What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) is your weekly host.

Raw emotion meets raw weather, as Dick Vitale was caught puttering through a North Carolina blizzard only to find out the Duke vs. North Carolina game would be postponed due to the winter storm. We have applied a bit of an Andy Warhol Pop Art feel to it, while some feel like the original would be perfect album art for an upcoming indie rock band’s latest LP.

Tyler #ENNIONS Ennis Keeps Syracuse Undefeated

It will challenge for Game of the Year, capped off by a strong nominee for Play of the Year. Tyler Ennis, the savvy Orange point guard, has been huge in close games for his team all season long. You’ve seen the buzzer-beater, now check out the reaction from his giddy head coach and others around the web.

EVEN ANONYMOUS NFL GMS AND SCOUTS THINK TYLER ENNIS IS AMAZING

— Sean Keeley (@NunesMagician) February 13, 2014

Ennis did crack a smile after that. But just barely. Ice cold.

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) February 13, 2014

ENNIONS

— Luke Winn (@lukewinn) February 13, 2014

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Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

College basketball had its Richard Sherman moment Saturday night in Lubbock, Texas, as Oklahoma State superstar Marcus Smart shoved a notable Texas Tech fan named Jeff Orr to spark a flurry of discussion via Twitter. Even if you weren’t watching the Cowboys suffer their fourth consecutive loss, one quick check of your news feed would have immediately brought the story to your attention, along with varying opinions and perspective surrounding the incident. We now know that Smart has been suspended for three games. Below is how the story evolved from the initial reaction up through Sunday’s announcement of Smart’s suspension.

The Initial Reaction

It all started — for me at least — with a Vine of the Smart shove posted by CBSSports.com‘s Matt Norlander:

Wow. Suspension? RT @MattNorlander: Marcus Smart pushes a fan/older man. Video https://t.co/jRczeykegj

— Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) February 9, 2014

Within minutes, everyone had responded to the shove.  Some people immediately knew a developing story was afoot. The very first with the trigger was Pat Forde:

Good lord Marcus Smart just lost his mind. Shoved a fan at Texas tech.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) February 9, 2014

The subsequent knee-jerk tweets are fascinating to look back on. Certainly nobody is in the wrong, but based on what we learned, these now feel like nascent observations.

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What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) is your weekly host.

Chris Walker Debuts for Florida

Finally, after sitting out the Gators first 21 games of the season, the much-hyped freshman Chris Walker made his first appearance for Billy Donovan.

The highly anticipated debut left us with a definitive highlight, but it was not really related to Walker’s box score.

Chris Walker's hickey tattoos put Kenyon Martin's to shame: http://t.co/okrSL1TNr2 pic.twitter.com/dbQfTvdXTb

— LostLettermen.com (@LostLettermen) February 5, 2014

Are we sure Chris Walker has three tattoos of lips on his neck or might he have had a spectacular pregame makeout session?

— Joe Walljasper (@JoeWalljasper) February 5, 2014

A Sea of Golden Bears Fans

Perhaps it is the look yellow and blue gives when a filter is applied, but there’s  an abundance of gorgeous pictures and videos that were captured from Saturday’s wild scene at Haas Pavilion following Cal’s upset of then undefeated and No. 1 Arizona. Click on the image below or here to browse through the entire feed from Instagram.

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Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

Our latest College Basketball by the Tweets piece opens up again in Lincoln, Nebraska, where a young Cornhuskers fan is really excited to receive a headband from sophomore forward Terran Petteway following the team’s win over Indiana.

How great is the look on this kid's face? Part of what makes sports so great, right here – pic.twitter.com/bJjGtEMoDi (via @hilary_winter)

— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) January 31, 2014

As the #BBN Turns

The so-called perfect recruiting class John Calipari brought to Lexington this season has been exposed to have a handful of imperfections. To make it worse, some of those issues may be that of the intangible kind (i.e., lack of effort, team chemistry) than pure talent. Following a rather ugly road loss to LSU last week, the #BBN whine train was chugging along quite nicely.

The Harrison Twins aren't even sweating…#BBN I am not emotionally attached to this team at all.

— Anissa K. Sturgill (@AKSturg) January 29, 2014

From what I've seen, #Kentucky could get about as much out of Benjamin and William Henry as the other Harrisons tonight. #UK #BBN

— Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan714) January 29, 2014

Well this is frustrating… Getting dominated by Dave Chappelle's character from Nutty Professor step it up #BBN pic.twitter.com/SVq5tyhpPQ

— John F. Cox (@CoxTalks) January 29, 2014

Dakari Johnson's back in because Willie Cauley-Stein has been largely worthless all night.

