Cory Violette and the Zags have reeled off seven straight wins since losing to Pepperdine last month.

The NCAA plaques and photos are covered this week in Gonzaga's locker room. They have been for a few weeks, ever since the Bulldogs lost their first and only West Coast Conference game this season at Pepperdine.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few replaced the hardware with a piece of card board, putting up names like "Santa Clara" and "San Diego" instead of "Virginia", "Minnesota", "Michigan State" and anyone else the Zags have faced in their run to three straight Sweet 16 appearances.

Few wanted the players to start re-focusing on the WCC title, instead of all the talk of what seed the Bulldogs would receive in March. Nearly a month later, the Waves come up to Spokane for a monster meeting Saturday night at the Kennel on ESPN2 (10 p.m. ET).

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Memphis at Charlotte, Wednesday (ESPN2, 9:30 ET): The 49ers missed their chance to pull the upset over Cincinnati last week and get a second crack at one of the league's elite teams. The Tigers were rolling before flaming out at UAB Friday night. St. John's at Miami (Fla.), Wednesday: The Red Storm keeps hanging around the tournament talk with the win over Connecticut. Miami got swept by BC and still has visions of beating Connecticut for the Big East East Division title. Wisconsin at Indiana, Wednesday: The Hoosiers can start to create some distance with Ohio State (if the Buckeyes continue to lose on the road) by taking care of business at home. Wisconsin continues its roller coaster ride through the Big Ten. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Wednesday: The Cowboys desperately need a healthy Maurice Baker to have a chance in this game. Oklahoma State was out of sync in the loss at Fresno State Sunday. Oklahoma State had the advantage with Baker versus Quannas White at the point. Arizona at UCLA, Thursday: UCLA guard Cedric Bozeman is fine and will play. But what about Billy Knight's shot selection? He beat USC on a desperation 3-pointer but that was at the buzzer. He had six seconds against Villanova and wanted to be the star again by heaving a 3-pointer that was no good. The Bruins have to play smarter down the stretch and hold leads (remember they blew a big one at Arizona) to beat the Wildcats. Saint Joseph's at Xavier, Saturday (ESPN2, 8 ET): Xavier was brought back to Earth by St. Bonaventure. The Hawks are still searching for that quality win and beating Xavier would certainly qualify. Saint Joseph's might have to win the A-10 tourney to get into the Dance and getting one of the top two seeds would certainly help in the quest. Pepperdine at Gonzaga, Saturday (ESPN2, 10 ET): The Waves can actually win the West Coast Conference with a sweep of Gonzaga. The Bulldogs would then be thrust into the No. 2 spot in the WCC tournament and possibly have a tougher road to the conference tournament title. Kentucky at Georgia, Saturday: The Wildcats will be looking to avenge the homecourt loss to the Bulldogs last month while Georgia gets a chance to knock the Wildcats out of the SEC East race if the Bulldogs beat Florida earlier in the week. The sweep of Kentucky would certainly be another strong resume builder for Georgia's seed in the tournament. Duke at Maryland, Sunday (CBS, 1 ET): Should be as good as the first one -- or at least the first half of the first one. Maryland has a legit shot to win this game in what should be (no offense Virginia) the last big game at Cole Field House. The arena should be absolutely rocking for the Sunday afternoon game. Texas at Missouri, Sunday (ABC, 3:30 ET): The on-again, off-again Tigers are hard to figure. Texas has the physical players to cause them problems in the post and a point in T.J. Ford that Missouri could have trouble defending. Missouri will need another Virginia-like (see this past Sunday) crowd from the Tigers' faithful to push this team to a win. More games to watch

