Atlantic 10

Two of the best players in the Pac-10 will be on display Thursday night, but the paths their respective teams have taken this season are a bit different. Arizona (21-4, 10-2) forward Derrick Williams has become a serious threat to run away with the Pac-10 Player of the Year award, an amazing statement to make considering the play of an Isaiah Thomas at Washington. Washington State's (17-8, 7-6) Klay Thompson has been outstanding as well, but with many postseason honors team success is weighed in the voting process which could have him behind Williams and Thomas in the pecking order.

In the latest installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Dayton head coach Don Donoher, who to this day remains the winningest coach in school history. Donoher, who won 437 games at UD and led the Flyers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT title, is now an assistant at Bishop Fenwick High School in Middletown, Ohio. 

Jon Teitel: You played three years for Coach Tom Blackburn at Dayton. What made him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing you ever learned from him?

Many fans and pundits alike felt that Ohio State's trip to Madison would be the point where they'd suffer their first loss of the season. But after a first half that didn't do much to separate either team those prospects didn't look good as Thad Matta's group went on a 23-6 run to push their lead out to 15 points with 13:21 left in the game. Thankfully for the Badgers Jordan Taylor and company had other ideas, answering with a 30-8 run of their own and eventually going on to win 71-67 at the Kohl Center.

A lot of the talk leading into Tuesday's matchup between Kentucky and Tennessee at Rupp Arena surrounded the return of Bruce Pearl to the Tennessee sidelines after an eight-game SEC suspension. The Vols won five of eight with associate head coach Tony Jones in charge but there's something to be said in regards to the comfort level a team has when their head coach is on the bench. But the return to normalcy means nothing if you get outworked and that's exactly what happened to the Vols, ultimately falling 73-61 to the 18th-ranked Wildcats.

Tuesday night marks the return of Bruce Pearl to SEC play, and it's just in time for an important matchup between his Tennessee (15-8, 5-3) Volunteers and the Kentucky (16-6, 4-4) Wildcats. The winner remains in the hunt for the SEC East title, and while the loser won't be finished per say with both teams already owning losses to first-place Florida they'd be in a bit of trouble. John Calipari's Wildcats have done what most young teams do: struggle on the road while getting the job done at home, owning a home record of 10-0 on the season.

There's just one game on Saturday matching ranked teams and surprisingly it comes in the SEC, where #11 Kentucky (16-5, 4-3) heads south to take on #23 Florida (17-5, 6-2). And while the SEC East has shown itself to be somewhat wide-open, John Calipari's young Wildcats would be well-served to win this one and avoid falling behind the Gators by two games in the loss column. But Kentucky also has just one road win in conference play (South Carolina) and they'll have their hands full with a talented group of Gators.

In leagues that tend to have an established pecking order from a tradition standpoint, it can be tough for programs not seen among the privileged by outsiders to garner their just due. But that is slowly turning around for Ron Everhart's Duquesne Dukes, who have won 10 straight games and sit atop the Atlantic 10 standings with a 7-0 record (tied with Xavier). The common bond between many teams is an unselfish attitude, something that Duquesne has displayed all season long. Seven players average at least seven points per game, with five also averaging two or more assists per game.

The lesson learned this weekend: almost anyone can be had. And that should make for an exciting month of March if results like the ones we saw become the norm. Twelve ranked teams went down on Saturday, but it should be noted that four of the losses came to opponents who were also ranked and eight of the twelve lost on the road. How does one narrow these results down: ask the simple question of which losers may be in some trouble at this point in the season. One such victim has to be Syracuse, who has now dropped four straight and has to play at Connecticut on Wednesday night.

In his latest installment in the "Coaching Greats" interview series, CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with Pete Gillen. Coach Gillen led programs at Xavier, Providence and Virginia before moving over to the media side of things to call games for CBS College Sports. At Xavier Coach Gillen led the Musketeers to six conference titles and seven NCAA Tournament appearances in nine seasons at the school before moving on to Providence.

Jon Teitel: Your first coaching gig in college was as an assistant at Hawaii, where one of your fellow assistants was Rick Pitino.