NCAA Basketball Daily Feast Feb. 9: Bruce Pearl Returns, North Carolina at Duke

Welcome to the TeamRankings.com Daily Feast, where every weekday we stuff your head with the tastiest data-driven insights on college hoops.

Coffee & Cooler Talk (News and Results from Yesterday)

In Bruce Pearl's first game back from suspension, Tennessee lost by a dozen to Kentucky. Not a huge surprise, as Kentucky now sits at No. 16 in our overall power ratings.

Wichita State, Northern Iowa, and Creighton all lost last night, the first time that all three have lost a league game on the same night since February 16, 2008. Despite the loss, Wichita State is still the heavy favorite (44 percent win odds) in our Missouri Valley Conference tournament simulation.

Kansas State's disappointing season may be dealt another self-inflicted blow, as Curtis Kelly is now under investigation by the athletic department for an undisclosed offense, and his future with the team is up in the air. Rumors are that the offense is marijuana-related. The Wildcats have already been in a downward slide, ranking 72nd in out last 10 game power ratings. Without him, that may get worse.

Xavier won at Georgia last night in a small upset. That win helped boost the Atlantic 10th to eighth in our conference power ratings.

Lunchtime Reading (Interesting Stat-Oriented Posts from Around the Blogosphere)

Here's a nice slide show from Beyond The Arc: 12 Players You Need To Know. It's not all the obvious ones, either. There were some new names for me.

Crashing The Dance has a nice, simple post illustrating how much North Carolina has caught up to Duke in the past few weeks.

Graphs, graphs, graphs, all about freshmen. From Luke Winn.

And, in a bit of meta, College Crunch compiled a list of their 30 top college basketball blogs. It's worth checking out, to make sure you're not missing any great reads.

Dinner & A Game (Notes on Tonight’s Hottest Games)

No. 13 Georgetown at No. 15 Syracuse...Arguably the second greatest pure college basketball rivalry after Duke-UNC. While Vegas favors Syracuse by 4.5, we have them by only two, which would mean an exciting finish.

No. 16 N Carolina at No. 5 Duke...As if you really need any prodding to pique your interest in this game. Well, here's some anyway: North Carolina has been playing better than Duke recently, according to our last 10 games power ratings.

No. 24 Louisville at No. 14 Notre Dame...A matchup of two of the most overrated top 25 teams, according to our polls comparison.

No. 37 Northwestern at No. 47 Michigan...This one may not be a top 25 matchup, as those above, but both Northwestern and Michigan are better than their records would indicate.

No. 34 Texas A&M at No. 56 Colorado...Texas A&M needs to pull out of their current tailspin, while Colorado probably needs to win this to stay on the bubble. A huge game for both teams.