The college basketball world was amazed by Villanova’s surprising run to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship last weekend. After having a relatively easy start to the season, the Wildcats landed in the Bahamas and beat USC prior to a match-up with the #2 ranked team in the nation, Kansas, followed by a battle against #23 Iowa in the title game. Seasoned veterans James Bell, JayVaughn Pinkston and Ryan Arcidiacono helped lead the team on its stunning run, but the play of freshmen Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, especially in the championship game, was instrumental and a major reason the Wildcats came out on top.

Josh Hart helped secure the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship
(Tim Aylen/AP)

Marquette also made a run to the championship game of the Wooden Legacy tournament in California. Although the Golden Eagles lost to San Diego State in a tight championship game on Sunday night, leading scorer Davante Gardner played with the flu and Derrick Wilson looked to have hurt his groin, rendering him mostly incapable of playing in the second half. Despite those problems, Buzz Williams’ team was able to make it a close game and had a chance to win at the end because of the remarkable play of freshman Deonte Burton. Fellow freshman JaJuan Johnson also was instrumental in beating Cal State Fullerton and played well against Arizona State in the other two games.

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1. Kansas State has seen better Novembers. So far the Wildcats have lost their home opener to Northern Colorado, got one win in three games at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and two of their four wins came against one team: Long Beach State. The month of December gives the Wildcats a chance to turn the page starting with Thursday night’s tilt against Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss. The Rebels are a perfect 6-0 after sweeping Georgia Tech and Penn State at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn over the weekend. K-State doesn’t need this game just to say they have a “signature win” — Bruce Weber’s team simply can’t afford three losses in a month, especially with conference play lurking in the distance.
2. Are we watching Fred Hoiberg’s best team at Iowa State? The contributions have been numerous and frequent for the Cyclones and perhaps the most surprising contribution has come from JuCo transfer Dustin Hogue. When Melvin Ejim was supposed to be out a significant amount of time with an injury, Hogue was thrown into the fire to replace the double-double machine. Since then Ejim has returned and Hogue’s play of late has earned him regular minutes; in fact, Hogue is nearly averaging a double-double himself at 12 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He is one of six Cyclones averaging double-figure scoring for a team that averages a robust 91.8 points per game (good for fourth in all of college basketball). It might be a long shot but I would love to see them put 90 burgers on Kansas or Oklahoma State in conference play.
3. The 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis field was officially announced yesterday and it reveals yet another stacked field. The poor teams that have to make the sad trip to the sunny, tropical Bahamas are North Carolina, UCLA, UAB, Georgetown, Florida, Butler, Wisconsin and Oklahoma representing the Big 12 next November. Putting things in unnecessary but mind-blowing perspective, the eight teams in next year’s field have combined for 20 national championships and 33 national title games (!!!). Um… is it November yet?
4. Here’s Bill Self again, continuing his Gloomy Gus routine about his Jayhawks. One quote: “I thought we would have errors of trying too hard, rather than errors of casualness. And that’s the thing that’s really frustrating to me.” Another beauty: “As a coach, you should be judged on basically three things. Do they play together — are they unselfish? Do they play extremely hard, and are they tough? And I’d say we went Oh-for-three. So that’s frustrating to me when you go oh-for-three.” Self is a master at motivating his team after a loss and whomever is next up to face KU is usually in for a heap of trouble. (To bring balance, it’s only fair that I show the contrast in personalities for Self. Here he is: doing riverdance or something.)
5. There wasn’t a lot of good from the aftermath of Monday’s Vanderbilt-Texas game in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. But it did bring us this GIF of Texas center Cameron Ridley startled by a bat roaming the Frank Erwin Center. He’s officially listed at 6’9″ and 285 pounds but to see Ridley react the way he did made me feel a lot better about my slightly shorter stature. Plus it’s a GIF, so you know it’s good.

