It should be fun watching Arizona signee Aaron Gordon next year in Tucson. The 6-foot-8 forward showed why he was so widely coveted in recruiting when he flashed some amazing athleticism on this wicked ally-oop at the USA Basketball U19 World Championship training camp this week.

Gordon was the No. 3 overall player in Rivals.com rankings for the incoming freshmen class. He's expected to be making his way to the NBA at this time next year and some see him as a favorite for national Freshman of the Year awards because of his versatility and explosiveness.

Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleRingo

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Little-known Elfrid Payton emerges at U19 basketball tryouts
• Kentucky(!) sits atop football recruiting rankings
• Report: Johnny Manziel almost transferred from Texas A&M

The good news for Penn State is Jermaine Marshall has changed his mind about forgoing his final year of eligibility to pursue professional basketball.

The bad news for Penn State is that the standout guard apparently still has no interest in playing for the Nittany Lions again.

Marshall has obtained his release and will transfer to another school, his father told ESPN.com Monday night. The 6-foot-4 senior-to-be is on pace to graduate from Penn State in August, making him potentially eligible to play right away at his next school.

It's unclear which schools will have interest in Marshall, but he figures to be highly coveted both because of his scoring ability and because so few impact players are still available this deep into the offseason. Marshall averaged 15.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists as a junior at Penn State, though his shooting percentage has never eclipsed 40 percent in three seasons with the Nittany Lions.

One potential destination for Marshall could be Maryland, which has been in search of a one-year rental guard since Pe'Shon Howard opted to transfer to USC. Mark Turgeon swung and missed on Memphis transfer Antonio Barton, but it's possible the Terps could make a run at Marshall even though he'd likely play at wing rather than point guard.

The departure of Marshall was a punch to the gut for a Penn State program that had aspirations of being a surprise team in the loaded Big Ten next season.

Had Marshall joined high-scoring guards Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill in the Penn State backcourt, the Nittany Lions might have boasted enough perimeter weapons to make up for an unproven frontcourt. The arrival of Miami (Ohio) transfer Allen Roberts and Pittsburgh transfer John Johnson should help, but Frazier and Newbill will still have to shoulder a huge load for the Nittany Lions to have realistic NCAA tournament hope.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Trevor Lacey's transfer should boost North Carolina State
• Knee injury jeopardizes Hoyas forward Greg Whittington's season
• Little-known Elfrid Payton emerges at U-19 basketball tryouts

Whittington suffered a "significant" knee injury severe enough to jeopardize his season, ESPN.com reported Tuesday. The extent of the injury is unclear at this time because the school has yet to confirm it, but CasualHoya.com reported Whittington has been seen on campus on crutches and cited a source who said Georgetown fears the 6-foot-8 forward has suffered a torn ACL.

If Whittington's injury is indeed season-ending, that's a major blow to a Georgetown team with aspirations of winning the new Big East next season. Whittington averaged 12.1 points and 7.0 rebounds before being ruled academically ineligible last January prior to a game against St. John's.

The challenge of replacing Porter's 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game becomes much more difficult for Georgetown if Whittington is unavailable.

Rising senior Nate Lubick and rising junior Mikael Hopkins both return, but neither has proven they can be a consistent interior scoring threat. Highly touted freshman Reggie Cameron could play some power forward in a pinch, while UCLA transfer Joshua Smith is capable of making a huge impact at center once he becomes eligible in mid-December but only if the massive 7-footer can trim 30 or 40 pounds.

Throw in guards Markel Starks and D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, and there's still more than enough talent on the Georgetown roster even without Whittington to return to the NCAA tournament and even contend in the new Big East. Still, you can't blame Georgetown fans for hoping that Whittington's injury turns out to be less severe than currently feared.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Johnny Manziel tweets he wants out of A&M
• Trevor Lacey's transfer should boost North Carolina State
• Little-known Elfrid Payton emerges at U-19 basketball tryouts

The most surprising player to earn a spot on the U.S. U-19 team Monday night needed a late plea from his head coach just to earn the chance.

Louisiana-Lafayette's Elfrid Payton wasn't on USA Basketball's radar as recently as a few weeks ago when Ragin Cajuns coach Bob Marlin dialed Billy Donovan and urged him to consider inviting the 6-foot-3 rising junior to tryouts.

"I told him, 'I don't sell my guys but Elfrid is really good and might be able to help,'" Marlin said. "I told him he could call Richard Pitino or Tom Izzo because Elfrid really played well against both their teams. He said, 'I don't need to call those guys. You and I have known each other a long time. If you say he's good enough, he's good enough.'"

Payton validated his coach's praise with an eye-opening performance during tryouts in Colorado Springs the past few days. He showcased ball-hawking defense and explosive speed to the rim, outplaying highly touted point guards like Texas' Javan Felix, Villanova's Ryan Arcidiacono and Providence's Kris Dunn to survive Sunday's initial cut to 16 players and Monday's final cut to 12.

If Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart and Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon are the likely starters in the backcourt for the U.S. team, Payton has just as good a chance as any of the other three guards to earn playing time off the bench. He'll try to help his team capture gold at what has been the most elusive age level for USA Basketball, one in which the Americans have only taken first place once in the past six tournaments.

“I have a certain confidence about myself that I can play with anybody and against anybody," Payton told his hometown newspaper, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, on Monday night. "My goal was to compete against these guys and hold my own. Backing down wasn’t an option."

That mentality won't surprise anyone at Louisiana-Lafayette because they've seen him rise from an undersized, lightly recruited high school prospect into one of the most underrated players in the nation. Payton averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game as a sophomore last season, impressive stats for a kid who received minimal Division I interest until late in his senior year of high school.

The son of a former Grambling College and Canadian Football League standout defensive lineman, Payton inherited his father's athleticism but he didn't hit his growth spurt until late in his career at John Ehret High School in New Orleans. He was nearly a year younger than many of his peers when he began high school, which contributed to him not even surpassing the 6-foot mark until his senior year.

Payton's slight stature kept him from drawing much interest from Division I programs, but Louisiana-Lafeyette assistant Kevin Johnson heard from several New Orleans high school coaches early in Payton's senior year that the guard might be worth keeping an eye on. It was that season that Payton proved himself, averaging 12.8 points, 5.2 assists and 4.1 steals, earning first-team all-state honors and scoring 23 points at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette in a state semifinals loss to Scotlandville.

"That was when I got to see him play for the first time," Marlin said. "He was just a little skinny kid that looked like a ninth grader. He wasn't big at all physically. We got him on an unofficial visit that next week. By then, there were a handful of other programs that were trying to get him to come visit, but he shut it down and signed with us."

In two seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette, Payton has sprouted to 6-foot-3, bulked up a bit in the weight room so he can absorb contact going to the rim and worked tirelessly to improve his oft-erratic outside shot.

Since Payton thrived creating off the dribble in high school and could get to the rim at will, he rarely bothered to attempt an outside shot. He didn't make a single 3-pointer as a freshman at Louisiana-Lafayette and shot just 56.4 percent from the foul line, problems worsened by the fact he couldn't see very well.

Once a routine physical examination after his freshman year revealed that Payton's vision was poor, Marlin and his staff urged the guard to try wearing contacts. He eventually gave in, a decision that helped him go from being a non-threat behind the arc to a streaky shooter whose 32 percent 3-point shooting at least made him a threat from the perimeter.

"He fought it at first, but then he started shooting the ball better immediately," Marlin said. "Your free throws and threes, it helps a little bit when you can see your target. And I think that is part of it, to be honest."

A youthful Louisiana-Lafayette team struggled to a 13-20 record last season, which is why few outside the state were aware of Payton's exploits. Not many saw Payton outplay Keith Appling in a narrow loss to Michigan State or light up Florida International for 23 points or lead Louisiana-Lafayette to three wins over North Texas and potential first-round pick Tony Mitchell.

The performances against Appling and Mitchell were especially noteworthy to Payton as he prepared for USA Basketball tryouts because Marlin reminded him that both those guys played on the U-19 team two years ago. If Payton could have success against them two years later, there was no reason he couldn't outplay current U-19 hopefuls too.

Payton took that to heart and showed off all facets of his game in Colorado Springs, outplaying guards from more prestigious programs and ensuring he won't be able to fly so under the radar next season. Now he'll have a chance to continue to make a name for himself in Prague beginning on June 27.

"I think it helps him in the long run and it certainly will help our team in the short run," Marlin said. "He'll definitely benefit from this experience."

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Trevor Lacey's transfer should boost North Carolina State
• Knee injury jeopardizes Hoyas forward Greg Whittington's season
• Former Oklahoma State QB Wes Lunt lands at Illinois

Hours after reports surfaced earlier this month that he had chosen NC State, ex-Alabama guard Trevor Lacey quickly refuted them.

"Don't start the rumors," he tweeted. "I haven't made a decision."

Lacey may not have been ready to make it official 10 days ago, but his preference for NC State doesn't appear to have wavered. He confirmed to coach Mark Gottfried on Monday he has chosen the Wolfpack over fellow ACC schools Pittsburgh and Miami, according to multiple reports.

"The coaches were real happy to get my papers, making it official," Lacey told PackPride.com. "I have a really good relationship with the coaches at NC State, and I think it's a place that I fit in really well at."

Even though Lacey will have to sit out a full year before making his NC State debut, he should be worth the wait for the Wolfpack. The 6-foot-3 former five-star recruit averaged 11.3 points and 3.2 assists per game as a sophomore at low-scoring Alabama last season, shooting better than 37 percent from behind the arc.

Lacey will join a 2014-15 backcourt that is unproven right now but should have a chance to gain experience next season. With five of NC State's top six scorers gone from last season, the Wolfpack will rely on sophomore Tyler Lewis and freshman Anthony Barber at point guard next season and LSU transfer Ralston Turner and junior college transfer Desmond Lee at shooting guard.

Lacey originally chose Alabama over Kentucky and Kansas, among others, two years ago and likely would have been one of the SEC's top guards next season had he remained at Alabama. It's unclear why he left a Crimson Tide team with NCAA tournament aspirations, but Alabama coach Anthony Grant told the Birmingham News in April that Lacey and his parents appeared to want a fresh start in hopes it might help him fully tap into his potential.

"It will give him the opportunity to try and figure some things out," Grant told the newspaper. "I think there are some things over the course of his two years here that he and I talked about in terms of what he needed to do to put himself in position to be where he is capable of being. Hopefully a change will give him the opportunity to realize some of those things and become what his family would like to see him become and certainly what he wants to become."

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Little-known Elfrid Payton emerges at U-19 basketball tryouts
• Top recruit chooses South Carolina because of easy classes
• Don't praise Mike Gundy for finally doing the right thing

UPDATE: A Kentucky spokesman said Tuesday afternoon that Walter McCarty has succeeded in getting his 1996 title rings returned to him. Brooks Downing, president of the sports agency firm BD Global, tweeted Monday that McCarty's rings were for sale as a result of a "misunderstanding with a family member" and that the former Kentucky star is working diligently to get them back.

A voicemail left for Downing on Monday evening seeking further details was not immediately returned.

When members of Kentucky's 1996 championship team received rings from the school on Feb. 28 to commemorate their national title, former Wildcats forward Walter McCarty was one of the most vocal about what the honor meant to him.

"Any excuse we can have to get together, it’s awesome,” McCarty told Central Kentucky News that day. "We have had a tremendous time here. Getting the ring and walking on that court again in front of Big Blue Nation was awesome."

McCarty's comments make it more surprising that his new ring and the one he received from the NCAA 17 years ago are both apparently up for sale. A photo of them at a Boston pawn shop surfaced this weekend and both are being listed on eBay, the NCAA ring selling for $3,400 and the school ring for $5,200.

Why would a player who spent 10 seasons in the NBA and three as an assistant coach at Louisville be selling his rings? It's easy to jump to the conclusion he needs the money given how many professional athletes have gone broke in recent years, but we certainly don't know that for sure.

Maybe McCarty gave his rings to a friend who put them up for auction. Maybe they were stolen. Heck, maybe he just doesn't value memorabilia as much as the rest of us.

Regardless, the rings are a nice piece of history available for a wealthy Kentucky fan. Someone with $8,600 burning a hole in his pocket can soon own two one-of-a-kind items commemorating the success of one of modern-day college basketball's most formidable teams.

(Thanks, Kentucky Sports Radio)

Kane has found a way to salvage his reputation in Huntington, however, by writing a thank you letter to the city's newspaper.

In an eloquent letter published in Sunday's edition of the Times-Dispatch, Kane called Huntington his "second home" and said he will miss the town even though he's looking forward to a fresh start. The Pittsburgh native will finish his career at Iowa State after three all-league seasons for the Thundering Herd.

"I used to always think that basketball was everything, but after working with my teachers, coaches, and new family here in Huntington, I now realize that life is much more," Kane wrote.

"I know that things didn't end here the way I wanted them to and I apologize for not leading the team to the NCAA Tournament because this city deserves it. What I do promise though is to bring something back to this community better than a basketball championship -- hope and fun for the kids. Whether I play pro basketball or just become a business man, I'll continue to contribute to the youth in this area once I get my career.

"Thanks to Marshall University and the Athletic Department for giving me my first college opportunity. Thanks to the coaching staff that helped me through the years develop as a player and thank you to all of my teammates. I wish my brothers good luck next season and hope they can bring the C-USA title home."

If Kane's gesture sounds familiar, that's because he's the second prominent Huntington athlete to pen a letter to the community in recent weeks. Huntington Prep's Andrew Wiggins, the nation's No. 1 recruit, published a similar thank you letter in the Times-Dispatch after he graduated from high school.

What makes Kane's letter even more remarkable is that he wasn't the beloved figure that Wiggins was in the community. Since Kane was the face of a Marshall program that was among the most disappointing in the nation last season, he became a lightning rod for criticism, especially as his shooting dipped to 40.3 percent and questions about his attitude continued to dog him.

By writing his letter, Kane took the high road and gave the Huntington community reason to remember him fondly. It's a gesture other college athletes with checkered reputations would be wise to repeat.

(Thanks, College Basketball Talk)

Losing its six leading scorers from last year's ACC championship team has been beneficial for Miami in at least one respect.

It has made the Hurricanes an attractive destination for transfers this offseason.

First, former all-conference Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez joined Miami in hopes of becoming the heir apparent to Shane Larkin. Next, ex-DePaul big man Donnavan Kirk chose the Hurricanes because they have ample frontcourt playing time available. And finally, late Sunday night Miami added another coveted transfer.

Guard Sheldon McClellan, who would have been Texas' leading returning scorer had he remained with the Longhorns, chose Miami over Oregon, Marquette and LSU, ESPN.com reported. Whereas Kirk will be eligible immediately and Rodriguez is petitioning for a waiver that would allow him to play next season too, McClellan will sit out the 2013-14 season and make his Hurricanes debut the following year.

There's a good chance McClellan will be worth the wait for Miami.

McClellan had to shoulder too great a scoring burden on a Texas team that didn't have Myck Kabongo for the first 23 games of this past season, but the 6-foot-4 sophomore still showed flashes of the potential that made him a top 50 recruit. He averaged 13.5 points per game for the Longhorns during a difficult season that ended well short of NCAA tournament contention.

The criticism of McClellan during his two seasons at Texas was that his performance was erratic, his concentration often waned and his shot selection was poor. He shot just 38.2 percent from the field as a sophomore, often drawing a quick hook from Texas coach Rick Barnes.

If McClellan can address those shortcomings during his redshirt year and Miami coach Jim Larranaga can figure out how to keep the shooting guard focused and motivated, then the transfer should be a big boost for the Hurricanes.

Pair McClellan and Rodriguez in the backcourt for the 2014-15 season, and Miami would have one of the more potent guard duos in the nation. That's definitely something to look forward to for the Hurricanes even if next season figures to be a transition year unless Rodriguez gets his waiver.

