Linebacker Erin Henderson announced today he will turn pro and give up his final year of eligibility at Maryland.

In terms of impact, it's fairly decent. In terms of shock, it's infinitesimal.

Henderson has a long history of injuries, and that no doubt played a role in his decision. He also has a degree in communications, so he's done as much as could be expected of him in the academic arena.

Henderson said last month the degree meant there would be fewer family pressures to stay. And given how much of an emphasis coach Ralph Friedgen places on a degree, there is little he can say when someone has that piece of paper in hand. He said as much last week in San Francisco, when he conceded Henderson was probably gone.

As for the impact in 2008, the Terps will have starters back at Sam (Moise Fokou) and Mike (Dave Philistin), as well as supersub Adrian Moten. Alex Wujciak will theoretically be back from his ACL tear to start somewhere, be it a traditional linebacker position or at Maryland's line-end option spot currently held down by Trey Covington.

Word is there could be a teleconference later this afternoon, and I'll pass along some details of what comes out that should it occur.

--- Patrick Stevens

Five intriguing outcomes from Wednesday night's games and their impact on the march to March:

1. Flying into double overtime: So how did Dayton celebrate slipping into the national rankings for the first time in a little more four years? By surviving a double-overtime scare against underrated Akron, which is halfway to its third straight 20-win season. The Flyers have stunned Louisville and Pittsburgh because of the work of senior guard Brian Roberts, but 6-foot-7 Zips forward Nate Linhart held him to 17 points in a 50-minute game. That's a tactic the potent Roberts might have to contend with for the rest of the season.

2. Houston has a problem: Tom Penders' Cougars have nothing to be ashamed of for losing 95-89 at Massachusetts. The Minutemen have certainly set themselves up as an Atlantic 10 contender and will give fits to the Xaviers, Daytons and Rhode Islands of the league. But Houston faces the exact same situation as Memphis -- the plight of a good team in a horrid league. Thing is, Memphis (a) is much, much better than Houston and (b) has loaded up a nonconference schedule of heavyweights. The Cougars are 11-2, but only have one victory over a team with a winning record against Division I opponents. Coming away empty-handed in Amherst did little to help that resume.

3. CAA leader -- J-M-WHO??: Yes, that really is James Madison looking down from the top of the CAA. The 9-3 Dukes are off to their best 12-game start since 1986-87, and it could have been even better if they could have outlasted Seton Hall in double overtime last month. Better still: Dean Keener's crew upended Virginia Commonwealth last night 62-61. Apparently, Keener (who has presided over three of JMU's seven straight losing seasons) took great pleasure in knocking off the defending league champ; according to the Harrisonburg Daily News Record, senior forward Terrance Carter was asked if he'd ever seen Keener so excited. "He ain't never had a reason to be," Carter replied.

4. Class of the WAC: Since 1984, the Western Athletic Conference has sent two or more teams to the NCAA tournament in all but one season (2003). That could become two seasons when March rolls around, though one team has a decent nonconference victory to its credit. That's Boise State (team motto: We're good in more than just football), which knocked off Brigham Young last week, have won nine of 10 and trounced San Jose State in its league opener. Nevada, New Mexico State and Utah State could all assume their usual places atop the WAC, but Boise State might just be there as well.

5. Salukis stuck in a Valley: Used to be you could count on Southern Illinois to be a standard bearer for mid-majors. Not this year, when seemingly everything imaginable has gone against the Salukis. They lost 61-51 last night to Drake, which dropped Southern to 6-7. Drake --- suddenly a Valley contender and maybe the best team in the state of Iowa --- had lost 17 straight to the Salukis, who are less than a week removed from having an upset of Butler taken away on a buzzer-beating heave from A.J. Graves. Sometimes, it's not your year; it sure seems like that's the case in Carbondale.

--- Patrick Stevens

With West Virginia revoking the interim tag from coach Bill Stewart, 16 of the 17 coaching vacancies in major college football are filled.

Some schools made quick hires (Navy by elevating Ken Niumatalolo). Some schools had drawn out processes that seemed never-ending and at times humiliating (hello, Michigan and Arkansas).

And the job that's still open ... is the first one that opened. Back in late October, Southern Methodist canned Phil Bennett, and the school is still looking for a replacement.

Of course, if they manage to land this guy, the wait will probably be worth it -- and give the post-death penalty Mustangs a chance to finally finish first at something positive.

--- Patrick Stevens

Five intriguing outcomes from Thursday night's games and their impact on the march to March:

1. All for one and one for all: Xavier lost a few games last month, but there's no question the Musketeers are playing with a little extra mojo now. This week alone, the X-Men have ripped apart Kansas State (103-77) and now Virginia (108-70) in Cincinnati. The latest evisceration was impressive on several levels, from the 61-30 halftime lead to the 21-for-30 shooting performance turned in over the first 17 minutes to the fact seven players scored in double figures and 10 had at least seven points -- and no one dropped more than 15 on the defenseless Cavaliers.

Xavier will head into A-10 play with victories over Indiana, K-State and Virginia. It's too early to be counting on an NCAA berth, but point guard Drew Lavender and the Musketeers are in great shape to be more than just a nuisance this March.

2. Villanova feeling blue: Jay Wright's Wildcats are young. And as such, they're probably going to be erratic. Sometimes both "up" and "down" will be in the same game, like last month when they overcame more than 30 minutes of sloppy play and erased a 21-point deficit against Louisiana State.

Then there's going to be times like last night, when Villanova stumbled at DePaul in a half-empty building. There's going to be nights Scottie Reynolds struggles. There's going to be nights the Wildcats shoot 6-for-26 from 3-point land.

But it won't happen much.

3. Davidson begins its surge: Few mid-majors had the allure of Davidson coming into the season. The core of the Wildcats' team was back, they had a charismatic scorer in sophomore Stephen Curry and a schedule that provided chances to pull a signature upset (North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, N.C. State).

