Friday foursome.

Here’s my look at some of the storylines and scorelines from yesterday and today, with thre focus once again on the hardwood.

Heat Lose 15th Straight: Not very much is going right for the Heat, outside of the fact that they’re heading for a top 5 pick in this summer‘s draft.

Miami has taken their share of beatings this season, but it might be a lot more painful to have a win right in your grasp and let it slip away.

That was the case last night, when the Heat went into the fourth quarter with a 72-65 lead over the tired Spurs, and watched it disappear in what ended up being a 90-89 loss, their 15th straight.

D-Wade had 27 points, 6 boards, and 9 assists, and Mark Blount went for 23, but that wasn’t enough to break the slide. They need scorers, depth, and a time machine, to take them back to two seasons ago, or ahead to next season.

One of my old roommates from college is a passionate Heat fan, so I imagine he’s not too pleased right now. He was prone to tantrums when things weren‘t going well with his teams, so I hope his furniture is okay.

‘Zona Knocks off Wazzu: Arizona didn’t get off to a great start in Pac-10 play, losing three of their first four games to drop to 11-6.

But, the Wildcats are on a mini-streak, having won two in a row, including a 76-64 win over #6 Washington St., in which they buried a dozen from behind the line, and handed the Cougars their first double-digit loss in more than two years.

It’s too early to say that their NCAA hopes are fully alive again though. After hosting Washington tomorrow, ‘Zona has to go to USC and UCLA next week, before welcoming rival Arizona St., who they lost to 64-59 two weeks ago.

There aren’t any real gimmes in the conference this season, besides Oregon St., who’s 6-13 overall and 0-7 in conference thus far, and has lost nine in a row.

Musketeers shoot down Flyers: Dayton has been pretty hot stuff all season long, but they were ice cold last night in a blowout loss at Xavier.

The Flyers scored only 18 points in the first half, and shot only 30% from the field in the game.

Dayton has dropped their last two games, but should get back on track against Richmond and St.
Louis in the next week.

As for Xavier, the Musketeers have won eight of nine, and are sitting atop the conference at 4-1.

Player of the Night honors might have to go Xavier’s Stanley Burrell (no relation to MC Hammer), who scored 13 points to lead his team, and more importantly, held Dayton’s Brian Roberts, who was averaging 20 points per game (and nearly 24 in his last six, with two 30-point games), to only five points

Tiger’s back on the prowl: Well, if Tiger Woods was a little rusty, he’s certainly not showing it.

On the same day that Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman returned to work after her two-week suspension for her lynching comment in reference to him, Tiger shot a 67, two shots behind leader Troy Matteson.

He’s followed it up thus far today by shooting 6-under through his first 14 holes, and is atop the leaderboard by three shots. New year, same old Tiger.

Thursday tidbits.

From Baylor to Brady, here’s a look back at some of the storylines and scorelines from Wednesday.

‘96 Bulls Can Rest Easy: After a 114-112 overtime loss to the Raptors last night, the Celtics dropped to a modest 33-7 on the season. It was their fourth loss in the last eight games, so they’re coming back down to earth, if only slightly.

72-10 might be out of reach now, because it’s hard to see them going 39-3 over the rest of the season (then again, 29-3 was as well). But 60 to 65 wins is pretty realistic, and that should be more than enough to get them the #1 seed in the East.

Current Bulls Yo-Yoing Continues: Speaking of the Bulls, after following up a 16-point win over Detroit with a 14-point loss to Memphis, Chicago knocked off Indiana 108-95 last night to go to 17-24. It was the first game of a four-game homestand for the Bulls, right before a six-game road trip that starts next Wednesday at Minnesota.

Last night’s win came without Ben Gordon (wrist) and Luol Deng (Achilles), but Kirk Hinrich picked up the slack with 38 points. Just as notably, Joakim Noah got his most action thus far, and produced, going for 14 points and 15 boards in 34 minutes.

If Deng’s out for a few weeks, and Gordon keeps on being bothered by his wrist, the Bulls are going to need those guys to keep on stepping up if they want to harbor any thoughts of getting to and over .500 anytime soon.

Still, when it’s all said and done, it’d be a surprise to not see them in the playoffs.

Cleveland Puts a Spell on the Wizards: The Cavaliers laid the wood on Washington last night with a 121-85 beating.

It was only 52-46 Cleveland at halftime, but the Cavs completely dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Wizards 43-17.

Cleveland had 39 assists and only six turnovers last night - that’s an NBA record, dating back to when turnovers became an official stat 30 years ago.

Baylor’s Bearing Down on a Big Dance Berth: I’ve got to give some love to the Baylor hoopsters, who celebrated their #25 ranking by going to College Station and beating Texas A&M 116-110 - in five overtimes.

