1. The rumors were out there. The transfer guard out of Wake Forest by way of community college had a nice stroke, and along with the return of Jio Fontan from injury, would be the spark to ignite the long-dormant USC offense. And for the first eight games of the 2012-13 season, J.T. Terrell was that guy. But when Terrell began to slump, head coach Kevin O’Neill finally had cause to bench the player who didn’t completely fit with his team-first mentality. Terrell averaged just 3.3 points over the next seven games, but found new life when O’Neill was relieved of his duties and Bob Cantu took the reins. Now, Terrell is again shining for the resurgent Trojans, who have played themselves into some postseason whispers over the past two weeks. Even more important than the recent three-game winning streak and Terrell’s increased scoring output is the fact that he’s earned the team’s respect and has become the go-to guy in late-game situations. That bodes well for the future, as the 2013-14 version of the Men of Troy will need a vocal and respected leader once Fontan graduates.
2. Some other news out of Corvallis, as Oregon Live revealed that Oregon State forward Daniel Gomis has had everything cleaned from his left leg and is feeling the best he has felt in two years. Gomis won’t return this season as he still needs to return to full strength before participating in basketball activities, but barring any setbacks, he will play his first organized basketball for the Beavers next October. As John Hunt notes, the Beavers will have quite an imposing front line in 2013-14, consisting of freshman Cheikh N’Diaye, the sophomore Gomis, junior Eric Moreland, and senior Angus Brandt.
3. The Monday news day of course means the release of the weekly rankings, and the Pac-12 was represented by Arizona and Oregon in the AP Top 25. UCLA was the only other team to receive votes, coming in at #38 overall. In the USA Today/Coaches’ Poll, Arizona fell to ninth, while Oregon dropped out completely to #27. And as we enter the part of the season where “good wins” are critical to a team’s NCAA Tournament chances, the Pac-12 has posted three victories against Top 25 teams — Arizona against Miami (FL) and Florida and Colorado against Colorado State.
4. After dropping six of its last seven games, Washington has not only free fallen from the NCAA bubble, but is now on very thin ice for the NIT as well. Poor defense and the inability to get key players going at the same time has Husky players and coaches claiming that a sense of urgency is needed for the final month of the season. It wouldn’t be impossible for LoRo and company to make the NCAAs via the league’s automatic bid, but for that to happen they will need to cut back on turning the ball over and manufacture some momentum heading into the Pac-12 Tourney. Also of help would be a top four finish in the regular season standings, giving the Huskies a first-round bye in Las Vegas. That looks unlikely at this point, but if the Dawgs win out at home and pull off a split in the desert, it’s a reasonable possibility.
5. Teams that rebound well out of zones have given Arizona fits all season long, and the same proved true on Sunday night when California went into the McKale Center and upset the Wildcats. A big key for the Golden Bears was the off night of senior wing Kevin Parrom, who was turnover prone and cold from outside. The team’s self-proclaimed zone-buster only managed seven points despite numerous open looks in his 21 minutes of action. Colorado will look to copy the blueprint left by the likes of Oregon, UCLA, and California on Thursday when the Wildcats come calling in Boulder.

You can’t make up for an atrocious loss to TCU in one game, but Kansas (20-4, 8-3 Big 12) came close last night, sweeping its closest competition in #10 Kansas State (19-5, 8-3 Big 12) by a convincing score of 83-62 . Here are five things we learned about both teams.

1) The Big 12 championship still runs through Lawrence. Many Jayhawk fans thought the season was over after Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma, KU’s third loss in a row. Kansas State had sole possession of first place in the Big 12 for 48 hours and gave Manhattan drinking establishments plenty of clever ideas, like the sign below:

Technically, The Wildcats Are Still In First Place. (Holly Rowe)

Now the in-state rivals are tied for first place at 8-3 in the Big 12.

2) The Jayhawks may have solved their point guard problems. It’s still too early to tell, but in the first half, as Elijah Johnson sat on the bench in foul trouble, sophomore Naadir Tharpe ran the offense beautifully. There were fewer forced three-pointers and more penetration, opening up space for guys like Kevin Young, Jeff Withey, and Ben McLemore to have solid scoring nights. At halftime, Bill Self said Tharpe’s role wasn’t any different than before, he was merely filling in for Johnson while he had two fouls. Kansas fans should be hoping that Self was just being politically correct after repeatedly stating that Johnson was his guy last week. The thinking is that after watching the game tape of Tharpe’s eight assists and only one turnover against K-State, Self might be inclined to make a change.

