Hawaii

CHN writer Jon Teitel was able to spend some time with Hawai'i great Tom Henderson, who also played in three NBA Finals and won a title with the Bullets in 1978. Henderson was also a member of the 1972 U.S. National Team that was famously robbed of the gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics. 

Jon Teitel: You grew up in the Bronx and played for high school power DeWitt Clinton (alma mater of such NBA legends as Dolph Schayes and Nate Archibald). How big a deal was basketball at your high school?

The question leading into the title game of the Diamond Head Classic was how would Kansas State deal with Long Beach State guard Casper Ware. But by the end of the game it was obvious that the better question to ask was how the senior would navigate the Wildcats' tough perimeter defense. Thanks in large part to Will Spradling and Martavious Irving the Wildcats harassed Ware in to a 5-for-18 night from the field, and they took control of the game at both ends on their way to a 77-60 win in Honolulu.

Happy Holidays to you all.

Plenty of teams have pre-Christmas letdowns, when they allow their minds to wander a bit against teams they're expected to beat. But in a lot of those cases the favored team is able to bounce back and do enough to eventually win the game. But that wasn't the case for #15 Pittsburgh, who turned the ball over 18 times against a team in Wagner that was talented enough to make them pay for those errors.

After going over the teams expected to win their regular season titles, we move on to talking about the top freshmen in each conference. Will all automatically take over and become the stars of their respective teams and leagues? It's tough to say at this point in the season, but that doesn't mean that we can't discuss it. Below are the picks for final 16 conferences, and Part One can be found here.

MAC: Kris Brewer (Kent State)

Note: To make sure there is no confusion here is the link to the piece written by Matt Norlander of CBSSports.com on Thursday.

While many teams across the country look to begin the process of building towards an NCAA Tournament berth with trips outside of the country in the summer, not everyone has the same set of circumstances to deal with once the season begins.

In the most recent installment in his "Coaching Greats" interview series CHN writer Jon Teitel spent some time with former Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace. In twenty seasons on the "big island" Coach Wallace led UH to two WAC titles and three NCAA Tournament appearances.

Jon Teitel: You averaged 10+ points per game during your career at Centenary, and later became assistant coach at your alma mater after recruiting Robert Parish. How good a player were you back in the day, and how did you convince Parish to come there? 

Louisiana Tech

Nevada

New Mexico St

Utah St

Other (Boise St, Fresno St, Idaho, San Jose St)

Nevada has perhaps the league's best player in Luke Babbitt, but a lack of depth should help keep the likes of Utah State and NMSU in the midst of the league race. .

Idaho

New Mexico State

Nevada

Utah State

Other (Boise State, Louisiana Tech, etc)