Welcome (Back) to Earth

At least that's what Harvard was saying last night to BC as the Crimson trampled the Eagles in a Beantown throwdown. Seriously, how do you beat North Carolina then turn around and lose to Harvard?

How? Anyone want to explain that to me?

Talk about soaring out of this world then crashing back to it. One day, you're the toast of the college basketball world, owning a win against the No. 1 team in the nation (a team, might I add, that no one thought would ever lose, including me) and being ranked No. 24. The next day, you're watching zeroes roll across the board when you're still down 12 to an Ivy League team.

If Will Smith's fists of justice don't hit BC while he shouts "Welcome (Back) to Earth!" then certainly all the coverage of the upset today will serve as the gut-punch. How embarrassing.

Now I know I've written about Harvard before. The Crimson have a talented coach who recruits like a mad man. Amaker has another good class coming in for next season. But he has his kids playing good hoops now.

Plus, with the way this season is going, does it surprise anyone that there was another upset? Does anyone want to be ranked and stay there?

Maybe you, Tennessee? No? Oh, OK. Maybe Gonzaga liked being ranked so much that it wants back in ...

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot to mention that Maryland lost to Morgan State last night. Because that's hilarious.

Elsewhere
-- I. Love. Pacman.

-- I do not love Brett Favre.

-- Gotta love them BoSox.

-- Mangini to the Browns ...

-- I want to be the GM of the Lions. Seriously. If it's anything like Madden ...

-- Are you freakin' kidding me?

-- A nice way to start your morning (after reading J. Greer, of course) is to read this roundtable from college hoops experts at SI.com. Enjoy.

Don't Get Ahead Yourself, SEC

OK, No. 16 Tennessee beat No. 24 Marquette -- in Tennessee -- and Vanderbilt crunched South Florida. Big deal. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?

So the SEC's best team beat the Big East's eighth-best club. And a 4 seed in last year's Tournament beat the worst team in Big East history. Congratulations.

And on Thursday, we get Ole Miss at Louisville and Mississippi State at Cincinnati. Wow. Thrilling showdowns in the Big East/SEC Challenge.

Why can't we have UConn-Tennessee, Pitt-Florida, Louisville-LSU and Notre Dame-Kentucky? It's not a challenge if we don't get to see the top teams play. Big Ten/ACC brought us Duke vs. Purdue and UNC vs. Michigan State.

And second of all, why can't it be the Big East/[Insert halfway decent conference here] Challenge? Maybe the A-10 would be a better opponent ...

Nonetheless, there are still some good hoops games tonight:

-- Texas Tech goes to UTEP for an in-state showdown. The Red Raiders are 7-2 with Pat Knight at the helm, and can score in bunches. UTEP is working hard to be a major challenger to Memphis's dominance of Conference USA. Beating a decent Texas Tech team will help UTEP's resume in March, too.

-- Siena at No. 3 Pitt would be a bigger game if Siena had held up its end of the bargain. You know, the whole "being good" thing. Remember when I mentioned Vanderbilt as a 4 seed in last year's Tournament? Well, Siena beat Vandy by 21 in the first round. And the Saints returned all five starters from that lineup. But now they're 5-3 and shooting 29 percent from 3 as a team. Not quite the same. This one's on ESPN 2 at 9:30.

-- Saint Mary's at Oregon should provide some quality entertainment. The Gaels are quietly one of the best teams on the West Coast and Oregon is desperately trying to find its stride.

Weekend Preview

Because I'm away for the weekend, let's run over some of the best games ahead, starting with tonight ...

Games of the Week(end):

St. Joe's vs. No. 15 Villanova (Thursday at 8): Last year, St. Joe's put a hurtin' on the 'Cats. Villanova has the upper hand this year, but Scottie Reynolds has to be a bigger factor if 'Nova wants to go anywhere. And if Tuesday's performance against Texas was any indiciation, Reynolds has a lot of work ahead.

Iowa at Iowa State (Friday at 8:05): This one's not on TV, but a good-old in-state rivalry never disappoints, even if this one lost its relevance about three years ago.

Long Beach State at No. 13 Syracuse (Saturday at noon): It will be interesting to see if Syracuse is distracted by the whole Eric-Devendorf-hitting-a-girl-in-the-face controversy. He'll be on the floor Saturday.

Butler at No. 21 Ohio State (Saturday at noon): Ohio State made its case for being ranked; now it's Butler's turn. We know the Buckeyes are gritty and talented. Butler has a chance to get a really high-quality win on the road.

No. 8 Tennessee at Temple (Saturday at noon on ESPN): The first of many tough games ahead for the Vols. This will test their mettle.

No. 17 Memphis at No. 19 Georgetown (Saturday at 2 p.m. on CBS): Both teams are scrapping to get recognized, but these are two clubs nobody will want to play come March. Or January, for that matter.

UMass at No. 25 Kansas (Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN): Kansas should win this game, but UMass needs to cut down on its turnovers to start competing better with big-name clubs like KU. This would be a nice place to start for the Minutemen.

Indiana at Kentucky (Saturday at 4 p.m. on CBS): Just for the names, not for the hoops.

Utah at No. 5 Oklahoma (Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN 2): The Sooners should win this contest, but the Utes have a nice team.

UMBC at No. 3 Pitt (Saturday at 7 p.m.): Cause it's been too long for the Panthers.

No. 10 Xavier at Cincinnati (Saturday at 8 on ESPN 2): The Musketeers are legit, we know that much. But how far has Cincinnati come this season? Good wins against UAB and at UNLV look nice, but a loss to Florida State catches my eye.

No. 4 Gonzaga at Arizona (Sunday at 6): Jordan Hill is starting to be a major player for the 'Cats, but Gonzaga is clearly at Top 5 team that is starting to really jell. They ran over Wazzou (at Wazzou, no less) on Wednesday.

OK, folks, have a nice weekend.

We're Baaaack

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I spent the past few days keeping a low profile and relaxing up in Boston. But that didn't keep me from hoops ...

And what a welcome-back present Louisville gave us today:

Western Kentucky 68, Louisville 54

Monday's Top 5 will not look the same as last week's. Expect Pitt to climb to No. 3, while UNC and UConn will hold firm at 1 and 2, respectively. Michigan State will also drop out of the Top 5 because of its loss to Maryland, which turned around and got slaughtered by Gonzaga and Georgetown on consecutive nights.

Gonzaga and Tennessee are going at it as we speak, with Gonzaga up by 10.

Game of my vacation: No. 11 Oklahoma 87, No. 10 Purdue 82, in overtime.

Tomorrow, we'll review who had a good break and who didn't.