1. This early season keeps getting worse and worse for the UCLA Bruins. Ben Howland’s team fell 78-69 to San Diego State at the Wooden Classic over the weekend, and the Bruins’ student section wasn’t even there to witness it. The fans have every reason to be unhappy with the product that the Bruins are putting out on the floor and they are making it very apparent by not showing up. It also wasn’t even clear that students knew they could attend the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim, suggestive of a lack of community awareness and communication about the program. Until Ben Howland is no longer in charge of the Bruins, it doesn’t seem like either the fans or the students will be happy with this program.
2. One of the early surprises this year in the Pac-12 has been Oregon, but there is some cause for concern with their senior forward E.J. Singler. Through this point in the season, Singler is posting career lows in field goal percentage (32%), three-point percentage (30%), and the free throw line (78%). However, all the other offensive numbers for Singler are righ in line with his career numbers. It’s still early in the year, but with the excellent start the Ducks have had so far, Singler getting back to his normal level of play could help Dana Altman’s team make a surprise run to the NCAA Tournament.
3. The Washington State Cougars will take on Gonzaga this Wednesday and head coach Ken Bone thinks that Mark Few’s team might be better than ever. He alluded to the fact that they don’t just have good size but that they have multiple players that could end up playing in the NBA. If Washington State wants to pull off the intrastate upset, it certainly would help if they could get DaVonte Lacy back for the first time in two weeks. Bone believes that Lacy will be back from his knee injury if he can practice without any problems, but it’s not clear yet whether he will be 100 percent for the game.
4. Tad Boyle’s Colorado team didn’t play its best last week as the Buffaloes needed double overtime to beat Texas Southern and lost to Wyoming on the road Saturday. Boyle believes that the team needs to toughen up or they are going to keep struggling. Wyoming’s Leonard Washington outplayed Colorado’s frontcourt tandem of Josh Scott and Andre Roberson with ease as he put up 22 points and seven rebounds and Boyle was displeased with the fact that he dove for a loose ball in front of five Buffaloes and not one of CU’s players challenged him for it. The Buffaloes play next against Colorado State on Wednesday and will certainly have to find a way to be tougher if they want to win.
5. The most consistent and impressive team in the Pac-12 so far this year has been the Arizona Wildcats, and in their win over Texas Tech over the weekend, freshman center Kaleb Tarczewski didn’t need the ball to have an impact. He only scored six points during the contest, but he picked up nine rebounds in the first half and ended the game with a total of 13. Tarczewski didn’t mind his limited touches in the post, but Sean Miller prefers differently — Miller would rather have Tarczewski get the ball more down low and said he’ll be getting it more and more as they continue forward with their non-conference schedule.

