ESPN Men's Basketball

Josiah Turner, Arizona's top freshman, was removed from the starting lineup after showing up late to a shoot-around. He played 21 minutes without scoring a point and committed three turnovers.

In his place, sophomore Jordin Mayes had the best game of his young career, stepping out of the shadows to score 19 points and help the Wildcats hold off Duquesne on Wednesday. He hit four momentum-shifting 3-pointers and gave coach Sean Miller some savvy at the point guard position. After Turner was declared the starter, it is Mayes who is leading the team in scoring after two games, averaging 13.5 points.

"I had a lot of confidence," Mayes told reporters. Coach stays in my ear, hyping me up and telling me to stay confident. I'm going to play my game the way he wants me to play and help the team the best way possible."

The emergence of Mayes is an important development for the Wildcats, as they search for options in the post-Derrick Williams era. If Turner indeed returns to the starting lineup and lives up to expectations, Mayes provides them with dependable depth at guard. There is also the real possibility that Mayes holds onto the starting job.

That would be quite an achievement after it was discovered after Arizona's run to the Elite Eight that Mayes had a stress fracture in his foot. He was left in a walking boot and tried to avoid surgery, but then ended up needing it after resuming workouts and actually breaking the foot in July.

While the heralded Turner was the trumpeted as the heir to the point guard job vacated by Lamont Jones, there are questions as to whether he can take on that responsibility immediately. His high school career in Sacramento ended with his dismissal from the team. He turned down an invitation to try out for USA Basketball's Under-19 world championship team.

Meanwhile, Mayes quietly bulked up to 196 pounds and waited for his chance after Turner started two exhibitions and the season opener.

"It starts in practice," Mayes told the Arizona Daily Star. "Me and Josiah are going to compete regardless of who's starting. He came in with a big name, but there are a lot of great players in college basketball. He's going to get better, and I'm just trying to help him the best way I can."

At a swanky club called the Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles, Arizona coach Sean Miller did a delicate dance at the site of Pac-12 media day on Friday.

The messages he wanted to get across focused along the lines of "We don't have Derrick Williams," "We just lost to Seattle Pacific," and "We're young and not that good right now." That's for the short term, of course.

To understand the long view of the Arizona program and its quest to become a national championship contender once again, feel free to wait until signing day. That's when Miller can officially comment on his monster recruiting class that was already ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPNU before today. When the ranking originally came out, the Wildcats' rallying cry became "one more" because there was a missing piece still left on the board.

Today, the Wildcats added to their top-ranked class by snapping up that big, big piece and securing the verbal commitment of 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski, whose surname could very well become a household name if he lives up to the hype. Tarczewski is the nation's second-ranked center for the class of 2012 and gives the Wildcats their third top-10 recruit in a class that already includes power forwards Brandon Ashley and Grant Jerrett. Guard Gabe York gives Miller a fourth top-50 recruit.

This class set to sign in November would come on the heels of Arizona adding the nation's seventh-ranked class this season that features four top-100 players including point guard Josiah Turner. Top prospects are turning their attention to Tucson even if their other choices are Lawrence, Lexington and Chapel Hill.

To get the fan perspective on all this, we turn not to the Wildcats faithful, but to Montlake Madness, a Washington basketball fan site. In reaction to the Tarczewski commitment and the good vibes surrounding Arizona, the person running the site's Twitter account posted, "If I read one more tweet praising Sean Miller's recruiting prowess I'm going to gouge my eyes out. #recruiting frustrations."

There is a growing realization from Pac-12 observers that in the near future, the league will be dominated by Arizona and UCLA. The Bruins' 2012 class is currently ranked fifth after Ben Howland received commitments from Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams. If they can add top overall recruit Shabazz Muhammad, UCLA would get into the title picture as well.

The one-upmanship between Arizona and UCLA is good for the Pac-12's profile but threatens even at this early date to shift the balance of power to the league's two most traditional powers.

That's the future Arizona is facing, and Miller has to smile at that. There's courtships with recruits and a dance-off with UCLA to be won, and right now, he's got all the moves.

Arizona won a Pac-10 championship and made an Elite Eight appearance last season under Sean Miller, and the respect level for what the coach has accomplished has many believing the Wildcats will be back on top this season despite losing Derrick Williams to the NBA draft. His fellow coaches seem to think so, as they ranked Arizona ahead of UCLA and Cal in the preseason poll.

