ESPN Men's Basketball

1. Ohio State and Marquette are in negotiations to play on a naval ship in Charleston, S.C., on or around Veteran’s Day, according to multiple sources familiar with their scheduling. The game would be organized by Morale Entertainment, the same group that set up the USS Carl Vinson game on 11-11-11 between North Carolina and Michigan State. Ohio State’s other marquee games are at Duke in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, while also hosting Kansas in a return game. Marquette is in the Maui Invitational with North Carolina, Texas, Butler, Illinois, Mississippi State, USC and host Chaminade. The Golden Eagles are waiting to see who they will play in the SEC-Big East Challenge. But they have games against LSU in a return situation, host rival Wisconsin, and are at Green Bay in what overall should be the toughest nonconference slate under Buzz Williams.

2. Kansas had struggled to find a quality home game, so the Jayhawks went to an old friend, former player and league rival. Colorado and Tad Boyle, who played at Kansas and coaches Colorado, are finalizing a deal with the Jayhawks to do a two-year home-and-home series, starting in Lawrence. The Buffaloes reached the NCAA tournament third round last season, losing to Baylor in Albuquerque. Kansas had no ill will toward the Buffaloes when they left the Big 12 for the Pac-12, unlike rival Missouri. Re-starting this series is good for both leagues and programs.

3. The A-10 followed the Big East’s lead by declaring during its meetings Thursday that any school that is ineligible for the NCAA postseason cannot participate in its championships. The A-10 doesn’t have any school facing a penalty, but wanted to do this just in case it occurs. The Big East had to make this rule after UConn was banned from the 2013 postseason due to poor APR scores. The same thing is happening in the CAA with Towson and UNCW. The Big East changed its bylaws, preventing a school that is not allowed to go to the postseason to play in its championships. The CAA has the same rule. That means UConn, Towson and UNCW cannot play in the 2013 Big East or CAA, tournaments, respectively.

To go along with today's feature story on the return of the dominant shot-blockers, here’s my list of the nation’s best. If your favorite guy is missing from the list, let me know (@MedcalfByESPN or mmedcalf3030@gmail.com). But this is not just based on raw numbers. Efficiency is certainly a factor.

Could Nerlens Noel end up being the best swatter in college next season? Yes. In fact, probably. But it's hard to put him No. 1 five months before Midnight Madness.