Well, Davidson lost all of those games. But big deal. It's still probably the best team in the Southern Conference, as its rout of Georgia Southern helped demonstrate last night (Chattanooga might have something to say about that when it visits Belk Arena on Jan. 19). Curry raced past 1,000 career points in last night's victory and wound up with 24 for the night.

Davidson's margin of error won't exist in the conference tournament. But it is still plenty good enough to navigate that harrowing weekend when it arrives.

4. Herbs and spices: Just what the Pac-10 needs -- another good team.

Of course, it wasn't hard to guess Arizona State would get good reasonably soon after Herb Sendek was hired. And sure enough, as Year Two of the bright-but-bland former N.C. State coach's tenure progresses, it's clear the Sun Devils are on the rise.

They took out reeling Oregon 62-54 in the Pac-10 opener for both schools last night in Tempe. Arizona State has a 6-foot-5 freshman who can score in James Harden and an efficient big man who can shoot in Jeff Pendergraph. The Sun Devils own a victory over Xavier, and their only losses are to Illinois (on a neutral floor) and at Nebraska.

It might not be a tournament team, but it will be in the discussion for a while.

5. The stakes at Belmont: The Atlantic Sun was all the rage earlier this season, but the reality is it is still not a very deep league.

It's most famous team this year is probably Gardner-Webb, which beat Kentucky on its way to a 3-0 start. But winning at Rupp Arena doesn't mean as much as it used to, and the Bulldogs have dropped nine of 12 since their impressive start.

That includes an 87-84home loss last night to A-Sun heavyweight Belmont. The Bruins own two road victories over power conference opponents (Cincinnati and Alabama, but frittered away a 16-point lead to Gardner-Webb before recovering in time to win.

Belmont, by the way, is the only A-Sun team to enter league play with a winning record. Not surprisingly, the conference ranks 28th in the RPI entering tonight's play.

--- Patrick Stevens

This doesn't happen very much: Maryland playing a (relatively) true road game against an opponent from a non-power conference.

But it's happening tomorrow when the Terrapins (8-6) visit Charlotte. It isn't a trip into the 49ers' home gym, Halton Arena, but it's still a road game -- and only the fourth to a school not in one of the current BCS conferences since the 1993-94 season.

The Terps lost at Temple in 2000 and 2006, and won at Penn early in the 2000-01 season. Other than that, their last trip to a mid-major was for a victory at La Salle in December 1992.

So why now?

"It’s a home-and-home," coach Gary Williams said. "Last year I think we played at Illinois around the first of December, and I don't think we played a road game going into the ACC and we started out 3-6 in the league, so I think that had something to do with it. Plus, we're playing at the place the ACC tournament is being held this year."

Indeed, Maryland is the fourth ACC team to play at Charlotte Bobcats Arena this year; Duke and North Carolina beat Davidson there, while Wake Forest lost to Charlotte.

--- Patrick Stevens

While sitting courtside during Wednesday's rout of Savannah State, a couple reporters wondered just what was the matter with Jerome Burney.

Walk-ons Jason McAlpin and David Pearman had both checked in, and Burney still languished at the end of the bench. But he eventually ambled over to the scorer's table and, with 2:11 to play, and replaced junior Dave Neal.

I couldn't find Burney in the locker room after the game, so I didn't get to ask him about this. And to be honest, there were about eight people I needed to talk to in there and a deadline to meet once I made it back to the floor to write, so he very well might have popped up at some point.

Still, the athletic redshirt freshman seems to have been passed by Shane Walker at the end of Maryland's frontcourt rotation. Burney is averaging 1.2 points in 5.7 minutes while playing in 10 of the Terps' 14 games.

Coach Gary Williams didn't seem to think anything was out of the ordinary when I asked about Burney yesterday.

"He's played OK," Williams said. "He makes a great play every once in a while. We'd like him to get more consistent with what he does. He's trying, and that's all you can ask out of anyone."

Right now, the Terps desperately need more than just "OK" and probably won't have the luxury of any more favorable blowout conditions to clear their bench --- which means as the frontcourt rotation inevitably shrinks from its unwieldy present form (more on that in tomorrow's print edition), so too could Burney's opportunities to play.

--- Patrick Stevens

That subject line is a shameless way to reference a West Coast fast food chain I didn't get the chance to visit last week while I was in San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl.

It is also a way to describe who among Jerome Burney, Dino Gregory and Shane Walker is going to make it into a game first.

Walker was the first of the three to make it into the Hampton, Northeastern, UCLA, Delaware and Savannah State games.

Gregory got the first call against North Florida, Missouri, Boston College, Ohio and American.

And Burney was the first off the bench against Lehigh, Illinois, Virginia Commonwealth and Morgan State.

So how does that decision made each game?

"You hope somebody really stands out in practice," coach Gary Williams said. "Usually you have two days to get ready, and you hope in those two days somebody stands out, that you can justify putting them in ahead of the other guys. Sometimes, that doesn't happen, so a lot of it is a gut feeling."

It isn't the most compelling aspect of the 8-6 Terps. But if one of those guys can actually emerge -- as detailed in tomorrow's print edition -- it would crystallize things a whole bunch for this team.

--- Patrick Stevens

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for blunt honesty.

When you (as well as every other national poll voter) get an e-mail from a school's SID that includes the phrase "It has been many years since the [team name] deserved consideration among the nation’s top teams ...," it's worth making a mention of.

In this case, it's Tulane (and SID Roger Dunaway). Coached by former Maryland assistant Dave Dickerson, the Green Wave is indeed, uh, making waves this season.

Well, at least in a modest manner. Tulane is 10-4, and has beaten Auburn, Georgia, St. John's and Louisiana State. No one will confuse any of those schools as postseason contenders, but it's still progress for a Tulane program that suffered through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath just like everyone else in New Orleans.