3) If the Jayhawks make a run in March, Ben McLemore will be the reason. On his 20th birthday, the redshirt freshman guard had 30 points on just 13 shots, going 9-of-13 from the field and 6-of-10 from three-point range. He now averages 16.3 PPG on only 11 attempts per game. For Kansas to be successful down the stretch, he needs to raise that to closer to 15 shots per game.

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1. We saw this one coming from a mile away. After an unlikely three-game losing streak, Kansas slapped around Kansas State at the Phog on Big Monday. It was never close, as KU once again reasserted itself as the top dog in the Big 12. It’s been that way for years, and not even a horrific two-week stretch for the Jayhawks could stop that. Here’s a good breakdown of how it all happened in Lawrence last night. Jeff Withey had a historic night in becoming the Jayhawks’ all-time leading shot-blocker, and that’s surprising when you consider that he’s only logged serious minutes for two seasons.
2. Good news in Lawrence, terrible news in Norman. Sure, Oklahoma beat up on TCU Monday night as well, but it also lost freshman guard Buddy Hield to a fractured foot. This injury could keep him out for the remainder of the year, and would represent a true heartbreaker for Lon Kruger who has gotten great minutes out of his rookie. He’s allowed Hield a lot of freedom in his offense, and he even stripped minutes from veteran Sam Grooms to make room for him. The young guard hasn’t disappointed, but Grooms will need to pick up the slack as the need dictates. As we’ve outlined extensively on this microsite, Grooms should be playing more anyway.
3. It’s been hard to gauge Oklahoma State this season, but the Cowboys are right in the thick of the Big 12 title race. You can’t strip that win away from them in Lawrence — they’ll hold that over Kansas’ head for the remainder of the season. Travis Ford had some solid quotes in the linked article, including this one: ““There’s a looong way to go. A long way to go. As of today, we’ve got a shot. If we keep winning, we’ve got a shot.” So, coach, you’re telling us that there’s a chance?
4. After Kansas’ win, let’s go ahead and sort out the Big 12. Only Texas, Texas Tech and TCU (so much for basketball in the Lone Star State) have fallen completely out of contention. Surprisingly, West Virginia has evened its league record to 5-5 and may be on the verge of some kind of a breakthrough. But go ahead and guess all of the opponents during the Mountaineers’ latest three-game winning streak: the aforementioned Texas trio. Still, that’s placed them a notch above the cellar, and they’re now just three games out of first place.
5. Nobody’s too important to get booted from a high school basketball game, not even Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard. While watching his son play on one of the competing teams, he told the prep referee that he made a bad call which earned him an ejection from the building. The officials present at the game said that Pollard didn’t curse or say anything too inappropriate, but it sounds like the mere questioning of a particular call was enough to do him in.

Brian Joyce is a writer for the SEC microsite and regular contributor for Rush The Court. Follow him on Twitter for more about SEC basketball at bjoyce_hoops.

It’s no secret that Mississippi State coach Rick Ray needs all the help he can get. The Bulldogs are on an eight-game losing streak in the SEC, the longest such streak for MSU since 1987. Ray’s team was already down to seven scholarship players for the season before word came down over the weekend that guard Jalen Steele has been suspended indefinitely. That’s enough misfortune to make anybody lose their cool, which Ray eventually did. And that makes what Steele did, whatever it was, even more frustrating considering how badly his team needs him right now.

We don’t know what he did to deserve it, but this Bulldog is in Rick Ray’s dog house.

It was no surprise initially when Ray chose not to comment on Steele’s situation. Chastising your players publicly is not standard operating procedure. But just like when you were little and you knew you really messed up when your dad told you “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” Steele has to know this was a colossal mistake. On Monday, Ray let his frustration over the situation boil over. “Now you’re taking away a chance for guys to go out and compete and win because you’ve shortened the rotation,” Ray said about his disappointment in Steele. “I think more than anything you’re screwing your team and you’re screwing your teammates when you get into trouble like that.”

