These teams capitalized on nonconference opportunities

Giles just made his season debut Monday against Tennessee State after missing the Blue Devils’ first 11 games this season, while Smith has been soaring for the Wolfpack from the start.Wholesale NFL Jerseys

Allen had an opportunity to leave Duke after last season. Multiple NBA executives told ESPN that Allen would have been a first-round pick in the draft, but he decided to return to school for a variety of reasons. He said education was important, he wanted another opportunity to win a national title and he wanted a chance to play some point guard.

Graduate of BYUFollow on TwitterFacebookTwitterFacebook MessengerPinterestEmailcommentThe college basketball season is now 6 weeks old. Conference play starts next week for many, and the chance to pick up some key nonconference wins has come and gone. Several teams seem like a lock to make the NCAA tournament, while others have dug a hole so big that it may be impossible to make it up if they don't win their conference tournaments. The Sports Analytics Team at ESPN has two key rankings for Division I basketball teams. The Basketball Power Index (BPI) measures team strength and is used to project future performance. The other, Strength of Record (SOR) is essentially an all-encompassing résumé rating. Strength of Record describes how difficult it is for a team to achieve its current Win-Loss record given its schedule.Wholesale Miami Dolphins Jerseys

And Smith believes he has the knee injury to thank for it.

Allen spoke to ESPN at length before the season and expressed remorse about the two tripping incidents a year ago: one on Louisville's Ray Spalding on Feb. 8 and another on Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes on Feb. 25.

"I worry about him because, obviously, the impact it has had on him at a very, very deep level. A very, very deep level. And so that's very concerning to me. ... I've been in constant touch with Grayson in making sure he's OK, that we are taking steps."

But before Sitake moves on to planning for 2017, he'll likely give himself and his first-year staff a chance to enjoy this win. Maybe they'll do a bit of laundry too. Gatorade and mud stains are tough to get out of clothes.Miami Dolphins Jerseys

Offensively, the Cougars lose long-time quarterback Hill, Williams, wide receivers Nick Kurtz and Colby Pearson and left tackle Andrew Eide. It both opens up opportunities for young players and also leaves question marks as to what this offense will look like next season under Detmer, who will be in his second season as BYU's offensive coordinator.

"It's very big, especially when you're from the city, as a kid growing up watching that rivalry game," Snider said. "So it's big."

The jurisdictional hearing is uncommon, if not entirely unprecedented. North Carolina asked for the hearing to argue that the NCAA, which has long stayed out of the business of determining the worth of academic classwork, did not have the authority to punish a school based on the academic merits of its coursework.

The rivalry. The incessant trash talk coming from all sides. His desired revenge for last season's performance at Rupp Arena. How "big" it all was.cheap NFL Jerseys

No one was more crucial in that respect than Snider. Pitino's team entered Wednesday night's game with the nation's stingiest per-possession defense relative to the opposition, per KenPom.com, yet another trademark Pitino batch of length and strength and tactical flexibility. But 11 games into the season, the Cardinals had struggled to shoot the ball, relying instead -- thanks to turnover-related caution and copious offensive rebounding -- on sheer shot volume.

"It's a learning experience," Krzyzewski told The Dan Patrick Show. "I'm going to use it as that, as a teaching moment. And a teaching moment does not stop by giving one game. Or maybe that's what it is. I don't know that right now.

The dance worked. Adebayo went flying in the wrong direction, Snider jutted past another defender, and by the time he was at the rim there were no Wildcats left to guard him.

Dec 22, 2016Dana O'NeilESPN Senior Writer Close College basketball reporter.

"I said, 'Look, guys, I don't know how many more Kentucky vs. Louisville games I have left.' I hope I coach five, seven, eight more of them. But you have to really enjoy it, because you are not going to experience this too much," Pitino said. "When you look at college basketball on the screen sometimes, you don't see this type of atmosphere. You have to really, really enjoy it. And they did tonight."

In the first 11 games, no Louisville player had managed to score 20 points.