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John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT/Getty ImagesKansas' Jeff Withey had 31 blocks in last season's NCAA tournament, a new record.
1. Jeff Withey (Kansas): He finished the year No. 1 on Ken Pomeroy’s block-percentage chart (a rate determined by an opponent’s two-point attempts) and is the top returning shot-blocker entering the 2012-13 season, after a phenomenal Final Four that concluded with a record for blocks in a single NCAA tournament (31). With Withey inside, Kansas should remain on its Big 12 perch next season.
2. Gorgui Dieng (Louisville): Withey and Anthony Davis dominated the headlines in March. But Dieng (3.2 blocks per game), a 6-foot-11 sophomore from Senegal, was a very talented shot-blocker, too. He offered a sneak preview in New Orleans by blocking four shots in the national semifinals against Kentucky. Next season, however, he’ll be a star for a top-5 program.
3. Nerlens Noel (Kentucky): I’ve never seen a high school player dominate his peers the way Noel did during the Peach Jam AAU tournament last year. He’s a special talent. Anthony Davis claims Noel is the better shot-blocker between the two of them, and that’s not a crazy concept. It’s just scary for every team that’s scheduled to face Kentucky next season.
4. C.J. Aiken (St. Joseph’s): In a 10-point victory over No. 22 Temple in February, Aiken scored five points. But his five blocks were vital in that upset. You have to appreciate the fact that Aiken is still raw in many ways. I saw him live in Philly a few years ago and watched a bunch of St. Joe’s games this season. And I think he’s on the cusp of emerging on the national radar with his high-octane defense (3.5 blocks per game). Growing every year.
5. Isaiah Austin (Baylor): Another special talent. He’s so athletic and versatile that he played some point guard on the AAU circuit. Austin, a McDonald’s All-America center, averaged 5.0 blocks per game as a senior in high school. He’ll have a similar impact in the Big 12 next season, probably his only year as a collegiate player. His 7-foot-1 frame hasn’t filled out yet but his length and shot-blocking will be a problem for the rest of the conference.
6. Zeke Marshall (Akron): He’s an under-the-radar defensive force. But the MAC knows all about his shot-blocking skills. Mississippi State’s Arnett Moultrie had one of his worst games of the season against the Zips due to Marshall’s defense. The 7-footer blocked 2.9 shots per game. And he altered even more.
7. Rhamel Brown (Manhattan): Here’s why you have to love advanced statistics: Brown, a sophomore at Manhattan last season, averaged 2.4 blocks per game for the Jaspers. But he finished second behind Withey on Pomeroy’s block percentage rankings. He’s only 6-foot-6, but Brown disrupts offenses at a high level.
8. Steven Adams (Pittsburgh): Yes, another freshman on the list. Another guy who hasn’t competed in a collegiate game yet. But I think Davis’ success last season means these youngsters earn early credit on potential alone. This 7-footer has been a beast on the AAU and prep circuits. The standout from New Zealand also has international experience. So he’ll be a young veteran for a Pitt team that needs his physical presence inside. Adams has the athleticism to be a great shot-blocker at this level.
9. Hunter Mickelson (Arkansas): As a 6-foot-10 freshman on a lackluster Razorbacks squad, Mickelson averaged 2.3 blocks in 17.1 minutes per game. He’s an efficient defender who was fourth in the SEC in blocks per contest. And he finished fifth on Pomeroy’s block percentage chart. He’s still raw but the future seems bright for Mickelson.
10. Damian Eargle (Youngstown State): First, he has the best name on this board. But he’s an equally talented defender who squeezed 3.7 blocks out of his 6-foot-7 frame. Youngstown State struggled in most Horizon League stat categories but the squad led the conference in blocked shots thanks to Eargle, who was a junior last season.

Needless to say, by the time the news was announced Tuesday afternoon, this was not exactly the shock of the century.

Early Tuesday morning, Mike Brey told our own Andy Katz that Notre Dame had agreed to extend its commitment to the Crossroads Classic -- a four-team event featuring Hoosier heavies Indiana, Purdue, Butler and ND -- for another two years, into 2013 and 2014. Even before that, despite the expiration of the current agreement this season, no one really expected the event to go away. It was assumed the four schools would agree to keep the thing going, one way or the other.

The reason for that is the same reason the official news, as announced by the four schools, is so very welcome: The Crossroads Classic is an event too good not to continue.

Last season's inaugural edition went about as well as anyone could have hoped. The games weren't classics (though Butler's comeback victory over Purdue was certainly exciting), but the event itself was a welcome throwback to the original, organized and hosted by Tony Hinkle at Butler from 1948-51 and from 1957-60. It took the schools 50 years to put a similar event together again, but when they did, they got it right. All four athletics programs teamed together to host the Classic themselves, as opposed to outsourcing it to the Gazelle Group or one of the other patrons, and because they did so they were able to put the games in Conseco Fieldhouse, an actual basketball arena, while splitting the profits evenly among the four.

The end result showcased the collective culture of Indiana basketball. The impulse to gather in Indianapolis and square off on the hardwood -- the same impulse that has made the sport an obsession in the state, even at the high school level, for almost as long as it's been played -- was on full display. Everyone booed IU fans, because that's what other basketball fans from Indiana do. It was just fun, you know?

So, no, it was no shock Tuesday to see the four schools extend their sensible agreement through the 2014 season. But it was excellent to see. In a sport where scheduling too happily tosses aside monumental rivalries for the sake of individual gain (or, if you prefer, "protection" of a "nontraditional program"), the no-nonsense extension of the Crossroads Classic was a small but refreshing change of pace. May it ever be so.

