ESPN Men's Basketball

This has long since made the rounds on Twitter by now, including via our friends at ESPN Home Court and SportsCenter, and you can read more about it at Larry Brown Sports. But come on. Really? You thought I wasn't going to post about this? You thought I wasn't going to find a way to get it on the site, if only to preserve its record (and make it more easily searchable) each and every time I want to see it again? Pshh. Of course I am.

Anyway, we're talking, of course, about Kentucky fan and portrait artist Danny Palmer, who tweeted his portrait of Anthony Davis around 5 p.m. Thursday. Kentucky Sports Radio soon picked it up, and away it went, blowing up across the Internet like a kid hugging goats. (Awwww.)

The portrait is four feet by four feet, and Palmer said he used three boxes of Kix, three boxes of Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs, and a few pieces of Cap'n Crunch for the earrings, because attention to detail is really what it's all about. And even the most die-hard Louisville fan would have to admit: It really is kind of cool. (You know ESPN's whole, "It's not crazy, it's sports" marketing campaign? Danny Palmer just made the marketing team's life really easy.)

When I first saw this portrait, the first thing I thought was, "Wow, I'm starving, and Reese's Puffs sound amazing right now. Do we have any cereal in the kitchen?" The second thing I thought was, "Wow, that really, really reminds me of a Frida Kahlo self-portrait." Which I then immediately Googled, and guess what: I was right. The similarities are, um, striking.

If only Kahlo had refined starch pellets with cartoon mascots to use for artistic materials in her day. Alas.

Naturally, Kentucky coach John Calipari heard the Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics' complaints, immediately realized the error of his ways and got down to scheduling every big-time nonconference game on UK's schedule as a campus-bound home and home series.

Only kidding, kids. What happened Wednesday night -- when Calipari released a blog post on his website detailing his schedule plans for the next two seasons -- was pretty much the exact opposite of that.

Calipari says he wants to schedule not just games but "experiences," "events that grandfathers and grandsons will be talking about 25 years from now." Among the noteworthy items:

• In 2013-14, Kentucky will play Baylor in a men's-women's doubleheader in Cowboys Stadium, a game which he hopes breaks the collegiate hoops attendance record. Baylor will "return" that game this season at Rupp Arena, which is kind of funny, considering Cowboys Stadium is a neutral site and Rupp Arena is not. Cal wins on that front, as well as the whole "experience" bit, and even better gets to play a game at the site of the Final Four in 2013-14. Win-win-win.
• Speaking of which, that will be the second straight year UK will have a big nonconference game at the site of the Final Four; 2012-13's will come against Duke in the Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome.
• Why all the football arenas? His explanation: "It is important that we play in at least one if not two football stadiums every year to prepare our players for NCAA tournament venues. ... I’m convinced we would have won the title two seasons ago if we would have played in a dome during the regular season. Our guys weren’t prepared for it." Oh really? Jim Calhoun may beg to differ.
• And speaking of Duke, as Robbi noted over at the UNC blog, Calipari says he's "currently in conversations with Coach K of Duke for a multiyear, neutral-based series that will be played around the country in the best facilities ... [and] would take place on the same weekend every year and would be THE GAME to watch."
• UK is taking a one-year break with UNC in 2012, but looks likely to restart the series in 2013-14. Calipari wants to alternate the UNC and Louisville series, so that when one game is at home, the other is on the road, and vice versa.
• This isn't noteworthy so much as funny: The first comment on Calipari's blog post is from UK associate AD Dewayne Peevy, who writes, "We've been busy." We can't get Dewayne his own blog? A separate post, at least? Poor guy.

Anyway, you get the idea. The whole Kentucky-Indiana mess still grinds my gears, and I would argue most fans would prefer a few more nonconference events on campuses, with real, actual college environments -- real student sections, pep bands, banners hanging on the walls and rafters, the whole nine yards. That's what makes college basketball different, and often more exciting, than anything the NBA has to offer in the regular season. That's what makes college basketball what it is. The sterility of neutral-court sites -- like the corporatized plasticity of Jerry Jones's gigantic HD theater room -- undermines that romance. It just does.

But that's not Calipari's prerogative. As he makes very clear, he is interested in creating capital-E Events. Much of his schedule in the coming two seasons will do exactly that. You might not like it, but on all matters scheduling, the man is sticking to his (rather sizable) guns.