1. Despite the fact that the tournament this year just finished last Saturday, the field for the 2014 Battle For Atlantis was announced on Tuesday afternoon. Wisconsin is one of the eight teams listed, along with UCLA, North Carolina, Florida, Georgetown, Butler, Oklahoma, and UAB. Without the benefit of having a crystal ball to determine how all these teams will look next year, on paper this is a loaded field. The Badgers should return pretty much everyone of merit except for Ben Brust. Even if Sam Dekker decides to leave early, look for Wisconsin to do some damage here much like they have done with their non-conference schedule so far this season.
2. Nebraska has gotten off to a decent start so far, but that hasn’t stopped Tim Miles from doing some tinkering with things at the early juncture of the season. He wouldn’t specifically name the changes to the starting lineup, but he just said that there will be some changes for the Miami game on Wednesday. If one were to speculate, Ray Gallegos would be a good candidate as someone to get the nod. Gallegos isn’t playing particularly well after returning from injury, so this could be something that gets the senior guard back to the level he was at last season. Nebraska has a lot of inter-changeable parts, so regardless of who starts, 9 players will probably get at least 10 minutes of playing time.
3. Basil Smotherman was not overly hyped coming into his freshman campaign at Purdue, but he definitely made his presence felt for Purdue as they salvaged one victory in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. Smotherman made his first career start in their win over Siena in that tournament on Sunday. He has shown that he has elite athleticism and the ability to guard multiple positions on the floor. Purdue seems to be still figuring out their rotation and how to divide up minutes one game at a time. If Smotherman keeps playing like this, he may cut into the minutes of players like Rapheal Davis and Errick Peck, who have not played consistently well in the early going.
4. Have no fear Michigan State fans, Gary Harris has less than a 1% chance of not playing against North Carolina on Wednesday night at the Breslin Center. Harris missed the Spartans previous game against Mt St. Mary’s due to an ankle problem that has kept him from being 100% healthy thus far. Despite all this, Harris is the team’s leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, and although they didn’t need him in their last win, his presence will be beneficial against an up-and-down Tar Heel team that beat Louisville, but lost to Belmont and UAB.
5. More injury concerns are happening right now in Evanston, as Drew Crawford suffered a back injury against Missouri last Friday. He is also planning on playing tonight as Northwestern takes on North Carolina State. Crawford is equally, is not more important to his team than Harris is simply because Northwestern simply doesn’t have the same amount of talent residing on their roster. The Wildcats are already an underdog playing in Raleigh, and without Crawford, they would really have their work cut out for them. If Northwestern wants to turn things around, Crawford absolutely has to stay on the floor as much as possible.

