It was a “Ho, hum” kind of weekend if

you were a ranked team named North Carolina, Nebraska, Tennessee, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Louisville, Maryland, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Georgia, Baylor, Oklahoma (Ellenberg seems to be ok) and Cal.

A little more excitement was had by Penn State, LSU and Purdue.

St. John’s is NOT enjoying being the host of the Chartwells Holiday Classic.

Yah, I see you’re 8-1, West Virginia. Let’s chat after you meet Oklahoma State and Baylor.

Baby steps — San Francisco earned its fourth win.

It took two overtimes, but Michelle Plouffe (and the Utes) took down BYU, 82-74, earning Plouffe espnW Player of the Week honors.

Cats might get nine lives, but giving Michelle Plouffe 10 extra minutes doomed the BYU Cougars on Saturday.

In leading Utah to in-state wins against Utah Valley and BYU this past week, the latter with one of the season’s most impressive individual finishing kicks, Plouffe earned espnW national player of the week honors and provided the young Utes with some much-needed momentum.

Yup, they take this in-state competition seriously: two overtimes later, it was Memphis over Tennessee Tech , 78-76.

Wyoming is putting together a nice season so far (“Fallon Lewis is too small, and Kaylie Rader is too young. And somehow, it doesn’t matter.“). Tough to get games against ranked opponents, though.

Yes, they’re 9-1, but the tough part of Arizona State’s schedule doesn’t hit until late January. Then it’s Cal, Stanford, Utah and Colorado.

Probably my fault: Grand Canyon (“Who?” you ask? “The only for-profit institution with a Division I athletic program,” I answer. ) deals East Carolina their first loss of the season.

DEFINITELY my fault: Quinnipiac takes down Albany. Big.

Resisting the WHB curse, UTEP moves to 9-0.

The kind of game Debbie Antonelli lives for: Sacramento State 99, UC Irvine 94.

And another one: Eastern Michigan 104, Detroit 96.

It’s a signature win only in the sense that the Bearcats have been waiting for something to hang their hat on: Cincinnati over Ohio State.

In the battle of the Missouri Valley v. the Horizon League, it was the Shockers over the Phoenix, 63-58.

Happy 1000th point for Pittsburgh’s Kiesel.

Graham Whites abWout the Wabbits.

Megan Waytashek watched more basketball during her first two years at South Dakota State than she ever had before or likely ever wants to again. As injuries separated her from the court for the first time in her life, all she could do was sit and watch. Game after game after game.

As Wednesday night crept toward Thursday morning, watching a game was all she wanted to do. Over and over again.

No matter that the final exam period began the next day for Waytashek, a mechanical engineering major, and others at the school in Brookings, S.D., an hour north of Sioux Falls and four hours west of Minneapolis. Those headaches could wait a few hours more. She just wanted to keep watching scenes from South Dakota State’s 83-79 victory against No. 12 Penn State from earlier that night, the one in which she had 18 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes. The one in which she was in the middle of the celebration at the final buzzer.

About that Blue and White v. White and Blue game tomorrow:

No. 1 UConn, expected to be at full strength, set for No. 2 Duke and Huskies get boost as Mosqueda-Lewis, Tuck ready to return and KML, Tuck expect to play at Duke and KML And Tuck Are Likely Available For Duke Game and UConn women back at full strength.

A UConn fan site preview and DWHoops preview.

From Jim Fuller: Senior guards go way back in UConn/Duke rivalry

It’s not uncommon to see parents vigorously cheering on the UConn women’s basketball team. It’s rare to look up in the stands and not see at least one of Kiah Stokes parents as well as family members of current Huskies Bria Hartley and Breanna Stewart, among others taking in the action.

However, in UConn’s trip to Pacific back during 2010-11 season, Hartley had a couple of familiar faces who made the trip to see her play. Yes, they were family members just not her own. It was the parents of Duke point guard Chelsea Gray who came out to show support to one of their daughter’s best friends.

Ooooooo! Rival For UConn Women? Duke Hasn’t Put Up Much Of A Fight

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Footing regained and lost

#3 Baylor, #6 Xavier and #19 Georgetown got wins (though the Hoyas struggled a tad). But the Blue Demons got eaten up at the YUM Center by Louisville. The Cardinals have knocked off five ranked teams this season.

DePaul had company in the upset department: Colorado used 24 points from Brittany Spears to snap an 8-game losing streak against #15 Oklahoma, 73-68.

Over at Fanhouse, Milton Kent looks ahead to the tourney No. 1s.

With roughly three weeks remaining before the field for this year’s NCAA tournament is unveiled, it’s a pretty safe bet that, barring some catastrophe, one part of the women’s basketball committee’s work is largely done, even before the nine members get to Indianapolis.

That is to say, that we pretty much already know who the four No.1 seeds are, and can pretty safely assign them to their regions.

As for the other teams still in the “discussion:”

Toledo escaped with a one-point win over Eastern Michigan to go to 13-1 in the MAC West. Central Michigan (West) and Kent State (East) both got wins to take them to 10-4 in the conference.

It’s interesting at the top in the America East, especially since Binghamton beat BU. Now both teams sit at 11-4 in the conference. UMBC rules the roost, though, at 13-3. Oh, and don’t look now, but Hartford’s lurking at 10-4.

It’weren’t easy, but the Owls beat the Hawks to stay perfect in the A-10. On the horizon looms the clash with the Musketeers. (Feb. 27th, ESPNU, 4pm EST)

Navy’s defeat of American runs the Midshipmen’s record to 9-4 in the Patriot League. They’ve got a shot at the regular season conference title on Saturday.

With their 81-57 win over Air Force, Wyoming looks to run up on TCU and BYUs heels in the Mountain West. By the way, congrats to Dale Ann Meeker, who’s having her Powell High School jersey retired:

The first female athlete to receive a basketball scholarship at the University of Wyoming, Meeker played for the Pokes from 1975-1979. During her senior season, her team earned the Intermountain Conference championship, finishing with a school-record 25 wins and seven losses. That season would stand as the best in school history until surpassed by the 2006-2007 NIT team.

In high school, Meeker was part of the first-ever girls’ basketball team at Powell High School as a freshman. As a junior, she brought home a mythical state title — mythical because Wyoming did not hold an official state championship tournament for girls — while serving as the team captain. One year later, she repeated the feat, again as team captain.

 

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