But Miller wouldn't pick his own team as the favorite so far, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

"It would be split between Cal and UCLA, because of Cal's experience and UCLA's strength inside," Miller said of his hypothetical pick. "I wouldn't think that we would be the favorite. Hopefully we can compete for the championship, but UCLA's size and Cal's experience, to me, trumps what we have right now."

Miller said UCLA's "physical size is scary" and the Bruins have to be one of the bigger teams in college basketball. Cal has a strong returning core in guard Jorge Gutierrez, wing Allen Crabbe and forward Harper Kamp, Miller added.

"Those two stand out, Washington is always very good," Miller said, "and there's always going to be those one or two teams that surprise you."

Arizona is without its top two scorers from last season and is being cautious about forward Kevin Parrom's status after the junior was shot during a visit to New York in September. It does have Kyle Fogg expected to take a step forward and one of the top incoming freshmen classes in the nation. Until the Wildcats begin playing games, it's not easy to tell how this team will stack up against UCLA's talented frontcourt and Cal's returning players.

But note that in Miller's statement, he does use the words "right now" when saying the Bruins and Bears are further ahead at this stage. Give him time to get freshman point guard Josiah Turner acclimated to the offense and line up big men Angelo Chol and Sidiki Johnson alongside Jesse Perry, and then we'll see who finishes where in the end.

Preseason predictions, after all, are just guesswork.

The early departures of Derrick Williams and Lamont Jones from Arizona leave the Wildcats with questions about whether they can repeat as Pac-12 champions.

Just don't question the work ethic of Kyle Fogg, the team's returning leading scorer. As of last week, he had attempted nearly 40,000 shots in the offseason.

While Washington's Abdul Gaddy recently declared his intention coming off knee surgery to make 18,000 shots before the start of the season, Arizona team managers have already recorded Fogg making 26,414 of his team-high 39,132 attempts.

"We set a high number and I was able to get there just by working hard every day," Fogg said in a statement. "We had a great run in March last year and I want to do whatever I can to help us get back there again this season."

Also, the Arizona Daily Star reported Fogg has put on 15 pounds of muscle.

One of five seniors on the roster, Fogg's offseason plans should give coach Sean Miller cause for celebration as he searches for new leadership on a team that appeared to have lost its heart and soul.

A top defender and the team's leader in assists last season, Fogg is now making the transition into the post-Williams era a little easier.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, he told Jim Rome that he considered transferring after a coaching change that brought Miller on board, but he is glad he is now in a position to flourish.

Fogg also said he had no idea the Wildcats would reach the Elite Eight last season ("to be honest, not at all," he said), and that he thought of transferring during the coaching transition but that things have been great under Miller.

"It was kind of unstable," Fogg said. "Going in after my freshman year we didn't know who are coaches were going to be but I think Miller is a great coach, just [in] the things that he’s done. I believe we have the No. 1 recruiting class for next year and we have a bunch of great freshman now and I think he’s going to bring this program back to an elite level."

If you're an Arizona fan, you'll love the video from Yay Area's Finest, a compilation of top recruit Brandon Ashley's greatest hits.

If you root for any other team in the Pac-12, the thought of having to face the No. 4-ranked recruit in the 2012 class in the near future has to be frightening after the 6-foot-8 Ashley committed to Arizona this week, joining top-50 recruits Grant Jerrett and Gabe York as future Wildcats.

Arizona vaulted itself into ESPNU's top spot in the team recruiting rankings after Ashley verbally agreed to coach Sean Miller, and that's not all. When I spoke with ESPN.com senior recruiting analyst Dave Telep, he was talking about a future national championship for the Wildcats based upon this latest class.

"They certainly are assembling the pieces," Telep said. "Every single recruiting class under Sean has gotten better than the previous one. The natural progression is Final Four and national championship. Those are reasonable expectations.

"The gauntlet's been thrown down by Arizona already. What they're doing from a recruiting perspective is putting distance between them and the rest of the league."

The Wildcats have awakened since Miller arrived. His first recruiting class resulted in Derrick Williams, who went on to lead the team to an Elite Eight and become the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft. This year's incoming freshman class is ranked No. 7 and includes top point guard Josiah Turner.

"In life, we make the assumption that everyone's great at their jobs, but there are guys that are a lot better than other guys," Telep said. "Sean Miller is in the upper crust of college basketball coaches.

"A guy like Miller who's willing to toe the line with [Lorenzo] Romar and [Ben] Howland is good for the conference."