1. The Cincinnati Enquirer takes a look back at the history of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena — formerly known as the Shoemaker Center — which became one of the most fearsome venues in college basketball under Bob Huggins during the 1990s and 2000s. Last night, the Bearcats played their 400th game in the facility, which had been christened with a 66-64 win over #20 Minnesota in 1989. A Steve Sanders corner three was the difference in Huggins’ first home game at the building’s opener. Since then, the Bearcats have won 82 percent of the games played in what has become known only as “The Shoe.” The author said that the on-campus facility, combined with the arrival of Huggins and better recruiting, helped turn Cincinnati basketball back into a national power.
2. Shabazz Napier gave credit to athletic trainer James Doran for keeping him upright and healthy to bury the game-winning shot at the buzzer versus Florida Monday night. Napier went to the floor hard after making a three with 33 seconds left, thinking he had reinjured the ankle he hurt last year. Luckily for the Huskies, that wasn’t the case, and thanks to some extra ankle tape wrap applied before the game, Napier was able to finish the contest and make one of the most memorable shots of the early season. Connecticut players also credited the Gampel Pavilion crowd for the victory — the win marked the 42nd consecutive non-conference victory in the building.
3. Louisville head coach Rick Pitino confirmed yesterday that the Cardinals will face Indiana in next year’s Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden. The Hoosiers and Cardinals are only separated by about 100 miles but the two teams haven’t met on the court since 2003. Both sides have shown interest in committing to a series featuring two of the game’s most storied programs. It was also mentioned recently that Louisville may open the year with a game against Richard Pitino’s team, Minnesota, in Puerto Rico. Add those two games to a date in the ACC/Big Ten challenge and it looks like the Cardinals will face three Big Ten conference opponents next season, all before December 7.
4. Cincinnati is off to a 7-0 start this season, but that has impressed hardly anyone to this point. The Bearcats received just eight votes in this week’s AP poll and zero in the coaches’ poll. Maybe the voters have a collective memory of last season, and remember when Cincinnati was ranked for most of the season up until early February when a run of five losses in six games almost cost the team an NCAA Tournament berth. A wait-and-see approach should be taken when discussing Mick Cronin’s team. After dispatching South Carolina Upstate last night, the Bearcats will have a chance to prove themselves Saturday with a road game at The Pit against New Mexico, one of the toughest road venues in college basketball.
5. Fans of AAC teams knew they could count on the top three or four teams to be strong in this year’s league, but most held out hope that another two or three teams would step up to make the middle of the conference stronger than anticipated. Through six games, it’s evident UCF is not going to be one of those mid-tier teams. The Knights fell to 3-3 last night after a bad loss to 2-6 Florida Atlantic. Central Florida will need to get scoring from more than just Isaiah Sykes and Calvin Newell, who combined for 41 points last night. With only five games remaining until conference play, the Knights need to pull it together or they’ll be fighting with Rutgers for ninth place in the 10-team league.

1. John Gasaway’s Blog: Even though the Big Ten/ACC Challenge is halfway finished, this primer is worth a read (in conjunction with our previews with the Big Ten microsite, of course). The most interesting piece of data suggests why the ACC dominated the first decade of the event: At first, luck played a heavy role; but the ACC was much stronger in terms of NCAA seeding throughout the early 2000s.
2. Tar Heel Blog: Shocking… well… no one, Roy Williams was not pleased with his team’s performance against UAB. As usual, Williams placed the brunt of the blame on himself, although he’s clearly concerned with his team’s effort:
   

   “I’ve always felt like I should coach execution. I shouldn’t have to coach effort. […] It’s my fault. I’ve got to get them to play harder.”

   We’ll see if a fired-up Williams (and an unusually fired-up Hubert Davis) makes a difference going into North Carolina’s match-up tonight at Michigan State.

3. Hampton Roads Daily Press: And now, the game everyone’s been waiting for! That’s right it will be Virginia vs. Wisconsin in the battle of Dick Bennett proteges. This is a game Tony Bennett desperately needs to win. For one, it’s in Charlottesville where the Cavaliers have been elite and unbeatable –Virginia Commonwealth, notwithstanding. But it’s also a chance for a marquee non-conference win that will look good in March. If you’re looking for an exhaustive look at the quest-for-40 game, Streaking the Lawn has you covered.
4. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Tech pulled off quite the comeback to beat previously-undefeated Illinois at home last night. The Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 19-4 run that highlighted their excellent defense over the span of more than six minutes. That’s how to close out a game. Georgia Tech, like Boston College, looked better on paper than it’s played so far this season, and while Illinois may not turn out to be a world-beater this season, the game may put the Yellow Jackets back on track. Chris Bolden still needs to get out of his slump, though.
5. Youtube: I’m not sure this needs any introduction — it’s a Jim Boeheim rap. Just watch.

