John Marshall

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Westgate entertainment district is nearly empty, a few people watching their kids play in the fountains, a handful of others scattered among the tables and barstools inside the restaurants and bars.

It's like this most of the time, particularly during the day, when the only visitors are typically workers taking a break from their nearby jobs or the occasional tourist looking for Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.

Northern Arizona has hired Memphis assistant Jack Murphy as its basketball coach.

Murphy replaces Dave Brown, who served as interim coach last season after Mike Adras abruptly left the program Dec. 9. The Lumberjacks finished 5-24 and 1-15 in the Big Sky Conference, ending the season on a school-record 16-game losing streak.

The 32-year-old Murphy spent three seasons as an assistant to Josh Pastner at Memphis after being an advance scout for the NBA's Denver Nuggets for three years.

Prior to that, Murphy worked with Pastner on Lute Olson's staff at Arizona.

The college basketball season is winding down and it's time for the NCAA tournament selection committee to zoom in on all those RPIs, SOSs and W-Ls.

Supercross had its most competitive start in more than 35 years, with four different winners to open the season.

Now that the West Coast swing is over, it's starting to look an awful lot like last season: Ryan Villopoto in front and everyone chasing.

The 2010-2011 college basketball season was notable for its carry-the-team individuals, players like Connecticut's Kemba Walker and Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette putting up prodigious numbers while piling up wins.

This season, it's more of a collective effort, pairs and bands of players leading their teams.

Many of the top teams in the polls have several players sharing the load, like Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke and Missouri.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Dave Brown paces along the baseline, arms crossed, a piece of paper folded the long way, into thirds, and tucked in the band of his sweats.

He moves slowly, deliberately, yet with energy in his step, his exuberance apparent in his body language and banter with the Northern Arizona players on the court.

"Wooo!" Brown shouts out after one shoots an air ball on a left-handed jump-hook. "I didn't know you had that in your game!"

College football is filled with long-standing traditions, from rubbing Howard's Rock for luck at Clemson to dotting the 'i' at Ohio.

College basketball has a few of its own and some of them are, shall we say, a bit unique, including one that involves pajamas and another rolls of toilet paper.

Here are a few of the best ones we know of: