Spencer Dinwiddie celebrates after Colorado's 60-58 victory over Baylor (US Presswire)

Six days before Thanksgiving, Colorado accomplished something no Pac-12 team did during last year's regular season: It defeated a ranked team.

A 60-58 win over No. 16 Baylor validates Colorado as a worthy challenger to Arizona and UCLA in the Pac-12 race and boosts the credibility of a league that has taken its share of well-deserved abuse in recent years. The Pac-12 landed only two NCAA tournament bids last March and failed to get regular season champion Washington into the field 0f 68, an embarrassing outcome caused by the league's inept performance in non-conference play.

It's too early to declare the league vastly improved but early returns are promising based on results from the first week of the season. The Pac-12 is collectively 24-2, though Colorado's victory over Baylor is by far the most noteworthy win the league has notched and Washington's loss to Albany is certainly an eyesore.

If this year ends up being a Pac-12 resurgence, Colorado may turn out to be one of the leaders.

The Buffs lost forward Austin Dufault and guards Carlon Brown and Nate Tomlinson off last year's 24-win team that won the Pac-12 tournament, but they appear to be even better this season.

Forward Andre Roberson is a menace on the glass, sophomore guards Askia Booker and Spencer Dinwiddie are developing rapidly as scorers and freshmen Xavier Johnson and Josh Scott have shown the talent and savvy to contribute immediately. Colorado lacks depth off the bench at any position, yet it defends as well as any team out West thanks to the combination of length and quickness guys like Roberson and Dinwiddie.

Tom Crean probably didn't glean much about his team from Thursday night's 99-45 rout of Sam Houston State, but the Indiana coach did learn one important lesson during the game.

TV cameras are always watching.

The Big Ten Network caught Crean drop a piece of gum on the Assembly Hall floor during Thursday's game, pick it up and put it back in his mouth without a second thought. It was a hilarious enough moment that fans on social media poked fun at him for invoking the five-second rule and "SportsCenter" included the clip in its Not Top 10 segment Friday morning.

[Related: UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad may catch bizarre break]

Crean caught enough ribbing that he took to Twitter late Friday night to explain himself.

"The gum I dropped was a fresh piece of Dentyne Ice," Crean wrote. "No 5 second rule was in effect. Now, even if it was used, it wouldn't matter. Branch McCracken Court at ASSEMBLY HALL is the cleanest and greatest court around."

Crean isn't the only Big Ten coach TV cameras have caught scooping their gum off the basketball floor. In 2007, Ohio State's Thad Matta sent a wad of chewing gum flying onto the court while yelling at the referees, only to pick it back up and put it back in his mouth.

D.J. Byrd is despondent on the bench after his flagrant foul enabled Villanova's late comeback (Getty Images)

Only 43.8 seconds remained in Thursday night's 2K Sports Classic semifinal between Purdue and Villanova when the referees made a controversial call that altered the trajectory of the game.

D.J. Byrd catches Darrun Hilliard in the face with his upper arm (Getty Images)

Holding a four-point lead and the ball, the Boilermakers inbounded the ball to senior D.J. Byrd along the sideline, enabling a pair of Wildcats to trap him and attempt to force a turnover. Byrd raised his arms in an effort to protect the ball and caught Villanova's Darrun Hilliard in the face with his triceps, an offensive foul that referees ruled to be a Flagrant 1 foul.

The call was the turning point in the game because it was the fifth foul on Byrd, the Purdue's second-half catalyst, and it awarded Villanova two shots and the ball. Hilliard sank two free throws to cut the lead to two, Ryan Arcidiacono hit two more to force overtime after a Purdue foul on the ensuing possession and the Wildcats pulled away in overtime to escape with an 89-81 win.

Whether the referees got the call on Byrd correct depends on if glancing contact with the triceps is considered to be the same as the elbow or not.

According to the NCAA rule book,  a Flagrant 1 foul occurs when a player "swings an elbow and makes non-excessive contact with an opponent above the shoulders." Byrd indeed swings his arms above his head in an effort to clear space, but the non-excessive contact with Hilliard was made with the triceps and not the elbow.

"It's obviously the worst thing that could happen,'' Byrd told ESPN.com's Andy Katz. "The rule is if the elbow comes above where it's not supposed to then it's a Flagrant 1. They got it right. It obviously wasn't intentional but that's the way the game goes.''

(AP)

"Big-12 rejects."

Baylor basketball fans chanted those words at The Pit in Albuquerque in March, directing the insult toward Colorado fans near the end of the Bears' 80-63 victory over the Buffaloes in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.

Nearly eight months to the day removed from that game, the programs will square off again Friday in the second round of the Charleston Classic. Colorado won its first game in the tournament over Dayton on Thursday and Baylor followed with a win over Boston College.

Colorado players and coaches have been quietly hoping for a rematch with the Bears since the Charleston Classic bracket was set. After their first-round win, they found themselves rooting for the Bears in a tight first half against Boston College.

"We want Baylor . . . we want our revenge," sophomore Askia Booker said in a story published by CU's sports information staff after the Dayton game.

Kaza Keane defended by Frantz Massenat (US Presswire)

An 0-2 start for a power conference team is often easy to overcome since so many chances for marquee wins remain on the schedule.

