and eager and they want to do well, but sometimes they don’t know what to do or they don’t do the right thing.” The Commodores’ 48 points last Friday at Oregon was the fewest point total for the squad in more than nine years. Despite the loss to Davidson on Thursday, the ‘Dores limited turnovers to 12 but shot just 44.6 percent from the field.
5. And finally we end with Frank Martin doing what Frank Martin does best. We are a little late on this, but it’s never too late to circle back around to one of Martin’s temper tantrums. Just wait until South Carolina jumps into conference play. We haven’t seen Martin mad yet.

1. Duke Basketball Report: If you’ve got some free time, Al Featherston has an exhaustive but interesting op-ed on Maryland‘s coming departure from the league. Featherston has a great perspective, and the piece comes at the move from a lot of different sides. It’s lengthy, but it’s worth the time.
2. NBC Sports: Ken Pomeroy tweeted during Duke‘s emphatic win against Minnesota that “Duke could be the best team in the country,” but Rob Dauster isn’t drinking the Blue Devil kool-aid just yet. Pomeroy’s reasoning makes sense: Duke held Minnesota to its least efficient outing of the year, while blistering the Golden Gophers for 1.23 points per possession. Dauster’s skepticism also makes sense, both because Duke shot 80% from beyond the arc and Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe didn’t look his dominant self. Still, if Duke makes it out of Atlantis unscathed, this team certainly deserves to be in that conversation.
3. Carolina Columns: North Carolina senator Thom Goolsby thinks there needs to be a criminal probe into the academic scandal at North Carolina. Goolsby sits on the state’s senate higher education committee. I’d be extremely surprised if there was a criminal probe before the results from the school’s internal audit are released. Regardless, it’s not a good look for North Carolina to be taking shots from a state senator and speaks to the severity of the case.
4. Run The Floor: Landry Nnoko had a huge block in Clemson‘s tough loss to Gonzaga. More important than that singular play was how close the Tigers managed to stay with a strong Gonzaga team deep into the second half. The game wasn’t pretty, but credit Brad Brownell and his team for coming out and hanging with a team many experts have as a Final Four sleeper for 30 minutes. That’s really promising for Clemson come conference play.
5. Providence Journal: If one more Big East school departs it’s possible that the remaining schools could vote to dissolve the conference. Specifically, Kevin McNamara theorizes, one more school’s departure would give basketball-only schools the super-majority needed to get rid of the conference completely. We’re still a long ways from such a drastic measure, but it’s definitely something to be aware of going forward.

