ESPN Andy Katz Blog

Kentucky gets the nod for having the best recruiting class from the late-signing period and as well as the one with the most NBA-level talent. Cincinnati grabbed the headlines for taking Lance Stephenson, the last big name, and possibly one of the most significant players in this year's class if he can elevate them to a conference contender.

But no one may have pulled off a bigger coup than Arizona under Sean Miller.

"On April 7, we had no one," Miller said.

Now, on July 1, the Wildcats have a team that is certainly capable of making a run for a top-3 finish in the Pac-10 and keeping alive a remarkable streak of 25 straight appearances in the NCAA tournament.

Miller had no idea the "Arizona brand" was so powerful until he got to Tucson. Seeing Jordan Hill go No. 8 in the NBA draft to the New York Knicks, Luke Walton win an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Richard Jefferson get traded from Milwaukee to San Antonio as one of the NBA offseason's key moves further enhanced the rep of the school under Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson as a factory for elite talent.

"The Arizona brand speaks for itself," Miller said. "It's an amazing recruiting tool."

Miller was fortunate that Tim Floyd imploded at USC. Arizona landed three former members of the USC recruiting class in wings Solomon Hill and Derrick Williams and guard Lamont Jones. The Cats also added Kevin Parrom, a onetime Xavier recruit under Miller, and Kyryl Natyazhko, who was heavily recruited by Pitt and Xavier. The five-player class has a little bit of everything -- a point, three wings and a center.

Kentucky's haul of guard John Wall, forward DeMarcus Cousins, point Eric Bledsoe and wing Darnell Dodson late, plus the retention of forward Daniel Orton (a Billy Gillispie signee), may produce multiple NBA-level talents and could put the Wildcats in the Final Four (along with returning all-SEC forward Patrick Patterson) if they mesh.

Cincinnati's addition Tuesday of big guard Lance Stephenson out of Brooklyn's Lincoln High, ranked No. 12 on the ESPNU top 100, to go along with the return of guard Deonta Vaughn, forward Yancy Gates and point Cashmere Wright means the Bearcats picked up a season-changing recruit (to go along with two other key newcomers in the class in point Jaquon Parker and shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick).

Kentucky was expected to be a major player on the scene as soon as John Calipari moved north from Memphis. The Stephenson pickup was unexpected for the Bearcats after the soap opera in his recruitment from all over the country, which reportedly touched even Arizona (though a Cats source denies this).

Miller's performance in late recruiting shouldn't come as a shock considering his recent success at Xavier in taking that program deep into the NCAAs and dominating the A-10. Still, he still made sure the Wildcats won't fade from relevance anytime soon. There was fear of an Indiana-like situation with the departures of Hill and Chase Budinger and a void in recruiting during two seasons of interim coaches. But Miller offered stability immediately. Having senior point guard Nic Wise come back gives the Wildcats an anchor to right the newcomers.

Wise didn't make the U.S. team for the World University Games, which is currently competing in Serbia, after he withdrew from the NBA draft. But Wise looked as though he had a bit of a post-draft hangover while competing in Colorado Springs. Miller was there for the first day and isn't fretting about Wise's decision-making. He said he expects Wise to be just fine under his get-it-and-go system. Miller, a former point guard, thrived with smaller playmakers like Drew Lavender. He should enjoy coaching Wise, too.

The Wildcats' schedule will be challenging early, with an appearance in the Maui Invitational against likely favorite Maryland and/or Gonzaga. Hosting UNLV, NC State and Northern Arizona, playing BYU in Phoenix, going to Oklahoma in the Pac-10-Big 12 Challenge and playing at San Diego State should prep the Wildcats for a run toward a possible bid out of the Pac-10.

• Richmond coach Chris Mooney expects the Spiders to contend for the Atlantic 10 title, challenging Dayton, Xavier and anyone else that figures to be in the mix. But he's also trying to put the Spiders in position to receive an NCAA tournament at-large berth. To do that, Mooney knew he had to upgrade the nonconference schedule. Tuesday, Mooney finalized the slate that should put the Spiders in position to be taken seriously if they can win some of these games.

The Spiders (20-16, 9-7 A-10), who get back center Dan Geriot from a torn ACL that kept him out of last season, return the top 3 scorers from last season's team -- Kevin Anderson (16.6 ppg.), David Gonzalvez (16 ppg) and Justin Harper (9.2 ppg) -- giving them a chance to be in the discussion come March.

Mooney said the Spiders will play in the South Padre Island event with Mississippi State, Missouri and Old Dominion. Mooney said the Spiders are guaranteed to play MSU, the favorite in the SEC West. Richmond is also playing at South Carolina, another possible NCAA tournament team from the SEC. Mooney picked up an open spot in the Orange Bowl Classic in South Florida against Florida, another team that could be in the NCAA tournament mix. Richmond is also at Wake Forest, VCU and William & Mary and hosts Chattanooga and UNC-Wilmington. That means Richmond will play three SEC teams -- a good year to do that -- one ACC team and possibly one Big 12. The rest of the A-10 should take note of this schedule. This is how you put yourself in position for a possible at-large bid if you don't win the automatic berth in a conference not among the power six.

• The addition of Stephenson, assuming he's eligible, should put Cincinnati in the thick of the chase for third in the Big East. Maybe I'll be wrong, but I'm conceding the first two spots to Villanova and West Virginia. After that, though, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse can make a case for third. The other team that could potentially climb a bit more is Seton Hall, which adds transfers Herb Pope (New Mexico State) and Keon Lawrence (Missouri).

• USC assistant coach Bob Cantu is becoming an institution on campus. Cantu has survived multiple coaching changes. Cantu has worked under Henry Bibby, Rick Majerus, Jim Saia, Tim Floyd and now Kevin O'Neill.

• Wing Marcus Johnson, who played in only 16 games last season for the Trojans because of a combination of a shoulder injury and his midyear transfer from Connecticut the previous season, is now expected to come back to campus. Johnson won a waiver for a fifth season of eligibility but then initially said he was going to pursue the NBA. He went undrafted, and the USC staff expects Johnson to return. His athleticism on the wing should help an offensively challenged crew. Backup point guard Donte Smith is also expected back, as is forward Kasey Cunningham, who was injured for all but four games last season.

If the Trojans can find a point guard over the summer, they have a chance -- with scoring guard Dwight Lewis and defenders along the front line in Alex Stepheson, Marcus Simmons and Leonard Washington -- to be highly competitive in the Pac-10.

• Holy Cross is expected to interview one more candidate Wednesday before a final decision is made on the replacement for Ralph Willard. The stealth candidate, Holy Cross alumnus Rod Baker -- a former Tufts head coach and longtime college assistant who was in Massachusetts for the Paul Pierce camp -- comes on the heels of Holy Cross athletic director Dick Regan's interviewing Notre Dame assistant Sean Kearney on Monday and Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion on Tuesday. Barring Baker's knocking Regan back, the choice will come down to Herrion or Kearney sometime before the end of the week.

• St. John forward Anthony Mason Jr. has been cleared the past month to play in games after missing last season with an injured right foot. The Red Storm, hoping to move up into the top 10 of the Big East, have settled on their nonconference schedule. St. John's will play Temple and Virginia Tech in the Philadelphia Classic at the Palestra in late November, host Georgia in the SEC-Big East Invitational, go to Duke, host Fordham, play St. Bonaventure in Rochester, and will participate in the Holiday Festival with Cornell, Hofstra and Davidson at Madison Square Garden in late December.

The only difference you'll see at USC as far as the coaching staff is concerned is Kevin O'Neill standing where Tim Floyd used to in front of the bench.

The coaches behind him will all be the same.

Although it's not official, O'Neill did confirm he is retaining assistants Phil Johnson, Gib Arnold and Bob Cantu.

That's a significant move, considering those three are largely responsible for securing a number of the top talents USC has recently had under Floyd.

"I feel comfortable with all of them," said O'Neill.

The USC situation is unique in that the Trojans hired a coach who wasn't coming directly from another program, so the transition from one staff to another should be rather seamless. Johnson and O'Neill have known each other for decades. They both coached under Lute Olson, albeit not at the same time.

Johnson is a contemporary of O'Neill's and should serve him well as a trusted sounding board. Arnold has plenty of recruiting contacts not just in the West but globally, and he may be searching for a point guard since O'Neill has made that the No. 1 priority for the upcoming season now that the Trojans are without Daniel Hackett (who left to play professionally) and Lamont Jones out of Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).

USC released Jones from his national letter of intent and watched as Jones latched on to Arizona and new coach Sean Miller. Miller has landed three former USC recruits in Jones, Derrick Williams (a power forward from La Mirada High in California), who like Jones got out of his letter of intent, and former USC recruit Solomon Hill (a forward from Fairfax High in Los Angeles).

Evan Smith, a small forward from Calabasas High in California, is the only remaining recruit left from the Trojans' original top-five recruiting class (which also included Renardo Sidney, now off to Mississippi State). O'Neill said Smith is staying put.

According to O'Neill, most of the returnees from last year's squad are expected back. Senior guard Dwight Lewis (14.4 points per game) should be the top scorer, North Carolina transfer Alex Stepheson should be the anchor in the post and Marcus Simmons (1.9 ppg) and Leonard Washington (6.1 ppg, 4.2 rebounds per game) should be the defensive bruisers on the wing.

Keeping Arnold on the staff should mean that forward Nikola Vucevic (2.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg) will return. The same is true with center Mamadou Diarra (0.4 rpg). O'Neill has already recognized that this squad has much more of a tough, defensive-minded approach -- something Floyd had instilled -- and should be a better match for his personality than the more finesse squad he inherited at Arizona, which included Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill.

Senior Marcus Johnson (3.1 ppg), who won a waiver earning him a sixth year of eligibility after an injured shoulder limited him to just 16 games last season, declared for the NBA draft, then withdrew, then declared again. But he wasn't selected and now there is a chance he could be back at USC. The staff was noncommittal as to whether or not he will officially be back. They are also still waiting to confirm if backup point guard Percy Miller (0.2 assists per game) is returning, as well.

The staff seems energized by the O'Neill hire (keeping your job certainly helps) and committed to recruiting top-tier talent to USC. USC remains one of the best jobs in the country because of its proximity to elite talent, the resources at a football-rich university, top-level facilities in the Galen Center and SoCal as a recruiting destination.

The only negative right now, and it's a big one, is the ongoing NCAA investigation into the recruiting and one-year tenure of former player O.J. Mayo. No one knows if and when the NCAA will issue a notice of allegations. Until then, the O'Neill regime is going on as status quo, dealing with the departures of a highly touted recruiting class and preparing to still be a thorn in the Pac-10 race.

• Miller's additions of Hill, Williams and Jones to an Arizona recruiting class that also includes former Xavier recruit Kevin Parrom of South Kent (Conn.) and hotly-contested center Kyryl Natyazhko (Pitt and Xavier were recruiting him) of the IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla., puts Miller's class right behind his good friend John Calipari of Kentucky for best late-signing class in the country. Both schools could easily be in the top five to 10 regardless of when their players were signed.

The Arizona pickups and the play of the Washington State tandem Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto at the Under 19 USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs, Colo., two weeks ago means there should be a shakeup in the Pac-10 preseason predictions. I would still go with Cal and Washington at the top, but there will be an extremely tough chase for third on down among Arizona (remember, Nic Wise is back), Washington State, UCLA, Oregon State and Oregon, with USC still lurking in the mix if it figures out a way to put points on the board.

The Trojans should still be a tough defensive team. It's hard not to push Stanford and Arizona State down to the bottom based on what everyone has coming back. The Sun Devils lost two players selected in the top 31 picks in this year's NBA draft in James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph. The Cardinal, meanwhile, lost key seniors Mitch Johnson, Lawrence Hill and Anthony Goods.

• Sometimes you get a player when you least expect it, when there is almost no recruiting done and it can be a season-changing get. That's what happened when Oklahoma State got John Lucas III after the Baylor tragedy. Villanova landed Scottie Reynolds after Kelvin Sampson left Indiana for Oklahoma. Kansas wasn't expecting to land Brandon Rush after he withdrew from the NBA draft out of high school. Now Memphis has just picked up Duke guard Elliot Williams because of extraordinary circumstances.

Williams' mother is ill and that's why he's leaving a good situation with the Blue Devils. Trust me, no one leaves Mike Krzyzewski for Josh Pastner. That's not a knock on Pastner. He knows that. That's just reality. Williams will now appeal to the NCAA to play immediately instead of sitting out the one-year-in-residence requirement. A year ago there were a number of these cases and the NCAA rejected the majority of them -- Jordan Crawford (Indiana to Xavier), Alex Stepheson (North Carolina to USC), Herb Pope (New Mexico State to Seton Hall) -- with the exception of a select few like Julian Vaughn, who transferred from Florida State to Georgetown.

