Horns down, Bears up

Thinking about everyone at Michigan State. The devastating news about a gunman killing three people and injuring five more is gut-wrenching, just like all the other school shootings in the past 20-plus years. Officials have canceled all campus activities for 48 hours, including Wednesday's home game against Minnesota.

Give your friends and family a hug or a call today, and not just because it's Valentine's Day.

Let's get to the news.

1. Buckle up. It's the Big 12.

College basketball's toughest conference lived up to its rep on Monday night.

Texas Tech, winners of just two Big 12 games entering the night, handled No. 6 Texas, 74-67, in perhaps its most impressive performance of the season. Perhaps there really are no bad teams, despite their overall records.

The Red Raiders (14-12, 3-10 in Big 12) jumped on the Longhorns (20-6, 9-4) early thanks to a magnificent first half by senior guard De'Vion Harmon, who scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the first 20 minutes. Texas adjusted by doubling Harmon through much of the second half and tied it at 64 with 4:10 remaining. But Tech had an immediate answer: Kevin Obanor blocked a Dylan Disu dunk, then Fardaws Aimaq found Obanor for an oop that started a 6-0 run and sealed the game.

"We're a team that fights," Obanor said. "Coach will use the analogy of it's like a boxing match, 18 rounds and you get beat seven, eight times. It speaks more to the character, and to the people that we are to get back up. I guarantee you that a lot of teams would have folded, they would have cared about stats, worry about going to the next level, they would have quit. To have that sense of urgency, that mindset, just to keep going and not give up."

For those who lost track, when Texas Tech was at the bottom of the Big 12 it beat Iowa State (when the Cyclones were tied for first), Kansas State (when the Cats were tied for second) and now Texas.

Texas is now tied with No. 9 Baylor atop the Big 12 standings after the Bears (20-6, 9-4) beat West Virginia, 79-67, earlier last night.

LJ Cryer was locked in, hitting 8-of-11 from beyond the arc and finishing with a team-high 26 points. It was one of those games where West Virginia (15-11, 4-9) didn't play poorly; it was more about the nation's most efficient offensive team living up to its potential.

“We didn’t let them do anything,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “They made tough shots.”

There could be a three-way tie depending on how Kansas fares at Oklahoma State tonight. The Cowboys have won five straight, and anything less than another tense, tight game would be a surprise for the nation's best conference.

2. Miami swamps UNC, plus other results to know

Stop me if you've heard this before, but North Carolina might miss the NCAA Tournament.

No. 15 Miami dealt the Tar Heels (16-10, 8-7 in ACC) their fourth loss in their past five games. It wasn't so much that the Canes (21-5, 12-4) were connecting on offense — they do that against pretty much everyone — it was that UNC's offense stalled yet again.

In their win against Clemson on Saturday, the Heels assisted on more than half of their baskets. Monday night? A measly six dimes on 31 made field goals. The ball didn't move.

“In the second half, we tried to (attack) and they just did a better job of closing down that paint,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. "The only way that you can open that up is to make some perimeter jump shots, and we just weren't able to do it.”

Which raises one of Miami's underrated aspects. It's not a tall team, and when forward/center Norchad Omier was forced to sit much of the first half due to foul trouble, it should've given UNC a chance to force-feed big man Armando Bacot. But Miami did a terrific job double-teaming Bacot when needed and getting ball pressure to prevent entry passes.

The result was those missed jumpers Davis lamented (along with missing 26 3-pointers) and just six shots for Bacot. The UNC backcourt of RJ Davis and Caleb Love (43 combined points on 16-of-37 field goals) tried to match Miami's duo of Isaiah Wong and Nigel Pack (47 points, 16-of-25 field goals). That didn't work.

The win leaves Miami one game back of Virginia and Pitt in the ACC race, while North Carolina's stuck in the middle of the pack with a trip to NC State looming on Sunday. To say it's an important game would be an understatement, considering the Heels have zero Quad 1 wins and are 6-10 vs. Q1/Q2 teams.

Gonna be a wild next four weeks.

Other results to know:

Hofstra 66, Drexel 52The Pride (20-8, 13-2 in CAA) won their eighth straight behind Aaron Estrada's 22 points and a stingy defense that held the Dragons (15-12, 9-6) to just 36 percent from the field.

Charleston 99, Northeastern 63Ante Brzović scored 23 points as the Cougars (25-3, 13-2 in CAA) kept pace with Hofstra in the league race. It wasn't close, either. Charleston had the lead after just 33 seconds and ended up with its highest-scoring game of the season.

Howard 78, Maryland-Eastern Shore 69The MEAC race will come down to the final day of the season. Elijah Hawkins scored 16 points as the Bison (16-10, 8-1) won their eighth in a row, forcing 20 turnovers and holding the Hawks (14-10, 6-3) to just 35 percent from the field.

Norfolk State 97, Delaware State 58The Spartans (18-7, 7-2 in MEAC) topped 90 points for the fourth time this season, led by Kris Bankston (22 points) and Joe Bryant Jr (19).