That's because while it's undeniable that the Pac-10 has been down in recent years, Arizona's successes have raised the bar going forward. UCLA might have lost out on Ashley to its rival, but Howland continues to have his sights set on top overall recruit Shabazz Muhammad while already having compiled the nation's No. 13 class in 2012 with top-100 recruits Jordan Adams and Dominic Artis. Romar is consistently in the mix for top recruits on the West Coast. And Pac-12 newcomers Colorado and Utah have top-100 commitments from Josh Scott and Jordan Loveridge, respectively.

The league appears to be on its way back up, and it's Sean Miller and Arizona that lead the way.

Our friends at The Mag are previewing one high-profile school per day for their Summer Buzz series. For the sake of all that is synergistic, yours truly will be attempting the same, complementing each comprehensive preview with some analytic fun. Today's subject: Arizona.

Derrick Williams finally got his due.

Williams was arguably the best player in the country during the 2010-11 season. He was, with the exception of Hofstra's Charles Jenkins, the most efficient star in all of college hoops. Nobody but Jenkins took as many shots while simultaneously maintaining Williams' otherworldly efficiency. His effective field goal percentage (65.0) and true shooting percentage (69.0) ranked him sixth and fourth in the country, respectively.

And Williams didn't just score. He also rebounded on both ends of the floor, drew fouls on opponents at one of the highest rates in the nation, and contributed length and athleticism on the defensive end.

For a variety of reasons -- a lack of national profile heading into the season, the whole West Coast/Pac-10 TV thing, and so on -- casual college hoops fans (and NBA scouts, for that matter) spent much of the season sleeping on Williams. It took a torrid run through the postseason (including a pretty much flawless 32-point, 13-rebound performance in a dominating win over No. 1-seed Duke in the Sweet 16) and a spate of talented forwards deciding to stay in school, for Williams to finally rocket up draft boards.

Fortunately for Williams, the final appraisal was the best one. The dude was a monster. He was drafted accordingly. The end.

Unfortunately for Arizona, the Wildcats now face the prospect of replacing their hyperefficient scoring and rebounding machine, and they have to do so in one fell swoop. Traditional stat lines can be deceiving -- you can't control for tempo in a box score, duh -- but this one is not. Go ahead, click on it. It's Arizona's 2011 statistics, and if you take even a cursory glance, you'll notice that no single Wildcat averaged even half the points per game Williams did. The closest was Lamont "MoMo" Jones. If you double Jones' points per game (9.7), you get one tenth of a percentage point less (19.4) than Williams's (19.5). This is not the most scientific piece of data ever unearthed, but you get the point.

Making this worse, of course, is Jones' decision to transfer to Iona this offseason. He said he wanted to transfer home to New York to be closer to family, and he couldn't go to St. John's because of an NCAA rule prohibiting players from playing for their old AAU coaches. But his transfer likely had something to do with Arizona's incoming backcourt and the star power Sean Miller is hoping two freshmen can immediately bring.

The first is Josiah Turner, the No. 3-ranked point guard in the class of 2011. The second is Nick Johnson, the No. 5-ranked shooting guard. Landing either one of these two would have been a boon to Arizona's long-term project (which, after an Elite Eight appearance, can hardly be qualified as "rebuilding"). Landing both of them gives the Cats what should be the best freshman guard tandem in the country. Having Jones around would have helped -- veteran presence is always nice, right? -- but it's not clear he's better than either of Miller's incoming talents.

The rest of the team won't be quite so young, but youth is still the defining characteristic. The rest of Arizona's seventh-ranked recruiting class includes two intriguing power forwards, Angelo Chol and Sidiki Johnson, both of whom are power forwards, and both of whom are ESPNU top 100 prospects. Neither is likely to have the same immediate impact as Turner or Johnson, but both should compete for minutes early in their careers and, at the very least, provide some depth to an obviously depleted frontcourt.

The rest of that frontcourt comprises returning role players who played off Williams last season. The most likely breakout candidate is 6-foot-6 forward Solomon Hill, whose athleticism allows him to overcome size disadvantages in the low block. Hill could feasibly transition to a more traditional small forward role; he isn't a great shooter, but he's capable -- he made 17 of his 48 3-point attempts last season -- and his potential defensive versatility is an asset against bigger guards and/or smaller forwards.

There are other returners here. Kyle Fogg is solid at the 2. Seven-foot center Kyryl Natyazhko and 6-11 forward Alex Jacobson both bring valuable size (which could come in handy against, say, UCLA's bruising front line). Junior small forward Kevin Parrom is the best shooter on the team; he posted an offensive rating of 122.5 in 2011. Guard Jordin Mayes and big man Jesse Perry are also back for their second seasons in Tucson.