For CAA preseason favorite Drexel, on the other hand, it's a significant early hole.

Back-to-back overtime losses at Kent State on Friday and at home against Illinois State on Thursday have stripped away much of the Dragons' margin for error the rest of November and December. Now Drexel faces an uphill road toward contending for an at-large NCAA tournament bid and avenging last March's snub from the selection committee.

Since the CAA has been weakened by the departure of VCU and the non-league schedule Drexel coach Bruiser Flint assembled once again isn't especially formidable, the Dragons don't have many opportunities for noteworthy wins.

A win over Saint Mary's in the opening game of next week's Anaheim Classic is critical for Drexel because that would land the Dragons in the winner's bracket and perhaps get them chances at Xavier or Cal in the later rounds.

If Drexel loses to Saint Mary's, its at-large hopes could be sunk by the time most of us sit down for Thanksgiving dinner. The best non-league opponents left on Drexel's schedule are St. Joseph's, Davidson and Princeton, quality teams but hardly juggernauts.

Shabazz Muhammad (Getty Images)

If UCLA gets Shabazz Muhammad back in the near future, the Bruins may have an NCAA investigator's chatty boyfriend to thank.

Lawyers representing Muhammad told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday they're calling for the NCAA to drop its investigation and reinstate the prized freshman as a result of a conversation overheard on an Aug. 7 commuter flight.

An attorney seated behind a man who described himself as the boyfriend of the NCAA's lead investigator in the Muhammad case said she overheard him say the NCAA would find Muhammad ineligible and not allow him to play this season. When reached by the Times on Wednesday, the attorney confirmed the story, adding she felt compelled to speak out because of "the cavalier discussion of this young man's future being tossed about for everyone to hear."

[Related: Top UCLA freshman Shabazz Muhammad ruled ineligible]

The revelation of the conversation is intriguing, but there are probably too many questions here for this to be a game changer.

First of all, this is a flimsy story based on secondhand and thirdhand information. Even if the conversation did take place the way the attorney claimed, it's entirely possible NCAA investigators simply suspected Muhammad would be ineligible based on the evidence they had already gathered and the boyfriend overstated things.

Secondly, while it would be unfair if the NCAA reached a conclusion in August since it hadn't received pertinent documents from the Muhammad family yet, investigators had already been working on the case for a while. They had enough evidence to reportedly warn schools recruiting Muhammad as early as February that his eligibility was in doubt.

Fresno State coach Rodney Terry (US Presswire)

1. The most gouge-your-eyes-out ugly basketball game of the new season pitted Fresno State and UC Riverside on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs won 39-30 in a game that was 13-11 at halftime and 23-23 with 10 minutes to go before the visitors managed a 9-0 run to take control. Fresno State hit 11 of 39 shots and UC Riverside 12 of 49. Asked about his team's offensive woes, Bulldogs coach Rodney Terry said in an understatement, "That's going to be a work in progress with this group,"

2. Florida forward Erik Murphy's arrest after a drunken night two years ago may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. After a 10 of 10 shooting night in a victory over Wisconsin in which he showcased a more complete all-around game, Murphy told CBSSports.com that his arrest helped him refocus on what was important and rededicate himself to becoming a better student and maximizing his potential as a basketball player.

3. Speaking of Florida's victory over Wisconsin, that game highlighted issues Wisconsin will have to correct by the start of Big Ten play. The Badgers shot poorly against Florida's two-three zone, failed to defend high screens properly and struggled to adequately replace the vocal leadership, toughness and defensive ability of point guard Josh Gasser, who tore his ACL in practice earlier this month and is out for the season.

4. There's no surprise which recruiting class is No. 1 on Dave Telep's list of the 10 best since 1987. That honor goes to Michigan's Fab Five in 1991, which culturally changed basketball while leading the Wolverines to a pair of national title game appearances. More interesting is where Telep has the past few Kentucky classes. Last year's group highlighted by Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is No. 3, the John Wall-DeMarcus Cousins class is No. 5 and next year's star-studded group is No. 7 even though John Calipari may yet add to it.

5. Creighton got only five points from Doug McDermott, spotted UAB a 10-point lead early in the second half ... and still won by 17. Josh Jones scored 10 straight points and to tie the game at 45 and had all 18 of his points in the second half, igniting a comeback that carried Creighton to a 77-60 win over the Blazers. McDermott's quiet night ended a streak of 37 straight games in double figures, but it also showed the Bluejays have other weapons.

(Rivals.com)

Colorado recruit Tre'Shaun Fletcher's decision to change his name first seemed odd on the eve of the early signing period in college basketball this week, but it turned out to be a choice rooted in love and respect for a mother who refused to give up on her son.

Fletcher's name change raised a few eyebrows when he signed with coach Tad Boyle's program in Boulder because he had gone through the entire recruiting process and his whole life as Tre'Shaun Lexing. It was the last name of his half-brother's father.

Fletcher said he wanted to pay tribute to his mother, Bobby Fletcher, in some way giving her the proper credit she deserves for helping him earn a college scholarship. What better way than putting his mother's name on the back of his jersey and the degree he hopes to earn?