The undefeated teams marched on Thursday night, as Memphis crushed overmatched Siena, 102-58 and Vandy ran away from Rice, 76-58. While Memphis doesn’t have any real threats until the end of the month, the Commodores start SEC play next Wednesday. They open with South Carolina, who will likely be without gunner Brandis Raley-Ross, and then head to Lexington to face a struggling Kentucky squad. That means the next threat to Vandy’s impressive streak will most likely come on January 17th when they head northeast to face in-state rival Tennessee.

Pac-10 play got underway out west last night, with three games on the slate. Arizona State needed a late comeback, but ultimately knocked off Oregon, 62-54. The Arizona Wildcats seem to be hitting their groove after a rough start, and continued their winning ways with a 76-63 victory over Oregon State at home. UCLA started their title defense on the road, topping Stanford, 76-67.

Is DePaul finally starting to put it together? The Blue Demons stumbled through a very difficult non-conf schedule (SOS of 27 according to Ken Pomeroy), blowing halftime leads in four of their seven losses. The worst of those came against Vanderbilt, who eliminated DePaul’s 18-point second-half advantage before winning in overtime. Last night, it seemed like Villanova was going to repeat the late-game comeback, as they trimmed an 11-point deficit down to only four points less than two minutes later. But the Blue Demons stepped up on defense, the Wildcats melted down, and Coach Jerry Wainwright watched his squad seal a third-straight victory. Can the Blue Demons right the ship and make some noise in the middle of an abnormally weak Big East?

When I was a kid, the A-10 was routinely on Big Monday and John Calipari had UMass an established power. Since then, the conference has…dropped off the map, to put it nicely. But this season, it seems that the Atlantic 10 could be in the hunt for multiple NCAA bids. Xavier is one of the top teams in the league, and they have played a challenging slate so far. Their 20th-ranked schedule and 11-3 mark is impressive, but last night’s 108-70 demolition of Virginia was absolutely ridiculous. The Cavaliers shared the ACC regular-season crown with UNC last season, and had a 10-2 mark before last night’s embarrassment. The X-Men already have a win over #11/12 Indiana on the resumé and fell just short of an upset of #8/9 Tennessee during the holidays. Watch out for the upstart Muskies the rest of the way.

Friday night means a lack of quality hoops, but those with a true addiction can check out Fairfield at Loyola (Maryland) on ESPNU at 6 PM CST.