1. Mike DeCourcy at Sporting News asked yesterday why Cincinnati’s attendance is hovering around 5,700 fans (43% of arena capacity), despite the team’s Top 25 ranking, 4-0 record and charismatic roster. He argues that Mick Cronin’s squad is reminiscent of the 2011 Pittsburgh team that went 15-3 in possibly the deepest Big East ever. So what’s separates Cincinnati from those Big East Champions? An appreciable home-court advantage, says Decourcy. The Panthers succeeded that year “in no small part due to their 8-1 home league mark fueled by ferocious crowds that consistently threatened the Petersen Center’s 12,500-seat capacity.” Mick Cronin contends that continuing to win is the only way to woo Cincinnati’s pro-sports-minded fans, who tend to show up for the biggest names on the schedule. “Which comes first, though? The home-court success or the home-court advantage?” asks Decourcy. “Honestly, not a lot of quality teams ever have to confront that question.”
2. In his post on Louisville’s plodding 51-46 victory over Northern Iowa in their Battle 4 Atlantis opener last night, Eric Crawford of local affiliate WDRB restates that UofL’s offense needs to wean itself off the three-point shot. Heading into its contest with a prolific Missouri offense, 43% of Louisville’s shots this season have been lobbed from beyond the arc. Louisville has only connected on 29.4% of the more than 27 threes they attempt each game, on average. That irrational shot distribution makes it impossible for Louisville to score with any efficiency on a regular basis. “This is a team that ought to be able to throw lobs off penetration, or to drive in for mid-range looks. It ought to be able to enter the ball to the post from the wing, rather than from a guard who drives and dishes from two feet away, where the defense can easily collapse.” Crawford also cautions that the fruits of Louisville’s full court press have become a crutch that the Cards won’t always be able to depend on. “This team is scoring a remarkable 37.6 percent (109 out of 290) off of turnovers. And that’s fine, if you can keep causing them. But eventually somebody is going to take better care of the ball.” Phil Pressey’s Missouri team could be the first to force UofL to rely on half court offense.
3. The folks at Pittsburgh blog Cardiac Hill write that the Panthers 67-62 loss to #4 Michigan “proved that there’s still a good bit of work to do” before Pitt fans can consider their team elite. Watching Pitt hang with the favored Wolverines down to the wire was apparently more frustrating than encouraging for fans who knew enough to expect more from Steven Adams and Tray Woodall. The heralded freshman Kiwi in particular continued a weeklong trend of decreasing minutes and productivity: “He was scoreless, but even more importantly, just didn’t look like he belonged.” At least the Panthers didn’t have much time to dwell on the loss, as they’ll regroup against Delaware today.
4. Some reporter had the misfortune of asking Jim Boeheim about realignment. Spoiler alert: he’s kind of ambivalent. “Everybody knows the story. They’re going for whatever they’re going for. The rivalries don’t matter to anybody anymore. I think if you ask somebody at West Virginia right now, their fans, if they like going out to Texas Tech and Texas A&M[?] and all those places. Ask their fans if they really like that? Maybe they do. I don’t know. I don’t get it, never have got it. But that’s just the way it’s going and nothing you can do about it. It’s like I said, if these guys were running the United States in Colonial times, Brazil and Argentina would be states because they have something we need. It would make a great country” (brackets added).
5. The Providence Journal published an article the other day about the possibility of the Big East basketball schools voting to dissolve the conference. Last night, Brian Ewart at VU Hoops posted a critique that sought to distill the report’s concrete facts, and arrived at the conclusion that dissolution––even after losing another all-sports member to the ACC––remains very unlikely. The two-thirds majority would require unanimous consensus in favor of dissolving among all the basketball schools, and Georgetown and St. John’s allegedly strongly oppose league suicide. On a pragmatic level, pulling the plug on the Big East would deprive the basketball schools of hundreds of thousands of dollars (potentially much more, depending on current media negotiations) in television revenue. Any move to unilaterally dissolve before the eight new members officially join could expose each of the Catholic basketball schools to a mind-numbing amount of litigation, as each of those new members are in various stages of cutting prior conference affiliations.

1. Earlier this week we mentioned how the homecoming of Sean Woods might be marred by his comments regarding “a sense of entitlement” that he noticed with the current group of Kentucky players. It turns out we were wrong as instead the focus has been shifted to Woods’ behavior after bringing Devon Atkinson, his senior point guard, to the bench after Atkinson picked up a foul late in Morehead State’s loss to the Wildcats. Woods apparently took exception to Atkinson’s body language after picking up the foul and made sure everybody in Rupp Arena was aware of his displeasure as he shoved Atkinson in the back then berated him on at least two occasions (video here). Morehead State issued a statement yesterday that it was discussing the matter internally and would make a decision regarding any potential punishment later today. Woods has become a sudden target for criticism of overly aggressive head coaches, but we are not sure if the university needs to punish him. His players and recruits can make a bigger impact on him by voting with their feet in deciding not to stick with him if his actions are that big of a concern.
2. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who had voiced some displeasure with his school’s departure from the Big East, sounded off on the ongoing conference realignment issue. When asked about Maryland and Rutgers moving to Big Ten, Boeheim initially deflected the question before going on one of his patented Boeheim rants suggesting that conferences just have a draft because their motivations do not appear to have any non-financial basis. While we agree with Boeheim and nothing that he says here is that remarkable, it is refreshing to hear any authority figure within the college sports hierarchy voice his displeasure with the way things are going.
3. We are just a few weeks into the season, but there are already a few people who are looking at the postseason hardware. Obviously it is way too early to come to any conclusions, but Jeff Borzello and Jason King take a look at the top freshmen and players in the country, respectively. Obviously with such a small sample size it is hard to get any gauge of how any of these players will perform over the long haul, but perhaps the ones that will be the most variable are the freshmen, who are just getting used to playing at this level. It is interesting to see that only one freshman — Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart — is even among the listed candidates for player of the year albeit with a very small sample size thus far.
4. One of the issues with the current crop of players who reclassified from the class of 2014 to 2013 is that several of them still have not committed, which is not surprising since until recently they all had over a year and a half until they matriculate to the college of their choice. Dakari Johnson, one of those players and one of the top remaining uncommitted recruits in the class, is in a similar boat and according to his mother has narrowed his list down to six choices — Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, Georgetown, Syracuse, and Ohio State — with an understanding that he will go to the school where he is needed the most (read: will get the most playing time immediately). Johnson is joining a fairly significant group of players who do not intend to sign until the spring period.
5. While on the subject of the Gators, it turns out that Billy Donovan is lobbying Georgetown to try to finish their game that was suspended due to condensation on the court on opening night of the season. If you recall from two weeks ago, Florida was leading the Hoyas by four points at the half when the game was called off — given that the contest currently doesn’t exist in the record books, both teams stand to gain from finishing it up from an RPI perspective regardless of who actually comes away with the win. According to The Palm Beach Post, Florida would be willing to help defray some of Georgetown’s traveling costs if the Hoyas were willing to return to Jacksonville to finish things up. Interesting.