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1. There is no better indication of how tough this conference is than how often we have marquee games that draw major national attention. The latest in line is the significant rivalry game between Michigan and Michigan State tonight in East Lansing. It’s the first time the two teams have met while both ranked in the top 10, and it may very well be a must-win for both squads. The Spartans need it because with two losses already they have to defend home court in the Big Ten, and because the Wolverines’ schedule the rest of the way is more favorable. Michigan needs it because the Wolverines are the only one of the four primary contenders — including Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State, all of which have a minimum of two conference losses — without a road win against another. After Tuesday, the Wolverines have only two games remaining against those contenders (MSU and Indiana), and both are in Ann Arbor. Still, a fourth loss at this point could put their backs up against the wall.
2. On the Michigan State side, the Spartans will be short-handed — yet again — as it appears unlikely that backup point guard Travis Trice will be healthy enough to play. Trice, who suffered a head injury for the second time this season when he took a shot on January 31 against Illinois, is one of the Spartans’ best three-point shooters and will be sorely missed on the defensive end against the talented Wolverines’ backcourt. This injury will, again, have a tremendous trickle-down effect — meaning more minutes for reserve players like Russell Byrd, Matt Costello and Alex Gauna, and more pressure on regular guards Denzel Valentine and Keith Appling. For the most part, the Spartans have survived the games in which Trice has missed this season, but none have come against such quality competition.
3. For years now, when you think of the best of Big Ten basketball and even the country, Ohio State comes to mind. But are they “elite” this year? Columbus Dispatch columnist Bob Hunter writes that after another loss to a top program, the Buckeyes may just be closer to “good” than “great” this season. OSU is 1-4 against Michigan (with which it split games), Indiana, Duke and Kansas. Those are all quality losses, but at some point, you have to see enough consistency out of the Buckeyes to believe that they are as likely to reach a Final Four as any of those other teams. When it comes to championships, quality losses and “good” but not “great” just doesn’t cut it.
4. There’s something to be said for the most challenging times also being the most rewarding. That could very well be the case at Wisconsin this season, where Bo Ryan has once again proven that you can never consider the Badgers out of Big Ten contention no matter what you see on paper. Ryan’s mentor, Ron Rainey, says that this might be Ryan’s best year at Wisconsin, rivaling his debut 2001-02 season when the Badgers were chosen to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten but won a share of the program’s first conference title in 55 years. With the early absence of Mike Bruesewitz and the season-ending injury to point guard Josh Gasser, few thought Wisconsin would find a way to be in such a position. Think again.
5. Northwestern will need all the help it can get against Ohio State on Thursday, but it looks like the Wildcats will instead be short-handed. Neil Hayes writes that Bill Carmody is waiting on the final word from the medical staff, but the coach believes the team will be without the services of forward Jared Swopshire (knee) and center Alex Olah (concussion) in Columbus. Both were injured in Sunday’s loss to Iowa, and this will likely mean increased minutes for Kale Abrahamson, James Montgomery III, Mike Turner and Nikola Cerina.

1. Road wins have been hard to come by in the league this season, but after a win over South Carolina on Sunday, Tennessee is no longer in search of its first. “Finally got that road win, great feeling,” coach Cuonzo Martin said Monday. “Getting on the plane after a road win, that was always one of the things I took great pride in as a player.” Jarnell Stokes is presumably feeling pretty great as well. The sophomore posted his fifth straight double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, convincing the SEC to name him the conference’s Player of the Week. Stokes was a disappointment in non-conference play, appearing to be lost without his veteran frontcourt mate Jeronne Maymon; but maybe or maybe not coincidentally, Stokes has been a beast ever since a well-placed call from his coach.
2. Nerlens Noel is unquestionably the best shot-blocker in the SEC, with Kansas’ Jeff Withey serving as his only real competition nationwide (my sincere apologies, Chris Obekpa). Who is better? ESPN Stats & Info took a look at that question. Noel is certainly flashier by taking advantage of his elite athleticism, but he’s “more of a ‘swatter’, liking to block the ball as hard as he can”, whereas Withey’s blocks more often find their way into a teammate’s hands. A weakness of Withey’s, however, is that he uses only his right hand to defend shots. Noel has blocked 61 with his right hand and 42 with his left, a benefit that can be utilized when caught out of position.
3. Mississippi State head coach Rick Ray addressed the mystery surrounding Jalen Steele’s suspension, calling the junior’s transgression a “selfish act.” “Now you’re taking away a chance for guys to go out and compete and win because you’ve shortened the rotation,” he said Monday. “I think more than anything you’re screwing your team and you’re screwing your teammates when you get into trouble like that.” The loss of Steele for a few games won’t help the Bulldogs on the court, but the stance from his first-year coach is what’s really important. Let’s be honest, Mississippi State, with a roster short on talent as well as bodies, isn’t headed for a successful season. With a full team, they just might be able to sneak into 13th place in the SEC standings. For a program that had more than its fair share of off-the-court issues under previous coach Rick Stansbury, an emphasis on discipline from Ray is necessary for the culture change he desires.
4. A road trip to Mississippi State doesn’t usually demand maximum attention from opposing coaches, but Frank Haith isn’t overlooking his upcoming trip to Starkville. His Missouri Tigers, who fell out of both the AP and ESPN polls this week, know that Wednesday is the perfect opportunity to finally grab that first true road win. “You look at the numbers, we haven’t defended well on the road, we haven’t shot the ball as well on the road,” Haith said at the SEC teleconference. “We’re still not defending like I would like us to do. That’s all a mental toughness type thing.” Mizzou’s defeat of Ole Miss was its most impressive win of the conference season and they’ll look to build on that momentum before hitting a tough three-game stretch: at Arkansas, vs. Florida in Columbia, and at Kentucky.
5. Kentucky is looking like the league’s hottest team after winning five straight, but the Wildcats aren’t the only team on a roll. In case you missed it (and I’m guessing you did), the Georgia Bulldogs have a nice little five-game winning streak of their own. Three of those wins have come on the road, which is extra impressive in a season when home court is being defended so fiercely. Unsurprisingly, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has led the way. Since there is no real secondary scoring threat on the roster, defenses key completely on the sophomore guard every moment he’s on the court, but he’s still producing to the tune of 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. The Bulldogs will try to make it six in a row this week when Alabama comes to town.