1. The Big East and SEC are expected to finalize the pairings for their challenge sometime in the next two weeks. Any speculation (as I did last week) on the pairings is now moot as the conferences try to figure out arena openings and home/road setup. The Big East coaches were told that the event will happen. Politicking has begun for some. Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin wants a marquee home game. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge has matched teams that are supposed to finish in similar positions; this event hasn’t been handled like that overall. Cincinnati played Georgia last season despite the Bearcats being an upper-division Big East team and Georgia picked for the lower level of the SEC. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t rank our teams, too," Cronin said. “I’m asking the league to get us a like opponent. If we’re being picked high then we want the same thing (from the SEC)."

2. Cronin is attempting to upgrade his schedule and has secured a top-25 home-and-home series, which isn’t easy in this era of schools looking for more neutral-site non-conference games. Cronin and New Mexico coach Steve Alford said they will play a home-and-home series next season, to start in Cincinnati. The Bearcats will visit the Pit the following season.

3. Murray State coach Steve Prohm said he has had discussions with Virginia Commonwealth about a home-and-home series but nothing is finalized. The Rams are searching for multiple games after losing Richmond and George Washington from the schedule now that they’re all in the Atlantic 10. VCU also needs two more games, since the A-10 plays 16 games and the CAA played 18. VCU coach Shaka Smart said many possibilities remain, but one certainty is that the Rams will continue the rivalry with Old Dominion, which will be off to Conference USA in 2013. Smart said the home-and-home series will start at ODU in 2012-13.

If two teams play at Madison Square Garden and no one is there to witness it, did the games actually occur?

That will be the quandary the Big East faces in 2014 if the league listens to the pleas of its basketball coaches and allows everyone into the conference tournament.

The Big East is convening this week in Florida and included in its crowded agenda, the conference is trying to hash out its future hoops tourneys. Next season it will actually shrink -- there will be 15 members of the Big East, but UConn, due to its APR punishment won’t be able to participate, so that’s a manageable 14-team membership.

But in 2014, the conference swells to 18 and the coaches already are pushing to
continue its all-inclusive tournament.

And so on Monday night, the Garden would swing open its doors to … SMU versus Central Florida and DePaul versus Houston for a play-in game.

Would they sell tickets for that or just give Larry Brown and Oliver Purnell sandwich boards and bells and let them hand out tickets to unsuspecting tourists strolling down 8^th Avenue?

We’re all crying uncle here, so please stop.

Big East basketball already has watered down its product to an unrecognizable glob of mush. Let’s not roll the tournament into the sewer, too.

We have endured the Tuesday night warm-up games for a few years now and while fans haven’t left putting needles in their eyes, they haven’t exactly been disappointed when the buzzer mercifully sounds.

But now we’re talking about actual play-in games. Chances are, you’ll see teams with abominable records whose only hope at the postseason is a national pandemic that afflicts only the top 100 basketball rosters in the country.

To paraphrase my friend, longtime Associated Press writer Jack Scheuer, it would be guaranteed VVVB hoops (very, very, very bad).

Worse, there is even a worry that the Garden might not be able to extend its commitment to Monday. The current contract does not give the league access until Tuesday and would consequently have to be renegotiated. If it couldn’t be, the games would have to be played somewhere in the New York area.

What in heavens’ name is the point of that?

A play-in game to make your conference tournament, played at some random outpost that looks like New York but isn’t quite New York.

They can call it the Hoboken Opening Round.

Coaches long have argued that teams deserve the right for the "full tournament experience" and that keeping people out of the Big East tournament only gives itchy trigger-fingered administrators cause to fire a coach who can’t get his team to New York.

Because finishing 18^th out of 18 apparently merits a pay raise.

Sorry, this isn’t pee-wee rec ball. Not everyone gets a trophy. Not everyone gets to play.

Besides, if you play a Big East tournament game and no one is there to see it, were you really there in the first place?

Officials from Cincinnati and Xavier are not in an easy position.

The great rivalry between Cincinnati's two basketball powers spun wildly out of control last season, when late-game trash talking by Xavier's Tu Holloway escalated an already ugly blowout into empty benches and Cincy center Yancy Gates' haymakers and a bloody mess of XU center Kenny Frease's face.

The melee became an instant national conversation of the kind usually reserved for LeBron James' fourth-quarter performances, and postgame interviews by Xavier players Holloway and guard Mark Lyons and (at the time, anyway) seemingly incoherent suspensions by both coaches only worsened the hit to each school's respective image. It was really bad.