At first, John Boel was at a loss as he attempted to comfort his daughter prior to her surgery to repair her mangled wrist and leg. Then the WAVE 3 anchor asked Brianna to remember the courage Louisville guard Kevin Ware showed after he suffered a similarly gruesome broken leg in the first half of the Cardinals' Elite Eight game against Duke.

"I asked her to remember Kevin Ware, his break, how bad it was, how fast he was up on the sideline, and how he's already back shooting," Boel said via email. "She perked right up, that all clicked, and she immediately seemed more calm about what lied ahead."

If the conversation about Ware brought a smile to Brianna's face, imagine how much more inspired she became when he showed up in her room at Kosair Children's Hospital that evening.

A friend of John's saw his Facebook post about Brianna drawing strength from Ware's story and relayed the story to Ware via social media. Ware contacted the WAVE 3 newsroom soon afterward and asked John's permission to come visit with Brianna at the hospital.

"He was here within an hour, so soon that she was barely out of surgery and was in a lot of pain," John said. "He was so sweet to her that she was smiling for the first time in days."

Credit Ware for continuing to give back to the Louisville community that showed him so much support after his injury. He showed Brianna how quickly he has recovered from the surgery and that he is already able to walk without crutches and shoot a basketball even with rods in his legs.

Before Ware left, he signed Brianna's cast. The message was perfect: "Pinky Promise. You will be fine."

(Thanks, Eye on College Basketball)

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Preseason scrimmage costs ODU basketball star his senior season
• Isaiah Thomas deflects blame for postseason ban at FIU
• Florida's top basketball recruit not academically eligible

Donte Hill chose not to participate in senior night festivities at Old Dominion last March because the 6-foot-4 guard was optimistic he'd win his petition this offseason and receive another full year of eligibility.

On Thursday, he learned never to assume common sense will prevail when the NCAA is involved.

NCAA officials denied Hill's petition, ruling that the eight minutes he played in a closed-door preseason scrimmage in 2010 counted as an entire season of eligibility. Hill did not play again in the 2010-11 season, transferring from Clemson to Old Dominion soon after the scrimmage and sitting out the rest of the year.

Newly hired Old Dominion coach Jeff Jones said Clemson officials told him they informed Hill he was risking an entire year of eligibility by transferring after the scrimmage, but Hill told Jones he was unaware until afterward. Regardless, barring a change of heart from the NCAA, Hill will not be allowed to play for Old Dominion next season and his college career is over.

"Donte was clearly disappointed, but I think he had at least to some degree come to grips that this was the most likely outcome," Jones said. "I feel bad for him. He's a very nice young man. He's done a great job in the classroom. Everyone at ODU I've talked to, talks about his character and his leadership. It's tough. It would have been great if the outcome had been different."

The bylaw in question states that "any competition, regardless of time, during a season in an intercollegiate sport shall be counted as a season of competition in that sport." The NCAA makes an exception for true freshmen, but Hill was beginning his sophomore season at Clemson when he participated in the scrimmage.

That the NCAA chose a strict interpretation of the rule is a bit surprising both because of the severity of the penalty and because of the precedent it has previously set. In 2011, the NCAA chose not to take a full year of eligibility from Notre Dame's Tim Abromaitis for playing in two exhibition games during a redshirt year, opting instead to more justly punish him with a four-game suspension to start his senior season.

The difference in Abromaitis' situation is Notre Dame coach Mike Brey intended to redshirt the forward but made a mistake and interpreted the rule wrong. There is no indication Clemson coaches intended to redshirt Hill had he chosen to remain with the Tigers for the season.

"I'm aware of the Abromaitis situation because I remember talking about to Mike Brey about it, but whether that applied to this I don't know," Jones said. "We didn't cite it in our waiver request. Quite honestly, I hadn't thought of that until I read your article earlier today."

Why would the NCAA not consider a similar suspension for Hill? That's not immediately clear. An NCAA spokeswoman did not return an email Friday morning seeking an explanation of the decision.

The loss of Hill is punch to the gut for an Old Dominion program that has sustained quite a few of them recently.

Perennial NCAA tournament contenders prior to last season, Old Dominion staggered through a 5-25 season in which the Monarchs finished last in the CAA in their final year in the league. Old Dominion dismissed longtime coach Blaine Taylor in February with a terse statement indicating the decision was not based solely on wins and losses but also on the need for the players to have greater "mentorship, leadership and guidance."

Hill did everything in his power to keep the overmatched Monarchs competitive last season, scoring 8.2 points per game and defending every position from point guard to power forward. The co-captain would have been the only senior on the 2013-14 team were he allowed to play.

"We'll miss that leadership and experience," Jones said. "I looked at him as a guy who would have made a contribution, but now we're going to have to rely on our younger guys to grow up more quickly."

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Isaiah Thomas deflects blame for postseason ban at FIU
• Florida's top basketball recruit not academically eligible
• Clemson confirms Howard's Rock has been vandalized

Memphis will definitely have a new floor design next season when it begins play in the American Athletic Conference.

Which design the Tigers adopt, however, won't be known for several weeks.

Memphis fans have until June 24 to offer input by voting on the school's athletics site for one of four potential floor designs. One features a silhouette of the Memphis skyline across the width of the floor. Another has an image of the iconic Hernando de Soto Bridge. A third includes both the bridge and the skyline. And a fourth is just a plain, traditional floor.

"We are excited about getting input from our fans on the new design for the Tigers' basketball court at FedExForum," Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said in a statement. "Our fans are as passionate as any in the country, and this allows them the opportunity to take part in the design process."

Assuming Memphis adopts either the bridge or the skyline, it will be the latest program to add some creativity to its basketball court. From Oregon's fir tree-framed court, to Long Beach State's palm trees, to Florida International's beach scene, to George Washington's D.C. monuments, schools are making sure their courts stand out as their own when TV viewers see them.

It's unclear which design is leading the official fan voting, but an unofficial poll on a Collegiate Sports Nation Memphis forum has the design with both the bridge and skyline with almost 50 percent of the votes.

Wrote one of the supporters, "I don't know why anyone would choose anything other than [that]. BUT, I realize everyone is different and I'm OK with that as long as they understand how stupid they are."

One day after the NCAA announced Florida International will be ineligible for the 2013-14 postseason due to poor Academic Progress Rate scores, former coach Isiah Thomas defended himself against accusations he's at fault.

Thomas penned a Huffington Post blog entry in which he emphasized that he repeatedly stressed the importance of education to his players during his three-year tenure at FIU from 2009 to 2012. He also noted that some of FIU's APR problems stem from the transfer of seven scholarship players in protest of his firing last year.

"This had the biggest effect on FIU's APR, not grades but retention," Thomas wrote. "In fact, many of the students who wanted to transfer were told that they would not be given their releases because it would affect FIU's APR. Seven scholarship students left in anger without getting a release, thus plummeting the APR score.

"That is the explanation of FIU's APR and current NCAA ban from post-season play, but it is not an examination of my record with the school's players. Of the 21 players I worked with, I am very proud to say that 19 of those young men graduated."

Thomas' blog post comes one day after Garcia appeared to pin the blame on him with a thinly veiled statement defending current coach Anthony Evans and Thomas' successor, Richard Pitino. Said Garcia, "It’s important to understand that the student-athletes and coaches who are serving this postseason ban had no part in the actions which led to the punishment."

That statement is certainly true, but there's also some merit to Thomas' point as well.

FIU's APR scores during the first two years of Thomas' tenure were 910 and 909, just above the NCAA's minimum standard at the time of 900 though well below the current threshold of 930. As Thomas noted, the score only plummeted to 858 after the 2011-12 season when a bevy of players transferred or turned pro unexpectedly out of anger over the firing of Thomas.

Though Thomas' dismissal was certainly justifiable considering he went 26-65 and failed to win more than 11 games in any single season, athletic director Pete Garcia did a poor job assuaging Thomas' former players concerns.

At FIU's end-of-the-year banquet in the basketball team's honor, players protested the firing of Thomas by getting up from their table, walking in a single-file line in front of the podium and exiting the building en masse. Former guard Tanner Wozniak told Yahoo! Sports last year that players liked Thomas because he always was willing to offer advice, always emphasized academics and even checked in with all his players after his firing to make sure they were handling the upheaval.

"He was a great coach, a mentor and a father figure to us," Wozniak said. "He didn't have a winning record, but you can't build a program in three years."

The bottom line is that Thomas is probably right he's not fully to blame here. Granted his three-year tenure was disastrous on the floor and that Richard Pitino instantly turned around the program in one season, but it's not fair to make Thomas the lone scapegoat for FIU's 2013-14 postseason ban.

In fact, if anyone deserves to share the blame with Thomas, it's Garcia, who was all too quick to pass the buck on Wednesday.

It was Garcia who made the ill-fated decision to hire Thomas in 2009, even going so far as to boast that his new coach would "take the basketball program to the highest level." It was Garcia who somehow stood by Thomas in 2010 when the coach tried to take a consulting job with the New York Knicks while still working at FIU. And it was Garcia who couldn't persuade Thomas' players to remain with the program after his firing last year long enough to even find out who the new coach would be.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Battle of L.A. turns to middle school for reinforcements
• Florida's top basketball recruit not academically eligible
• Low-budget schools again get short end of APR measuring stick

In fact, there's still some question if the 6-foot-9 forward will be academically eligible to don a Gators uniform at all next season.

Walker, Rivals.com's No. 6 prospect in the class of 2013, has yet to achieve a qualifying ACT score and is still taking three online courses to finish his core requirements, his high school coach told the Gainesville Sun earlier this week. NCAA initial eligibility is based on a sliding scale combining test scores and GPA in core courses, but the minimum GPA required is a 2.0 and the minimum ACT score is a 37.

"He’s a little frustrated, but he knows in order to live out his childhood dream that he needs to keep working hard at it," Bonifay coach Poe White told the Sun. "If he doesn’t make it, it won’t be for a lack of trying."

It sounds as though the best-case scenario for Florida would be if Walker achieved a qualifying ACT score on his most recent attempt and finishes his online classes by the end of June. That would enable him to enroll in the second summer session at Florida and begin building chemistry with his teammates and participating in individual and team workouts.

Florida appeared to be a near-certain top 10 team once Patric Young opted to return for his senior season but Walker's eligibility issues and point guard Scottie Wilbekin's indefinite suspension calls that into question.

In Walker's case, the good news is Florida has an abundance of frontcourt options. Young and forward Will Yeguete are set to return next season and transfers Damontre Harris (South Carolina) and Dorian Finney-Smith (Virginia Tech) will both be able to contribute after sitting out last season.

Nonetheless, there's no denying Florida would lose some of its explosiveness if a player with Walker's length, athleticism and ability to finish at the rim can't play.

With Walker, Florida has the talent to challenge Kentucky in the SEC and reach the Final Four after three straight Elite Eight setbacks. Without him, both goals become a bit more unlikely.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• NCAA denies ODU guard his senior season of play
• Battle of L.A. turns to middle school for reinforcements
• Isaiah Thomas deflects blame for postseason ban at FIU

Having captured a national title in men's basketball, reached the Final Four in women's hoops, won a BCS bowl game and qualified for the College World Series, Louisville can make a strong case it has enjoyed the best athletic year of any school in the nation.

NASCAR driver Brian Vickers is probably hoping some of that good fortune rubs off.

Louisville announced Wednesday that Vickers will sport Louisville colors and a paint scheme honoring the 2013 men's basketball national champs when he drives in the Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway on June 29.

The red and white No. 55 Toyota that Vickers drives will feature a Louisville logo on the hood with the words "national champions" above it. Vickers' fire suit will have a Louisville logo on the front, "national champions" on the back and the words "Louisville" and "Cardinals" going down the side of his legs in classic college sweatpants style.

"This will certainly help my popularity with local fans that weekend," Vickers said in a statement. "I'm a big fan of sports in general so to have the national champions on board is a huge honor. They are winners and it's always cool to surround yourself with success. Our goal is to make them proud."

If Vickers expects his paint scheme to inspire nothing but cheers at Kentucky Speedway, perhaps the North Carolina native is unaware of the demographics of the state. Kentucky Speedway is only 20 minutes closer to Louisville than it is Lexington, which means plenty of blue in the crowd that day and plenty of boos for Vickers as his car passes the grandstands.

Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Battle of L.A. turns to middle school for reinforcements
• Pat Forde: A look inside college football's 2013 schedules
• Miami gets a boost by adding DePaul transfer Donnavan Kirk

The Atlantic 10 released its schedule pairings for the 2013-14 league season on Wednesday. Below are some thoughts on which teams benefited and which suffered from the unbalanced schedule in which each school faces four league foes twice and the rest once apiece.

1. UMass would be an upper-echelon Atlantic 10 team no matter what, but the dream schedule the Minutemen received might elevate them to title contender status. Not only does UMass play fellow contenders Saint Louis, VCU and La Salle only at home, the league foes they see twice aren't exactly murderer's row. George Mason and Saint Joseph's figure to be projected to finish in the middle of the league, while Rhode Island is still rebuilding and St. Bonaventure is trending downward post-Andrew Nicholson. That's a pretty ideal slate for a UMass team that should have one of the league's best guard duos with returning star Chaz Williams and Western Kentucky transfer Derrick Gordon.

2. If UMass is the big winner from Wednesday's release of the Atlantic 10 schedule, then fellow league title contender Saint Louis has the most reason to grumble. Last year's A-10 champs face an obstacle-laden schedule that includes two games apiece against preseason favorite VCU, newcomer George Mason and always dangerous Dayton. Road games against UMass, La Salle, Rhode Island and Saint Joseph's also won't be pushovers. The return of league player of the year candidate Dwayne Evans and a handful of other key contributors from last year will help, but the Billikens will certainly have to earn it if they're going to repeat.

3. Good for the Atlantic 10 for making sure that most of its natural rivals play each other twice apiece. Intracity rivals VCU and Richmond will meet a pair of times, as will Philly schools La Salle and Saint Joseph's, Washington D.C. schools George Mason and George Washington and New England schools UMass and Rhode Island. It was also smart of the Atlantic 10 to make sure Saint Louis and VCU met twice. With all due respect to La Salle, UMass or Richmond, those two are the flagship programs for the Atlantic 10 this year and two meetings will boost interest in the league and help both teams' power ratings.

4. The one series the Atlantic 10 failed to protect is the longstanding rivalry between former CAA adversaries VCU and George Mason. The Rams and Patriots will only play in Richmond, a missed opportunity considering the history between the two schools prior to VCU bolting for the Atlantic 10 in 2012 and George Mason following this year. The lack of a home game against VCU should be George Mason's biggest gripe, but it's also disappointing the Patriots only see Richmond once too. That's another series that could develop into a natural rivalry for the Atlantic 10.

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"When one door closes another opens," he tweeted. "Well in my case too many doors open."

Fifty Division I schools have called to express interest in Amardi since Iowa State cut him loose, according to Indian Hills coach Barret Peery. Beginning Friday, Amardi will make successive visits to Gonzaga, Oregon, Kansas State and Arizona State in hopes of making a decision from that quartet of schools in the next two weeks.

"It's too early to say which way he's leaning, but I think he's definitely excited about those four," Peery said. "He's got to make his visits and figure it out."

Amardi wouldn't have expected to be in this position as recently as a couple weeks ago because the 6-foot-9 forward signed with Iowa State back in November. He expected to enroll in summer classes in Ames this month and prepare to compete for a spot in the rotation next season in what will be his final year of college basketball.

Everything changed for Amardi, however, when Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg made a late run at Kane even though the Cyclones were already at their scholarship limit. The news that he was being jettisoned to make room for Kane initially blindsided Amardi, but he has handled the situation with dignity and class beyond his years.

