FanHouse PhilMartelli

The Maui Classic has always been one of the must-see events of the early part of the college basketball season. You get to see coaches in Hawaiian shirts (picture Phil Martelli), beautiful bump shots of the beaches and some good hoops action.

This year's Invitational is no different. The No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels headline the event which begins today. But they aren't the only story to watch as six of the eight teams in Maui were in the NCAA Tournament last year:

North Carolina: The top ranked team is the favorite to win this thing but the Heels are coming in on shaky ground. Marcus Ginyard is still out as is Tyler Zeller who is done for the year with a broken wrist. The story will be Tyler Hansbrough's shin. He played Friday against UCSB but will see his minutes carefully monitored this week. If he does well, so will the Heels.

Notre Dame: Doesn't everyone want to see a matchup of Hansbrough and Luke Harangody? It could happen if the Irish get by the Texas Longhorns. The key to winning the Maui will be Mike Brey's coaching against some of the biggest names in the nation.

When Providence fired Tim Welsh, it made a lot of sense that Phil Martelli's name popped up among rumored replacements. He's done great things at Saint Joseph's and would be just the thing for a program looking to gain traction in the Big East. FoxSports.com said yesterday that Martelli was set to speak to the school but the coach said that wasn't true. The way he said it left room for future discussions, though.

"I don't know anything about it. I haven't given it a thought. I haven't thought whether I'd even think about it. The Yahoo! version of the fans [say], 'I'm a Benedict Arnold because I said this was my dream job and I would never leave.' The other fans at some of the other institutions in Philadelphia that love me so much, if I end up not getting it, they're going to say, 'See, he's not good enough and he failed again' and all this other stuff. I just don't want to be involved in all that."

If Martelli had no interest, he'd just say that. What he's doing here, though, is straddling the fence so that he doesn't look bad for nakedly pursuing the job and then going back to the Hawks. It's a very tough line to take once his name is in the mix.

For my money, Martelli should stay put. Providence plays in a higher profile conference but I don't think it's a better program or a higher likelihood of success than he has at Saint Joe's.

It will be tough for Saint Joseph's to top the 2004 season when they finished the regular season undefeated and nabbed a first seed in the NCAA tournament. When all is said and done, however, Phil Martelli might end up being just as proud of this year's edition. They've won 11 of their last 12, have climbed into contention for the A-10 crown and, with yesterday's thumping of Villanova, can strut around Philly with their heads held high.

The 77-55 rout was Nova's first Big 5 loss since 2004 and their fifth straight loss overall. The Wildcats are going to have to turn it around fast if they'd like to qualify for the Big East tournament, let alone the NCAA one. They can't shoot, turn the ball over in bunches and have no leadership to guide them through the tough times.

The Hawks, on the other hand, just added another feather to their rapidly filling cap of tournament worthiness. As usual, it was Pat Calathes who led them to victory. He scored 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots. Another senior, Rob Ferguson, scored 20 as well and the experienced Hawks overwhelmed the reeling Wildcats from the opening tip.

SJU fans even got in on the fun. They were waving signs that read "Even Tim Donaghy bet on SJU," reminding the losers of their infamous graduate and the easy to see coming win.

Wins over big-time nonconference opponents earned teams like Dayton and Rhode Island a lot of headlines in the first two months of the season. Each flew to the top of the RPI and into the Top 25 before getting cooled off by A-10 opposition. The Saint Joseph's Hawks, on the other hand, lost to teams big (Gonzaga) and small (Holy Cross) while navigating their way through a challenging early schedule. Once league play started, though, they've been a bear.

Three road wins, including last night's 61-59 victory at GW, highlight a 5-1 start that has them tied for the league lead and thinking about dancing for the first time since 2004. The reasons for their success are very similar to the reasons for co-leader Xavier's. They are well rounded team that does everything well.

Pat Calathes scores 18 points and grabs eight rebounds a game, throwing in a flair for the dramatic as well. His shots have beaten Temple and GW in the last two games and his 45% three-point shooting stretches defenses beyond their limit. Ahmed Nivins controls the paint and scores 14.5 a night on 63% shooting. Iowa State transfer Tasheed Carr missed four games with injury but returned last night with six assists. That's what the point guard's averaging per game, in addition to 11 points and five rebounds.

Xavier 68, Fordham 50 - After beating St. Bonaventure this week, Sean Miller wasn't happy with the way his team played defense. Yesterday, though, he had no reason to be upset. The Musketeers shut out the Rams for seven minutes and set a new low in points allowed on the season. Up six at the half, the X-men put the game away with a 16-4 run to start the second half. C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond combined for 11 of the points and Raymond led the team with 20 points overall. Bryant Dunston, Fordham's impressive big man, had 19 points and 11 rebounds but couldn't overcome a keyed up Musketeer defense.

Rhode Island 80, Duquesne 78 - The Rams narrowly avoided a second straight loss to start conference play thanks to Jimmy Baron's late heroics. Baron hit a fadeaway jumper with three seconds left to put the Rams up one after Reggie Jackson missed a big free throw. Jackson led the Dukes with 19 points while the Rams got another huge game from Will Daniels. He tied a season-high with 28 points and added 11 rebounds. Kahiem Seawright also had a big game for URI. He scored nine points, grabbed 10 caroms and blocked four shots.