Things have calmed down since, and both schools went on to have successful seasons and runs in the NCAA tournament. But apparently, at least in Cincinnati, the initial hit lingers. The two schools' brass had to do something different, something to show the matter was being taken seriously. According to a report from The Cincinnati Enquirer, what they devised is a neutral-court compromise. From the report:

Based on the alternating site arrangement that has been in effect for years, the game was to be played this season at UC’s Fifth Third Arena, but in the wake of the brawl that erupted with 9.4 seconds left in XU’s 76-53 victory in last year’s game at Xavier’s Cintas Center, officials from the two schools agreed to move it to a neutral court for two years in an attempt to improve the climate surrounding the game. Financial details have not been finalized.

After the two-year trial period, the behavior of players and fans will be re-evaluated, with no guarantee that the series will continue.

At first glance, this seems like the right idea. You can't discontinue the series, or at least neither school wants to. The crosstown rivalry has too much history, means too much to both teams' fan bases, to kill it after one particularly unflattering day. But you also just can't let what happened in December slide, right? Something had to be done.

Which is how we arrive at the Enquirer's report of a move to U.S. Bank Arena, a half-measure that seems to serve little more than to showcase the willingness of both schools to take the incident seriously. As Mike DeCourcy, who is as familiar with the rivalry as any college hoops writer in the country, wrote Tuesday:

Exactly what moving the game off campus will do for the rivalry is hard to imagine. It is possible each school will make less money, because they’ll have to pay rent. It increases the possibility of an incident between fans because there’ll be more from each side in greater proximity to each other. [...] The administrations of each school apparently believed they needed to change something if they wanted to continue playing the game. If the rivalry truly was contaminated, and one could argue it wasn’t in the least, then it needed a cure. What the game didn’t need was botched cosmetic surgery.

DeCourcy begins his story with a discussion of the unique nature of the rivalry at each team's home site: Despite the schools' four-mile proximity, fans from the visiting team rarely found their way into the gym. Each school's fans considered it a point of pride not to sell tickets to the opposition. Now, the game will be crunched into a sterile, neutral arena, attended by fans of both teams, and who knows how that will go?

Odds are it will proceed without incident like most of the fixtures in this series' long and illustrious history. But after last season's chastising mess, that could have been just as true of a game at Cincinnati's home arena or in 2013 at Xavier. And if neither side believed that to be true, something larger needed to be done.

Instead, the two schools nodded toward a problem without doing much to solve it, assuming (perhaps wrongly) that a problem even exists in the first place. Indeed, Cincinnati and Xavier compromised -- in every sense of the term.

1. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said the Irish have extended their commitment to the Crossroads Classic for another two seasons. Brey expects the event to continue and be a fixture on the Irish’s schedule. Notre Dame lost badly to Indiana last season while Butler beat Purdue in thrilling fashion in the first event. Next season, in what will be the second of the initial two-year deal, will pit Notre Dame against Purdue and Indiana against Butler. Brey said the rotation of Notre Dame and Butler alternating with the two in-state Big Ten schools would continue in 2013 and 2014. The coach doesn’t anticipate playing Butler in a separate game since it might be hard to justify playing another in-state school, even one as highly rated and respected as Butler.

2. College basketball is in an era of transfers and another example of this is the attention 5-foot-9 Illinois State freshman Nic Moore is commanding. Moore had a solid freshman season for Tim Jankovich and the Redbirds -- averaging 10 points, 3.9 assists and 2.3 turnovers a game. Jankovich went to SMU to be coach-in-waiting, Vanderbilt assistant Dan Muller was hired, and now Moore wants out. As is the case with every transfer, there are suitors lining up. Notre Dame is in line with Illinois and Purdue for Moore’s services.

3. Davidson got plenty of mileage by beating Kansas in a neutral-site game in Kansas City early last season. Now Wildcats coach Bob McKillop is looking for a similar matchup. He said he called Texas coach Rick Barnes and told him he would love to play the Longhorns in Houston or Dallas at a neutral-but-Texas-leaning game. Davidson is in the Old Spice Classic, is playing Duke in Charlotte on the Bobcats’ home court, and is trying to get a single game at Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, Kansas is playing Oregon State in the same game in KC that Davidson played last season. The Jayhawks are still desperately seeking a major home game on its schedule.

