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Thursday's schedule is highlighted by three in-season tournaments, with action in Charleston, New York City and San Juan. The 2K Sports Classic Benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals will be played at Madison Square Garden with Texas A&M playing Mississippi State in the opener and St. John's and Arizona doing battle in the nightcap. The second game jumps out not only because of the fact that it will be a home game for the Red Storm but also due to the roles that newcomers play on both teams.

As part of our 5-Year Ranking series, here's how the Big Ten teams stack up according to conference wins. The makeup of the Big Ten is quite different from most of the other power-conferences. The also-rans in the Big Ten have fared much better than other league also-rans, while the middle teams are much more mediocre. With one or two surprises, the final league standings will probably look pretty similar to the 5-year standings.

In the latest installment in his "Forgotten Legends" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Lou Hudson, one of the all-time great players in the history of the University of Minnesota. After a fine collegiate career "Sweet Lou" played 13 years in the NBA.  

Jon Teitel: You were nicknamed "Sweet Lou" due to your smooth jump shot. Who gave you the nickname and how did you like it? 

Lou Hudson: Bill Russell and Sam Jones called me that, and it stuck.  When I was in college, it was "Louie".

In the latest installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with author Marc Hugunin discussing the career of former Minnesota head coach Louis "Doc" Cooke. During his time at Minnesota the late Cooke won five conference and three national titles. Hugunin is the co-author of the book "Minnesota Hoops: Basketball in the North Star State".  

Outperformed, outworked and outclassed. That would sum up what happened to the Connecticut Huskies in the second half at Madison Square Garden, where the St. John's Red Storm built upon the momentum gained from a Malik Boothe buzzer-beater before halftime to win 89-72 in one of their best performances of the season. Just days after scoring 32 points in a losing effort at UCLA, Dwight Hardy once again lived up to his nickname ("Buckets") in scoring a new career-high 33 points and D.J.

Thursday's slate features a matchup in the Big Ten between two teams who have the ability to head in either direction: a win rights the ship while a loss could the latest event that potentially triggers a nosedive out of the field of 68. Illinois (15-8, 5-5) has lost five of their last seven while Minnesota's (16-7, 5-6) dropped three in a row, and with two games in the loss column separating 4th from 9th in the Big Ten standings their meeting at "The Barn" is critical to both.

While there are a number of good games on the schedule for Saturday the best matchup may not come until the evening deep in the heart of Texas. Rick Barnes' Longhorns (17-3, 5-0) have been outstanding for much of the season, having won 11 of their last 12 games with the defeat being by one point. But they'll encounter a stiff test in regards to both talent and style as a Missouri (17-3, 3-2) squad that needs a win to remain in the Big 12 title conversation visits the Erwin Events Center. Both squads are solid defensively but they do things in different ways.

Minnesota went into Thursday night's game against #8 Purdue in need of a victory and thanks to Blake Hoffarber and some solid late-game defense the mission was accomplished. Hoffarber's 26 points led the way offensively and the Golden Gophers managed to hold the Boilermakers without a field goal for the last nine minutes in a 70-67 victory in Minneapolis. JaJaun Johnson led all scorers with 29 points to go with 11 rebounds while Lewis Jackson added 15, but Purdue was unable to overcome the rough shooting night of E'Twaun Moore.

If Minnesota (12-4, 1-3) is to entertain any thoughts of being a top five team in the Big Ten Thursday night is a game they must have. Visiting "The Barn" is #8 Purdue (15-1, 4-0), a team that's performed much better than some expected in the preseason when forward Robbie Hummel went down with a torn ACL. The two biggest reasons why Matt Painter's team is ranked in the Top 10 are seniors JaJuan Johnson (19.4 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and E'Twaun Moore (18.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg), two players who have played at an All-Big Ten level for much of the season to date.

Notre Dame knew that they had to make Kemba Walker work for his points if they were going to beat Connecticut on Tuesday. And thanks in large part to Ben Hansbrough, who also scored 21 points they were able to do just that in beating the Huskies 73-70 to move to 2-1 in Big East play. Walker scored 19 points but had to attempt 23 field goals to do that, making just eight while outside of Shabazz Napier (4-6 FG, 18 points) and Roscoe Smith (11 points) his teammates struggled offensively.