It's hard to judge how a person should handle this type of situation. No one did it better, though, than Kevin Coble of Northwestern, who truly took the semester off to be with his mother during cancer treatment in her home in Phoenix. When she was done with the treatments, he returned to Northwestern for the second semester. Coble was by his mother's side during her entire ordeal.

Having Williams home in Memphis should do well for his family, as well. Pastner is smart enough to always put Williams' family first. He's not the type of person who would demand Williams be at practice if there was a conflicting appointment for Williams' mother that he felt he should attend. Expect Pastner to do the right thing by Williams and his family. Had Williams transferred to Tennessee, Kentucky or even Vanderbilt, still a decent day's drive, it would have been harder to justify considering a waiver for him to play right away, since he wouldn't be in the city where his parent was ill.

• Lance Stephenson's sexual assault case was adjourned until July 15, according to ZagsBlog.com, a blog based in New York City. The hearing at the Brooklyn Criminal Court that also involves high school teammate Darwin Ellis, is based on an allegation that occurred last fall outside Brooklyn's Lincoln High.

The Sporting News reported over the weekend that Stephenson visited Cincinnati. The Bearcats have a scholarship open. This is the deal: If Stephenson is cleared by everyone involved -- the courts (i.e. a plea deal to a misdemeanor or charges dropped) and the NCAA eligibility center -- then the Bearcats seem to be the most likely destination.

Stephenson's talent isn't in question, but in the past few months Kansas, Memphis, Arizona, Maryland, St. John's, Florida and even Florida International have been linked in some form to his recruitment. As of now, Cincinnati may be the last school standing. With or without Stephenson, the Bearcats are primed to be a sleeper in the Big East. The Bearcats will get former Oklahoma State center Ibrahima Thomas eligible in mid-December and added expected impact players such as shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick and point guard Jaquon Parker to go along with redshirt freshman Cashmere Wright, who was out last season with a torn ACL in his left knee.

Wright is projected to be the starting point guard for the Bearcats. The Bearcats already bring back their top two scorers -- Deonta Vaughn (15.3 ppg, 4.7 apg) and Yancy Gates (10.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) -- after going 8-10 in the Big East, 18-14 overall. If Stephenson were to go to Cincinnati and he can mesh with the aforementioned players, it wouldn't be unrealistic to consider the Bearcats a Big East title contender.

• This week, Holy Cross is bringing to campus its two finalists to replace departing coach Ralph Willard: Notre Dame assistant Sean Kearney comes in on Monday, and Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion comes in on Tuesday. Willard left the head coaching gig to be an assistant on Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville. Kearney has never been a Division I head coach, while Herrion had a solid stint at the College of Charleston before he was abruptly forced out. Herrion is from Worcester and has strong New England ties. Kearney has been at Notre Dame under Mike Brey. A move from Notre Dame to Holy Cross, two similar institutions, would make sense. Holy Cross athletic director Dick Regan said last week he wanted a head coach in place by July 1, which is Wednesday. So his timing is on track. Holy Cross is the best job in the Patriot League.

• The U.S. team at the World University Games split its first two exhibition games in Serbia, beating Canada and then losing to host Serbia over the weekend. We'll see if Bo Ryan (Wisconsin) goes with the same starting lineup for the tournament later this week, but the first five against Serbia was an interesting mix. He went with Corey Fisher (Villanova) at the point (one assist, zero turnovers, 12 points) and then went big with Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia), Lazar Hayward (Marquette), Trevor Booker (Clemson) and Deon Thompson (North Carolina). Ohio State's Evan Turner and Oklahoma State's James Anderson, the two shooting guards on the team, came off the bench and provided some scoring pop with 16 and eight points, respectively.

The bench also had point guard Talor Battle (Penn State), Robbie Hummel (Purdue) and Quincy Pondexter (Washington). What was even more intriguing is that two of the players with the most NBA buzz had the least amount of minutes -- Iowa State's Craig Brackins (11 minutes, 1-for-3 shooting, five fouls, two points, two turnovers) and Mississippi State shot blocker Jarvis Varnado (nine minutes, 0-for-2, two rebounds, two fouls, one turnover, one block and one steal). The U.S. shot only 5-for-19 on 3s in the 98-82 loss.

• Two omissions from my 2010 potential draft list were Villanova's Scottie Reynolds and Tulsa's Jerome Jordan. Reynolds declared for the 2009 draft and then went back to school. He wouldn't have been in the first round and it's unclear if he would have been selected in the second. The wealth of point guards in this draft meant Reynolds didn't have a chance in the first round and may have gone undrafted. He'll have a shot, at least in the second round, in 2010. Jordan should be one of the better true centers in the 2010 draft. He still needs to be much more of a dominant presence in the post and could put more meat on his bones. But he'll be in the mix to climb into the first round next year.

So far, the SEC has been the biggest winner in early-entry withdrawal decisions after Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), Michael Washington (Arkansas), Tasmin Mitchell (LSU) and Jarvis Varnado (Mississippi State) all announced they would come back to school.

The league could be bolstered even more if Jodie Meeks (Kentucky), Tyler Smith (Tennessee), Devan Downey and Dominique Archie (South Carolina) do the same.

But when grading schools that will dramatically benefit from players' decisions to withdraw from the draft, Arizona will be near the top of the list.

Nic Wise's decision to return to Arizona for his senior season gives new coach Sean Miller one of the top point guards in the Pac-10, a scoring threat every time he touches the ball, and the guarantee that the Wildcats won't go through any kind of Indiana-like transition period.

Miller wants to temper the enthusiasm in his new locale, as any first-year coach would. But getting Wise back to go along with role players Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne and impact newcomers Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom and Kyryl Natyazhko means the Cats should be considered for a top-half finish in the Pac-10.

That would have seemed impossible a month ago, when it appeared Wise would leave with Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and before Miller locked up three key recruits. But after Cal and Washington, the Pac-10 is wide open. Arizona has just as good a shot to finish third among a group of teams that includes UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State.

• Memphis coach Josh Pastner found out Sunday that fourth-year junior center Shawn Taggart would stay in the NBA draft. This didn't come as a shock. He will, after all, be 25-years-old by the time the 2010 NBA draft rolls around. Taggart would have been returning for his fifth season and playing for his third college coach. (He transferred from Iowa State.) But let's also not kid ourselves into thinking Taggart is going to be a star -- it's hard to imagine that he'll be any more than a role player. And there's a decent chance he might not be drafted at all.

The Tigers will now lean on 6-9 JC forward Will Coleman for inside scoring, as well as the return of limited offensive big man Pierre Henderson-Niles and 6-11 redshirt Angel Garcia. Highly touted 6-8 newcomer Latavious Williams will also be counted on to score inside, along with a true project, 6-8 Martin Ngaloro of France. Doneal Mack will be Memphis' top returning scorer at 8.7 points a game, followed by guard Roburt Sallie (5.8), who busted out with a 35-point performance in last season's NCAA first-round win over Cal State Northridge.

• Pastner's pickup of Baltimore-area brothers Will and Antonio Barton from the class of 2010 proves that he can recruit as a head coach. Getting Will -- ranked No. 12 in the ESPNU 100 -- away from Kentucky, Louisville and Pitt, among others, is a huge coup for Pastner. He should be an impact player for the Tigers at multiple positions. And Memphis didn't hesitate to take Antonio, who was being recruited by Syracuse and Miami (Fla.), among others. The Tigers anticipate he'll have a role as well.

• Tulsa made the official announcement that Connecticut guard Scottie Haralson transferred and will sit out the 2009-10 season. Haralson saw limited minutes at UConn and clearly will be much more featured with the Golden Hurricane. He's a sturdy guard who has the potential to be a solid shooter. Western Kentucky's D.J. Magley is also transferring to Tulsa and sitting out one year.

• In an attempt to fill his staff, Isiah Thomas went back to Indiana and approached fellow Hoosier alumnus Dan Dakich about being on his staff at Florida International. But the timing wasn't right for Dakich to leave the Indianapolis area. Thomas is hiring Franklin Holloway, who coached locally in South Florida after spending time coaching in Germany. FIU also picked up seldom-used 6-9 Arkansas freshman Brandon Moore. He will sit out next season and be eligible in 2010-11.

Billy Gillispie is back in his hometown of Graford, Texas, looking to buy a home in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, closing a sale on his Lexington abode, dealing with a lawsuit against his former employer Kentucky, mapping out his summer and fall plans and figuring out how to handle idle time that he hasn't had in his adult life.

"I've gone strong for a long time," Gillispie said. "I was a head coach in high school to a Division I coach, to a head Division I coach, and I got lucky, real lucky. It's amazing how quickly things happen. I never took a vacation. I'm not sure what to do with the down time."

Kentucky fired Gillispie on March 27. Kentucky hired John Calipari away from Memphis on April. 1. Since then, the Wildcats' program has gone from being beat down for making the NIT in Gillispie's second and final season in Lexington to being the talk of college basketball with a recruiting haul led by the country's top player in 2009, John Wall, to potentially being ranked the preseason No. 1 by multiple publications.

"I'm the least informed of anyone," Gillispie said of knowing what was happening at Kentucky. "I don't have a computer right now, and basically just live with my cell phone. I don't watch a lot of TV news. If I would, I would have been paying attention."

When reminded of the recruiting success so far, Gillispie said: "I love Lexington. It's a neat place, and Kentucky is a fantastic place to live. I'm happy for those guys. I hope they can get every single person they can, and they will, in my opinion."

Gillispie said Calipari is "the perfect fit. He's a great recruiter and a great coach. I think it's awesome, and I'm pulling for them."

The news hasn't only been about recruiting. The top forward in the SEC returned after a brief romance with the NBA draft, when Patrick Patterson decided to withdraw.

"He'd been saying all along that he's going to come back to school," said Gillispie, who pulled off a recruiting coup when he landed Patterson two years ago away from Florida and Duke. "He loves it there. He's had a great experience, and it's a great place to go to school. Education is important to him. He could graduate in three years. I'm not surprised he did that."

Meanwhile, Gillispie said he sees no issue with Jodie Meeks possibly playing alongside Wall next season if Meeks decides to withdraw from the NBA draft. Meeks was a top scorer for Gillispie, including scoring 54 points at Tennessee.

"Jodie will be great no matter what," Gillispie said. "He had one of the best years in college basketball, and that was coming off an injury-plagued season. He was fantastic. It looks like they'll have great personnel in all the spots, and that will help him."

But within the past week, Gillispie has been embroiled in what could turn out to be a messy lawsuit, with accusations going in both directions. Gillispie fired the first shot in a Dallas court, claiming the school owes him $6 million in lost salary and undisclosed punitive damages, which include attorneys' fees and court costs. The next day, Kentucky fired back with a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky, wanting the court to rule that the two-page memorandum of understanding Gillispie signed after his 2007 hiring was not equal to his full contract. Gillispie contends it is and that he should receive his salary of $1.5 million for four of the five years left on the contract.

There were accusations of fraud from Gillispie that stated in his case the university never wanted to sign him long-term, while the school is saying he turned down six different versions of the deal, arguing over the language in the deal over how he could be dismissed without pay.

As Gillispie waits for a resolution, he is remaining mum on the lawsuit. He said at the proper time he will speak on the matter but has been advised, as usual in these cases, to stay silent on the lawsuits.

Gillispie said he wants to be a head coach in 2010-11. He said nothing fit him this spring. He did flirt with the Washington State opening, but the Cougars stayed true to the Northwest by hiring Portland State's Ken Bone.

Gillispie said he's not limited to geography. He'll move wherever the right opportunity exists and reiterated that two of his previous jobs -- UTEP and Texas A&M -- were rebuilding situations.

"We got them good in a hurry," Gillispie said. "I think it will happen."

In the interim, Gillispie is planning a tour of NFL training camps, college football August practices and the opening of NBA practices to watch how other coaches begin their seasons anew. He also plans on doing the same with college basketball, and won't be limited to watching his good friend Bill Self at Kansas, whom he coached with before getting the head coaching job at UTEP.

"Coaches are always willing to learn," Gillispie said. "I want to watch as much practice as I can this year. One thing you don't get an opportunity to do when you're engaged in your season is see other people practice. You see them on TV and compete against them. I want to study how other people do it to continue to get better. I normally wouldn't have that much time to do that."

Gillispie said he has no regrets about anything that happened at Kentucky.

"I'm proud of everything we did on and off the court," he said.

• The comparisons between Jason Gardner and Nic Wise are hard to miss. Gardner desperately wanted to stay in the NBA draft after the 2001 season. Arizona played in the national title game. His good friends Richard Jefferson, Gilbert Arenas and Michael Wright all declared for the NBA draft. Gardner was only a sophomore, but why go back to Arizona when everyone else is gone? But he did and joined fellow sophomore Luke Walton, and the two still had successful college careers. Walton was drafted in the second round by the Lakers and continues to serve a significant role. Gardner never made the NBA.

