Morning Rumble: Marcus Paige to return Tuesday, Big East has an outstanding holiday week

Today in the Morning Rumble, Marcus Paige set to return, Rick Pitino talks about the scandal and the Big East has a monster week.

North Carolina faces Maryland on Tuesday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and the Tar Heels will have their best player available to play. Senior point guard Marcus Paige has missed the first six games of the season due to a broken hand but was targeting this critical December 1st game and is now set to make his return to the floor.

Paige averaged 14.5 points per game last season despite dealing with foot issues all year long and averaged a career high 17.5 points per game during his sophomore campaign.

Behind an impressive performance by their front court and Trey Lewis taking over in the second half, Louisville defeated Saint Louis by 20 points Saturday night in a neutral site game at the Barclays Center. Following the game Rick Pitino said that his team should be ranked and that the reason they haven't cracked the AP Poll is because of the alleged scandal regarding paid escorts.

The Cardinals haven't defeated a single top 50 opponent this season. They travel to Michigan State to face the Spartans in what should be an entertaining match-up.

What a week it was in the Big East.

Creighton, Villanova, Xavier and Marquette all won their respective preseason tournaments with the Musketeers looking like the top challenger to the Wildcats for the Big East title. Providence also had great success in California as they earned a berth in the championship game of the Wooden Legacy Classic. They played Tom Izzo's Spartans tough, losing by just 13 points.

Meanwhile, Wichita State is going backwards due to injuries and ineffective play from Ron Baker. The Shockers were beaten by Alabama, Iowa and USC in the Advocare Classic.

Fred Van Vleet, one of the best guards in the entire country, missed the event due to a hamstring injury.

Monmouth has become one of the great stories in all of college basketball with wins over USC, Notre Dame and UCLA in the early portion of the season. What's even better? Their bench celebrations.