Seth Davis's Three-Pointer

1 The Big East is eating its own. Through Sunday, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Syracuse, which were all ranked in the Top 10 at some point this season, had lost a combined 17 of their last 19 games and are in danger of missing the NCAA tournament.

2 Coach K was smart to bench Nolan Smith. After Duke's sophomore point guard had just 11 assists in his first seven ACC games, Mike Krzyzewski replaced him in the starting lineup with senior Greg Paulus (above) for the Blue Devils' OT win over Miami.

3 Gonzaga has toughness issues. The Zags (17--5) came into their matchup with Memphis leading the nation in field goal percentage defense, but they allowed the Tigers to shoot 44.2%, and they were outrebounded by 16 in a 68--50 loss at home.

PHOTO

JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (PAULUS)