Iowa suffered its first loss of the season on Wednesday, falling 75-63 to Wichita State in the finale of the Cancun Challenge. The Hawkeyes shot just 26.1 percent in the loss. Here are a few observations from the game.

Iowa Had Serious Struggles Shooting in Cancun Wednesday

Frontcourt play. Iowa made just four of 31 shots from inside the arc and could get absolutely nothing going inside. Even crazier, the Hawkeyes made seven threes and just one two-pointer in the first half, but still led 35-33 at halftime. However, Wichita State’s dominance in the frontcourt was too much for Iowa to overcome in the second half and the Hawkeyes didn’t have the physicality to keep up. Iowa has a lot of height, but it doesn’t have a seasoned big man to outmuscle other teams inside. Wichita State big man Ehimen Orukpe had five blocks and kept the Hawkeyes out of the paint. Iowa also didn’t get much out of center Adam Woodbury, who was clearly over-matched by Orukpe. The Hawkeyes must find a way to get points in the paint this year in the Big Ten.

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For college basketball fans, Thanksgiving has quietly become a smorgasbord of fun. It wasn’t all that long ago where Thanksgiving week maybe meant the Preseason NIT, the Maui Invitation, the Great Alaska Shootout and a couple of other one-off games interspersed throughout the schedule. Nowadays, from Monday to Sunday, the whole week is jampacked with wall-to-wall hoops, from the Bahamas to Alaska and plenty of fun places in between. As we gorge ourselves on all the meaty matchups around the land, we here at the Pac-12 microsite take some time to list just what each program around the conference should be most thankful for this holiday weekend.

Arizona – When Lute Olson’s storied tenure in the desert came to a stilted and surprising end, the Arizona basketball program stumbled along for a couple of seasons in search of its new direction. But now, in the fourth season of the Sean Miller era, it is clear that UA has their next great coach to be thankful for. Even in the midst of missing out on the NCAA Tournament twice in three seasons, he’s kept the fan base engaged, he’s killed it on the recruiting trail and he looks like he’s got the Wildcats back to where they expect to be: contending for Pac-12 titles and deep March runs on a regular basis.

After A Bumpy Transition From Lute Olson, Sean Miller Has Arizona Back On The Track To Greatness (credit: Pat Shanahan)

Arizona State – Okay, the Sun Devils probably aren’t very good right now. But with Jahii Carson running the point for the team and with head coach Herb Sendek turning him loose, this is a team that is going to be fun to watch all year long. Though not big in stature, Carson’s elite speed and athleticism make him huge for the ASU program. Last year while Carson looked on, the team struggled without a true point guard on the roster. But now it’s his team and he’s more than capable of leading it. His presence makes the rest of the guys around him better and when everything else breaks down, he’s more than capable of getting his own, something ASU fans and his embattled head coach will be thankful for throughout the year.

