It was fitting that Jared Dudley was in the house. Fitting, because the last time fans rushed the court at Conte Forum – nearly four years ago to the day, as it was February 19, 2005 – Dudley was a sophomore and the Eagles beat Syracuse. This time, Dudley witnessed the Eagles showing once again that they are the epitome of the wacky season of college basketball this has been, knocking off Duke 80-74 on Sunday.

It kind of snuck up on seemingly everyone, because it wasn’t very fast and not necessarily all that gradual. But at one point, “it” was there – a comeback by Rutgers after one could have left them for dead in the first half.

UConn continues to foil all comers, South Carolina is on the rise, Texas bounces back, Arizona is streaking, and Utah State’s win streak is snapped at 19 games.

It’s an oft-repeated cliché that when arch-rivals meet, the records get thrown out and all the statistics in the world don’t matter. The Bison proved that once again on Saturday as they came away with a 72-66 win over Holy Cross, which had been in a tie atop the Patriot League.

It wasn’t a pretty scene last weekend. For the first time since 1968, Penn got swept at home in an Ivy League weekend. While the Quakers have, along with Princeton, dominated the Ivy League for a long time, one thing they didn’t do was drop both games at home in an Ivy League weekend. But after Columbia and Cornell came to the Palestra and knocked off the Quakers on consecutive nights, it happened. The aftermath wasn’t pretty.

Bruiser Flint’s teams at Drexel will guard you. That much is a given, and always will be as long as he’s there. What isn’t a given is the offense, but when it is there, the Dragons can be very good and win games. Thus far, it’s been good enough, as the Dragons stand 9-5 in CAA play and are certainly one of the pleasant surprises of the conference this season.

In a world where instant gratification rules, especially in sports, the Clemson basketball program serves as a fine example of why patience is a virtue. Instant results on the bottom line are demanded at every level of sports nowadays, but the reality is that they aren’t always possible unless one wants to do quick fixes that oftentimes hurt in the long run.

The most elusive thing for Albany has been a consistent sense of urgency, according to head coach Will Brown. The Great Danes have shown it at times, and when they have, they have been good. But Thursday night’s 77-67 loss at Boston University was a microcosm of the season, as the Great Danes played poorly in the first half and didn’t play intelligent basketball, but rallied to get within three at one point in the second half.

Two full weekends are in the books, and the Ivy League has a little different look than projected. In this league, a slow start can hurt teams, but this year could be different and this past weekend showed exactly why.

Saint Joseph’s hasn’t exactly been a second-half team this season, especially in Atlantic 10 play. They entered Sunday’s game at UMass with a 1-5 mark when trailing at the half and having lost all five times when they trailed with 10 minutes left in the game. Although they have outscored opponents in the second half on the season, the difference is only +9, compared to their +59 margin in the first half, and in Atlantic 10 games, they entered Sunday having been outscored in the second half.