Kentucky coach John Calipari didn't want to continue UK's longstanding rivalry with Indiana as a home-and-home series. Indiana coach Tom Crean didn't want to play on a neutral floor. Turns out, fans of both teams, and fans of college basketball in general, aren't the only ones incensed with the turn of events.

The Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics -- a group of 59 faculty senate members from Football Bowl Subdivision schools, whose mission is to "provide a national faculty voice on intercollegiate sports issues" and which supports the traditional student-athlete model -- is none too pleased, either. This week, the COIA released a scathing statement on Calipari's justification of his new scheduling strategy, saying Kentucky's refusal to play on campus sites marks "the type of warning sign we would expect to see on the path toward a full professional model." An excerpt:

Consistent with COIA policy, the Coalition Steering Committee calls for strong opposition to such policy changes from the NCAA leadership, conference commissioners, and Division-I schools, and we urge NCAA member schools to refrain from signing contracts with Kentucky on such terms. [...]

Now Kentucky is taking its professional model to the next level. By demanding as a matter of policy that non-conference games be moved to neutral sites that emulate professional conditions it is breaking the connection between campus and school sports and insisting that contracted opponents do likewise. Programs designed with the balanced goals of the collegiate model cannot compete with this approach, and UK’s actions will place schools under enormous pressure to follow suit.

We call on all those who support the collegiate model of athletics to speak out against this further move to professionalize college sports, and -- most importantly -- to decline to participate in such a separation of competitions from campuses. Even a “non-traditional” sports program needs opponents to play.

It's a shot across the bow, but there are a few things in the statement worth disputing. For one, the idea of moving more nonconference games to neutral sites is not a new one. It has been happening in one form or another -- whether through exempt tournaments or events like the Crossroads Classic -- for decades. Nor is it specifically speaking about "emulating professional conditions." It's more about emulating end-of-season conference and NCAA tournament conditions. Calipari is hardly the first coach to take the idea so seriously. (See: Krzyzewski, Mike.) Plus, Indiana-Kentucky was played for more than a decade at neutral sites in Indianapolis and Louisville. This is not a new thing.

Indeed, this ship has long since sailed in football and men's basketball, where off-campus events are nearly as common as games on campus during the nonconference portion of the season. It is difficult to see the logical jump required here: How do off-campus events undermine the student-athlete model, exactly?

Michael G. Bowen, a South Florida professor and co-chair of the COIA Steering Committee, was quick to point out that Calipari's move is merely an example of a larger issue endemic to collegiate athletics.

"It's not Kentucky or Calipari specifically," Bowen said via phone Wednesday. "It's a larger problem of professionalization in college athletics. This is taking things in the wrong direction. It's sort of defeating the purpose of what a university is about, or what an education at a university should be about."

If you disagree with the current collegiate model in the first place -- and many people wonder why college athletes can't be paid at least something for the money they generate for their universities, conferences and TV partners -- then you would have to reject the COIA's premise. If you think professionalization of revenue sports is a good thing, or at least in Kentucky's case, an understandably pragmatic approach, then you will wonder exactly what all the fuss is about.

Which is why, in the end, this is probably not the best argument against the end of the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry.

For my money, the best argument is still the simplest one: Ending a traditional regional blueblood rivalry that has been played continuously since 1969 because you're only willing to play at neutral sites is, for lack of a better phrase, weak. It robs the fans of a game they deserve, in an atmosphere they control. It sterilizes or even destroys the things that make college basketball great: tradition, passion, the roar of the home crowd.

I'm less concerned about a move toward professionalization than a move toward isolation: Where each elite school becomes an island unto itself, worried only about doing what's best for its RPI and bottom line on a yearly basis, its coaches are devoid of concern for the greater good of the sport that allows them to make millions of dollars and wield such power in the first place. Instead of playing anybody anywhere, or even playing teams fans would rightfully expect to play, coaches follow Calipari's lead, justifying it with an us against the world approach.

Calipari is far from the only one guilty of this. He's only the most extreme recent example.

"Professionalization" or no, the sport and its fans deserve better. To me, that's still the real gripe here.

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.

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.

Dave Telep and Paul Biancardi discuss why UCLA got the nod as the No. 1 recruiting class over Kentucky.