1. Sports Illustrated‘s Andy Glockner wonders if Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber can be successful in Manhattan after being fired from Illinois after nine seasons there. Weber proved he can win with another coach’s players, as he took an Illinois team full of Bill Self’s talent to the 2005 national championship game. He didn’t inherit the kind of talent at K-State that he walked into at Illinois, but former Wildcat head coach Frank Martin left enough pieces on the roster for his team to be competitive in the Big 12 this season. Senior guard Rodney McGruder is averaging 12.6 PPG and the Wildcats rank seventh in the country with 44.4 RPG. Whether Weber can find any success when on the recruiting trail remains to be seen.
2. Texas Tech interim head coach Chris Walker was as upbeat as anyone could be in his position at Big 12 Media Day in October. He didn’t seem to care about the precarious situation that former coach Billy Gillispie had left him in Lubbock, and if he did, he hid it well. So it wasn’t a surprise to read this article by Nick Kosmider in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal after the Red Raiders were blown out by Arizona at home on Saturday, 85-57. Walker was rather upbeat after the loss. “It gives me a chance to get my players’ attention,” Walker said of the lopsided loss, adding, “If you hang your head, now Tuesday could become a worse loss.” The Red Raiders are 4-1 but have only played one decent team at this point. Wins will be hard to come by this season and anything higher than a ninth place finish in the Big 12 would be shocking, but don’t expect Walker to change his positive tune throughout.
3. Iowa State junior forward Melvin Ejim had a funny quote in this article from Rob Gray of the local Ames ABC affiliate, something you’d normally only hear from a coach. “Going into the season I thought, ‘Man, we’d better rebound or we’re going to get killed,” Ejim said. Well, after seven games, the Cyclones lead the nation with 46.9 RPG and Ejim is spearheading the way with 8.9 RPG of his own. The most surprising part of those stats is that Ejim is listed at only 6’6″, meaning he’s probably much closer to 6’5″ and severely undersized at the collegiate level. Additionally, his 10.6 PPG nearly give him a double-double average and he has grabbed double figure rebounds in four games this season.
4. Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star had a good writeup on Kansas center Jeff Withey yesterday. Withey’s defensive dominance has been well publicized so far this season, but an impressive stat that might have been overlooked is his corresponding lack of foul trouble. He leads the country with 6.66 blocks per foul and has committed two fouls in just one game this season, in the 67-64 loss to Michigan State last month. You’d think Withey’s presence down low would encourage the Kansas guards to pressure the perimeter more, but Bill Self isn’t happy. “If we haven’t figured it out, we’ve got a pretty good guy behind blocking shots,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World‘s Tom Keegan recently. “So why wouldn’t we get out and pressure our guy?” The perimeter D is still a question mark, but Withey should continue to put up All-America numbers.
5. The Battle 4 Atlantis preseason tournament wants to be big time and knows exactly how to get there: cash. What started as a double-header in 2010 grew to an eight-team field in 2011 featuring Connecticut. It then became one of the only preseason tournaments to offer prize money, with teams receiving up to $200,000 towards their school’s athletic scholarship fund. It worked, as this year’s field included Memphis, Missouri, Louisville, and Duke, among others. Next year, Bill Self will take Kansas to the island. Watch out, Maui, as the Bahamas are coming strong.

I. Renko is a DC-based correspondent for Rush the Court. You can follow him on twitter @IRenkoHoops. He filed this report after Sunday’s game between Maryland and George Mason in the BB&T Classic.

It was almost one year ago when Dez Wells, then a freshman at Xavier, had a starring role in one of college basketball’s ugliest scenes. Wells precipitated the now infamous brawl between Xavier and Cincinnati with a two-handed push of Cincy’s Ge’Lawn Guyn. He would promptly compound his mistake by charging the Cincinnati bench to throw some punches. The ensuing four-game suspension was a black mark on Wells’ promising freshman year, but actually paled in comparison to what followed after the season. In August, Xavier expelled Wells from the university for an alleged sexual assault. While a grand jury would later decline to indict him, by any stretch, the past year was a trying period for the 6’5″ swingman from Raleigh.

Dez Wells Led Maryland Over Northwestern and George Mason With His Physical, Attacking Game (Charlie DeBoyace/The Diamondback)

Yet on Sunday afternoon after leading his new school, Maryland, to a 69-62 win over George Mason in the BB&T Classic, Wells declared that he is “probably the happiest I’ve been my life.” After the week he’s had, perhaps it’s not hard to see why. Over the past week, Wells set his career high in points not once, but twice, first scoring 23 points in a win at Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, then 24 points in the win over Mason. Over the two games, Wells shot 20-of-28 from the field and scored 1.7 points per shot.  And as his coach Mark Turgeon emphasized after the game in praising Wells’ “great week,” it isn’t just his offense that’s been clicking:  “More importantly, I thought he defended well and rebounded better than he had.”

