Northeastern coach Bill Coen helped build the BC program. Now he's going to have a chance to knock it down.

BC lost in overtime to Duquesne the other night. Sure, the Eagles were without star Jared Dudley as well as fellow frontline players John Oates and Akida McLain.

That's no reason to lose to a Dukes team that was not only without most of its talent, but also its coach.

Now BC will have to face Coen and Northeastern on Sunday without Dudley, Oates and McLain. If the Eagles don't beat Coen & Co., they will have to get double-digit wins in ACC play in order to get into the NCAA tournament.

Dudley will sit out the next two games with a stress fracture in his left foot, Oates is hopeful of returning for the game against Yale and McLain could be out until at least the middle of January.

``We need to try and get healthy," BC coach Al Skinner said. "We really haven't had a full team all year."

Lost in the Bob Knight record chase on Thursday night was the fact that Lon Kruger has a pretty good team out in Vegas.

The Running Rebels improved to 12-2 with the road win against Knight's Texas Tech team. They have also beaten No. 24 Nevada and Hawaii - two difficult places to play - away from Thomas & Mack.

UNLV has won eight straight. The losses came against Top 10 Arizona and against Santa Barbara - without arguably their best player - Kruger's son, Kevin.

The team's confidence was high coming into the game and is at a new level entering Saturday's game at Houston, which could be a trap game.

Kruger has generally done a good job of getting his team to take care of the ball and defend.

He admitted that one of the best parts of the team's start has been able to enjoy it with his son, who he has never been able to coach at any level until this year. Kevin Kruger is the most high-profile player to take advantage of a new NCAA rule that allows players with a fifth-year of eligibility to transfer and play immediately if they have already graduated.

Kruger left Arizona State over the summer and has been key for UNLV. He was just 5-of-14 from the field against Texas Tech, but all five seemed to halt Red Raider runs. He also sank six straight free throws to seal the game in the final minutes.

The Mountain West is as strong as it's been in a while with Air Force, San Diego State and UNLV all having a legitimate chance to play in the postseason. The Running Rebels will also have the benefit of the conference tournament coming back to Las Vegas this year.

LOFTON EXPANDING GAME

It's true that we've called Tennessee gunner Chris Lofton one-dimensional.

Let's face it. The 6-foot-2 guard has never been one to pass up on a shot - wide open or contested.

However, Lofton shockingly pulled down 11 rebounds recently and has also done a better job putting the ball on the floor rather than always settling from 20-plus feet. He's already gone to the line as many times (60) in a dozen games this year as he did all of last season.
 
``He's not shot us out of a game yet in one and a half years," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said. "Maybe one. The bottom line is that a contested three-point shot by Chris is as high percentage of a shot as we'll get."

Lofton is shooting 48 percent from long distance despite the fact that teams know all about his unlimited range.

``He's not going to shoot us out of the game with that percentage," Pearl said.

Pearl said the comparison he used a year ago with Lofton is to former NBA catch-and-shoot specialist Steve Kerr. Now he's changed it to Vinnie Johnson.

GATORS GO SMALL

Florida got a verbal commitment from 5-foot-7 junior guard Erving Walker.

The Christ the King (N.Y.) standout was rated as the No. 1 freshman in the country two years ago by Clark Francis of Hoop Scoop, but he's only grown a couple inches in the last two years.

Gators coach Billy Donovan flew out to Houston each of the past two days and loved Walker's toughness. The defending national champs have a big point guard, Nick Calathes, coming in next season so Donovan and the staff see the pair being able to play together.

Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart is hoping to be released Friday morning after spending the last three days at UPMC Passavant Hospital after checking in Monday with lower abdominal pain.

Everhart will miss his first game in 13 seasons when the Dukes head to Boston College tonight. It's a tough one for Everhart to sit out since he coached across town at Northeastern before taking over at Duquesne prior to the season.

"It's killing me," Everhart said Thursday morning from his hospital room. "It's driving me nuts."

Everhart said he started feeling pain after a game against St. Francis (Pa.) last Thursday. He and his son, Ronnie, were watching the Florida-Ohio State game on Saturday afternoon and he started shivering shortly after the game ended when he started wrestling with his son.

Everhart went to bed shortly after the game and finally got out of bed 24 hours later.