"At first he was disappointed and a little emotional about it, but I reminded him quickly that it is a big business and this happens," Peery said. "There's no hard feelings. He and Coach Hoiberg are fine. Now he's trying to find a new home."

What has surely helped soften the blow is the flood of interest from schools in dire need of a late frontcourt addition.

Gonzaga has struck out trying to land Mike Moser and Tarik Black in its quest to find a third big man to go with Sam Dower and Przemek Karnowski. Oregon landed Moser but whiffed on Black and could use more frontcourt depth. Thomas Gipson is the lone experienced big man Kansas State returns next season, so playing time is definitely available in Manhattan. Same with Arizona State, which could play Amardi alongside 7-footer Jordan Bachynski.

The strength of Amardi's game is his athleticism, from his ability to run the floor, crash the glass and finish at the rim. He'd be unlikely to provide much back-to-the-basket offense in his lone season at whichever school he chooses, but he's capable of making an impact with his activity and explosiveness around the rim.

"There was no part of me that thought he was going to get left out to dry after the Iowa State situation because he's too good a player," Peery said. "He's a high-level guy that was going to get immediate attention. He wasn't going to be in a situation where he didn't have anything. That was never a worry for me."

Having lost its six leading scorers from last season's Sweet 16 team to graduation or the NBA draft, Miami desperately needs an infusion of talent to boost its chances of returning to the NCAA tournament next March.

The Hurricanes got some much-needed help Wednesday morning when they secured a commitment from a transfer already very familiar with Coral Gables.

Forward Donnavan Kirk, who began his college career at Miami before leaving for DePaul three years ago, will return to the Hurricanes for the 2013-14 season, a source confirmed to Yahoo! Sports. The 6-foot-9 senior chose Miami over Colorado State and will be eligible right away for the Hurricanes because he earned his degree from DePaul already.

Kirk played sparingly off the bench at Miami as a freshman and sophomore under former coach Frank Haith, but he should be able to compete for a starting job in his return to the Hurricanes.

In 25.5 minutes per game last season for DePaul, Kirk made a major impact defensively with his ability to alter shots in the lane, averaging 1.6 blocks. He scored a modest 6.2 points per game and didn't rebound as well as you'd expect for someone with his size and athleticism, but he did show newfound range from the perimeter, sinking 38.7 percent of the threes he attempted.

The best-case scenario for Miami would be Kirk solidifying the frontcourt by duplicating some of the production lost by Kenny Kadji's graduation. Kirk would likely start at power forward alongside 7-foot sophomore Tonye Jekiri, a third-string center behind Reggie Johnson and Julian Gamble last season.

How that frontcourt fares could be a barometer for Miami's season because the backcourt has some talent. Kansas State transfer Angel Rodriguez will bring scoring and floor vision at point guard if his petition to be eligible immediately is granted, while leading returning scorer Rion Brown and redshirt senior Garrius Adams should provide solid play on the wings.

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None of the six Division I basketball programs who received postseason bans as a result of failing to meet the NCAA's minimum APR standards hail from major conferences or even top mid-major leagues.

The most high-profile of the six is Florida International, which is still suffering from former coach Isiah Thomas' incredible knack for wrecking everything he touches. Another is the University of New Orleans, which is still digging itself out from under budget woes caused both by Hurricane Katrina and by the school's aborted dalliance with the idea of dropping down from Division I.

That the other four schools -- Alabama State, Grambling State, Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff -- all hail from the cash-poor SWAC has already reignited debate about the merits of the APR system. Critics of the APR note that it is inherently biased against low-budget schools from the nation's poorest conferences because it judges every Division I school by the same standards.

Whereas the nation's wealthiest programs have state-of-the-art computer labs, academic support staffers and tutors who travel to road games, cash-poor programs can't afford to provide the same assistance and often rely on their head coaches to fill those roles. Worse yet, SWAC schools typically raise money by playing exclusively road games in non-league play, which keeps basketball players away from campus throughout November and December and surely only exacerbates the situation.

The NCAA has tried to address this inequity by introducing an academic grant program in which six schools among the poorest 10 percent of Division I schools can receive up to $300,000 a year for three years to strengthen their academic support systems. That will surely help the situation a bit in the long run, but for now it leaves plenty of programs still scrambling to find a way to keep their teams postseason eligible.

With the NCAA increasing the minimum four-year APR score from 900 to 930 by the end of the 2013-2014 school year, the pressure is on small-conference schools to improve in a hurry. The NCAA has approved a gradual progression to achieve that standard for schools with limited resources, but still expect to see the number of academic-related postseason bans skyrocket in the SWAC, MEAC and other lower-level conferences.

Prairie View A&M was the only SWAC school to score above a 930 in the APR scores released Tuesday from the 2011-12 season. Bethune Cookman, Hampton and Delaware State were the only three of the 13 MEAC programs that scored 930 or above. Even in the slightly wealthier Southland Conference, six programs scored below a 930 and two others were flirting with that margin.

By contrast, only six schools from all six major conferences scored below a 930 during the 2011-12 school year. Those six were Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Providence, Cincinnati, Oregon and LSU.

That discrepancy doesn't suggest athletes from major-conference schools are smarter or more hard-working than their small-conference counterparts. It instead implies that those schools are able to do more to keep their athletes eligible and their teams out of APR penalty range.

The APR is a well-intentioned system, but it has become less of a measuring stick and more of a police baton. Its black-and-white formula doesn't take into account nearly enough of the gray areas that exist in Division I athletics.

Wealthy schools are able to get around the system by sending a half dozen academic support staffers scrambling every time an athlete raises his hand for help. The poorest schools don't have that luxury, and they're suffering because of it.

Why would the longest-tenured assistant at a tradition-rich program leave for a school that has never won an NCAA tournament game?

Hunter admits going from Georgetown to Nebraska is unusual, but he sees it as a risk he has to take to help advance his career. If Hunter can help reverse the fortunes of the long-struggling Huskers program, he believes it will make him more marketable as a head coaching candidate in a few years.

"I'm really excited about the chance to go to a new program and help it rebuild," Hunter said Tuesday. "I'd been at Georgetown for six years going on seven. I thought it would be a good time to make a change and learn a different way. Obviously Nebraska is known for football, but with Coach Miles coming in last year and winning games, the excitement for basketball is growing. I wanted to be part of that."

Nebraska's abysmal history suggests it will be a challenge for Hunter to help turn the football-centric school into a basketball power, but the school's newfound commitment to hoops gives the Huskers more reason for optimism than ever before.

Between the opening of a $20 million practice facility in 2011 and the construction of a state-of-the-art $179 million arena set to open this year, Nebraska boasts hoops facilities rivaling any in the nation. The decision to hire Miles last spring was also shrewd since the charismatic second-year coach has a track record of revitalizing tradition-bereft Colorado State and North Dakota State.

That Miles was able to offer the money necessary to lure a coach away from a program of Georgetown's caliber is another sign Nebraska is committed to ascending in the rugged Big Ten. Every coach on Miles' staff now reportedly makes at least $200,000 per year, with Hunter leading the way at $230,000.

Georgetown coach John Thompson III did not want to lose Hunter after fellow assistant Mike Brennan had already left earlier this spring to become the head coach at American University. Thompson hired Northwestern assistant Tavares Hardy to replace Brennan and tabbed Kevin Sutton to replace Hunter, with the caveat that Sutton would become director of basketball operations if Hunter decided to stay.

"People thought I got forced out or whatever, but that's not true," Hunter said. "Coach Thompson knew when I went on my visit to Nebraska last week that there was probably a great chance of me leaving, so it was a case of him being proactive and making sure he was covered if I was to leave. I think it's win-win. My experience as a coach and recruiter can help Nebraska and Georgetown is getting two guys who will continue the success they've had."

Miles and Hunter didn't know each other prior to this courtship, but the Nebraska coach targeted the Georgetown assistant at the recommendation of a mutual friend. Hunter's track record of recruiting and player development suggested to Miles he'll be an asset to the Nebraska staff.

At Georgetown, Hunter helped recruit or develop a handful of future NBA prospects including soon-to-be lottery pick Otto Porter and former centers Roy Hibbert and Greg Monroe. Hunter expects to use his familiarity with recruiting in Washington D.C. and other East Coast hotbeds to bring players to Nebraska.

"I just want to bring in good players that can help Nebraska, whether it's junior college players or high school players," Hunter said. "I'm all about bringing in the best player I can to help Nebraska."

One of the ironies of Hunter's hiring is the first opponent on Nebraska's schedule next season. The Huskers will christen their new arena in front of a sold-out crowd against Florida Gulf Coast, the upstart that knocked Hunter and the second-seeded Hoyas out of the NCAA tournament last March.

"Coach Miles gave me a little jab because he told me Florida Gulf Coast was my first scout," Hunter said with a chuckle. "I told him, 'I don't know if you want me to do that one,' but hopefully I can give a little bit of input. They return four guys from their 'Dunk City' team we created at Georgetown last year. Hopefully I can get the guys at Nebraska pumped up for that one."

It's flattering for Hunter to hear some suggest his hiring is another sign Nebraska basketball is on the rise, but the longtime assistant coach believes he still has a lot to prove. His goal is for nobody to be able to question why he'd leave Georgetown for Nebraska by the end of the Huskers' rebuilding process in a couple years.

"That's my main goal and focus is to come in here and help make Nebraska into a winner," Hunter said. "I feel pretty good about the future and the guys we have there. If we add one or two more pieces to the puzzle, I think we can be successful."

The rising senior impressed the UNLV coaches so much that they jumped at the chance to snatch Olekaibe up when he decided to transfer, especially since it won't cost the Rebels a scholarship to do so.

Olekaibe revealed Monday evening that he will transfer to UNLV and join the team as a walk-on, a move necessitated by the fact Fresno State would not release him to speak to other Mountain West schools. Though Olekaibe could have transferred anywhere outside the league with no restrictions, the only way he could play for another Mountain West program was to pay his own way.

Why would Olekaibe pay his own way at UNLV rather than accepting a scholarship offer elsewhere? He told the Las Vegas Sun and Las Vegas Review-Journal that he is returning to his hometown to be closer to his father, who is paralyzed from the waist down and unable to speak as a result of two strokes.

Olekaibe will petition for a hardship waiver from the NCAA allowing him to play right away as a senior next season. It appears Olekaibe would have a strong case to win his petition, but the stakes are high since transfers within the Mountain West typically have to sit out two full seasons and that would mean his college basketball career would be over.

That UNLV was able to land a scorer of Olekaibe's caliber without burning its last available scholarship is a coup for the Rebels.

Olekaibe averaged 17.8 points per game as a volume-shooting sophomore, albeit in the WAC rather than the Mountain West. An elbow injury that kept him out of the gym much of the offseason contributed to Olekaibe's outside shot becoming more erratic last season, leading the 6-foot-2 guard to average a modest 8.1 points per game on just 34.7 percent shooting.

If Olekaibe can accept a complementary role off the bench at UNLV assuming he gets his waiver, his outside shooting prowess could help make up for the unexpected transfer of Katin Reinhardt to USC a couple weeks ago.

Junior college transfer DeVille Smith and returning standout Bryce Dejean-Jones are likely to start in the backcourt for UNLV, but Olekaibe, fellow transfer Jelan Kendrick and freshman combo guard Kendall Smith would likely all see playing time. Olekaibe gives coach Dave Rice enough backcourt depth to play a three-guard look at times.

Former UNLV coach Lon Kruger passed on Olekaibe out of high school even though the undersized shooting guard averaged a state-best 35.6 points per game during the 2009-10 at Cimarron High School and scored more than 40 points nine times.

Given a second chance at landing the hometown product – this time without even having to use a scholarship -- UNLV could not turn Olekaibe down again.

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When tournament organizers revealed next season's 2K Sports Classic field in February, one of the obvious questions was whether former New England rivals Boston College and UConn would meet for the first time since the Eagles left the Big East in 2005.

Now we know the answer is yes.

Boston College and UConn will renew acquaintances Nov. 21 at Madison Square Garden, according to ESPN.com's Andy Katz, with the winner facing either Indiana or Washington in the title game the next day. The meeting represents a thawing of the long-icy relationship New England's two most prominent schools have had in recent years.

Angered that Boston College wasn't upfront about its intentions to leave the Big East for the ACC, UConn coach Jim Calhoun told the Hartford Courant in 2003 that he would not continue the rivalry as non-league foes.

"We won't play BC after they leave here," Calhoun said at the time. "I have no desire to play Boston College. Not for the fact that they are leaving but how they did it. I will not play Boston College as long as I'm here."

Boston College athletic director Gene Defilippo didn't help matters in 2006 when he said bluntly, "There are no plans to play UConn in football or in basketball any time in the near future." Defilippo fanned the flames further in 2011 when he told the Boston Globe he objected to a potential UConn move to the ACC, calling it a matter of "turf."

With Calhoun and Defilippo both having retired, new coaches and athletic directors at both programs and Connecticut's governor pushing for the rivalry to be relaunched, old hostilities seem to have softened a bit. A one-time only meeting at Madison Square Garden doesn't mean an annual non-conference matchup is in the cards, but rest assured both schools could have gotten out of meeting one-another if they wanted.

The timing of next season's matchup is fortuitous because both programs appear to be on an upswing.

UConn should challenge Memphis for the first-ever American Athletic Conference title next season since it returns a talented backcourt of Ryan Boatright, Shabazz Napier and Omar Calhoun. And Boston College appears ready to ascend in the ACC standings and challenge for an NCAA bid thanks to the return of league freshman of the year Olivier Hanlan and promising junior-to-be Ryan Anderson.

Since UConn is losing many of its former Big East rivals to either the ACC (Syracuse, Pittsburgh) or the new Big East (Georgetown, Villanova), the Huskies have no shortage of potential annual non-conference foes to consider. If Boston College continues to rise in national relevance, hopefully UConn will consider that potential series more seriously too.

Scottie Wilbekin already may not have been able to maintain his grip on Florida's starting point guard position with McDonald's All-American Kasey Hill arriving.

Now the senior is going to have an even tougher time keeping his job.

Florida announced via Twitter on Monday afternoon that Wilbekin has been suspended indefinitely for an unspecified team rules violation, the second time in seven months coach Billy Donovan has suspended the senior guard. Wilbekin also sat out the first three games of the Gators' season last November as a result of another unspecified team rules violations.

It's unclear when Wilbekin will be reinstated, but the fact this is his second suspension suggests his status on the team could be in some jeopardy, especially if he were to get into further off-the-court trouble this summer. A Florida spokesman declined comment when asked for further information about the cause of Wilbekin's suspension and how it would impact his status with the program.

Even though Hill has the potential to be an impact freshman for Florida, a prolonged absence for Wilbekin would be damaging to the Gators. The 6-foot-2 senior-to-be averaged 9.1 points and 5.0 assists as a junior in his first season as a starter and emerged as one of the SEC's better ball-hawking perimeter defenders.

Hill is a speedy pure point guard with the ability to create for himself or his teammates off the dribble, but he could use a year as an apprentice to Wilbekin to acclimate himself to the college game and add strength in the weight room. Without Wilbekin, Florida would be thin at guard, though Rutgers transfer Eli Carter could help alleviate that problem if he were to be granted a waiver to play immediately next season.

Florida has reached the Elite Eight three straight years but has not been able to parlay that into a Final Four appearance. With Patric Young returning to anchor a strong frontcourt and a talented recruiting class set to arrive, the Gators have Final Four potential once again, but Wilbekin's inability to stay out of trouble are a threat to that goal.

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The early front runner to go No. 1 overall in the 2014 NBA draft has passed on the chance to play for Canada at the U-19 World Championships in Prague next month. He'll instead spend his summer focusing on what's likely to be his lone season at Kansas.