It's all league play from here on out for the Green Wave, which begins its Conference USA schedule with a visit from UAB. No one other than Memphis (and maybe Houston) is all that scary in C-USA this year, so there's a chance Dickerson and his balanced team (led by senior David Gomez) could win 20 games and reach the postseason.

That hasn't been done since 1999-2000. The Green Wave hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1994-95. And it hasn't been ranked (so far as I can tell, anyway) since late in the 1991-92 season.

Tulane won't be cracking my ballot this week. But it certainly merits attention. And, to paraphrase the e-mail from Tulane, it has been many years since the Green Wave deserved that for their on-court performance.

--- Patrick Stevens

This blog is coming LIVE from Charlotte Bobcats Arena, where 8-6 Maryland plays its first true road game of the season against Charlotte.

11:59 a.m.

Standard lineup for Maryland this afternoon. Hayes and Vasquez in the backcourt, Milbourne on the wing and Gist and Osby inside.

Charlotte might have two starters on the all-name team. Point guard Leemire Goldwire certainly gets a nod for both name and game, while freshman An'Juan Wilderness merits consideration as well.

12:11 p.m.

For a few minutes, there was a Battle of the Fros down here.

Maryland, of course, has Bambale Osby. And Charlotte has forward Charlie Coley.

Both are listed between 6-7 and 6-8. Both of those heights include their hair.

Osby has picked up two quick fouls and will be on the bench for a while. As for Coley, he just took a charge from Eric Hayes (who has otherwise looked like Maryland's best player in the first four minutes.

12:21 p.m.

What's in a name. Well, there's a funny thing in the game notes worth passing along.

Today's ESPNU(navailable) play-by-play announcer is ... Gary Williams. And not the same Gary Williams who was the press box announcer at the Emerald Bowl.

As for on-court action, Osby is back on the floor after the under-12 timeout.

12:33 p.m.

A little bit of reader input from my friend Mike, who will henceforth be referred to as Bender (given the similarity of his personality to the character from Futurama):

"You could mail it in," he IMs. "You've written this article about 10 times already this season."

Granted, Bender has only the radio broadcast to color his opinion, which is usually overwhelmingly positive. And Maryland is up 24-19 at the under-8. But it isn't art, that's for sure.

FYI --- Shane Walker won the race off the bench among the frontcourt reserves. It's not quite as exciting around these parts as Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe's team making it off pit road first, but it will have to do. It's the third straight game Walker has been put in ahead of Jerome Burney and Dino Gregory.

12:42 p.m.

Maryland's up 30-19 with 3:46 left in the first half. Maybe it isn't the best the Terps have looked all season, but it is about as good as Greivis Vasquez has played.

Most certainly, it's the best he's shot. The Venezuelan is is 4-for-5 from the floor and has 13 points. Meanwhile, Charlotte star Leemire Goldwire hit an early 3 and hadn't been heard from again until he fouled Vasquez to precipitate the latest timeout.

As for the rotation watch: Gist, Osby and Walker all have two fouls. Dave Neal is in for the Terps, and Walker has returned for Gist coming out of the timeout.

12:56 p.m.

Even after Maryland's best first half of the season, fans remain snide.

"This game will be huge for their NIT seeding," one fan intones over IM.

Still, give credit to the Terps for looking reasonably good in building a 40-25 lead. Vasquez and his 17 points (and defense against Goldwire) has helped. But Maryland has done a lot of things right against a Charlotte team that has been reasonably good this year.

A vital stretch took place in the middle of the half, when a lineup of Vasquez-Bowie-Tucker-Walker-Osby was on the floor for a minute and a half. Maryland extended its lead by three points in that stretch, which speaks well of the effectiveness of the bench.

Dave Neal's value in providing decent minutes --- not flashy minutes, not always productive minutes, but rarely harmful minutes --- popped up late in the first half. With four forwards picking up two fouls before the break, Neal delivered four points, a rebound and a steal in a little more than four minutes of work.

Someone who hasn't been seen for a while is Braxton Dupree, who struggled mightily (and had a shot blocked out of the 704 area code) before sitting the final 11:26 of the half despite all of the foul issues.

1:02 p.m.

Mention should be made of the solid crowd here at the city's NBA arena. Charlotte doesn't normally play here, but was able to lure both Wake Forest and Maryland to town by offering the chance to give a preview to March's ACC tournament venue.

The lower bowl is reasonably full, and students have been placed in the end zones to create a decent atmosphere.

Then again, this is North Carolina. It's college basketball country, and you're reminded of that truth every time you come down here.

1:16 p.m.

A point on Goldwire, who has picked up his second 3-pointer and third foul in the opening minutes of the second half --- he's scored in double figures every game this season for the 8-4 49ers.

That he's been held to six points on 2-for-9 is a great credit to Maryland's defense. Much will be made of the Terps actually shooting well today, as well it should be. But the neutralization of Goldwire is a big reason for the 44-30 lead with 18:03 remaining.

1:24 p.m.

Desperation is starting to set in among Charlotte fans, as evidenced by this exchange between students sitting right as the teams went into the under-16 timeout:

"Somebody so something so we can get a run going," the one said.

"It would have to be a heck of a run," the other replied.

Indeed, it would. Maryland is up 50-30 (with the help of an 8-0 run), and it has not showed a proclivity for playing poorly in the second half this season. There was no slow start today, and it doesn't seem like a slow finish is all that likely.

Shane Walker comes in for Osby, who picked up his third foul going into the timeout. It might be a while before Braxton Dupree makes it back on the floor.

1:29 p.m.

A good timeout for Maryland, since Charlotte just showed its first signs of life in a while. Ian Andersen just canned a long 3-pointer to pull the 49ers within 53-37, and Landon Milbourne traveled the next time down the floor.

There was a comical sequence a moment earlier. Charlotte was defending a Maryland inbound pass, and swatted a pass into the courtside seats. Amazingly, the guy it hit managed to hold onto his beer without spilling it.