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1. Illinois is a perfect 8-0 this season, but if there’s something the Illini could do better, it’s shore up their defense. John Groce’s team has allowed 63.2 PPG this season, which ranks 10th in Big Ten and puts that priority at the top of his to-do list. To help that situation, he’s going somewhere former Illinois head coach Bruce Weber never dared to go: the zone defense. Groce said that the Illini played zone defense about 25 percent of the time against Georgia Tech last week and told Mark Tupper of the Herald-Review that fans can expect to see it more often this year.
2. Tom Izzo has had the luxury of at times going 11 deep with his Michigan State roster, but one player who has been slow on the uptake this season has been freshman Matt Costello. The big man was slowed this summer by an injury that has also potentially hampered his progress this year. So should the Spartans have redshirted him from the get-go? And would they consider doing it now? According to Josh Slagter of MLive.com, Costello wants to keep fighting for playing time.
3. Ohio State doesn’t really have a quality win yet under its belt and with 19 days until Kansas comes to Columbus for a rematch of last year’s Final Four game, Brandon Castel from thezone.net figures the Buckeyes have just that much time to get some issues sorted out. Much of that, he writes, has to do with LaQuinton Ross becoming another scoring option behind star Deshaun Thomas. The Jayhawks succeeded in slowing Thomas down last year and, if they can do that again, Ohio State could be in trouble. Enter Ross, who had a career-high 22 points against Northern Kentucky on Saturday. “My coaches have been really pushing me in practice and telling me to shoot the ball,” Ross said.
4. If Indiana is the best team in college basketball right now, does that mean that will be the case come season’s end? Not so, says Grantland‘s Charles Pierce. But the present — Indiana has been ranked No. 1 since the beginning of the year and remains so as of today — is not what head coach Tom Crean is focusing on. Right now, he’s more focused on the past and honoring Indiana’s illustrious history with this year’s group. Of course, his immediate past in Bloomington wasn’t so peachy until last year’s turnaround Sweet Sixteen season (rings included!). But if the Hoosiers keep up that level of performance, that will seem like the more and more distant past.
5. Purdue has four losses already this season and it’s easy for Matt Painter to see why. In the Boilermakers’ loss to Xavier at Mackey Arena on Saturday, they did not make a single shot from three-point range, leaving Xavier with the ability to easily defend the post without having to worry about Purdue hurting them from long range. The Boilermakers relied primarily on the backcourt last season, but the frontcourt is more seasoned this year and Painter wants his players to incorporate the post more into the offense.

1. Florida may be without break-out forward Erik Murphy this Wednesday when the Gators travel to Tallahassee to take on Florida State. Murphy suffered a “bad hip pointer” against Marquette in the SEC/Big East Challenge, and hasn’t yet fully recovered. The senior forward made national headlines after a 10-10 shooting performance against Wisconsin earlier this season, and while he’s slowed down since, he still serves as the Gators primary frontcourt scoring option. In the event of his absence, Patric Young should be handed some greater offensive responsibility. The available minutes from Scottie Wilbekin’s early-season suspension seem to have provided Mike Rosario with invaluable confidence in his second season in Gainesville, and maybe Murphy’s brief absence can do the same for Young.
2. In another in-state, out-of-conference SEC showdown this week, Georgia takes on rival Georgia Tech tonight, with the visiting Bulldogs desperate for a win. Mark Fox’s crew has only tallied victories against Jacksonville and East Tennessee State so far this season, doing very little to cool the coach’s hot seat. “It’s easy to be frustrated, in any endeavor that you have,” Fox said. “It’s your reaction to frustration that’s really critical. I think we are improving, I think we’re getting better in certain areas. I want it to be faster than it has, but we are where we are. We’ve gotta keep focusing on it and get better.” An inept offense is the primary culprit for Georgia’s struggles. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the only legitimate scorer on the roster, but he’s shooting the ball at well under 40% from the field. No other player averages more than nine points per game, and until a reliable second option emerges, Caldwell-Pope will continue to be forced into taking bad shots.
3. On Monday, LSU’s Shavon Coleman was named SEC Player of the Week. Coleman put on a second-half show when the Tigers hosted Seton Hall this past Thursday, scoring 14 of his 18 points as LSU overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the Pirates. The JuCo transfer also added six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks on the night. The undersized forward has combined with Johnny O’Bryant III to form a lethal rebounding tandem, a big reason why the Tigers are ranked 15th in the nation in rebounding rate.
4. Frank Martin’s career at South Carolina hasn’t gotten off to the smoothest of starts, but NBC Sports’ Vin Parise warns against impatience. Martin took over a shaky program at Kansas State and had the Wildcats playing in the Elite Eight within three seasons. Jacob Pullen, a middling recruit, blossomed into a superstar under the tutelage of the fiery coach. His coaching style is certainly abrasive, but his track record of success in Manhattan, Kansas, is tough to ignore. An early season loss to Elon is never a good sign for an SEC team, though it’s far from the worst loss that the conference has endured. Big success isn’t in the cards for Martin in his first season, but a repeat finish at the bottom of the SEC seems unlikely as they’ll face stiff competition from a number of other teams in the conference.
5. Monday’s new AP poll featured a little bit of history. Kentucky, ranked #8 last week, can no longer be found in the Top 25, the largest single-week drop in the history of the rankings. It also marked the first time that the Wildcats aren’t represented in the poll since John Calipari took over in Lexington. How much has the college basketball landscape changed since the last time Kentucky wasn’t in the AP poll? At the end of the 2008-09 season, LSU was the SEC’s lone representative in the Top 25, while current ACC doormat Wake Forest was ranked #8.

