Memphis doesn't lack for cylinders. It just has a hard time getting all of them to fire at the same time. On a night when Derrick Rose was sensational in the win over Cincinnati, scoring a career-high 26 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three-point range, Chris Douglas-Roberts scored a season-low four points (his third straight lousy game). Antonio Anderson seems to be emerging from his early-season slump, but the Tigers are again ranked last in Conference USA in free throw shooting. (Their 21-for-36 effort from the stripe on Wednesday allowed Cincy to stay close when it had no business doing so.) Still, the Tigers have a tendency to play both down and up to the level of their competition, so I expect they'll play their best game of the season on Saturday. Georgetown might be the better team, but the Hoyas have played a typically soft nonconference schedule, with their toughest road games at Alabama and Old Dominion. That is not adequate preparation to beat a great team in a hostile environment.

If any team needed a week off, it was Xavier. The Musketeers had to scrap and claw to emerge with a five-point win over their crosstown rival Cincinnati (anyone else noticing the Bearcats play so much harder than their opponents?), and then looked completely gassed last Saturday in losing by 22 points at Arizona State. More important than the week of rest was getting senior forward Josh Duncan healthy. He injured his knee against Cincy and only played five minutes against ASU but should be good to go against Tennessee. As for Vols, they're still waiting for Chris Lofton to get his groove back, but their bigger problem is they do not have a real point guard on the roster. They'll see just what they're missing in Xavier's mighty mite, Drew Lavender.

When these two played last December, you could already see they were on a collision course to the NCAA championship game. Well, with only one out of 10 starters back between them, if the Gators and Buckeyes are playing for a championship in March, it will be for the NIT. Still, these young players are well worth watching, most notably the two freshmen leading the teams in scoring -- Ohio State's 7-1 center Kosta Koufos (15.8 ppg) and Florida's 6-6 swingman Nick Calathes (also 15.8). Florida has the better record, but that's what happens when you don't play anybody good and never leave your home state. At least Ohio State has been tested against the likes of Syracuse, Texas A&M, North Carolina and Butler. Those experiences will be the difference.

If you could combine these two teams' relative strengths, you'd have a Final Four contender. Missouri has a lot of talented wings who pressure the ball (they lead the Big 12 in three-point defense and are second in steals). Yet, they are also an undersized team that gets killed on the boards. (They were out-rebounded by 18 in a loss at Cal three weeks ago.) Illinois, on the other hand, has one of the most underrated big men in the country in 6-10 senior center Shaun Pruitt (24 points, nine rebounds in the loss to Arizona), yet their poor guard play leaves them last in the Big Ten in three-point percentage and seventh in assists. (Wherefore art thou, Eric Gordon?) You all know I always go with guards over bigs, and in this case the Tigers will also have the best player on the floor in 6-8 junior forward DeMarre Carroll, the transfer from Vanderbilt who is averaging 15.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.