It was a while ago now, so you might have forgotten, but allow me to take you back to May 2011 2010, when the NCAA's new NBA draft decision deadline (which came even earlier on the calendar this spring) forced players to make their life-altering decisions much earlier than ever before. The deadline was a hot topic. At the very least, it was no secret. But Mississippi State guard Dee Bost didn't know the rule, or so he said, causing him to stay in the draft past the May 8 deadline and forcing him to appeal the NCAA to get back on the court for his senior 2011-12 season.

Bost's NBA draft stock hasn't changed much since then. If anything, it's worsened. ESPN Insider Chad Ford currently ranks Bost No. 118 overall in the 2012 draft class, and No. 16 at the point guard position. Chances are, unless something changes in the months to come, Bost will go undrafted. Why? Because, according to Bost, NBA scouts just haven't seen him play. That's what he told Slam's Peter Walsh, anyway:

Bost attributes his team’s lack of national attention to him flying under the radar as the draft approaches: “Playing at Mississippi State, we didn’t play a lot of televised games or in front of a lot of people… I feel like I’m underrated. I just gotta get to workouts and prove that to everybody else.”

First of all, you can't really fault Bost for maintaing this attitude. His draft stock is really discouraging. Athletes are athletes precisely because they operate this way mentally; they have to believe they're the best player on the court at any given time, or the battle is already lost. Of course Bost thinks he's underrated. He has to. And he might even be right.

But the bit about the television exposure? That's just downright silly. As CBS's Gary Parrish humorously notes, NBA scouts aren't exactly limited to national broadcasts when they are hunting for NBA prospects. The top point guard prospect in the draft is Damian Lillard, who played in the Big Sky at Weber State and didn't even make it to the NCAA tournament. Mississippi State forward Arnett Moultrie is a projected lottery pick. The high-upside foreign players drafted every year don't play on CBS on Saturdays, and it doesn't stop NBA scouts from drooling at their potential.

In other words, there are about eight thousand different ways Bost is wrong. Which, you know, oh well. The point is: Even if college basketball itself still exists in a TV-driven hierarchy -- BCS programs versus mid-majors, etc. -- NBA scouts have long since moved beyond it. To them, with some exceptions, college basketball is flat. If you can play, you can play -- no matter where you go to school, how big your home crowds are, or how many times you perform on TV. Exposure never hurts, but a lack of exposure hardly means what it used to.

The last time we checked in on the Border War -- Kansas and Missouri's century-old blood feud, currently cancelled by conference realignment -- it was just two weeks after Kansas's run to the national title game.

The setting: an elementary school in Lee's Summit, Mo., a suburb of Kansas City. The crime: A school administrator played the Kansas fight song on the day of the national title game. The principal may have thought this was a fun and lighthearted activity designed to lighten the mood at the start of another school day, but that principal thought wrong. Missouri fans -- some of which went so far as to accuse the principal of attempted KU "indoctrination" -- were not happy.

Unfortunately, the latest batch of Mizzou-KU-related hatred is not quite as entertaining as that. But give credit to Kansas City Star writer Rustin Dodd, who opens his story on the matter with a truly tremendous lede:

There’s an old saying in college sports: If one school refuses to play you, then you can be darn sure you don’t let that school have specialized license plates in your state.

Wait, what?

As Dodd explains, "word leaked out" last week that the University of Kansas Alumni Association was attempting to get KU-themed vanity license plates approved by Missouri lawmakers. The horror! Naturally, to prevent this egregious crime against humanity, two brave Missouri state senators took time out of their busy schedules to stand up for the rights of Missouri fans everywhere.

“With the long-standing rivalry between Mizzou and KU, I find it appalling that the creation of this license plate would be conceived in the Show-Me State,” Sen. Stouffer said.

Indeed. To be fair to the Missouri folks, Kansas's alumni association has a history of trolling other states for acceptance of the vanity plate. A few years back, it even tried to get one approved in North Carolina, before finding out the state required a presale of at least 1,300 plates before a new one could be approved. The alumni association's director of alumni programs, Danny Lewis, even admitted to the trolling:

“Our group in North Carolina wanted to annoy the Duke and North Carolina grads by getting KU license plates out there,” Lewis said, adding, “We approach everything state by state.”