Six dollars saved, is 12 ounces downed. Isn't that what Ben Franklin always said?

1:32 p.m.

A scary moment here as official Reggie Greenwood appeared to injury his left knee after Ian Andersen landed on him while chasing a rebound.

Greenwood was sprawled out on the floor for a couple minutes, but got back up and bumped fists with colleague Roger Ayers before resuming his duties. It brought a hearty cheer from the crowd, which has been reasonably quiet throughout the day.

1:37 p.m.

Charlotte's DiJuan Harris just hit a 3 to make it 57-44, then picked up his fourth foul.

And that gives me all the excuses I need to link to a feature on Harris in today's Charlotte Observer.

The best part is at the very end in a Q-and-A section, where Harris is asked what he would like to do after a college.

Said Harris: "I think I would like to be an ESPN analyst because I could do just as good a job as Emmitt Smith does when he's commentating. Half the stuff he says is incorrect, so I think I can do that."

1:42 p.m.

Well, that's about the last thing Maryland wanted.

Charlotte's back within 59-50, with much of the damage done with Goldmire on the bench. The 49ers are pressing like mad. And sure enough, Goldmire gets a steal on the inbound pass out of a Maryland timeout and Charlotte wound up with two free throws.

1:47 p.m.

Bender checks in:

"Whew. Blowin the lead. All is right in the world. I was worried that the world had gone topsy turvy."

Definitely living up to the nickname, he is.

As for Maryland, it has yielded a 15-4 run as Charlotte is within 59-52. Braxton Dupree has made an appearance, grabbing a rebound and taking a charge.

Of course, the Terps are struggling to even get shots off (eight turnovers in 12:08 to start the second half).

2:01 p.m.

Gary's already matching offensive and defensive personnel because of fouls. Figures he'd have to turn to this tactic with more than five minutes left; nothing is going to come easy for Maryland, even games it leads by 21 in the second half.

Both Vasquez (22 points) and Gist (20) have tossed up nice scoring numbers. Nevertheless, the tone of this game changed in the middle of the second half. Maybe the Terps thought they had it in the bag. Maybe Charlotte just woke up.

Either way, the Terps are learning a lesson today. It'll be another 3:53 before they know if it will come in a painful way. They're up 69-63, so things still look reasonably good.

2:09 p.m.

"Reasonably good" is long past. Terps' lead is down to 71-68, and James Gist just committed team turnover No. 19 with a five-second call. Terps are out of timeouts, too.

2:19 p.m.

Bender checks in again after Bambale Osby fouls out with 19.2 seconds and Maryland nursing a 74-72 lead.

"We love fouling out of games," he says. "We play dirty apparently. We should be in the big 10."

I can't make this stuff up.

2:22 p.m.

Gist makes a free throw with 5.6 seconds left and the Terps escape 76-72.

Glad it's not a deadline game. Should be fun to hear what Gary has to say.

More later on tonight.

--- Patrick Stevens

Five intriguing outcomes from Saturday's games and their impact on the march to March:

1. Swept by the Bay: The early Pac-10 results are not good for O.J. Mayo and Southern Cal. First, the Trojans lost in a shootout at California. Then yesterday, they were held to 46 points in a loss at Stanford. Mayo shot 5-for-19 in the loss, and was repeatedly greeted by Cardinal 7-footer Brook Lopez while driving into the lane in the second half. Two of the next three are against Washington State and UCLA, albeit at the Galen Center. Stanford shot a paltry 27 percent from the floor but made up for some of that with a 17-rebound edge.

Southern Cal has the defense end of things figured out; just ask Memphis what sorts of tricks Trojans coach Tim Floyd will pull out of necessity. But rebounding could be just the thing that derails the Trojans down the road.

2. High on the Hogs: A lot of folks thought Arkansas would roll to an SEC West title. The Razorbacks had a veteran core and had imported a new coach with ties to the guy who won the last two national championships. But November and December were decidedly bland, and a home loss to Appalachian State did not inspire confidence.

The Hogs can still be the class of their division (though Mississippi will have something to say about that), and they showed it in Dallas against Baylor. Arkansas erased a nine-point deficit in the second half, and Sonny Weems matched a season-high with 21 points to fetch a much-needed road victory heading into league play.

3. Say UNCA: On the other side of the SEC, South Carolina did about the last thing it needed: Lose to a Big South team other than Winthrop. Guards Devan Downey and Zam Fredrick both played 40 minutes against UNC Asheville, but it didn't help the Gamecocks avoid a 61-58 loss as 7-foot-6 Bulldogs center Kenny George tossed up 16 points, 13 rebounds and a surprisingly low three blocks.

For Dave Odom and South Carolina (8-6), it's an ominous sign. The first quarter of the SEC schedule is at Vanderbilt, home for Tennessee, at Arkansas, and then home again for Florida. That could easily be an 0-4 start, and the Gamecocks will essentially be doomed to a second straight losing season.

(To be fair, this is not a bad UNCA team. The Bulldogs are 11-3, and even with four non-Division I wins, and will contend for a league title and their first NCAA berth since 2003.)

4. Zig-Zags: Gonzaga heads into West Coast Conference play at 11-4 after dismissing visiting Georgia yesterday. The question for the Bulldogs is whether they did enough already to earn an at-large berth (if necessary), given the presence of St. Mary's in the league.

Assuming no major slip-ups in the league, the Zags probably are in good shape. They beat Connecticut and Saint Joseph's on the road, and 11 of their last 12 opponents have winning records. Gonzaga also visits Memphis on Jan. 26, which could be a very telling game for both teams in the middle of league play.

5. Sweet Valley starts: Look atop the Missouri Valley, and the two teams perched at 3-0 are programs that dismissed coaches after last season. Illinois State, which replaced Porter Moser with Kansas assistant Tim Jankovich, darted to a 25-3 lead last night against Southern Illinois. It was the Redbirds' sixth straight win, and gave them a 3-0 Valley start for the first time in 10 years.

