Tuesday Morning Dump

- No better way to start your week than with Gary Parrish's Poll Attacks

- This isn't hoops related but it's a must-read. Michael Wilbon bids farewell to the Washington Post. I grew up reading Wilbon every morning while I ate my cereal. We will still see and hear him and even read his thoughts, only now it will come under the banner of the World Wide Leader.

- Yup, Kenpom's player stats are up. Enjoy wasting three hours of your day. I already did. PS -- 10,000 bonus points if you can name the country's leader in Offensive Rating (Hint: its not Kemba Walker)

- One sure-fire way to keep games close, regardless of conference affiliation, is to limit the number of turnovers. Butler did so and nearly walked away with the National Championship. Kyle Whelliston takes a look at some schools trying to follow Butler's blueprint

- Seth Davis sat down with John Adams, the NCAA supivosr of Officials in order to get to the bottom of the issues involving suspect refereeing this year.

- Jeff Goodman notes that USC may be better than we expected. After beating Texas on Sunday, the Trojans seem to be progressing quicker than we thought

- The must-watch game of the night features Michigan State and Syracuse facing-off against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic. How will the Spartans do against the 2-3 zone of Syracuse?. Syracuse freshman center Fab Melo has a sore achilles

- Kentucky and Indiana go head-to-head this Saturday in an interesting match-up. Clearly Kentucky is the more talented squad, but Tom Crean believes that his team can beat the wildcats. If they do so, it would be the first win for Indiana at Rupp Arena since 1988

- Minnesota is in their easiest stretch of schedule this year, with games against St. Joseph's, Eastern Kentucky, Akron, and South Dakota State in front of them. That's a good thing considering they are playing without Al Nolen

- After a tough trip to Maui, the Spartans are starting to play more consistant basketball. But still, travel and lingering injuries are slowing them, down

- Kentucky already has two losses on their record, something they didn't have until the final day of February last season. But nonetheless, March Madness is a long ways away and there are four reasons why the Wildcats can still win it all

- Three of the most distinguished coaches in college basketball sit down and discuss the differences and similarities in title contenders and give their predictions for the season

- Former Marquette head coach Hank Raymonds lost his battle with cancer this week. He passed away on Monday at the age of 86

- UNC might not be playing at the level they hoped for, but they are playing better than they were at this point last year, and they are coming off a big home win against a ranked opponent. That is enough to make Roy Williams smile (or atleast it should be enough)

- There are so many numbers to digest in college basketball. Luckily the ESPN college basketball nation blog gives us a list of the numbers we need to know

- In order to fill an arena, you need to win games. If you play in the Big East, this is very hard to do, especially if you are Rutgers. But students stay optimistic about the future

- Why does Oregon State have to continually remind us that they suck? Seriously, a lot of bad teams coast through non-con schedules before revealing during conference play that they actually suck. But Oregon State can't make it to Christmas without losing to middling mid-majors

- Finally, the perfect explanation as to why Purdue is struggling (and it has nothing to do with Robbie Hummel being injured. OK, maybe it does.)

- College Chalk Talk provides a glimpse into the life of the coaching staff at Florida Gulf Coast

- Florida's Kenny Boynton is not shooting particularly well from behind the arc. In fact, his 3-pt percentage is the lowest it's ever been at Florida. Despite this, Billy Donovan is sure that Boynton will shoot out of his slump

- Man, it looks like somebody doesn't like Brady Morningstar. Personally I never really understood why he played that much either. But I'm not about to write 500 words about it

- Up to this point in the season, Kyrie Irving has to be the front-runner for Freshman of the Year, right? But how would his skills translate to the pros? Ed Isaacson from the NBA draft blog scouts Irving's talents

- Miss any Big East action from the weekend? The NBE has you covered

- I don't get it, I was a college athlete AND I needed special assistance, yet I received none of this free money or free benefits

- Would Kentucky be any better if Perry Stevenson had been redshirted and able to play this season?

- Speaking of Kentucky, what exactly went wrong in Chapel Hill? A Sea of Blue gives four detail explanations