1. Washington Post: Maryland’s Alex Len has had a breakout sophomore campaign, averaging nearly 15 points and nine rebounds per game so far this season. The Ukrainian has been so impressive that many are now speculating about his draft stock. While it is far from certain that Len will leave school after this year, he is currently seventh on NBADraft.net‘s mock draft for next season and looks likely as a lottery pick if he elects to declare for the pros. Even if Len only stays in college a few more months, if he continues to play this well, Maryland is going to be a very tough out in March. While Len may not eclipse Mason Plumlee’s on-court numbers this year, if he decides to declare next spring he may very well end up going higher in the draft than the early NPOY candidate.
2. Point guard Jontel Evans is slowly working his way back into suddenly surging Virginia‘s lineup. After struggling (largely without Evans) in losses to George Mason and Delaware earlier this season, Virginia emerged victorious from Wisconsin’s Kohl Center in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which is always a feather in the cap even if the Badgers are a little bit down this year. Evans played a season-high 23 minutes in last weekend’s victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay where he tallied seven assists. Both Evans and head coach Tony Bennett are excited at how quickly Evans has recovered from his foot surgery, and the team’s fortunes should only improve as Evans becomes even more ingrained in the Virginia rotation.
3. Georgia Tech finally returns back to the renovated McCamish Pavilion after a long road trip, which featured a third-place finish at the DirecTV Classic in Anaheim and a competitive loss to Maui Invitational champions Illinois at Assembly Hall.  The Yellow Jackets will begin a seven-game home stand by hosting in-state rival Georgia tonight, a Bulldogs team that was highly competitive with both Indiana and UCLA earlier this season but is still only 2-5 overall. This game should be a litmus test to evaluate just where the Yellow Jackets are at this point in the season; a win certainly shows that the team is going in the right direction, whereas a loss would definitely be cause for great concern in Atlanta.
4. Duke Chronicle: Tom Gieryn’s article discusses how Duke basketball’s focus on “Togetherness” thus far this season has definitely paid dividends for the Blue Devils. Last season, Coach Mike Krzyzewski talked of his team, saying, “It’s like a surprise gift. You open it up, and for the most part, it’s been a nice surprise, but I never have any idea what’s in there.” This year, the legendary coach said about his team, “They’re good guys—like, they hang together,” Krzyzewski said after Duke’s championship victory in the Battle 4 Atlantis. “They laugh at each other’s jokes. I don’t laugh at most of them. I don’t get most of them. The bottom line is they’re good guys and they like one another.” This sentiment was definitely not always apparent on last year’s squad. Even if Duke slips a bit from its extremely high level of play thus far, the team’s chemistry should help it recover a lot more quickly than last season where the slightest bit of adversity seemed to negatively impact a more fragile team. Also, Duke’s defense has benefited, at least in part, to this improved chemistry (though replacing Austin Rivers with Rasheed Sulaimon and Ryan Kelly’s defensive improvement have also played a huge role).
5. Keeping it Heel: Matt Hamm suggests that head coach Roy Williams may not be managing his rotation in the most efficient way. Hamm’s major issue is that Desmond Hubert and Jackson Simmons are playing too much, at the expense of freshman Brice Johnson, and that PJ Hairston, who seems like the player most capable of creating his own shot, is averaging less than 20 minutes a game. This year has presented a bit of a challenge for the Tar Heels, as they lack a truly elite point guard or pure post player, both of which have been emblematic of Williams’ best teams at North Carolina. While making these changes may help, North Carolina will still need to continue to adjust its offense and be more flexible with lineups, something that Roy Williams has not exactly been known for in his tenure in Chapel Hill.