1. Tar Heel Blog: North Carolina‘s starting lineup has been a point of contention among fans the entire season. If it’s not replacing Desmond Hubert, it’s replacing Dexter Strickland. The Tar Heels have been getting off to awful starts to games, but it’s not all Hubert and Strickland’s faults. James Michael McAdoo deserves much of the blame in the frontcourt, as he’s currently shooting a smooth 4-of-18 from the field in ACC games up to the first media timeout. Strickland and Marcus Paige are a combined 4-of-20 from the field. Whatever the reason, North Carolina has to quit digging itself such early holes.
2. ESPN: There’s a very strong argument to be made for putting Miami atop the polls this week. The Hurricanes are on an amazing 11-game winning streak that includes arguably the most impressive performance of the year against Duke. With all its players available (admittedly, a smaller sample size) the Hurricanes are 11-0 with the best BPI of any team in the country (Duke is second, and no one else is close). If polls were power rankings, there’s no question Miami should be at the top. Even with the status quo logic of the polls, there’s a very good chance the Hurricanes will make the top spot for the first time in program history this season.
3. CBSSports.com: Virginia is going to be a fascinating case study to watch up until Selection Sunday. Bracketologists appear divided on the Cavaliers. One camp (e.g., Jerry Palm) says they have no chance. Their RPI is too low. Their horrid non-conference schedule (with a couple of abysmal losses to boot) sinks their hopes. But other camps (e.g., Andy Glockner) paint a more positive picture of the Cavaliers. Their non-conference schedule was hurt by normally decent teams (like Old Dominion) playing like cellar-dwellers and failure to make the winners’ bracket of the Preseason NIT. Long story short: No one really knows…
4. Duke Basketball Report: Duke‘s prolific three-point shooting is fairly well-documented. The Blue Devils are shooting over 40% for just the third time in team history since the deep ball was added to the college game two and a half decades ago. The team is also shooting far more threes a game than its previous highly successful shooting years. One interesting fact that Barry Jacobs unveiled is that Duke led the ACC in three-point shooting for three of Coach K’s four national championships. The Blue Devils have always shot the long ball fairly well, but Duke didn’t start relying heavily on the three until 1994-95, the year after Coach K’s epic run of seven Final Fours in nine seasons ended.
5. NBCSports.com: Seth and Stephen Curry have passed Tyler and Ben Hansbrough as the highest scoring brother duo in college basketball history. Seth Curry‘s year at Liberty definitely helped (his scoring average has never recovered after his transfer to Duke), and although he has always been an efficient scorer at Duke, his numbers as a Blue Devil aren’t jaw-dropping. After averaging 20 points per game at Liberty his freshman year, he’s averaged 9.0, 13.2 and 16.8 points per game in his next three seasons in Durham. It’s frankly sort of surprising there haven’t been many more dominant scoring pairs of brothers.