Player of the Week Amit Tamir Amit Tamir, F, California Now we know why Cal coach Ben Braun was willing to get a lawyer and fight the NCAA for Tamir's eligibility. Tamir was sensational over the weekend against Oregon. He scored 39 points in the double-overtime victory, making 14 of 19 shots, 5 of 6 on 3s and 6 of 8 at the line. He also grabbed five boards. Tamir showed all of his skills with moves in the post down low, in the middle of the lane with a 'j' and a 3-point shot. Tamir, the 22-year old 6-foot-10 freshman out of the Israeli Army, was suspended for the first eight games of the season because of the NCAA's amateurism rule. He played on a team in Jerusalem that had professionals (former Indiana Pacer Haywoode Workman was one of them) and thus violated the amateurism rule. He could have been done for the season after playing in 30-plus games for the Israeli team. But the NCAA reduced all of the maximum penalties to eight games, making his penalty palatable. Cal got Tamir late, picking him up in the summer and beating Ohio and Northwestern for his services. Having him be a go-to scorer could change their place in the Pac-10 race. Past players of the week Top Five Casey Jacobsen, Stanford: Sorry Casey, but a competitor from the Bay Area beat you out again for player of the week. It's nothing personal. But once again Jacobsen had a monster game. He scored 41 points in 43 minutes in the overtime win over Oregon on Thursday night. Jacobsen has scored over 40 points in two of four games. He finished the weekend with 13 against Oregon State. Jacobsen has been sensational during the Pac-10 season and is making a case with teammate Curtis Borchardt to be considered for player of the year in the league. Michael Sweetney, Georgetown: The Hoyas had just one game this week, but it was as if they played four. Sweetney was magnificent and could have been the winner had he received the ball in crunch time before he fouled out. He scored 35 points and had 20 rebounds in 49 minutes in the four-overtime loss to Notre Dame Saturday at the MCI Center. Sweetney was 11 of 25 overall, 13 of 15 from the free-throw line. He grabbed 15 defensive rebounds and had six assists and six blocks. It was a week's worth of work in one game. Chris Thomas, Notre Dame: The four-overtime epic was worthy of two top performers. And Thomas was sensational, playing all 60 minutes in the Irish's win over the Hoyas. He scored 22 points, dished out 12 assists, made 7 of 8 free throws and had three steals. Thomas was the leader of the Irish throughout the game and had one coast-to-coast layup that was one of the better moves of the season. Thomas has changed the dynamics of the Irish attack, and made them a better defensive team because they can gamble and a quicker team because they can run the break with him at the point. Marcus Hatten, St. John's: Sorry for the Big East overload but it was hard to choose between Sweetney and Thomas. Hatten deserved some love for leading the Red Storm to the win over Connecticut. He scored 34 points in 43 minutes in the overtime victory. Hatten, trying to play the point when he's a pure shooting guard, was a remarkable 21 of 25 from the free-throw line. It didn't matter as much that he was 1 of 7 on 3s when he kept getting to the line. It's amazing that he was a mere 6 of 26 overall shooting. Hatten's ability to get to the line proves that he can diversify his game, even if he does shoot too often. Jarrad Odle, Indiana: The consummate role player was simply sensational for the Hoosiers in the rout over Louisville on Saturday. Odle scored 25 points, making 10 of 11 shots. Odle made 5 of 6 free throws and grabbed 11 boards. Odle has emerged as another productive threat to compliment Jared Jeffries inside. Odle fits in perfectly in the offense where he can score from outside or inside the lane. Players like Odle have blossomed under Mike Davis (see: Tom Coverdale) and the more he produces, the better chance the Hoosiers have of winning the Big Ten title. Teams are going to have to respect Odle, possibly giving Jeffries some open looks. Team of the Week Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins called last week one of the toughest road trips he has ever had to take at Cincinnati. The Bearcats lost at Marquette last Saturday, but started a new streak with wins at Charlotte and at Wake Forest. Two out of three on the road for a team that is fighting, as of today, with Oklahoma for one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, let alone trying to win yet another Conference USA title, is extremely impressive. The Bearcats, a much maligned offensive team, got significant contributions from their supposedly role players. Leonard Stokes scored 30 against Charlotte. Immanuel McElroy scored 19 against Wake Forest to compliment Steve Logan's 30. The Bearcats shot a season-best 58 percent against Wake Forest. Huggins is doing one of its best coaching jobs of his career as he continues to mold a defensive-oriented team into a tough team to guard. Past teams of the week

