Kevin Spain
We’ve had our fill of holiday tournaments and we’re about to tip off the conference part of the schedule for men’s college basketball teams.
The jockeying in the polls has begun and as teams get ready for the tournament push, some players are starting to stand out or have slipped and need to stand out.
Here are three college basketball players to watch this week.
David Jones, Memphis
The Memphis Tigers, unranked for most of the season, have quietly been getting big wins.
The Tigers have gotten back-to-back wins against ranked opponents — beating Texas A&M and Clemson — and will face Virginia at home this week.
David Jones is scoring 20.3 points and getting 6.5 rebounds per game. He has been hot lately, here are his last three games:
| DATE | OPP | FG% | PTS | REB |
| Dec. 16 | vs. No. 13 Clemson | 42.9 | 22 | 6 |
| Dec. 10 | at No. 21 Texas A&M | 47.1 | 29 | 7 |
| Dec. 6 | at VCU | 31.6 | 23 | 8 |
The 8-2 Tigers cracked the Top 25 this week, coming in at No. 23. They host Virginia on Thursday and Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Kevin Cross, Tulane
There is a renaissance in sports at Tulane. The football team has won 10 games for the second season in a row and now the basketball program has perked up.
The Green Wave is 8-2 and will host George Mason on Friday.
Keep your eye on forward Kevin Cross, who leads the team in scoring, rebounds, assists and blocks.
Cross is coming off back-to-back triple-doubles, the third time that has happened since the 2007-08 season.
He had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in a win against Southern on Saturday, and that was one game after he had 25 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds in a win against Furman.
| DATE | OPP | PTS | REB | AST | BLK | FG% | 3P% |
| Dec. 16 | vs. Southern | 20 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 90 | 100 |
| Dec. 14 | vs. Furman | 25 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 66.7 | 100 |
Kyle Filipowski, Duke
Overall, Kyle Filipowski has had a great season. He’s averaging 18.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and is shooting 51.5% from the floor.
He just missed a triple-double in Duke’s win over Hofstra last week.
The only issue has been consistency. In the game before, against Charlotte, Filipowski only had five points and shot 20% from the floor.
So which Filipowski will show up this week when the Blue Devils take on No. 10 Baylor this week?
| DATE | OPP | PTS | REB | AST | FG% |
| Dec. 12 | vs. Hofstra | 28 | 12 | 8 | 62.5 |
| Dec. 9 | vs. Charlotte | 5 | 13 | 4 | 20 |
We say you’ll see the Filipowski, who has scored 25 points four times this season, as the Blue Devils will try to move back up in the polls before the ACC part of the schedule begins right after the new year.
