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The same player who clawed his way to No. 15 in our POY power rankings yesterday, J'Covan Brown managed to kick a few extra people off his bandwagon with his "performance" just last night. Brown fouled out of a bad loss to North Carolina State with more than eight minutes remaining after receiving back-to-back fouls (one personal, then a tech.). The technical, which helped show him the exit, came for mouthing off to a referee after displeasure from a previous call.

An undeniable talent, Brown finished the game with 17 points and 7 assists in just 28 minutes, and was getting whatever he wanted from North Carolina State's defense. But when he finally came out, the entire mood changed. North Carolina State head coach Mark Gottfried put it best, "It was a game changer," he said. "He sliced us up like a side of fries."

There might be dozens of articles trotting out the immaturity angle to describe yesterday's game, but Brown knows the best way to remedy the situation is to come out next time and do what he does best: score. His scoring lead is obviously much slimmer now than it used to be, but he's still the NCAA's best point producer at 26.3 per night, and even after four games that's got to count for something.

The local guys

• California rolled up Georgia, setting up a can't-miss date with Mizzou tonight (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  

• Odd moment: Tyshawn Taylor miraculously lost feeling in his feet and needed to leave the floor for an IV (Kansas City Star)

• J'Covan Brown's antics took him off the court with 8:25 remaining, and probably cost Texas a win (News & Observer)

The blogosphere

• Brad Tinsley saved the day with 4.5 seconds left in the Legends Classic (Anchor of Gold)

• ND's Mike Brey on Mizzou: "I’m glad they’re not in our league. That was flat out men against boys, the varsity against the JV." (College Basketball Nation)

Who won it best

Michigan - We figured the Wolverines could compete with top teams, but controlling an ultra-athletic Memphis squad for 40 minutes was a resounding success for John Beilein's bunch. Freshman Trey Burke looks to be exactly what this team needed in a point guard, and we'll see how he does against Duke in tonight's semifinal.

Who lost it worst

Georgia - It's rare to see a blowout between a pair power conference schools with NCAA Tournament aspirations, but Georgia's 26-point defeat at the hands of Cal was borderline unwatchable. The Bulldogs made just 4 of 19 shots from deep, and barely put up a fight in the second half.

MVP

Jared Sullinger-Ohio State - On a relatively tame day statistically from his peers, Sullinger squeezed every last ounce of production from his 27 minutes on the floor to post season-highs in points (27), rebounds (13) and steals (3). Sully has reached the free throw line at least seven times in all four games thus far.

By the numbers

3 - Unanswered runs of 10 points or more given up by Boston College in an 82-46 loss to UMass. The Eagles actually led for the first 12 minutes of the game, but we probably shouldn't talk about that.

It was tweeted

This really happened

(H/T @jose3030)