Wise might have a better shot since he has become a better scorer than Gardner. But it's not hard to see why Wise is taking the early-entry deadline down to the final days. His teammates Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill left after this season. Hill is a lock for the lottery. Budinger will likely go in the first round. Wise won't get a sniff of the first round, and it's highly unlikely that if he stayed in the draft he would be selected.

But there are more issues to digest. Wise would be playing for his fourth coach at Arizona in four years, and seventh overall if you include multiple changes in high school. He signed to play for Lute Olson and did for one season. But then came the interim season with Kevin O'Neill, followed by Olson returning for a few weeks and then another interim situation with Russ Pennell. Former Xavier coach Sean Miller has arrived to give stability. But it's still hard for Wise to make the commitment. He's close to going back, and just has to adjust his mindset here before June 15.

"I'd be the only senior with a lot of young guys," Wise said. "I'd have to be the single-handed leader on the team, instead of last year when we had all three of us together."

But Wise is a realist. He hasn't left the state of Texas for workouts. He has been working out in Houston with former NBA coach John Lucas, did a group workout in Houston and also worked out for San Antonio. But Wise wasn't one of the 52 players invited to the NBA's draft combine last week in Chicago.

"Unless I have something for sure, I wouldn't gamble with it, even overseas," Wise said. "I'd wait. It will always be there."

Wise does believe in Miller's system. He said Miller's experience as a point guard should help his game, something that Miller echoed. Miller has had success in coaching smaller scoring point guards, and recently had Drew Lavender doing well for the Musketeers.

"He's done well with big-name players on the team," Wise said. "I know I can come out there and get the ball."

Miller met with Wise and his family in Houston shortly after he got the gig in April. But he said he's giving Wise his space to make his own decision without pressure.

"It's been a roller-coaster ride up and down for me," Wise said of all the coaching changes and dealing with Olson's illnesses. "I came here to play for one coach for four years. I'm taking it in stride, and now I could have four different coaches. I'm learning more than other college athletes learn during their career."

If Wise returns, there is a chance he would go immediately to the World University Games trials for the team coached by Bo Ryan that will head to Serbia. Having to re-direct his focus could help in the transition for Wise.

Wise's return would give Arizona seven returning scholarship players, along with a highly touted three-person class of forwards Solomon Hill (a one-time USC recruit), Kevin Parrom (a one-time Xavier recruit) and Kyryl Natyazhko, who was targeted by Pitt before Miller got the job.

"If Nic comes back we have a chance," Miller said of being competitive in the Pac-10. "The trick will be to recruit the right way, stabilize and do the great things that Arizona has done. We can sell it well here and get it running in a big way."

Miller said his style of play -- letting a point guard run -- should help Wise. Wise flourished this past season, scoring 29 in a win over Washington and 26 in a win over UCLA.

Miller said his lineup would likely have Wise (if he returns) at the point, Kyle Fogg at shooting guard, Brendon Lavender at small forward, Jamelle Horne at power forward (with Hill and Parrom in the rotation) and Natyazhko at center.

Miller has always played difficult nonconference games while at Xavier, and plans on doing the same at Arizona. Miller got out of a few games that weren't finalized, but the Wildcats will still play a tough slate with the Maui Invitational, a road game at Oklahoma, a neutral-site matchup with BYU in Phoenix and home games with NC State and BYU.

• Lance Stephenson is still out there for the taking, but Arizona isn't interested. Neither are a number of schools. Maryland isn't touching him while he and a teammate, Darwin Ellis, have a court case pending dealing with a sexual assault. The New York Daily News reported last week that Stephenson's attorney, Alberto Ebanks, claimed his client is innocent. The case won't be heard again until June 29. The pair was charged with groping a female student outside Brooklyn's Lincoln High on Oct. 3. Stephenson's folks made inquiries to Florida, but were cooled by the school. The word among multiple coaches is that no one will touch Stephenson in the near future as the court case unfolds. There is also a fear that whoever gets Stephenson will likely get an NCAA inquiry over questionable amateur issues for the only player in the top 25 in the class of 2009 that hasn't committed anywhere. Stephenson was ranked No. 12 in the ESPNU 100.

• Rick Leddy, spokesperson of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said Thursday in response to my blog on the NBA's 19-years/one-year-out-of-high school draft rule that the organization sponsors repealing the rule with the NBA. But the NABC is lobbying the NCAA for new legislation: If a player enrolls at a four-year institution, he has to remain there for three years, which is the rule for collegiate baseball. Leddy said the NABC will be working with the NCAA, the NBA and the NBAPA during the next collective bargaining agreement.

• I was reminded of my opinion on Kansas having to possibly vacate its national title after a Dallas school district investigation into whether former Jayhawk Darrell Arthur had his grades changed in high school before enrollment at KU. I said to chill then. Here is the difference between that case and the accusation that Derrick Rose didn't take his standardized test before enrollment at Memphis: The NCAA issued a notice of allegations on Memphis and launched an investigation, while the Arthur case never got out of the Dallas school system. So there was never a possibility that Kansas would have to vacate wins, because it didn't reach the NCAA level. Memphis might have to if the NCAA deems the Tigers knowingly used an ineligible player. I still stand by that statement. If Memphis knew, then it should vacate. If it didn't then it should not, even if it is proven that Rose was ineligible. His test score was invalidated, but Memphis hasn't found any proof that he didn't take it. Rose was cleared, and while the eligibility center said it has the right to change the status of a player, even after a season, it's hard to take away wins if Memphis didn't know he was ineligible.

Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood said Wednesday that he had asked USC coach Tim Floyd a point-blank question about former USC star O.J. Mayo during an exploratory interview for the Arizona head-coaching job last month, and Floyd had told him there were no issues with Mayo's recruitment.

On Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports reported that Floyd had given Mayo's handler, Rodney Guillory, $1,000 in cash before Guillory went to Las Vegas for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. The allegation was made by Louis Johnson, a former member of Mayo's inner circle, who said Guillory told him he had received the money in an exchange in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Johnson said he told the NCAA, FBI, IRS and the U.S. Attorney's office that Floyd had paid Guillory. Johnson said he saw Guillory meet Floyd outside a café while he drove around the block. He told them Guillory showed him $100 bills in an envelope. Johnson made allegations against USC a year ago on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and detailed a case against Guillory and the Trojans of extra benefits that were provided to Mayo.

Livengood, who said he has considered himself a "good friend" of Floyd's the past few decades, said Arizona would have investigated the Mayo matter further had Floyd become a serious candidate for the vacant head-coaching job.

"There would have been more questions. We would have been thorough. It was too important a hire," said Livengood, who pointed out he couldn't get information out of the NCAA because "they can't comment on it."

Floyd met with Livengood and Arizona president Robert Shelton in Tucson on April 2, but Livengood said it was because Shelton couldn't meet in another location.

"Quite frankly, it was overblown," Livengood said of Floyd's candidacy. He indicated that current Arizona coach Sean Miller was the target choice and said that had Miller been able to commit earlier when he was the head coach at Xavier, the hiring process would have already been over.

"I looked into a number of things, and the question was asked about O.J., and he was very candid about it," Livengood said. "I asked Tim, 'There's a lot of things being talked about the past year on O.J., tell me about it?' He said, 'There's no issue with O.J.'"

Livengood said Floyd left the meeting, then called back the next day and said they didn't need to talk further because he would stay at USC.

As a result, Arizona avoided an Indiana-type situation in which the Hoosiers hired Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma after he had been sanctioned by the NCAA. More violations occurred while Sampson was at IU, and he resigned during his second season. The program is still dealing with the effects of hiring a coach who had an NCAA issue hanging over him.

Livengood said it would be easy to say Arizona dodged a bullet in hiring Miller and not going further with Floyd. But he didn't want to seem as though he was "piling on."

"It was an exploratory thing, that's all it was," Livengood said. "The end result for Arizona was excellent. Sean's doing a great job."

• USC doesn't have an official gag order, but the Trojans aren't commenting on the story. Reached Wednesday, USC officials made it clear there won't be anything to say during an ongoing investigation. Floyd is out of town this week, according to a school official.

• Here's what would happen procedurally, based on Yahoo! Sports' report: If Johnson told the NCAA of the alleged payment, the NCAA would conduct follow-up interviews to see whether anyone (valet, a café employee, etc.) saw Floyd and Guillory meet in Beverly Hills and would check to see whether there were receipts from a lunch. A follow-up with Floyd also could occur. Still, it ultimately could come down to a he said-he said in this case, especially when dealing with cash.

• The consensus among coaches and at least one administrator contacted Wednesday came down to one question: How could Floyd be so careless in dealing with a cash payment in broad daylight? If this is true, the arrogance -- the "stupidity," to quote one coach -- was beyond comprehension among those contacted.

• The ACC coaches met in Amelia Island, Fla., and agreed to keep the schedule as is with 16 games instead of 18. They also declined to look at splitting the conference into two divisions.

ACC associate commissioner Karl Hicks said the coaches and athletic directors felt there is already so much parity in the league and didn't want to dampen the coach's willingness to play "big intersectional rivalries." Adding two more conference games could discourage that from happening. Although there was some debate as to whether two more league games might help teams' RPIs, the consensus was, "Why take two more opportunities out with more conference games?"

The athletic directors agreed. Hicks said that if the ACC were to go the divisions route, four teams would lose their two permanent partners and another eight would lose one, and it would "blow all that hard work up" of the current schedule.

DETROIT -- A few quick hitters in advance of Monday's national title game:

• Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said over the weekend that he expects junior Tyler Smith to declare for the NBA draft. He said he has prepared to go into next season without Smith. He almost did this past year before Smith decided to come back.

• UCLA coach Ben Howland said he didn't have a definitive answer as to whether freshman Jrue Holiday would declare for the draft. But it's clear Holiday is listening to folks who may steer him toward declaring. That doesn't mean he'll stay in the draft, but he's most likely going to see where he stands.

• Georgetown coach John Thompson III didn't have a final answer regarding freshman Greg Monroe's draft status. But the impression left by Monroe and his family is that he's considering returning for a sophomore season. Monroe started out strong early in the season, but then faded as a major impact player who could leave and contribute next season in the NBA. The example that is being used with Monroe, and it's a good one, is Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin. Monroe isn't Griffin. He's not as strong or powerful a force inside. But Griffin was nowhere near ready to come in and play in the NBA after his freshman season. If Monroe returns and works on his strength and overall offensive package, then he has a real shot to be a player once he enters the NBA, instead of just a work in progress.

Meanwhile, I didn't get the sense the Hoyas were too worried that junior DaJuan Summers declared for the draft. Assuming Monroe returns, Georgetown is pretty confident it'll shake the late-season swoon and become a contender in the Big East next season. Thompson III is high on a potential starting lineup of Monroe, rising sophomore big man Henry Sims, freshman Hollis Thompson (who sat out the spring semester after graduating early from high school) and rising junior guards Chris Wright and Austin Freeman. The experiment with Thompson worked out perfectly according to JT3, who said having Thompson learn the system early will speed up his ability to contribute next season.

• Washington State is trying to think outside the box by looking at former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and interviewing UAB's Mike Davis for the opening to replace Tony Bennett. San Diego's Billy Grier and former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried have also been in the mix, but it seems like the two coaches who make the most sense are the two who interviewed Sunday (Portland State's Ken Bone and Utah State's Stew Morrill), according to the Seattle Times. The Cougars have tried in the past to go with coaches from outside the area who don't have a specific niche (this is the non-Bennett variety), but they haven't worked out. Wazzu is a unique place; a coach who wants to be there and won't whine about Pullman as an outpost needs to be the hire.

• Arizona does like Utah's Jim Boylen, according to a source close to the situation. The Wildcats view Boylen as coming from a similar rebuilding situation, and he has strong recruiting ties in California, Texas and Arizona. Boylen, a former Milwaukee Bucks assistant, was a former Michigan State assistant and has the backing of the beloved Tom Izzo.

I'm not sure why the Wildcats are so timid about getting Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, who would love the gig and has proven that he can recruit at a difficult spot, build a team and coach it into the postseason. Former Arizona players are pushing Josh Pastner for the job. He is well-liked by the Arizona family, would have the backing of Lute Olson and can recruit. If he ever got a gig like this, he would have to surround himself with top assistants. I understand why Arizona would go after a proven head coach, and that works against Pastner. That's why hiring one and putting Pastner back on the staff as the top assistant would make sense, too. You need someone who shares the passion for this job. Arizona can, and likely will, be one of the top programs in the West again, but the Wildcats need to be patient.

• Pitt sophomore DeJuan Blair will have an interesting decision to make. He was co-Big East Player of the Year and created a lot of buzz this season. But there are reservations about his playing too low below the rim by NBA personnel. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he heeded the advice and returned to Pitt.