Rising	Falling
Utah State: The Aggies won at UC Irvine by one over the weekend to move into a first-place tie with the Anteaters. Once again, Stew Morrill has the Aggies in position to win the Big West regular-season title. He has done a tremendous job since moving over to Utah State in what was originally seen as a lateral move from Colorado State. But Morrill has been a contender more often in the Big West than he was in the WAC -- and given him more chances for postseason.	Clemson: The Tigers were very competitive against Virginia on Sunday but the loss earlier in the week by 24 at home to Georgia Tech had to hurt. Coach Larry Shyatt started the week by getting reprimanded by the ACC for chasing after Duke's Dahntay Jones once he taunted the Clemson bench. The Tigers are tied with North Carolina for last place.
Notre Dame: The Irish are the hottest team in the Big East with five wins after beating Georgetown in four overtimes. Mike Brey's squad is back in the picture for the NCAA Tournament and now only has to play itself out of the mix. The Irish are winning on the road and in neutral site games. Notre Dame has the three key intangibles -- a point (Chris Thomas), a finisher/rebounder (Ryan Humphrey) and a shooter (Matt Carroll) -- to be a tournament team.	Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are still in good position to get to the NCAA Tournament, barring a complete collapse. But the 1-4 road record in the league doesn't help. The Red Raiders are 5-5 in the Big 12 and have six games remaining. Split the games and the Red Raiders are likely in, but lose four and they could give the committee (a sub .500 record in the Big 12) a reason not to take them.
Wyoming: The Cowboys are winning the games they couldn't a season ago. Wyoming won at Utah to snap one of the most impressive homecourt winning streaks in the country. The Utes hadn't lost at home in a conference game since 1996. Wyoming then followed that up with a win over Colorado State. The Cowboys are putting themselves in position to get a bid with their best team under Steve McClain -- which is exactly what was expected of this team in the preseason.	Iowa: The Hawkeyes have lost seven of 10 games and have been one of the most disappointing teams of the season. Iowa's season got worse when the Hawkeyes got beat at home by Minnesota. Iowa still has the talent to make a run in the Big Ten tournament if it can figure out its chemistry issues. Steve Alford resorted to calling his mentor Bob Knight for help. It's a good call, and hopefully the relationship is now repaired, but it's also a sign of desperation.
Butler: The Bulldogs avenged the three losses they had earlier in the season. Butler lost to Wright State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee on buzzer beaters and then went and beat both teams on the road. Detroit beat Butler at home and Butler got Detroit back last week at home. Butler is out of the top 25, but not far from the minds of the selection committee. The Bulldogs are getting closer and closer to lock status as long as they don't slip where they're not supposed to down the stretch.	Memphis: The Tigers were bound for a loss in Conference USA, but how did the Tigers score only 46 points in the loss at UAB? That simply doesn't make sense and is a step back for Memphis. If it's only a blip on the conference schedule then they'll be fine. But if it's a sign of regression then the Tigers are in trouble. The offense had been balanced and had no problems prior to this game.
Eastern Washington: The Eagles pulled off the rare sweep of the Montana schools when they won at Montana State and Montana. Eastern Washington pulled a game behind Montana State in the loss column for the Big Sky regular-season title. Eastern Washington got off to a great start with the win over Saint Joseph's, but had been a bit erratic since then, until the last few weeks in the Big Sky.	New Mexico: The Lobos continue to implode. The latest incident was Patrick Dennehy's walkout in the Air Force loss last weekend. The Lobos have been infighting all season and the losses are continuing to mount. New Mexico lost at home to San Diego State, too. New Mexico still has the talent to get hot for three days in Las Vegas but it won't happen if the Lobos can't get along for even a game.
Baylor: The Bears have two of the better freshmen in the Big 12 in Lawrence Roberts and John Lucas. But Baylor has had a hard time moving up in the standings. That won't change with the big six ahead of them (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech). But Baylor did get its magic moment for the season when the Bears beat Missouri at home Saturday. Baylor beat Kansas at home, also on ESPN, last season for its biggest win.	Long Beach State: The 49ers were once one of the toughest teams to beat in the Big West. But the program has unraveled for Wayne Morgan and the 51-year-old coach called its quits last weekend after losing to Idaho. The 49ers were last in the postseason in 1999-2000 with a 24-5 record, losing to Cal in the first-round of the NIT.
Hartford: The Hawks continue to be one of the surprising teams in the America East. Hartford earned only four wins last season overall, one in the league. But Hartford beat Vermont and is in third place in the league with a 7-4 record. The Hawks are 11-14 overall and aren't out of the mix to get hot for three days in the conference tournament.	San Francisco: The Dons were a pest in the WCC, but it's not going to be easy to continue that run without point LyRyan Russell. He tore his ACL in Saturday's win over Loyola-Marymount. Russell was leading the WCC in steals (1.95 a game) and third in assists (4.4 apg).
Air Force: Joe Scott has turned the Falcons into a winner, not just a consistently tough team to beat in Colorado Springs. The Falcons beat New Mexico and San Diego State last week, took Wyoming to four overtimes and nearly beat Utah. Air Force has three wins in the MWC and is actually ahead of San Diego State and Colorado State in the standings. Air Force could be a spoiler in the conference tournament, too.	Bowling Green: The Falcons had to go on a monster run to get a shot at an at-large berth. But the Falcons, like everyone but Kent State, has run into the usual tough road games in the MAC. Bowling Green is having a terrific season with an 18-5 record and an 8-4 conference mark. But the problem is they probably had to do more to feel safe for an at-large berth. Bowling Green could still make the selection committee squirm if they can go on a roll from this point forward.
Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane took advantage of Hawaii's loss to Louisiana Tech and swept its road games at Boise State and UTEP. Tulsa moved into a tie with Hawaii in the WAC at 11-2 and shares an identical 20-4 record. But the difference is Tulsa lost to Hawaii at home and still needs to go to Honolulu next week.	Syracuse: The Orangemen should be in the NCAA Tournament but they aren't going in strong. Syracuse lost to Pittsburgh Sunday, making the Carrier Dome seem less intimidating. Syracuse still has a 7-4 Big East West Division record but the Orangemen have been easier to figure out for opponents, as the zone isn't as tough in the last few weeks.
Central Connecticut State: The Northeast Conference title will once again run through New Britain, Conn. Central is 14-1 in the NEC and has been on a tear since New Year's. Central's Corsley Edwards is getting serious looks by the NBA scouts. Central gave Iowa State one of its tougher games in the tournament two seasons ago and if this keeps up Central could be a frustrating first-round opponent.	Charlotte: The 49ers missed their chance to beat Cincinnati at home and improve their tournament resume. Losing to Saint Louis didn't help, either. Charlotte is still a strong candidate but even Bobby Lutz said last week that they needed to win some more games. The 14-8 record needs some boosting and beating Memphis would certainly help.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. His Weekly Watch, a look back at the week and a preview of the week ahead, runs every Monday.