— Chandler Rome (@Rome_TDR) January 29, 2014

Cauley stein went from lottery pick to pumping my gas

— shawn (@Treestandasasin) January 29, 2014

And then the ultimate jab from the in-state rival:

Not even a year later. #BBN pic.twitter.com/3B5O7hitPV

— Teddy Fridgewater (@UofLMemes) January 29, 2014

The ‘Cats did right the ship a bit over the weekend with a nice road win over Missouri, but signs point to continued road inconsistency for the rest of the regular season.

A Sea Of Yellow As No. 1 Goes Down

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Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) is your weekly host. 

Who should be more embarrassed: Memphis’ Joe Jackson or California’s Justin Cobbs?

Jackson tried a windmill dunk in the middle of a close game, only to get an earful from head coach Josh Pastner. Cobbs wedged the ball between the rim and glass on a a breakaway layup.

or

Our pick? Got to go with Jackson. Up five on the road against a pesky UCF club, you take any points you can get. Cobbs’ blunder actually ended up benefiting the Golden Bears, as officials called the play a jump ball, Cal retained possession and converted a three pointer a few seconds later.

Regardless, expect the Mothership to have both these plays ranked high on their weekly #SCNotTop10 countdown this evening.

Doug McDermott plays hero with a questionable no-call?

GIFs never lie, man. Click the screen grab below to see  what “Creighton Otter” of White &Blue Review is calling a “super screen” by the Bluejays’ Isaiah Zierden to free up the NPOY candidate for his game-winning shot against St. John’s.

There really is no place like home when the game is tied in the final 10 seconds.

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Throughout this week, there was one topic being discussed in the Pac-12: What will it take to knock off the undefeated No. 1 Arizona Wildcats? It is a simple question that provided varying responses from the league’s coaches. But 21 games into their season, that question remains unanswered as the Wildcats stole a 60-57 victory over the Stanford Cardinal, avoiding an upset on the 10th anniversary of that shot, and finding yet another and different way to win. Wednesday, in the latest rendition, the approach was to lean on their star, junior guard Nick Johnson, who led all players with 16 points on a night when the rest of the team shot a dismal 14-of-41 from the field. “[Nick Johnson] is a great leader. He’s the leader of our team, both on and off the court.” said Ryan Reynolds, Arizona’s director of basketball operations. “When the game is on the line, he’s the guy we go to and he’s not afraid of the moment.”

Is Nick Johnson is the Least Known Star on a #1 Team Ever?

Earlier this week,  Arizona State coach Herb Sendek was quoted in a piece by USA Today’s Nicole Auerbach exclaiming that Johnson was the team’s best and most talented player, but point guard T.J. McConnell was the guy who “puts it all together.” That quote was representative of last night’s game. McConnell, quiet and unassuming, led the Wildcats in nearly every offensive statistic through the midway point of the second half. The Wildcats were sloppy, outmatched in the post, but the Duquense transfer held it together in the hopes that one of the team’s stars would step up and make a play to ensure victory.

Enter Johnson.

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Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

Welcome back to College Basketball by the Tweets. We promise that we’re in tune with the latest social media trends and best practices, and are happy to share such sage advice to the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball announcers, who are still in the beginning stages of understanding hashtags.

Pretty sure that’s too many hashtags… #GBR @KentPavelka! "RT @KentPavelka: 68-62!!! ###########Huskers######## pic.twitter.com/oqfMKom4L3"

— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) January 21, 2014

White Kid With A Flat Top Alert

This is Utah State’s Sean Harris. He’s living proof that the flat top, which has made a profound comeback since it was popular back in the 1980s, can transcend both hair and skin color.

The best hair in college hoops belongs to Utah State's Sean Harris: http://t.co/I21VjaZzse Pic via @sportsnation pic.twitter.com/z3o0hwe8LW

— SB Nation (@sbnation) January 28, 2014

Our only wish right now is that we could go back and time and tell former Wisconsin forward Mike Bruesewitz to pioneer this movement.

Ethan Wragge Shoots, Does Not Dribble

It was a night were you could say with complete certainty that Creighton would have defeated any college basketball team in America, and perhaps even the Milwaukee Bucks. Against the unbeaten and then No. 4 ranked Villanova Wildcats, the Bluejays nailed 21 three pointers, nine coming from forward Ethan Wragge, who needed only six minutes to knock down his first seven.

Wragge an inspiration to annoying chuckers at the Ys everywhere. Steer clear of pickup games for the next week.

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) January 21, 2014

Even more eye-popping was Wragge’s made-three-pointers-to-dribbles ratio, which isn’t even remotely close to a real statistic but something that was easy to track for the reasons noted below. Read the rest of this entry »

Tyrone Garland, one of the best sixth men in the country, is from Southwest Philadelphia. If you didn’t already know that, then you most certainly made the connection following his postgame interview after Garland lifted La Salle past Ole Miss into the Sweet Sixteen. The basked, he called it, was his possibly patented #SouthwestPhillyFloater, which quickly became a usable hashtag and will certainly get some run leading up to the Explorers’ upcoming match-up against Wichita State. This is something I can get on board with, unlike #layupgang.