1. Under Mike Brey, Notre Dame has developed a reputation for early NCAA Tournament flame outs. The Irish have reached the Dance eight times, but have only advanced past the round of 32 once. One of the reasons that has been cited is the tendency for Notre Dame teams to be predicated on jump shooting and finesse play. Brey thinks that this Notre Dame squad may be the one to break that mold and achieve “it,” although he seems to be very wary of angering the basketball jinx gods by revealing what “it” is.  This season’s Fighting Irish are flying high after a win over Kentucky, and the group seems to have a different makeup than the teams before them. They have a legitimate post presence in Jack Cooley, guards who can break down the defense in Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins, and the requisite shooters in Scott Martin and Cameron Biedscheid. This may not end up being the Notre Dame team that does “it,” but they certainly look the part at this early juncture.
2. UConn’s season has been about as weird as one would expect so far. After what seemed to be a statement win in the opener against Michigan State in Germany, the Huskies dropped a game to New Mexico and have struggled recently against the likes of Stony Brook and New Hampshire. Kevin Ollie’s team is looking forward to the return of senior guard R.J. Evans, who is the normal sixth man in the team’s rotation. Evans, who missed the last two games with an injured sternoclavicular joint, may be ready to go in tonight’s match-up with a very talented NC State team. Evans’ presence and leadership off the bench should take some of the pressure off of starting guards Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright. Napier has stressed the impact that Evans brings to the flow of UConn’s offense: “Against New Hampshire we played a little selfish… We missed R.J.”
3. In other UConn news, Jim Calhoun recently unveiled some interesting information about his health while on the YES Network’s Centerstage. On top of the February spinal surgery and the summer hip surgery that Calhoun underwent, he also had a “cancer-related” growth removed in May. Calhoun had previously received treatment for skin cancer in 2008, and doctors feared that the growth may be related to that incident. Calhoun also stated that he would “never say never” with regards to a coaching comeback. This seems like incredibly strange timing for such a statement, given his abrupt retirement which allowed his chosen successor Kevin Ollie to take over the job at Connecticut.
4. Rick Pitino has competed against almost every notable coach you can think of at the highest levels of basketball, so when he is seemingly awe-struck by a young coach, it is noteworthy. After his Louisville Cardinals escaped an upset at the hands of Illinois State with a 69-66 win on Saturday, Pitino couldn’t heap enough praise on the Redbirds’ first-year head man, 36 year old Dan Muller: “We’ve all seen Brad Stevens (of Butler) and Shaka (Smart of VCU) the past couple years. That’s one of the brightest first-year coaches I’ve witnessed in a long, long time… I’m happy for him. He’s been very patient waiting for a job. That’s one of the bright young stars in our game.”
5. When one thinks of Jim Boeheim, basketball is likely one of the first things to come to mind, along with Syracuse, central New York, zone defense, and epic post-game rants. However, Boeheim is also an avid golfer, and at one time, the Syracuse golf coach, which makes a three-foot tall golf ball painted in his likeness a little less… peculiar. The ball was painted by local artist Phillip Burke and will be auctioned off in the spring, with proceeds going to the Jim & Juli Boeheim Foundation. The Boeheims host an annual “Basket Ball” gala every spring, which has raised over $4 million dollars in the last dozen years for cancer research.