The Bears have already surpassed their win total from last season (15-16), and have their most wins since the 2000-01 NIT team went 19-12. And, with their 4-0 start in conference play, they’re tied atop the Big 12 standings with Kansas. Whether or not they can actually stay there, we’ll find out soon, when they have to play Texas and Kansas over the next few weeks.

But, they’re looking all the more like a team to watch out for come March, not for the NIT, but for the Big Dance.

After all that program has gone through, you can’t help but root for them, even if you’re a fan of a rival school.

As of now, Scott Drew is hands-down the National Coach of the Year.

Brady’s Injury Non-Issue: Okay, can people stop trying to make an issue out of Tom Brady and the walking boot?

Yes, he may have an ankle injury, I’m not disputing that fact. But, here’s the one fact that should prevail: Brady will play against the Giants, and even if he’s in pain, he will gut it out, and lead his team. So, it’s pretty pointless to ask Belichick about the injury, or try to track down Brady, or the person who gave him the boot.

I’m not a Patriots fan in the least, but this much I do know - unless Brady’s legs are broken, he’s not missing the game. Hell, even if his legs were broken, he’d wheel himself under center and probably still do better than a lot of QBs would if they were upright.

Shock Saturday on the hardwood.

It happens sooner or later in the college hoops season, that one day or week where we see upset after upset after upset.

It didn’t take long for conference play to get going for that to happen, as seven top-25 teams were upset on Saturday, and eight total lost, with Duke beating Clemson.

Three top-10 teams lost, with the biggest of them being #1 UNC going down 82-80 at home to a Maryland team that had come in only 10-7 and not really scaring the pants off of anyone heading into the Dean Dome.

That one was actually one of the least surprising of the upsets, because the Tar Heels had cut it close a couple of times recently, needing a late three to knock off Clemson in OT a couple of weeks ago, and only edged Georgia Tech by one point earlier in the week.

As offensively sound as UNC is, with 80 or more points in 17 of their 19 games and boasting one of the highest-scoring teams in the country, the same can’t be said defensively, at least not lately, giving up 88 to Clemson, 81 to UNC-Asheville, and then 82 to GT and Maryland.

USC dropped their first three conference games, but their at-large hopes are looking a whole lot better after two wins in a row, with their 72-63 ‘road’ upset of archrival UCLA giving them the marquee win - and some huge momentum and confidence - they need to get back into NCAA tourney contention.

Texas A&M didn’t look like a top 10 team this week, getting whipped in consecutive road games at Texas Tech (68-53 on Wed.) and Kansas St. (75-54 on Sat.). Four words for first-year coach Mark Turgeon, that he may be quite aware of with these two humbling defeats - It’s the Big 12!

The rest of the upsets, with the exception of Arizona St.’s 15-point loss at Stanford, which isn’t as much of an upset as it is a reality check of sorts for the Sun Devils. ASU had won their first four Pac-10 games (including wins over Oregon and Arizona) and were on their way to a fifth straight win, with a 10-point halftime lead over the Cardinal, until Stanford outscored them 47-22 in the second half for a 67-52 win.

The rest of the upsets: Cincinnati 62, Pitt 59; Auburn 80, Ole Miss 77; and N.C. State 79, Miami 77 (OT).

It wasn’t really a good week overall for a lot of the top teams, as 15 top-25 teams lost this week (Georgetown, Butler, Marquette, Dayton, Vanderbilt, Xavier, and Rhode Island were the others). As for the three ranked A-10 teams going down, well, I told you the A-10 was deep!

So, the new rankings will look quite a bit different, especially at the top, where Memphis will be the new #1, Kansas the new #2, and Tennessee likely the new #3 in the AP poll, and possibly Duke occupying that spot in the Coaches’ Poll.

Which upset am I happiest about? Well, that one’s a no-brainer! Ole Miss’ loss to Auburn gives Mississippi State - winners of eight in a row, and four in a row to start SEC play - a two-game lead atop the SEC West standings.

The two tangle in Starkville next week, so if you’re able to catch it (it’ll be on FSN, I believe), do so, because it should be a good one.

Invoking memories of the peach basket days.

Okay, I know I said in my hoops article that if you want to see exciting basketball, watch the A-10.

And, that was very true on Wednesday night, with two high-scoring affairs between Dayton and Rhode Island (92-83 Dayton) and St. Joseph’s and Umass (98-92 St. Joe’s), and a three-overtime nail biter between Richmond and LaSalle, along with Charlotte‘s 82-72 upset of top-20 Clemson.

So, I suppose that a letdown tonight was inevitable, huh?