• Florida State's Leonard Hamilton isn't going after Memphis. Hamilton said the Seminoles could be "really good" next season, even with losing Toney Douglas. Hamilton doesn't think Solomon Alabi will declare. Alabi isn't ready and could blossom next season as he continues his offensive development in the post. Hamilton said he would use Derwin Kitchen at the point in place of Douglas. He said Kitchen is a driver and can handle the responsibilities of leading the Seminoles.

• Rocking crowds at Oregon State and sellouts at UTEP have meant the College Basketball Invitational is here to stay. CBI organizer Rick Giles was extremely pleased with the championship series. The key for this event as it moves toward a third year is getting lucky with the right programs that are willing to host ($60,000 host fee), which have enthusiastic fans who will end up building momentum toward the championship series. The CBI will always be viewed as the third tournament because of the name recognition behind the NCAA and NIT. But at the right schools, it can have modest success. NIT enthusiasm at Saint Mary's, San Diego State, Baylor and Penn State showed some programs will rally around the team even in a lesser event, compared to the NCAAs.

DETROIT -- Tim Floyd's decision to stay at USC was the right move to make, even if it was one of the more bizarre coaching decisions he has made in his career.

Floyd made some interesting comments at his abruptly called news conference late Thursday. He said that he felt he needed to look at the two programs -- Arizona and Memphis -- because he's at a point where he "wants to do something really special and I feel like I needed to go look at an elite program.''

What's odd about that comment is that USC shouldn't be viewed as a stepping stone to Arizona or Memphis, simply because the former won a national title and the latter played in the championship game last year.

Floyd said he has three years left on his contract and there haven't been any changes made to the deal. He said he'd like to have another year or two put on and said Thursday, as he has said to me before, that he hopes USC would be his last job.

Then why bother to look? Arizona is heading for a complete overhaul and following Calipari at Memphis is going to be a letdown.

This is what Floyd said about why he had to look: "I viewed [Arizona] as an elite program in the country and I really was curious as to what constitutes an elite program: what it's about, where they are, what they are doing, what is the direction? I looked if I could envision myself being a part of it and in the end I could not. We already have everything in place to do something very, very special here. At the end of the day, I needed to look. This will be the last time I look, unless the administration gets tired of me and they don't want me here then I will look in another direction. If they are happy then this will be it.''

OK. We'll see.

• Mark Fox has been a dominant coach in the WAC at Nevada and now he's off to the SEC. This will be interesting to watch. Georgia thought it could land a "big-name coach." The Dawgs didn't have to do that. They just needed to find the right coach, the one who wanted to be in Athens and who could recruit the South -- to ensure the Bulldogs stay competitive in an SEC East that continues to get better. Fox is going into one of the best conference divisions in the country.

• Arizona wanted Gonzaga's Mark Few, Pitt's Jamie Dixon and went as far as to offer rival USC's Floyd the job. Now that the Wildcats are still searching for a coach the most important thing should be patience. The Wildcats still need to find the right coach who can take over a program that will be going through an Indiana-like rebuilding project. Speculating on the names may be difficult in the immediate aftermath of Floyd's decision. Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood has to realize he can't rush this decision and ensure he finds a coach with the energy to build and the connections to recruit. This isn't about winning the news conference as Livengood once said but rather about finding the long-term match.

• Dixon had already received preliminary calls from reps of USC in case Floyd had left, according to multiple sources. Dixon may not have bit on a potential offer, but the good news for Pitt fans is he doesn't have to even think twice anymore. He's staying put. So, too, is Few. He has no desire to bolt.

• If Washington State wants to expand its search field then Utah State's Stew Morrill would be a great fit in Pullman. Portland State's Ken Bone may be the top choice, but Morrill's style would play well in the Pac-10 and he is consistently undervalued.

• The Nevada job will be coveted. Just look at the success Trent Johnson and Fox have had there recently and you'll see why the Wolf Pack is one of the best gigs in the West.

DETROIT -- Quick hitters from Day 1 in the Motor City on issues outside the Final Four:

• Arizona's interest in hiring Tim Floyd to replace Russ Pennell/Lute Olson isn't strange on the surface. Floyd has proved to be an excellent game coach over the years and knows athletic director Jim Livengood from decades ago when Floyd was at Idaho and Livengood was next door at Washington State. But there are a few interesting aspects to this:

Does Livengood have information on the ongoing NCAA investigation into USC that centers around former Trojan O.J. Mayo? The investigation isn't closed, as the enforcement staff continues to attempt to interview Mayo. According to multiple sources, Livengood wouldn't be privy to information on this case since it doesn't involve him.

So how concerned is Livengood with hiring a coach whose current program is under investigation while Arizona has a letter of inquiry dealing with a potential rules violation in connection to an on-campus high school hoop event in the spring?

Indiana got burned when it hired Kelvin Sampson from Oklahoma despite an NCAA investigation into the Sooners. Would the same thing happen to Arizona?

On Floyd's side, if there is more money at Arizona -- and because Arizona is more of a basketball school than USC -- the move might make sense. But Arizona is expected to be gutted and face an Indiana-like rebuilding situation. USC, even if DeMar DeRozan and/or Taj Gibson were to declare for the NBA draft, has more talent and continues to win at a high level.

So if you're Floyd, why go and start over?

Going to a rival school within the conference isn't against any rules, but how often does that happen? Mike Montgomery went from Stanford to Cal but had a stint in the NBA in between the two schools. A move like this might not go over well in the Pac-10.

• If Floyd does go to Arizona, it could cause dominoes to fall across the country. The one job that might pique Jamie Dixon's interest in moving west is USC, even if it means going against good friend Ben Howland of UCLA. Dixon is very comfortable at Pitt, has a more passionate fan base and loves his athletic director and president, and his family enjoys the city. But USC would put him in the L.A. area near his parents and sister, and his wife would be going back to her alma mater. The money would have to be a major upgrade for him to move, but an offer at least would make him pause. I'm not sure he would do it, since he's in quite a groove at Pitt. He's comfortable on the East Coast, and as he said, he "summered" in the Bronx with his grandparents. But if he did make a move like this, Xavier's Sean Miller (a Pitt alum) would be the logical choice if the Panthers went outside the current staff.

• The Boston Globe reported that Tony Jones, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl's assistant, is going to be the next coach at Boston University. Jones is an energetic coach and hard worker, but the question is: Can he work in the Northeast in a lower-profile conference? The America East is a bus league and much more sedate than the SEC.

• Tony Bennett said Wednesday that he was taken aback by how aggressively Virginia went after him. The Cavs contacted him, and within a day, a plane was in Pullman to pick him up and take him to Charlottesville. Bennett said he was wowed by the Virginia campus, the academic integrity of the program and the opportunity to make a go of it in the ACC. Bennett also said he didn't say much about the Virginia situation to anyone over the weekend. His father, Dick, was aware he had gone to Virginia, but he didn't tell his dad he had accepted the job. His father found out by watching the ESPN crawl Monday afternoon.

Bennett said he will adjust his style (to some degree) to the personnel at Virginia, and so far, he thinks everyone on the team is on board, including ACC rookie of the year Sylven Landesberg. Bennett feels good about how he's leaving the Washington State program, notably with stud freshman Klay Thompson expected to return. Bennett has hired Liberty coach Ritchie McKay (a good friend from their playing days in New Zealand) to be his top assistant. Ron Sanchez, who was an assistant at WSU, will come with him as well. But Ben Johnson, his top assistant in Pullman, is expected to go coach in Australia, Bennett said.

• The favorite to replace Bennett is likely Portland State's Ken Bone, who has taken the Vikings to two straight NCAA tournaments. Washington State athletic director Jim Sterk always has been a fan of Bone. He was a secondary choice at Oregon State before the Beavers hired Craig Robinson a year ago.

• The College Basketball Invitational is turning out to be quite a hit at home games. Oregon State had a packed house at Gill Coliseum for Game 1 on Monday. UTEP then had a sellout of 12,000 Wednesday night, the first sellout in El Paso since 2006. As soon as the Miners beat the Beavers to force Game 3 on Friday, 6,600 tickets were sold. Through two games, the CBI championship series already has outdrawn the three-game inaugural series last year between Bradley and Tulsa (26,629 fans in two games compared to 24,806 over three games).

The Curry family will have a hectic spring with decisions looming that could affect the careers of both Stephen and younger brother Seth.

The latter announced Tuesday that he was transferring. Seth Curry, who led the nation's freshmen in scoring with 20.2 points a game for Liberty University this season, wants to play at a higher level, notably in the ACC and in the state of North Carolina (NC State, Wake Forest, Duke or North Carolina).

As for the elder Curry, he will likely be a lottery pick if he decides to leave the Wildcats and enter the NBA draft.

Dell Curry, a former NBA guard and Seth and Stephen's father, said Tuesday night that the family will take time on each decision. He said the family is waiting to see which schools contact Liberty for a release.

"This is a whole new process," Dell said of looking for a new school. "He chose Liberty because of coach [Ritchie] McKay. He really liked him and the university, but after playing in the league, we feel that he can play at a higher level."

McKay said Tuesday that he was treating Seth Curry almost like a one-and-done player who has hit the higher-profile schools. He said Curry did help the Flames in his one season, helping them go 23-12 and earn a spot in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.

Meanwhile, Dell Curry said he has been in contact with his NBA friends about Steph's standing in the draft.

"It's obvious he'll be a high draft choice, but he is a student and he desperately wants to finish school," Dell Curry said, adding that Stephen can't make a bad choice here.

"You watch the maturity in his game and how he's played," Dell said. "He's talented enough. But it's a long, tough year. It's a grown man's league. You've got be ready mentally more than anything."

Dell said Davidson's failure to make the NCAAs after last season's magical run to the Elite Eight was a "big disappointment" for Stephen. The Wildcats lost to Saint Mary's in the second round of the postseason NIT in Moraga, Calif., on Monday night.

Dell Curry said Stephen will need to decompress over the next couple weeks before making an early-entry decision.

The deadline to declare for the draft is April 30. Because of Dell's strong ties within the league, Curry should be able to make the decision with more information than most and without agent involvement.

• The NIT was looking at a potential field in New York of Florida, Kentucky, Auburn and Saint Mary's with a decidedly SEC twist that could've been an interesting sell in the Garden. Instead, Penn State beat Florida and Baylor beat Auburn. Tonight, Notre Dame hosts Kentucky (ESPN2, 7 ET) and Saint Mary's goes to San Diego State (ESPN2, 9 ET) to determine the rest of the semifinal participants in New York.

• A source close to the Alabama search said there isn't a Plan B. The Tide is banking on landing VCU's Anthony Grant.

• Another source said Georgia will wait to make a run at Missouri's Mike Anderson once the Tigers are done playing in the NCAAs.

• Another source said representatives of Arizona's coaching search are promising $2 million and chartered flights, something that doesn't happen in the Pac-10. But at least one Arizona source said that high-profile coaches will be disappointed once they get down to it and see the rebuilding that must occur with the Wildcats, if the expected departures of juniors Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill and possibly Nic Wise occur.

Fargo. The name conjures up a distinct accent, a dark comedy, a bitter wind chill.

Nothing about Fargo says college basketball -- until now.

North Dakota State, in its first season as a full member in Division I, begins the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., Saturday against Centenary as the No. 1 seed after winning the conference with a 16-2 record, 23-6 overall.

"Until now, we were best known for the woodchipper scene in the movie," North Dakota State coach Saul Phillips said of the infamous scene in the Coen Brothers film in which one of the kidnappers, well, gets rid of the other in a woodchipper. "There's a lot more to offer. But we are still waiting for the polar ice cap to retreat here."

The Bison are the model for all provisional Division I programs trying to make the jump to full-service Division I. Why? The Bison didn't deviate from their unique way of building the program. North Dakota State has won the fifth most games in NCAA history in its first full season as a Division I member.

Phillips and former head coach Tim Miles, who is now in his second season as head coach at Colorado State, decided to redshirt then-freshmen Ben Woodside, Brett Winkelman, Lucas Moormann and Mike Nelson with the sole purpose that they would be fifth-year seniors when the Bison were eligible for postseason play.

When the players committed, though, the NCAA had required a 13-year waiting period for teams to get eligible as a new Division I member. By the time they started school that was reduced to five years.

"To be honest, when I was a [high school] junior, there was no way I was going to go to North Dakota State," said Woodside, a 5-11 senior guard from Albert Lea, Minn. "But as soon as I got up here and saw the university, I made a 180-degree turn. I loved the university and the coaching staff after I left."

Woodside said the reason the fifth-year seniors were on board to redshirt was to adapt to the speed of the college game. Woodside said he added 20 pounds during that redshirt season. But sitting out was brutal.

"I absolutely hated it," Woodside said. "I was sitting there on the bench, watching my teammates play."

Phillips said the Bison were fortunate the administration agreed with the plan. He said it was hard on the coaching staff watching the redshirts consistently beat the starters and know they couldn't play.

