Wednesday tip-off: No. 8 Gonzaga clashes with Georgia

Setting up the day in college basketball:

Best bet: The holiday tournament lineup rolls along, with the Big Apple getting the prime-time spotlight tonight as the NIT Season Tip-Off gets underway at Madison Square Garden. No. 8 Gonzaga enters as the favorite among this year's foursome, taking on Georgia (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in an all-Bulldog showdown.

The Bulldogs from Athens have bounced back from an opening loss to Georgia Tech with three wins in succession, but the Zags have been nothing short of dominant in their 4-0 start that included a double-digit win against then-ranked SMU. Gonzaga's depth has been on display with seven players averaging at least nine points a game. Domantas Sabonis, a 6-10 freshman and the son of Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis, averages 14 points and 7.5 rebounds to lead the way.

Number of the day:7.3. Speaking of Bulldogs, Butler's inaugural season in the Big East a year ago was derailed before it started when swingman Roosevelt Jones was forced to sit out the entire campaign with the wrist injury. It hasn't taken long for him to show how much he was missed. Perhaps the most important contribution he's made to the team's 3-0 start are his 22 assists, 7.3 a game. The Bulldogs will try to make even more noise this week in a star-studded field in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, opening today against No. 6 North Carolina (noon ET, ESPN2).

Words of the day: "We watched film ... and we kind of saw that we didn't play hard. And that is one thing that's unacceptable. You never want to say we lost the game because we didn't play hard enough. So we just took that approach." — Purdue guard Jon Octeus, after the Boilermakers rebounded from an opening-round loss to Kansas State in the Maui Invitational to dominate Missouri 82-61 Tuesday in the consolation bracket.

Days until Selection Sunday: 109.