KU has plates in Maryland and Texas, if that helps, and it does have a rather large alumni base in Missouri, of course ... but, well, yeah: I'm going to go ahead and assume there aren't many Missouri lawmakers who want to be labeled as backstabbing KU-loving traitors, simply because they approved a license-plate plan.

And so the Border War lives on. Unfortunately, these programs won't continue to settle things the good old-fashioned way: on the court. Instead, their fans will have to continue to find other outlets. Message boards, elementary schools, automotive flair -- really, the options are endless. Even if the series itself isn't.

Editor's note: It's the offseason edition of The Watercooler. Eamonn Brennan and Myron Medcalf discuss "The Avengers," UNLV's loaded frontcourt, Larry Brown, Arizona buzz and more.

Eamonn Brennan: Good morning, Myron. Two weeks after our last Watercooler and I'm finding a dearth of topics for us to discuss. Instead, I'm pining for the season, when we had no shortage of fun topics. This offseason is killing me. Thank goodness for the NBA playoffs and "The Avengers," which I found to be almost exactly what I expected when I went and saw it Sunday night. How are you holding up?

Myron Medcalf: I'm surviving, Eamonn. I'm with you. I'm searching for ways to get through it. The NBA playoffs have been interesting, but they're not enough. C'mon, Indiana and Kentucky, stage an offseason exhibition since we'll never see the real thing. Just saw "The Avengers" too. First, it's as good as advertised. "Dark Knight Rises" should watch its back. Great movie. Although that part at the end … I won't spoil it. Since we're talking superhero movies, which players would earn a spot on your "Avengers" squad for the 2012-13 season? I'll go with Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller, Doug McDermott, Peyton Siva and Trey Burke. You?

EB: It's awfully hard to argue with that list. Fearsome stuff. Here's my pivoting question: Does UNLV have the best frontcourt in the country? Anthony Bennett's commitment over the weekend puts him alongside Mike Moser to start the season, and former Pitt transfer (and 2011 No. 1-ranked center) Khem Birch will be eligible in December.

MM: Yes. Simple answer. That frontcourt had firepower without Bennett. Adding a phenomenal athlete such as the Canadian standout enhances that potency. Moser should be a Wooden Award candidate. Birch and Bennett too. Wow. … Hold on a minute, Eamonn, while I check this report. … Virginia Tech loses another player? Kind of shatters the whole continuity mission, right?

EB: Yeah. With the exception of continued expansion around the smaller leagues, I thought that was the story of last week. The Dorian Finney-Smith transfer was reportedly in the works for months, but the Montrezl Harrell NLI release was bad news too. New coach James Johnson will have eight scholarship players for next season, and you have to wonder whether Tech wouldn't have been better off taking another crack at this thing with Seth Greenberg in charge. It's a bit of a mess.

MM: Hard to feel sorry for Va. Tech. When you fire an established coach, albeit one who couldn't quite crack the success bubble, in late April, you must have a plan. It was just a sloppy process. You get a Greenberg staffer, you keep the recruits and returning players, right? Wrong. Johnson is going into a tough first season. Larry Brown, however, is grabbing transfers like … can't think of a good metaphor, but he's signed Josiah Turner and Crandall Head. Can Brown win at SMU?

EB: I'm assuming SMU is willing to take this coming season with a grain of salt, choosing to wait for the transfers to come online in Year 2 of the Larry Brown project. I think Turner will turn it around there. I'm not sure how good Head is in the first place. I (sort of) wrote this last week: I really don't know how the Brown thing is going to go. How long will he stick around, anyway? If they aren't winning by the end of his second season, is he gone? How much talent can his name brand (plus his good assistant corps) land him in that time? SMU woke up one day and realized it should care about basketball, and this is the result. I have no idea if it works or not.

MM: I agree. He definitely has a talented staff, but it's hard to know how long it will take SMU to make a dent in the Big East. It might never happen. … Arizona has made some offseason moves that will position Sean Miller to win now. Mark Lyons and that top-three recruiting class. Nice. I think Arizona deserves more offseason buzz.

EB: I have my lingering doubts about Lyons as a teammate -- he comes with a lot of baggage from his days under Chris Mack at Xavier. But maybe a fresh start is just what he needs? Arizona's recruiting class has it back on the map, and UCLA has made itself a likely top-five team heading into the season. The rest of the conference might still be stuck in 2011-12 mode, but at least the two dominant Pac-12 programs will be back on the map in 2012-13. I don't recall a head-to-head matchup in the league this good in quite some time. Desperately needed.

