We would have liked to have seen Miami play Arizona with the Human Battering Ram, aka Reggie Johnson, but the big man had to sit with a jammed thumb.
It wasn't a close game - Arizona won by 19 - but you could see the outlines of a nice team in the Hurricanes.
Arizona was more athletic, yet Shane Larkin stripped them six times. Kenny Kadji has improved over last year - he's much more fluid although his rebounding - the guy is 6-11 and 242 - could still use some improvement.
Julian Gamble, who had an excellent game against Hawaii in Johnson's absence, couldn't deal with Arizona's phalanx of big men.
Durand Scott, Rion Brown and Trey McKinney Jones all had subpar games.
It may just turn out that Arizona is vastly superior -Â we watched and thought that this is a team that could give Duke trouble - or that it was just a bad night for Miami.
The 'Canes drop to 8-2 and will see LaSalle on Christmas Day, then, just three days later, travel to Atlanta to take on the improving Yellow Jackets. They follow that with a trip to UNC, where Johnson might really go off, and then host Maryland.
We'll know a lot more by January 13th.
After Virginia Tech's taut game with Bradley we wondered how fresh the depth-shy Hokies might be just one day later. As it turns out, not very: Colorado State hammered VT, winning by 36.
Virginia Tech hung in for 20 minutes, trailing just 33-27 at the half.
Then the dam burst.
Colorado State smoked the Hokies, 55-25 in the second stanza.
This is a team which clearly likes competing, taking on Erick Green's character. They've been in every game and have played a few significant opponents. We're guessing they just ran out of gas.
Circumstantial evidence: Cadarian Raines and Robert Brown both picked up four fouls in just 21 minutes, while Marquis Rankin fouled out in 23, shooting just 1-4.
Green had five turnovers, a third of his team's total.
Virginia Tech has seven healthy scholarship players and played 12 total. When you get limited minutes out of three scholarship players, the conclusion is preordained, really.
It must not have been a pleasant few days around Littlejohn after getting crushed by Coastal Carolina.
Brad Brownell no doubt reinforced his basic tenets this week, and his players appear to have listened: they beat South Carolina State by 36.
BYU transfer DaMarcus Harrison, who was a victim of the BYU missionary shuffle, was 6-11 for 15 points.
Milton Jennings matched him with his own 15, and Devin Booker grabbed seven boards and had 11 points of his own.