Monday Look Back: Xavier, Temple, URI give A-10 good name

Who had a better Sunday than Brandon Marshall Fantasy owners?

The Atlantic 10.

Xavier beat Cincinnati in a thriller (more on that later), Rhode Island won at Boston College and Temple dealt Villanova its first defeat -- a 75-65 loss in which the Owls' Juan Fernandez, a sophomore who averaged 5.5 points last season, put 33 points on the Wildcats thanks to seven 3-pointers.

Dante Jackson and Xavier earned an 'intense' Crosstown Shootout victory over Cincy. (AP)

Consequently, the A-10 strengthened its position as one of the country's top five conferences, according to the RPI. So when somebody asks for the name of the best non-BCS league, you tell them it's the Atlantic 10.

Now let's do the Monday Look Back ...

Best game of the weekend: Xavier's 83-79 double-overtime win over Cincinnati in the Crosstown Shootout featured a near fight, a nice comeback and big-time players making big-time plays. It was heated and it was fun. Just a nice way to spend a Sunday night. "It was intense," Xavier's Dante Jackson told reporters afterward. "How many times did the officials have to break us up?" Not sure, Dante. I lost count.

Worst game of the weekend: Kansas' terrible nonleague schedule isn't totally Bill Self's fault considering the Memphis game was supposed to be against a loaded team led by John Wall and the UCLA game was supposed to be against a UCLA team that didn't stink. In other words, some of this is bad luck. But it's still wild to think that the consensus preseason No. 1 team hasn't played a ranked opponent, and it's still boring to watch the Jayhawks thrash one outclassed team after another. La Salle is the latest victim. Kansas cruised to a 90-65 win over the Explorers on Saturday behind Xavier Henry's 31-point effort. The Jayhawks are now 9-0. Their past seven wins have come by an average of 36.6 points.

Win to brag about: Butler gets the nod here not because beating Ohio State sans Evan Turner is huge, but because the Bulldogs simply couldn't afford to endure another nonleague loss, particularly one at home. As I pointed out last week from New York, Butler taking three losses in its first nine games put Brad Stevens' team on the verge of eliminating itself from at-large consideration. So that's why Saturday's 74-66 victory over OSU was worth bragging about, because the alternative would've probably sent the Bulldogs to Selection Sunday with zero wins against ranked opponents no matter how the rest of the season unfolded.

Loss to hide from: Western Carolina is solid, I guess. But the Catamounts shouldn't be able to go into Freedom Hall, regardless of the season or circumstances, and deal Louisville a 91-83 loss like they dealt the Cardinals on Saturday. That's awful, and now Louisville has lost three of its past four games against non-BCS programs, which raises an important question: How much longer until we get the "Terrence Williams is not walking through that door" speech? I give it two weeks, tops.

Player who deserves improper benefits: Jacob Pullen took 10 3-pointers, made seven and led Kansas State to Saturday's 95-80 pounding of UNLV. The junior guard finished with 28 points. It marked the fifth time in six games that Pullen has scored at least 20, and it was more than enough to give KSU its sixth consecutive win. "We've got to take this experience and build on it," said Kansas State coach Frank Martin. "They don't give parades for wins in December." No, they do not. But they do give AP votes, and the Wildcats should be in the AP poll this week.

Player who should lose his scholarship: Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis sank four 3-pointers and scored 23 points Saturday, and that was great. But he also took a 5-second call because he couldn't inbound the ball with 18 seconds remaining in a game the Irish led by a single point, and that was bad. It got worse when Loyola-Marymount's Jarred Dubois took advantage of the mishap by draining a 3-pointer, and even worse when the Lions exited the Joyce Center with an 87-85 victory created by that 3-pointer.

Why I'm smarter than you think: I told you in the Friday Look Ahead that unranked Xavier would beat nationally ranked Cincinnati. And then Xavier beat Cincinnati, just as I told you.

Why I'm dumber than I think: I also told you in the Friday Look Ahead that the reason I was picking Xavier was because Xavier was playing at home, and the home team had won the past five Crosstown Shootouts. Turns out, that's not true. Xavier won last year at Fifth Third Arena, which is Cincinnati's home. So my logic was flawed. But who cares? I picked Xavier over Cincinnati. That's all that matters.

Three things you should know before you go

Western Kentucky enjoyed a long-awaited victory over Vanderbilt. (US Presswire)

1. Western Kentucky's 76-69 win over Vanderbilt in Nashville on Friday was significant in that it snapped WKU's 10-game losing streak against the Commodores. It was Western Kentucky's first win over Vandy since 1945, which surprised second-year coach Ken McDonald. "Fans were coming up to me after the game and saying, 'We've been waiting our whole lives for this,'" McDonald said Sunday. "I was like, 'Waiting your whole life for what?' I didn't know it had been that long."

2. West Virginia sophomore Devin Ebanks missed Saturday's 69-43 win over Coppin State with an injured hand. Nothing alarming. It's just a nagging injury, really. So Bob Huggins decided to let his star forward rest the hand against an outmanned opponent, the hope being that it'll be much better by the time West Virginia plays Cleveland State on Dec. 19.

3. Former Louisville forward Derrick Caracter made his UTEP debut Sunday, and it did not go well. The 6-foot-9 junior finished with two points and two rebounds in 12 minutes of an 87-80 home loss to New Mexico State. Yes, that's the same New Mexico State team UTEP beat 79-58 without Caracter earlier this month.

On tap: On Monday, Chattanooga gets a rare home game against an ACC school when Georgia Tech visits The McKenzie Arena. On Tuesday, Tennessee hosts Wyoming at Thompson-Boling Arena. On Wednesday, a couple of possible NCAA tournament teams battle when UTEP and Ole Miss play a neutral-court game at the Desoto Civic Center just outside of Memphis. On Thursday, Auburn travels to Florida State.

Final thought: The weekend's terrible officiating award goes to Brad Gaston.

You won't believe what this dude did.

Creighton was up 72-70 on Saturday at George Mason when Justin Carter was called for a block with 18 seconds remaining. Like any coach would, Dana Altman protested the block/charge call, at which point Gaston hit Altman with a technical foul. So George Mason got two technical free throws, and Luke Hancock made them both. Then Cam Long, who was fouled on the play, hit one of two free throws to give George Mason a 73-72 lead.

Creighton, clearly rattled, turned the ball over on the ensuing possession.

George Mason turned that turnover into a Hancock dunk.

Then Carter missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

So the Patriots escaped with a 75-72 victory.

Because of a technical called on Altman.

Now I can't be certain what Altman said or didn't say -- for what it's worth, Altman swears he didn't use profanity -- but to me, that's irrelevant. Unless Altman physically assaulted Gaston (and he didn't), no official should issue a technical at such a key moment so late in any game, especially to Altman, who is far from a maniac like Seton Hall's Bobby Gonzalez.

Altman is respected in this sport, and he had not received a technical since 2007. So why Gaston decided he needed one with 18 seconds left in a one-possession game is something the world might never understand, and here's the worst part: The crew -- Gaston, John Moore and Dan Daily -- was assigned to this BracketBusters rematch by the Missouri Valley Conference, meaning Altman got screwed by his own officials.

Terrible.

Just terrible.

But on the bright side, at least he's not coaching Arkansas.