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10 tidbits to know: Duke’s bad night, UCLA’s improvement and more

Duke v Miami

CORAL GABLES, FL - JANUARY 23: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during second-half action against the Miami Hurricanes on January 23, 2013 at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami defeated Duke 90-63. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

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Vin Parise is a former assistant college coach and the college basketball insider for NBC Sports. Look for his Top 10 Tidbits every week.

1. Great win for Miami but I’m still chalking it up as an awful night for Duke. Rick Pitino has always said that one or two nights a year nothing goes right -- and I agree with that view. Remember last season when Providence beat Louisville by 31 points? Providence finished at the bottom of the Big East and Louisville went to the Final Four. It happens sometimes. How many more nights this year is Duke going to shoot 29% from the field, 4 for 23 from 3 point land and Seth Curry goes 0-10? My guess would be zero.

2. How about the Bryant Bulldogs out of the NEC. They are in 1st place at 6-1 in league and 13-5 overall. They had 9 total victories in the 3 prior seasons to this year. Tim O’Shea’s rebuilding project from D-2 into D-1 is starting to take form.

3. Give credit where credit is due. UCLA is better than we all anticipated. In November the Bruins were overrated and Howland was on the hot seat. A beyond big time win on the road at No. 6 Arizona this week has Bruin fans back. Howland’s team has 16 wins already and let’s take a look at their 4 losses. Of course Cal Poly was a bad one -- but the other 3 are Georgetown, San Diego State when they were ranked 23rd and Oregon when they were ranked 21st.

4. Ole Miss is obviously No. 24 in the country but did you know they’ve only played one ranked team? No. 10 Missouri on January 12th. Even more surprising: they’re slated as of right now to only play 2 more ranked opponents -- Florida and Missouri again. Should a team be worthy of Top 25 status if they only play two ranked programs in a year?

5. Stephen F. Austin out of the Southland Conference recently received a vote for USA Today Top 25. Resume is impressive. 16-1 overall, 7-0 in league and wins vs Tulsa and Oklahoma.

6. It’s going to be really fun following the America East in mid to late February. Stony Brook, Albany and Vermont are in a 3-way war right now for the top of the league standings.

7. The VCU--Richmond game this week was another example of a fascinating talking subject in the world of hoops. Should you foul at the end of a game when you’re up 3 or play it straight up and take your chances? What’s fascinating is that nearly every coach in the off-season or off the court will tell you that they’d foul. Then the season begins...and so few actually do it.

8. Northeastern was not able to score a big non-conference win early -- but what a job they’ve done in conference play this year. The Huskies are in 1st place by 2 games, all by themselves at 7-0 in the CAA. Bill Coen’s team shoots nearly 45% from the floor.

9. I don’t know about you, but I can watch Otto Porter from Georgetown play the game of basketball all day long.

10. Do not miss La Salle at VCU this weekend. That is going to be some basketball game to watch if you like uptempo guard play.

Vin Parise is the College Basketball Insider for NBC Sports. You can catch him on NBC Sports Network’s SportsTalk – Mon-Fri. 6 p.m. ET. Follow Vin on Twitter: @VinParise