“At 18 years old, Andrew has a long basketball career ahead of him. Andrew’s decision to prepare himself this summer for the upcoming season is a decision we acknowledge," Canada Basketball assistant general manager Rowan Barrett said in a statement. "Our team will miss Andrew this summer, but we remain focused on Andrew's long-term development and our organizational goals for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and beyond."

Wiggins' decision not to play for his country this summer comes as a disappointment to Canadian basketball fans, but he's hardly alone in making preparation for the college season a priority.

None of Kentucky's heralded incoming freshmen are trying out for the U.S. team, nor is prized Duke recruit Jabari Parker. In fact, Arizona-bound Aaron Gordon was the lone top 20 Class of 2013 recruit who chose to try out for the U.S. U-19 team and the only other incoming freshmen on the roster are Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Washington's Nigel Williams-Goss and UCLA's Bryce Alford.

Nonetheless, the decision by Wiggins draws greater scrutiny in Canada since he is the nation's premier young player. Not only did he help lead Canada to a bronze medal at the U-18 Americas tournament last summer to secure a berth in the U-19 World Championships, his name had also been listed on the Canadian U-19 roster prior to this weekend's announcement.

Canada's loss is certainly great news for Kansas, which expects to have its entire freshman class on campus this week once Wiggins arrives.

The Jayhawks are counting on Wiggins, guard Wayne Selden, center Joel Embiid and the rest of the freshmen to help make up for the loss of five starters from last year's Big 12 championship team. Having that class together on campus this summer should help them speed up the maturation process and build chemistry on and off the floor.

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When Charlie Coles awoke in a hospital bed in Kalamazoo, Mich. hours after suffering a near-fatal heart attack during the first half of a 1998 MAC tournament game, the Miami (Ohio) coach's first concern wasn't his health.

He gestured for a nurse to get him a pen and paper and scratched out the question, "Did we win?"

Stories like that of Coles' competitiveness and sense of humor are what his friends and colleagues in the basketball industry will remember most about him. Coles, Miami's all-time leader in career wins, died Friday morning at age 71, the school announced. No cause of death was reported immediately, but Coles had a long history of heart issues.

To provide a window into Coles' colorful wit and fierce competitiveness, I spoke to the greatest player he coached at Miami (Ohio). Wally Szczerbiak reflected on Coles' sense of humor, the time the coach nearly died on the floor and on the 1999 Sweet 16 run that landed Miami (Ohio) on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

JE: I'll start with the obvious question first. Give me your reaction to hearing that Charlie passed away this morning?

WS: It was a shock. It was very unexpected. Charlie had just retired a year ago and he had been doing really well. It was no secret he had some heart issues he was battling through. I don't know all the details, but he was a big part of my college career and he was a great coach and a great person. He'll be sorely missed.

JE: I'd spoken with him in late March for a story I did on Sean Miller and Thad Matta's friendship, and Charlie seemed as engaging and entertaining as ever. Do you think his death was a surprise even to those close to him?

WS: It was certainly a surprise to me. The last time I'd spoken to him, he seemed great and his health seemed under control. My junior year, he had that episode where he collapsed on the court during a MAC tournament game up in Western Michigan. So there was a little bit of history there, but he seemed to be doing well.

JE: I know Charlie was an assistant when you first got to Miami (Ohio). Did you get to know him on the recruiting trail or was it not until you got to campus?

WS: It was during the recruitment process that I first got to know him, and then when I got on campus he was assistant coach for a year before he took over the team. He was a great coach and a great guy. He taught me a lot about the game, he worked with me a lot and he saw my potential as a player and helped me realize it. I owe him a lot for that.

JE: One of the aspects of Charlie's personality that stood out most was his dry sense of humor. How often did that come out when you were playing for him?

WS: He had a great sense of humor with his players and the media and he kept things light, but at the same time when it came down to getting to work and winning basketball games and getting the most out of his players, he did a great job of that at Miami. He definitely had a great personality and sense of humor, and you saw that often during pregame speeches and in his postgame interviews.

JE: You said that he was instrumental in helping you tap into your potential in college. Can you elaborate on that a bit?

WS: He was a really great scorer back in his day, so I think he saw my ability to put the ball in the basket. He saw my leadership ability and skills and he saw my work ethic and improvement from year to year. He allowed me to explode on the scene my junior year and really assert myself as one of the leading scorers in the country and best players in the country. I really appreciated him allowing me to blossom into that role.

JE: Charlie had a heart attack and collapsed early in a MAC tournament game in 1998 and had to be revived on the court by doctors. Describe that day from your eyes. How scary was that to see your coach fighting for his life?

WS: Well, I'll always remember, there were 11 minutes to go in the first half and I was taking the ball out of bounds and I heard a big thud. I looked over, and he was laying on the ground. Luckily, it was in an arena where there were doctors around who were able to care for him right away. Ray Martin took over the team for the next couple games in the MAC tournament, and then Charlie came back my senior year as healthy as ever.

JE: I remember reading that the first thing Charlie asked in the hospital when he woke up was whether you guys won the game and that he coached you guys even harder the following year after the heart attack. Does that speak to his competitiveness?

WS: Yeah, we had a two-hour delay and we were wondering if we should even go out and play. The coaches and players decided he would want us to play, and we went out and played and won the game.

JE: The 1998-99 season, you guys won the MAC and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. Before that season, did you have an inkling you had a pretty special team?

WS: We did. Before the season, we had worked pretty hard. We had a lot of pretty accomplished seniors. We had good pieces on that team. Obviously it was a pretty special year. You have to have some things fall your way and stay healthy, and we did. We had a great team 1 to 12 and we had great chemistry. You need that in order to make a run like that.

JE: You had plenty of memorable games that season, but does scoring 43 against Washington in the opening round of the NCAA tournament top them all?

WS: I think so. That was my career high. I had other pretty good games, but to have it on that stage with so much riding on it in the NCAA tournament, I would have to say that was my best game.

JE: The next game, you guys upset second-seeded Utah to get to the Sweet 16. Best win of your college career?

WS: Yeah, definitely. Winning the first game was great, but then to knock off the No. 2 seed in Utah and make it to the Sweet 16, that showed the first win wasn't just a fluke. We really belonged, and we were really excited to move on to the Sweet 16.

JE: I think all of Charlie's peers realized how good a coach he was, but do you think that Sweet 16 run helped validate him as a coach in some ways too?

WS: Definitely. As a coach, you're judged by getting to the NCAA tournament and how far you go once you get there. Us getting to the Sweet 16, that's the furthest any Miami team has ever gotten. He led us a long way, we accomplished a lot of great things with that team, and he was a big reason for it.

JE: How close is that 1999 team still today? Did you guys keep in touch with each other and with Charlie?

WS: My teammates are the ones that notified me today. Mike Ensminger and Jason Grunkemeyer, they live in Ohio and they got the news before I did and they notified me ASAP. It's a tough day for all of us. It was a close-knit group, and we've definitely stayed very close.

JE: I think many people's favorite memory of Charlie was the press conference after his team suffered a close loss to the Kentucky team led by John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins in 1999. Did you chuckle watching Charlie's response to the question about how the game slipped away?

WS: I don't remember it, no. I just remember the game. It was pretty exciting, and the guys played great that night and put a scare into a great team.

JE: I know this is hard on short notice, but how would you define Charlie's legacy as a basketball coach?

WS: First and foremost, he's a great person. He did so much for his players and cared so much for the guys he recruited and coached. Then he was also a very accomplished coach. He lived and breathed basketball. He started as a great player and turned into a great coach. He accomplished many great things in basketball, and he'll be sorely missed.

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A 9-millimeter handgun and a magazine with nine rounds of ammunition were found on the ground outside the vehicle Hairston was driving when Durham police pulled him over at a checkpoint, according to multiple reports. It's unclear which of the three men in the car owned the handgun if any of them, but the implication is one of them may have attempted to dispose of the weapon as the vehicle approached the checkpoint.

Hairston and the other two men in the vehicle were arrested for possession of marijuana, and the North Carolina forward was also cited for driving without a license. The police report released Friday revealed officers found 43.2 grams of marijuana in the car in two separate plastic baggies.

If the possession of marijuana is the only charge levied against Hairston, North Carolina likely wouldn't have reason to make his punishment more severe than a brief suspension. Gun charges would surely complicate things, however, and perhaps even put his standing with the university in jeopardy.

North Carolina cannot afford to lose Hairston for an extended period next season since his return is one of the biggest reasons the Tar Heels are likely to begin the season in the top 10 in most polls.

Hairston averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game as a sophomore, sparking North Carolina's late-season surge when he moved into the starting lineup midway through ACC play. He averaged 18.2 points during the Tar Heels' final 13 games, playing so well that he briefly considered entering the NBA draft this spring before announcing in mid-April that he'd return to school for his junior season.

Coach Mark Turgeon again showcased his ability to secure top local talent on Friday, landing a commitment from elite shooting guard prospect Dion Wiley of Potomac High School in Maryland. Wiley, a consensus top 50 prospect in the class of 2014, chose the Terrapins over the likes of Indiana, Florida Georgetown and Texas.

"At the end of the day, the kid liked the relationship he had with Coach Turgeon and Coach Dalonte Hill and the whole staff, really," Team Takeover coach Keith Stevens said. "Dion is one of those kids that doesn't like all the attention. He felt a comfort level there, he felt like those guys can get him better and he felt like that was the best place for him. He saw no reason to let it linger on."

Whereas Williams had a notoriously tepid relationship with D.C.-area AAU programs and won despite not landing many of their top prospects, Turgeon has made it a priority from day one to keep local talent home. He kept well-connected Bino Ransom on his staff as the lone holdover from the Williams regime and plucked Washington D.C. native and former D.C. Assault head coach Dalonte Hill away from Kansas State.

The results in the class of 2013 and 2014 have been especially encouraging so far.

Turgeon's two incoming freshmen for next season are highly touted point guard Roddy Peters and center Damonte Dodd, both of whom played AAU ball for the DC Assault. In addition to Wiley, Turgeon has also already landed promising combo guard Romelo Trimble of the DC Assault for his 2014 class.

It's significant for Turgeon that Wiley plays for Team Takeover. The presence of Hill on Turgeon's staff gave him a leg up recruiting DC Assault players, but Wiley's commitment suggests the Maryland staff will be able to tap into the pipeline of the D.C. area's other talent-rich AAU program.

"They've done a really good job of finding their niche in the area," Stevens said. "What they've done is collectively targeted guys, figured out who is helping them make decisions and built relationships with them. They've made the people around the kids feel comfortable that the staff would make kids into better players and help turn them into good young men also."

What Maryland is getting in Wiley is an elite shooter who is well-rounded enough to also create off the dribble for himself and his teammates. Wiley is averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game for Team Takeover this spring and is shooting over 48 percent from behind the arc.

Consider that Maryland could potentially still have Nick Faust, Dez Wells, Seth Allen and Peters on the perimeter by the time Wiley and Trimble get to college, and it's clear Turgeon is assembling quite a backcourt.

Maryland may not yet have rejoined the elite under Turgeon, but his ability to secure top local talent has the Terps moving in that direction.

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As Memphis fans debate whether coach Josh Pastner took an unnecessary risk adding Michael Dixon to the roster earlier this week, one of the ex-Missouri stars close friends defended his former teammate.

Detroit Pistons guard Kim English, who played three seasons with Dixon at Missouri, told 92.9 FM ESPN in Memphis that the combo guard is ready to repair a reputation tarnished by two accusations of sexual assault. Dixon wasn't charged in either instance, but the allegations were enough for Missouri to dismiss him from the team last fall and for some Memphis fans to feel a bit squeamish about giving him a second chance.

[Related: Is Memphis' recruiting class 'way better' than Kentucky's?]

"He's a great guy," English told the radio station. "He was young. He was in a fun college town and he had a lot of fun, but now he understands the line he can't cross. You're a step away from being a professional. You can't party as much, and you learn that through college.

"We all partied a lot as freshman, and less as sophomores, less as juniors and less as seniors. Mike Dixon had a great time at Missouri, as we all did, but now he understands how important it is to be a productive citizen as well as a productive student-athlete."

Since Dixon has yet to speak publicly about the accusations he faced or the pain of being dismissed from Missouri, English's interview was especially compelling. The former Missouri guard noted the Boone County district attorney never so much as spoke to Dixon because the evidence was so thin and expressed disappointment that his alma mater was so quick to jettison Dixon.

"It's been rough for him," English said. "Some parents take a cell phone away from their kid and they'll be upset or unplug their video games or TV, but Mike was the type of kid that if his parents really wanted to hit him hard, they'd say he couldn't go to an AAU event or to basketball practice. Him being away from basketball, I know it really made him understand how much it is a privilege to be a Division I basketball player. I know he's going to do everything in his power to not put himself in any situations where he'll have to go through a season like he did this year."

If Dixon can avoid trouble, there's no doubt he can help Memphis on the floor next season, assuming the NCAA grants his petition to play right away.

The 6-foot-1 combo guard showed an ability to create for his teammates, finish at the rim or shoot from the perimeter at Missouri, averaging 13.5 points and 3.3 assists as a junior and leading all non-starters nationally in points per game. Throw him into a backcourt that already includes seniors Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford and Geron Johnson, and Josh Pastner has one of the most talented guard quartets in the nation at his disposal.

English says Dixon will endear himself to Memphis fans not only with his talent but with his attitude.

"Mike Dixon is so selfless and so committed to winning," English said. "I've never seen a teammate cry more after losses. He may not like me saying that, but he may have cried every time we lost a game. You can see it in his eyes how much it meant to him. He loves basketball so much and I'm really excited to see him get back on the court."

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Despite heavy rain delaying tipoff of their game aboard the USS Midway for two days last November and gusts of wind wreaking havoc on outside shooting, San Diego State's Steve Fisher and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim both expressed hope there would be more Veteran's Day weekend aircraft carrier games in the future.

For right now, however, it appears they may not get their wish.

Morale Entertainment's Mike Whalen, whose company staged the inaugural Carrier Classic in 2011 and two other games last year, said Thursday he does not intend to hold a basketball game on a ship this November. A spokesman for the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum said there are no plans to play a game on the USS Yorktown this year, while USS Midway Museum officials said there will be no Battle on the Midway sequel either.

"Hosting the SDSU-Syracuse game last year was a huge source of pride for both the USS Midway Museum and San Diego," USS Midway Museum marketing director Scott McGaugh said. "We also experienced firsthand the logistical challenges and oceanfront weather variables that make the concept difficult to reliably execute. So we've decided to take a year and evaluate various options based on our first year's experience."

Unless there's another party who makes a late push to try to set up a game, it appears the trend of games on ships will go on hiatus next season, probably a wise idea considering the weather issues that plagued last year's set of games.

One didn't start: The Nov. 9 matchup between Ohio State and Marquette was canceled about an hour after it was supposed to tip off because condensation made the court aboard the USS Yorktown too slick. Another didn't finish: Organizers called the game between Florida and Georgetown at halftime that same night because the floor aboard the USS Bataan had also become too wet.

Even the delayed game between San Diego State and Syracuse also had weather-related issues, though it was played under a cloudless sky aboard the USS Midway once the rain finally relented. A San Diego State team that relied on its perimeter game shot 1 of 18 from 3-point range and 14 of 33 from the foul line, unable to get to the rim against Syracuse's packed-in zone and unable to shoot straight as a result of the gusty ocean breeze.

Concerns about player safety on slick floors and quality of play in blustery conditions appear to have spelled the end for a trend that began with great promise in 2011. The inaugural aircraft carrier game between North Carolina and Michigan State aboard the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego provided picturesque views, huge TV ratings and lasting memories for the players, coaches and military servicemen aboard the ship.