There are 36 D-I hoopsters currently averaging 20 or more points thus far this season, and tonight, the Saint Louis Billikens could have used one of them, or their former star Larry Hughes, as they bricked time and again against George Washington.

The brick parade started a little over a minute into the game, as Barry Eberhardt missed a layup.

Nearly 39 minutes and 47 shots later, the Billikens had made the net swish an abysmal seven times, in the process setting a D-I post-shot clock record in hardwood futility with 20 points in a 49-20 loss to George Washington.

No, Scott Linehan wasn’t on the sideline, but if he was in the building, he might be banned after tonight.

They got on the board with a free throw 5:44 into the game, but didn’t make their first shot until the 11:32 mark, when they had their hot streak for the night, hitting on three of four shots.
Then they got cold again, not hitting another shot for the last 8:39 of the first half, with GW going on a 12-0 run to take a 25-7 lead at the break.

The second half didn’t go much better, as they managed only a free throw in the first 9:21 of the half until Luke Meyer’s layup made it 36-10, as the Colonials went on a 23-1 run spanning 18 minutes.

Their last points came with 2:56 left on a free throw by Anthony Mitchell, which made it 47-20. The two-point conversion pass was no good, unfortunately, and they failed to recover the onside kick.

The Colonials added a safety to round out the scoring, and, wait…wrong sport.

Now, I won’t rag on the Billikens too much, because Rick Majerus didn’t inherit any big-time scorers the likes of Hughes or Keith Van Horn when he took over from Brad Soderberg, who was fired despite a 20-win season last year. Even before tonight, SLU was last in the A-10 in scoring at 59.8 points per game.

And, it’s not as if the defense did a terrible job, holding GW to 49 points, lowering their points allowed mark to 57.3 per game for the season.

Just as quickly as they’re the butt of jokes tonight, they could be in the spotlight for all the right reasons in the next week if they can upset either top-20s Dayton and Rhode Island, with both games at home.

However, with the #17 Flyers (73.1 points per game) and the Rams (83.6 PPG) having engaged in a 92-83 showdown on Wednesday night (a Dayton win), the Billikens are going to have to a) continue to play great defense, and b) score more than 20 points in each half, if they want to have a chance at winning.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, the A-10’s leading scorers, Dionte Christmas of Temple and Gary Forbes of UMass were averaging 21.1 and 20.9 points coming into Thursday.

2007-08 college hoops cliff notes.

For the past few months, many college sports fans have been wrapped up into college football season, but with only one game left (not counting the postseason all-star games like the Senior Bowl) on the schedule, it’s time to look ahead on the schedule.

An entire two months has already gone by in the current college basketball season, and a lot has happened in that time. So, I thought I’d help out those who’ve been occupied by the gridiron, and catch you up to speed on what’s been happenin’ in hoops so far.

How are last season’s Final Four teams faring? National champion Florida has gotten off to a 13-2 start under refocused new old coach Billy Donovan, but are unranked and have an RPI of 127 (according to CBS Sports’ site) due to the #302 schedule in the country. Their two losses have come in their toughest games (65-51 to Florida St., 62-49 to Ohio St.). As for the Buckeyes, last season’s runner-up, they’re 11-3 (2-0 Big Ten) - there’s wins over UF and Syracuse, but losses to North Carolina, Butler, and Texas A&M.

The other two teams, Georgetown and UCLA, are both well in the top 10. The #7/#8 Hoyas are 11-1, with their lone loss coming to #2 Memphis on Dec. 22 (85-71). #5 UCLA, meanwhile, is 14-1, with their one loss coming against Texas at home (63-61 on Dec.2). However, the Bruins aren’t even the highest-ranked team in the Pac-10 (keep reading to find out who is).

The state of Tennessee is having a pretty nice season: While Memphis is off to an expected unbeaten start, and could very well head into the NCAA tournament unbeaten, the Tigers aren’t the only unbeaten school in Tennessee, as Vanderbilt is off to a 15-0 start, which has the Commodores creeping up on the top 10. That’s where John Calipari’s team finds themselves (#2) and so do Bruce Pearl and Tennessee (#8 AP, #9 Coaches), with the additions of transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince helping the Vols to a 12-1 start after an 82-72 win at Gonzaga.

The A-10 is sexy again: The East’s ‘other’ big conference hasn’t looked this good since John Chaney still wanted to kill Calipari, and Jim Harrick was only somewhat violating NCAA rules.

Temple’s far from what they were for many years under Chaney, and recent A-10 dominator George Washington is struggling, but thanks to a quartet of Big Dance-worthy squads, it’s happy times in the A-10 + 4.

Xavier and Rhode Island were picked to be the leaders of the pack, and both are backing it up right now, as the Musketeers are off to a 12-3 start. In their last three games, they’ve recorded wins of 26, 38, and 23 points over the likes of Kansas St., Virginia, and Auburn to help break into the top 25.