Meanwhile, Indiana State (coached by former Creighton assistant Kevin McKenna) ripped Northern Iowa 74-56 last night and is 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2001. Moreover, the Sycamores really don't have any awful losses to their credit.

Will the Valley uprising continue? No clue. But there's a chance the mid-major darlings of two years ago wind up as a one-bid league this season with traditional heavyweights Creighton, Southern Illinois and Wichita State all struggling of late.

--- Patrick Stevens

Everyone wants to talk about the remaining unbeatens as we rocket into conference play.

It might be just as worthwhile to check out the "best of" the one-loss, two-loss and three-loss teams to this point.

No one's perfect; well, North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, Washington State, Vanderbilt and Mississippi are for now. But in four of the last six years, there were no unbeatens when February arrived. And since 2000, the Last of the Unbeatens has made the Final Four just twice (Illinois in 2005, Florida in 2006).

So who are the best of the rest, at least in the long term and not based exclusively on the present moment? Here's a set of nominees.

One loss: UCLA. The Bruins' only defeat came at home against Texas, and they remain as complete a team as there is in the nation. A road sweep of Stanford and Cal prompted a two-spot jump on this AP ballot. Plus, UCLA owns a victory over Michigan State, arguably the next-best one-loss team.

Also considered: Michigan State, Georgetown, Duke.

Two losses: Clemson. There's a temptation to discount the Tigers, in part because of their flame-outs after strong starts the last two seasons. But anyone who caught a glimpse of their game last night against North Carolina should know better.

The maddening thing about Clemson remains its foul shooting. The Tigers are shooting 64.5 percent at the line, and that's actually good compared to the 60.1, 61.7 and 57.8 percent of the last three years. Oliver Purnell joked in the past about there being something in the water in Lake Hartwell; someone might want to suggest investing in a Brita.

Clemson was just 14-for-27 at the line last night, with veterans K.C. Rivers, James Mays and Trevor Booker a combined 5-for-13. That must get better, because the Tigers do just about everything else well enough to be a legitimate top-15 team.

Also considered: Wisconsin, Stanford.

Three losses: Xavier. Good luck finding a team that's looked better since Christmas than the Musketeers. Xavier's average margin of victory in the last week against Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn is a sparkling 29 points. There are other options, but it's easier to see the balanced Musketeers making an extended March run than some other teams with three setbacks.

Also considered: West Virginia, Arkansas.

On to this week's ballot...

1. North Carolina (15-0)
2. Memphis (13-0)
3. Kansas (14-0)
4. UCLA (14-1)
5. Michigan State (13-1)
6. Washington State (13-0)
7. Georgetown (11-1)
8. Tennessee (12-1)
9. Duke (11-1)
10. Indiana (11-1)
11. Texas (13-2)
12. Texas A&M (14-1)
13. Vanderbilt (15-0)
14. Wisconsin (12-2)
15. Clemson (12-2)
16. Butler (13-1)
17. Marquette (11-2)
18. Xavier (12-3)
19. Villanova (11-2)
20. Notre Dame (12-2)
21. Dayton (11-1)
22. Rhode Island (14-1)
23. Mississippi (13-0)
24. Miami, Fla. (13-1)
25. Arizona (9-4)

26. Stanford (12-2)
27. Oklahoma (11-3)
28. Pittsburgh (12-2)
29. West Virginia (11-3)
30. Brigham Young (11-3)
31. Southern California (9-5)
32. Gonzaga (11-4)
33. St. Mary's (12-2)
34. Ohio State (10-3)
35. Arkansas (11-3)
36. Connecticut (10-3)
37. Arizona State (12-2)
38. Virginia (10-3)
39. Baylor (10-2)
40. Florida (13-2)
41. Syracuse (12-3)
42. Nebraska (11-2)
43. Drake (12-1)
44. Massachusetts (11-3)
45. Oregon (9-4)

--- Patrick Stevens

The first newsy item of the first ACC teleconference comes from Clemson coach Oliver Purnell.

The bad news: Forward James Mays has a broken hand, suffered last night perhaps as early as pregame warmups. The good news for the Tigers: It's his nonshooting hand, and Purnell expects him to play with a splint when the Tigers meet Charlotte on Wednesday.

"He played most if not all the game with that thing fractured last night," Purnell said. "Hopefully he can get back to practice, especially because of his conditioning. Part of it's with the way we're trying to push and press. We need him and that’s an issue."

It's just the latest ailment for Mays. He missed time last month with a hip injury, and then had back spasms last week.

--- Patrick Stevens

The starting lineup Maryland's going with? Don't expect it to change.

The Vasquez-Hayes-Milbourne-Gist-Osby combo looks like it's pretty well set for the rest of the way. Osby came off the bench for a while when Braxton Dupree started, but he's been back in the starting five during the Terps' three-game winning streak.

"That's pretty much how we start," coach Gary Williams said. "I don't see many changes in that. The problem is we are very young coming off the bench. It will be primarily freshmen coming off the bench. We started some younger guys and we didn't get off to good starts, and we've been starting better with a veteran team."

As for finishing (or in Saturday's case, surviving)? Who knows if the Cliff Tuckers, Shane Walkers and Adrian Bowies will provide solid minutes. But both Walker and Tucker (as well as junior Dave Neal) gave enough useful court time to help Maryland escape with a road victory against Charlotte.

--- Patrick Stevens

The topic of Sidney Lowe and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat came up on the ACC teleconference; after all, there's a good chance it will be busted out Saturday afternoon when N.C. State visits North Carolina.

It was a Carolina game (and an upset victory at that) when he first unveiled the jacket last season. And so one reporter made it a point to ask North Carolina's Roy Williams what his thoughts were when he saw that doggone coat.

