The Cougars are undefeated, but we'll find out a lot more about them this week as they hit the road to play at Baylor and Gonzaga. Not surprisingly, Washington State, behind its sublime backcourt of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, has shown its usual offensive efficiency (the Cougs lead the Pac-10 in turnover margin and assist-to-turnover ratio). It is surprising, however, that 6-foot-7 junior Daven Harmeling has not been more productive offensively (6.8 ppg on 2 for 15 three-point shooting). Baylor, meanwhile, was awfully impressive in capturing the Paradise Jam with wins over Wichita State, Notre Dame and Winthrop, and the Bears boast a vastly underrated backcourt of their own in Aaron Bruce and Curtis Jerrells. In a neutral court, best-of-seven series I'd give the edge to Wazzu, but this is going to be one of the most hotly anticipated games at the Ferrell Center in years. I've got a feeling the Cougars are walking into a buzzsaw.

It is extremely rare that a ballyhooed program like Indiana agrees to play a true road game against a mid-major power that is nearly invincible at home. The Salukis are 80-3 in Carbondale since the start of the 2001-02 season, and they darn near knocked off the Hoosiers last year in Bloomington before succumbing 57-47. The difference this year: SIU does not have Jamal Tatum and IU has Eric Gordon. We know the Salukis play tough man-to-man defense (they're third in the nation in scoring D), but aside from 6-3 sophomore Josh Bone, there's nobody to worry about as a three-point threat. I'd feel better about picking Indiana if the Hoosiers had freshman guard Jordan Crawford (he's suspended another two games for violating team rules), but coach Kelvin Sampson has spent the entire off-season preparing his team to play well on the road. Yes they were lousy during a 15-point loss to Xavier in Chicago last week, but to me that only means they're due to bounce back.

Another unusual example of a BCS conference team playing on the road against a formidable mid-major. Thad Matta agreed to take his Buckeyes to visit storied Hinkle Fieldhouse (you do know the final game in the movie Hoosiers was filmed there, right?) as thanks to his alma mater for giving him his first head coaching job eight years ago. Unfortunately, Matta's Buckeyes are extremely young and going up against a Butler team that starts five seniors, all of whom can drill threes if necessary. You won't see a better offensive performance this season than the one Butler put on its win over Texas Tech in the Great Alaska Shootout. Moreover, the Bulldogs take great care of the basketball (they've committed 20 fewer turnovers than their opponents through just six games), which will limit Ohio State's transition opportunities.

I must say, this inaugural Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series is providing some enticing matchups. If Arizona is looking to get tougher, especially on defense, then it could do worse than adopt the Aggies' blueprint. Texas A&M is outrebounding teams by a whopping 12.4 boards per game while holding opponents to 37.3 percent shooting overall and 30.3 percent from three-point range. Texas A&M senior guard Dominque Kirk might not be as flashy an offensive player as Arizona freshman Jerryd Bayless is, but he's as good a defender as Bayless will see all season. U of A's Chase Budinger, he of the brilliant 27-point performance in the loss to Kansas, will be harder to stop, but the Wildcats will be too overmatched inside to pull off the win.

I might have picked the Longhorns here if UCLA were still without Darren Collison. As it stands, Collison looked amazingly sharp (14 points and five assists in 26 minutes) in his his return from a sprained knee Wednesday night against George Washington, so I can't imagine UCLA dropping this one at Pauley Pavilion. Most of the attention will be paid to the perimeter matchups of Collison and Russell Westbrook against UT's D.J. Augustin and A.J. Abrams, but I'll be more intrigued to watch the action inside between UCLA freshman Kevin Love and the Longhorns' vastly improved junior center Connor Atchley, who went for a career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds in the rout over Tennessee.