1. Conference USA’s board will vote in a few weeks on whether to move the conference tournament from Memphis to Tulsa. The consensus among C-USA members is that it will be moved out of Memphis and that includes those at Memphis. The difference between this decision and what the Colonial Athletic Association faces with keeping its tournament in Richmond (if it does) is that C-USA would clearly be rewarding a departing member with an advantage. VCU is out of the CAA immediately and Richmond can still serve as a semi-neutral site for a number of schools.

2. If a player isn’t a lock for the first round, why would he have skipped the New Jersey Nets-organized draft combine this past weekend? It’s a good question that at least one NBA scouting director asked Monday. The hope is that anyone who skipped out on the combine will head to Minnesota next weekend before the Chicago draft camp the following week. Exposure is the most important aspect for players trying to crack the first round or the top of the second.

3. Boise State was represented at Monday’s Big East meetings in Florida. The Broncos clearly have to make a commitment to one conference or another here shortly and appear to have done so by showing up for the Big East meetings. Now the lobbying must begin in full force to get the men’s basketball program and every other sport in the Big West. As Big West commissioner Dennis Farrell said, the ball is in Boise’s court. If the Broncos want in, they have to apply.

Incoming freshmen should anticipate major adjustments at the Division I level. The players are bigger, stronger and faster.

But the uptick in competition is only part of the transition from high school to college. The 21st-century college basketball player should understand off-court expectations, too.

They're all about adhering to proper swagger etiquette.

I hope you all have notepads ready. Here’s what you’ll need to get ready for Division I basketball off the floor:

• An Instagram account: Twitter is so 2011. These days, college basketball players send messages through photos via Instagram. It’s a cool tool. You take photos, attach a brief memo and ship the image to the world. Or if you’re Jared Sullinger, you send photos of text-message exchanges with other All-America forwards. You need this. Trust me.
• Friendships with rappers: Blame Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins. Lil Wayne’s highly publicized crush on the talented guard dramatically increased her street cred and Twitter follower count. Jay-Z sat behind Kentucky’s bench during the Final Four. Romeo Miller (the onetime Lil' Romeo who now just goes by Romeo) didn’t just support USC basketball. He actually joined the team. Find a rapper. Become his friend.
• Fashionable specs: I know. You have 20/20 vision. Doesn’t matter. This is all about style. I learned about this recent development in college basketball fashion from Michigan State’s Adreian Payne. He says his black glasses project sophistication. It’s either that or an affinity for Clark Kent.
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Kelly Kline/Getty ImagesNerlens Noel brings a signature coif to Kentucky ... but does he have the right backpack?
• The Kevin Durant backpack: Throw the gym bag in the trash. That’s old school. You need a backpack. Not a normal backpack. You won’t haul anything in it. You need a backpack that’s also a fashion statement. Durant’s backpack -- one he wears to postgame press conferences -- started this trend.
• Access to a state-of-the-art facility: Florida State’s players get access to their team’s practice facility by placing their hands on some sort of “Star Trek” detection device. Indiana’s facility features underwater treadmills in the training room, his and hers gyms for the men’s and women’s squads and an atrium that doubles as a museum for Indiana basketball. Players’ lounges -- think college kids bonding, not “Shaft” -- are standard, too. And then, there’s Oklahoma State’s basketball facility. Is that legal?
• Trend-setting hair: Nerlens Noel is covered. But what about the rest of the incoming freshmen? Will your hair matter? It definitely did for Wisconsin’s Mike Bruesewitz. Stores in Madison sell wigs of his former curly-afro look. Still waiting for the cornrows version. The hair on top of St. Louis guard Jordair Jett’s head can only be described as majestic. Talk to your barber about this.
• Beats by Dre headphones: Yes, they’re $300 headphones, but a multitude of college players wears them and, somehow, purchases them. They’re a necessity, I guess. You either have a pair of mammoth Beats by Dre headphones or you don’t wear headphones in public as a Division I basketball player. I don’t think the headphones offer a real advantage over their competitors. But, they’re the norm for college basketball players. The obsession with Dr. Dre’s headphones among NBA players has certainly trickled down. Even high school players demand them now. Put it on the shopping list.