"About the same as when I saw Oliver wearing that orange jacket last night," Ol' Roy said. "I'm thinking, 'Oh my god, I'm glad I'm not wearing that.' Oliver said, 'That's for in case we need to go hunting.' I said, 'If we do go hunting, I should shoot you.'"

And that was before the Tar Heels were pushed into overtime by the Tigers.

In a related note, Roy does have a Carolina blue jacket of his own that comes out for big games. And a nifty feature of the coat is an engraving of the Old Well on each of the buttons.

--- Patrick Stevens

OK, so forward James Mays is day-to-day for Clemson. But the ACC has some other players who are MIA at this point.

Miami forward Anthony King, whose return has been a significant part of the Hurricanes' surge this year, is day-to-day with a groin pull.

Georgia Tech sophomore forward Mouhammad Faye, who had been on a personal leave of absence, announced over the weekend he plans to transfer for reasons of "overall happiness."

The most glaring issues are at Florida State, where the Seminoles have pretty much been forced to reinvent themselves on the fly because of a decimated frontcourt. Casaan Breeden transferred out. Solomon Alabi has a stress fracture in his right leg, underwent surgery last week and is unlikely to return this year. Ryan Reid is suspended indefinitely. And Julian Vaughn has an undisclosed ailment serious enough to prompt a trip to the Cleveland Clinic for testing this week.

The good thing for the Seminoles? They're in the midst of a stretch featuring one game in 12 days.

--- Patrick Stevens

Maryland swingman Cliff Tucker talked a bit today about how he dreamed of playing at Maryland when he was growing up, since much of his family is from the area.

"My favorite player is Juan Dixon, but I remember all the guys like Terence Morris, Steve Francis, all them guys," he said.

I was curious just how far back he really went, so I asked if he went back to the Keith Booth era. Booth, of course, is an assistant now and was the first Maryland coach to contact Tucker.

"Oh, no," Tucker grinned.

"Do you tell him that?" Marc Carig of the Post asked.

"Nah, I don't tell him that," Tucker replied.

Tucker also laughed his way through some questions about coach Gary Williams. Dave Preston of Redskins Radio lofted this gem: Does Gary perspire more or less than anticipated on the sideline.

"He sweats way more than I thought," Tucker said.

Given his spot on the bench near Gary for about half the game, Tucker is as good an expert as any for this year's Terps.

And there's nothing dreamy about that.

--- Patrick Stevens

It is a looooooong way 'til Selection Sunday. Way too long, really, for a bracket projection.

But, it's part of a weekly assignment from now until the end of the season, so it might as well be dropped in here in advance of a tweaked version that will run in Thursday's print edition.

Did I mention it was early? That means the RPI, a wonderful little tool, means less now than it will in a month. It means perception still colors the analysis more than it should, simply because some teams aren't as tested as others. And it means the projections tossed out there will vary wildly from one another, since there isn't as much data to pore over as there will be later in the season.

So here's an early gauge on how things look. The RPI is used as a tiebreaker in the loss column for league leaders. It isn't relied upon heavily for much else at this stage of the game.

Remember, it's early.

EAST REGION

Raleigh, N.C.

(1) ACC/North Carolina vs. (16) SWAC/Arkansas-Pine Bluff-NEC/Wagner
(8) Arkansas vs. (9) UNLV

Birmingham, Ala.

(4) Xavier vs. (13) SOUTHLAND/Sam Houston State
(5) Arizona vs. (12) Connecticut

Omaha, Neb.

(3) Indiana vs. (14) WAC/Boise State
(6) Butler vs. (11) Illinois State

Raleigh, N.C.

(2) Georgetown vs. (15) IVY/Brown
(7) Oklahoma vs. (10) Oregon

SOUTH REGION

Little Rock, Ark.

(1) C-USA/Memphis vs. (16) OVC/Austin Peay
(8) Notre Dame vs. (9) Massachusetts

Denver

(4) Texas A&M vs. (13) BIG WEST/CS Northridge
(5) Wisconsin vs. (12) Arizona State

Washington

(3) Duke vs. (14) CAA/Delaware
(6) Pittsburgh vs. (11) MAC/Kent State

Birmingham, Ala.

(2) SEC/Tennessee vs. (15) MEAC/Hampton
(7) Stanford vs. (10) Baylor

MIDWEST REGION

Omaha, Neb.

(1) Kansas vs. (16) ATLANTIC SUN/East Tennessee State
(8) Miami vs. (9) MWC/San Diego State

Anaheim, Calif.

(4) Marquette vs. (13) MAAC/Niagara
(5) A-10/Dayton vs. (12) Southern Cal

Tampa, Fla.

(3) Vanderbilt vs. (14) HORIZON/Cleveland State
(6) WCC/St. Mary's vs. (11) SUN BELT/South Alabama

Denver

(2) Washington State vs. (15) AMERICA EAST/UMBC
(7) BIG EAST/Syracuse vs. (10) Ohio State

WEST REGION

Anaheim, Calif.

(1) PAC-10/UCLA vs. (16) BIG SKY/Montana State
(8) Gonzaga vs. (9) West Virginia

Little Rock, Ark.

(4) Mississippi vs. (13) SUMMIT/Oral Roberts
(5) Clemson vs. (12) BIG SOUTH/Winthrop

Tampa, Fla.

(3) BIG 12/Texas vs. (14) PATRIOT/Holy Cross
(6) Villanova vs. (11) MVC/Drake

Washington, D.C.

(2) BIG TEN/Michigan State vs. (15) SOUTHERN/Chattanooga
(7) Rhode Island vs. (10) Virginia

--- Patrick Stevens

On the surface, Holy Cross made an unusual scheduling decision, playing at San Francisco on Saturday before coming back east and playing at Maryland tonight.

But as he said back at the Patriot League's media day in October, there was more to that than there seemed.

A lot more, all of which is fairly well known in basketball circles.