The challenge for college basketball will be finding another way to replace the pizzazz the aircraft carrier games brought to the sport's opening weekend, which traditionally has lacked the blockbuster games needed to lure attention from football in mid-November.

None of the three marquee opening night matchups announced for this season so far will move the needle nationally the way Michigan State-North Carolina did two years ago.

Georgetown will meet Oregon in the Armed Forces Classic at a yet to be announced military base. Maryland and UConn will square off on a neutral court in Brooklyn. And Colorado-Baylor will highlight a quadruple header at American Airlines Center in Dallas, host city for the Final Four.

On the heels of a breakout sophomore season in which he emerged as North Carolina's most consistent scorer, junior P.J. Hairston is dealing with some unexpected off-the-court trouble.

Durham police stopped Hairston at a checkpoint Wednesday night and arrested him for possession of a small amount of marijuana, ABC11 News in Raleigh reported Thursday morning. Hairston was also cited for driving without a license.

It's too soon to project if Hairston will face suspension or other penalties from North Carolina as a result of his arrest, but the fact that it's his first known offense should work in his favor. North Carolina spokesman Steve Kirschner told the TV station the school is aware of the situation and may comment further after gathering more information.

Hairston averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game as a sophomore, sparking North Carolina's late-season surge when he moved into the starting lineup midway through ACC play. He averaged 18.2 points during the Tar Heels' final 13 games, playing so well that he briefly considered entering the NBA draft this spring before announcing in mid-April that he'd return to school for his junior season.

“I value the experiences I have had over the past two years in Chapel Hill, and hope to continue to grow under Coach Roy’s guidance," Hairston said in a statement announcing his return. "Coach always says ‘when you focus on the team during the season, he will support us in the offseason’ — this is my way of supporting coach, my teammates and the Tar Heel community."

With Hairston, forward James Michael McAdoo and point guard Marcus Paige all back next season from a team that won 25 games last year, North Carolina has appeared in many way-too-early preseason top 10s this spring. Hairston will need to refocus himself and use this as a learning experience for the Tar Heels to live up to those expectations.

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Even though Xavier released its schedule Tuesday without longtime rival Dayton on it for the first time in 68 years, it doesn't sound like the hiatus is likely to last too long.

Dayton coach Archie Miller said Wednesday he's optimistic the two schools will start a non-league series in the near future now that the Musketeers are moving to the new Big East and the Flyers are remaining for now in the Atlantic 10.

"Due to Xavier's league switch and non-conference scheduling conflicts, this upcoming season was impossible," Miller said via text message. "We hope there is a future and I think they are open to it as well. I obviously can't speak for Xavier though."

A Xavier spokesman didn't immediately return an email seeking comment, but Miller's comments are a positive sign this rivalry isn't likely to go the way of others killed off by conference realignment. Kansas will not schedule Missouri after the Tigers left for the SEC, Duke won't play Big Ten-bound Maryland after this season and Syracuse and Georgetown have yet to commit to a non-league series.

The series between Xavier and Dayton may not be quite as nationally relevant as those, but there's plenty of history between the two longtime foes. They've faced one-another at least once a year since the 1945-46 season, with the Musketeers winning 28 straight at home in the series but the Flyers boasting a 13-6 home record since the teams joined the Atlantic 10 in 1996.

It's understandable the two schools couldn't find a date that worked for the 2013-14 season since both already had scheduling commitments and the Big East's 18-game schedule reduced Xavier's number of non-league games by two. Nonetheless, hopefully Miller is right and the game becomes a staple of both schools' non-league schedules the way Xavier-Cincinnati is.

Thanks to a change in format and venue for the annual Thanksgiving weekend tournament held in Anaheim every year, Cal State Fullerton will have the chance to do something Big West programs rarely get to do.

The Titans will play a pair of major-conference teams in their own gym.

Since the Anaheim Classic typically drew only sparse crowds to the Anaheim Convention Center, tournament organizers have opted to move the opening two days of the eight-team tournament to more intimate 4,000-seat Titan Gym. The final day of tournament play will be held at the cavernous Honda Center, which is home to the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.

"It's a great opportunity for our program to play those types of programs on our home floor and to have our gym on TV in front of a national audience," new Cal State Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor. "Anytime you can do that, it's the best exposure you can get. There's no dollar amount you can put on that. And also, it allows our fans to see some quality basketball in our gym and we have a chance to participate as well."

Cal State Fullerton can only participate in the same exempt tournament once every four years per NCAA rules, but the current plan is for the Titans to host the first two rounds of the event every year. They'll also participate in the 2013 tournament, which is headlined by the likes of Marquette, Creighton, San Diego State, Arizona State and Miami.

The chance to host an exempt tournament has been beneficial to small-conference teams in the past. Charleston finished third in the 2008 Charleston Classic and defeated Boston College in a consolation game last year. Hawaii upset Utah and Mississippi State in the 2010 Diamond Head Classic. And, of course, Division II Chaminade has pulled off some memorable upsets on its home floor in the Maui Invitational, most recently toppling Texas last year.

"Hopefully we can have some success this year," Taylor said. "It certainly will be nice to have those types of teams in our gym."

The new tournament will be known as the Wooden Legacy, making it essentially a fusion of the Anaheim Classic and the single-day Wooden Classic that has been held at Honda Center for the past two decades.

This is a clever decision by organizers since the Wooden Classic's single-day format made it difficult for the event to draw top-notch teams in recent years. The event took a one-year hiatus two years ago and has pitted UCLA against the likes of DePaul, Mississippi State and Davidson recently. By attaching John Wooden's name to the former Anaheim Classic, the event also guarantees the Bruins will participate once every four years, an addition that should help boost ticket sales and interest in Southern California.

Cal State Fullerton may not bring as large a crowd as UCLA would, but Taylor is hopeful his team can be competitive on its home floor next season. Though the three leading scorers from last year's 14-18 team have graduated, Taylor expects San Francisco transfer Michael Williams and Louisiana-Monroe transfer Steven McClellan to emerge as leaders for the Titans next year.

"We have some really good pieces," Taylor said. "If we can create the up-tempo style we're after and have great energy night-in and night-out, I like where we're at and I like our chances to immediately have an impact in the Big West Conference."

Incoming Memphis freshman Kuran Iverson doesn't seem to buy the talk that Kentucky's recruiting class could be the best since Michigan's Fab Five.

In fact, the 6-foot-9 cousin of Allen Iverson isn't convinced the Wildcats' star-studded class will be the best group of freshmen next season.

“Everybody talking about Kentucky hype, but there ain’t really gonna be no Kentucky hype," Iverson told told SNY.tv on Sunday. "There’s gonna be some Memphis hype.”

Asked if that meant he thought Memphis' class would turn out to be the better of the two, Iverson didn't back down, telling SNY.tv, "Yeah, way better. Way better. They talented, we work hard."

It's unlikely any class in the nation is going to be "way better" than Kentucky's considering the Wildcats would have boasted the top-ranked player at every position had Andrew Wiggins not chosen Kansas. Even without Wiggins, Kentucky still has a decorated eight-man class headlined by forward Julius Randle, guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison and center Dakari Johnson, all top 10 recruits in the Rivals 150.

In Iverson's defense, the follow-up question posed to him left him little choice but to stand up for his future teammates, even if he could have been more humble in his response. Plus, Memphis' 2013 recruiting haul is good – really good – even if it's not quite as loaded as Kentucky's.

Austin Nichols was one of the most coveted power forwards in the nation, the versatile Iverson can guard multiple positions and RaShawn Powell, Markel Crawford, Nick King and Dominic Woodson are each also top 100 recruits. It's a talented enough class to rank third behind only Kentucky and Kansas in most recruiting rankings.

Of course, recruiting rankings are often proven wrong, so Iverson and his future Memphis teammates will have their chance next season and over the course of their careers.

It wouldn't be the first time a member of the Iverson family has made a dubious prediction come true. Remember Allen Iverson's infamously boasting he could take Michael Jordan in his prime and then actually pulling it off in a game his rookie season with the Philadelphia 76ers?

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In case capturing a national championship, putting a horse in the Kentucky Derby and seeing his son land a Big Ten coaching job weren't enough, here's further proof that it's pretty good to be Rick Pitino these days.

The Louisville coach will now be able to pour from a bottle of bourbon with his own image on the front of it.

Kentucky-based Maker's Mark announced last month it will honor Pitino by producing 12,600 commemorative bottles of bourbon with the Louisville coach's likeness on them. The company revealed the design of the bottle Tuesday and announced that $500,000 worth of proceeds from the sales of the bourbon will go to Louisville's Academic Center of Excellence.

"We couldn't do what we're doing from an academic standpoint without sponsors like Maker's Mark," Pitino told reporters. "We're going to raise a lot of money from this."

Of course, Pitino isn't the first Kentucky sporting luminary to have his likeness appear on a bottle of Maker's Mark. Kentucky fans lined up by the dozen at stores to purchase John Calipari bottles after his first Final Four appearance two years ago, and Louisville fans quickly snapped up Charlie Strong bottles last year.

(Thanks to @jdemling for the video)

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There has never been any doubt Michael Dixon would get a second chance to play college basketball because the former Missouri star has proven he can be one of the nation's top combo guards.

Now we know which school will be taking that risk.

Dixon committed to Memphis on Tuesday morning during his visit to the school, Memphis Roar and CBSSports.com reported Tuesday.  The 6-foot-1 senior-to-be left Missouri last November after two accusations of sexual assault became public, though he never faced criminal charges on either of them.

Memphis will petition for a waiver for Dixon to be eligible to play immediately since he sat out last year after leaving Missouri despite not being charged. There is precedent for Dixon to receive his waiver since Maryland forward Dez Wells got one last year after Xavier dismissed him as a result of an accusation of sexual assault that also never led to charges.

What makes Dixon potentially worth the risk for Memphis is his ability to create for his teammates off the dribble, score going to the rim or shoot from the perimeter. He led the nation in scoring among non-starters as a junior at Missouri during the 2011-12 season, averaging 13.5 points and 3.3 assists per game and shooting 88 percent from the foul line.

Insert Dixon into an already-loaded Memphis backcourt, and suddenly the Tigers boast one of the nation's premier guard quartets. With seniors Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford and Geron Johnson all returning, Memphis coach Josh Pastner will probably have to utilize some three- and four-guard looks to get his best players on the floor and keep his guards happy.

Of course, all this is contingent on Dixon staying out of trouble since he'll surely be under a zero-tolerance policy at Memphis.

Last spring, Pastner plucked Johnson from a junior college despite a checkered history of arrests and marijuana use, a decision he only made after diligently looking into Johnson's background via conversations with his family, former coaches and teammates. Johnson made an impact on the floor and created no problems off of it, exactly what Pastner hopes Dixon will be able to do.

None of Pastner's players have gotten into legal trouble during his four seasons as head coach at Memphis, so he deserves the leeway he is getting from his administration to gamble on a player of Dixon's caliber.

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The rising junior tweeted over the weekend that he has shed his cast and his crutches and is feeling stronger every day. Ware has even been spotted in Louisville's practice gym shooting jump shots, WDRB.com's Eric Crawford reported Monday night.

"I'm standing on my two feet on my own again now," Ware tweeted over the weekend.

It will be a while still before Ware can run or cut or get full lift on his jumper, but he wrote that his goal is to have made a full recovery by October. That seems a bit ambitious since only seven months will have elapsed since the injury, but Ware's perseverance and spirit in the wake of the injury should serve as reminders not to doubt him.

If Ware ever gets discouraged by his recovery plateauing or the challenges of daily rehab, he can find inspiration in the stories of two other former college athletes whose compound fractures also caused teammates and coaches to recoil in horror.

Doctors weren't sure former Texas A&M guard Derrick Roland would ever play again after his 2009 injury, but he was healthy enough to play in pick-up games eight months after his injury and has since played professionally in South America and Europe. Ex-Michigan State running back Tyrell Dortch said doctors told him he was risking ending up in a wheelchair if he played football again after fracturing his right leg in two places in 2001, but he eventually became a co-captain and key contributor for two full seasons.

"He's going to have a lot of doubts, a lot of 'why me's' and a lot of feeling sorry for himself," Dortch said about Ware the day after the Louisville guard's injury, "but if he's mentally tough, he can get back to his playing form."

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Cal's historic script logo may have survived the school's rebranding process last month, but it won't be in its usual place at mid-court at Haas Pavilion next winter.

In its place will be an enormous stained version of the school's new secondary mark, a growling Golden Bear.

The script logo will still have a place on floor, with one going inside the 3-point arc on both ends of the court. In a thinly veiled effort to appease traditionalists by making it seem like the script logo isn't being de-emphasized, Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour insisted they will actually get more airtime this way because the majority of games take place inside the 3-point arc.

"We are excited about the new floor at Haas Pavilion," Barbour said. "The design enables us to increase exposure of our new visual identity while still maximizing exposure for the traditional Cal script. All of our visual identity elements are important brand assets and we believe this floor maximizes each of them."

As is often the case with court redesigns, reaction among Cal fans has been mixed so far on Monday afternoon.

"Say it ain't so," wrote one Cal fan on The Bear Insider. "Way too big of a logo, especially one that's not very good."

"It's not that bad," countered another. "If you have to put the new bear logo in the center, this is a good way to do it."

Even the critical Cal fans can take solace in that their school will never have the Pac-12's most grotesque basketball floor no matter how hard they try. That honor will go to Oregon, whose garish fir tree-framed floor remains the most polarizing in the nation.

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When director of basketball operations Michael Young was offered a community service role in the Houston athletic department after his contract expired Friday, the former Cougars star refused reassignment. Young instead left the school, telling the Houston Chronicle he's "disappointed" Dickey no longer wanted him on the coaching staff but that he's "moved on."

As a result of his father's departure, sophomore guard Joseph Young also will be leaving the program. Young, a former top 100 recruit, averaged a team-high 18.0 points per game and shot 42.5 percent from behind the arc last season, leading the Cougars to a solid 20-13 season.

"I guess he loves his dad more than he loves the University of Houston," the elder Young told the Chronicle. "He made a statement to me that he can't play for a coach that doesn't want his dad to be a part of the staff."

Perhaps Dickey had a really good reason for wanting the elder Young off his staff, but on the surface this looks like a really poor gamble.

Why risk alienating your leading scorer on a team with some promising young talent just to reassign the fifth-most important member of the coaching staff? A director of basketball is responsible for behind-the-scenes work in a program, but Houston is probably better equipped to have staffers pick up the slack for the elder Young than to have players make up for Joseph Young's absence.

Dickey, of all people, should know how important having Michael Young on the coaching staff was to Joseph. After all, Houston only landed Joseph Young when he reneged on his initial decision to attend Providence three years ago after Dickey hired his father to be the director of basketball operations in the first place.

What will be interesting to watch during the fallout of Joseph Young's departure is if he can get a waiver to be eligible at his new school immediately.

When Trey Zeigler left Central Michigan a year ago after the school fired his dad as head coach, the NCAA allowed him to play right away at Pittsburgh instead of sitting out the customary one-year penalty for transferring. Young's case is less clear-cut since his dad wasn't technically fired and wasn't the head coach, but he certainly has enough of a precedent to at least attempt a petition, which should make him one of the more coveted transfers left on the market.

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Before heading to the airport at the end of his recruiting visit to Marist College last month, guard Nick Colletta discovered coach Jeff Bower had one slightly unusual activity planned for him.

The Marist coach asked Colletta to take a personality assessment survey.