Feel free to add on …

1. Being on the NCAA tournament selection committee has become a bad omen for athletic directors or commissioners keeping their jobs, with a third member losing his day job while on the committee. Last year, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe was fired and had to step away from the committee; he was ultimately replaced by Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione. Then, UConn athletic director and chair Jeff Hathaway was forced to “retire.” He had to take a faux consultant job with the Big East to stay on the committee. Hathaway is now the athletic director at Hofstra. The latest to lose his job is SMU AD Steve Orsini, abruptly fired Thursday. Chair Mike Bobinski of Xavier and new NCAA vice president Mark Lewis will now have to huddle to find a replacement for Orsini on the committee. If they stay in the Big East/Conference USA area, they should look at USF AD Doug Woolard, Big East associate commissioner Dan Gavitt or East Carolina AD Terry Holland.

2. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Kentucky’s Anthony Davis -- the consensus No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft -- brings shot-blocking, something the U.S. Olympic team may need this summer in London. Davis’ chances have risen due to the injury to Orlando’s Dwight Howard. Krzyzewski said Davis isn’t “trying out” for the team; rather, Davis is now in the pool of players who may be selected. Krzyzewski said it would be good to get Davis indoctrinated right away into USA Basketball. “He’s a great talent and a good kid," Krzyzewski said. “Hopefully we don’t get any more guys hurt."

3. Organizers for the Battle 4 Atlantis -- the top non-conference tournament -- won’t decide on the bracket until August for the November event. The event, at the Atlantis Hotel on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, could put all eight teams in the NCAA tournament. They are: Louisville, Duke, Stanford, Missouri, Minnesota, Memphis, VCU and Northern Iowa.

Laurie Fine, the wife of former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, announced Wednesday in Geneva, N.Y., her intention to file a lawsuit in federal court against ESPN and two of its employees, saying she was libeled during the network's reporting of child sex abuse allegations against her husband.

What if Tim Abromaitis got a (probably deserved) sixth year, too? Imagine how excited Mike Brey would be then.

As it stands, the Notre Dame coach is already quite stoked. On Friday, he learned that senior Scott Martin would be granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA, his sixth overall, thanks to a lost 2008 year transferring from Purdue and an ACL tear that cost him his 2010 season. On Monday, Martin and Brey got around to discussing the decision with the media, and as Martin cracked jokes about the bad economy ("So I figured why not stay in school for one more year?"), Brey wrapped his arms fully 'round his own very high expectations for the 2012-13 Fighting Irish. From the Chicago Tribune:

"I want this group to dream extremely big dreams, because they are very realistic," Brey said. "And dream them from Day One. We got a lot of work to do it. But I am excited about chasing big goals.

"We've talked about the Big East tournament, trying to win that. We've talked about playing deep in the NCAA tournament. This is a group that should be able to digest all that and do that. That's exciting for me, going forward. I like to have that: Boy, we can do it and we're expecting to do it."

Those are indeed big goals for this team, particularly without Abromaitis, but there are reasons to expect so much. Notre Dame's mid-season Big East run in 2012 proved this group of Irish, when cohesive and self-contained, can play with just about anyone in college hoops on any given night. It's an experienced group, but it's also one that keeps improving. Forward Jack Cooley proved to be one of the best offensive rebounders in the country in 2012 (and an underrated post scorer to boot), and he could compete for Big East player of the year honors in 2012. Sophomore guard Jerian Grant is an equally underrated perimeter presence who pulled off the rare feat of a high assist rate (29.5 percent) and a relatively low turnover rate (15.6 percent) in his 2012 season.

That duo alone would have kept this Irish team near the top of the Big East next season. Martin's return -- alongside good and/or emerging guards Eric Atkins and Pat Connaughton-- gives the Irish a deep, experienced, well-rounded team.

