Kyle Korver is entitled to a few bad games. Thursday happened to be one of those nights, as the Creighton senior was shut down by Evansville. Not surprisingly, the Bluejays lost their first Missouri Valley Conference game of the season.

Still, one off night in conference play shouldn't diminish Kover's season-long credentials. Even after going 1-for-12 from the field, not making a 3-point field goal for the first time in 18 games, and scoring a season-low five points, Korver is averaging 19.2 points, shooting 50.7 percent on 3s, grabbing 5.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.9 assists a game for a Bluejays' team that is the odds-on favorite to win the MVC.

	It took four years, but the country is finally recognizing Kyle Korver's many talents at Creighton.

Creighton, which entered the week ranked No. 9, will likely drop out of the top 10 after the 74-66 loss at Evansville. But the Bluejays still own a win over Notre Dame on a neutral court, BYU at home, and a quality loss to Xavier.

Korver will continue to be mentioned among the five to 10 best players in the country, and as such, a possible Associated Press All-American. If Creighton (16-2, 7-1) can avoid a February swoon, which it should as long as Korver continues to put up numbers, Korver still has a shot to earn one of the five coveted spots on the AP's first team.

What would that mean? A lot, considering Korver would be following Gonzaga's Dan Dickau as the first back-to-back mid-major players to be first-team All-Americans since Hersey Hawkins (Bradley) and David Robinson (Navy) in 1987 and '88. Prior to Dickau last year, the last mid-major player to be a first-team All-American was Lionel Simmons, when LaSalle was in the MAAC in 1990.

If you don't like the term "mid-major" then break it down like this: Dickau and Korver would be the first back-to-back, first-team All-Americans from a conference not recognized among the big 10.

"What that says is guys like us are in school for four years and people here our names longer than one- or two-year guys," said Dickau, a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks last June.

"We're the type of guys who don't focus on playing in the NBA until our senior season," added Dickau. "We're here to play college basketball and work on our games. At a place like Gonzaga or Creighton, we get more individual attention. We're pushed to work on our game more and because of that you're going to get better.

"Of course their teams need to win to get the recognition. That's a given."

Dickau was recruited to play at Washington and then transferred to Gonzaga. So, he wasn't a total miss by the high-major programs, or at least a top 10 conference. Korver wasn't given a sniff by Big 12 or Big 10 schools out of his native Iowa. Creighton couldn't have been a better fit for him, considering the lack of serious scholarship offers.

"What we're seeing with Dickau and Korver is that we've closed the gap from the smaller to the bigger school," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "We're getting a lot more exposures on ESPN, Fox and local television. And these guys are going to a school where the style of play works for them. They develop and work hard to get to this level."

Clearly, four-year players (or fifth-year seniors like Dickau) benefit from being in college longer. But, before we go any further, it should be made clear that while Korver would have been the same player this season, the players vying for All-American honors have changed drastically with the early departures to the NBA. Two of last year's first-team AP All-Americans, Duke's Jay Williams and Kansas' Drew Gooden, left after their junior seasons. Also leaving early were Caron Butler, Jared Jeffries, Mike Dunleavy, Kareem Rush, Casey Jacobsen, just to name a few, who certainly would have added this year's deep pool of potential honorees.

But Dickau and Korver are proving that there are big-time players at every level. Certainly, the NBA has done a decent job of finding talented players at lower profile programs like Bonzi Wells or Wally Szczerbiak, but the first five All-American spots have traditionally been reserved for the country's marquee programs.

"What we've got to do is not focus on the silly conference affiliation and focus on good players and good programs," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "Most teams in the major conferences would love to have Creighton's success or have a player like Korver on their team this season. What these guys are showing is that a player can accomplish anything at a program like ours. These guys are also getting the maximum out of their college experience."

	“	What we've got to do is not focus on the silly conference affiliation and focus on good players and good programs. Most teams in the major conferences would love to have Creighton's success or have a player like Korver on their team this season. ... These guys are also getting the maximum out of their college experience. ”
		— Mark Few, Gonzaga head coach

An All-American's résumé is certainly bolstered when an offense is run through the candidate, which was certainly the case at Gonzaga last season with Dickau. Korver may average just under 12 field goal attempts a game (8.4 of those 3s), but he gets as many touches as any player in the game. That may or may not have happened if either had had gone, or in the case of Dickau, stayed at a high major school.

Kent State's Antonio Gates, who has a legit shot to be an honorable mention All-American, is getting a taste of that attention with the Golden Flashes. He's a four-year player who is the beneficiary of the offense running through him. Gates (20.9 ppg, 8 rpg, 4.4 apg) is the clear favorite for player of the year in the MAC and is leading Kent State (12-2, 5-1) back to the Dance, barring a collapse in February.

"Guys like Antonio could have played at any school in the country but he's the feature guy here and the system is perfect for him," Kent State coach Jim Christian said. "If he played at a major school, then he wouldn't have been able to use his total package. We use him at the point, in the post, on the wing so teams don't know where he's going to be. It's very unpredictable."

Korver and Gates are seniors, but another player flying under the national radar who could land on the first team is Saint Joseph's junior point guard Jameer Nelson. Argue all you want as to whether or not the Hawks are a mid-major or not, but it gets back to the core debate as to whether or not there are "mid-major" teams or "mid-major" conferences. Regardless, Nelson could make a serious run for a first-team All-American spot with numbers like these: 18.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 4.9 apg. He's also the reason the Hawks are 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the Atlantic 10.