1. What was supposed to be a promising season for a young, talented Providence team has gone off the rails a bit as suspensions and injuries have reared their ugly heads. Ed Cooley lost Kris Dunn to injury for Sunday night’s showdown with national power Kentucky, while freshmen Brandon Austin and Rodney Bullock remain suspended indefinitely. All three players, especially Dunn and Austin, were expected to be major contributors for a Friars squad looking for an NCAA berth, but for now Cooley has to dance with the players that brought him: “I’m going to coach the team that’s on the bus.”
2. So Feast Week was fun, right? Well next year’s slate of exotic star-studded tournaments should also be a good one. Georgetown and Butler have signed on to play in next year’s Battle 4 Atlantis, where they will have a chance to face North Carolina, UCLA, Florida, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and UAB.  This is the second straight year where there will be some potential for all-Big East tournament match-ups, after Creighton and Marquette nearly faced off in the finals of this year’s Wooden Legacy. Conference realignment is the gift that keeps on giving, it appears. While UNC, Florida, UCLA and the like are tough potential opponents, one Casual Hoya commenter looked on the bright side of this slate:
3. God’sgift Achiuwa hasn’t made a huge impact for St. John’s on the court this season — the forward is averaging 1.4 points in 7.7 minutes per game for the Red Storm — but he’s doing great things off the court in his community. ‘Gift’ is among 201 nominees for the 2014 Allstate NABC and WBCA Good Works Teams. A St. John’s release further details all of the great things that Achiuwa and the rest of the Red Storm are involved in around New York City:”In 2012-13 Achiuwa and members of the men’s basketball team participated in more than 131 hours of community service, volunteering their time at the St. John’s Bread and Life Soup Kitchen, the San Francisco Food Bank, the annual Red Storm Dribble For The Cure benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, the St. Nicholas of Tolentine Men’s Shelter and in the Community Mayor program. The 2013 Dribble For The Cure raised $70,000 for pediatric cancer research in the New York area bringing its three-year total to $120,000.”

   While basketball is why we’re all here at Rush the Court, it’s always great to hear about the human stories and incredible acts of charity that so many of these players are involved with.

4. Butler wasn’t picked by many to finish very high in the Big East this season, but the Bulldogs have done a great job managing a tough schedule thus far. Indy Star took a look at how each of the Big East teams have fared so far this season, and how the Bulldogs stack up, relatively speaking. At 5-2 with the ‘2’ being a two-point overtime loss to LSU and a near take-down of a star-laden Oklahoma State team, Butler has impressed: “Butler accomplished something in Orlando, even if it won’t show up in their season record: They proved they can play with anyone in the country. Simply put, they looked like an NCAA Tournament team, and that’s something few expected to hear about this Bulldog team.”
5. Villanova is the talk of the conference right now coming off an impressive Battle 4 Atlantis win over a possible national championship contender in Kansas and another ranked team in Iowa. The Wildcats have a deep group of talented perimeter players, headlined by Kansas-game hero Ryan Arcidiacono and swingman James Bell, who is having a breakout season, but Jay Wright believes it is Rice transfer Dylan Ennis who has made all the difference for his club: “He shocked me. He played with great composure. He didn’t force shots. He was really impressive.” Ennis averaged 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists at Atlantis — his first three games of the season — and was especially effective from long range, knocking down eight of his 12 three point attempts.  Nova’s schedule now becomes very Philly-centric, with games against Penn, Saint Joseph’s, and La Salle over the next few weeks, but the biggest match-up for Ennis comes on December 28 when he travels to the Carrier Dome for a showdown with his little brother Tyler, who has been excellent so far this season as the starting point guard for the Orange.