It's tempting to look at this Irish lineup, compare it to the talented heavies in the Big East and wonder if Brey isn't merely wishcasting. But the more you dig in, the more you appreciate Grant and Cooley's performances in 2012 ... well, no wonder Brey is so excited. He has every reason to be.

1. San Diego State will not be changing its plan of going to the Big East in football and the Big West for all other sports, according to a direct source. The Aztecs aren’t tied to Boise State since there are other options for football (Air Force or BYU could always be back in the picture for football only), the source said. The school made the move to the Big West to save money since it is mostly a bus league based in southern California and the central coast, save the one trip to Hawaii. The conference's board of directors meets this week and the Aztecs have given the league no indication that it will not be entering the league in 2013.

2. Multiple sources said the Mountain West is actively trying to keep Boise State from leaving and then see if the same happens with San Diego State. But it’s going to be a gamble, either way. The move to the Big East for football was done for the television money -- projected to be more than what MWC will earn. Boise State didn’t move to the Big East in football for the automatic qualification in the BCS (which it can get before the new format starts in 2014). But a MWC source said it’s probably 50-50 on what Boise State decides.

3. The Big East still has to decide if 14 schools will participate in the Big East-SEC Challenge instead of 12. Based on conversations with multiple sources, the highest-profile game that could occur is Kentucky at Georgetown. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Louisville at Florida, Marquette at Missouri, and Tennessee at Notre Dame. But those last four appear to be more speculation at this point. The most likely matchup is UK-GU.

ESPNChicago.com's Scott Powers has the story:

Former Illinois shooting guard Crandall Head committed to SMU on Thursday. [...] Head said his relationship with SMU assistant Jerrance Howard, who also recruited Head to Illinois, was the main reason for his commitment.

"He's a great friend. He's like a brother to me," Head said of Howard. "Everything he told me about SMU was true. Coach (Larry) Brown is great to be around. The coaching staff was pretty good. The facilities they're working on look great. They have some great players coming in. I got a good look at everything.

What does this mean? Needless to say, SMU basketball fans -- y'all are out there, right? -- aren't going to suddenly leap head over heels at the arrival of Crandall Head in 2013-14. Head averaged 1.0 points, 0.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 9.2 minutes in nine games in his sophomore season, which was cut short in December when he left the team. This is not a major impact player, at least not as far as we can tell right now.

But it is an interesting development. Head was obviously candid about his feelings toward Jerrance Howard, a highly regarded recruiter in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago specifically. Howard is one piece of newly hired SMU coach Larry Brown's rather excellent staff, which also includes former Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich in a coach-in-waiting position and former Kentucky assistant Rod Strickland. (Update: Actually, Strickland wasn't hired; instead Brown nabbed Ulric Maligi, the Houston assistant who landed two top 30 recruits, Danual House and Chicken Knowles, in the class of 2012. Apologies for the mixup.) That staff's challenge is clear: Branch out far and wide, get as many good players as possible to consider SMU and, whether through the transfer process or good old-fashioned recruiting, get them to consider a long-dormant program they may have never otherwise heard of.

Which is hard enough on its own. It will no doubt be made even more difficult by Brown's reputation. College players will surely have respect for a coach who bested the Lakers with Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace and helped make Allen Iverson an NBA MVP*, but they will also know -- because other people will surely tell them -- that Brown has a noted proclivity for leaving jobs early and often. So not only do Howard & Co. have to lay a groundwork for recruiting that doesn't already exist at SMU, they need to do so before Brown decides he's had enough fun with his latest coaching adventure.

Transfers are a good place to start, but they can't be the entire strategy. Or maybe they can? That's the point here: SMU's trajectory into the Big East, under Brown, with Howard and the rest of that staff, is going to be utterly fascinating to watch. How quickly, with a legendary coach and a great staff, can a few men bring a long-forgotten basketball program into relevance? And how? And if/when the players do arrive, can Brown still work his coach-'em-up magic?

I do not know the answers to these questions, but it will be thoroughly interesting to watch them unfold.

*And without caring about practice (not a game, NOT a game, we talkin' 'bout practice) to boot. I still don't understand how Iverson was so good, and I fear I never will. What a freak of nature.

