The Cincinnati Enquirer

TIPOFF PAGE

• Fair or not, NCAA punishes mid-majors • Tipoff Page notebook • Tipoff Page Q&A • Catching up with ... Carol Madsen-Miller

C-USA: Collision harms Diener

Defending champion Marquette (11-5, 2-3 Conference USA) has struggled to three straight conference losses after falling to Charlotte on Tuesday, losing point guard Travis Diener to an injury in the process.

Diener suffered whiplash in an on-court collision at Charlotte.

The junior guard is listed as day-to-day by Marquette officials.

If he misses the Golden Eagles' game today against DePaul, it will end his streak of playing in all 82 of Marquette's games since he arrived in 2001.

• When East Carolina's Gabriel Mikulas broke his right arm the day before the Pirates played Louisville last week, he not only ended his season but his career.

The senior from Cordoba, Argentina, finished his career with 1,086 points.

• The 13-0 UC start that came to an end with its loss at Louisville this week gave the Bearcats the three best starts in league history. They started 15-0 in 1998-99 and 12-0 in 1995-96.

--Bill Koch

A-10: Chaney mad at media

Temple coach John Chaney called for the conference to start receiving more attention from national media with Saint Joseph's rising to No. 3 in the polls this week. Despite that, Chaney said the Atlantic 10 is largely ignored by major television announcers, particularly Dick Vitale. "Everything that comes out of his mouth is Duke," Chaney said. "You can't get him to say 15 words without saying Duke."

• Saint Joseph's Delonte West made all 12 of his field goal attempts and all six of his free throw attempts against Xavier, then nearly repeated the perfect feat Wednesday against Massachusetts. West made his first seven shots against UMass for a streak of 19 field goals in a row. He also made his first three free throws, giving him 30 straight from the line. He finished the game 7-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from the foul line.

• Rhode Island, once considered a title contender in the Atlantic 10 East, has faded badly since opening the conference with a win against Fordham. Beginning with a loss to Xavier, the Rams have lost four straight, two of which were double-digit losses at home.

--Dustin Dow

MAC: WMU adds home game

As if Western Michigan weren't already enjoying a tremendous season, the Broncos picked up an extra home game Tuesday when ESPN announced that the Broncos' Feb. 21 Bracket Buster would be played in Kalamazoo instead of on the road.

Evansville of the Missouri Valley Conference was scheduled to play at home but now will play on the road.

The pairings for the 23-game Bracket Buster event, which is designed to match up teams with nonconference opponents in games that could affect NCAA Tournament selections, won't be announced until Feb. 1. Miami is one of eight MAC teams scheduled to play at home. The other five are scheduled to play road games.

• Central Michigan senior Gerrit Brigitha went into the Chippewas' game against Miami on Wednesday leading the MAC in scoring against conference opponents with an average of 26.2 points a game, 8.5 above his overall average. Despite his improvement, CMU fell to 0-6 in the MAC with a loss to the RedHawks.

• West Division-leading WMU had an 11-game winning streak snapped in its 84-71 loss at East Division-leading Kent State Wednesday.

--Mark Schmetzer

SEC quick hits

ESPN on Tuesday named its "Silver Anniversary Team" for the SEC, recognizing the top five players during the 25 years of the channel's existence. Its panelists chose this starting five: guards Allan Houston (Tennessee, 1989-93) and Chris Jackson (Louisiana State, 1988-90), forwards Jamal Mashburn (Kentucky, 1990-93) and Chuck Person (Auburn, 1982-86), and center Shaquille O'Neal (LSU, 1989-92).

• Georgia will have to rebuild after four senior starters depart, especially since it has no juniors on the roster. But it got commitments last week from two coveted high school juniors. (CQed) The big catch was Louis Williams, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard who's averaging 27.2 points and 5.7 assists for Snellville (Ga.) South Gwinnett (CQed) and is rated the No. 1 prospect in his class by PrepStars.com. Teammate Mike Mercer, a 6-4 point guard averaging 18.5 points and 7.8 assists, also committed to Georgia. Florida, Kansas, Arizona, Wisconsin and Tennessee had reportedly offered package deals for the two, while North Carolina and Wake Forest also pursued Williams.