1. Syracuse and UConn seem to be moving in very different directions as basketball programs on a number of levels. Syracuse is looking for another top-10 finish to the season and a high seed in the Big Dance. UConn, on the other hand, is ineligible for all postseason play. Syracuse is moving on to the ACC, leaving behind the shell of the once-great Big East. UConn was left at the altar, wondering what its next move will be. And this week, like ships passing in the night, Syracuse gained back dynamic sixth-man James Southerland, while UConn will likely be without big man Enosch Wolf after an arrest this week. Wolf was charged with third-degree burglary, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct after refusing to leave a campus apartment and getting in a physical altercation with a female resident at 6:00 AM. According to Kevin Ollie, Wolf has been suspended indefinitely.
2. When he suffered a sprained ankle in the first half of what would become an epic five-overtime game against Louisville, Pat Connaughton probably didn’t realize how crucial his presence would be. The sophomore returned to the game later and ended up playing 56 minutes and contributing 16 points and 14 rebounds in the hard-fought Irish win. Connaughton probably didn’t feel great about it on Sunday, but luckily for him Notre Dame is off until Wednesday night when the Irish will take on DePaul. Ice up, Pat.
3. Jim Boeheim is old, you guys, and I guess it works for him. The Hall of Famer has noted on many occasions that he doesn’t own a computer, and apparently he just recently got into this whole “cell phone” business, mostly because of his young kids. However, in a shocking revelation brought on by the constant Syracuse rumor-mongering surrounding the James Southerland situation, we have now learned that Boeheim knows what a blog is! And surprise, surprise — he resents them as much as we all imagined he would!
4. Pittsburgh had a slow start to the Big East slate this year, and a lot of that derived from a lack of production from vaunted freshman center Steven Adams.  However, in recent weeks Adams has really come along with his offensive production, allowing Pitt to go back to a more traditional inside-out Panthers attack. The post presence of Adams and power forward Talib Zanna allows Jamie Dixon’s offense to harken back to the days where Levance Fields was able to feed DeJuan Blair under the hoop. The recent emergence of Adams and Zanna’s solid production opens things up for guards like Tray Woodall, who had to shoulder much of the scoring load earlier in the year.
5. Rutgers has probably played better than many expected this season, but its 3-8 conference record doesn’t really reflect it. The Scarlet Knights have been in many close games but have so far failed to contain the opposition’s best player down the stretch. This problem came to pass once again in Saturday’s 69-63 loss to Georgetown. Scoring has been an adventure for the Hoyas all season, but they have been able to get by on the shoulders of star forward Otto Porter, who led the way by scoring 19 points (including 10 of Georgetown’s final 12) and grabbing 14 boards. Good defensive teams can remove a singular threat like Porter, or at least slow him down in crunch time, but Rutgers isn’t quite there yet.

1. One of the many contentious points around Maryland’s programs in recent years has been its perceived slight of Lefty Driesell. Many of Driesell’s supporters have pointed out how much more Gary Williams has been recognized by the school despite their fairly similar credentials (obviously, Williams’ national championship puts him on a slightly different level to some). In truth, a large part of this may be due to the circumstances surrounding Driesell’s departure (following the death of Len Bias). Maryland appears to be doing something to rectify this as they will honor Driesell at a game against Clemson on February 23 and then on April 16 will unveil a bronze relief that will hang at the Comcast Center. Given all of the vitriol that has flown through the Maryland athletic department in recent years we hope this will go a long way to repair some of those relationships.
2. Grantland’s feature on Larry Brown is almost a week old, but we just stumbled upon it yesterday and it’s well worth a read to get a better sense of one of the most complex great coaches the game has ever seen. When Brown landed at Southern Methodist our first question was probably the same as many other’s had for him: Why? We aren’t sure if we fully comprehend why it was Southern Methodist out of all of his potential destinations, but Brown may provide some insight with the last quote in the article: “I just want to be relevant.”
3. We normally link to Luke Winn’s weekly power rankings, but yesterday Winn showed a little versatility with his analysis of VCU‘s vaunted Havoc defense. By now most of you have probably heard of it, but few have actually seen it in effect. With the way that the Rams are playing there is a decent chance at least one team from a power conference will experience it for the first time and if they aren’t prepared for it you will be hearing a lot more about Havoc in March.
4. After finally breaking into the top 25 of a few unenlightened polls, Memphis was dealt a setback when it was announced that Antonio Barton would be out for 4-6 weeks after breaking his right foot. Fortunately for Barton and the Tigers it is a hairline fracture, which will not require surgery. Barton, who is averaging 6.2 points in 19 minutes per game with all of his numbers going down with each season he has been at Memphis, broke the foot in Saturday’s win at Southern Mississippi. With the Tigers finally starting to play well late in the season under Josh Pastner losing Barton would be a fairly significant blow, but given his timeline for returning there is a realistic possibility that he could play in the Conference USA Tournament and definitely the NCAA Tournament (assuming the Tigers don’t fall apart first).
5. Connecticut doesn’t have any NCAA Tournament aspirations this season thanks to their poor APR scores, but they were quietly putting together a very respectable season in year one of the post-Calhoun era and had been managing to stay out of the headlines for negative media attention. That is until Enosch Wolf was arrested on campus ar0und 6 AM yesterday in what has been described as a domestic dispute. As a result he has been suspended indefinitely and will not return to the team “until the legal and university process is finalized” according to Kevin Ollie. Wolf, who is averaging 3.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game in greatly increased playing time, is one of the few big men the Huskies have and their only legitimate center. Given the circumstances involved (“grabbed the victim’s hair, pushed her head and knocked off her glasses”) we don’t expect to see him back on the court any time soon.