So, it's not out of the realm of possibility to see the AP first-team All-American list include a player from Saint Joseph's and Creighton.

"These kids were smart enough to seek opportunities as opposed to making decisions on headlines or television," Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said. "This is more about opportunity. It also shows that offseason basketball does mean something. I saw Jameer Nelson play (in high school) and thought he was every bit as good as Omar Cook (former St. John's guard), Taliek Brown (Connecticut) and Andre Barrett (Seton Hall)."

Few agreed, saying coaches aren't getting enough credit for evaluating talent like Altman did with Korver and Martelli with Nelson. And now all three schools, as well as Kent State with Gates, are using the potential for All-Americans this season as a recruiting pitch. Gonzaga already used it this past summer, benefiting in the offseason with what it thought was a banner recruiting class.

"I'm writing (high school) junior point guards and letting them know that we need a superstar to replace Jameer," said Martelli, who could lose Nelson to the NBA if he chooses to bolt early in May. "And I'm saying that you can obtain everything you want here because Jameer is proving that. The same thing can be said at Creighton and Gonzaga. If you get the opportunity at one of these schools you can accomplish anything.

"Would Lionel Simmons have scored 3,000 points if he went to Kentucky?" Martelli asks. "No. Would he have been a pro at Kentucky? Probably. But if he goes 2-for-11 at Kentucky then he's going to be taken out. At a school like LaSalle he was afforded the opportunity to play through mistakes. That's what happens at programs like ours.

"Kids get a chance to take advantage of the full program. That doesn't happen to the one-year guys because he's only really there from August to April. You can be an All-American at programs like ours if you stay three to four years, develop and become successful."

Weekly Chatter

What we're hearing ...

In the recruitment of Missouri guard Ricky Clemson ... Sources told ESPN.com that a number of schools recruiting Clemons were told of a past incident with a woman that was documented by the St. Louis and Kansas City media during Clemons' tenure at the College of Southern Idaho. The schools took a pass on Clemons, but Missouri took him and the Tigers are now saying they didn't have any idea that he had a history. Clemons was reinstated Monday after sitting out one game for an alleged second-degree assault against a woman on the Missouri campus. The case is still pending.

At Indiana ... Freshman Bracey Wright is expected to miss his fourth straight game Saturday against Purdue because of a nerve problem in his back. The Hoosiers won all three previous games he's missed, but they were all at home. Indiana coach Davis said he wants to make sure Wright's back problem is behind him before he plays the freshman guard. He's hoping for Tuesday's game at Michigan State. The problem is the Hoosiers begin a four-game road trip with the Purdue game Saturday. They go to Louisville next weekend. Meanwhile, Davis is pleased that his seniors finally are playing with more passion. He got on senior Tom Coverdale and with good reason. From Dec. 7 through Jan. 11 (nine games), Coverdale had just five steals in nine games. Since Jan. 15 (three games), Coverdale has five steals. His shooting percentages are up and he ended a streak of four-straight single-digit games -- the longest in his tenure. "I told Tom he doesn't have to score," Davis said. "He's playing with passion and now we're winning again."

In the Big 12 ... After speaking with the Big 12 officials working the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game last Monday, they don't believe they were at fault for the clock error. They said they didn't see the clock stop twice in the final seven seconds of regulation, and that Texas Tech coach Bob Knight never asked for a review of the clock, nor did anyone else. Had anyone questioned the clock management, officials would have had the right to review a timing error. But even so, ruling that whether or not there was less than four-tenths of a second remaining for Oklahoma's Hollis Price to get his shot off would have been a tough call to make. Price made the game-tying shot with four-tenths of a second remaining. Oklahoma won in overtime. Timing errors can't be reversed once the ball is inbounded for another play. And once the officials leave the court for good, the game is over. The Big 12 just wants to make sure this wasn't a human error versus technical before Oklahoma's game Tuesday against Texas A&M.

At Arizona State ... The Sun Devils will get Donnell Knight back for next weekend's Bay Area games. The school ruled the senior forward ineligible for Wednesday's Arizona game pending a grade in an intersession class. He was cleared Friday. Knight was averaging 23 minutes a game and was giving the Sun Devils an experienced forward.

At New Mexico ... Senior guard Senque Carey, who was temporarily paralyzed while trying to take a charge Nov. 25, will have neck and spinal surgery on Monday at the Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. Carey is walking, but is in a ton of pain, and the surgery to fuse two discs is expected to allow him to make a full recovery. But he's not expected to play college basketball again.

At Washington State ... Fourth-year Cougars' coach Paul Graham, can't catch a break. Leading scorer Marcus Moore is out for the year after ankle surgery. He's the fifth player to be out due to injuries. The Cougars were down to eight scholarship players for their trip to the Oregon schools this weekend. Washington State will be lucky to get a Pac-10 win this season. The administration needs to give Graham time to get a full team on the court. This season has simply not been fair to him or the program.

With officials in the ACC/SEC ... Veteran official Mike Wood could be out for the season after he tore a calf muscle in the Auburn-Alabama game last weekend. If he can't officiate, it removes one of the best officials in games in the ACC and SEC.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Word on college basketball is updated Fridays throughout the year.