Florida Gulf Coast, A #15 Seed, Is In The Sweet 16

So far, this is the best story of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. And unless the national championship game ends in a buzzer-beater, it is unlikely it will be topped. Representing the Atlantic Sun Conference, Florida Gulf Coast is the first #15 seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen. To add a bit more weight to this story, it is a school that was founded in the 1990s and only been eligible to play in this grand tournament in 2009. You cannot make this stuff up, but you can get FGCU trending on Twitter through the weekend.

@jimrome “Come out the Florida Gulf Coast, we’ll get together, have a few dunks.”

— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 25, 2013

STOP RUNNING UP THE SCORE FLORIDA GULF COAST SHOW SOME MERCY

— Mike Prada (@MikePradaSBN) March 25, 2013

I need to borrow adjectives.Please send some.

— Dana O’Neil (@ESPNDanaOneil) March 25, 2013

#FGCU‘s website is slow or down due to people looking up school. You know someone is panicking- has to get on for homework due tomorrow.

— Kevin Nogle (@thephinsider) March 25, 2013

Heading in to the work week, it will be very interesting to track the media coverage the school gets. Will the jokes about this being an online university continue? Will we focus on the actual talent Andy Enfield has assembled? Will we just drool over his wife Amanda?

what athletics bring to higher ed: U. Of Phoenix spends $100 M on ads for nat’l exposure. FGCU did the same thing for prob less than $100k

— Jordan Bell (@jmichaelbell) March 23, 2013

jim delany isn’t going to miss out on the next florida gulf coast so expect a formal offer to devry university on tuesday

— Martin Rickman (@martinrickman) March 25, 2013

Verdict still out on Strayer and Everest RT @jmoney_1914: We now know that ICDC, Phoenix, Argosy, and FGCU are not in the same conference.

— Django 2Chained (@_TR3Y_) March 25, 2013

Following the win, the most competitive pissing match was to see who could come up with the most retweeted play on words. A collection of the ones I could bear to read…

@mattnorlander So they’ve officially signed the Dunklaration of Independence?

— Chase from GYERO (@Chase_TCP) March 25, 2013

H/T on “Florida GIF Coast” to about 17 people on twitter. That’s outstanding DANCING: is.gd/1O7u6A DUNKING: is.gd/xYH5Vz

— Jason McIntyre (@TheBigLead) March 25, 2013

The FGCU website server actually lobs the information to your computer.

— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) March 25, 2013

It’s like FGCU is shooting the ball into the ocean. From its dorms.

— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) March 25, 2013

FGCU crowd chanting “Dunk City.” So surreal. Now “Sweet 16”

— Pete Thamel(@SIPeteThamel) March 25, 2013

Oh… and… Tunechi. He got involved too.

How kome Florida Gulf Coast didn’t have any plays on Sportscenter top ten plays?!!1 of those lobs should’ve made it!

— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) March 23, 2013

Marquette Draws America’s Ire

Forget Duke. Somehow the Marquette Golden Eagles have become the team America loves to hate, after squeaking past two non-power conference teams America has grown to love over the past five years. Buzz Williams’ team advanced to its third straight Sweet Sixteen over the weekend, but it took a bit of luck and last second heroics to get past both Davidson and Butler, and nobody is forgetting that.

Seriously, stop Marquette. -America

— Shane Ryan (@ShaneRyanHere) March 24, 2013

DIE MARQUETTE DIE

— TheUConnBlog (@theuconnblog) March 24, 2013

Marquette is like a cat. Always seem to land on their feet. Nine lives.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 24, 2013

A chick dumped Josh Smith to date Davante Gardner because he’s low maintenance. #Probably

— Run the Floor (@RunTheFloor) March 24, 2013

The Golden Eagles are the epitome of “survive and advance.” Two wins, a three-point total margin of victory, and one sloppy play after another in the game’s final minutes (save Vander Blue’s smooth left handed lay-in with seconds remaining to down the Wildcats).

This. RT @ericlilly7 No one in college can 1) Inbounds the ball and 2) get off a quality final shot

— Brian Otskey (@botskey) March 24, 2013

Why did they have to have Verbal Kent shoot the final shot?

— Ben Swain (@thedevilwolf) March 24, 2013

Do you like late-game execution? Too bad!

— SB Nation (@sbnation) March 24, 2013

Aaron Craft Goes Iso, Defeats ISU

After Aaron Craft went dagger on Iowa State, all of the following tweets were published within seven seconds of each other. I counted.

Aaron Craft can’t shoot. LOL.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) March 24, 2013

Killa Craft.