MM: You're right about Lyons. Definitely a wait-and-see situation in Tucson. But this is his last shot. Maybe he needs a change of scenery, but his attitude will influence those youngsters. So Miller needs Lyons to get his mind right. Arizona could reach the Final Four or it could implode again if the chemistry is jacked up. I think the Wildcats will find success next season. And yes, the Pac-12 needs UCLA-Arizona. We need it. … My parting shot for this edition of our Watercooler chat is that Kenneth Faried's success at the next level should change the way college coaches view "undersized" forwards.

EB: Energy and effort go a long way. It helps to be freakishly athletic too. He is going to be a solid pro for a lot of years. One example of why staying in college for four years, or even three, can be a massive benefit to certain guys. Faried is one of them.

Anyway, we'll be keeping an eye on the various college hoops stories bound to bubble up these next two weeks. Until the next alternate Monday, Myron?

MM: Yep. Until next time. … On a side note, chances are that "Avengers" references will seep into our future Watercooler posts. Our readers should definitely see the film. Now.

EB: You've been warned, people. No excuses.

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.

Did Steve Kerr just spark serious progress on the NBA minimum age requirement? It certainly appears that way.

On Tuesday, Grantland published Kerr's essay on the reasons why a change to the NBA's current rule, which has spawned the current one-and-done environment everyone knows and hates, would be beneficial to the league and its players. As a 15-year former NBA veteran, Kerr blended experience and common sense into a borderline unimpeachable argument.

His point: All that really matters is whether the NBA and its players can agree on why an extra year in college would be good for the entire business. The arguments about fairness and freedom to pursue a career and why it isn't Eddy Curry's fault if a GM drafts him No. 4 overall don't apply, not when we're talking about business. Even better? A rule change in the NBA could have positive trickle-down effects on the entire basketball culture, from high school to AAU to the collegiate level. It could be good for everybody, not just the NBA's bottom line. That's my hope, anyway.

Which is why Andy Katz's Thursday afternoon report is so potentially exciting. Two days after Kerr published his essay -- and more than a month after NBA commissioner David Stern weighed in on the issue after the Final Four -- the National Basketball Players Association at least publicly addressed the issue. From Andy:

“The NBPA's position on the age limit has been consistent,’’ said NBAPA spokesperson Dan Wasserman after consulting with NBAPA director Billy Hunter on Thursday. “An overwhelming majority of the NBPA’s members support the ability of potential NBA players to freely pursue their livelihood by allowing high school graduate age players to apply for the draft. As a practical matter we recognize that any change to the current rule must sufficiently balance both the league’s and players’ interests.’’

[...]

The NBAPA wants the owners to give rookies a quicker path to free agency if they stay in school longer. The NBAPA wants the players to have more money up front as rookies if they have stayed in school longer.

“In our view, an increase in the age limitation benefits the teams and owners in a variety of ways,’’ Wasserman said. “These benefits include a reduction in compensation paid to some of the league's best players over the course of their careers. Although we are always willing to discuss any topic with the NBA, it will be difficult to make any progress in this area if the league seeks unilateral concessions from the players."

Last winter, many expected the one-and-done rule to be a hot topic during the collective bargaining discussions. At the very least, it was a chip -- something the NBPA could (theoretically) have used to extract a different demand from NBA owners.

As it turned out, last winter might have been the worst possible time to expect this sort of change. Both sides spent months fruitlessly bickering about the basic fundamentals of their agreement; the NBA owners were after far more than a one-year bump in the minimum NBA draft age requirement. The whole environment was poisoned. By the time the sides announced their agreement, discussion of the age limit was nowhere to be found.

As Wasserman's quotes show, the tone between the two sides is at least slightly less poisonous now. And believe it or not, there might even be cause for hope. At the very least, the NBPA is acknowledging the discussion. They are providing some sort of outline for an agreement. And their demands are reasonable: If the NBA wants its incoming players to spend not one, but two years out of high school not playing in the league -- whether in the lowly D-League, on a European club, or most often, on a college campus -- the league should be willing to give those players the benefit of fewer years on their free agency clocks. Based on the current rookie wage scale (which could be subject to some scrutiny in any age limit negotiations) that seems fair.

