While USC was one of the worst basketball teams in the country, St. John's is merely one of the worst in the Big East. St. John's is 10-16 (4-10 in the Big East) and has lost to the only common opponent both teams faced: Arizona (although Arizona was at home for that game). St John's is a completely different team from last year, literally. Last year the Johnnies' four of five starters were seniors (depending on matchups), whereas this year they start five freshmen.

Last year Steve Lavin was the coach, this year he has been ill and limited in what he can do. Regardless of how we feel about Lavin the coach, we all wish him a full recovery from prostate cancer. There is really nothing the same from the team last year.

Lavin's Noah's Ark recruiting strategy did not quite work as problems, such as players being ineligible, occurred. The team has lost three of its last four by 20 or more points. However, the Johnnies have played some good teams well, such as at Georgetown where they gave #11 Georgetown all they could handle last week.

The Johnnies are led by 6'8" Moe Harkless. A potential nightmare for the Bruins. Moe is listed by many as a freshman of the year candidate, including number 4 on this list:

4. Moe Harkless, St. John's (Last Week: 4): 15.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg
Despite being the focal point of defenses, Harkless is still managing to carry the young Johnnies offensively. He averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last two games.

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You have all heard about Tim Tebow working out with Coach Noel Mazzone by now. Coach Jim Mora officially egged on the "little Tebow-mania" at UCLA yesterday:

"There's a little Tebow-mania going on here on the UCLA campus," Mora said. "There's a few more girls hanging around the football office and the football field that there typically are."

However, as Coach Mora noted Tebow is not only pro-QB or aspiring pro-QB working out at UCLA these days:

Also working out at UCLA on Thursday was San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder and former Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler are expected in over the next few days.

Mazzone wouldn't go into specifics about what he and Tebow were working on, saying only that they were trying to improve his mechanics.

"He's obviously a guy that wants to get better, like they all do," Mazzone said. "And wants to kind of become good at his craft and his craft is being an NFL quarterback. Like Philip Rivers. There is nothing I'm going to say that's going to make Philip Rivers any better than the quarterback he is, but they love to compete, they like to play and they like to get better at what they do."

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