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The Mississippi State Bulldogs spent earlier this week on the beautiful island of Maui as they participated in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. Among the palm trees, sandy beaches, and perfect waves, the Bulldogs’ lack of productivity in the annual preseason tournament showcased why Rick Ray‘s club, which finished in last place in the event, will have to endure a long and difficult path back to the top of the SEC.

Mississippi State’s woes displayed in Maui is a foreshadowing for the rest of the season (WFAA.com)

The Bulldogs lost all three of their guaranteed games in Maui by an average of 29 points. They averaged only 18 field goals per game, three three-point field goals per game, and, at one point, trailed #9 North Carolina by 49 points on Monday evening. Was this the worst performance from an SEC team in Maui in the last half-decade? Yes. Since 2007, the first year since any one specific school has been in Maui before (Kentucky went in 2006 and 2010), Mississippi State became the first SEC program to finish last in the annual week-of-Thanksgiving tournament. Out of the possible 18 games in the six total years of this research, Mississippi State had three of the five lowest scoring games of any SEC team (averaging 55 points per game). They also allowed opponents three of the five highest scoring games in the six years (averaging 84 points per game).

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1. Top recruit Aaron Gordon has cut his list down to Washington, Arizona, and Kentucky, but Washington continues to make an appealing case. Gordon’s mother, Shelley-Davis Gordon, is from Seattle and has gotten to know Lorenzo Romar very well, and Gordon’s father, Ed Gordon, grew up in the same area as Romar. Although Gordon would be the focal point of the Washington program if he were to commit there, that’s not something he is unwilling to do. Gordon isn’t going to pick a school anytime soon, and no one puts players in the NBA better than Kentucky coach John Calipari, which is Aaron Gordon’s ultimate goal; still, don’t count out the Huskies just yet.
2. Although Shabazz Muhammad is now finally playing, don’t expect him to have the impact he was supposed to have right away. Muhammad has admitted that it’s been difficult dealing with the eligibility investigation as well as overcoming injuries and some added weight. Muhammad was the leading scorer in UCLA’s victory over Georgia with 21 points, but he said he’s added 10 to 15 pounds and an injured shoulder and an ankle are certainly not easy to deal with for an explosive athlete. However, Muhammad isn’t making excuses and understands the pressure that comes with being a top recruit and going to arguably the most prestigious college basketball school in the country. Whatever happens as the season continues, you can count on Muhammad working to improve and doing the most he can.
3. In this short season, Cal’s Allen Crabbe has certainly stood out. Averaging a fifth best in the nation 26.7 PPG, Crabbe has helped Cal overcome some sluggish starts to games and has put it upon himself this year to be more consistent. He knows he has to be more aggressive and score at will. Crabbe admitted he disappeared in games last year, but with the loss of Pac-12 player of the year Jorge Gutierrez, and the possibility of the NBA looming either this year or the next, Crabbe can no longer afford to be inconsistent. Credit to the Bear junior for understanding that he needs to pick up the slack and he has certainly done so this year by posting a career high 33 points against Pepperdine and also games of 27 and 20 points. Obviously, Crabbe won’t be able to keep up this scoring barrage all season, but if he continues to stay aggressive, he should be able to keep Cal in the Pac-12 hunt all year long.
4. The Arizona Wildcats are in the middle of an eight-day break until its next game, but Sean Miller’s team won’t be doing any resting. Arizona was lucky to have this past Tuesday and yesterday off after their latest victory over Long Beach State, but it’ll be right back to work on Thanksgiving as the Cats will practice in the morning and again on Friday and Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (they’ll take a day off on Sunday). Sean Miller believes this time of the year is crucial and he has the resume to back it up. It was only two years ago that Arizona came one win short of the Final Four and he believes the team’s increased practice early in the year was a big reason for that.
5. USC hasn’t got off to the greatest start as the Trojans finished in sixth in the Maui Invitational, but they’re doing well off the court. USC recently landed the best player in Nevada according to ESPNU in point guard Julian Jacobs. Jacobs is a 6’2″ player who is explosive and can drive to the hoop or hurt you with his great passing. He is now the third guard in the 2013 USC class, adding to Kendal Harris and Kahlil Price. Originally, Jacobs was a Utah commitment, but he changed his mind in August and now has a chance to form a very strong and athletic backcourt at USC in the future.