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

Tonight’s Lede. Hey, Kansas. Of Kansas’ three most recent losses, the only one that made Monday night’s home match-up with Kansas State feel even somewhat dubious was the inexplicable TCU slip-up. The other two are concerning, but only by Kansas fans’ warped standards – a product of Bill Self’s remarkable string of excellence in Lawrence. Oklahoma State is a solid all-around team, with a set of explosive scorers and one of the best and most versatile point guards in the country making everything work. Oklahoma is brutally physical, extremely well-coached, and an absolute bear to play on the road. Those losses aren’t bad, per se, as much as they are out of character for a Kansas team most believed had another conference title sealed up at the turn of the New Year. Kansas is not the unparalleled Big 12 demigod it was billed to be, but that’s OK. It doesn’t have to be. Kansas can and probably will wind up winning the Big 12, again. This team has warts, and things can get ugly on the offensive end every now and then, but when these Jayhawks get going in their own building, few teams have what it takes to keep up. Monday night was one of those nights.

Your Watercooler Moment. Kansas Ends the Speculation.

A blowout win over Kansas State ought to ease concerns about Kansas’ after a three-game losing streak (Photo credit: Getty Images).

Because Kansas has been so consistently dominant under Self, and because this Jayhawks team looked nigh-unstoppable for much of this season, questions about this team’s long-term health were a major discussion point heading into Monday night’s contest with intrastate rival Kansas State. Not only did the Wildcats have the upper hand in the latest AP Poll, they were also riding the momentum of a four-game winning streak along with the added confidence of a reeling KU team seeking to end a three-game skid. The way both of these teams were headed – Kansas State rising higher and higher, with Kansas sinking into a mid-season rut – Monday night felt like one of the only times during Self’s tenure when picking against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse didn’t sound like such a horrible idea. Forty minutes and 30 Ben McLemore points later, whatever suspicions arose in the past week about Kansas’ ability to legitimately contend for a Big 12 and national championship were effectively silenced. The Jayhawks punked their basketball step-brother; Kansas State was rarely even competitive from the opening tip. Kansas bossed the game from start to finish, just the way we saw it impose itself during the first few months of the season. It was the kind of game Kansas so often conducts in its own building: dominant, efficient, smothering, deafening. On Monday night, Kansas played like Kansas, Allen Fieldhouse was Allen Fieldhouse, and the natural order of things seemed to fall back into place. Concerns about the Kansas offense, especially point guard Elijah Johnson, won’t go away, and the Jayhawks might well take a few losses the rest of the season, but for 40 minutes Bill Self’s team looked like the conference juggernaut we’re so accustomed to seeing under his tutelage. It looked like a team incapable of going on a three-game losing streak.

Tonight’s Quick Hits….

• Offense vs. Defense in DC. It’s not every day you get drastic strength-on-strength match-ups with teams from the same conference. Leagues typically breed a certain style of play or tactical focus. The Big Ten, for example, is a physical, bruising conference known for its toughness, defensive discipline and pace-averse offense. Not every league can be so easily defined – some conferences feature a wide spectrum of different styles and strategic emphases. Georgetown and Marquette brought the polar opposite ends of the offense-defense balance into their Big Monday night game, and when a great offense (Marquette owns the nation’s 17^th best O, per KenPom) meets an even better defense (The Hoyas are 10^th in defensive efficiency), the outcome is simple and predictable. Georgetown held Marquette to 55 points, leaned on Otto Porter Jr. for another All American-worthy performance (21 points, seven rebounds), and finished the night with Big East win number eight, its sixth straight.

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