FanHouse Lester Hudson

* Memphis general manager Chris Wallace allegedly tells Spanish sports page Marca that the Grizzlies won't pass on Ricky Rubio, though there are matters to be worked out. The rumor out there has been that Wallace and the team's scouts love Rubio, but owner Michael Heisley is reluctant to take a risk on the young point guard, given the bad dissolutions with Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro. (And as with all things Ricky, this could very well be posturing.)

* Jrue Holiday can see himself going as high as No. 4 to Sacramento, the point guard tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. (Ignore his fingers. Sam Presti wouldn't dare destroy the galaxy by pairing Holiday and Russell Westbrook.)

* The Baseline's Sean Deveney talks about Lester Hudson's strange path to the NBA Draft.

There's a very light slate of games around the country this evening and all of them are mid-majors, which should be a good thing for teams looking to gain some exposure. Sadly, few of the games feature anybody all that interesting but that's alright because then you've got no excuse to not watch Siena at Niagara at 9PM. The games on ESPNU and everything, so you needn't be going over the falls in a bucket to catch it.

It should be worth your time for Charron Fisher all by his lonesome. He's the leading scorer in all of Division-I at 27.4 a game and throws in nine and a half rebounds for good measure. He can score any way you like and in the Purple Eagles' uptempo offense, he never lacks opportunities. They spur that offense by being the best rebounding team in the MAAC and that could swing the tide in their favor this evening.

Siena, a smart but slower and more deliberate side, will likely be without Alex Franklin for the sixth straight game. The Saints have lost three of those five and really miss Franklin's rebounding and 15 points a game. Without him on the inside, they'll have to rely on hitting a bunch of threes and slowing down Fisher. That should prove to be too tall an order and give Niagara a leg up on the conference title.

Butler is off to their best start since 2002-03 after beating Wisconsin-Green Bay 74-65 and the most impressive thing is how they've gotten there. No one is surprised that Butler's a good team but their versatility has been most unexpected. They've won without A.J. Graves shooting the lights out and when he's less than his best. They've won with the expert hand of Mike Green guiding them and by following freshman Matt Howard and via blowout and nailbiter. The one consistent thread has been the way their three-point marksmanship has overcome their rebounding deficiencies.

You can strike that one from the list. The Bulldogs only made 3-of-19 from deep last night but outrebounded the Phoenix 38-30 and dominated the paint for their 14th victory. Howard got 12 of his 22 points from the foul line and Butler shot 41 overall to make up for their errant perimeter shooting. Green Bay's coach Tod Kowalczyk stormed out of the interview room when he was asked if he wanted to comment on the 41-18 difference in foul shots but it was clear that the Bulldogs were too much for his defense to contend with.

Will the same be true of Cleveland State?

Other than the A-10, which will try to pull their upsets in the SEC this weekend after doubling down on ACC beatings last night, the mid major conferences are into their conference seasons. None are deeper into league play than the Southern Conference which has teams with as many as five games under their belt. That makes it one of the easier ones to project, election-style, at this early date.

Davidson, to no one's surprise, is 3-0 and, after dominating Georgia Southern 92-67 last night, looking like a sure bet in the Western Division. GSU has played well this season but were overwhelmed by Stephen Curry and there doesn't appear to be a SoCon team that can hang with the Wildcats. Playing up out of conference hurt their bottom line but it looks to have had the right effect on their play.

In the East, Chattanooga and Elon have broken from the gate with aplomb. The Mocs are 4-0 after holding off Wofford 85-78 last night. Wofford made an astounding 17 three-pointers and led by 12 in the first half but Stephen McDowell made six of his own to turn the tide. Elon also has four wins although they lost to Chattanooga, leaving them a half-game back. They scored the first eight points of the second half to take their first road win of the year, 72-63 against The Citadel. Still, each team will need to catch Davidson at their worst to harbor hopes of the Big Dance.

Elsewhere on the mid major hardcourts:

A light night among the mid majors was highlighted by a couple of Ohio Valley Conference matchups. Eastern Kentucky improved to 2-0 in conference when Darnell Dialls hit a three with 13 seconds left to knock off Easten Illinois 72-69. The now 0-3 Panthers had a chance to tie but Romain Martin's last-ditch effort was blocked by Mike Rose. Those three players were responsible for most of the fireworks on Monday night. Dialls and Rose each had 25 points for EKU and Dialls grabbed 11 rebounds in his first career double-double. Martin had 28 for EIU, which was done in by their inability to force the Colonels into mistakes. Eastern Kentucky had just two turnovers, making up for being outshot and outrebounded.

As hard as it is to win when that happens, it's harder when you're facing Lester Hudson of Tennessee-Martin. The JUCO transfer has started his D-1 career with a bang. 27.4 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals a contest for the Skyhawks' one-man band but even a career-high 36 points wasn't enough to beat Morehead State. The Eagles won 80-75 thanks to four players with 15 or more points and a sparkling game from point guard Nikola Stojakovic. He had 13 assists and just two turnovers to improve MSU to 1-2 in the OVC.