Hear what beat writer Paul Klee had to say during The News-Gazette's weekly call-in show on WDWS here.

Team (State) of the Week

Ohio

North Carolina is the clear choice for the state currently home to the best basketball. It was one of two states with three teams on Klee's Top 25 ballot Monday (No. 3 UNC, No. 11 Duke, No. 13 Wake Forest). But those guys get enough pub, so we're giving the nod to the other one: Ohio. No. 12 Xavier, No. 18 Ohio State and No. 23 Dayton earned Top 25 votes, and it wouldn't surprise us if one, two or all three advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Here's the Top 25 breakdown, by state. Seven states had multiple teams in our Top 25 (Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington). Nine states had one representative (Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin). Perhaps the most glaring absence is that of California. The state's banner bearer, UCLA, remained in the AP poll, but we dropped the Bruins after consecutive losses on the road.

Team (State) of the Weak

Georgia

If Georgia's on your mind, you must be thinking football. The fuzz has fallen off the peach for the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs are 1-9 in the SEC; the Yellow Jackets are 1-10 in the ACC. It's gotten so bad at UGA, a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution questioned, "Have Dogs given up?" On the plus side, as of Sunday six other teams from power conferences had comparable league records (DePaul, 0-13; Oregon, 0-13; Colorado, 1-9; Arkansas, 1-9; Rutgers, 1-11; Indiana, 1-11). And the Bulldogs will hire a new coach in the offseason, adding an element of promise. The future is brighter at Georgia Tech, which landed a verbal commitment from South Atlanta High star Derrick Favors, a top-five recruit in the 2009 class. But let's be honest. Heads are turned to Georgia's April 11 spring football game, which will be televised on ESPN.

Games to Watch

1. No. 6 Michigan State at No. 19 Purdue (6 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN) – To win the Big Ten, the Illini need some help, and the Spartans have lost two straight at Mackey Arena. "I'm sure they'll (the UI players) all be watching, but I don't think we'll all be watching together," UI coach Bruce Weber said Monday.

2. No. 22 Washington at No. 20 UCLA (10 p.m. Thursday, Fox Sports Net) – Last season the Pac-10 was brimming with NBA-ready talent, from O.J. Mayo to Kevin Love to James Harden (and he's still around). This season the Pac-10 champion could be the only member to earn a protected seed in the NCAA tournament.

3. Illinois State at Niagara (6 p.m. Friday, ESPN2) – The Buffalo community is grieving from the commuter-flight crash last week that killed 49 passengers and crew. Here's hoping a simple BracketBusters game can help the healing process.

Conference Call

1. Big East 1

2. ACC 2

3. Big Ten 4

4. Pac-10 5

5. Big 12 3

6. Atlantic 10 6

7. Mountain West 8

8. SEC 7

9. Conference USA 9

10. Missouri Valley –

Wooden Watch (Big Ten Player of the Year candidates)

1. Evan Turner, Ohio State – The Westchester St. Joseph product would have our vote if the vote were today. How Illinois handles the future NBA first-rounder could decide if the Illini on Sunday can win at Ohio State for the first time in five years.

2. Kalin Lucas, Michigan State – To build the sophomore's leadership skills, "Magic (Johnson) talked to him. (Mateen) Cleaves talked to him," Tom Izzo said of Lucas, who will get the Chris Kramer treatment tonight at Mackey Arena.

3. Talor Battle, Penn State – You may notice a trend: Illinois faces all three of these guys over its final five games. Nicknamed "Bubby," for the Steelers fan's affinity for Bubby Brister, Battle broke out of a scoring slump with 21 points against Minnesota. He had only 19 points over his previous three games.

The Ex File

Shaun Pruitt and his people believe he was given a bad rap. So they want to tell their side of the story. The former Illini center had been playing for BK Prostejov, a franchise in the Czech Republic. But last week a press release stated the franchise had "decided to part ways" with Pruitt. The press release cited Pruitt's various "performance flaws" as the reason for the divorce. But according to Pruitt's party – agent Mike Naiditch, Shaun Pruitt and his father Steve – the press release was erroneous. The three men said in separate e-mails that Pruitt was not released from the team, but that he requested a release. "Actually, I chose to leave," Shaun wrote in an e-mail. Their take is that the franchise is in bad shape financially – and Pruitt was its highest-paid player – so the team's leading scorer and the league's top rebounder was granted his release. "The team was willing to let their most productive and highest-paid player leave in order to save cash, as they had gotten into a financial pinch," Steve Pruitt wrote. For now, Shaun has joined another team in Europe and has a three-day window to decide if he wants to remain with the new team. He will decide by Friday, Naiditch said. Pruitt's party declined to name the franchise until a final decision has been made. Naiditch said Pruitt has been offered a contract in China, though Pruitt would prefer to remain in Europe.

N-G Top 25

How Klee voted in this week's Associated Press poll:

1. Oklahoma – Big 12 evolution: Kevin Durant to Mike Beasley to Blake Griffin

2. Connecticut – We dropped UConn from No. 1 due to Jerome Dyson's injury

3. North Carolina – UNC seniors going 4-0 at Cameron Indoor: impressive

4. Pittsburgh – Steelers have 9-to-1 odds to repeat as Super Bowl champs in 2010

5. Memphis – Confirmed C-USA supremacy with 26-point beatdown of Tulsa

6. Michigan State – UConn and MSU are the only D-I teams without a road loss

7. Louisville – Headshaking loss to Notre Dame (90-57) another testament to parity

8. Clemson – Outside UNC, Tigers might be most dangerous team in ACC tourney

9. Villanova – Back-to-back games of at least 100 points for high-scoring 'Nova

10. Marquette – Of the teams on our Top 25 ballot last week, 14 sustained defeats

11. Duke – So when you figure there would be poll turnover, there really wasn't

12. Xavier – Forward Derrick Brown coming to a SportsCenter highlight near you

13. Wake Forest – Regardless of your league, lose four of seven and you drop

14. Kansas – Bill Self and Bruce Weber are leading Coach of Year candidates

15. Washington – After underachieving last two seasons, U-Dub's relevant again

16. Illinois – Weber on Monday: "They (Penn State) are fighting to get an NCAA bid"

17. Missouri – Still can't believe this is the same team we saw in St. Louis

18. Ohio State – Winner of four straight, Wisconsin outlasted Buckeyes in Madison

19. Arizona State – Pac-10 title could be decided with Feb. 26 trip to Washington

20. South Carolina – Four of the Cocks' wins were decided in the final six seconds

21. Purdue – Robbie Hummel's 24 minutes at Iowa a good sign for healing Boilers

22. Gonzaga – Injury to Robert Sacre (foot) more damaging than first imagined

23. Dayton – Better get them on the road; Flyers have won 18 straight home games

24. Butler – Loss to Loyola likely puts a protected seed out of range for Bulldogs

25. Arizona – Just outside of our Top 25: LSU, UCLA, Siena, Utah, Utah State