While on the topic of USC, they are currently hanging out at 8-2 and are ready to make a strong push in the Pac-10, a conference that, being down over the past few seasons, is ripe for a surprise team to take over. Tim Floyd should continue to build a giant in Southern California. He was able to recruit great players to Iowa State, a school not normally a magnet for basketball stars. The program he built there was often at the tops of the rankings and consistently competing for the Big 12 crown. There is no reason to believe with better players available to him in California and a program that is slowly drawing attention in the media, he won't be able to do the same thing at USC.

Don't look now, but it appears that Michigan State has righted the ship that looked in trouble at the beginning of the season. Yes, their two losses came against the very good field in Maui but the Spartans did not always look like the team that would contend for the Big Ten title. The funk continued into their wins following the tournament in Hawaii. The Spartans have now won 9 in a row and are looking at two more before the conference season begins against a surprise Illinois team. That game could be very crucial for whatever team wins in taking the league title.

Speaking of Illinois, they are 49-2 over the last two seasons. They should easily get win #50 over that span when they take on Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday. Given the losses they have taken in personnel, you would have expected them to have some losses like North Carolina. Give credit to coach Bruce Weber and senior leaders Dee Brown and James Augustine for keeping a zero in the loss column for this team this far into the season.