Miller can choose between these, and a handful of other minor contributors last season, as he begins to fill out the 2011-12 Arizona lineup. Whatever configuration of players he chooses -- some mix of old and new, experience and talent, and so on -- two things are certain:

One: Derrick Williams isn't walking through that door. Arizona's offense may be very good again. But if it is, it will look entirely different from the 2011 version. It is likely to be more perimeter-oriented, more varied, and less interior-oriented.

And two: Arizona will either be good or great this season. But even if "good" is the end result, the future -- with this top-notch 2011 class and another brilliant one on the way in 2012 -- is looking very bright.

Williams is gone, and he'll be impossible to replace. But Arizona basketball is in very good shape. On that point, there seems to be little debate.

All in all, the NBA draft worked out fairly well for former Arizona forward Derrick Williams. When you're the No. 2 overall pick, it's hard to say leaving school was the wrong choice. When you sign a large deal with an apparel company, it's hard to say you mishandled your professional life.

Then again, this is not a normal NBA summer. The NBA lockout -- which kept some of the best draft prospects in school this spring -- is in full-swing. A few months ago, the NBA lockout looked much less serious than the NFL's version, if only because both players and coaches seemed to realize that the league was in the midst of a huge upswing in popularity and exposure. A few months later, the lockout looks set to be protracted and ugly, as players ruefully take their talents overseas, owners dig in with their demands for smaller contracts and a hard salary cap, and connected NBA types warn of a work stoppage that could last well into next spring.

Before he left Arizona for the draft, Williams said he had received assurances that the lockout wouldn't drag on long, so he didn't see the downside in taking the NBA plunge. It now seems those assurances were wildly optimistic. So does Williams regret his choice? Well, yeah, sort of. From the ever-chill Basketball Jones:

DW: I think it is [tough not knowing if or when the season will start]. Especially for the second round people. I really feel like the worst case scenario is there is no basketball this season, we don’t play any games. I really will feel so bad for everybody that entered the draft, that came from college. All everybody wants to do is just play basketball and it’s something that we can’t control. I guarantee you 95 percent of the people that entered the draft would have stayed in college if there were no games and I would have been one of those people. I think that being able to play on the highest level and being the number two pick is the greatest feeling in the world so far for me, but at the same time if we can’t play basketball, it’s a setback. Hopefully it gets resolved really fast.

TBJ: So you would have stayed if someone said you have to wait a year for games?

DW: Yeah. If they told me I was going to miss all 82 games next season I would have stayed in college and enjoyed myself and enjoyed all of my teammates and everybody else who is involved with Arizona. I definitely would have went back.

What a bummer, right? You overcome the odds. You achieve your NBA dream. You get your moment in the draft-night sun. And then ... nothing. No summer league. No hints at when the season will start. No obvious starting points. You enter some sort of strange NBA limbo: a member of the league currently closed for business, a player for a team that can't talk to its players.

Of course, Williams will be fine. He surely misses his Arizona teammates -- reportedly the one factor that nearly kept him in school this spring -- but at least he has his endorsement deal and his lottery status to fall back on. As he says, the real shame in all of this is what happens to those second-round players and undrafted free agents, all of whom took a massive risk this spring, all of whom are now (or soon will be) fighting for their professional lives.

As if you needed another reason to hate the NBA lockout. Sigh.

The NBA draft has become known as an event where players make fashion statements, stepping onto the runway while meeting commissioner David Stern. Being the best dressed or worst dressed Thursday night has no bearing on the court, but can create a certain amount of buzz.

It's clear that fashion is on the mind of many of this year's draft picks. Here's a preview and a compilation of some hints on what some of the top picks might be wearing tonight.

Arizona's Derrick Williams to Esquire: "Didn't want too baggy or too flashy, but didn't want a slim European suit, either. I stuck to my style -- classy -- and picked my favorite colors: black, red, and grey... I can't say what I'm wearing. Giving away your look before the event is like giving away your game plan."

Connecticut's Kemba Walker, from the New York Post: Asked whether it [his suit] might be something outrageous, Walker looked across the table at TNT's Craig Sager, the King of Outrageous alongside Clyde Frazier, smiled and said; "It's nothing like my man right here!"

Kansas' Markieff Morris, from the Lawrence Journal-World: After posing for the folks at NBA 2K12, Markieff stopped in the Sean John store to pick out a suit...

Providence's Marshon Brooks, from the Providence Journal: The suit, a classic light grey with a touch of lavender, is pressed and ready to go.