— Evan Silva (@evansilva) March 24, 2013

lol

— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) March 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/raphiellej/status/315893271698239490

Nevermind

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) March 24, 2013

Austin Rivers nods in approval.

— Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) March 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/DaveKrupinski/status/315893308482256897

CRAFT. ONIONS.

— Adam Rowe (@DukeHoopBlog) March 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/Peter_R_Casey/status/315893413436338176

https://twitter.com/eamonnbrennan/status/315893423695597568

ALSDJFL;ADJFL;AJFL;ADSJFL;ADSFJ

— Shane Ryan (@ShaneRyanHere) March 24, 2013

AARON CRAFT!!!! #GoBucks

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 24, 2013

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/315893542419591168

Game: blouses.

Thanks to Kentucky’s follies, we have to open this up by paying a bit of attention to the NIT.

I’m sure Cal will encourage Harrow to go pro in something other than sports.

— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) March 20, 2013

OK we good? Got that out of your system? We can’t let them completely hijack this post. Moving on.

Georgetown is a Joke

In a year where we were all afraid that there would be absolutely insanity, where the unpredictable would reign supreme, and your bracket would be in the toilet by Friday afternoon, we actually got something we can rely on: John Thompson III laying an egg in the NCAA Tournament.

Fact = Hoyas have lost 4 years in a row to a DOUBLE DIGIT SEED!FGCU – NCST -VCU -OHIO =OUCH

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) March 23, 2013

Seriously. Vitale may be the master of the obvious, but it there are not enough ALL CAPS on your keyboard to use when talking about how bad Georgetown has been in recent NCAA Tournaments.

It’s going to be interesting to watch Georgetown fans document their lunch when all they can eat is a bowl of failure and tears.

— TheUConnBlog (@theuconnblog) March 23, 2013

FGCU’s coach married a hot woman that he met while he was working on Wall Street? He’s living the Georgetown dream!

— Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) March 23, 2013

“You know, I also got into Stanford.” – every Georgetown grad tonight

— sir broosk (@celebrityhottub) March 23, 2013

“I don’t wanna be the number 1 pick”- Otto Porter and Marcus Smart

— Stannis Baratheon (@actionpollock) March 23, 2013

Something gotta change

— Austin Freeman (@_SugarFree5) March 23, 2013

Following the loss, many Syracuse fans shared a beer, and then a huge, breathless belly laugh.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

— Hoya Suxa (@HoyaSuxa) March 23, 2013

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA [lost to a school that probably doesn’t exist] HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

— Hoya Suxa (@HoyaSuxa) March 23, 2013

[breathes]

— Hoya Suxa (@HoyaSuxa) March 23, 2013

But on the other side of the upset, Florida Gulf Coast University, which has only been eligible for the NCAA Tournament for four years, and was founded in 1991 (think about that, very bizarre) celebrated while Twitter played jokes on their “famous alum” and a made up mission statement.

Timeline’s full of folks mocking Florida GC. Seems like the target should be the high seed they’re crushing.

— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelCBS) March 23, 2013

The Eagles received a lot of low blows last night. We won’t share those here. They won; the Hoyas lost, thus the joke is on the underachieving, established basketball program.

Marshall Henderson Wins a Tournament Game

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Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent. He has been at the Big East Tournament this week taking in all of the action. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.

Austin Croshere. That name evokes the first true memory I have of Big East basketball.  I’m not even making this up for effect.

It was 1995. My family had finally taken the plunge and signed up for, that’s right, cable television. I was young. Third or fourth grade, and nearly all of my college basketball consumption to date was through March Madness on CBS. I really liked Duke, but I also really didn’t know any better. Then when the number of available channels on my family’s living room television ballooned from five to 55, I became exposed to a whole new world. Most importantly for the development of my nascent mind: Championship Week.

Louisville, Your 2013 Big East Champions

In that year’s Big East Tournament, Austin Croshere was a sophomore role player at Providence College. The Friars were the defending champions, but had lost key players from a season before and limped into Madison Square Garden with a 7-11 conference record. In the Friars’ quarterfinal game against Syracuse, the first sporting event broadcast on cable in my home, Croshere produced an unforgettable performance. He scored a career-high 28 points – 18 of those in the game’s final 10 minutes – and led the Friars to a dramatic upset overtime victory. The New York Post‘s Howard Blatt called Croshere “an outrageous force” in his game recap. It was truly mesmerizing theater, and something you couldn’t have watched on channels 6, 8 or 13.

On its proverbial headstone, the now old Big East Conference should have an epitaph that is something along the lines of “Never be the same again.” For me, its existence began with Austin Croshere, and ended with Montrezl Harrell. Live, right in front of me. A moment in time where I actually believe I was in the center of the universe.

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