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If Notre Dame can play defensively against Syracuse and Connecticut the same way they did last night, Mike Brey's team will be situated well within the Top 10 at the end of a rough slate to begin Big East play. Georgetown, one of the nation's best three point shooting teams, made just four of eighteen in a 69-55 loss in South Bend. Tim Abromaitis led Notre Dame with 20 points and Tyrone Nash added a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) in a game that the Irish controlled for most of the way thanks to their defense.

After the smorgasbord of college basketball that we were treated to on Tuesday naturally Wednesday would be a day for recuperation. But there are some solid contests on the schedule, most notably Utah State making the trek to Provo to take on in-state rival BYU. Of course much of the attention will be paid to seniors Tai Wesley (Utah State) and Jimmer Fredette (BYU), who are two of the better players in college basketball at their respective positions, but there's an important newcomer to the USU program who will have a lot to do with the Aggies' success.

Overall Rank: #67

 

It was billed as the college basketball game that would drag people away from college football on New Year's Day, and the matchup between West Virginia and Purdue had the look of a stellar contest on paper. But in the flesh the Boilermakers put together a virtuoso performance in whipping the Mountaineers in West Lafayette 77-62. And to be fair the game really wasn't that close despite WVU going into the locker room down by just five (37-32) at the half.

The MVC race is always up for grabs, and perhaps another surprise team like UNI lurks. Perhaps no league has as much parity as the Valley, where even the bottom teams are improved.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Northern Iowa men's basketball team has been picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference, according to the preseason poll announced today during the league's annual Basketball Media Day.

Northern Iowa, which returns all five starters after sharing the regular-season title with Creighton last year, earned 38 of 39 first-place votes in the survey of league coaches, beat writers, sports information directors and play-by-play men.

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