Let me start by saying this is not a definitive list. There are hundreds of talented assistant coaches around the country.

The following, however, is a list of coaches 40 years old and under who have put themselves in a position to earn a head-coaching job in the future.

1. Orlando Antigua (Kentucky): The former Pitt standout helped John Calipari sign another top-ranked recruiting class. He’s also assisted Calipari in developing the young prodigies who have come to Lexington. After Kentucky won the national title in April, Antigua was a candidate for multiple jobs, including Duquesne. It’s just a matter of time before he’s leading his own show. He turns 40 next year.
2. Travis Steele (Xavier): Xavier has produced some of the top coaches in the country (Skip Prosser, Sean Miller, Thad Matta, John Groce). Current coach Chris Mack says assistant Steele, 27, is next in line. The Butler graduate has been on Mack’s staff for the past three seasons. Mack says Steele, who has helped develop and recruit the players who have led Xavier to four Sweet 16 appearances in five seasons, is “3-4 years” away from a head-coaching gig.
3. Tim Fuller (Missouri): When opposing coaches say you’re on the rise, that means something. Fuller has amassed a solid reputation in coaching circles. After just a season with the Tigers, Frank Haith promoted Fuller to associate head coach. Fuller, who played at Wake Forest from 1997-2000, is just 34. But his stock is rising fast.
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Cal Sport Media/AP Images Duke's Steve Wojciechowski is a hot coaching commodity after having won two national titles as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski.
4. Steve Wojciechowski (Duke): The 35-year-old might be Coach K’s heir after a lengthy stint as one of his top assistants. He started out as an assistant in 1999 but was promoted to associate head coach in 2008. “Wojo” was known for slapping the floor on defense during his playing career and he’s equally passionate on the sidelines for the Blue Devils, who have won two national titles during his tenure.
5. Adrian Autry (Syracuse): The former Orange standout joined the staff prior to last season. And during a tumultuous year that included the firing of Bernie Fine over sexual abuse allegations and the dismissal of Fab Melo, the 39-year-old helped the program remain focused. He’s a reputable recruiter with strong ties to the D.C. area, connections that helped the Orange lock up the No. 15 recruiting class in 2012, according to ESPN.com.
6. Mike Rhoades (VCU): In a short span, Rhoades has gone from a Division III assistant at Randolph-Macon (Ashland, Va.) to a top assistant under Shaka Smart. VCU has been defined by its gritty defense, better-than-they’re-ranked prospects and passion. Rhoades has helped the Rams embrace every tenet of Smart’s philosophy, one that helped VCU reach the Final Four last season. “He’s great,” Smart says.
7. Jeff Boals (Ohio State): The former Ohio forward joined Matta’s staff in 2009. The Buckeyes have enjoyed success in all areas during his time with the program. He’s helped Matta develop top players such as Jared Sullinger and Evan Turner. And he’s an energetic and effective recruiter. Boals, 39, won’t be an assistant for long.
8. Kevin Ollie (UConn): The program went south last season. But the year that preceded it ended with a national title. And Ollie was credited with equipping Kemba Walker & Co. for that run with his coaching on and off the floor. Ollie might take over the Huskies' program if Jim Calhoun retires. But even if he doesn’t, he’ll be an attractive candidate for multiple openings in the near future.
9. Matthew Graves (Butler): Last year, Brad Stevens promoted Graves, who’s in his late 30s, to an associate head-coaching position, a credit to his role in the program’s success. You don’t reach back-to-back national title games as a mid-major program by accident. Stevens and his staff put the program on the national map. With a move to the Atlantic 10, the Bulldogs will attain even more national exposure. And Graves, who’s been vital to the program’s efforts in recent years, will end up on a multitude of lists once jobs open up again after next season.
10. James Whitford (Arizona): Sean Miller’s longtime assistant was pursued by Miami (Ohio) in the offseason but decided to stay in Tucson, where he helped the Wildcats sign one of the top recruiting classes in the country. The Wildcats struggled during the 2011-12 campaign. But with Mark Lyons and some talented recruits headed to Arizona, the Wildcats could win the Pac-12 next season. It’s easy to see why Whitford, 40, stayed put.