Thursday Morning Dump

- Terrific read from Dana O'Neil on Kyrie Irving and his best friend from high school, who nearly died with the same illness that Hank Gathers had.

- Matt Norlander describes the Morris family reunion that took place at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Kansas' twin duo of Marcus and Markieff Morris combined to shoot 14-of-22 from the field, score 30 points and grab 15 rebounds in the Jayhawks 81-68 victory over Memphis

- Jummer Fredette has his homecoming game in Glen Falls, NY against Vermont. BYU won and Fredette was once again the star. He had a game-high 26-points and soaked in the raucous ovation


- You probably don't know when Andrew Nicholson is. Well the junior forward for St. Bonaventure's has hit a buzzer-beater in each of his last two games. Now you know.

- Jeff Goodman gives out his nightly awards

- Seth Davis explains to puzzled readers why Pitt could finally make it to the Final-Four this year. Davis has four key reasons why this could be the Panthers year

- If you don't already know, Josh Selby will be eligible to play for the Jayhakws starting on December 18th, when they host USC. Jeff Goodman explains why that is when the the Final Four push will begin for Kansas. The Jayhawker responds to Goodman's article

- Goodman also chimes in on a fantastic new idea called the Champions Classic. I'm already on Craigslist looking to sublet apartments for next Fall. College Basketball Talk has more on this ingenius idea. Gary Parrish believes this could be the season opening event that we all were hoping for

- Gary Parrish also explains why Syracuse's Rick Jackson has been playing so well this season, especially his monster performance against Michigan State on Tuesday night. As always, an entertaining read.

- Kyle Whelliston details why Valparasio has hope for now and hope for the future. The Crusaders lost to in-state rivals Purdue on Tuesday night, but the game was close, and it's not too long before Valpo starts winning these types of games.

- For the first time in the 90-year-history of the San Diego State basketball program, the Aztecs are 9-0. They achieved this feat by defeating the reigning Pac-10 champions, the Cal bears 77-55

- A great-read on Penn State's star-player-slash-team-leader Talor Battle and his determination to succeed in his senior year. Battle temporarily lost the love for the game after last summer when he entered his name into the NBA draft pool. (note: I absolutely love this kid's game. He's a stud, and he works extremely hard. Penn State stinks, but he has carried the entire program on his back for the past four seasons. I had a chance to cover a couple of Penn State games and watch him play live, and he is a joy to watch)

- Michigan State has already lost three games. yes they were all against tough competition, but three early losses can be hard to swallow. But then again, look at the result Michigan has had in the spring. I would think that you accept the losses if it means continuous late-season runs

- In 2009, two Detroit area men were accused of betting $407,000 on Toledo basketball games in 2005 and 2006. Six former Toledo athletes were charged with conspiracy. A federal prosecutor in Detroit says he expects guilty pleas from the former athletes. The more important question -- why the hell would anyone bet on a Toledo basketball game?

- Rock Chalk Talk put together a good round-table discussion on the state of the I-70 Trifecta. Otherwise known as Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri

- Long Beach State coach Dan Monson got ejected from Tuesday's game against Utah State just five minutes in to the contest. Apparently, he was upset because some Utah State players were taunting his bench. Monson left the coach's square, which is an automatic technical foul, then received another one for arguing with officials.


- Is St. John's a tournament team? I'm not sure, and neither is Brian Nash, who took over Jeff Goodman's blog

- Jerry Trickie of College Chalk Talk explains why early-season efficiency is hard to come by. After all, there are 347 D-I programs and not all of them can be as good as Kansas. I wish that was possible, but unfortunately it's not.

- Kentucky Sports Radio has a good breakdown of the Big East teams participating in the Big East/SEC Invitational. It's no ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but the Invitational is certainly better than the Pac-10/Big-12 Hardwood Classic

- Speaking of Kentucky, 2011 recruiting class standout DeAndre Daniels will be visiting Lexington this weekend

- A behind-the-numbers look at the Syracuse zone defense, courtesy of Rush The Court

- You can add Syracuse to the list of Final-Four contenders after watching Rick Jackson's performance on Tuesday

- An update on the Shots From The Heart contest

- We all know John Calipari is a good coach, but damn, look at some of his stats