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The Morning Mix

Non-conference rivalry week continues to roll on. Colorado got all they could handle from a resilient Colorado State team. Gonzaga traveled to Washington State and escaped with a win. Florida won the Sunshine State Showdown against Florida State in embarrassing fashion. We got a lot to get to today, so let;s get right to it.

Time to hit the links.

Thursday’s Top Games:
7:00 p.m. - Arkansas-Little Rock @ No. 11 Cincinnati
7:30 p.m. - Vanderbilt @ Xavier
8:00 p.m. - No. 16 Creighton @ Nebraska
8:00 p.m. - Long Beach State @ No. 4 Syracuse
10:00 p.m. - UC-Santa Barbara @ No. 17 San Diego State

Picture of the Day:
This is what the history of the WAC looks like. I can’t keep up. (Mid-Major Madness)

WAC history

Read of the Day:
Eric Prisbell’s story on Gabreille Ludwig, born Robert John Ludwig, is worth your time. Enough said. Read it. (USA Today)

Read of the Day:
Luke Winn’s weekly power rankings. That is all. Read it. (Sports Illustrated)

Read of the Day:
Mike DeCourcy details why Creighton assistant coach Steve Merrifield, who led Hampton to a 2001 NCAA tournament upset victory over, needs to be given a second chance. (Sporting News)

Top Stories:
Is Florida an “elite” team? The Gators throttled the Seminoles last night. in fact they’ve throttled every and all teams they’ve faced this season. But should the Gators be mentioned in the same breath as Duke, Indiana, and Louisville?

Chicago State is leaving the Great West, joining the WAC: Conference realignment has hit the lowest level of Division I college hoops, as Chicago State will hope to help revive the WAC by leaving the upstart Great West Conference.

Utah honors Majerus and crushes Boise State: On the night they honored their late head coach, the Utah Ute put on their best performance of the season, defeating a very hot Boise State team.

Inaugural episode of the CBT Podcast: College Basketball Talk has joined the podcasting fray. Listen to host Troy Machir discuss the latest in college hoops with CBT writer Rob Dauster.

Hoops Housekeeping
- Danny Berger’s health condition continues to improve since collapsing at a Utah State practice on Tuesday. (CBS Sports)

- Siena players visited two student sin the hospital who had been in injured in a car crash heading home from the Siena vs. Albany game from earlier in the week. (Albany Times-Union)

- Rutgers in filing a lawsuit against the Big East in order to avoid paying the conference’s exit fee. (New York Daily News)

Observations & Insight:
- Jason King’s Kings Court is quickly becoming one of my favorite weekly reads. He packs a bunch if interesting insight and analysis into each one. Plus, it’s in list form. Who doesn’t love that? (ESPN)

- We all expected the West Virginia vs. Marshall game to be a physical one. But I don’t think any of us could have predicted the final outcome, that’s to a handful of late ejections. (Deadspin)

- Matt Norlander suggests that the programs once coached by Rick Majerus should get together on an annual basis to honor the late great coach (Eye on College Basketball)

- Florida’s absolute drubbing of Florida State won’t help the Seminoles land super recruit Andrew Wiggins. Luckily for FSU, the co-eds came out in full force to convince Wiggins to return to Tallahassee. (The Dagger)

- Here is how John Calipari’s Kentucky teams have fared through the first eight games of the season. (Kentucky Sports Radio)

- The NBA Draft is months and months away. But if you were to ask the experts who the top choice for the No. 1 overall pick, you would get a lot of different answers. (CBS Sports)

- Raphielle Johnson’s Left Coast Layups post is a weekly must-read that will get you caught up to speed on every from the West Coast. (NBE Basketball Report)

- With ten days off in between games, UMass is hoping to stay focused during exam week. (Hoopville)

- Don’t look now, but the UIC Flames are 6-1 and are turning the corner under head coach Howard Moore thanks to a renewed focus. (ESPN Chicago)

- That is a very good question. What exactly have we learned about the ACC thus far? (College Chalktalk)

- Gary Parrish’s story about Memphis junior Geron Johnson is worth your time. (Eye on College Basketball)

Odds & Ends
- A seat upgrade app that helps fans find empty seats in the lower bowl during games? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. (Washington Post)

- With the news that Utaha State’s Danny Berger collapsed at practice on Tuesday, it should be noted that a player at Red Bank High School in New Jersey died on Monday after collapsing during a scrimmage. (New Jersey Star-Ledger)

- Club Trillion founder Mark Titus provides his top-12 NCAA power rankings (Grantland)

Dunk of the Day:
Kansas’ Ben McLemore and UNLV’s Anthony Bennett are stealing all the freshman dunk headlines, by High Point’s John Brown should not be left out of the discussion.

Devontae Harper throws down a #SCtop10 play for IUPUI

Do you like the new Morning Mix? Hate it? Have a suggestion or wanted something featured? Troy Machir will take all your praise, insults and inquiries via Twitter (@TroyMachir)