College Basketball Report

It's easy to see why the Big East is the nation's best conference by a significant margin.

In Friday's listings on CollegeRPI.com, the conference boasts five teams in the top 10, headed by No. 1 Georgetown, and three more in the next 11, including 21st-ranked Villanova. In nonconference play, the league went 153-39 (.797 percentage) and 9-9 against top 25 opponents.

Of course, with intraleague play under way, prepare to hear coaches lament about getting beat up by other Big East teams night after night.

The Big Ten is ranked No. 2 on CollegeRPI.com, followed by the Big Twelve, the Mountain West and the Pac-10.

And where is the Atlantic Coast Conference, you ask? Why, it's way down there in sixth place, and for good reason. Duke is No. 1 in the polls but no other ACC team holds a place in the top 25. The league has just three other teams - Miami, North Carolina and Boston College - in the top 50 in the RPI.

The surprise of the Big East thus far has been St. John's, and don't you think conference officials are turning cartwheels now that the limelight is returning to their New York City representative?

The Red Storm (10-3) broke a 14-game losing streak to top 25 teams with their upset of No. 13 Georgetown. Asked about the buzz in Madison Square Garden that night, first-year coach Steve Lavin pleaded ignorance, saying he was too much into the game to be "aware of what was going on in the crowd and the atmosphere."

This stellar group of Syracuse big men - John Wallace, Roosevelt Bouie, Rony Seikaly, Derrick Coleman and Etan Thomas - will soon be joined by Rick Jackson, one of Neumann-Goretti's own. Jackson is close to becoming the sixth Orange player to amass 1,000 points, 800 rebounds and 200 blocked shots in a career. He has the required number of blocks, and he is 12 points and 55 rebounds away in the other categories. Jackson, whose fourth-ranked team plays Saturday at Seton Hall, has nine double-doubles this season and leads the Big East in rebounding.

Hoping to rebound from a dismal 2009-10, North Carolina opened the season ranked in the polls but fell out following losses to Minnesota and Vanderbilt. Coach Roy Williams is encouraged by his team's work ethic as the Tar Heels (10-4) prepare to open ACC play Saturday at Virginia. But the memories of last year are too fresh, and he doesn't want to repeat.

"I don't like to compare anything to last year - it wasn't a very good year," Williams told the Charlotte Observer.

You had to figure Purdue (14-1) would suffer after losing Robbie Hummel for the season - for the second straight season - with a torn ACL. But the No. 11 Boilermakers aren't slowing down, thanks to their 1-2 punch of E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, each of whom is averaging around 20 points. Purdue had struggled to identify a third scorer to replace Hummel but seems to have found one in Ryne Smith, who has knocked down 12 of 18 three-point shots in Big Ten play.

That would be San Diego State (16-0), ranked sixth in the nation and off to its best start in school history. The Aztecs are shooting for their sixth 20-win season and fourth NCAA tournament under Steve Fisher, the former Michigan coach who is in his 12th season. They feature balanced scoring led by 6-foot-7 forward Kawhi Leonard, who averages 15.6 points and 9.7 rebounds.

Malcolm Grant couldn't find playing time with Villanova and transferred, and now he has found success with Miami. The 6-1 junior, who came to the Main Line in the same class as Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes, ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring (15.5 points), assists (3.9), three-point percentage (.452) and free-throw percentage (.905). Some consider the Hurricanes' backcourt pairing of Grant and Durand Scott the best in the conference now that Duke's Kyrie Irving is out with an injury.

When Tennessee opens its Southeastern Conference schedule Saturday at Arkansas, coach Bruce Pearl will be nowhere near Fayetteville.

Pearl is beginning an eight-game suspension in SEC games for having lied to NCAA investigators. Under terms of the SEC-imposed penalty, Pearl can run practices and coach in the Jan. 22 nonconference game against Connecticut. But he won't be able to return to the sidelines for a league contest until Feb. 8 at Kentucky.

Many go to Hawaii to enjoy the sun and surf. Evidently, Mississippi State players Renardo Sidney and Elgin Bailey went there to fight, which they did in the stands last month at the Diamond Head Classic while ESPN cameras were rolling. The Bulldogs (8-6) begin SEC play Saturday against Alabama with the 6-foot-10 Sidney back from what was his third suspension of the season. Bailey, the team captain, has transferred.

Real Top 10

(Records through Thursday's games)

1. Duke (14-0)

2. Ohio State (15-0)

3. Kansas (14-0)

4. Syracuse (15-0)

5. Pittsburgh (14-1)

6. Connecticut (11-2)

7. San Diego St. (16-0)

8. Villanova (13-1)

9. Missouri (14-1)

10. Kentucky (12-2)