• Amazing what one win can do. Georgia was No. 70 in the RPI before its upset victory at Kentucky, which was No. 2 in the RPI. The Bulldogs jumped to No. 42, and stood No. 47 after their loss Wednesday to Alabama. They were at No. 49 as of Friday

--Neil Schmidt

Must-See TV

Cincinnati at Southern Mississippi, 2 p.m. today (Ch. 19): Golden Eagles have beaten Marquette andMemphis.

Pittsburgh at Syracuse, 8 p.m. today (ESPN2): Each took a loss this week, but this is still a great matchup.

Richmond at Xavier, 2 p.m., Sunday (Fox Sports Net): Spiders slink in after upset win at Kansas.

Kentucky at Notre Dame, 4 p.m. Sunday (Ch. 12, 7): St. X grad Jordan Cornette takes aim at the Wildcats.

Texas at Texas Tech, 7 p.m. Monday (ESPN): State's two top-20 teams lock horns.

Thumbs up

Will Bynum: The difference-maker in Georgia Tech's last two wins against Maryland and Wake Forest.

Rafael Araujo: BYU's big man has big stats with 20.2 points and 10.6 rebounds a game.

Utah State: A mid-major that will be tough to beat in March.

Iowa State: After a fast start, the Cyclones haven't faded and could finish near the top of the Big 12.

Thumbs down

ESPN Radio: It reported that Texas Tech coach Bob Knight is a candidate to replace Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien, whose job isn't in jeopardy.

Oklahoma: A promising start was replaced by four straight losses.

Wake Forest: Tough losses at Texas and Duke, but losing at home to Georgia Tech will cost Skip Prosser's Deacons.

Iowa: Up. Down. Up and back down after losing four of six.

Numbers game

30: Years since Notre Dame ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak with a 71-70 victory over the Bruins on Jan. 19, 1974. That Fighting Irish squad, which overcame an 11-point deficit to UCLA with a 12-0 run over the game's final 3:32, is having a reunion this weekend and will attend Sunday's Kentucky-Notre Dame game.

The best clutch performers

1. Royal Ivey, Texas: Has been hitting big shots all season for the Longhorns.

2. Jameer Nelson, Saint Joseph's: Thrives on pressure to perform late. The Hawks have remained perfect thanks to Nelson's shot with 4.3 seconds to play in a 59-57 win over California in December.

3. Josh Childress, Stanford: Finds a way to make plays when they matter most.

4. Gerry McNamara, Syracuse: Confident enough to take the long jumper at the end.

5. P.J. Tucker, Texas: Just a freshman, but he's a playmaker in tight situations. He scored the game-winner in the Longhorns' 79-77 overtime win against Providence.

Tipoff Sweet 16

Rank	Team	Comment
1.	Stanford	The best of the unbeatens is coasting through the Pacific-10.
2.	Duke	Flexing its strength and intimidation over the ACC.
3.	Saint Joseph's	Has real potential to go undefeated the entire regular season.
4.	Louisville	Class of C-USA - at least until return trip to Cincinnati.
5.	Connecticut	Big win against Pittsburgh should provide momentum.
6.	Kentucky	Fortunate to get out of Tennessee with a win.
7.	Cincinnati	Must recover and learn from Louisville debacle.
8.	Georgia Tech	Looking like a worthy contender to challenge Duke.
9.	Gonzaga	Can anybody in the West Coast Conference compete?
10.	Texas	Top Big 12 team after Kansas' loss to Richmond.
11.	Texas Tech	Challenges Texas for Big 12 supremacy Monday.
12.	Pittsburgh	UConn loss was hard to take but proved Pitt's strength.
13.	Mississippi State	Crucial win at Florida Wednesday.
14.	South Carolina	Rising fast up the charts in the SEC.
15.	Wisconsin	Only serious contender in the Big Ten.
16.	Kansas	Didn't make the plays to beat Richmond at home.

THE LIST

XU junior Keith Jackson's top five college basketball programs other than Xavier:
North Carolina
Arizona
Georgia Tech
Wake Forest
Duke