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The Morning Mix

Monday didn’t provide a bunch of action on the hardwood. But with early season injuries springing up and the Big Ten/ACC Challenge gearing up, we got a lot to get to.

Lets hit the links.

Monday’s Top Games:
7:00 p.m. - Vermont @ Harvard
7:15 p.m. - Iowa @ Virginia Tech
7:15 p.m. - No. 21 Minnesota @ Florida State
7:30 p.m. - No. 18 North Carolina State @ No. 3 Michigan
9:15 p.m. - Maryland @ Northwestern
9:15 p.m. - Nebraska @ Wake Forest
9:30 p.m. - Texas Southern @ No. 19 Colorado
9:30 p.m. - No. 14 North Carolina @ No. 1 Indiana

Read of the Day:
In what may be the most brilliant article you read all week, Will Blythe explains how to fix college basketball. Read It. (The New Republic)

Read of the Day:
In what may be the second-most brilliant article you read all week, David Pargman swiftly and thoroughly explains why athletes should be able to major in sports. Read it. (The Chronicle)

Top Stories:
Daniel huge as Murray State survives Lipscomb: Ed Daniel, purveyor of the best afro east of the Mississippi River, had himself a monster night, scoring 20 points, grabbing 18 rebounds and swatting away five shots. If Murray State is going to be as successful as last season, Daniel may have to replicate this performance again.

Now retired, Jim Calhoun to host Golf Channel show: Of course he is. He’s retired. All retired people play golf. But he’s actually not the first college hoops coach to broadcast golf programming. Former-Maryland coach Gary Williams frequently co-hosted coverage of the AT&T National Golf Tournament for CSN Washington.

Jeff Withey swats his way to a triple-double: The Kansas big-man recorded 16 points, 12 rebounds and a school-record 12 blocks en route to a 70-57 win over San Jose State.

Cyber Monday is over, so check out what teams we bought at a discounted price: After watching three weeks of college hoops, the College Basketball Talk staff details who they are buying cheap, buying a lot of and flat-out ignoring this holiday season.

UCLA or Memphis, who is more disappointing? We were having these exact thoughts roughly 365 days ago. At this point one has to wonder if if these two teams aren’t just really good at destroying hype

Hoops Housekeeping:
- ICYMI, Pittsburgh’s Trey Zeigler was arrested over the weekend for driving under the influence and has been suspended indefinitely by head coach Jamie Dixon. (Sporting News)

- Julius Randle, one of the top-3 uncommitted recruits in the class of 2013 will be sidelined for three months with a fractured foot. (USA Today)

- North Carolina State forward Thomas de Thaey has decided to leave the program and will return to Europe to be closer to his father, who has been battling cancer since April. (Fayetteville Observer)

- Louisville center Gorgui Dieng will have surgery later today on his injured wrist and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. (The Cardinal Connect)

- North Carolina sophomore guard P.J. Hairston has been ruled out of tonight’s game against Indiana because of recurring knee pain. (ESPN)

Observations & Insight:
- Ken Pomeroy has some stats, graphs and number in advance of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. (KenPom Blog)

- Jeff Eisenberg previews and predicts winners for all the Big Ten/ACC Challenge games. (The Dagger)

- An AP voter kept UCLA in their top-25 after losing to Cal-Poly. Naturally, they were featured in Gary Parrish’s Poll Attacks. (Eye on College Basketball)

- A mid-major recap of Monday’s action. (Mid-Major Madness)

- Denver is heading to the Summit League, which will be their third conference in as many years. This is the most entertaining read on the subject. (Mile High Mids)

- We knew Creighton was legit, but they aren’t the only MVC team thriving thus far. In fact, the Missouri Valley Conference is having its second best season in conference history. (Evansville Courier-Press)

- Paul Biancardi hands out his grades for the ACC recruiting classes. (ESPN Insider)

Odds & Ends
- The Mid-American Conference is applying to trademark the term/hashtag #MACtion. This my friends, is a brilliant, brilliant marketing move (CBS Sports)

- After a tough week in the Bahamas, the Memphis Tigers are regrouping, which happens to including changing their media policies. (Memphis Commercial Appeal)

- A Louisville Cardinals fan diary from the Battle 4 Atlantis holiday trip. (Card Chronicle)

- Philahoops.com is the best site on the web for Philly-area college hoops news, but they need your help to stay afloat. (Philahoops.com)

Dunk of the Day:
A recap of all the #POSTERIZED entries from a wild Feast Week (Ballin’ is a Habit)

Video(s) of the Day:
Kentucky mascot hits backwards half-court shot (Kentucky Sports Radio)

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)