sternoclavicular

1. In the aftermath of the outpouring of support for Rick Majerus it seems appropriate that Utah announced that it will hang a replica Majerus sweater from its rafters. The decision to do so comes as part of a larger celebration to remember Majerus with the first part being at Wednesday’s game where the school will have a moment of silence followed by a video honoring Majerus. In addition to the ceremony the team will wear black patches on their uniforms for the rest of the season and the team will raise Majerus’ sweater to the rafters at a date later in the season.
2. We have hit December–the second month of the college basketball season–so some of the regular columns that you are used to seeing here such as Seth Davis’ weekly Hoops Thoughts column will start appearing on a more regular basis. In the first column of the season, Davis takes an overview of the past week highlighting the best and worst of the week to go along with a brief interview with Jim Boeheim and a mailbag full of questions/comments from a nation full of angry fans of disrespected teams (mostly for good reason).
3. It wouldn’t really be a weekend without a college basketball player getting in trouble and this weekend’s contribution comes from Massachusetts’ Cady Lalanne who was arrested on Saturday night at the school’s student union on charges of disorderly conduct and followed it up with assault and battery on the arresting police officer with a resisting arrest charge thrown in for good measure (see the entry from 2121 near the bottom of the page). Lalanne, who starts at center and averages 4.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game, did not practice with the team yesterday and will not come with the team to their game tonight at Northeastern. We aren’t sure how long Lalanne will be out, but with that assault and battery on an officer charge we are guessing he will be out for a while.
4. At the beginning of the season we linked to a column highlighting the injuries/suspensions at nearly every program in the country. While the injury report put together by Rob Dauster isn’t as comprehensive it does provide a nice in-depth look at the most important injuries across the nation. You are probably aware of most of the major injuries on the list, but there are several key players who are still playing through their injuries and it does provide some useful updates on potential return dates for some players.
5. When we first saw Charles Pierce had written a column on the rebirth of Indiana basketball we thought we were going to get a phenomenal piece. We will be honest and admit that in our opinion it falls short of that, but it does offer some very good anecdotes (about Majerus, Tom Crean, Bob Knight, and Al McGuire) that is still worth a read even if it is not as well-connected as we would have expected from a writer of Pierce’s caliber and pedigree.

Chris Johnson is an RTC Columnist. He can be reached @ChrisDJohnsonn. 

Tonight’s Lede. The Big Ten Reaffirms Status as Nation’s Best League. One of the prevailing truths surrounding the beginning of the 2012-13 college basketball season was the Big Ten’s unquestioned status as the nation’s best conference. However you measure conference strength –whether by top-to-bottom depth, high-end quality, or somewhere in between – the Big Ten’s No. 1 perch was not up for debate. The first five weeks of the season has done little to debunk that trope. If anything, the Big Ten’s proven stronger than once believed. The latest testament to the heartland conference’s incredible lineup came Monday night from an unlikely source. Perennial bottom-dweller Nebraska, energized by the arrival of head coach Tim Miles and a newfound commitment to upgraded facilities and financial support from school administrators, made easy work of USC in Lincoln. In a vacuum, that win won’t spawn any grand proclamations of NCAA Tournament potential or league contention. What it will do, on a night best described as a black hole of hoops intrigue, is make people stand up and take notice. It’s not only a statement for Nebraska’s improvements under Miles, but of the incredible depth of the best league in the country.

Your Watercooler Moment. MCW Takes Syracuse To A Whole New Level.

Despite losing key pieces from last year’s one-seed team, Syracuse could be just as potent in 2012-13 with Carter-Williams controlling the offense (Photo credit: Getty Images).

