College Hoops Thoughts

SI.com's college basketball expert goes inside the game. This is just a taste of what you'll get online.

1 Washington freshman point guard Abdul Gaddy hasn't exploded onto the college game the way I thought he would. Through seven games Gaddy (below) has averaged just 5.3 points and 2.6 assists. His biggest struggle has been on defense. Despite playing just 10 minutes in the Huskies' 99--92 loss to Texas Tech, Gaddy committed four fouls.

2 I'm not big on Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado. People think that because he's a prolific shot blocker, he's a great defender. To me, he's only a strong weakside defender. At 6'9", 230 pounds he's rail thin, and he has no go-to offensive move. How often does a guy like that stick in the pros?

3 I originally thought the speculation that the Pac-10 might only get two teams into the NCAA tournament was silly, but it sure is tough to come up with three who deserve to go. The teams have done so poorly in nonconference games that it will be hard for them to improve their RPI once conference play begins.

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KEVIN P. CASEY/AP (GADDY)