In other (more important than any basketball) news...

My deepest, heart-felt sympathies and prayers go out to Arizona State Sr. F Aubree Johnson and her family on the loss of her 15-year-old brother while in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam over the Thanksgiving weekend (Kudos to the event and Rutgers staff for agreeing to the cancellation of the championship game of the two heavy-weight teams) as well as the sweet-sounding (fellow 15-year-old) basketball phenom 6'0 SF Charnelle Bacon of Caravel Academy in Bear, DE as she fights Osteosarcoma (rare bone cancer) in her left femur. The doctors say, "It doesn't look good" on her ever playing basketball again. Her mom is just glad she's going to be alive. Last year, Bacon was named one of top 5 freshmen by USA Today.

If these kinds of things don't put the importance of winning basketball games and recruiting wars into perspective...I don't know what does!!