"We were supposed to be in the Coaches vs Cancer tournament and Connecticut didn't want to play us, so we got knocked out in September and I had to try and find a game, and the only game I could find was San Francisco," Willard said. "That's why. Sure, it's a nightmare. You have a cross-country flight and you have to come all the way back and we're playing at Maryland. It wasn't planned that way."

One bit of irony is that Connecticut nearly lost to Morgan State in the preliminary round of that event anyway (the other two schools to go to Storrs were Buffalo and Division II Ohio Valley).

But it also illuminates the conundrum facing coaches like Willard, who build strong programs (four NCAA berths in seven years) that very much scare major-college programs. No one wants to play them, and those who are willing tread lightly.

Holy Cross' top three opponents so far have been Ohio and Saint Joseph's (wins), and a two-point loss in Worcester to Dayton. The next-best team was MAAC contender Siena, which dealt the Crusaders an overtime loss last month.

Maryland is the only power conference school on Holy Cross' schedule, down from three (Syracuse, Duke and Providence) last year.

So how exactly did Holy Cross land in Comcast Center tonight?

"I was at the Kentucky Derby with Gary and gave him a few mint juleps and he signed the contract," Willard joked.

--- Patrick Stevens

Just arrived at Comcast Center and found out Maryland point guard Eric Hayes is out for tonight's game against Holy Cross with a sprained left ankle suffered Sunday.

No word yet on who starts in his place; Greivis Vasquez will slide over to point guard, and my guess is we see Cliff Tucker get a start on the wing.

--- Patrick Stevens

Do not adjust your television sets. Maryland really is wearing yellow.

It really isn't the best look for the Terps, but once every couple decades it isn't too bad.

Cliff Tucker drew the start in place of the injured Eric Hayes. Just more than five minutes in, Braxton Dupree and Adrian Bowie have played as well.

--- Patrick Stevens

Georgia earned three first-place votes in the final Associated Press poll. And with tailback Knowshon Moreno returning as top 'Dawg, Georgia almost certainly will begin next season with the poll pole.

Witht that in mind, the Back Judge's top 10 for next year looks like this:

Team, 2007 record

1. Georgia, 11-2
2. Oklahoma, 11-3
3. West Virginia, 11-2
4. Florida, 9-4
5. Ohio State, 11-2
6. USC, 11-2
7. LSU, 12-2
8. Missouri, 12-2
9. Tennessee, 10-4
10. Virginia Tech, 11-3

- Barker Davis

Five intriguing outcomes from Tuesday night's games and their impact on the march to March:

1. Deaced up: Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio talked about making this season the basketball equal of "a Shakespearean play" in the preseason, a multi-faceted tribute to the Demon Deacons' late and erudite coach, Skip Prosser.

Act I's in the books, and Wake is a solid 11-3 heading back into ACC play after thrashing Brigham Young 79-62. Much of that damage was done at home and against shaky foes. But the Deacons (who got 45 points last night from freshmen Jeff Teague and James Johnson) might just have the goods to be more than a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.

2. Bearing with Hinson The locals called last night's game against Wichita State "a must-win" for Missouri State. That's a bit much --- the Missouri Valley's title game is exactly two months away --- but the Bears certainly helped themselves by holding serve at home with a rout of Wichita State.

Dale Lamberth dropped 27 points on the decimated Shockers, and the Bears improved to 9-7. It's an important year for Missouri State coach Barry Hinson, who has stunningly not made the NCAA tournament since taking over for Steve Alford in Springfield. He'll need quite a few more wins to snap that streak; grabbing one at Drake on Saturday would be a good start.

3. Saints march out: Friday's Siena-Niagara game was supposed to be one of the top games in the Metro Atlantic all season.

Then Siena missed five shots in the final minute and lost at home to sub-.500 Fairfield, taking some of the luster away from the rematch of last year's conference title game won by Niagara.

Was there some of that trite "looking ahead" nonsense? Who knows. Judging from the 52 points the Saints dropped, it seems more like just a horrible offensive night. Given Siena's up-tempo style, that isn't likely to carry over to Friday's visit to Buffalo.

4. Florida frosh: It's no surprise newcomers will be vital to Florida making a postseason push this year; what else is to be expected when five starters depart from a team that won consecutive national titles?

Consider last night's come-from behind victory at Alabama in the Gators' SEC opener another exhibit in that regard. Freshman Nick Calathes had with 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. Another freshman, Jai Lucas, delivers 19 points.

What else did it show? Alabama, which frittered away a 10-point halftime lead, probably won't have enough to overcome the absence of a steady point guard this year. And that's judging a game when forward Richard Hendrix had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Alonzo Gee dropped 32 points on the Gators.

5. Break up the Blue Hose: There's good news for transitional Division I member Presbyterian: The Blue Hose are unbeaten at home.

Trouble is, they're just 2-0 after humiliating Army 52-35 last night in Clinton, S.C. This victory came after an 11-game road trip, including a five-game, 11-day barnstorming tour of the southeast that included meetings with N.C. State and Georgia Tech on consecutive days last weekend.

Presbyterian (which Discourse lacrosse afficionados might know will field a D-1 team in that sport this spring) is 2-19 and won't play another Division I team at home. The two D-1 teams that visited (Radford and Army) also received visits from Presbyterian this season. And there isn't much time to celebrate; the Blue Hose visit Winthrop tonight.

But Presbyterian is pesky, having led N.C. State at halftime on Saturday and enduring only five losses by 20-point-plus margins so far. The record isn't anything special, obviously, but the Blue Hose are competitive enough to make them worth keeping an eye on once they join the Big South next season.

--- Patrick Stevens

For the first time this season, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert actually played like an All-American against DePaul. After averaging just 9.0 points and 4.4 rebounds in the team's previous five games, including Saturday's season-worst six-point, four-rebound dud in Georgetown's Big East opener against lowly Rutgers, the 7-foot-2 giant single-handedly squashed the Blue Demons Tuesday night in Chicago.