Colletta spent the next 10 minutes perusing two lists of 56 adjectives, one in which he had to check off the personality traits he thought best depicted the way he was expected to act and the other in which he marked the ones that he felt really described himself. Computer analysis of Colletta's answers suggested he was competitive, gregarious and comfortable with the ball in his hands at crunch time, further confirming to Bower that the sweet-shooting senior from Glendora High School was worth a late scholarship offer.

"Maybe other recruits might be surprised to have to take the test, but it really wasn't that weird to me after Coach Bower explained the purpose," Colletta said. "It was an interesting test to take because it really made you think about who you were."

Bower's use of personality profiling as a tool to help assess recruits is a tactic borrowed from pro sports.

Just like NFL and NBA teams grade potential draft prospects on their speed, strength or proficiency in certain drills, they also use clinical interviews, aptitude tests and personality surveys as evaluation tools. The goal is to determine which potential draftees will thrive under pressure, respond when challenged and fit smoothly in the locker room.

During Bower's 15-year stint as a scout, coach and general manager in the New Orleans Hornets organization, he grew to trust the accuracy of the personality assessment survey the franchise used. As a result, Bower brought the Predictive Index with him when he left the NBA ranks to replace coach Chuck Martin at Marist earlier this spring, using the psychological profiling method to help evaluate recruits, assemble his coaching staff and fast-forward his understanding of his current roster.

"I've seen its value in the past in the NBA and I can see its value even more in a college setting," Bower said. "We're not looking for any one quality in particular. We're looking for how individuals function best and what their natural instincts are. We think it's a tool that will help us blend personalities together and bring the right kind of person here."

It's difficult to evaluate how common the use of personality profiling is in college basketball recruiting, but conversations with coaches, school officials and those who administer the tests suggest Marist is one of the few programs to even dabble with the idea.

Sports Aptitude co-founder Eric Weiss, whose firm conducts psychological testing on draft prospects for 11 NBA teams, says his company's attempts to break into the college market have been largely unsuccessful.

Whereas NBA franchises have the power to decide which draft prospect to select each June, college coaches are at the mercy of top high school prospects, the best of whom can often choose from dozens of scholarship offers. As a result, college coaches fear asking high school players to fill out a personality assessment test or agree to a clinical interview because some players might be turned off by having to take a test at one school that others don't ask them to do.

"The recruiting process in college is more of a courtship than the NBA draft, so there has been some hesitancy among coaches to ask a recruit to take a psychological test," Weiss said. "It's absolutely applicable in college and in fact it's more vital in a lot of ways because you have a larger pool of talent to choose from, but they're afraid to do it. Asking a kid to be tested instead of basically romancing him is the concern."

The most high-profile college coach to embrace personality profiling is legendary Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summit, who was first introduced to the Predictive Index system in the early 1990s by a Knoxville car dealer who used it to hire his own employees. Each time a recruit came on an official visit to Knoxville, Summitt asked the player to fill out a Predictive Index survey and then analyzed the results with her.

Former All-American Chamique Holdsclaw's survey showed she thrived under intense pressure in the most challenging situations, so Summitt emphasized during the recruiting process that if Holdsclaw came to Tennessee, she'd be playing for a demanding coach in front of fans who'd expect Final Four runs every year. Point guard Kellie Jolly's survey suggested she was a perfectionist who was hard on herself when she made mistakes, so Summitt knew to offer encouragement after poor possessions rather than tearing into her further.

Though longtime assistant Holly Warlick has since taken over for Summitt at Tennessee, personality profiling remains a staple of the program's success. Warlick said she doesn't recall Tennessee ever rescinding a scholarship offer based on the results of a Predictive Index survey, but she conceded she'll seek out certain personality types at certain positions and she'll tailor her recruiting pitch or motivational style to what the psychological profile suggests will be most effective.

"The longer we've used it, the more I've learned it's a fairly accurate assessment," Warlick said. "I think at the key positions you've got to have leaders, but I think you have to have some kids who follow too and who want to and are good at it. The key is you need a little mix."

Much like college coaches see the benefit in assessing whether a prospective player would be a good fit for their programs, high school recruits selecting a college also find personality profiling useful.

Ex-college golfer Betty Baird Kregor started a company that uses psychological assessment tests to help high school prospects determine the communication and motivational style they need from a college coach in order to maximize their chance to succeed. Kregor's inspiration is the career-altering decision she made to play golf at the University of Alabama in 1979 under a coach who emphasized structure and technical skill, not the ideal environment for a free-spirited three-time junior All-American who did everything by feel.

Since Kregor lost her confidence and passion for her sport at Alabama and had to transfer after her sophomore year, she now tries to help young athletes not make the same mistake she did. The hundreds of high school prospects who have worked with her each take a DISC personality test that contains 28 groups of four statements and requires test-takers to select the statement in each group that best and least describes them.

"As athletes become more aware of who they are and what makes them tick, they can then look for schools that have what they need," Kregor said. "I have students that test highly, highly competitive and to have a chair thrown at them would fire them up and make them perform better. Then I also have students that if a chair were thrown at them, there would be a lawsuit and they would leave immediately. So if you don't know who you are before you head to college, there's a greater chance you're going to be disappointed."

If personality profiling is a natural fit as an evaluation tool during the recruiting process, it can also help coaches figure out what motivational techniques to use to bring out the best in their current teams too.

From Loyola Marymount women's basketball, to Oregon State men's golf, to Florida women's soccer, about 30 U.S. college programs have hired Australia-based Athlete Assessments to psychologically profile their players. Founder Bo Hanson, a three-time Olympic medalist in rowing for Australia, created a sports-specific personality profiling method based on the DISC behavioral test that gives coaches insight into the strengths, weaknesses and preferred communication style of their athletes.

"I come from a sporting background, and we've lost Olympic gold medals by tenths of a second," Hanson said. "Sports today, the margins have compressed to a large degree. Teams have altitude training. They've got all this technology. The only big area where you can still get big gains is enhancing the capability of your people. Why wouldn't you be willing to try something if it's within the rules and can help your team get an edge?"

That last statement from Hanson is also reflective of Bower's coaching philosophy. Personality profiling is just one of the cutting-edge methods the new Marist coach plans to use to revitalize a program that he once helped lead to back-to-back league titles as an assistant coach in the late 1980s but has finished eighth or worse in the MAAC in each of the past five years.

He watched film and edits of all his current players via Synergy Technology and plans to extensively chart tempo-free stats and advanced metrics in addition to traditional ones. He'll work closely with Marist's information technology department to find ways to monitor players' academic progress and watch for warning signs. And he'll track response time among high school prospects to everything from calls and texts, to pamphlets, to in-person visits in hopes of identifying which methods were most well-received and which weren't effective.

"You don't know until you track something," Bower said. "I think it can point out trends and patterns and get you to information much quicker than traditional methods of standard observation.

"I see the reaction from players when you show them the hard facts as opposed to vague generalities. Players like to be told the truth and what it is they need to improve on. Measuring and monitoring things give you the data and facts to help make those areas more evident to your players."

Of all Bower's innovative analytics methods, the use of personality profiling in recruiting is definitely the one that will set Marist apart most from its peers.

Bower has access to the personality assessment surveys of all the NBA draft prospects interviewed by the Hornets during his tenure. He believes the patterns that emerged from that data can help him find players with the proper makeup to thrive in college too.

Asked if he thinks personality profiling will one day be a trend in college basketball the same way it is among Fortune 500 companies hiring employees or NBA teams evaluating draft prospects, Bower said it will depend on how open-minded coaches are.

"All I can say is I've seen the value of it," Bower said. "I have a high comfort level with it and an understanding of how it can be applied."

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Now it's UCLA's turn to hope he shows more loyalty than his name suggests.

Bail reportedly committed to the Bruins during his visit to Westwood on Friday, making him the first recruit Steve Alford has landed since being hired almost two months ago. The 6-foot-8 Bahamas native has been cleared academically and should provide depth off the bench at both forward positions for UCLA next season.

Originally a Rivals 150 prospect in the Class of 2012, Bail brings athleticism that UCLA has lacked of late at the forward position. Luke Lucky, Bail's former coach at Lamar Consolidated High School in Texas, praised Bail's first step to the basket and ability to guard multiple positions.

"He's an amazing athlete at his size, but he's also skilled," Lucky said. "He can handle the ball, he can pull up and shoot a jump shot. He needs polish and his decision-making could be a little better – and he may have worked on that in the past year, I don't know – but it's unbelievable to see someone so big also be so quick and explosive."

Bail was one of the centerpieces of Billy Gillispie's final recruiting class at Texas Tech, but he didn't last long in Lubbock. Lucky said Bail departed both because of his academic issues and because he found Gillispie's abrasive leadership style to be a poor fit for what he wanted from a coach.

"It was a combination of both," Lucky said. "He's a great kid with a great personality and he's fun to be around, but that Billy Clyde way, I don't know if kids this day and age buy into that."

Texas Tech's loss is UCLA's gain now that Bail has apparently chosen the Bruins over suitors USC and Miami. He appears likely to back up Kyle Anderson at combo forward as a freshman and contend for a greater role the following season once both Wear twins and perhaps Anderson too are gone.

Six weeks ago, the Big 12 appeared in jeopardy of a down 2013-14 season with Kansas losing all five starters, Baylor and Oklahoma State expected to lose key underclassmen to the NBA draft and Oklahoma, Iowa State and Kansas State also saying goodbye to stars. Since then, a late influx of talent has improved the outlook for the league and silenced talk it will be the worst power conference next year.

Kansas rose from a fringe top 20 team to a likely national title contender by landing the nation's top recruit in Andrew Wiggins and an experienced, talented big man in Memphis transfer Tarik Black.

Oklahoma State could also crack the preseason top 10 thanks to the stunning return of likely top five pick Marcus Smart, along with complementary stars Markel Brown and LeBryan Nash.

Baylor too has the talent to be formidable with Isaiah Austin and Cory Jefferson both bypassing the NBA draft to return to school, though the Bears will have to find a way to replace do-everything point guard Pierre Jackson.

And now even Iowa State may yet emerge as an NCAA tournament team for the third straight season if the key transfer it landed Thursday night pans out.

DeAndre Kane, who averaged 15.1 points and seven assists for Marshall last season, chose the Cyclones over Pittsburgh and Memphis, among others. The 6-foot-4 senior will be eligible immediately and will help fill the void at point guard left by the graduation of Michigan State transfer Korie Lucious.

Though Kane is more of a scoring guard than a true pass-first point guard and he shot a mediocre 40 percent from the field last season, landing a player of his caliber in late May is certainly a coup for Iowa State. He'll add perimeter scoring punch to a team that graduated leading scorers Will Clyburn and Tyrus McGee but does return Melvin Ejim and promising sophomore Georges Niang up front.

Even with all the good news May has brought, the Big 12 almost certainly won't be one of the nation's top three leagues next season. Texas has been decimated by transfers, West Virginia and Oklahoma are rebuilding and Kansas State may not be able to overcome the unexpected departure of point guard Angel Rodriguez.

But with Kansas, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Iowa State all improving themselves this spring, at least the Big 12 isn't headed for a potentially historically bad season as initially feared.

As Shabazz Muhammad stands on the verge of achieving his lifelong dream of becoming an NBA lottery pick, the man who helped mold the former UCLA star into a pro prospect is unable to enjoy the final steps of the process with him.

Ron Holmes, Muhammad's father, has been indicted on federal bank fraud and conspiracy charges and is currently being detained in Las Vegas pending a detention hearing, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported Thursday night. The U.S. attorney’s office is seeking to recover $2.5 million from Holmes and several associates, each of whom allegedly obtained loans to buy houses from 2006 to 2009 by fraudulent means.

The charges against Holmes can't be considered too shocking since this isn't his first brush with the law. In a case that bears remarkable similarities to the current charges, Holmes was sentenced to six months house arrest in 2000 for fraud involving multiple mortgages in the Los Angeles area.

Beyond that, Holmes has a checkered reputation in basketball circles.

The NCAA thoroughly investigated the family last year prior to Muhammad debuting at UCLA because of money the family accepted from several financial advisers. The Los Angeles Times also revealed in March that Muhammad was a year older than Holmes initially claimed, an accusation Holmes initially denied before later offering reporter Ken Bensinger a job in return for not reporting the information.

"Bazz is going to blow up in the NBA lets team up and blow this thing up!!!" Holmes texted, according to Bensinger. "I'm going to need a publicist anyway why shouldn't it be you. We can do some big things together."

Muhammad may do big things, but right now his father isn't helping. The ex-UCLA star left college after one season and will likely be selected in the lottery later this month.

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If the history of scandal-tainted college programs has taught us anything, it's that every outgoing disgraced coach gets treated differently.

Ohio State fans gave Jim Tressel a standing ovation last November to commemorate his return to Ohio Stadium for the 10-year anniversary of the 2002 national championship. By contrast, Indiana fans might run Kelvin Sampson out of Bloomington with pitchforks if he ever returned to the program he sent plummeting into rebuilding mode with rampant recruiting violations. And then there's Jim Harrick, hardly beloved by UCLA fans despite winning their lone post-Wooden national title yet certainly not shunned either.

The relationship between Eddie Sutton and Kentucky fans always seemed most similar to Sampson and Indiana, which is why it's intriguing that Wildcats coach John Calipari is apparently trying to thaw the ice.

Calipari told the Tulsa World on Thursday he has invited Sutton to observe practice in Lexington and offer his advice. Not only have the two coaches had a strong rapport since Calipari's UMass team met Sutton's Oklahoma State team in the Final Four in 1995, they're close enough that Sutton was one of the people Calipari called when deciding whether to leave Memphis and come to Kentucky four years ago.

"I said, 'Come on in, man. Come on in to practice,'" Calipari told the newspaper. "I'm not into all that other stuff. My whole thing is Eddie Sutton has been great for the game of basketball and great for college coaches and has helped many, many programs.

"Like many of us, you have hiccups along the way. I'm not judgmental in any way."

Reaction to Calipari's invitation has been mixed among Kentucky fans, some of whom still have a hard time forgiving how Sutton left the program at the end of his otherwise successful four-year tenure. He resigned under pressure after a 13-19 season in 1989 amid allegations of recruiting violations that ultimately resulted in three years of probation for Kentucky and a two-year ban from postseason play.

The parting ultimately led to bigger and better things for both sides as Kentucky became a powerhouse in the 1990s again under Rick Pitino and Sutton flourished as head coach at Oklahoma State. Nonetheless, Sutton's only public appearance at Kentucky since his departure came in 1992 when his Oklahoma State team played in a regional semifinal game against Michigan.

In 2011, Sutton addressed the recruiting violations that led to his departure, telling the Kansas City Star the incident that led to his firing at Kentucky was "a set-up." What Sutton is likely referring to is the surfacing of an overnight package full of cash addressed to the father of then-prized recruit Chris Mills and allegedly shipped by then-assistant coach Dwane Casey.

“Who would send money like that?" Sutton told the Star. "And an overnight package somehow opens up? You need a crowbar to open those things."

Suspicious or not, the incident was part of what led to Sutton's ouster, what landed Kentucky in hot water with the NCAA and what created a rift between Sutton and his former school.

Has enough time passed to tear down those walls? Calipari apparently thinks so. It will be interesting to see if Kentucky's always vocal fan base agrees with him.

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Two years after backing out of his initial verbal commitment to USC, Katin Reinhardt has decided to give the Trojans another chance.

The UNLV transfer told Scout.com on Thursday he will attend USC, a decision he came to after visiting the campus and the coaching staff on Wednesday. Reinhardt confirmed the news via his Twitter page Thursday morning.

Although Reinhardt will have to sit out all of next year before playing the 2014-15 season as a redshirt sophomore, his ability to score in multiple ways and his outside shooting prowess should make him worth the wait for USC. Reinhardt was a consensus top 75 recruit from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. and he averaged 10.1 points per game as a volume-shooting freshman at UNLV.