"Ben had speed, but he couldn't hit a jumper. He used that [redshirt season] to put on pounds and increase his range," Phillips said of Woodside, who is averaging 23 points a game as a senior and put up 60 in a loss to Stephen F. Austin earlier this season. "It was hard, but we had the right group to redshirt."

A year later, when Woodside was a freshman, North Dakota State won at Wisconsin. They knew then, that something was brewing.

"That next year we were playing on pride," Woodside said. "We couldn't play in the postseason. Throughout the whole year it was about pride, trying to get the best record we could have. That's what helped us stay motivated during the transition year."

What made it even more difficult for the Bison was when the transition started they weren't in a league. Getting into the Summit two years ago gave the Bison an opportunity. North Dakota State finished fourth a year ago but wasn't eligible for the postseason tournament.

That's when Miles left for CSU and Phillips, a former Wisconsin assistant, was the natural replacement. Woodside said naming Phillips, who coached the redshirts when they were freshmen, kept the plan and continuity in place.

But now the pressure truly arrives. Winning the league and earning a top seed in the conference tournament puts the Bison in position to get an NCAA bid. But North Dakota State still has to win the event to have the plan of redshirting the freshmen come to its ultimate fruition.

"This is their only crack it," Phillips said. "I'm trying not to put any more pressure on them. This is new territory. This group hasn't been given anything since they've been here. It hasn't been an easy road."

Putting the tournament in nearby Sioux Falls helps with the Bison loyal following. Phillips said roughly 150 fans greeted the team upon arriving back from the final road game at Oral Roberts last Saturday.

"There's been a lot of buzz around here," Woodside said. "I think we put basketball on the map at North Dakota State, helped the university, enrollment and all of that."

Some news and notes from around college basketball:

• Pitt's Levance Fields is questionable for Saturday's game against Connecticut. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Friday that Fields is still very sore from the fall at the end of the Marquette game. Ashton Gibbs would likely start if Fields can't go against the Huskies. But it is senior day so the coaching staff expects Fields to give it a try.

• New Mexico coach Steve Alford said the Lobos should be an NCAA team if they win the Mountain West. The Lobos get a share of the title if they win at Wyoming Saturday. Alford had some interesting comparisons of New Mexico's Pit and Indiana's Assembly Hall, as well as some thoughts on UNLV coach Lon Kruger and his Runnin' Rebels' at-large candidacy on Friday's ESPNU College Basketball podcast.

• An emotional Lute Olson was honored at halftime of the Cal-Arizona game Thursday night. The ceremony was well-done and tasteful by the Wildcat administration.

• Cal's Jerome Randle was clutch Thursday night with a deep, deep 3-pointer to essentially defeat Arizona. The Bears are in the NCAA tournament field. Arizona may need to beat Stanford.

• Nice job showing up by Arizona State in a home loss to Stanford. The Sun Devils' seed is plummeting.

• Illinois' defense was a sieve when it came to stopping Penn State's Talor Battle's drive to the hoop with under a second left to beat the Illini. Great scene after the buzzer, but, please folks, let the home players get out alive. Battle looked scared as he was getting swallowed up by the white-shirted, enthusiastic Happy Valley throng.

• The Big Sky should just change its name to the Little Sky. For the second straight season, the player of the year is no taller than 5-foot-6. Kellen McCoy of Weber State was named the league MVP. A season ago, Portland State's 5-6 Jeremiah Dominguez was the MVP.

• Watched UCLA on Thursday and it's clear that the Bruins shouldn't be counted out as a potential Final Four team. The three seniors, Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya, have the experience of three Final Fours to help win close games. Shipp is playing the best basketball of his career, and if the Bruins can defend they can win. Aboya's parents came from Cameroon for the weekend games. It was their first time seeing Aboya play basketball or, for that matter, watching a basketball game.

Quick hitters for Wednesday:

• Georgetown should be dead after losing to St. John's. But what would happen if the Hoyas were to knock off one or two of the top four seeds en route to a championship game appearance? OK, enough with Georgetown. But it's too bad considering the Hoyas had three big-time wins over Memphis and at Connecticut and at Villanova. The Hoyas' loss at St. John's, Notre Dame's loss at home to Villanova and Cincinnati's loss at South Florida might push the Big East down to seven at-large berths if Providence can't win a few more games. The Friars play at Villanova on Thursday to conclude the regular season. If the Friars don't win they'll probably need another quality win in the Big East tournament.

Getting seven bids in the Dance, less than half of the 16 members, would indicate that the Big East isn't the best conference in the country. We'll have to see, but if the ACC can get seven or eight in a 12-team league, the honor should shift to the ACC. Regardless of number of bids, the ACC doesn't have a DePaul in the league. If you look at the rosters at the bottom of the ACC, there are players on Virginia, NC State and Georgia Tech who would start on a number of top teams. There are no scrubs in the ACC.

• St. John's coach Norm Roberts was ecstatic Tuesday night after the Red Storm beat Georgetown. The Red Storm have now taken out Notre Dame and the Hoyas in New York, two of the marquee names in the conference. Roberts said he has no reason to believe he is in any trouble. He said the administration has been great and supportive with his young team that has dealt with injuries, notably to Anthony Mason Jr. Roberts talked about the Red Storm's future in Wednesday's ESPNU College Basketball podcast.

• Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon also joined me on the podcast and discussed why the Aggies are a real threat to get a bid heading into Wednesday's game at Colorado and the finale against Missouri on Saturday.

• Pitt can finish as the No. 1 seed or still as low as No. 5 in the Big East tournament. The Panthers must beat Marquette and Connecticut to have a chance at the No. 1 seed. The Panthers would get the No. 1 seed if they do that and Louisville loses to West Virginia later in the day in Morgantown. Pitt would have a 2-1 record against Louisville and Connecticut. The Cardinals would be 1-1 and the Huskies 1-2. So, the Huskies could be a No. 3 seed in the Big East tournament but easily could be a No. 1 seed.

• Ohio State's Dallas Lauderdale essentially saved the Buckeyes' NCAA berth Tuesday night. Iowa's Jermain Davis was going in for a game-tying layup with seven seconds remaining before Lauderdale came from the weak side and blocked the shot. He also helped get in Davis' face with a potential game-winning 3-pointer as time expired. The Buckeyes were heading in the wrong direction after a 25-point loss to Purdue and couldn't afford to lose to 10th-place Iowa, even on the road. Now Ohio State (9-8 in the Big Ten, 19-9 overall) has to beat Northwestern at home for peace of mind.

• Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said the Purple Eagles are heading into this week's MAAC tournament supremely confident following a BracketBusters win over Illinois State and a home win over Siena.

"We have really defended well and become a team that guards people," Mihalich said. "We've become a team where the players come into the locker room to find out how many steals we have more than points."

Mihalich sent out a warning shot not to take the Purple Eagles lightly if they can win the MAAC tournament.

"There will be teams more talented than us in the power conferences but I think they'll hate playing against us," Mihalich said. "If Siena wins it they've been there so they'll be a tough matchup, too."

• The team that probably didn't get as much pub heading into the Missouri Valley tournament is Illinois State. The Redbirds are extremely athletic and a tough matchup for teams. Champ Oguchi and Osiris Eldridge can go off on any opponent. The Redbirds were one of the last unbeaten teams in the country but struggled a bit in the Valley to finish 11-7. Still, if ISU can get out of the Valley tournament, it could be a tough out in the first round.

• Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said in the past few seasons there has been an assumption that the Virginia teams would dominate the CAA in Richmond, especially VCU and George Mason. But he said there is a sense now that the tournament is wide open. He's probably right. The CAA, along with the Valley, should be one of the most competitive tournaments this week.

• Arizona officially got its letter of inquiry from the NCAA as it investigates possible recruiting violations dating from players who went through the Cactus Classic. This has been ongoing for over a year. Getting the letter shouldn't come as a shock after there were conflicting statements coming from the basketball office about whether former coach Lute Olson authorized a letter that went out asking boosters to support the event. Former assistants were interviewed and according to them they didn't think there was any wrongdoing. Neither does the organizer of the Cactus Classic, Jim Storey. We'll see if this has legs over the next few months. But an NCAA investigation and the unknown of how the economy might affect the price tag for a coach could potentially skew the job applicants.

By the time the NCAA tournament begins, Connecticut will have played without guard Jerome Dyson for a month.

Meanwhile, Marquette has less than three weeks to see how it can play without starting point guard Dominic James.

Dyson was a shooting guard and the team's best defender. The Golden Eagles relied on James' defense and his playmaking skills.

"The timing -- that's the toughest part,'' said Marquette coach Buzz Williams, who was on Friday's ESPNU college basketball podcast . "We have to figure out what we're going to do to give us the best chance for success."

Marquette finishes with a brutal schedule: at Louisville, at Pitt and home against Syracuse.

Williams spent Thursday with James and his family to discuss Friday's surgery to repair his broken left foot that will have a pin put it in to speed the recovery. Williams said the hope is for James to be ready within 100 days so he can be available to work out right before the NBA draft or soon thereafter for summer league. James declared for the draft after his sophomore season but withdrew due to a lack of high interest.

Williams said he had no idea that James had broken his foot. He said the "Jones fracture" can occur once without the person knowing, and then one can step in the wrong way and break the foot. That's what he was told by team doctors.

"[Dominic] was just walking off the court and said, 'Coach, I'm out,' and I thought he was sick or was going to throw up,'' Williams said. "But one of my assistants said, 'No, he's done.' I didn't even put the right guy in the game because I thought it was just going to be for a possession or two.''

Williams said he takes solace in knowing that the Golden Eagles were still up one point with six-plus minutes left against Connecticut before the Huskies blitzed the Golden Eagles with a 20-8 run on the way to a 93-82 victory.

Williams talked in the podcast about how the Golden Eagles will deal with James' absence. Potential Big East Player of the Year Jerel McNeal will have a larger role, as will Wesley Matthews, who will bring the ball up some. Maurice Acker will get more looks at point guard, and James' departure will allow Jimmy Butler to see more action. Essentially, James' 11 points and 5.1 assists per game have to come from somewhere, and all of the key players, including Lazar Hayward, will have to take on more responsibility.

Connecticut has learned to lean more on Craig Austrie and Stanley Robinson without Dyson. But the Huskies have had four games to deal with the injury and still have two more before the Big East tournament. Marquette has just three games left, and they happen to be on the road against two of the league's top teams in Louisville and Pitt.

• Providence coach Keno Davis said he doesn't think the Friars could have received a bid if they had beaten Notre Dame at home Feb. 21 but then lost to Pitt at home Tuesday. Davis, who is on Friday's ESPNU college basketball podcast , said he fully understands the Friars (17-11, 9-7) can't afford to lose at Rutgers on Sunday. Providence finishes at Villanova on Thursday. Davis quickly grasped the difference between the Missouri Valley and the Big East. Once he said the top four teams started to pull away in the league (for him that was Connecticut, Pitt, Louisville and Marquette, even though Villanova is just 2½ games out of first), he knew that the Friars just had to finish in the top eight or nine. That's quite a different mindset from the Valley, where a top-two finish is likely the only chance for a bid. "We didn't have to push the panic button here,'' Davis said. "I knew we just had to be in the top half of the Big East.'' Davis was also savvy as to how the Friars' record would be dissected. "I knew we couldn't just beat the teams behind you,'' he said. And that's why the Pitt win could put the Friars into the field.

• There was a lot of hype directed at Connecticut's Kemba Walker and Louisville's Samardo Samuels as the potential freshmen of the year in the Big East. But Cincinnati's Yancy Gates has had quite a season. He's averaging a solid 10.8 points and 6.1 boards and has come through in key wins, such as when he scored 22 points and grabbed 11 boards in the victory over West Virginia on Thursday night. Cincinnati, at 8-7 in the Big East and 18-10 overall, is back in play with that win. But the final three games loom as decisive ones: at Syracuse, at South Florida and the home finale against Seton Hall. West Virginia, which has the same league record at 8-7, has a better overall résumé (19-9 with a nonconference blowout win over Ohio State in Columbus and better league wins like dropping Villanova at home by 21.) West Virginia finishes up at South Florida and hosts DePaul and Louisville.

• Bookend wins are critical to getting an NCAA berth. That's why Michigan's victory over Purdue will help its cause. The Wolverines (18-11, 8-8) always had the wins over UCLA and Duke in their pocket but needed a huge Big Ten win toward the end of the season. After losing at Iowa and with two final road games at Wisconsin and Minnesota -- teams that are desperate for home wins -- on deck, the Purdue victory was a must-win. Don't be surprised to see an 8-10 Michigan team make the field.