Playing perhaps the most well-rounded game of his Hilltop career, the senior pivot dropped 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists (all team highs) on DePaul during a 76-60 victory which was a foregone conclusion by the first TV timeout.

Georgetown made its first seven shots en route to a 17-5 lead that made the final 35 minutes of action a formality. And Hibbert, often tentative, mechanical or both this season, was refreshingly aggressive as the focal point for the Hoyas on both ends of the floor. When DePaul attempted to check him man-to-man, Hibbert abused wide-body Wesley Green in the paint with easily his most impressive array of post moves this season (hooks, dribble spins and a reverse-pivot dunk). When the Blue Demons collapsed on Hibbert, he made them pay with his passing prowess, twice finding freshman Austin Freeman on slashing cuts for layups.

And perhaps most importantly, Hibbert was equally active on the defensive end, altering a handful of early shots and hitting the double-digit mark in rebounding for the first time since November (10 at Old Dominion).

In large part due to Hibbert's sluggish start, the Hoyas have been abysmal on the boards this season, yielding an unacceptable average of 17.2 offensive rebounds to opponents in their last five games. DePaul also hurt the Hoyas on the offensive glass, retrieving 18 offensive boards. But many of those came in the second half with Hibbert on the bench and the outcome long decided.

Hibbert's awakening is essential to Georgetown's hope of repeating as the Big East's regular-season champion. If Hibbert brought Tuesday night's intensity and game to the floor every time out, the 7th-ranked Hoyas (12-1, 2-0 Big East) would be a prohibitive favorite to win the Big East and a legitimate threat to cut down the nets in San Antonio.

Amazingly, Georgetown leads the nation in field goal percentage defense (34.6) and trails only Boise State in field goal percentage (52.4), a lethal defense/offense combination. But without Hibbert's best effort, particularly on the boards, the team's rebounding Achilles' is likely to stop it short of its goals. Georgetown's next three games should be very telling on that count, as the Hoyas face three of the nation's top-15 rebounding teams in Connecticut (Saturday), Pittsburgh (Monday) and Notre Dame (Jan. 19).

-- Barker Davis

Quite a bit was made last week of the departure of some locker room amenities at Maryland after a three-game losing streak in December.

(You didn't read it here, mainly because the name plates and photos were taken down before the Delaware game I missed to be at the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. It seemed pretty out-of-date nearly a week later when Maryland beat up Savannah State.)

Anyway, there was a splash of color on the wall after last night's rout of Holy Cross, and I pointed out a photo and the players in a huddle was back.

"One," senior forward Bambale Osby observed.

Indeed, it was the only one, and was not exactly in a conspicuous place --- above Jason McAlpin's locker.

You can tell where the other photos used to be because of the velcro that helps keep them up. And for now, the velcro remains exposed even as the Terps roll back into ACC play with a four-game winning streak.

"Maybe if we beat Virginia Tech, we'll get some name tags," Osby said.

--- Patrick Stevens

Five intriguing outcomes from Wednesday night's games and their impact on the march to March:

1. And then there were five ...: OK, Mississippi lost to Tennessee, leaving North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas, Washington State and Vanderbilt as the only unbeaten teams in the country.

But even as Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy turned back talk of a moral victory, the Rebels proved they belonged in the top 25 after an 85-83 loss in Knoxville. Ole Miss has a few nice victories (Clemson, South Alabama, New Mexico, Winthrop) to go along with plenty of poundings of Division I flotsam and jetsam. Tennessee is the best team the Rebels played to date, and the Vols needed a layup in the last five seconds to secure a win on their home court.

2. Gold rush at Clemson: Charlotte, fresh off a loss to Maryland, went into Clemson and did something that will be very difficult for most ACC teams to pull off: upset the Tigers.

49ers coach Bobby Lutz suggested after the game his team got Clemson at the right time, just three days after the Tigers dropped an overtime decision to No. 1 North Carolina. Clemson really couldn't argue; "Going into the game our coaches were saying they would kick our butt because we were mentally soft against North Carolina," Trevor Booker, who scored a career-high 32 points, told reporters. "And that's what they did."

Clemson was dogged the last two years with serious fades once conference play arrives. Perhaps it isn't too soon to forget those troubles, even if the Tigers clearly have a solid collection of talent.

3. Desert duel: An overtime game with a 64-59 final score? That has Herb Sendek's fingerprints all over it. And indeed, Sendek and Arizona State upended Arizona last night in Tempe to roll to 3-0 and beat their in-state rival for the first time since 2002.

Those around the ACC, besides N.C. State fans who would never be satisfied with anything less than a national title, knew two major truths about Sendek from his decade in the league. One, his teams were always sound and smart and usually maximized what they had. Two, Sendek rarely got much credit for it, in part because he displayed what could kindly be described as a bland personality.

Those truths remain. Arizona State has a handful of good players, but Arizona is still more talented. Nevertheless, the Sun Devils could poke into the rankings this week. As for Sendek's response? "We happened to win tonight's game. No more. No less." Yep, it was a classic Sendekian performance.

4. Southland surprise: It was curious enough when Sam Houston State generated some attention for its early unbeaten run, even securing some votes in the AP poll in the process. It was just as interesting that the Bearkats lost their Southland Conference opener to Southeast Louisiana.

Sam Houston is 12-2, and obviously comes from a one-bid league that is usually assigned a 14, 15 or 16 seed come March (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was a 15 seed last year and scared Wisconsin, and Northwestern State was a 14 a year earlier and toppled Iowa). The Bearkats can be a tough out in the tournament, but not if they shoot 36 percent like last night.

5. Retrievers are golden: UMBC seems like it is for real as an America East contender, drilling visiting Vermont 78-60. Randy Monroe's Retrievers have never played in the NCAA tournament, but that could change. The Catamounts, of late one of the top two programs in the America East, couldn't handle UMBC's balance and sound perimeter shooting and never led.

--- Patrick Stevens