College Basketball Thoughts while trying to forget that it's raining in December....

--December 20th should be an incredible day of college hoops.  2:00 brings Duke vs. Xavier at the Meadowlands and Michigan State vs. Texas in Houston.  4:00 is UConn vs. Gonzaga in Seattle and Davidson vs. Purdue in Indianapolis.  The nightcap pits Syracuse at Memphis at 6:00 from the FedEx Forum.  Mark that on your calendar in lieu of Christmas shopping.

  

--More points scored at Ford Field: UNC Tar Heels or 8 combined games of the Lions?

--The team that has most surprised me this year is Michigan.  They have two high-quality wins(UCLA, Duke) that will help them get an at-large berth to the NCAA's.  Runner-up: Xavier.

--My Wooden Award candidates:

1. Blake Griffin, Oklahoma

2. Stephen Curry, Davidson

3.  Tyler Hansbrough, UNC

No one else is even close as this point.  Griffin dominates whoever is guarding him and is a guaranteed double-double every night.  Curry is Mr. Everything for Davidson and Hansbrough's resume speaks for itself.  If Luke Harangody of Notre Dame gets healthy then he can challenge for a spot.  

--Is there a coach who gets more out of what he has than Davidson's Bob McKillop?

--Devin Ebanks really impressed me on Tuesday night.  He shut down Stephen Curry for stretches at a time and asserted himself very well on the offensive end.

--Look out for Siena this week at Pittsburgh.  They have a veteran club that returns most everyone that beat Vanderbilt easily in the NCAA Tournament.