• Washington State can be a serious spoiler down the stretch. The Cougars beat UCLA on Saturday to dampen the Bruins' Pac-10 title chances and then took out Arizona on Thursday night to put a dent in its NCAA résumé. The Wildcats (8-7, 18-10) now have to go to Washington on Saturday before ending with Cal and Stanford at home. Arizona should still be able to get a bid, but it became harder after Thursday. Washington State may not get a chance to prevent Washington from winning the Pac-10 outright. The Huskies can do that with a win over Arizona on Saturday before Washington State comes to Seattle next weekend. The Cougars (7-9, 15-13) are -- at the very least -- likely ensuring some sort of postseason with this late run. The NIT or the CBI should call for the Cougars if they can't continue the good fortune and win the Pac-10 tournament. Senior guard Taylor Rochestie is on a tear with 33 points against UCLA and 17 key points against the Wildcats.

• Miami's Jack McClinton has made some big shots this season, but maybe none has been bigger than the 3-pointer he hit with 47 seconds left Thursday to put Virginia out of reach in the Canes' 62-55 victory. The Canes couldn't lose to the Cavs and still make the NCAAs. This was a must, must-win for Miami. It has to get to 8-8 in the ACC (17-10 overall right now) and finishes up with Georgia Tech in Atlanta and at home against NC State.

• Saint Mary's beat Pepperdine 62-49, but just as important for the Gaels was Portland's loss to San Diego. That allowed Saint Mary's to move into a tie for second place with the Pilots. Perception matters, and the Gaels have to at least be in second place to have any hope of getting an at-large berth out of the WCC. Portland (9-4) goes to Santa Clara (6-7), while the Gaels (9-4, 23-5) finish the regular season at 2-11 Loyola Marymount.

Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said Tuesday that he hopes to have sophomore forward Blake Griffin available for Saturday's game at Texas Tech.

Capel said if it were up to Griffin he would have played against Kansas on Monday night.

"He's getting better, but with head injuries you never know and until he passes the battery of tests to be medically cleared, he won't play," Capel said. "But he was pleading with me all day to play [Monday]."

Even if Griffin isn't cleared to play because of lingering affects from his concussion, the Sooners and Griffin should be fine for the accolades that are sure to follow from the NCAA selection committee and player of the year awards.

Oklahoma's resume with Griffin -- 25-1 with wins over Purdue in overtime in New York, a 18-point win over Mountain West leader Utah, a four-point win over Southern Conference leader Davidson, a one-point win over USC and early-season dominance in the Big 12 -- could still be enough to warrant a No. 1 seed for the Sooners.

Yes, even if Kansas were to win the Big 12. The Jayhawks don't have the same resume, especially in nonconference games with losses to Syracuse, Arizona and Michigan State and a loss to UMass in Kansas City.

"If you look at what we were, before Blake got hurt, we were one of the best teams in the country and poised to be No. 1," Capel said. "This is just a bump in the road. The injury just happened to come at a very bad time for us when we had two games in 48 hours [at Texas and at home against Kansas]. It just so happened we played 60 minutes [Griffin was hurt in the first half at Texas Saturday] without arguably the best player of the year."

Capel said he hasn't paid as much attention to seeding until this season. But he anticipates the committee will look at how the Sooners fared when Griffin was healthy. Capel isn't so sure there should be a question about the Sooners' seeding if they finish strong.

Capel has another point, too. Griffin is and will remain the favorite for national player of the year, even if he didn't play another regular-season game. Griffin's dominance of 22 points and 13-plus rebounds a game was so pronounced it's hard to see anyone wrestling away the award. Griffin put up 40 points and 23 boards in a win over Texas Tech, prior to the loss at Texas.

"Blake will be back. It's not if, it's just when," Capel said. "When he's healthy, we're one of the best teams in the country. Take Tyler Hansbrough off North Carolina, Luke Harangody off Notre Dame, DeJuan Blair off Pitt. Blake has done it all year with double- and triple-teams planned for him."

Kansas coach Bill Self, whom I interviewed for the Wednesday ESPNU College Basketball podcast, concurred that Griffin should be the national player of the year.

Self also said he was fired up Tuesday after the win over the Sooners. He said Tyshawn Taylor played his best game of the season. It showed as Taylor made 3 of 5 3s (deep) for 26 points. Self said when Taylor is the third scorer, behind Sherron Collins (26 pts) and Cole Aldrich (15 pts), then the Jayhawks have a shot to be "really good."

Self said he's not sure he's had a team respond in as hostile a venue as well as this crew did, especially since it was so young.

"It was a fabulous performance in a great atmosphere in that building," Self said. "Our guys really performed at a high level."

• What did the win do to KU's Big 12 title chances? Well, Kansas can control its fate. The Jayhawks play Missouri on Sunday, and finish at Texas Tech and home against Texas. If Kansas wins five-straight Big 12 titles that would be quite remarkable. The fact that KU is trying to secure a top-three seed with this crew is even more impressive.

• What did this win do for Self's candidacy for national coach of the year? Quite a bit when you consider that he lost six of the top seven scorers and returned all but one starter. Self has two players -- Collins and Aldrich -- who were contributors on last season's national championship team.

• What did the win do for Collins? It made him a first-team all-Big 12 candidate if he wasn't already, and a challenger for a top 10 position on the All-American teams. He has scored 22, 22 and 26 points in the last three games. How about this for a winning record: He's 87-13 with two Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, an Elite Eight appearance and a national title.

• What did Kansas' win do for Missouri? The Tigers beat Kansas in Columbia and can sweep KU with a win in Lawrence on Sunday. Do that and the Tigers can win the Big 12. Missouri plays host to Oklahoma next Wednesday and also hosts Kansas State and finishes at Texas A&M.

• USC is banking that Renardo Sidney will be a force next to North Carolina transfer Alex Stepheson in 2009-10, giving the Trojans a tough tandem in the post. If Taj Gibson returns for his senior season, the Trojans would have one of the top frontlines in the country. The question will be whether DeMar DeRozan would return for his sophomore season. He should. He's draftable but not ready to play in the NBA. If he does come back, adding Stepheson and Sidney would make USC a favorite in the Pac-10 (this is based on the assumption that Arizona is going to lose Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger to the NBA, too).

• Former Sacramento Kings and New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus is in the mix for the Arizona gig, according to multiple sources. Theus would be a huge hit. He's not just Hollywood in his appearance. He can recruit and coach and proved it in the college level. But he's not likely first up for Arizona. The Wildcats are likely to look at Gonzaga's Mark Few and Pitt's Jamie Dixon first, although I've had no indication from either camp that they would leave for Arizona. If Arizona could get word of this sooner than later, then moving on someone like Theus, who is available, could save the 2009 recruiting class. Interim coach Russ Pennell is doing a phenomenal job but has said many times he doesn't expect to be retained. Pennell deserves another chance to coach somewhere next season with the job he has done in Tucson.

Bob McKillop was on the bus ride home from Furman on Saturday and he couldn't stop thinking about Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett.

On the bus, All-American junior guard Stephen Curry was nursing his sprained left ankle, unsure of the damage done when his ankle hit the Furman floor in a way that looked as though his ligaments had been stretched to their limit.

McKillop said he knew how much Saint Mary's depended on Patty Mills. When he went down with a broken right hand, so too did the Gaels, who have lost four of six games since Mills was injured in the first half of their Jan. 29 game at Gonzaga.

"I was hoping it wasn't serious when I saw it," Bennett said. "Curry is one of the best players in the country. It would affect them similarly. The whole team is built around him. It's not that they don't have good players. They have a good team and a good program. But it's all about Curry right now."

Losing Curry for an extended period of time haunted McKillop, knowing how much the season can be distorted by one injury to the one singular star on a team.

"It was frightening," said McKillop, who talked at length about Curry and the Wildcats' status on Wednesday's "ESPNU College Basketball" podcast.

"When I saw the replay on the bus ride home it looked darn serious for the ligaments to be stretched as far as they were," McKillop said. "I thought there was a tear, a bone break. I've seen him contorted before. But he usually bounces right back up. He's usually rubber man."

But McKilllop said Curry had tears in his eyes while he sat on the bench. Lying prone on the court beside the bench was another reason for concern. Curry, like most players when they ever have to come out of a game due to injury, would just come back to the bench if he wasn't hurt.

"He's thin, there's a lot of bounce to him and not a lot of muscle on his body, and sometimes the body heals faster," McKillop said. "We'll see where he is Wednesday [before the tip against The Citadel]. It's a credit to him, to our trainer that he went through a shooting workout with a little bit of a limp" on Tuesday.

McKillop said there were no plans to save Curry for Saturday's game against Butler. If Curry can go then McKillop will use him.

Had Curry been gone for a game, or multiple games, then McKillop may have felt the unsettlement of an unknown return, something Bennett is dealing with now.

"It's more the days and the weeks after it when it hits you," Bennett said. "When it happens, you're in the moment, the heat of a game and you don't think in terms of how it is going to impact the team or the program for the rest of the season. It's in the two or three weeks after that that you wake up mad in the morning."

Bennett said the stitches were taken out of Mills' hand this week. Bennett said Mills is on track for a return, likely for the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas next month.

"The doctor was pleased, you can barely see the hairline fracture," Bennett said. "He's moving it now and going through hand therapy. But it's too early to say when he'll return. We'll play it conservatively, especially early. We'll see where he is in two weeks."

The Gaels (20-5, 7-4 in the WCC) have four games remaining, two at home (against San Diego and Utah State) and two on the road (at Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount).

• Sad news out of the Virginia Tech community. Former player Allen Calloway, 25, died Sunday of a heart attack after being weakened by lung and brain cancer. Calloway was diagnosed in 2005. The Hokies will wear a patch in memory of Calloway for the remainder of the season. The Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg as saying that, "He was a just a joy to be around. Allen Calloway made everyone's day better. He was an amazing, amazing young man."

• Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell has told me that he has always been under the impression that he's the interim coach with no chance to be the full-time coach. Pennell has done a great job with this group, putting Arizona in position to be an NCAA tournament team. I can't see Arizona offering him a full-time job based on its actions. If Arizona officials even thought of going with Pennell, and I have heard nothing that says they are, then they've lost this recruiting season since the word is out that the Wildcats are looking for a high-profile name. The Wildcats will likely lose juniors Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger to the NBA draft, so the Wildcats will be going into a rebuilding mode next season.

• Kentucky has given no timetable for a return of forward Patrick Patterson, still nursing a bum ankle that kept him out of the past two games, a win at Arkansas and a loss at Vanderbilt. The Wildcats host Tennessee on Saturday.

Quick hitters for Friday, beginning with the remaining teams looking for a win in conference play:

• DePaul (8-17, 0-12 Big East): According to one opposing coach, the Blue Demons have had "no fight" in them of late. There is some talent, like leading scorer Dar Tucker, but there are other pieces that are -- at this point -- more in line with the bottom of the Big East. Jerry Wainwright was an exceptional coach at Richmond and UNC Wilmington, but one coach said his team isn't playing as physically as it once did. The Blue Demons are running out of chances for a win. DePaul has four of six games remaining on the road, and one of the two home games comes against surging Villanova. That leaves a home game against St. John's on Feb. 28 as, perhaps, the one that would stop the Blue Demons from an 0-18 Big East season. But hey, at least this year everyone goes to New York, so there is hope for a Big East win at the tournament on Tuesday, March 10.

• Oregon (6-18, 0-12 Pac-10): The Ducks have to be the biggest disappointment in the country. Oregon has a stud shooting guard in Tajuan Porter and highly-coveted freshmen, led by Michael Dunigan. But scoring 38 points in a loss Thursday night at Washington State is just poor. One opposing coach said the Ducks have looked out of synch since their demanding nonconference schedule left them with just six wins heading into the Pac-10. There have been times, according to the opposing coach, that the Ducks look like they can win (as was the case against UCLA at home for a spell). But then they go through a four- or five-minute nose dive within the game, and the deficit reaches double digits. Oregon lost by three to rival Oregon State on the road on Jan. 31. The Ducks still have three home games and could conceivably win at least two of them against Stanford on Feb. 21 or Oregon State on March 1. Oregon hasn't quit, despite the lopsided score from Pullman. The Ducks have been in every other game in the conference, and if they continue to play for coach Ernie Kent in the next two weeks, then at least one win isn't out of the question.

• Georgia (9-15, 0-9 SEC): The Bulldogs appear to be "very down," according to an opposing coach in the league. That shouldn't come as a shock, given the midseason firing of Dennis Felton. Pete Hermann has to try to get the Bulldogs up for a daunting remaining schedule. If there is hope for a potential home win, it could come against Auburn on Feb. 18. But the Tigers aren't sliding, as Auburn is 5-3 in its last eight and is playing its best basketball of the season. The Bulldogs do go to one-win Arkansas on March 1, but that's the day the Razorbacks are honoring former coach Nolan Richardson and the 1994 national champion team.