Tennessee's Tobias Harris to the Chattanooga Times Free Press: " I've heard it [fashion] is a big, but they call me 'All-Business' for a reason, so you know I'm going to pull out the nicest suit."

Texas' Tristan Thompson to the Canadian Press: "Let's just say that my colours will go with any team in this draft."

And finally, BYU's Jimmer Fredette:

As college stars at Kansas, Marcus and Markieff Morris were never known for their reserved demeanors. It's not exactly like they needed to come out of a shell. But they were never so overtly cocky -- with the possible exception of the pregame VCU taunt that turned into an all-time backfire -- as they've been in the run up to next week's NBA draft.

Let's start with Marcus, who took to the airwaves in Milwaukee recently, where he was asked about a potential NBA comparison to Denver Nuggets forward Al Harrington, a slightly undersized, multi-faceted stretch four that seems like a pretty fair comparison to the Moriis' skill sets. How did Marcus feel about that comparison? He'd like to shoot a little -- OK, a lot -- higher.

“I think the Al Harrington comparison is a little accurate, but I think maybe Carmelo (Anthony) I would say because I’m a mid-range king,” Marcus told the radio station.

Marcus might have been joking there, but he seems far more serious when asked to describe the differences between the Morii and the Lopez twins, one of whom, Brook, is considered a rising young center for the New Jersey Nets.

“Is that a trick question? Not to take anything away from those guys, I think they are great players, I just think me and Markieff have been through a little bit more,” Marcus said. “I mean I think we have different aspects of our game that are just a little bit more than those guys.”

Then there's Markieff, who wasn't just content to handle comparisons to current NBA players. He also wanted to express his displeasure with the notion that he and his brother are considered mid-first round picks while Arizona forward Derrick Williams was seen as a lock to go within the top two picks of the draft. From the Washington Post's Michael Lee:

“I didn’t think he was as good as advertised,” Morris said. “He got the benefit of the calls from the ref and we had to guard him different. He definitely had a good game against us, because we couldn’t guard him how we wanted to guard him, and that’s what happened.”

So when he hears that Williams is a lock to go in the top two, Morris said, “It’s still surprises me. What he did to Duke, he wouldn’t do that to me or my brother [Marcus]. I’m dead serious. He wouldn’t. At all. He’s good. But if we was to work out, I would go at him and I would be able to stop him more than people would expect, you know what I mean?”

The only problem with that? The Morii did face Williams last season, and all Williams did was post 27 points on 9-of-15 from the field and grab eight rebounds. As was the case for most of the season, Williams did that without much frontcourt help from his teammates. As an added bonus, he had that type of comprehensively impressive game against not one but both Morii, who combined to play 45 minutes in the Kansas win and had the benefit of another future NBA prospect, forward Thomas Robinson, contributing efficient defense and rebounding in 19 minutes off the bench.

In other words, the Morii were very good college basketball players, but Williams was better. Arguably much better. There's a reason he's the likely No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, and there's a reason some think he should be drafted ahead of Kyrie Irving at No. 1. A few brash statements to the contrary aren't going to change that perception, especially when the player you're dissing torched you head-to-head all the way back in November. What, exactly, is inconclusive about that?

There's no reason for outrage here. The Morii are trying to convince NBA general managers not only that they belong in the league, but that they're better than most people have given them credit for. Maybe they have a point.

But digging on Derrick Williams? Comparing yourself to Carmelo Anthony? Come on, fellas. If this is a strategy, try a different one. Or just put your head down and do your talking after your surprising rookie season. Until then, this stuff just sounds silly.

Cold feet and jammed fax machines are among the reasons recruits have delayed signing national letters of intent, but top-100 recruit Angelo Chol had a unique reason for not being able to turn in his to Arizona until Thursday.

According to the Arizona Daily Star, the 6-foot-9 forward needed an NCAA waiver to have an attorney sign the paperwork in place of his father, who lives in Sudan and is difficult to reach.

But his father, Akieng, returned to Sudan shortly before the signing period began, and could not be easily reached by telephone. But according to Ollie Goulston, Chol's coach at San Diego Hoover High School, UA assistants James Whitford and Book Richardson secured a waiver from the NCAA that allowed San Diego attorney Leslie Coughlin to sign the LOI instead.

Neither Goulston nor Coughlin are legal guardians of Chol, 17. But Coughlin aided Chol as a refugee from Sudan and has remained close.

The versatile Chol is a member of an elite recruiting class also consisting of Nick Johnson, Sidiki Johnson and Josiah Turner that coach Sean Miller hopes will soften the blow of losing Derrick Williams to the NBA draft.