1. Over the years we have heard many preflight announcements asking for passengers to give up their flights when the airlines have overbooked the flights, but we have never heard of an entire plane getting bumped for a different set of passengers. Apparently that is what happened in Gainesville on Sunday as Delta decided to give the Florida basketball team use of a plane scheduled for a commercial flight after the team’s charter flight had to be taken in for repairs. The commercial passengers were told that their aircraft needed maintenance, but noticed the basketball team getting on their plane (sort of hard to miss in a three-gate airport). Those on the commercial flight had to be rebooked on other flights with some not leaving until the following day and one individual even missed a passenger. Delta has offered a vague explanation saying that they tried to make everybody leave as close to on schedule as possible, but since the Gators did not play until the following night it seems like the company could have used a little better foresight in deciding who to bump.
2. We won’t call it karma because it appears that the Florida staff had no idea that Delta was bumping regular customers so they could get to Connecticut a day early, but the team’s injury woes are continuing to pile up. The latest to join the walking wounded is senior point guard Scottie Wilbekin, who injured late in their loss at Connecticut, will be out indefinitely with a high-ankle sprain. As we mentioned yesterday when discussing Eli Carter’s redshirt, this leaves the Gators without a point guard. The Gators may have a bit of good news on the horizon as Andy Katz reports that Chris Walker could be eligible by as early as December 10 and could play as early as December 17 against Memphis if he gets cleared by the NCAA. This won’t do anything for the Gators’ backcourt issues, but would make them much more formidable if they ever get healthy.
3. We just finished Feast Week, but it is never too early to begin planning for next year. Although reports about the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis field have been floating around for a while, the official field was released yesterday. Normally we would feature the headliners, but the field (Florida, North Carolina, UCLA, Georgetown, Wisconsin, Butler, Oklahoma, and UAB) is so deep that three-fourths of the field could be considered headliners in most tournaments. At this point we would the Battle 4 Atlantis, which is only three years old, the premier in-season tournament over Maui and with its proximity to the East Coast we assume it will only maintain that dominance for the foreseeable future.
4. We have heard a lot about the deals between shoe companies and universities, but it is not that often that we see the details behind them. So when we were interested to see the details of Nike’s “$18.5 million deal” with Ohio State. The numbers appear to be in line with what we have seen cited for other big-name programs. As you can see from the figure there is a lot more involved in the deal than just a simple cash transaction as Nike will be paying a licensing fee (12.5% with a minimum of $200,000 per year then escalating to $300,000 per year), providing equipment and apparel (over $2 million per year), direct compensation (over $1 million per year), and consultation fees ($50,000 per year). We don’t know where exactly that money will go particularly the direct compensation, but assume it would be split fairly generously between the football and basketball coaches with the administrators getting a sizable chunk and the rest getting the leftovers.
5. Devonta Pollard, a former five-star recruit who left Alabama after he was arrested in connection with a kidnapping, had his plea for deferred prosecution in connection with the case approved by judge yesterday meaning that if he will not be prosecuted if he stays out of trouble for the next two years. Pollard, who claims he had no idea about the kidnapping before it took place, testified against his mother, who is still awaiting formal sentencing, in court as part of the deal. Pollard is currently enrolled at East Mississippi Community College and has three years of eligibility left so with this cloud somewhat lifted it will be interesting to see if a major college takes a chance on him even if his production–3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game–as a freshman last season was uninspiring.

Out of the country? Living under a rock? Here’s what you missed in the third week of Pac-12 basketball.

Power Rankings (As voted upon by Connor Pelton, Andrew Murawa, and Adam Butler):

Nick Johnson Is Arizona’s Leading Scorer Through Seven Games, And He Also Led The Wildcats To A 72-66 Win Over Duke On Friday. (Christian Petersen)

1. Arizona 
2. Oregon
3. UCLA 
4. Colorado 
5. California
6. Arizona State
7. Stanford
8. Utah
9. USC 
10. Oregon State
11. Washington 
12. Washington State

Best Game – Arizona vs Duke: Marquette-Arizona State seemed destined for this slot earlier in the week, what with ASU getting its first marquee win of the season in thrilling fashion in front of a raucous Wells Fargo Arena crowd. Instead, that game was topped by Sun Devils’ rival Arizona, which five days later defeated #6 Duke in the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship in New York City. Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, and it was the Blue Devils who took a 36-33 lead into the locker rooms after a Tyler Thorton bucket. With great effort on the defensive end of the floor, Arizona eventually took the lead for good on a Brandon Ashley tip-in with nine minutes remaining. The lead swelled to double figures at three different points in the last quarter of the game, and when the final buzzer sounded it was 72-66 Wildcats. Junior guard Nick Johnson scored a team high 15 points in the win.

