Michigan State's national runners-up will be at Boardwalk Hall this weekend in the Legends Classic. The Spartans play Florida on Friday after Rutgers plays Massachusetts in the first game.
* Syracuse really did start the second half against UNC with a 22-1 run in the championship game of the 2K Sports Classic at MSG. How good was MVP Wesley Johnson? Move the 'Cuse right near the top in the Big East.
* The Big East started the season 35-0.
* The Big East had the most players on opening-day NBA rosters with 55, followed by the ACC (53) and Pac-10 (50). A closer look at the numbers demonstrates that the Pac-10, with just 10 teams, has more per-team representation, followed by the ACC (12 teams) and Big East (16 teams).
* Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon's 163 wins are the most ever by a coach after six seasons. The Panthers have made the Sweet 16 5 of the last 8 years. Only Duke and Kansas (six each) have done better.
* Nine schools have won 25 or more games each of the last 3 years - Xavier, Butler, BYU, Davidson, Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, Pittsburgh and UCLA.
* Remember Xavier's Jordan Crawford? He was the Indiana transfer who dunked on LeBron this summer. The tape was suppressed briefly. Well, Crawford can do more than dunk. He can ball a little. In his first three games for X, he averaged 21.3 points, shot 57.8 percent overall and 53.6 percent from the arc.
* Xavier, under new coach Chris Mack, is outscoring teams by 36.7 points per game and outrebounding them by 16.0. They are averaging 96.3 points. They play Marquette tomorrow in the Old Spice Tournament in Orlando.
* Bizarre stat of the early season - Tulane senior point guard Kevin Sims has scored 1,000 points. He missed his first 22 shots of the season before hitting his last two against Penn State, including a game-clinching three. Then, he hit his first two shots (both threes) against La Salle on Sunday before missing his last five.
