ESPN Men's Basketball

Dick Vitale gives his early picks to be the nation's elite teams next season.

After nearly a month of play, Dick Vitale gives his thoughts on the college basketball season, including the most impressive team and player.

Monday night's hoops slate might be charitably described as tepid. There just wasn't a whole lot here. But there was at least one game worth tuning into, and not only because it featured a quality mid-major outfit (Detroit) taking on a struggling but intriguing young team (St. John's).

Detroit won that game 69-63, and looked good doing so. Its defense was especially impressive; Detroit seemed to feed off its fans in the second half, swarming Red Storm ballhandlers and making everything difficult for a team still missing its head coach, Steve Lavin, as he continues his recovery from offseason prostate cancer surgery. But the win, encouraging as it was for Detroit -- fans even stormed the court! -- almost felt beside the point.

The first item of business was the dedication ceremony to former coach and ESPN analyst Dick Vitale. Detroit named its court after Vitale, who 32 years ago to the day called the first college hoops broadcast on ESPN's network. Vitale gave up his coaching career to become an analyst, which has worked out quite well -- few men have had as much of an impact on fans' appreciation of the sport as the exuberant Vitale -- but it surely seemed like a major risk at the time. Cool idea, cool dedication, good stuff all around.

The second-coolest portion of the evening wasn't really a "portion" so much as a sartorial decision. Yes, I'm talking about Detroit's throwback uniforms. (There's a good photo here, too.) The uniforms are about as old-school as possible, featuring distinctly 70s-era stars on all sides in addition to classic font and that quirky design that pushes the team name below the numbers and practically requires that players wear their uniform tops untucked. They. Were. Awesome.

So, yeah, slow night of hoops. But the affair at Detroit was worth the watch, not only for the game, and not only for its celebration of a college-hoops icon but, yes, also for those tremendous throwback uniforms. Between Detroit and Memphis' season-opening throwback gear, I don't think I'm alone when I say college hoops could do with a few more throwback efforts in the mix.

In other words: Your move, Marquette.

As practice begins around the country, Dick Vitale discusses diaper dandies and other players to watch, along with a national championship prediction.

If you watch a lot of college basketball -- and yeah, you're reading this, so you do -- then you know ESPN analyst Dick Vitale has lent his support to a variety of memorially inclined naming initiatives in the past. His most recent effort has involved pushing Indiana to name its arena after former coach (and now fellow ESPN analyst) Bob Knight.

So perhaps it's ironic that Vitale is now the recipient of his own court honor. On Wednesday, Detroit announced that it would name its floor after the iconic broadcaster. The ceremony will take place Dec. 5 during a nationally televised game vs. St. John's, which just so happens to be the 32nd anniversary of Vitale's first college hoops broadcast for ESPN.

Before you knew Vitale as one of the men that made college hoops famous, he was the coach at Detroit from 1973 to 1977, where he coached the Titans to a 79-29 record. In 1978, he moved to the NBA, where he briefly coached the Detroit Pistons. In 1979, ESPN executives -- tasked with finding someone to broadcast games for the fledgling network's new college hoops coverage -- asked Vitale to give it a shot. He's been crushing it ever since.

In other words, way to go, Detroit. A very cool honor for a very cool guy, one Vitale said "will probably move me to tears." Yeah, I'd say that's a safe bet.

It hasn't been the best 24 hours for Ohio State athletics. The Jim Tressel saga reached an ignominious end on Memorial Day: Ohio State announced Tressel's resignation from the school, a decision essentially forced upon both Tressel and his superiors Gene Smith and E. Gordon Gee by the revelations in a major investigative piece published by Sports Illustrated on Monday night.

Naturally, the story launched a flurry of reaction from all sides. The reaction included former OSU players like Arizona Cardinals tailback Beanie Wells, who was particularly vocal. It also, perhaps surprisingly, came from the most heralded member of the Ohio State men's basketball team, one Mr. Jared Sullinger. On Monday night, Sullinger tweeted:

Tress was my guy. He always tryed [sic] to talk me into playing football.

That's a bit of a joke, I'm sure, though it's not hard to imagine Tressel seeing Sullinger's 6-foot-9, 280 pound frame -- including his famously advantageous hind quarters -- and thinking the Buckeye forward was playing the wrong sport entirely. In a lot of ways, Sullinger plays the game of basketball like an offensive lineman: tough, physical, fighting for position in the trenches.

Then again, it's probably best Sullinger politely declined Tressel's advances. The last thing Ohio State needs is for more players to be involved in this fiasco.

This is a point for another time, maybe, but there's a different bit of fallout to process here. Despite its recent success under Thad Matta, Ohio State hoops has remained a definitive little brother to football in pigskin-obsessed Columbus, Ohio. With Tressel gone and some program-crippling sanctions likely on the way, will Buckeye basketball suddenly become the biggest and most important sport on campus?