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Hooray! The Mountain West has its hero. November is in the books and the conference finally has a victory worth crowing about under its collective belt. In fact, San Diego State scored a couple really meaningful wins this week at the Wooden Legacy, knocking off both Creighton and Marquette to earn the tournament title. Still, I for one have yet to put a MW team in my weekly national Top 25. I’ve considered New Mexico previously and have kept them just on the outside looking in. Boise State also remains in the back of my mind, where they’ll stay until they play anybody of note. And the Aztecs were among my final cuts this week. So what leaves SDSU still needing to prove itself? I know they’re going to defend like nuts all year long and stay in games that way, but I just don’t believe that Xavier Thames is going to be able to knock down shots at his current rate forever, and aside from him, there aren’t a whole lot of polished offensive players on this team. Still, there is no denying that the Aztecs have looked awfully good so far this year and are beginning to earn the benefit of my doubt.

Xavier Thames and A Boisterous Crowd Helped San Diego State Capture The Wooden Legacy Title (USA Today Sports)

Team of the Week

San Diego State – We’ll get to Thames shortly, but there have been a lot of guys stepping up for this squad who deserve attention. J.J. O’Brien has been the most regular second option for the Aztecs, averaging nearly 14 points per game before a hand injury limited his production on Sunday. Matt Shrigley has emerged from his redshirt year to display not only a nice shooting touch but a good game off the bounce. Winston Shepard has clearly worked on his body and his game in the offseason, and he’s well on his way to becoming a great college player. And true freshman Dakarai Allen is out of the gates with a strong start to his college career. Even if Thames does slow down a bit, there are some options here who could pick up the slack.

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Every week the four AAC microsite writers will come together in an effort to make sense of and answering questions about what happened in the AAC over the course of the previous week.

1. What did we learn about Memphis based on its run to the Old Spice Classic championship and how much did the win against Oklahoma State help the perception of the AAC?

Josh Pastner Should Be All Smiles After His Team Knocked Off Oklahoma State.

Will – I think where this Memphis squad most differentiated itself from recent predecessors was in terms of toughness, both emotional and physical. Last year’s Tigers would have probably rolled over after taking a 10-point deficit into halftime against a team like Oklahoma State, but seniors Joe Jackson and Chris Crawford provided the sober, steadying leadership that the Tigers lacked in 2012-13. Moreover, the frontcourt tandem of Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols proved that they could compete against physical big men. Goodwin and Nichols each ended up posting big numbers in the semifinals and finals, combining for 53 points and 23 rebounds over the two games. Considering how good the Tigers’ guard play is shaping up, “tough and effective” is all they need from their bigs in order to contend against the likes of Louisville and UConn.

Mike – We learned that these Tigers have more fight in them than the teams in previous years, and in my opinion that is a direct result of the veteran leadership in the backcourt. Yes, Shaq Goodwin is probably the team’s best player and most likely future professional, but Memphis twice had to rally from deficits in this tournament and it was the quartet of senior guards that spurred the rallies with poise and effort. As for what the win did for the perception of the AAC, if Memphis can’t hang with teams in the Top 25, then the conference has just two relevant teams, so the Tigers’ win was huge.

Ross- We learned Memphis is who we thought they were, a top 15 team with the ability to beat anyone in the AAC and compete for the conference championship. It was a much-needed win for the Tigers, but it also did quite a bit to help the perception of the AAC. Connecticut continues to win close games and Louisville is Louisville, but the AAC needs Memphis to stay right with those two nationally. With so many other AAC teams experiencing rough starts (Temple, Rutgers, Houston), it’s imperative that the top of the conference stays strong.

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