The Rams (14-1) haven’t been this good since Harrick was working after-hours with an athletic office secretary and Lamar Odom, Cuttino Mobley, and Tyson Wheeler were almost as big as Rhode Island itself. URI has won at Syracuse and Boston College, and is ranked #20 in the newest coaches' poll.

As for the other two, they were picked to be in the middle of the pack, but have been anything but so far.

Dayton (12-1) raised some eyebrows when they went into Freedom Hall and knocked off #14 Louisville. But a 25-point win at unbeaten and #6 ranked Pitt? The Flyers have won 11 in a row
and are soaring up the rankings, coming in at 17th in the most recent AP poll.

The Minutemen of UMass have shot down some pretty impressive foes on the way to an 11-3 start, matching Rhode Island with wins at Syracuse and BC. They could have broken into the rankings with a win at 14-0 Vandy on Saturday, but the ‘Dores fought back from an early double-digit deficit to win 97-88.

If you want some exciting, high-scoring hoops, tune in to the A-10 - Duquesne (10-3) is averaging more than 88 points per game, with UMass at 85, and Rhode Island close to 84, and Xavier at 81.

Rhode Island at Dayton this Wednesday. Catch it if you can, 'cause it's going to be a good one.

Texas is doing pretty well without Kevin Durant: With Durant’s one-man shows last season, Texas was only a second-round team in the NCAA tourney.

Without him? A 13-2 start and a top-10 ranking. The Longhorns’ only two losses came to Michigan St. and Wisconsin, the latter a last-second, 67-66 defeat at the hands of the Badgers. Texas has dealt Tennessee and UCLA their only losses of the season, and just took upstart St. Mary’s to school on Saturday.

It’s not out of line to say so, but they’re much better off without Durant, because when you have someone of his amazing talents, you can start to become a little over-reliant on that one person, and that doesn’t always work, as was the case at times last season.

Thank you, Billy Gillispie, from Mark Turgeon: While Kentucky is bumbling, stumbling, and fumbling their way to a 6-7 start - you know something’s wrong when the football team’s record tops the hoopsters in Lexington - Gillispie’s former school, Texas A&M, has gotten off to a 14-1 start under former Wichita St. head man Turgeon.

Is Washington St. a pretender or contender? Washington St. made a lot of waves last season, when they went 25-8 (13-5 Pac-10), made the second round of the NCAA tourney, and were ranked as high as #12. This season, the #4 Cougars (no, that’s not a misprint) are the highest-ranked Pac-10 team (yes, ahead of UCLA), with their 14-0 start including wins at Gonzaga and Washington. We’ll see just how good they are in the next week, as they face a daunting trip down south to LA, to face USC then UCLA.

Speaking of contenders, is Ole Miss one? As a Mississippi State fan, it’s not particularly pleasant for me to see the Rebels doing so well in a sport that the Bulldogs should be better in. While MSU has finally started pulling it together, winning four in a row after a 5-5 start, Andy Kennedy has had the Rebs kickin’ tail from the get-go, as they’re 13-0 entering SEC play.

Ole Miss’ signature win is an 85-82 win over current #18 Clemson in the San Juan Shootout title game, a win that put them into the top 25. They also have wins over quality mid-majors South Alabama and Winthrop, and also beat Steve Alford’s New Mexico team, who’s 14-2 right now. There’s also a win over DePaul (also in San Juan) that looks really, really good at the moment because of the Blue Demons’ upset of Villanova on Thursday, even though DePaul is 6-7, thanks in large part to an early-season slate that saw them play Ole Miss, Clemson, Kansas, and Vanderbilt.

So, who’s the nation’s best team? Is it North Carolina? The Tar Heels are ranked #1, but barely, as they needed a last-second three from sharp-shooting Wayne Ellington (36 points) to beat Clemson in OT on Sunday. Memphis is #2, but have the most impressive ledger thus far - and need it, considering things are going to get significantly weaker once they hit C-USA play - as they have wins over Oklahoma, USC, Georgetown, Arizona, and Connecticut, all by 10 points or more. Or is it 14-0 Kansas? The Jayhawks have passed their toughest tests (Arizona, USC, Georgia Tech), but have cut it close in each one.

I’ll go with Memphis, because they’ve been the most impressive up to this point. But, only time will tell if the Tigers have what it takes to replicate regular-season results in March, when it really matters.

Any questions? Oh, before I forget - watch Michael Beasley (Kansas St.), Eric Gordon (Indiana), O.J. Mayo (USC), and Derrick Rose (Memphis) while you can, because those guys are good, and won't be long for the college game.