Weekend Dump

There really is nothing for you to do today other than watch college basketball. You should catch up on all the links now because Sunday and Monday are going to be owned by the NFL.

- A great-read (non-hoops-related) on the growth of ESPN's media platforms and what we can expect from the World Wide Leader in the near future

- Gary Parrish looks ahead to a robust weekend of college hoops

- Seth Davis projects the forecast for this weekend's games. But with a 4-6 record last week, I'm not too sure you should take his picks to the bank

- Eric Angevine wonders what happened to Conference-USA? Early on, the conference looked to have a break-out season, with as many as three or four teams making the tournament, but with the collapse of UCF, it looks like the conference is Memphis' for the taking

- Jason King opens up the viewer mailbag. he answers questions regarding ranking the top teams int eh country and what teams can do to avoid late-season letdowns. King also fills us in on the SEC race and Alabama's surprising conference play

Jeff Eisenberg details the interesting relationship that has formed between Steve Lavin and the man who fired him at UCLA

- Mike DeCourcy explains why freshman T.J. McConnell has played a big part in Duquesne's rise to power in the Atlantic-10

- Ken Pomeroy assesses the worth of suspended-Michigan State guard Korie Lucious. The Spartans are 1-2 without Lucious and their one win came against Indiana in overtime. Speaking of Korie Lucious, he will be visiting Iowa State next week. The cyclones seem to love Big-Ten transfers. Lucious' former-teammate Chris Allen transferred there at the beginning of the season, as well as former-Golden Gopher Royce White. Chris Babb, a former Penn State forward, also plays for ISU.

- Chris Dobbertean gives us his first Bubble Watch of the month of February

- No charges will be filled in the rape case involving a Washington Huskie basketball player. This is very similar to what happened with the accused rape by two Michigan State players back in August

- UNC guard Larry Drew II is reportedly leaving the UNC team and will transfer. Eamonn Brennan believes this decision was ill-timed, and well, it was. Mike DeCourcy explains that Drew's father has given his son his blessing

- Keegan Hyland transferred from Gonzaga to Vermont in the early winter, but reports indicate that Hyland has now left Vermont and has stopped taking classes

- Kyrie Irving finally got his cast off yesterday. It is still uncertain if he will be able to play at all this season

- Kansas' Tyrell Reed has a foot injury but it doesn't look like he will miss any time

- Austin Hollins is a freshmna for Minnesota. His father, Lionel, coaches for the Memphis Grizzlies and hates going to his son's games because they are boring

- Eric Angevine gives some love to Digital Hoops Blast

- Seton Hall got a commitment from six-foot-ten center Isaiah Hill

- Utah State finds themselves atop the WAC standings, in the top-25, and on the bubble. Sounds like last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

- An entertaining-read on why Cal fans hate Steve Lavin

- Rush The Court checks in on the Sun Belt Conference, the Patriot League, the Atlantic Sun Conference, the Horizon League, the Big South conference, and the Big-12 Conference

- A preview of the Big-12 weekend for teams searching for at-large bids

- A statistical comparison analysis of the two Big-12 contenders

- Some good tidbits on the Colonial Athletic Conference standings

- Auburn is not very good this season, but Tony Barbee knows it's a very large work-in-progress to get the Tigers back to national prominence

- Louisville will honor their 1986 National Championship team at halftime of their February 12th game against Syracuse

- Jame Madison set the world record for the largest game of knock-out


Game Previews

- Alabama at Tennessee (Roll Bama Roll, Alabama Basketball Blog)

- Arizona at California (Cal Golden Blogs)

- Butler at Cleveland State (Victory Firelight)

- Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Cardiac Hill, Pitt Blather, Down the Drive)

- Colorado at Missouri (Rock M Nation)

- Dayton at La Salle (Blackburn Review)

- Evansville at Creighton (White and Blue Review)

- George Washington at Charlotte (Green Tinted Glasses)

- Iowa at Indiana (The Crimson Quarry)

- Illinois at Northwestern (Hail to the Orange)

- Kansas at Nebraska (Rock Chalk Talk)

- Kentucky at Florida (Wildcat Thunder Blog)

- Oakland at IUPUI (Golden Grizzlies Gameplan)

- Old Dominion at George Mason (George Mason Hoops)

- Providence at Georgetown (Casual Hoya)

- St. John's at UCLA (Rumble in the Garden)

- Saint Louis at Xavier (Dana and Victory)

- South Caronlina at Vanderbilt (Anchor of Gold)

- Syracuse at South Florida (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician, Voodoo Five)

- Virginia Tech at Boston College (Tech Hoops)

- Wake Forest at Florida State (Blogger So Dear)

- West Virginia at Villanova (The Smoking Musket, VU Hoops)