"It is exciting to see how well Angelo complements the abilities of Nick, Josiah and Sidiki in our class of 2011," Miller said in a statement. "We are counting on these guys to contribute immediately in a significant manner next season."

But according to the Arizona Republic, Miller has already begun placing the emphasis on his returning players, challenging them to show they can win without Williams.

Miller: "We have seven of our top 10 guys back and it's those seven improving and having a great summer, coming in and using [last season's experience] to their advantage. ... This spring, summer and fall is an important time for a lot of guys. When you hear so much about Derrick in a positive way, I think if you're a returner on our team, you want to be able to prove that we have the ability to win without him. I think that's something very fair to say and I think we have a lot of guys working toward that.

" ... Keep in mind that in the second half against Duke, we scored 55 points. Derrick scored three of them. A lot like I said last year, it won't be the new guys that necessarily make us a great team. It'll be the returning players. We have quite a few players who are hungry and very experienced, so I think it'll be interesting to watch the development of Solomon Hill or Kevin Parrom and even Kyryl Natyazhko. I think you'll find they'll be better players a year from now."

College basketball has a new award, and this one bears the name of former coach and 804-game winner Eddie Sutton. This award is unique in that it honors the national player of the year who played most like a warrior.

The Eddie Sutton Tustenugee Award honors the tenacity of unselfish play that Sutton demanded. The word "tustenugee," means "warrior" in the language of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

The finalists for the award -- Arizona's Derrick Williams, Butler's Matt Howard, Cal's Jorge Gutierrez, Duke's Kyle Singler, Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor -- represent those ideals. Maybe you've seen Williams playing with a cast over a broken pinkie or Howard with his face bloodied. Gutierrez pestered opponents on both ends of the floor. Singler was last seen getting a floor burn in the NCAA tournament. Taylor willed his team to a win that toppled top-ranked, and at the time previously unbeaten, Ohio State.

"The idea behind this award to to reward both tangible and intangible qualities that help teams win games," said ESPN's Doug Gottlieb, who played for Sutton at Oklahoma State. "Eddie Sutton's coaching style demanded toughness and team play at both ends, so too will this award. In many ways all of these finalists are great players for their teams due to their all around efforts at both ends of the floor."

The winner will be named May 7 in Tulsa.

"I remember growing up watching Coach Sutton's teams and admiring how hard they played and the success they had at Oklahoma State," Taylor said in a statement. "I'm honored to be recognized as a finalist for this award."

You know what's impressive? Scoring 32 points and grabbing 13 rebounds (on 11-of-17 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3) in a 93-77 rout of the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

You know what's even more impressive? Doing so with a broken pinky on your shooting hand.

Naturally, that's exactly what Arizona forward Derrick Williams did. As you probably know, Williams played with a bulky wrap on his right hand for the final two months of his sophomore season at Arizona. The official explanation from Arizona was that Williams had merely sprained his pinky. In fact, it was broken. He just didn't want anyone to know:

"I think that if you tell people that you're injured, then people on the other team go after your injuries more, like intentionally slapping my hand when I'd go up for a shot, or something like that," Williams said Wednesday. "I was just trying to keep it under wraps, trying to keep as much padding on it as possible. Playing with three fingers, obviously there was something wrong."

That's just ... wow. Impressive.

Does this revelation affect Williams' draft stock? It's hard to see how it could; the 6-foot-8 forward is essentially a lock to be selected in the top five of the 2011 NBA draft, and he could very well go No. 1 overall. The knowledge that Williams earned that status while not at full strength has to have some NBA scouts drooling. At the very least, Williams thinks NBA GMs will appreciate his toughness and ambidexterity.

"I think it really helps me, the draft stock, saying that I was basically playing with a cast on my hand; just using my left hand whenever I could, except for shooting 3s and free throws," Williams said. "Being able to use both hands during the season, for a good part of the season, I think really helped my draft stock."

Hard to disagree with that. Which is another lesson to aspiring young college basketball players everywhere: If you want to improve your game, break your hand.

Kidding! Don't actually break your hand! Just dribble and shoot with your weak hand as much as you do with your strong. Best case? You end up like Derrick Williams. Worst case? You impress people at pickup basketball games. That's called a win-win, campers.

Monday, April 18 greeted you with some rather exciting news -- and no, not just that Kanye West's amazing 98-minute Coachella performance was easily searchable and viewable on these here Interwebs, meaning it was OK for you to close the YouTube stream and go to bed before the man got through "Lost In The World" at about 3:30 a.m. EST. (Seriously, what a show.)

