Steve Merril’s Starting Five, a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of NBA and college basketball. Steve uncovers the juicy quotes that relate to the pointspread wars – who cares who wins the game? We only care about who covers!

1. To Infinity and Beyond: Buzz Lightyear? No, let’s hear from the other Buzz, as in Marquette head coach Buzz Williams. If you ever want to listen to a press conference, Buzz’ are the ones you want to tune in to. He tosses out some great one liner’s. ‘I’ve never watched a hockey game; I’m not trying to be a smart aleck. But we played a lot of guys for sure. We played the same number of guys they did.’ Not even when channel surfing? ‘That big kid that we brought off the bench, he kind of understands what to do when they throw him the ball. He just kind of comes to life. He’s like, ‘I Dream of Jeannie.’ But he’s helping us.’ He doesn’t even know his own player’s name!!! Buzz and his Golden Eagles host the Jeannies tonight – oops St. John’s is known as the Johnnies. Wonder if slick Lavin knows his player’s names?

2. Homework in Peoria: Bradley was projected to be much better this year than their 9-17 record. But the Braves had two key injuries that really set them back; they began 0-11 in Missouri Valley play. They’re 3-1 over their last four games, and head coach Jim Les credits the improvement to a homework assignment; write down what you’re going to commit to your teammates and yourselves from here on out. ‘Nobody told ’em what to write,’ Les said. ‘It was their own words and it came from the heart. I carry their papers around in my briefcase. Every so often, we’d put each guy’s (paper) in his locker as a reminder that this is what you committed to help bail us out of this predicament we’re in.’ Cool story.

3. Do You Like Your Cousins?: The Sacramento Kings obviously don’t. After the Kings lost to the Thunder on Saturday night, DeMarcus Cousins was involved in a post-game locker room fight with teammate Donte Green. In response, the Kings left Cousins home as they traveled to play at Phoenix, a game they won 113-108. He was also fined a stiff $41,000 for the scuffle. Cousins has since apologized and took a flight to meet the team in Oklahoma City for tonight’s rematch with the Thunder. It was the fourth time Cousins’ mouth cost him money: October was a verbal altercation with the Kings' strength and conditioning coach, November was a verbal exchange with coach Paul Westphal, and December was a choking gesture at Golden State's Reggie Williams before Williams shot a free throw. At least he banked his loot in January!

4. Hold the Mayo: Another NBA player on suspension? Say it ain’t Mayo! Memphis’ O.J. Mayo is eligible to return tonight (at home vs. the Sixers) after serving a 10-game vacation for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. It’s a good thing the NBA isn’t really strict with this; half the games would have to be cancelled every night due to lack of players available. The Grizzlies didn’t miss Mayo at all; they won 8 of the 10 games he missed. And it doesn’t sound like head coach Lionel Hollins cares that Mayo is back in uniform: ‘It's going to be an adjustment period for O.J.’

5. Boeheim-ian Rhapsody: Don’t write negative stuff about Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim in the newspaper. After the Orange’s 63-52 win over West Virginia last night (an ATS win for us!), Boeheim called out a pair of Syracuse beat writers who wrote about his bad records against individual coaches. ‘One of his Providence teams went to the Final Four, and we beat him three times,’ Boeheim said. ‘Now we're going to all of a sudden put in the paper that I lost to Rick Pitino six straight? Why don't you put in that I beat him six straight. Go ahead. That's really good. Why don't you keep doing that? I appreciate that. You want to talk about personal? Yeah, it's personal. When people write and say things about me, it's personal to me. Always will be.‘ Boeheim then asked the writer what his record against John Beilein was? ‘No idea,’ Donna Ditota said. ‘Well, then you don't know your business. That's the way they work here. They think that's cute,’ Boeheim responded. As Queen’s famous song goes…‘So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye…So you think you can love me and leave me to die’