Every year, I find myself glued to one player through the early months of the season. Last season, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist captured my undivided attention. He epitomized practically every natural quality I hold dear in the college game: hard work, toughness, leadership, a never-say-die attitude, the willingness to attack the rim with impunity, and in the same breath guard the opposing team’s best player on the defensive end. I can go on, but I’d like to think many of you can empathize with my MKG mancrush. Several candidates made strong cases for my personal fascination early this season – Yogi Ferrell handles the point guard position better than any freshman I’ve seen outside of the John Calipari dynasty line; Otto Porter is as versatile as they come; Marcus Smart just flat out knows how to play – but I’ve reached a verdict. It’s Michael Carter-Williams. On Monday, MCW nearly notched a triple-double in the Orange’s 84-48 win over Eastern Michigan, but my growing attraction to his game began long before his most recent spout of brilliance. MCW is far and away the biggest breakout star on the national scene. Forget his unparalleled vision and passing accuracy, his ability to guard different positions, his penchant for cutting in the land and crafty scoring touch. The biggest reason why MCW has gripped my attention is the massive rippling effect he has on his teammates. He makes everyone around him better, whether through setting up open looks or drawing defensive attention or providing timely defensive insurance. Typically, players with these kind of transcendent skills foist massive responsibilities upon themselves and end up forcing shots and frustrating their teammates. MCW does just the opposite. If you haven’t seen him this season, get to a TV set and DVR the next Syracuse game. MCW is a special player, and he probably won’t be around much longer, so observe while you can.

Tonight’s Quick Hits… 

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Monday’s AP Poll confirmed what most Big 12 fans already knew: The conference isn’t very good right now. Kansas entered the top 10 and Oklahoma State sits at No. 23, and that’s it. Baylor’s win at Kentucky on Saturday should inch the Bears closer to the Top 25, but their overall resume isn’t there yet. As for Oklahoma State, its 81-71 loss last week to Virginia Tech drops them to No. 2 in our weekly power rankings, with Kansas taking its familiar spot atop the Big 12.

1) Kansas (6-1, 0-0)

Ben McLemore Has Helped Kansas Regain the Top Spot This Week (Lawrence Journal-World)

Previous Ranking: 2

Last Week: W 70-57 vs. San Jose State, W 84-78 vs. Oregon State

This Week: Saturday vs. Colorado, 1:00 PM CST

• Rundown: The Jayhawks have won five in a row since losing to Michigan State in Atlanta and look to be getting better, albeit slowly. Freshman guard Ben McLemore is making his case to be the third one-and-done player Bill Self has had at Kansas, and senior center Jeff Withey is playing the best defense in the country with 5.7 BPG. Saturday’s game at home against Colorado (who beat Baylor last month) should give fans a good gauge on the team’s improvement before winter break.
• Danger Zone: Point guard play. Bill Self isn’t happy at all with his perimeter defense, and he shouldn’t be. Opposing guards have been lighting up the Kansas D all season. On offense, senior guard Elijah Johnson is playing the point for the first time in his career. He played off the ball for most of last season, deferring to Tyshawn Taylor. Now it’s Johnson’s job to lead the offense and get the ball inside when Kansas needs it, and come March, Johnson’s play could be the difference between consecutive Final Fours or another Tournament flameout.

2) Oklahoma State (5-1, 0-0)
Previous Ranking: 1

Last Week: L 81-71 at Virginia Tech

This Week: Wednesday vs. South Florida, 8:00 PM, Saturday vs. Missouri State, 3:00 PM

• Rundown: Freshman point guard Marcus Smart continued to impress against Virginia Tech last week (18 points, 11 rebounds, six assists), but it wasn’t enough to make up for the team’s putrid night from deep. The Cowboys went 4-23 from three-point range and the Hokies eventually won, 81-71. The schedule softens now, though, and the wins should pile up this month until a New Year’s Eve meeting with Gonzaga in Stillwater.
• Danger Zone: It’s never a good thing when your freshman point guard leads the team in rebounding. Smart is averaging 7.7 RPG and while it complements the rest of his game nicely, the Cowboys need to find more consistent post play. Smart and sophomore guard Le’Bryan Nash are great, but being 135th in the country in RPG (36.5) won’t lead to sustained success this season.