That Reinhardt is leaving UNLV caught many by surprise this past weekend because of the freedom he was given to shoot at will with the Rebels. He told Scout.com UNLV viewed him as mostly as a catch-and-shoot threat and he's hoping to prove he can be an asset playing on the ball more frequently as a combo guard in new USC coach Andy Enfield's up-tempo system.

“We watched film for about 45 minutes and coach Enfield showed me their style of play and how I would fit in," Reinhardt told Scout.com. "He said that he doesn't want me to be pigeonholed into one thing; I would be a playmaker, and I felt very comfortable with that."

The 6-foot-5 Reinhardt is a better shooter than he showed at UNLV, where he took more shots than everyone besides lottery pick Anthony Bennett but only made 35.1 percent of his threes. He should fit in well in USC's offense-oriented system, but his defense has room for improvement and he'll have to prove he can create for his teammates off the dribble.

The knock on Mater Dei products recently has been there tendency to transfer at the first hint of adversity. Eight of the nine Mater Dei prospects in the Rivals 150 since 2007 have attended two or more colleges, a list that includes Taylor King, David and Travis Wear, , Keala King, Tyler Lamb and Gary Franklin, among others.

The scary news for USC is only a couple of those guys have become productive players at their second school. Reinhardt certainly has the talent to buck that trend.

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Its new logo is actually pretty stylish.

The league continued its branding process Thursday by unveiling its new logo, a blue block letter "A" with a red star in the middle of it. The horizontal secondary mark features the word "American" spelled out in the same block letter font with the identical red star this time dotting the "i."

League commissioner Mike Aresco said design agencies created a variety of logo options for him to show anyone from school presidents, to athletic directors to student-athletes. The new logo was the unanimous choice, according to Aresco.

"We believe this bold mark and our series of ancillary marks will support our conference name and the values that our name represents," Aresco said in a statement. "In addition, our partners at ESPN and CBS agree that its strength, simplicity and elegance will resonate well on TV."

It's probably a safe bet outgoing members Louisville and Rutgers were not consulted on the logo even though they won't leave for the ACC and Big Ten respectively until July 2014. Neither the Cardinals nor the Scarlet Knights are even listed among the league's members on its newly launched website, unusual considering both will compete in the American for one full season before departing.

Titus Ashby's first trick shot video earned him 11 million YouTube views, a parody Twitter account and an appearance on "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America." The sequel hit YouTube this week, and believe it or not, it may be even better. The two-year-old Kansas boy sinks shots from all over his house, some over obstacles and others on baskets of different heights. The video even features fun cameo appearances by late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, who pretends to recruit Ashby but jokes that he probably won't be coaching by the time Ashby is a college freshman in 2028. Whoever the Wichita State coach is in 15 years, you can bet they'll be in for a battle to land young Ashby. Bill Self actually could still be coaching Kansas at that point, and as we've seen lately, he doesn't miss on many recruits.

(Thanks, College Basketball Talk)

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At a time when college athletics is overrun with rogue agents, unscrupulous coaches and handlers who exploit athletes for money, it's reassuring to know not every unrepentant rule-breaker goes unpunished.

Hearty congratulations to the NCAA for penalizing a student-athlete from a West Coast Conference school for the unspeakable crime of washing her car with the university's water and hose.

Portland basketball coach Eric Reveno tweeted about the violation Wednesday after he learned of it during conference meetings, punctuating his message with the hashtag #stopinsanity. A spokesman for the WCC did not know any further details, but a source familiar with the circumstances revealed what happened.

A WCC school self-reported an extra benefits violation when university officials caught one of their women's golfers washing her car on campus, according to the source. A secondary violation was ruled to have occurred because the water and hose were not available to regular students and requested the golfer pay back $20, which was deemed to be the value of the water and use of the hose.

NCAA spokeswoman Dana Thomas emailed Thursday that her organization did not participate in the decision and does not consider the car wash to have been an extra benefits violation. Asked why the golfer was penalized, Thomas said "it seems there was a miscommunication at some level" and the WCC is working with the school to clarify.

A WCC spokesman did not immediately return an email seeking further explanation of what happened.

That school administrators actually reported the violation and a penalty was initially assessed is equal parts hilarious and exasperating. What's next? Charging athletes by the sip at drinking fountains? Or by the gallon after locker room showers?

Too many petty rules like this one or the one governing the use of bagel spreads continue to choke the system and prevent administrators at the school, conference and NCAA levels from focusing on what's important. Reform is needed throughout college athletics, yet its leaders are too busy calculating the value of a couple buckets of soapy water to attack the real issues.

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Today the Oregon State transfer is headed to his dream school.

Starks, a 5-foot-9 guard from Chicago, announced Thursday he will transfer to childhood favorite Illinois, further proof of how quickly fortunes can change in college basketball. He has one year of eligibility remaining and could potentially play for the Illini as soon as next season if the NCAA deems his desire to be closer to his ailing grandma sufficient cause for a hardship waiver.

How much Starks can actually help Illinois is debatable because he was often exasperating at Oregon State.

Starks shot a career high 39.5 percent from behind the arc as a junior, but he struggled to finish at the rim as he has his whole career because of his size, sinking just 38 percent of his two-point attempts. He was especially ineffective over Oregon State's final eight games when he made just 12 of 47 shots.

Erratic shooting wouldn't be such an issue for Starks if he made up for it in other facets of his game, but his ability to score is his best asset. His size often makes him a liability on defense and he has a tendency to call his own number a lot for a point guard, a trait that led him to produce three or less assists in all but six games last season.

In reality, it may not be easy for Starks to crack the starting lineup in a crowded Illinois backcourt that features plenty of talent despite the graduation of Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson.

Promising junior-to-be Tracy Abrams is the incumbent starting point guard and the Illini will also feature returner Joseph Bertrand, talented Drake transfer Rayvonte Rice and standout recruits Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill. Starks told the Chicago Tribune he expects Illinois to often play with three guards, but unless coach John Groce plans to play him and Abrams at the same time, the Oregon State transfer's role could be to serve as a shooter, secondary ball handler and scoring spark off the bench.

Why would Groce take Starks when Illinois doesn't have a real need for him besides his outside shooting? One theory is that his presence could benefit future Illini recruiting in Chicago.

Starks won a Class 4A state championship for Chicago powerhouse Whitney Young in 2009 and led the Dolphins to a runner-up finish in 2010. Perhaps his presence in Champaign could be an asset to the Illini as they pursue Whitney Young standouts Jahlil Okafor and Paul White, the former Rivals.com's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2014 and the latter a 6-foot-8 forward ranked in the top 50.

That's why it's so stunning that the vetting process at scandal-ravaged Rutgers this spring wasn't more thorough.

In the six weeks since Rutgers fired Mike Rice for shoving and kicking players and hurling balls at their heads and athletics director Tim Pernetti for initially insufficiently punishing the coach, the bad news for the Scarlet Knights has yet to subside.

[Related: Rutgers' 'Comedy Central' leadership crisis isn't funny]

First came the revelation earlier this month that new basketball coach Eddie Jordan didn't have a degree from the school as claimed on his bio. Next came news this past weekend that new athletic director Julie Hermann had been accused of mistreating players when she was women's volleyball coach at Tennessee in the 1990s. And finally came Tuesday's latest punch to the gut, a New York Times report that Hermann was also at the center of a 2008 sex discrimination lawsuit when she worked at Louisville as a senior athletics administrator.

According to the Times, assistant track and field coach Mary Banker approached Hermann to complain about sexist behavior and “discriminatory treatment” by head coach Ron Mann. Three weeks later, Banker was fired from her position at Louisville, a decision her lawsuit largely attributes to Hermann.

It's Louisville's contention that Banker lost her job simply because her performance wasn't sufficient. A jury initially awarded Banker $300,000 in damages, but a Kentucky appeals court overturned the verdict, insisting Banker did not prove Louisville officials retaliated against her.

[Related: Latest Rutgers controversy is bad news for Big Ten]

Which side is right and which is wrong, however, is not the point when it comes to the Rutgers hiring process. What matters is that the Scarlet Knights were foolish enough to hire someone who had skeletons in her closet at a time when the athletic department couldn't afford more negative publicity.

Hermann may very well be a qualified administrator capable of cleaning up the mess Rice created and helping the school flourish in the Big Ten, but that doesn't mean she was the right choice for the job at this time. Rutgers needed an athletic director whose background was so squeaky clean that further examination wouldn't turn up so much as an unpaid parking ticket.

Instead the school is again facing negative publicity, which calls into question whether the pressure should shift to the one man who has been around for all of the past few months' problems: school president Robert Barchi.

Barchi opted to stand behind Hermann when news of the Tennessee allegations first broke. It will now be interesting to see how long the Rutgers community chooses to stand behind him.

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Why do those close to Andrew Wiggins consistently laud the nation's best high school basketball prospect for his character and humility?

Probably because so few of his peers would ever think to do something like what he did after graduating from Huntington Prep in West Va. on Friday.

Two days later, Wiggins wrote a letter to the Huntington community in Sunday's edition of the town's local newspaper, The Herald-Dispatch. From his host family, to his classmates and teachers, to even the school janitor, the Canada native thanks everyone involved in his life for their support during his two years of prep school. It reads, in part:

I just wanted to thank Huntington for your support for me and my Huntington Prep teammates and coaches these past two years. Without the community, none of what has been accomplished would have been attainable. I hope that when you hear or read my name, you are proud to say I played my high school days here in Huntington. Because I am proud to say I played here. [...]

One of the best things about my experience here is St. Joseph Central Catholic H.S. where we all attend. There are a lot of good people in that building from the principal to the teachers to the janitor; I will never forget all the positive influences they have been in my development as a young man. My peers at St. Joe have also been supportive of me and have always treated me as one of their own. I am not different, just a kid, and at St. Joe I could be. Thank you. [...]

I am from Canada and I am going to Kansas to play college basketball. I will hopefully be drafted to a city that I enjoy. But I will always have a place for Huntington in my heart and memories. I will not forget all the sacrifices they made for me and my teammates. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Wiggins, a 6-foot-8 small forward with explosive athleticism, will play what will almost certainly be his lone season of college basketball at Kansas before entering the NBA draft in 2014. Perhaps this time next year, he'll pen another thank you letter, this time to the people of Lawrence.

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Like most of us, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford spent part of Memorial Day Weekend by the grill flipping burgers and hotdogs.

The only difference was Ford wasn't in his backyard, nor did he cook for his family and friends.

Ford towed a grill and dozens of bags of food from Stillwater to a Home Depot parking lot in Moore, Okla, where he spent roughly 16 hours over the course of two days doing his part to help the tornado relief efforts. He fed burgers and hotdogs to everyone from families whose houses were torn apart by last week's tornadoes to the relief workers trying to help victims rebuild.

"I donated money to the Red Cross, but I wanted to do something physical to get my hands dirty a little bit," Ford told Oklahoma City-based TV station KOCO. I told my staff, 'Let's find a grill, pull it to Moore, buy up every hotdog and hamburger we can in Stillwater, and that's what we're doing.

"Everyone is trying to take care of each other, and that's the way it should be. Everyone has been extremely appreciative."

Credit Ford and his staff for doing more than just writing a check to help tornado relief efforts. Of course the money is valuable too, but it no doubt meant a lot to folks in Moore to be fed lunch or dinner by the Oklahoma State basketball coaches.

Ford, a Kentucky native, hasn't always been embraced by Oklahoma State fans as his six-year tenure with the Cowboys has featured plenty of ups and downs. Gestures like this should help win over new fans just as much as bringing back a top 15 team next season.

Guard Antonio Barton, who played the past three seasons at Memphis, chose Tennessee over Maryland, Kansas State and Texas A&M, his brother tweeted Sunday afternoon. Barton is on pace to graduate from Memphis this summer and will be eligible immediately to play his senior season with the Vols.

Though Barton is a proven outside shooter and defensive stopper who will help Tennessee in both those areas, the big question for the Vols is his point guard skills. Can he handle the ball and create open looks for his teammates well enough to solidify a position that was already a weakness for the Vols even before Golden's departure?

Barton had some nice moments as a freshman at point guard in place of a struggling Joe Jackson, but since then he has played mostly off ball for Memphis. The 6-foot-1 rising senior averaged 1.6 assists per game as a sophomore and 1.1 as a junior, eventually determining he needed to transfer when he fell behind Jackson, Geron Johnson and Chris Crawford in the guard rotation.

If Barton is the answer for Tennessee at point guard, suddenly the Vols look like a threat to finish in the top three in the SEC and perhaps even push favorites Kentucky and Florida.

Pair Barton with elite freshman Robert Hubbs and last year's leading scorer Jordan McRae at the wings, and that's a potentially formidable Tennessee backcourt. Throw in potential all-conference big man Jarnell Stokes and a now healthy Jeronne Maymon in the paint, and the Vols clearly have top 20 potential.

The key will be whether Barton can deliver the ball to Tennessee's other weapons in places where they can look to score, an area that Golden often struggled in a year ago. Combo guards Josh Richardson and Darius Thompson should also get some minutes at point guard, but now the position is Barton's to lose.

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When a report surfaced in late March suggesting he may transfer because he was unhappy at UNLV, guard Katin Reinhardt adamantly refuted the story by sending out a quick video on social media.

"So there's an article out that I'm going to be transferring to a different school," a shirtless Reinhardt says in a helium voice. "I don't know why somebody would say that, but I'm just letting you know it's not true."

Two months later, Reinhardt has reversed course. The rising sophomore is leaving UNLV and intends to transfer to either USC or another Pac-12 school, Rebels coach Dave Rice told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sunday evening.

That Reinhardt is leaving UNLV is remarkable considering the freedom he received as a freshman. On a deep Rebels team loaded with talented upperclassmen, Reinhardt logged 29.1 minutes per game and attempted the most threes and the second-most shots of any player on the roster, all despite making only 35.8 percent of his field goal attempts.

If there was anything for Reinhardt to be unhappy about, perhaps it was the position he was asked to play.

The former top 50 recruit primarily played off ball as a catch-and-shoot wing, a role that prevented him from trying to prove he has the ball handling and passing skills needed to play point guard. Anthony Marshall's graduation would have given Reinhardt the chance to play more point guard next season, but it's unclear if he'd have won the starting job with reserve Daquan Cook returning and several newcomers with experience at the position.

The departure of Reinhardt shouldn't come as a total shock to UNLV if only because of the high school he attended. Perennial California state title contender Mater Dei has produced nine Rivals 150 prospects since 2007 and all but Colorado rising sophomore Xavier Johnson have already changed colleges, some more than once.

Taylor King transferred from Duke to Villanova to NAIA Concordia University. Kamyron Brown spent two years at Oregon before going to Nebraska. David and Travis Wear left North Carolina in favor of UCLA. Gary Franklin didn't even last a year at Cal before leaving for Baylor. Tyler Lamb transferred from UCLA to Long Beach State. Keala King left Arizona State and was not invited back at Long Beach State. And now Reinhardt joins that ever-growing list.

For UNLV, Reinhardt's departure means only two of last year's eight leading scorers will be back next season, volume-shooting Bryce Dejean-Jones and interior standout Khem Birch. The Rebels had two other early departures, with Anthony Bennett leaving for the NBA draft and Mike Moser transferring to Oregon.

Without Reinhardt, UNLV should be better defensively on the perimeter but the team will miss his outside shooting. Rising sophomore Savon Goodman and UConn transfer Roscoe Smith will provide length and athleticism on the wings and Ole Miss transfer Jelan Kendrick will have an opportunity to make an impact in the backcourt.

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As a result, Wardle will not only retain his job but also avoid either a fine or suspension.

