OSU ebbs and flows with BufordWhen William Buford is on, he's on. And when he's not, he's something of a liability. In Ohio State's past four games, Buford has scored 17 points, six points, 24 points, four points. Not coincidentally, those low-scoring games -- against Michigan State and Michigan -- were losses. The major flaw with the Buckeyes' setup (relying heavily on stars without much depth) is that there is not much room for error when it comes to Jared Sullinger, Deshaun Thomas and Buford, who have accounted for 71.3 percent of Ohio State's scoring in the past six games.

"Obviously I think that helps us [to have more people involved]," coach Thad Matta said. "Hopefully we can get some guys putting some more points on the board for us. By the same token, those three guys are probably going to lead us in shots, and that's no secret."

RPI? Meet BPIRPI is certainly not the only available college basketball measuring stick out there. And two weeks ago, ESPN joined the fad of creating new formulas, unveiling the Basketball Points Index (BPI), a rankings system that takes into consideration more specific aspects than more simplistic RPI. What separates the BPI is the fact that it weighs two other facets -- it accounts for the different paces at which a team plays and it adjusts for teams that aren't at full strength because of injuries.

Henson Award watchThe Gophers might not have any player close to competing for the Naismith Award, given to the college player of the year, but two Minnesota natives are in the running for the Lou Henson Award -- essentially the Naismith for midmajor players.

Roseville's Mike Muscala, who plays for Bucknell, and St. Cloud Tech's Nate Wolters (South Dakota State) were both named as nominees for the award last week. Muscala is averaging 16.3 points and 9.1 rebounds a game while Wolters is averaging 21.8 points, five rebounds and 6.1 assists.