"I thought it was 6 in the morning, but it was 6 at night when I woke up," Everhart said. "I slept like a rock for 24 hours. I got up, opened presents with my kids and then I had to take myself to the hospital. It was really struggling."

Everhart's colon had ruptured.

"I'm on antibiotics and haven't been able to eat," Everhart said. "But I feel much better. I feel like a million bucks. I feel so much better today than yesterday and yesterday was 100 percent better than the day before."

Everhart said he has a CAT Scan scheduled for Friday morning and the results will determine when he's able to leave.

"It could be as early as tomorrow morning if the CAT Scan comes back good," Everhart said. "If it doesn't, I may have to stay here a couple more days on antibiotics or the worst case scenario is that I'll need surgery and will be out a couple more weeks."

Here's the rundown of guys that are leaving (bold is there new destination)

TRANSFERS

Josh Thornton, 6-1, 175, G, Soph., Georgetown - TOWSON
Channing Toney, 6-3, 180, SG, Jr., Georgia - UAB
Sammy Hernandez, 6-6, 230, PF, Soph., George Mason - Jack., Stetson, Duquesne
Jarvis Jackson, 6-5, 205, G, Soph., Appalachian State
Mike Gerrity, 6-0, 180, PG, Soph., Pepperdine
Chris Oakes, 6-9, 200, F, Soph., Pepperdine
Ryan Williams, 6-1, 185, G, Soph., Tulane
Harvey Perry, 6-4, 185, G, Fr., Washington
Sean Christiansen, 6-2, 170, PG, Jr., VMI
Adam Parzych, 6-3, 190, SG, Fr., Hartford
Lewis Lampley, 6-3, 185, G, Soph., James Madison
Matt Hewson, 7-2, 225, C, Soph., Delaware
Sead Odzic, 6-3, 180, SG, Soph., USC - ILLINOIS STATE
Jeremy Barr, 6-8, 265, PF, Soph., USV - NEBRASKA
C.J. Giles, 6-11, 240, C, Jr., Washington - E. Wash., NM St., Oregon St.
Justin Cerasoli, 6-5, 185, PG, Soph., Mississippi -
Jamal Boykin, 6-7, 230, PF, Soph., Duke -CALIFORNIA
Rashad Mintz, 5-10, 190, PG, Jr., Texas A&M Corpus-Christi
David Carson, 6-6, 230, F, Jr., Oakland - IPFW
Justin Wilkerson, 6-8, 205, F, Fr., Texas Tech
Jeff Foote, 7-0, 220, C, Soph., St. Bonaventure - CORNELL
Avery Jukes, 6-8, 210, F, Fr., Alabama
Roderick Ollie, 6-5, 220, F, Soph., UAB
Chase Sukut, 6-1, 175, G, Jr., Wisc-GB
Ed White, 6-3, 190, G, Soph., Yale
Zach Garcia, 6-8, 250, PF, Fr., Ball State
Bret Wackerly, 5-10, 160, G, Soph., Canisius
Mickey Perry, 6-2, G, Fr., Wisc.
D'Amgelo Jackson, 6-0, 170, G, Fr., Creighton - WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY
Brian McTear, 5-10, 160, PG, Soph., Portland
Alex Tiefenthaler, 6-8, 220, F, Soph., Portland
J.P. Prince, 6-6, 180, G, Soph., Arizona

Florida State is quick and small, so Providence diminutive sophomore guard Sharaud Curry was going to be critical for the Friars in the game on Friday night.

However, the team's leading scorer (17.3 ppg) won't be on the court after Providence coach Tim Welsh suspended Curry indefinitely for violating team rules.

The Friars (9-2) have been impressive since a loss to Brown more than a month ago. Curry will miss Friday's game and also could sit out against Longwood (Jan. 2) before returning against Marquette on Jan. 4.

Now look for 6-foot-5 Weyimni Efejuku, who has been playing the best basketball of his career recently, to slide over and see time at the point. Freshman Dwain Williams will also fill in for Curry and Geoff McDermott will have the ball in his hands more.

It's going to be tough to expect a Curry-less Friars team to be able to beat Florida State down in Tampa.

One of the best matchups of the early season will pit Seminoles forward Al Thornton against McDermott, one of the most versatile and underrated players in the country.