No, for the college hoops fan, Monday morning's news is arguably much more exciting.

North Carolina's Harrison Barnes, one of the best players in the college game in 2011, is indeed returning for his sophomore season.

This isn't exciting just to UNC fans, although they're no doubt beside themselves today. After all, Barnes' return mirrors those of forwards John Henson and Tyler Zeller, and as such the Tar Heels are practically a lock to be the preseason No. 1 when the first polls are released this fall. They're going to be very, very good.

But it's not just UNC fans that should be thrilled. In fact, Barnes's decision counts as good news for the college game in general. Frankly, it marks a shift -- perhaps temporary, maybe permanent -- in college basketball's relationship with the NBA, its relevance to the casual sports fan, and the quality of play at the very highest levels of the sport. And it seems we have the looming NBA lockout to thank.

Barnes isn't the first marquee freshman to turn down NBA riches and return to college hoops this April. In fact, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and Baylor's Perry Jones -- two fellow top-flight NBA prospects and likely top-five picks in June's NBA draft -- have already chosen to come back for their sophomore seasons at their respective schools. And Barnes' choice hasn't been a universal one; Duke freshman Kyrie Irving and Arizona sophomore Derrick Williams both decided to enter the draft and take their shots at a No. 1 overall selection all the same.

But the decisions of Barnes, Sullinger and Jones do mean something larger than the sum of their parts. Each player's reasons for staying are different, but it's not hard to see the threat of an NBA work stoppage as a factor in each. By turning pro, each player would risk getting drafted to a team in uncertain financial straights. By turning pro, each player would take a chance of not playing for much, if not all, of their would-be rookie seasons in the NBA. By turning pro, each player would roll the dice on a league that wants to change a variety of things about the way players -- including rookies -- are paid. They'd be taking those brave chances at the very moment the league would be implementing huge structural changes to the professional game.

The usual risks associated with a return to school are injury and/or a decline in draft stock. For once, those risks seem significantly outweighed by the ones associated with a jump to the NBA draft.

The alternative is far more attractive. Barnes, Sullinger and Jones, among others, will get a chance to work on their games full-time, and at full speed, for the next 12 months. They'll get to pick up things they didn't learn as freshmen. They'll get to hang out with their college buddies for another two semesters. And they'll get to make runs at league titles and national championships, something all three seem uncannily aware of.

More than anything, though, these decisions mark a sea change in the sport. Last year, No. 1 overall pick John Wall's thoughts of staying for his sophomore year were laughed off by his coach, and rightly so. When you're that good, you belong in the NBA. But what if the NBA isn't there?

That's the issue in 2011. With the NBA draft situation in flux, top prospects have a legitimate reason to return to the college game. (And no, this isn't always the case. Despite what some stalwarts claim, players can develop in the NBA, too.) As such, the game stands to benefit. The talk of the one-and-done hurting the experience level at top programs no longer applies; both Ohio State and North Carolina will return hugely talented, NBA-ready sophomores. What's more, casual fans will know Barnes and Sullinger as marquee names on elite teams; the usual complaints of annual personnel turnover are relatively moot.

And here's where things really get interesting: If NBA owners do lock their players out, and the NFL follows suit -- which appears to be the most likely scenario at this point -- the sport with the most to gain is college basketball. College football is already hugely popular for much of the year, but college hoops lacks a large casual following in October, November, December and even January, when most sports fans are too busy managing their fantasy football teams and watching the NFL playoffs to notice. And when die-hard NBA fans find themselves starved for basketball next season ... well, here you go, guys. College hoops isn't locked out -- being an arguably unfair free labor market has its perks, after all -- and it has some awfully good players for you to watch. Dig in.

In short, everything seems to be turning up college hoops. Two of the nation's biggest professional leagues are teetering on the abyss, and one of them happens to be the league that has gobbled up much of the nation's best talent for five years under the one-and-done. In 2011-12, the college game's best young players will be playing for some of its best and most popular teams, and there's a good chance it'll be the only hoops game in town.

Eventually, NBA owners will settle with players. Eventually, the pro game will return. How it returns is the story of the offseason, because a new NBA collective bargaining agreement could either get rid of the one-and-done entirely (favored by the NBA Players Association) or replace with a two-year rule (favored by the owners). If it's the latter, next season could give us a sneak preview at the new-look nature of the college game, a place where freshmen are compelled to commit to college for longer than eight months.