There are other concerns, like hardship and medical loans, which Kentucky coach John Calipari has evangelized repeatedly in recent months. But they, too, seem reasonable. Besides, as Calipari is quick to point out, we are really talking about 15 to 20 players per season. Most college basketball players are not going pro in basketball, let alone after one season. It's a minority group, and that makes the logistics much easier.

In any case, at least we're talking about this -- and not in vague and whiny terms, but in tangible and reasonable ones. Maybe it doesn't mean much, but I'm choosing to be hopeful. Part of it is selfish: I want college basketball to be better, and more good players on campuses for two years means better college basketball. But as a fan of the college game, and the NBA, and pickup basketball, and local high school games and you-name-it-as-long-as-it's-hoops-I'm-watching, I do think there are legitimate, unselfish reasons to get behind this idea.

The NBA will have to give the players something, and the players will have to respond in kind. What are the chances of that? I don't know. But maybe, just maybe, the right people have finally been persuaded.

Steve Kerr, take a bow. The rest of us will be crossing our fingers.

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.

A few years ago, I took a road trip with the Alcorn State basketball team to see how the other half of Division I lives.

It wasn’t pretty. Old shoes, team meals in mall food courts and student athletic trainers who weren’t even CPR certified, the world the Braves traveled in was foreign to much of Division I.

So I understand the argument my colleague, Jay Bilas , is making about reducing the number of Division I basketball schools by two-thirds. The difference, especially financially, between the top and the bottom is about the same distance between Millionaire’s Row and Skid Row.

But when was the last time you heard a small major or a mid-major athletic director or coach whine about financial disadvantages making it impossible to compete? When was the last time they refused to play a blueblood for fear of the expected 40-point beatdown?

Try never.

No, it is the bluebloods who fret about games where they have ‘everything to lose and nothing to gain,’ an argument that makes absolutely no sense since, unlike college football, one loss does not knock you out of the national championship race.

It is the bluebloods who kvetch about prying open their gold-lined coffers to pay guaranteed money, regardless of the fact that $200,000 is pocket change to them and a financial windfall to their opponents.

So enough pandering.

The top programs already have every competitive advantage -- chartered planes, full-time nutritionists and tutors, one-to-one ratio of manager to player, tricked-out locker rooms and private practice facilities -- and get the best players.

Do we really need to cushion them from the potential blow of a bad loss and deny an opportunity for players who live to don their David get-ups and slay Goliath?

Talk to a mid-major player or a small-major guy before a big game. You won’t hear them cowering in a corner. They believe they can win. They believe in the upset. Not just in March, but in November, too. Ask their coaches about their challenges and yes, they’ll acknowledge them but they’ll also shrug their shoulders and move on.

All they ask for is a chance. By halving Division I we are eliminating the chance to compete, which at last check is what athletics is supposed to be about.

Hell, if it were just about the great versus the great, the Pittsburgh Pirates would have been kicked out of Major League Baseball years ago.

The current problem with college basketball is not that there are too many teams; it’s that too few great players stick around. If you want to find the root evil to the lack of consistency in the game, look no further than the NBA age limit. Kentucky defied everything but gravity by winning this national championship.

There are more good teams now than ever because there is so little continuity at the top.

That’s not the little guys’ fault.

In fact, that’s his opportunity, a chance to build a team and ultimately a brand the old-fashioned way, with four-year players who get better individually and collectively.

So this wouldn’t be just about killing March -- Myron Medcalf took care of that part of the issue here -- it would be about killing growth as well.

Good programs -- not just good-in-the-moment teams that have their shining moment and disappear -- are blossoming all over the country thanks to talented coaches (Shaka Smart), talented players (Isaiah Canaan) or both (Butler). Those schools are here to stay now, but they certainly all weren’t in the conversation 10 years ago. Had they been relegated below the top 150 and therefore out of Division I, just think about what the game would have been denied.

More, what future teams are we cutting off below the knees and what dregs are we keeping? Does DePaul get to stay over Mississippi Valley State? Because frankly I’d much rather see Sean Woods’ team continue to work its tail off to stay relevant than the Blue Demons' endless struggle to become relevant.

