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Double dribble: Men

Boston College coach Al Skinner insists his Eagles aren't feeling any pressure to maintain their perch among college basketball's undefeated teams.

It's them and Illinois, by the way.

"We're still trying to have success in our league," he said. "That's what we're focusing in on ... not the fact that we're 17-0."

They obviously are doing that rather nicely. The No. 8 Eagles are off to their best start in both the regular season and in league play. They're 6-0 in the Big East, a half-game behind Syracuse entering tonight's game against visiting Georgetown.

"To say they're playing well right now would be an understatement," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said.

Folks expected Syracuse, Connecticut and Pittsburgh to be among the elite, and they are.

But BC?

"(They're) much better than people thought," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said.

Well, not Skinner. He returned four starters, including junior forward Craig Smith and sophomore forward Jared Dudley, from a team that finished 24-10 and lost to eventual NCAA runner-up Georgia Tech 57-54 in the second round of the tournament.

"I felt if guys came back with the same attitude, we had a chance to be fairly successful," he said. "I was probably a little more surprised by our maturity last season playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores."

Still, the Eagles were unranked in the AP preseason poll and couldn't crack the Top 25 throughout November and December. Needing overtime to beat Holy Cross 63-60, then double overtime to eke out an 82-80 win against Yale, is not the way to win votes.

They finally made the AP poll, at No. 25, after win No. 11 at UMass on Jan. 2. But it took a 75-70 win at Connecticut on Jan. 5 to begin the Eagles' meteoric rise.

"They have terrific players, but what they are is probably best epitome of a team of anybody in this league," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "How it takes its shape beyond this, I don't know. On a national perspective, you don't want to play them because they know how to compete, and at 17-0 they sure know how to win."

Arizona coach Lute Olson and his family fulfilled a promise by pledging $1-million to the Arizona Cancer Center.

Olson's first wife, Bobbi, died Jan. 1, 2001, after a nearly three-year battle with ovarian cancer. The gift will benefit the Bobbi Olson Endowment for Ovarian Cancer Research.

"As a family, we've been discussing this for a long time and Bobbi's wish was that we would do everything that we could do to cure this disease and to work on ways to develop early detection," Olson said.

The gift, he said, is important to keep Bobbi's legacy alive.

"As Bobbi's doctor, I can say that she would, No. 1, of course, like to be here to see this," said Dr. David S. Alberts, director of the Cancer Center. "And No. 2, she had a real spirit. She told me that I had to continue the fight."

For more information about the Bobbi Olson Endowment and the center, go to www.azcc.arizona.edu

12 - Teams in the SEC that have been ranked at least once by the AP in the past six seasons; no other league has had all its members ranked in that span.

23 - Consecutive Big West games won by Pacific.

25 - Oklahoma State's home winning streak, now the longest after Wisconsin lost to Illinois on Tuesday.

80 - Percentage of field goals (24-of-30) Utah made against Air Force on Monday, a school record.

No. 16 Texas at No. 6 Kansas, 9 tonight, ESPN2. The Jayhawks look to stay unbeaten in Big 12 play, and hitting 16 3-pointers as they did Tuesday against Baylor would help. Longhorns freshman guard Daniel Gibson has stepped up big time of late.

"The uniforms are different. It's crimson, not the red anymore. So the colors have changed a little bit, the style's changed a little bit. But it still says Indiana, and I have a tremendous respect for that. I grew up in that state. I dreamed of playing, not just at Indiana, but for Coach (Bobby) Knight. My time there was absolutely incredible. I have a lot of incredible memories, a lot of great friends still in that area and still connected to the school and still follow it the best I can. It makes it obviously a little bit of a different twist because I'm in the league and, for instance, (today) have to compete against my alma mater. That's never easy because of my appreciation and support of the school." - Iowa coach Steve Alford, whose No. 23 Hawkeyes play Indiana today.