Tale of the tape

Syracuse lost to Connecticut on Wednesday, moving them into a three-way tie for first in the Big East. Jim Boeheim will try to get his team refocused and continue to work James Southerland back into the mix.

Duke took control in the second half on Wednesday to beat North Carolina, a nice birthday present for Mike Krzyzewski, who turned 66. Now he will get his team refocused to play another rival.

After a weak nonconference slate, Pitt started 1-3 in the Big East. Jamie Dixon’s squad is 7-1 since and has a week to prepare for Marquette.

Rick Ray is in his first year as a head coach. He was most recently an assistant at Clemson. He inherited a team that returned just two contributors from a group that greatly underachieved last year.

Bill Self will try to do something on Saturday he hasn’t had to do in 264 games, dating back to January 2006: stop a losing streak. The Jayhawks’ streak of not losing two in a row came to an end on Wednesday when they were shocked—an understatement—by TCU.

There are small signs of progress at Fordham under Tom Pecora, now in his third year. But the Rams are still buried in the Atlantic 10 basement and are just 6-17 overall.