Corky England will be periodically writing about college basketball.

From the Washington (nee Baltimore) Bullets to Pistol Pete Maravich to shot-chuckers from coast-to-coast who earn reputations as “gunners,” weaponry nomenclature has been a large part of the fabric James Naismith’s game. So what better motif to use as a cheap literary device in order to spread the college hardwood truth? Without further ado, in honor of Cheddar Bob Burress, here are the initial nine shots from the Glock:

1. Steph infection: We all have the fever, and the only cure is more Davidson basketball. Even Kellen Winslow II approves in this case.

It’s not debatable whether Stephen Curry is the most exciting and watchable player in the college game. The challenge is to figure out the last guy who was this compelling without the help of major talent around him (sorry, Kevin Durant).

The best approximation is a blend of “Last-four-minutes-of-the-game Acie Law” and Allen Iverson when he was pouring in 25 a game at G’town. Curry always has the ball, never has the fear. His shot always looks good when he lets it go and you never want to turn your eyes when he does.

Forget his lack of a nickname (personal favorite: The Upgrade, as he’s a better Dell) or whether you can even name two other teams in the Southern Conference. Just watch and enjoy as he tortures Bob Huggins and West Virginia tonight at the Garden.

2. Stamp of disapproval: Speaking of West Virginia, it seems that Huggins couldn’t help but put his imprint on the program in Year 2 in Morgantown. Unfortunately, that stamp has a picture of an unwatchable offense on it. Why stay with the freeflowing adaptation of John Beilein’s backcutting party when you can go back to Cincinnati-style streetball? Ugh. Tonight truly is Beauty and the Beast.

Giving credit where credit is due, though: WVU is defending the heck out of people while leading the nation in forcing turnovers. Who needs sweet backdoors when you can just kick in the front one and steal what you want?

3. Relax, don’t Duke it
As TBL is my witness, we were discussing the MSM’s most recent Dukegasm long before last weekend’s not-wholly-unexpected loss at Michigan. “ZOMG! Duke beat Purdue (which is basically Duke’s “blue” team in practice). They’re ready to take down Carolina!!”

All the instafrenzy forgot a couple of things about the Blue Devils:
a) They were really good (and underrated) for about 2/3 of last season before their young jumpshooters hit the wall.

b) They’re still mostly a bunch of young jumpshooters.

Sure, they have Miles Plumlee now for a bit of frontcourt froth, and less Paulus equals more good players on the court, but the lack of DeMarcus Nelson aside, this version is not too different – or better – than last season’s, which was pretty darn good through 20 games.

Can we wait until February, after the next couple of waves of “huge statement” wins and “upsets” to see how this matured version will hold up? Chances are the answer will be “pretty well,” but the style these Devils play is conducive to a cold-shooting KO in a one-and-done. As such, March Badness may once again overshadow everything else in Durham.

4. Bear Market: Rather than panting over (and televising) every minute of Duke basketball, why not pay attention to early-season results that actually mean something. Like this one: Baylor 58, Wazzu 52.

This was a huge win for Scott Drew’s youngins, beating the Cougars on the road at their own meat-grinding pace despite shooting just 40% from the floor. If you hadn’t noticed from the last season (or five), Baylor didn’t play any defense. So far this campaign, that’s changed. If any semblance of that keeps up, the Bears – fresh off an NCAA trip last season – could be the third- (or maybe even second-?) best team in the Big 12.

Not bad for a program that five years ago was reeling from a teammate murder, pay-for-play violations, alleged drug use and a sordid cover-up scheme by the Dave Bliss regime.

5. Wake up: Combine MSM misfires and reeling programs and you get this season’s Wake Forest, primed to be one of the sleepers nationally. If you checked the always-laughable preseason coaches’ poll, UCLA (which returned a couple of veteran guards and added a load of talented freshmen, mostly on the perimeter) was ranked 4th and Wake (which returned both starting guards and added a load of talented freshmen, mostly in the frontcourt) was … 24th. Right.

Anyway, now people are realizing that the Deacs’ Jeff Teague is really damn good, and so are a couple of the frosh bigs. Respect to the newcomers, who stuck with their commitments after Skip Prosser died last summer, and equal kudos to former failed Army and Loyola (Md.) coach Dino Gaudio, who has pushed all the right buttons while respecting Prosser’s memory – basically the exact opposite of what happened when Kevin O’Neill took over at Arizona last year.

Forget Duke challenging UNC anytime soon. The Devils should be more concerned with holding off the Deacons for second come ACC season.

6. Defending the land: Yes, NJIT still stinks. The Highlanders (0-7), a transitional Division I program, have set an NCAA record with 41 consecutive losses, dating back to the 2006-07 season. That doesn’t mean first-year head coach Jim Engles isn’t making an impact in Newark. The Highlanders actually are in the top 100 in defensive efficiency a year after barely cracking the top 300 on their way to 0-29. The offense is still almost beyond description, with a hideous combo of awful shooting and an obscene turnover rate that has undermined the defense. If NJIT can just find a small droplet of offensive effectiveness, the home schedule is soft enough that the Highlanders will pick someone(s) off.

7. Independent streak: It’s not all bagels in the win column for the conference-less wanderers of Division I. In fact, two annual strugglers – Longwood and Savannah State – actually sport winning records. It’s not all non-DI fare, either. The Lancers have beaten CAA foe James Madison, Kentucky-killer Gardner-Webb and perennial MEAC challenger Delaware State. Sav State, which went 0-28 as recently as 2004 (before NJIT’s 0-29 last season knocked them out of the record books), nearly beat Michigan on the road and has bested Bowling Green, New Orleans and Coastal Carolina. Monday night’s abortion in his Georgetown homecoming aside, Horace Broadnax has done a masterful job of building the small school’s program from nothing (but department-wide scandals)

8. Go Northwest, young man: It’s easy to suck when you live at the bottom of the D-I pond. But what if you are a major-conference program and you’ve never been to the NCAA Tournament? Like, ever? Then you would be Northwestern, which is one of the nice stories of this early season. The Wildcats have pounded Florida State and DePaul in back-to-back games and stand just a four-point loss at unbeaten Butler away from a perfect 7-0 start. Head coach Bill Carmody, formerly of top-10 Princeton fame, may finally have something going in what’s a huge year for him (since his friend, the school president, is leaving). We’ll find out awfully quickly in Big Ten play whether these Cats are for real, as they Michigan State twice, Wisconsin and Purdue all in their first five league games. Until then, we can marvel at the continued good play of forward Kevin Coble, who missed part of last season to be with his mom, who was suffering from breast cancer.

9. Family planning: Did any family have a worse basketball week-plus than the Wittmans? Cornell’s Ryan actually had three excellent outings, but his shorthanded Big Red first were smothered at dad Randy’s alma mater, Indiana, then couldn’t hold onto big leads at Syracuse and Minnesota. The last one was a homecoming game for Ryan – at least until yesterday, when his dad was canned as head coach of the Timberwolves. Classy of the NBA team to at least wait until after Ryan played at the Barn.

Have a comment? Hit me at TBLHoops@gmail.com.