Alcorn State 67, Florida A&M 64The Braves (14-11, 11-2 in SWAC) have won 11 of their past 12, including a couple of road wins by a total of five points. Byron Joshua led Alcorn with 17 points and helped it maintain its lead over Grambling.

Grambling 68, Prairie View A&M 64Carte'are Gordon scored 18 points, and the Tigers (17-8, 10-3 in SWAC) hit three free throws in the final 16 seconds to hold off the Panthers (9-17, 5-8).

3. Refs will miss calls. But it shouldn't be hard to discuss.

Give credit to Saturday's officiating crew in Charlottesville. They've got people to feel bad for Duke. No, seriously. If Tyler Hansbrough says, "Duke got robbed" by the no-call on Kyle Filipowski in a 69-62 OT loss to Virginia, then it's pretty much universal. (Probably.)

It's no surprise that Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer spoke about it again during Monday's ACC coaches conference call, and remains miffed.

Cavs coach Tony Bennett empathizes with Scheyer but knows the refs have an impossible task. You truly can't get every call right.

But what if discussing the call after the fact wasn't such a mystery? Why wait for hours after a game for an official statement?

This column from Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says there's a simple solution: Designate a pool reporter to talk to the officials after a game. It works for the NCAA Tournament. It would work here.

Would it be a perfect solution? No. But nobody's perfect. All we need is a little more clarity.

4. News to know

Every now and then, there's just a little too much news for the headlines and The Fast Break. Like these three.

• Mike Brey won't be coaching at Notre Dame next season ... but he's not done coaching yet, according to Jeff Goodman. The 63-year-old coach is one of the game's most affable and respected coaches, with nearly 500 career wins in 23 seasons in South Bend. Could the DMV native end up somewhere closer to where he grew up?

• Speaking of Notre Dame, Oklahoma coach Porter Moser says any reports of him and the Irish having "high mutual interest" are not true. "I have no interest," Moser said during a Monday press conference. "I can say, unequivocally, that’s a false report saying I pursued it. Unequivocally. And nor do I want to. I’m home." Sure, it makes sense that a "Catholic kid from Chicago" would be linked to the job, but he says nah.

• New Mexico State says its remaining six games this season will count as forfeits for WAC play and a no-contest for NCAA purposes. That means Cal Baptist, UT Rio Grande Valley, Grand Canyon and Tarleton all immediately get one victory, while Abilene Christian gets two. The NCAA usually doesn't recognize forfeited games, but the WAC is seeding its conference tournament according to a computer formula, so the result matters.

5. Alabama, basketball school

For the first time since 2002-03, Alabama is No. 1 in the AP poll.

What? You don't remember that season? Behind Mo Williams, Erwin Dudley and Kennedy Winston, the Tide started 9-0. They did go 8-12 the rest of the season and lost as a 10 seed, so maybe that explains the memory loss.

ANYWAY, this is not that Bama team. They received 38 first-place votes, outdistancing Houston (22 votes) and Purdue (2), in what's probably been an overdue recognition. The Tide have played better than any other team since Dec. 25, and it's not particularly close. At 22-3 overall and 11-0 in the SEC, Alabama is eyeing an unbeaten conference mark (which would be the SEC's first since 2014-15 Kentucky) and is the likely favorite when it comes time to filling out brackets next month.

The biggest remaining regular-season test is Wednesday at Tennessee. Whether the Vols can snap their two-game skid will probably come down to hitting some late-game free throws.

'It's all about being selfless'

Many college hoops fans might think Northwestern State's season peaked when it beat then-No. 15 TCU on Nov. 14. But that wouldn't capture the totality of the Demons' season.

And that's just how first-year coach Corey Gipson likes it.

The former Missouri State assistant has the Demons at 18-8 on the season and tied for the Southland Conference lead with Texas A&M Corpus Christi at 10-3. He's got some familiar faces leading the way — tri-captains Demarcus Sharp, Ja'Monta Black and Isaac Haney all played at Missouri State when he was there — along with a couple of impact freshmen and Jalen Hampton and Greedy Williams.

It's a nice start, but there's more to be done. He talked with me about it for the latest Four Questions.

Q: You’re not a big team, but you’re among the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation (the Demons grab 34 percent of their missed shots). Is that focus, or just a benefit of having a freshman like Jalen Hampton, who can clean up when your other guys get to the rim? It's impressive to see the mix of experience with two seniors, a sophomore and a couple of freshmen.

Corey Gipson: It's a little of both. You have to have some innate features, and you have to have some emphasis to go along with it. Take the University of Houston. If you were to ask Kelvin Sampson, how do they do it, he heavily emphasizes it, and he recruits guys that go get it. Then they work on it a lot in practice. So it's a combination, but you also have to have some chemistry and symmetry. It's one thing to go get it, but when certain guys shoot the basketball, you gotta know where the ball is going.

It's all about being selfless, and having a selfless mentality, and serving somebody else. We preach selfless and serving all the time. It's a creed we actually live by, not just in-between the lines, but outside of the lines. And so when something is a way of life, then it becomes second nature, and it just infuses everybody in the organization — not just the players, not just the coaches. It becomes a way of life with everybody in the circle.

