Winners and losers: Blood Boilers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Some teams draw motivation from a fiery coach. Others use the roar of a crowd. Then there's Purdue.

On Saturday, the Boilermakers needed a little blood.

Actually, there was a lot of blood streaming from the nose of Chris Kramer after the junior was elbowed by Michigan's Manny Harris. Unfortunate as the play might have been – Harris was ejected – it evidently gave life to Purdue, which turned a close game into a 67-49 rout. The Boilermakers trailed 29-27 when Kramer was injured.

"We don't retaliate," said Kramer, who re-entered the game wearing a protective mask, "We just get W's."

Indeed, they do.

Saturday's victory was the sixth straight for Purdue, which is among a handful of college teams that appear to be peaking at just the right time. Louisville, Connecticut, Oklahoma and North Carolina can also be grouped with the "risers."

Among the "fallers?" How about Georgetown, Notre Dame, Baylor, Arizona State and Mississippi State, among others.

Here are the winners and losers from last week.

Winners

Tom Crean – Indiana is still searching for its first conference victory, but Big Ten coaches continue to rave about the job Crean is doing after inheriting one of the most difficult situations in college basketball. With a rotation built largely on unheralded freshmen and walk-ons, Crean's team has lost league games by five, six, 10, four and two points. Here's betting Indiana beats Iowa on Wednesday.

Clemson – Two seasons ago the Tigers started 17-0 but finished 24-10 and missed the NCAA tournament. That won't happen to this year's team, which won its first 16 games before losing consecutive games against Wake Forest and North Carolina two weeks ago. After defeating Georgia Tech, Clemson rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat Virginia Tech on the road – a win that should answer any doubts about this group's toughness. The Tigers are now 18-2 overall and 4-2 in the ACC.

Ryan Toolson – The Utah Valley standout scored 63 points in his team's quadruple-overtime victory over Chicago State. Toolson was 18 of 31 from the field and made all but one of his 21 foul shots. And get this: Toolson also scored 63 points during a high school all-star game. Toolson is the nephew of former Boston Celtics star Danny Ainge.

Frank Martin – Kansas State's second-year coach has taken his share of criticism. After what Martin's Wildcats did last week, though, it will be tough to say anything negative about him. After blowing out a good Missouri team at home on Wednesday, K-State pulled off the shocker of the week by defeating Texas in overtime Saturday in Austin. The Wildcats aren't half as talented or experienced as the Longhorns, yet they beat them on the road. That's coaching, folks.

North Carolina – Wednesday's game against Florida State was a bit scary, but the Tar Heels have won five in a row and have a pair of home games (i.e. wins) coming up against Maryland and Virginia. Don't be surprised if the Tar Heels are back atop polls within the next few weeks.

Chase Budinger – The Arizona standout is averaging 22 points since Houston's Aubrey Coleman used his face as a doormat in a Jan. 24 incident that led to an ejection – and, eventually, threatening phone calls – for Coleman. Maybe someone should tick Budinger off a little more often.

Villanova – Last week it was mentioned that Jay Wright's squad needed a convincing win to justify its spot in Associated Press Top 25 poll. A victory over Pittsburgh certainly did the trick.

New coaches – A handful of offseason hires have exceeded expectations in their inaugural campaign. A few that come to mind: Keno Davis (Providence), Trent Johnson (LSU), Darrin Horn (South Carolina), Mike Montgomery (Cal) and Buzz Williams (Marquette).

Purdue's defense – The Boilermakers rank first in the country in field-goal percentage defense. Opponents are shooting just 36 percent against Matt Painter's team, which allowed 49 points in Saturday's win over Michigan.

Monday night hoops – Tough not to get amped up for Monday's showdown between Louisville and Connecticut at Freedom Hall. Connecticut will likely be ranked No. 1in this week's Associated Press poll. Could the Huskies lose that status within 24 hours?

Losers

Dino Gaudio – Can't say enough nice things about Wake Forest's play in its victory over then-No. 1 Duke. But Saturday's loss at Georgia Tech was inexcusable. The Yellow Jackets were winless in the ACC until Saturday. Gaudio should've had his team more ready to play.

Auburn – The Tigers lost Saturday to a Vanderbilt team that entered the game with just one conference win. The worst part? It happened at home. Could Jeff Lebo become the third SEC coach fired in two weeks? Doubtful, but don't be surprised if it happens at the end of the season.

Curtis Shaw – Some officials have rabbit ears – and then there's Shaw, who last week ejected Rice's owl mascot for a few comments he made through the beak. Maybe Shaw just wanted to end up on YouTube – which, of course, he did.

Illinois – Thirty-six points. That was the grand total produced by Bruce Weber's Fighting Illini in Wednesday's loss at Minnesota. A total disappointment in a game, supposedly, between Big Ten contenders.

Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson – Poor guys. The Kentucky standouts continue to play great basketball – but their teammates aren't giving them much help. The Wildcats have lost two straight games now, including Saturday's 78-77 home setback against South Carolina. Patterson (28 points) and Meeks (20) each had good games, but no other Wildcat reached double figures.

Kyle McAlarney – It's almost depressing to watch what's happening to Notre Dame. Saturday's loss to Pittsburgh was the fifth straight for the Fighting Irish and, once again, McAlarney struggled. The senior has made just 9 of 28 3-pointers in his last three games.

Arizona State – One week the 14th-ranked Sun Devils are winning at No. 9 UCLA, the next they're dropping home games to Washington State. Herb Sendek's team followed up that disaster with a second-consecutive defeat at Washington on Saturday. No team is establishing itself in the Pac-10.

Patrick Mills – Some of the worst news of the week came when doctors revealed that Mills could be out for a month with broken bones in his shooting hand suffered in Thursday's loss at Gonzaga. A sophomore, Mills will be a first-round pick in this summer's NBA draft should he choose to leave school early. Has he played his last college game? Let's hope not.

Tom Penders – Houston's coach came off looking pretty dumb when he tried to convince people that Aubrey Coleman didn't mean to step on the face of Arizona's Chase Budinger in the Cougars' Jan. 24 loss. Penders even said ESPN tried to "doctor" the video to make Coleman’s act appear intentional. One thing the network couldn't edit was Coleman laughing and slapping five with a teammate after being ejected.

Thoughts fit for a King

• As speculation about Georgia's coaching search continues, the name that's almost always mentioned is Jeff Capel. I might be wrong, but I just can't see Capel leaving Oklahoma right now – especially not for Georgia. Capel has a good thing going with the Sooners. Sure, Blake Griffin will enter the NBA draft. But Capel has signed five players from the Rivals.com Top 150 list. In other words, Capel is building a solid foundation. Seems strange that he'd abandon it after just three years.

• Saw games at Purdue and Minnesota this week and couldn't have been any more impressed with each team's homecourt. Not many barns in the country are as loud as Mackey Arena. Minnesota's Williams Arena had that old-time, smell-the-fresh popcorn ambience that, unfortunately, is becoming rare.

Teams I can't figure out: Arizona, Mississippi State, Maryland, Missouri, Massachusetts and Gonzaga.