• Air Force (9-14, 0-10 MWC): The Falcons had been offensively challenged for most of the season, but scoring 66 points in a 10-point loss to New Mexico probably gives them hope for a win. Air Force has been held to under 40 points three times in the MWC. The Falcons finish with four of six games on the road, so a home game against rival Colorado State on Feb. 21 is probably their best shot at a win.

• Brown (6-14, 0-6 Ivy): This is the shocker in the Ivy. The Bears weren't supposed to be at the bottom of the league. There are still eight games remaining in the conference, with six of those at home. It would be a stunner if the Bears remained winless. This is a team that won 19 games and reached the postseason a year ago.

• Southeast Missouri State (3-22, 0-14 OVC): The Redhawks fired Scott Edgar, and the season has been a complete and utter mess since then. The schedule isn't favorable to get a win in the OVC. The only home game left in league play is against Murray State.

• Illinois coach Bruce Weber said early Friday morning that the Illini will take the win over Northwestern but probably didn't deserve it after being outplayed for most of the game. The epic collapse by the Wildcats was painful to watch. Northwestern gave up a 17-2 run in the final five-plus minutes before Demetri McCamey hit the game-winning shot with 2.9 seconds remaining. The Illini, at 20-5, 8-4 in the Big Ten, are a lock for the NCAAs after the one-year hiatus and are working toward a decent seed at this rate. Northwestern (13-9, 4-7) now needs to win the Big Ten tournament to go to the NCAAs for the first time.

• The UConn staff will be counting on Craig Austrie to take on some of the bigger guards defensively. They considered Jerome Dyson, out indefinitely with an MCL tear in his right knee, to be their top perimeter defender. The Huskies will need Stanley Robinson to amp up on the defensive end and will call on Donnell Beverly to play some key defensive minutes.

• The final straw for the Arkansas staff was a technical foul called on heralded freshman point guard Courtney Fortson in a 75-62 loss at Auburn on Wednesday. According to a source close to the program, head coach John Pelphrey had had enough of Fortson's pouty behavior, despite his immense talent. Fortson, the team's second-leading scorer at 14.6 points and 6.5 assists a game, was suspended indefinitely by Pelphrey. He won't play against Kentucky on Saturday. He may return for next week's game against LSU if he can abide by team rules and change his behavior. Arkansas has had one of the worst freefalls in conference play. This is the same team that gave Oklahoma its only loss so far and beat Texas at home. But the Hogs are 1-8 in the SEC, 13-9 overall. The reasons for the struggles have to do with inexperience and their inability to handle early success emotionally and mentally. There is plenty of talent with Fortson and Michael Washington, but the Hogs couldn't sustain their good vibes.

• Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said the Badgers simply took time to adjust defensively to the losses of 7-foot players Brian Butch and Greg Stiemsma from last season's team. He also said they should be given credit for what teams looked like when Wisconsin played them. For example, the Badgers lost two games to Purdue with a healthy Robbie Hummel, and to Minnesota and Texas at home when they were ranked. Winning at Virginia Tech should also give them points. Losing to a full-strength Connecticut team (although it was before Stanley Robinson was eligible in November in the Virgin Islands) and at Marquette by three should be recognized. Still, he understands that the Badgers had to win some of those games. They've done that lately by winning three straight (including victories over Illinois and at Penn State). This streak comes off a rare stretch of six straight Big Ten losses (including two in overtime). "We're hanging in there," Ryan said in advance of Saturday's game against Ohio State. He knows the Badgers aren't given the same bubble consideration since their name isn't as recognizable as, say, Georgetown. Better shot selection and fewer turnovers are the reasons for the turnaround. Wisconsin has six games left, including two against last-place Indiana. The Badgers (15-9, 6-6) are back on the bubble with their recent run, and a road win at Minnesota or Michigan State would likely put the Badgers back in the NCAAs yet again under Ryan.

• I had a hunch Notre Dame would beat Louisville on Thursday, but had no idea the Cards would lie down and give up 90 points. Luke Harangody put up monster numbers (32 points and 17 boards), but he is still behind Hasheem Thabeet (Connecticut), Jerel McNeal (Marquette), DeJuan Blair (Pitt) and Dante Cunningham (Villanova) for Big East Player of the Year honors. In part, that's because of the Irish's 4-7 Big East record. Notre Dame's slow climb back on the bubble comes down to its final three road games. Notre Dame probably has to win two of the three -- at West Virginia, at Providence and at Connecticut -- and beat Villanova at home for tournament consideration. If the Irish do all that, they would finish 10-8 and likely have the profile to get a bid.

• Villanova coach Jay Wright is pushing for Cunningham's candidacy for Big East Player of the Year. Listen to my conversation with Wright on Friday's ESPNU college basketball podcast.

• Kansas State coach Frank Martin, also on the podcast Friday, said he knew that he was being judged on his performance last season with Michael Beasley -- and now without. Martin is on the verge of being the Big 12 Coach of the Year if he can get the Wildcats into the NCAAs in back-to-back seasons, with and without Beasley.

• Dayton coach Brian Gregory said he's hoping that the team's backcourt depth, which was on display in the 71-58 win over Xavier on Wednesday, will get them through the rest of the season without guard Rob Lowery (knee injury). The Flyers can go to Mickey Perry, Stephen Thomas and Paul Williams off the bench in Lowery's absence as subs for guards London Warren and Marcus Johnson. They got 15 points from the three bench players against the Musketeers.

• The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that Illinois-Chicago coach Jimmy Collins, who is grieving the loss of his mother this week, was the subject of threats and verbal assaults at home games for the Flames' recent slide from 8-3 to 3-10 in the past 13 games. They're now 11-13 overall and 4-10 in the Horizon League. Collins reportedly told the Tribune:

"If a guy wants to walk around with a 'Fire Jimmy' sign, that's his prerogative. Heck, if it'd help us, I'd print one up. But fans threatening to come out of the stands at me? Come on. And I wish they would limit those comments to me, not make my family the target of that sort of thing. I think you're a coward when you do that."

Please, people. Grow up. Leave the man alone. To behave like that makes no sense to me whatsoever, whether it's toward Collins or any other coach.

• Washington's Justin Dentmon continued to make his case for first-team all-Pac-10 with 28 points (including seven 3s) in an impressive win over Oregon State on Thursday, which moved it to 9-3 in the Pac-10. The Huskies are a virtual lock for a bid and a decent seed if this continues.

• Arizona won again, beating USC on Thursday, to move to 7-5 in the Pac-10 behind Nic Wise's 27 points. The Wildcats (17-8) have really hit their stride under Russ Pennell and Mike Dunlap. Pennell told me he knows he is the interim coach. I still wonder: If he hadn't taken the job, would he have a better shot at getting the full-time gig since he was a successful head coach? Dunlap's choice to pass on the interim tag is still one of the more baffling decisions this season.

• Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett was honest after the two-point loss to Gonzaga on Thursday. He said that the Gaels had their shot to beat the Zags without Patty Mills. Carlin Hughes couldn't handle an inbound pass with 6 seconds left, and the Gaels never got off a game-winning shot since they were down a point at the time. The loss was crucial to the Gaels' NCAA tournament hopes. They desperately needed to get a quality win without Mills, who may still make it back for the WCC tournament next month. Saint Mary's is 1-4 since his injury, which occurred in the first half against Gonzaga on Jan. 29.

• Max Good finally got his first win as head coach in the WCC after taking over for Bill Bayno, who had to leave the job for medical reasons. Loyola Marymount beat San Diego to go to 2-23 on the season.

• Arizona State had a great atmosphere in the win over UCLA. ASU swept the Bruins and essentially locked up a bid and likely decent seed. The key for the Sun Devils is to make sure that type of energy in their building continues next season when James Harden is likely gone to the NBA.

• Washington State drilled Oregon behind freshman Klay Thompson's 25 points, (5 of 6 on 3s). The hope is that the Cougars are still a postseason team at 13-11.

• NCAA coordinator of officials John Adams said Thursday that Duke's Kyle Singler should have been assessed an intentional technical foul for his elbow to North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough while in a scrum for a loose ball during the Duke-UNC game Wednesday night. That would have given North Carolina two shots and the ball. He said the officials gave Singler an unsportsmanlike technical foul for his language. He said the officials told him that Singler said, "Get the [bleep] off me," when attempting to get free of the scrum. UNC got two shots, but Duke retained possession on the jump ball. Adams said he agreed that Singler should not have received a flagrant foul.

• Stephen Curry scored 39 points in Davidson's win over Wofford. Sometimes, I just like to see that sit for a while.

Quick hitters for Wednesday:

• Former Sacramento Kings and New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus is primed to return to the college scene for the right opportunity. Theus hasn't talked to Arizona -- yet -- but he is on the Wildcats' list, according to a few sources. Theus would potentially be an interesting hire for Arizona. He has a star personality and knows the summer scene/AAU circuit in Southern California and Las Vegas extremely well. He's connected and would immediately give Arizona a name replacement for Lute Olson/Russ Pennell. Theus could also be in play for Georgia if the Bulldogs are looking for star power. But Theus is much more plugged in out West. Theus isn't ruling out a return to the NBA, either. So far, he has been watching tons of games and trying to line up the right situation to pursue. Listen to my interview with Theus on Wednesday's podcast for more information. If there are reservations about the NBA versus college, it is that NBA jobs aren't likely to be with teams that are ready to win. The turnaround for a college job, Arizona or Georgia, may be only a year or two away.

• Suddenly, San Diego State is now the new favorite in the Mountain West. With the Aztecs' overtime win over UNLV Tuesday night, SDSU moved to 6-2 in the MWC.

• South Carolina's Devan Downey was sensational with the long bombs in the loss to Florida Tuesday night. But that was a must-win for UF, considering the Gators had already lost to South Carolina and Tennessee.

• What about Jerel McNeal for Big East Player of the Year? I said it in the preseason on our ESPNU "Inside the Polls" show and was wondering if I made too much of a reach then. McNeal scored 26 for the Golden Eagles on Tuesday to help Marquette remain undefeated at 9-0 in the league.

• Northern Iowa clearly has the good vibe in the Missouri Valley after a last-possession win over Bradley Tuesday on a 3-pointer by freshman Johnny Moran. The Panthers are now 11-1 in conference play.

• Purdue's staff was pleased that the Boilermakers took Ohio State to overtime Tuesday without Robbie Hummel. Hummel has a stress fracture in his back and hasn't practiced in three weeks. He will be game-to-game, day-to-day for the rest of the season. Purdue plays Illinois on Sunday, and Hummel will be a game-time decision. Hummel missed the loss at Penn State on Jan. 6, too. His game is a physical one, so he's got to be rested before he throws his body around yet again. So far, Hummel is going to try to rest in between games with surgery not an option. Apparently, this is very tough on Hummel since he desperately wants to be on the court. The Boilermakers got a much-needed lift from JaJuan Johnson, who scored 30 points in the loss to the Buckeyes (making 10 of 11 free throws). The game Sunday at Illinois is the end of a four-of-five-game stretch on the road. Purdue is 3-1 in those four games. It ends the season with five of eight games at home, with one of the road games at struggling Iowa.

• What is more surprising? Michigan State losing at home to Penn State and Northwestern this season or Kentucky losing two straight SEC games at Rupp Arena?

• UConn's staff is trying to make sure Hasheem Thabeet isn't passive in the first half of games. Thabeet doesn't want to get two fouls early and sit. The UConn coaches have noticed that he is much more aggressive in the second half. If he can put together an aggressive beginning to match his ending, then the Huskies feel they've got a somewhat unstoppable force in the paint who can mess with plenty of shots. The staff is also thrilled with the energy Kemba Walker is delivering off the bench. Walker is pushing enough to get a few fast-break baskets when he enters the game.

• The impact of losing Marcus Ginyard (foot injury) will be hard to measure for North Carolina because the Tar Heels had him for only three games. So, it's a bit difficult to say what kind of effect Ginyard's absence has on the team since he hasn't been a major player. But at least one ACC coach says that Ginyard was the most selfless player on the team, willing to sacrifice points and production for whatever UNC needed. He is viewed as the Tar Heels' top defender, and a defensive stopper might be what they're lacking (if you want to pick on something). If Ginyard does get a medical redshirt and comes back for a fifth season, he would certainly be a quality bridge to a younger team with the departure of Tyler Hansbrough. Suspending Will Graves for the rest of the season (he's still allowed to practice despite the violation of team rules) will also remove a tough forward from the bench. Graves wasn't a star, but he seemed to know his role. The Tar Heels still have eight quality players who can win the title, and that may be all they need to win six games in March. But this was a team that went even deeper when Tyler Zeller was contributing early in the season. Carolina has come back to the pack as one of the elite group of teams. That's not a far drop, but it's a slight dip nonetheless.