Whether that's fair or not -- you can argue it's incredibly unfair; frankly, some players should be allowed to start earning their millions as soon as possible -- it would be a major boon for college hoops, for college hoops fans, and for anyone who likes watching the best basketball players play in front of some of the best crowds in all of sports.

Depending on the lockout's outcome, next season will either be a sneak peek at every college hoops fan's selfish dream, a harbinger of what's to come, or a tantalizing taste of a forever bygone hoops era when top freshmen didn't scoff at another year in the unpaid college ranks.

Either way, to paraphrase the aforementioned Mr. West, Barnes's presence is a present. Same goes for Sullinger. Same goes for Jones.

We might not know what's going to happen in the NBA this summer, but thanks to that uncertainty, we do know at least one thing: In 2011-12, the college game is going to have a defining year. Come on: How exciting is that?

UCLA coach Ben Howland gets his players to the NBA, and that's one of the selling points when it comes to recruiting future Bruins. So when UCLA players enter early into the NBA draft, Howland has to feel happy for them even if it does leave him wondering at the same time what might have been.

UCLA will lose both guard Malcolm Lee and forward Tyler Honeycutt, the second- and third-leading scorers from this season's team that came within a few possessions of getting to the Sweet 16. Howland had heard the super-early preseason projections that a team with the two of them might have been among the nation's elite, and he now knows those expectations won't be there anymore.

"I really believe that if we had both of them back we would have had a chance to challenge, no question, in that category," Howland said.

With Lee and Honeycutt leaving, UCLA will need other players to step up. The Bruins should have a strong frontcourt with leading scorer Reeves Nelson expected to return along with center Joshua Smith. With Smith and North Carolina transfers David and Travis Wear, UCLA will have three 6-foot-10 players to give them a size advantage over most teams.

What Howland will need to emerge is consistent production from the backcourt. Point guard Lazeric Jones should be better after an injury-plagued year that saw him get his first Division I season under his belt. Tyler Lamb is a wing who will get a chance to earn more minutes, and Norman Powell is a freshman who is expected to get early playing time. UCLA is also expected to sign a guard in junior college transfer De'End Parker.

UCLA will miss Lee's defensive presence. While his offensive skills could have used another year of seasoning, Howland thinks that he's as good of a defender as anyone in the draft, and that will be his greatest NBA skill. Lee's decision to forgo his senior season shouldn't have come as that big of a surprise, not after he let it be known two weeks ago that his AAU coach was in the process of interviewing agents.

Honeycutt's departure was an expected one even though he might have needed another year to boost his stock. Howland thinks he'll be a first-round pick, but as former UCLA and NBA player Tracy Murray described Honeycutt to the Daily Bruin, "He’s a carpenter with a bunch of tools, but he hasn't built nothing."

The Bruins should still challenge for a Pac-12 title. Washington and USC lose top players to the NBA, and Arizona's Derrick Williams and Washington State's Klay Thompson could depart as well.

The hope for Howland is that he still has the pieces to make UCLA an elite team.

The NBA draft could end up stealing plenty of talent from the Pac-12. USC's Nikola Vucevic declared last week he was signing with an agent, as did UCLA's Tyler Honeycutt today. Several players must still make decisions, including Arizona's Derrick Williams, Washington State's Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto, and UCLA's Malcolm Lee and Reeves Nelson.

And when it all shakes out, UCLA could easily be the favorite going into next season. The Bruins lose their best athlete in Honeycutt, but won't miss his 100 turnovers and could return most of their roster to go along with transfers David and Travis Wear.

"Would we be a better team if (Honeycutt) came back? Absolutely," said coach Ben Howland, whose team was without a senior this season. "One hundred percent.

"I'm still very optimistic. I think we'll be a very, very good team."

Howland said the team could still play with three guards, using David Wear as a small forward. And the interior presence provided by the Wear twins along with freshman center Joshua Smith -- all standing 6-foot-10 -- is a nice advantage to have.

Should Nelson and Lee stay in school, UCLA would return its top two scorers along with point guard Lazeric Jones, who now has a Division I season under his belt.

UCLA will have plenty of challengers in the Pac-12. Arizona will really miss Williams should he leave for the NBA, but would still return most of a team that includes point guard Lamont Jones and bring in a top recruiting class coming off an Elite Eight appearance. Washington should still have Isaiah Thomas and an emerging star in Terrence Ross. Cal brings back freshman of the year Allen Crabbe, and Washington State would be strong with Thompson returning to school.

Losing Honeycutt isn't ideal, but it appears the Bruins will manage. And after some more draft decisions get made, they could really find themselves in a good spot.