And here’s a final question: Just who do we think these top teams are going to play?

Because last I checked, it ain’t going to be each other.

Kansas got ticked with Missouri for deigning to play in another conference and now is through with the Tigers; Texas A&M had the audacity to move out from under the thumb of Texas, so now the Longhorns and Aggies are through; and Kentucky ditched a home-and-home with Indiana in its effort to become a non-traditional program.

Bet folks who long have celebrated those eight national championships and decades of success are confused by that one.

So why bother? What is the bottom-line gain in fewer Division I teams, besides feeding the top-heavy beasts that already are stuffed and denying others a chance to come to the table?

Yes, a chasm exists in the class distinctions of Division I. There will always be a No. 1 and a No. 300-plus.

Of course there always will be a No. 1 and a No. 100 or No. 1 and No. 150 and over time, the divide between whoever is at the top and wherever we decide is the bottom will stretch just as wide.

Someone in sports always wins; someone in sports always loses.

Let’s at least allow everyone a chance to be in the game.

Reduce Division I by 200-plus teams and eliminate Cinderella? No thanks, writes Myron Medcalf. He'll take March Madness just like it is.

Read more from Medcalf here.

Jay Bilas: It's time to downsize Division I .

Late Tuesday night, right around the time my boy JaVale McGee was chucking his Denver Nuggets game ball into the stratosphere (McGee had just played the best game of his life in a playoff elimination contest, but he has no use for silly trinkets such as these), The New York Times ran this story by college sports reporter Pete Thamel on the NCAA's investigation of Nerlens Noel.

According to the Times, the NCAA "sent two members of its enforcement staff to Massachusetts this week to inquire" about Noel, the No. 1 prospect in the ESPNU top 100 for the class of 2012, at his former high school, Everett High in Everett, Mass., where Noel spent his freshman and sophomore seasons. Thamel spoke with the Everett High principal, Louis Baldi, who said the conversation with NCAA investigators was centered on "concerns we had as adults" about the people surrounding Noel as he prepares to embark on his college career. From the story:

“I didn’t get any sense,” Baldi said when asked about the conversation’s tone. “It was a conversation, very collegial. That was really it. They didn’t ask me any investigative-type questions.”

The "concerns we had as adults" bit comes, as Thamel writes, from Noel's associations with two people. One is Chris Driscoll, a former Providence associate who is reportedly close with Noel. Driscoll was banned from campus at the Tilton School, the boarding school where Noel spent his junior and senior seasons. The other person of interest is Errol Randolph, a former substitute teacher at Everett High, "who is another of Noel’s advisers, according to the person briefed on the inquiry." From the story:

Until recently, Randolph had a link on his LinkedIn page directing people to the Web site of the sports agency run by the prominent basketball agent Andy Miller. The link to Miller’s ASM Sports Web site has since been removed.

Randolph said that he had no formal affiliation with Miller and had never received money from him, and that the Web site ended up on his LinkedIn page because he was browsing it. Randolph said he knew Miller from another relationship more than 10 years ago.

I haven't used LinkedIn since its early days, back when it seemed like a totally pointless thing. So I'm not positive here, but if LinkedIn is like pretty much every other social network except Facebook -- which is determined to share a link to everything you read and listen to all day, every day -- links on the site don't auto-magically show up without your intent to post them on your profile. So that explanation doesn't really hold.

But anyway, that's a brief aside. This is an interesting story, and one Kentucky fans will be watching closely as their highly touted prospect prepares for his freshman season at the school. But the words "Nerlens Noel" and "investigation" give this an air of suspense that doesn't really exist. I think Rob Dauster at NBC has it pretty much right: This isn't a big story yet. If the NCAA finds something improper in Noel's prep career, then yeah, that's a big deal. But the news that the organization is checking in on the top college basketball prospect in the country shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Of course the NCAA is looking at Noel. The NCAA looks at a lot of players, particularly high-profile basketball recruits, who almost universally know a person or two in their lives who could possibly harm their eligibility. It happens.

Chances are, Kentucky coach John Calipari and his athletics and compliance staff have done their own due diligence on Noel's situation, and wouldn't have taken him if they weren't sure they wouldn't run the risk of NCAA penalties. Until the NCAA finds something to counter that stance, this is a story to watch. But it's nothing out of the ordinary, not just yet.