• UTEP's Stefon Jackson became Conference USA's all-time leading scorer last Saturday against Southern Miss, breaking the 2,017 scoring record set by South Florida's Altron Jackson (when the Bulls were in the league). Jackson now has 2,035 points. He scored 29 points in the win over the Golden Eagles. Jackson has had 13 games of 20 or more points this season, including 44 in a loss at Santa Clara. The 6-foot-5 senior guard has a legit shot to be the C-USA Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, UTEP coach Tony Barbee said former Louisville center Derrick Caracter hasn't been a problem in practice so far. He said the knock on Caracter's character was that he was lazy. "He's a good kid; he's not a criminal. He's just been a bit lazy,'' Barbee said. Barbee recruited Caracter out of high school when Barbee was an assistant to Memphis' John Calipari. Caracter has been practicing with the Miners and will be eligible (assuming he is academically eligible) on Dec. 12, 2009 of next season. He would have three semesters of eligibility remaining. Barbee said a big man like Caracter is a great get for a program like the Miners (but that's assuming he ends up playing for UTEP).

• Miami hosts Wake Forest on Wednesday night. It then goes to Duke over the weekend. That means by Monday, Miami will have played four of the five teams that have been ranked No. 1 at one point this season -- Connecticut (in the Virgin Islands), at North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke. Pitt is the only team that's been ranked No. 1 that the Canes haven't played.

Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith says that he's ahead of schedule in his rebuilding process and that the Golden Gophers have a legit chance to beat Louisville on Saturday in Glendale, Ariz. And oh yeah, he believes Minnesota can be an NCAA tournament team.

The Gophers (9-0), one of 13 remaining undefeated teams in Division I, face easily their toughest test with the Cardinals on Saturday at the home of the Arizona Cardinals.

"We do have a chance," Smith said. "Playing in Phoenix gives no one an advantage. It'll be a matter of coming together on this particular day and playing our best. We've got to play to their level, and I think we can play with Louisville."

Smith's scheduling philosophy with the Gophers was simple: get wins and gain confidence. Last season, Smith's first since his stunning move from Kentucky to Minnesota, the Gophers made the NIT and lost in the first round to Maryland. This season, they were an intriguing postseason pick in a fluid Big Ten. The Gophers have played one true road game -- at Mountain West bottom-dweller Colorado State. Their best home wins so far are over Virginia, which will likely end up last in the ACC, and potential Ivy League champ Cornell.

"We knew we had a young team and with the schedule would have a chance to grow," Smith said. "We've also had some injuries, and Monday was the first day we had all 13 players back from injury."

The Gophers have played decent defense, holding their opponents to 60.9 points a game. Emphasis on D is a Smith trait, and so far this squad has taken on his personality. Minnesota has scorers in guard Lawrence Westbrook (14.1 ppg), forward Damian Johnson (11 ppg) and guard Blake Hoffarber (9.3 ppg), and a developing talent in the post in center Colton Iverson (8.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg). Freshman Ralph Sampson III is starting to feel more comfortable, too, going for double figures in three of the last four games.

"I think we're where we need to be, as far as being a work in progress," Smith said. "We're improving every day, and we're showing a lot of consistency."

This Minnesota team isn't going to be very sexy in the Big Ten. The Gophers will be productive and patient and likely defend in a conference in which most teams enter the league race feeling that they have a chance, save maybe Indiana. (The Hoosiers are 5-5, whereas no other team is under four games above .500.)

Playing Louisville provides Minnesota with a barometer. How tough is this team? Can it defend Samardo Samuels in the post, Earl Clark on the wing? Can it match the intensity of Rick Pitino's team? Smith knows Pitino well, having coached under him and against him.

"These guys have adapted and are playing well for us, playing hard and playing together," Smith said. "I think we can be in the tournament. We've got a lot to improve on, but we have the potential and the talent."

• Kansas coach Bill Self said he could redshirt JC transfer Mario Little if he's not back 100 percent in three weeks from a broken left hand -- his second injury this season. (He was out with a stress fracture in his lower left leg from mid-October to December.) But Self is confident that Little will return in time to play this season. Kansas was banking on Little's being a factor for the Jayhawks this season. He was a starter when the Jayhawks went on a Labor Day trip to Canada, averaging 12.7 points a game. Little, a 6-5 wing, was rated as the top JC player in the country last season out of Chipola (Fla.) College. The Jayhawks probably could use another wing scorer after relying a bit too much on Sherron Collins at times.

• Gonzaga coach Mark Few said there is no reason why Arizona can't compete for the Pac-10 title. He said the threesome of Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise provides the Wildcats with as much talent as any other team in the league, if not more. "If those three stay healthy and don't get in foul trouble and continue to play at a high level, then they'll compete for a Pac-10 championship," Few said. Arizona beat Gonzaga 69-64 on Sunday at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. Arizona (7-2) has two critical games in a row, with a road game at UNLV on Saturday and a home game against Kansas on Tuesday.

• Alabama coach Mark Gottfried isn't sweating the slow start for the Tide. Gottfried said Tuesday he's not feeling any heat, either. He said the administration has been fully supportive. At issue for the Tide, he said, is keeping freshman forward JaMychal Green on the court. He fouled out in 19 minutes in the 86-78 overtime loss to Texas A&M and fouled out in the 92-69 loss to Oregon in the first round of the Maui Invitational. Green was on his way to having his best game of the season when he scored 13 points on 5 of 7 shots in the loss to the Aggies.

The Tide (5-3), which opened the season with a loss to Mercer at home, also need Ronald Steele, the fifth-year senior point, to take his game to a higher gear. Gottfried said Steele has been playing well since coming back from a knee injury, but the coaching staff expects him to be even better during the SEC campaign. Steele has had some down shooting games, though, going 3-for-11 in the Oregon loss and 3-for-12 against Texas A&M (although he had six assists and zero turnovers).

Gottfried said the most consistent player has been senior guard Alonzo Gee, who is averaging 12.4 points a game. What has helped is that he's getting to the free-throw line, going 29-of-40 in eight games.

The one thing that gives Gottfried even more hope is that SEC games can be won. Kentucky proved last season that struggling in the nonconference schedule doesn't necessarily mean losing a bid. Kentucky won 12 games in a rebuilding SEC a season ago. Alabama is counting on doing something similar. What would help the Tide's case, of course, is taking care of business for the rest of the nonconference schedule with two key games after New Year's: a young, beatable Georgia Tech and once again an undefeated Clemson on the road.

• The WCC is doing everything it can to help strengthen the league by showing it's not concerned only about Gonzaga. Moving the conference tournament out of a campus environment to Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena was one way to ensure more neutrality (a point that you could argue actually helps Gonzaga, since it will travel with more fans and no longer has to play a conference tournament game on the road). But the league moved Tuesday to put 23 league games on ESPN's Pacific Rim station, which would air games on in Australia and New Zealand. Saint Mary's, which has five Aussies on its roster (the most of all WCC schools), including the most recognizable in Australian Olympian Patty Mills, will benefit more than any other school. A total of seven Aussies play on three WCC rosters (Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount).

WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said Tuesday that this is an example of the globalization of basketball. But he's also savvy to help boost WCC basketball's exposure in one of its recruiting hotbeds. The proximity of the WCC schools to Australia (at least compared with the East Coast) has made it a destination for Aussies. Zaninovich said the WCC semifinals and final will be shown live, too.

Quick hitters for Thursday:

Since 6-foot-11 center Ibrahima Thomas has been dismissed from the team, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said the Cowboys will go with four -- and often five -- guards. Thomas was the only true center on the squad.

"We've done it for four or five minutes, sometimes eight to 10 minutes in a game," Ford said. "We're just trying to survive. These are the growing pains of taking over a program."

Ford said that after Thomas was dismissed, the center told him that he doesn't want to play basketball anymore; the school would not give details of the dismissal. Thomas was contributing 20.6 minutes a game, averaging 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Ford said when he needs a big man, he'll go with 6-6 Anthony Brown (15.7 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 3 rpg), 6-8 Malcoln Kirkland (8.2 mpg, 0.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg) or newly eligible 6-11 freshman Teeng Akol from the Sudan, by way of IMG Academy. The Cowboys have lost three of their last four games and play at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday.

• USC is hoping to get UConn transfer Marcus Johnson eligible for the Dec. 22 Georgia Tech game. He'll likely become eligible once the fall grades are posted, meaning the 6-6 forward will have one semester to play as a senior. Johnson would help offset the departure of Marcus Simmons, who decided to transfer this week. Simmons suffered through a year-long ankle sprain that never seemed to heal. The Trojans were high on Simmons, but the sophomore forward from Alexandria, La., never got healthy enough to truly evaluate him. Simmons played in seven games this season, averaging just two points and 1.3 rebounds a game.

The Trojans are also hoping to get a ruling on 6-10 freshman Nikola Vucevic. At issue is the time he spent as a 14-year-old amateur on a professional team in Montenegro. USC assistant Gib Arnold has been singing the praises of Vucevic for months. USC coach Tim Floyd has liked his skill level, too. The Trojans became thin up front after Kasey Cunningham went out with a season-ending ACL injury and North Carolina transfer Alex Stepheson was unable to get a waiver to play right away. The USC team that I saw in practice in October came out in the one-point loss at Oklahoma last Thursday. Expect USC to get fat and happy over the next few weeks with home games against Pepperdine, North Dakota State, Georgia Tech and Oral Roberts before beginning the Pac-10 at Oregon and Oregon State.

• Morgan State 79, DePaul 75: I could spin this and say that Todd Bozeman is doing a fine job making Morgan State into a very competitive unit. I could also tell you DePaul could be headed for a downer of a season. The Blue Demons started out 4-0 but have hit the skids lately, losing road games at Cal and Northwestern and then at home to Morgan State. The schedule gets even rougher with UCLA on Saturday in the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim. Beating Liberty after that game will be a tall task, too. DePaul wasn't going to be an NCAA team this season, but the Blue Demons can't get buried too deep before the Big East begins. We all know wins will be hard to find there.

• Some sleeper teams to keep an eye on remained undefeated Wednesday: Butler (8-0) after beating Bradley; Minnesota (9-0) after beating South Dakota State; BYU (9-0) after handily beating Boise State, 94-56.

• Can't underscore how impressive it is that Gonzaga has beaten three straight physical teams -- Tennessee, Indiana and then at Washington State in a true road game Wednesday night. It's the first time since 2004-05 that the Cougars have lost back-to-back nonconference games and the first time since 1985 that it's happened at home (WSU lost to Baylor on Saturday). The only Cougar born then was Taylor Rochestie ... now that makes me feel incredibly old. The 22-point loss is the largest margin in Tony Bennett's tenure as head coach (this is his third season).

• Dayton's undefeated run crashed in Omaha with a 77-59 loss to Creighton. Expecting the Flyers to win this game would have been a reach.

• Give Tom Crean tons of credit. Indiana beat TCU Wednesday to move to 5-4. The Hoosiers are finding ways to win by playing their tails off throughout the course of the game.

• Quality win for Arizona at home, beating San Diego State to move to 6-2. Jordan Hill continued to be a rock for the Wildcats with 25 points and 13 boards.

• Xavier got guard Terrell Holloway back (stress fracture in his left foot) Wednesday against Ohio. Holloway played 15 minutes in the 22-point win. He had missed the previous two games.

• Charlotte is back from the dead. The 49ers opened 1-6 but have won the past two -- on the road, at difficult places to play. Charlotte won at Southern Illinois and took out Mississippi State in Starkville on Wednesday. Lamont Mack was the team's go-to guy and scored 19 points and grabbed eight boards. The 49ers were able to beat SIU with Mack going 1-for-9 for only two points.

• One of the most impressive wins this week came in Salt Lake City, where Cal beat Utah 72-69 on Wednesday. Mike Montgomery has the Bears playing highly competitive basketball, save not being able to handle pressure at Missouri on Sunday. The turnaround from a blowout loss to the Tigers to winning at Utah behind Jerome Randle's 21 points is good news for the Bears' postseason hopes.

• South Carolina State beat Idaho 66-59 at home Wednesday night. Why am I referencing this random score? Well, the two schools are playing a bizarre home-and-home. The two teams will turn around and play on Dec. 17 in their next game -- at Idaho. This isn't meant to offend the MEAC, but a WAC school shouldn't be doing a straight home-and-home with the MEAC, let alone within the same week. I know scheduling isn't easy, but there needs to be a better model than this to fill the schedule.

The answer may be what Kerry Keating of Santa Clara figured out. He set up a scheduling partnership with one team from each of the western conferences outside the Pac-10. So next season, Santa Clara (WCC), Northern Arizona (Big Sky), San Diego State (MWC), Pacific (Big West) and Fresno State (WAC) will each play each other: two home games and two road games. All the matchups haven't been determined yet, but Santa Clara will play at San Diego State and at Pacific and get Northern Arizona and Fresno State at home. The rest of the rotations are to be determined. There will not be return games the following season. But if everyone is pleased, then there could be new matchups with other programs. The purpose is to ensure an equitable way to get home games with like-minded schools.