OPINION

By Mike DeCourcy

updated 7:59 p.m. ET Dec. 15, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

Five college basketball developments to watch this week:

1. TGIS
As everybody finishes up their final exams and tries to stuff in one more game before the holidays, 20 of the top 25 teams in the coaches' poll will play games Saturday, including five head-to-head confrontations.

Not that the top 25 contains any legitimate information regarding how the best teams in the country should be properly ordered, but what can be said for certain is that most of the ranked teams are of reasonably high quality. So when there are five games between such teams, we've got ourselves a heck of a day:

Connecticut vs. Gonzaga, Michigan State at Texas, Duke vs. Xavier, Syracuse at Memphis and Purdue vs. Davidson.

There isn't any question which is the best of the lot: UConn-Gonzaga at 4 p.m. ET in Seattle. Word is CBS will capitalize on Stephen Curry's popularity by making Davidson's game the national attraction in that slot and feeding Huskies-Bulldogs only to small sections of the nation.

It's highly unfortunate CBS has chosen to regionalize its telecast of such a game. Everybody should get the chance to see it. It provides a reminder of why so many would love to see another network charged with broadcasting the NCAA Tournament.

When I heard CBS' Jim Nantz bragging during the Georgetown-Memphis game about all the top teams that would be on his network's air a week hence, I thought they were going to present a quadrupleheader. That would have been a sweet Christmas gift. A regionalized doubleheader is only a slight upgrade from a lump of coal.

2. Clemson is No. 1!
Admit it: You didn't think Clemson's championship in the Charleston Classic was any big deal.

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All right, be completely honest: You didn't know Clemson had won the Charleston Classic.

You didn't even know there was a Charleston Classic.

Well, Clemson's victories in that brand-new event included a title-game win over Temple (which Tennessee couldn't manage) as well as decisions over TCU and Hofstra. The Tigers own road victories at Illinois and Charlotte. So no one can say their rise to No. 1 in the Ratings Percentage Index standings doesn't have a little meat to it.

But it's fair to suggest we won't really know the Tigers when they step into the ring Sunday in their ACC opener on the road Sunday against the Miami Hurricanes. This will be, by far, the greatest challenge they have faced.

No one can say Clemson's fourth consecutive 10-0 start is the product of spending money to buy way-easy home games. That's a pretty remarkable stat when you think about it: 10-0, every year.

Last year's 10-0 start turned into a run to the ACC Tournament title game and an NCAA bid. The 10-0 start two years ago turned into a late collapse and frustrating NIT bid. An unbeaten start is only the beginning.

3. 3,000 Miles to heaven
The world has been a bit too quiet about the 7-1 start compiled by Saint Mary's. The Gaels missed their chance to get some higher-profile games by losing their 76 Classic opener to UTEP, but they did take care of Providence in that event and defeated San Diego State over the weekend in the Wooden Classic. So they're doing fine.

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However, this might be the team's most important week that does not include a game against Gonzaga. The Gaels travel to Oregon for a road game in which the Ducks will try to avenge last season's upset loss at Saint Mary's. Then the Gaels will fly to Indianapolis to complete the Wooden double-play by facing Southern Illinois in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Saint Mary's was an NCAA at-large team last season. Perhaps it doesn't seem fair that teams in leagues such as the West Coast Conference face so much more pressure to perform in November and December, but that's how it is.

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