What led UWGB to hire an independent investigator to look into Wardle's behavior was a series of alarming accusations by former forward Brennan Cougill and walk-on center Ryan Bross. In a story published last month by the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Bross claimed Wardle called him derogatory and homophobic slurs, interfered with his academic course choices and ran him when he was ill during preseason conditioning to the point where he lost control of his bowels.

The statement UWGB chancellor Tom Harden released Friday mostly defended Wardle's conduct, especially how he handled Bross' illness during preseason drills.

Evidence culled from interviews with more than two dozen individuals suggested Wardle neither forced Bross to keep running even though he wasn't feeling well or humiliated him in front of the team. Harden does acknowledge, however, that "Wardle should have more appropriately sent the player back to the locker room at an earlier point in the drill."

UWGB also largely dismissed Bross' claims that he was prevented from pursuing a certain major because the course load would interfere with basketball. The investigator found that, like all freshmen, Bross' course preferences weren't given the same priority when the team's practice schedule was set as they would have been were he an upperclassmen.

The one area where the school did fault Wardle was the language he used when criticizing his players. Harden said some of Wardle's words were "obscene or vulgar" and he crossed the line encouraging a player to have sex because it would make him better in practice.

"I do not condone the notion, as some have suggested, that Division I basketball “culture” should allow coaches to mistreat players or direct obscene or vulgar language toward them," Harden said.

"There are certain words that are unacceptable — period — and Coach Wardle has acknowledged they are unacceptable. [The] report shows Coach Wardle has, at times, used such unacceptable language in criticism and comments to players,though whether it was specifically directed at particular players remains unclear. Coach Wardle has acknowledged the need to stop using certain offensive words in his dealings with student athletes, and I am confident he will be able to do so."

Since the school essentially found Wardle was only guilty of something numerous coaches do across the country, his punishment is predictably minor. In addition to a disciplinary letter addressing his language being placed in his personnel file, Wardle will not get his usual rollover contract extension and will be assigned an adviser to help him properly motivate players in the future.

Wardle, not surprisingly, was pleased by the outcome.

"I want to stress that I am grateful for the opportunity to represent this University and will continue to build a program of which it can be proud," Wardle said in a statement. "As a head coach it is my responsibility to care for our student athletes as if they were my own children. Their personal development is very important to me. I have done a tremendous amount of reflection and self-examination over the past several months that will help me improve as a coach. I am confident that our players are in a healthy environment where they can reach their academic and athletic potential."

That the independent investigator essentially refuted the worst of the accusations has to be a relief both for Wardle and for UWGB. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the allegations from Bross, in particular, were severe enough that Wardle's job likely would have been in jeopardy were they found true.

Of course, the one question that remains is why Cougill and Bross would concoct or embellish accusations against Wardle.

Maybe other players and coaches covered for Wardle. Maybe the two ex-players simply had an axe to grind. Maybe the truth is somewhere in between. Regardless, hopefully this experience serves as a learning experience for Wardle and his staff and accusations like this don't surface again.

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The only folks who didn't see the humor in a Knoxville barbecue chain's clever radio ad poking fun at former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl were members of the Ohio State compliance department.

They told Sporting News they intervened this week, requesting point guard Aaron Craft's name be removed from the ad out of fear the use of it could result in a minor NCAA violation. NCAA rules stipulate that a current student-athlete’s name or likeness cannot be used for commercial ventures.

"We have taken the necessary steps with all parties involved to alleviate any potential NCAA issues," Ohio State associate athletic director for compliance Doug Archie told Sporting News. "Aaron Craft's eligibility was never in danger. He had no knowledge nor provided consent."

Craft's name pops up in the commercial because of his role in the career-altering mistake that got Bruce Pearl fired as Tennessee's basketball coach.

Pearl hosted a backyard barbecue at his home for Craft while Tennessee was recruiting the point guard, a violation uncovered by the NCAA enforcement staff when they found pictures of the future Ohio State star at Pearl's home. Bruce Pearl later lied to NCAA investigators when questioned about the location of the barbecue, resulting in his firing.

In the radio ad, Steven Pearl, Bruce's son and host of a weekly show on Tennessee Sports Radio, begins by telling listeners "if there's one thing we Pearls know, it's how to throw a barbecue." Then after lauding the food at the restaurant chain, Pearl delivers this hilarious line: "Just remember, my two rules for legendary backyard barbecues – get your food from Calhoun’s and absolutely no photography."

The part of the commercial Ohio State has asked to be removed is the brilliant one-liner in the legal disclaimer at the end of Pearl's pitch. "Offer not available to Aaron Craft," it concludes.

Of course, the purpose of the radio ad obviously wasn't to get Craft in any trouble, but it's understandable Ohio State would send a cease and desist request. The school has endured enough trouble with the NCAA compliance issues recently. It doesn't need a clever but innocuous radio ad creating anymore.

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Ryan Kelly already was assured plenty of lifelong memories from 2013 but now he's made it one of the best years of his life no matter what is to come.

The former Duke forward used his Twitter account Thursday night to announce his engagement to longtime girlfriend Lindsay Cowher, the daughter of former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher.

There already was the memorable game in early March in when Kelly returned to the Duke lineup after missing nearly two months because of injury to score 36 points in a win over Miami. Kelly drained seven of nine 3-pointers that day and seemed unstoppable.

Kelly was part of another Duke run to the Elite Eight where the Blue Devils lost to eventual national champion Louisville, capping his final season playing for coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Kelly will also get his shot at playing in the NBA later this year. He is expected to be a second-round pick in next month's NBA draft. Whether he's drafted or not, the 7-footer will get his chance to make a NBA club in summer league and training camp in the fall.

The love of my life @lindsaycowhersaid yes! #sohappy #blessed twitter.com/RyanKelly34/st…

— Ryan Kelly (@RyanKelly34) May 23, 2013

Want to join the conversation? Follow @YahooDagger on Twitter and @KyleRingo and be sure to "Like" The Dagger on Facebook for basketball conversations and stuff you won't see on the blog.

At the end of Thursday's news conference formally announcing his return as U.S. men's national team coach, Mike Krzyzewski made a brief but intriguing comment sure to spark debate.

Asked if the opportunity to coach in the NBA still intrigues him, Krzyzewski explained he is happy at Duke, especially because of the challenge the revamped ACC will provide.

"I love what's happening with our conference," Krzyzewski said. "We're going to be a 10-bid conference. We're going to be the best conference in the history of the game. It's exciting to be part of that."

The ACC will certainly improve dramatically thanks to the addition of Syracuse, Pitt and Notre Dame next season and Louisville the following year, but Krzyzewski's suggestion it will be the best league of all time is a bit more dubious.

Don't forget the powerful Big East produced three Final Four teams in the same season during its Chris Mullin-Patrick Ewing heyday in 1985 and sent two different schools to the Final Four two years later. Or that the more recent version of the Big East earned three No. 1 seeds in 2009 and landed a record 11 NCAA tournament bids in 2011, with its ninth-place team capturing the national championship. Heck, you could argue this may not even be the strongest incarnation of the ACC considering the caliber of the league before it added Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech in a bid to improve in football.

For this upcoming era of ACC basketball to compare favorably, the league will need not only Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse and Louisville to remain powerhouses but some of its lower-echelon programs to step up in class.

Georgia Tech faded from national relevance late in Paul Hewitt's tenure and has yet to fully recover so far under Brian Gregory. Wake Forest is in the midst of one of its worst periods in program history under embattled coach Jeff Bzdelik. Boston College hasn't made the NCAA tournament in four years or won an NCAA game in six. And football-first Virginia Tech, Clemson and Miami have been erratic at best, aside from the Hurricanes' brilliant but perhaps short-lived success this past season.

Throw in long periods of mediocrity from NC State, Virginia and soon-to-be-Big Ten-bound Maryland, and it's fair to say the ACC has mostly ridden Duke and North Carolina's coattails recently.

The league has averaged a modest five NCAA Tournament bids per season since its 2004 expansion and produced only four NCAA teams two of the past three seasons. No ACC team besides Duke and North Carolina has made a Final Four since Hewitt's Georgia Tech team lost to UConn in the 2004 national title game.

Obviously, it's unrealistic for every program in a 15-team league to be strong in a given season. But for the ACC to live up to Krzyzewski's gaudy expectations, the league will need some of its middling programs to rise to the level of their competition.

Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are jointly selling T-shirts with the logos of each school on the front underneath the phrase "OKTOGETHER." All proceeds from the sale of each $19.95 short-sleeved shirt and $24.95 long-sleeved shirt will go to The United Way and will be used to aid disaster relief efforts in the towns struck by tornadoes.

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"It’s the Oklahoma Standard," the blurb describing the T-shirt to potential buyers reads. "In times of need, our communities rally around each other with an outpouring of love and compassion. As a Cowboy, Hurricane and Sooner fan, you can do your part to help the Oklahomans that have been affected by the recent devastation by supporting those in need with this 2013 Disaster Relief Efforts tee."

The shirt is one of numerous T-shirts being sold to benefit tornado victims in Oklahoma. It will take a lot of T-shirts purchased to match Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant's generous $1 million donation earlier this week, but every little bit helps.

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When Mike Krzyzewski and his wife were discussing earlier this spring whether he ought to return as U.S. men's national coach, she asked if that commitment would be easier for him if he resigned from his post at Duke prior to the 2016 Olympics.

[Related: Coach K: New-look ACC the best basketball conference ever]

Krzyzewski's response will make all Blue Devils fans smile.

"Really it's just the opposite," Krzyzewski told reporters at a news conference in Durham on Thursday. "I don't think anybody should coach the (Olympic) team unless they're still coaching. You've got to stay sharp. I'm coaching in the best league against the best competition and the best players that I can. Doing that, it becomes easier."

Asked to clarify if that meant he'd definitely coach at Duke through at least the 2015-16 season, the 66-year-old Krzyzewski said, "Obviously I'm not going to end before the Olympics."

And with that, any chatter about Krzyzewski retiring soon should die down for the foreseeable future. Barring a sudden reversal, college basketball's winningest coach will be on the Duke bench for at least the next three seasons, and he doesn't sound as though he's certain he'll be ready to step down even then.

Krzyzewski has long maintained coaching the U.S. national team has energized him and rekindled his passion for his profession, a point he emphasized again on Thursday. He reiterated the point Duke president Richard H. Brodhead made earlier in the news conference when he said that Krzyzewski had become an even better coach as a result of taking on the challenge of coaching the NBA's biggest stars.

"I don't think I did it bad before the Olympics," Krzyzewski said. "We weren't bad before then. But I got better from doing it. Just like a player gets better from doing it, we all got better. That energizes you because it's like a teacher learning new material. I'm 66. I don't know how you're supposed to feel at 66, but I never think of my age. I may look my age, but I feel energetic, passionate, wanting to achieve."

That Krzyzewski remains enthusiastic about coaching is great news for everyone from USA Basketball, to Duke, to the sport as a whole.

Since taking over as coach of the U.S. national team at a time when many of the nation's best players weren't representing their country, Krzyzewski has helped change the culture of USA Basketball. In the process, he has accumulated a 62-1 record and captured gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics.

Many originally worried Duke's program might suffer if Krzyzewski was spread too thin, but the Blue Devils have remained one of the nation's elite teams. They won the national championship in 2010, reached the Elite Eight last March and are expected to begin next season in the top five in the polls.

Krzyzewski originally planned to let someone else replace him as U.S. coach, but the relentless courtship by Jerry Colangelo and the encouragement of his family and Duke officials helped change his mind. Once talks with Colangelo heated up after the college season ended, it didn't take long for Krzyzewski to agree to lead the team's quest for a third straight Olympic gold.

"The main thing is will you still have the drive and the energy and can you give the time that's going to be necessary to do it," Krzyzewski said. "The final decision was yes, I can do that."

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The release of USA Basketball's training camp roster Wednesday afternoon for the U-19 world championships inspired one obvious question: Why weren't any Kentucky players participating?

It's not that USA Basketball wasn't interested or that John Calipari advised against it. Forward Julius Randle, guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison and the rest of the members of Kentucky's top-ranked recruiting class simply preferred to spend the summer getting acclimated to college life and preparing for a run at the national title.

"Most of it is, they didn’t want to play. I’m not forcing kids to do anything," Calipari told Sporting News. "I think the reason they all turned it down is, they want to get started."

"I’m happy they’re thinking in those terms. They know the spotlight’s on them."

The knee-jerk reaction here is to criticize players for turning down a potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance to represent their country, but in this case that doesn't seem fair.

First of all, the Kentucky incoming freshmen were far from alone in their decision. Arizona-bound Aaron Gordon was the lone top 20 Class of 2013 recruit who chose to try out for the U-19 team and the only other incoming freshmen on the roster are Arizona's Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Washington's Nigel Williams-Goss and UCLA's Bryce Alford.

Secondly, Kentucky's decorated recruiting class faces a different level of pressure than any of their peers.

Thanks to the arrival of a group of freshmen considered as one of the greatest recruiting hauls of all time, Kentucky will likely begin the season No. 1 in the polls and with championship-or-bust expectations. It makes sense that a team with so many newcomers would want to spend the summer building chemistry on and off the court to ensure they don't flop the way last year's team did.

Ultimately, the decision of the Kentucky freshmen and fellow class of 2013 stars Jabari Parker (Duke) and Chris Walker (Florida) explains why the U-19 championship is the most difficult for USA Basketball to win. The U.S. has only captured gold at the U-19 championships once in the past six tournaments in part because other countries send cohesive rosters featuring their best players and top American prospects are sometimes more interested in preparing for college or the NBA.

There's nothing wrong with that decision. It just helps level the international basketball playing field.

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Had Cody Larson opted to attend South Dakota State straight out of high school a few years ago, the highly touted in-state product's decision would have been celebrated as a tremendous recruiting coup.

The response was far more muted Wednesday, however, when Larson announced he is leaving Florida after three tumultuous years and transferring back home to play for the Jackrabbits.

It's difficult to project how big an impact Larson can make at South Dakota State because the former top 100 recruit rarely saw the floor at Florida. Larson played for the Gators just one of his three years in Gainesville, redshirting as a freshman, averaging 0.5 points and 0.8 rebounds during the 2011-12 season and leaving the team altogether in October after Billy Donovan pulled his scholarship.

Part of the reason Larson's once-promising career stalled is because of a spate of off-the-court problems.

Larson was suspended during his senior year of high school for sharing prescription pain pills with a teammate. He violated the plea agreement he reached after that incident in April 2011 when he was arrested in St. Augustine for breaking into a vehicle outside a bar after closing time.

Donovan set certain conditions for Larson to meet in order to keep his scholarship for the 2012-13 season, but the 6-foot-9 forward did not satisfy them. He declined to remain on the team as a walk-on last season, opting instead to merely attend classes and focus on his academics and personal issues.

Larson told the Argus Leader he's transferring to South Dakota State because he is ready to move forward with his life and try to rekindle his basketball career again. Depending on the outcome of the petition he'll likely file with the NCAA, he will either play right away with two years eligibility remaining or sit out next season and have only one year of eligibility left.

"I wanted to come closer to home where I can have some fun and just play basketball with no outside distractions," he told the Argus Leader. "Just put my head down and work hard and earn every minute I get."

The sentiment Larson expressed there is spot-on, but there's no question South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy is taking a risk bringing him aboard. It's not easy for small-conference program to find a versatile, skilled 6-foot-9 forward with Larson's pedigree, but it will also be a black eye for the Jackrabbits if they offer a second chance only to see him misbehave again.

Ultimately, however, Larson is probably worth the gamble for a South Dakota State program hoping to remain in the upper echelon of the Summit League even after star guard Nate Wolters' graduation.

It didn't work out for Larson at Florida, but perhaps a change of scenery and some time to mature will do him good.

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