Brandon Paul's shot selection remains a major work in progress, but the Illinois guard certainly knows how to finish when he gets around the rim.

Southern Illinois forward Carlton Fay found that out the hard way on Saturday when he was late to rotate over after Paul cut to the basket. The 6-foot-4 Paul takes a pass from teammate D.J. Richardson, explodes toward the rim and hammers a one-handed dunk down over the outstretched arms of the 6-foot-8 Fay.

It's crucial for Illinois that Paul continues to attack the rim because he became too reliant on his outside shot as a freshman. He shot only 33.3 percent from the floor as a freshman and 27.9 percent from behind the arc, but he's taken steps toward correcting that problem so far as a sophomore.

Paul is 13 of 22 from the floor in three games and has also averaged 3.0 assists and 2.7 steals in 20 minutes per game off the bench. He's played so well in Illinois' first three games that assistant coaches have been pestering Bruce Weber to

UPDATE: Great news for Gonzaga courtesy of FoxSports.com's Jeff Goodman, who reports that an MRI revealed Elias Harris did not suffer a torn Achilles. The sophomore forward is expected to be sidelined for about a week.

Overshadowed by the well-deserved praise being heaped upon San Diego State this morning is the other obvious storyline that emerged from the Aztecs' impressive road victory at Gonzaga on Tuesday night.

How much trouble are the Zags in now?

A three-point loss to a fellow top 25 foe in November wouldn't normally be cause for panic, but Gonzaga really needed to defend its home court in that game considering the issues facing the Zags now.

The biggest concern has to be that star forward Elias Harris left late in the San Diego State game with an injury and told the Spokane Spokesman Review afterward that he felt his Achilles tendon "pop." And adding to the anxiety over the status of Harris, the Zags are now set to embark on the toughest stretch of non-league games any team

Jim Boeheim already called this Syracuse squad the "most overrated" team he'd ever coached after Sunday's 19-point victory over Canisius, so his news conference after Tuesday's tepid 66-55 win over Detroit Mercy figured to contain some gems.

Sure enough, the Syracuse coach didn't disappoint, delivering a classic five-minute opening monologue that was quintessentially Boeheim. He didn't scream or curse but instead bemoaned his team's dismal 36.4 percent shooting against Detroit's zone defense and the inability of anyone besides point guard Scoop Jardine (27 points, 8 assists) to make open shots from the perimeter.

Watch video of Boeheim's news conference here

"If somebody was guarding one of these guys, I might have somewhat of an understanding," Boeheim told reporters in Syracuse. "You're in college. You're not in high school. You've got a scholarship. They don't guard you, then you've got to be able to make those shots. If you can't, then you shouldn't be in college playing

The 24-hour tip-off marathon produced some intriguing games and wild finishes worthy of your espressos, energy drinks and 32-ounce cups of Mountain Dew. As I wrote Tuesday night, Ohio State's stock probably rose the most out of anyone after its win over Florida, but here are four other winners and losers from a long day of basketball:

Winner: UConn women's basketball

The top-ranked Huskies survived what may be their biggest hurdle on their way to potentially surpassing the John Wooden-era UCLA team that won a record 88 games in a row from 1971-74. Connecticut extended its streak to 80 on Tuesday, rallying from an eight-point second-half deficit against second-ranked Baylor behind 30 points from star Maya Moore and a couple crucial late baskets from freshman Bria Hartley.

Loser: Baylor coach Kim Mulkey

Mulkey deserves tons of credit for building Baylor into one of women's basketball's elite programs, but she hurt her team's chances against UConn by spending her final timeout to set up

Florida and Ohio State entered the O'Connell Center Tuesday evening with top 10 rankings, star-studded rosters and Final Four expectations.

Only one team walked off the court a legitimate national title contender.

In their second meeting since the 2007 national championship game won by Florida, it was Ohio State that earned a convincing victory. The Buckeyes withstood the best the Gators had to offer in a back-and-forth first half and then elevated their game to a far higher level in the second, transforming a three-point halftime deficit into a 93-75 rout.

If Duke still remains a prohibitive early national title favorite, Ohio State solidified its place on the short list of teams capable of challenging the Blue Devils. The Buckeyes shot 63 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three-point range, receiving significant contributions from all four of their marquee players.

Highly touted freshman big man Jared Sullinger looked spectacular, scoring 26 points on 13 of 17 shooting and

The player who scored the winning points in the only two victories in Bryant University's short history as a Division I program admits the emotions he experienced were totally different after both games.

Hitting the go-ahead free throws against Wagner last February was an enormous relief for guard Raphael Jordan because it snapped Bryant's winless streak after 26 straight losses to start the season. Knocking down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to seal a 74-72 victory over Iona on Sunday night was a far more joyous moment since Jordan is hopeful it will propel his team to a more successful season.

"This shot was just a really good feeling," Jordan said. "It just goes to show how much better a team can get over the course of an offseason. I think we're definitely going to be a better team than we were last season."

A neutral-court win over Iona might not mean that much to most marquee programs, but this was a landmark victory for Jordan and his Bryant teammates. The Gaels won 21 games last

Maybe some members of the Southern Illinois basketball team are young enough that they weren't familiar with the story of Chris Webber entering college hoops infamy in the 1993 national title game by calling a timeout Michigan didn't have.

If so, the Salukis are surely intimately familiar with Webber's gaffe now.

Tied with Northeastern in the closing seconds of the first overtime period on Tuesday morning, Southern Illinois rebounded the ball underneath the Huskies' hoop with three seconds remaining and apparently shouted for a timeout to set up a final play. Of course, the only problem was that the Salukis were out of timeouts, paving the way for Northeastern's Chaisson Allen to hit one of two technical foul shots and lift his team to an anticlimactic 63-62 victory.

If Webber had the ultimate blunder because it cost Michigan a chance to secure the national championship, Southern Illinois' mistake was still plenty painful for fans, even though the stakes were more modest. It came in

Whether it's solving a Rubik's Cube in 10 seconds, naming all 50 state capitals in under two minutes or beating Super Mario Brothers 3 in less time than it takes to make a sandwich, we all have a geeky, completely useless talent.

Unfortunately, most of ours aren't nearly as cool to watch as the woman in the video below.

EMBED-Basketball Rapid Fire - Watch more free videos

Shooting on one of those classic arcade Pop-A-Shot machines with notoriously unfriendly rims, this woman effortlessly sinks a ridiculous 114 shots in a row in a mere 60 seconds (86 in the first 45 seconds when baskets count as two points apiece, 28 in the final 15 seconds when they're three points each). She is to Pop-A-Shot what Manny Pacquiao is to boxing, Roger Federer is to tennis and Peyton Manning is to quarterbacking. She's gained athletic immortality for her performance.

[Video rewind: High school player sinks 90-foot shot]

The scariest thing about this clip is that this woman amazingly enough is not the