Q: Describe for people what having a 1-2 punch of Demarcus Sharp and Ja’Monta Black does for your team. Watching their physical play that sets tone is impressive.

Corey Gipson: We actually have tri-captains: Sharp, Black and Isaac Haney. We're blessed to have three guys share that title, and that's not something that we throw around loosely. I was raised in a profession that when you deem somebody captain, that really meant something. When you play for us, we hold you to a standard, and all three of them have gone above and beyond. But they're selfless people. And when you have tri-captains who are selfless, who postpone immediate gratification for the betterment of the team, then that warrants people around them to follow. We have great leaders and we have great followers. None of it works without all of it. It doesn't do any good to have great leaders if we don't have people to follow. So we're blessed to have both to go hand in hand.

Q: For the guys who came with you from Missouri State, what were those conversations like? The Bears were coming off a 23-win season that included a trip to the postseason, so I imagine it wasn’t necessarily an easy one for those guys.

Corey Gipson: What I can tell you is that there was a high level of familiarity when those names went into the portal. There was no guesswork. I knew what those guys were. There was no guesswork to be done. Those are things that you have to sniff out in the recruitment process. It's like when you decide to get married. You better know that person before you marry them. You can't realize things about that person after you married them. It's the same as the portal. Once you realize something after after the fact, instead of the work beforehand, it's too late.

Q: When you were hired, you spoke about the history and tradition of Northwestern State. A program with one of the great NCAA Tournament wins as a 14 seed in 2006. And you’re now the first African-American coach in school history. Have you thought about these much as a first-year coach?

Corey Gipson: I was raised by some wise people. And I was fortunate in that sense, to know that there's a big difference between perspective and truth. And some people think that our perspective is the truth, OK? Truth outweighs perspective every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. We operate on truth around here. If we operated on perspective, then we would have paid attention to how our preseason predictions were, and our guys would have played to the level of not having any preseason all-conference selections. When this season ends, we still may not have all all-conference selections, but we're gonna stand on truth. We have our own inner perception on the inside.

I've never been a 30-under-30 or 40-under-40 or anything like that. A lot of times that doesn't come to people from the perceived lower levels of college coaching. I feel blessed. I feel blessed about having this opportunity from coming from a program like Missouri State because most of the time, the Power Five assistants are the one who get the jobs. There are so many coaches that are capable, that are in smaller conferences, but people don't take the time to see what those guys are doing. And I'm very thankful that the administration here in Northwestern State took time to research and to give a guy like me and the staff an opportunity.

There are some great assistant coaches in the Southland that could go be head coach in other places. There's some great assistant coaches in the SWAC, in the MEAC, in the Missouri Valley, in the OVC, assistant coaches that could be head coaches at other schools. I want to advocate for those people, and I think it's time that we start getting out behind closed doors and seeing what these people are doing at the grass roots level at the Division-I level.

Northwestern State hosts Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday.

All Amped up

Those Creighton futures look promising again. The Bluejays (17-8, 11-3 in Big East) have won eight in a row and are coming off a thrilling home win against UConn. Can they continue to shrug off the rough start to the season — and defy historical precedent? Tuesday represents a massive test with a trip to Amica Mutual Pavilion, a place Providence (18-7, 10-4) hasn't lost in a nearly a year. (Seriously, Villanova beat them last Feb. 15). Consider it where Big East dreams are truly tested, even if Creighton is favored. (7 pm ET, FS1)

Other games to watch (All times ET)

• Missouri (19-6, 7-5) at Auburn (17-8, 7-5), 7 pm (ESPN2)

• NC State (20-6, 10-5 in ACC) at Syracuse (15-10, 8-6), 7 pm (ACC Network)

• Illinois (17-7, 8-5 in Big Ten) at Penn State (14-11, 5-9), 7 pm (ESPNU)

• Kansas (20-5, 8-4 in Big 12) at Oklahoma State (16-9, 7-5), 9 pm (ESPN)

• Michigan (14-11, 8-6 in Big Ten) at Wisconsin (14-10, 6-8), 9 pm (ESPN2)

Fielding the 68

Never dull moment when it comes to projecting the NCAA Tournament. Purdue's been the steadiest and arguably best team all season — and now they're no longer a lock to be a No. 1 seed, according to our latest bracketology show. Check the clip below for more insights on the top seeds, and click here for the latest bracket.

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Links as you scramble for a last-minute Valentine's Day reservation.

• The NCAA basketball committees will discuss tourney expansion for the first time this summer.

• Louisville will raise a "FINAL COACHES POLL #1" banner for the 2012-13 team. You know, the year it won the national title (we all saw them win it).

• Rhode Island dismissed its second-leading scorer, guard Brayon Freeman.

• The Pac-12 presidents issue a "statement of unity" as the media rights deal continues to languish.

• Interesting read from The Athletic about how the transfer portal is affecting the POV of high school recruits.

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