Hey listeners, welcome back to your daily dive into college basketball, where the hardwood is heating up just before the holidays. Over the past few days, the top of the rankings stayed rock solid, with the AP Top 25 from CBS Sports on December 22 showing UConn holding steady at number four, Purdue at five, and Duke slipping just a spot to six after a rare stumble, while Gonzaga cracked the top seven. But the real story stealing the spotlight is number one Arizona, who crushed Bethune-Cookman 107-71 on December 22, according to their official site. The Wildcats stayed perfect, exploding for eight of their first nine shots in the second half to balloon a lead to 71-49. Tobe Awaka grabbed 10.6 rebounds per game to anchor that frontcourt dominance, per NCAA stats.

Shifting to the scoring fireworks, Duke freshman phenom Cameron Boozer is lighting it up as the nation's top scorer at 23.3 points per game through 12 outings, with Kansas State's PJ Haggerty and Minnesota's Cade Tyson knotted at 22.8, as ESPN's leaderboards confirm. Those numbers are pure poetry, especially Boozer's 279 total points already. Assists leaders are dishing dimes too—Purdue's Braden Smith tops at 9.6 per game, followed by Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr. at 9.2, straight from NCAA's DI stats.

Monday night brought some gritty action, like Boston College's Luka Toews dropping 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead the Eagles past Fairleigh Dickinson 72-61, ESPN recaps detail. Out west, Wisconsin battled Central Michigan on December 22, with full highlights lighting up YouTube feeds, and earlier on the 20th, Northwestern tangled with Butler in a thriller covered by NBC Sports. Even the ACC stats show Duke averaging a league-high 10.1 assists per game.

With coaches polls predicting minimal Week 8 shakes from College Football News—despite Duke's hiccup—and holiday slowdowns ahead, teams like Arizona gear up for tests like their December 29 home clash with South Dakota State. The talent is surging, the leads are commanding, and every bucket feels like a statement.

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