On Tuesday, ESPN's Dick Vitale tweeted as much to Sullinger, saying "Hoops is # 1 on Buckeye campus." Sullinger's response? "Sounds good."

If you're a Kentucky fan, you like John Calipari. If you're not, you don't.

Supposedly, that's the line of demarcation when it comes to Coach Cal. You're either on board in the Big Blue Nation or you're sitting somewhere outside it, wondering why a guy who had two Final Fours vacated on his watch -- though never directly implicated in either instance at UMass or Memphis -- has fans that seem so offended whenever his success is questioned.

There's little room for nuance in this configuration. But a lack of nuance always betrays some measure of misunderstanding. In Calipari's case, what Basketball Prospectus writer Kevin Pelton once termed Calipari's "Calipari-ness" -- his outsized media presence and unpopularity among many in college hoops off the floor -- tends to overshadow his immense coaching ability on the floor.

It also overshadows stuff like this: On May 20 at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, Fla., Calipari was honored at the Sixth Annual Dick Vitale Gala, benefiting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. Brett McMurphy of CBS was there to see Calipari, along with North Carolina coach Roy Williams and tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, raise $1.5 million for pediatric cancer research in a single evening. As host, Vitale regaled the audience with a story about Calipari's dependable generosity:

"John, I need help," Vitale told him. "I need to get 20 guys together real quick in about three days and I want to raise a million dollars [for cancer research]. He said 'Well, what's the problem? What do you need?' I said 'I need 20 guys to throw in 50 G's a pop.' He said 'I'll throw in my 50 [thousand].' We got the million so quick. It was unbelievable. "John gets a bigger, bigger kick out of making people smile and being good to people."

This isn't the first time fans have gotten a chance to see Calipari's charitable side. In 2010, Calipari donated $1 million to Memphis charity Street Ministries, an organization devoted to helping underprivileged Memphis youth. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Calipari organized the "Hoops for Haiti" telethon in Kentucky, which raised more than $1 million for the relief efforts on the island and earned plaudits from none other than President Obama.

Those efforts didn't go unnoticed by anyone -- it's hard not to hear about a call from the president, after all -- but Calipari's traditional generosity to cancer-related fundraising efforts has probably flown under the radar a bit.

Apparently, Calipari believes his efforts deserve more recognition. Perhaps that explains the coach's tweets Monday night, in which he sarcastically chided some sort of Twitter "triumvirate" for its "radio silence" any time "there are positive stories about UK." Naturally, Calipari's tweets drew a fair amount of response, and today he issued something of a correction, saying that "radio silence has nothing to do with media coverage, it's solely about response or lack of within the twittersphere."

It's a little difficult to make out exactly what Calipari means by this, even for those who cover the Wildcats year-round. (The Louisville Courier-Journal's Eric Crawford has a tremendous explanation here.) More than anything, I'd argue the tweets are yet another case of the Calipari we see so often -- the brash, controversial, us-against-the-world media figure people love to hate acting besieged for the sake of rallying the hometown fans -- overshadowing the Calipari people probably don't see often enough, the guy who donates millions to generous causes, including Vitale's heroic efforts in Jimmy V's memory.

Apparently, one Cal can't exist without the other. That might be the central paradox of the UK coach's success -- no good deed comes without some sort of media complaint attached -- but it's also kind of a shame. At the end of the day, shouldn't the good deeds simply stand for themselves?

St. John's coach Steve Lavin announced in April he would spend the coming weeks undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer in the fall.

He's taken time to put the final touches on his highly regarded recruiting class and also organized his summer camps and clinics. But for one of the more prominent college basketball personalities, it's been a quiet offseason during an uncertain time.

On Wednesday, Lavin is scheduled to make his first public appearance as the New York Yankees are recognizing Coaches vs. Cancer in a pregame ceremony at home plate.

Lavin is one of 10 head coaches expected to be in attendance, and it's a chance for him to promote Coaches vs. Cancer.

Lavin has been active and participated in numerous events over the past decade with Coaches vs. Cancer and The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

The Dick Vitale Gala to benefit the V Foundation will be held May 20 and honor Kentucky coach John Calipari and North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

Josh Harrellson, the senior forward who helped take Kentucky to the Final Four, saw his role on team grow when the NCAA ruled freshman Enes Kanter permanently ineligible for accepting impermissible benefits.

Not only did Harrellson disagree with the ruling, but also he apparently thinks a double standard involving Kentucky and coach John Calipari had something to do with it.

Larry Vaught of The Advocate-Messenger asked Harrellson if he thought "the NCAA stuck it to Kanter because he was at Kentucky" playing for Calipari, and this was Harrellson's response:

"I think they did. I think if he had gone to Washington where he originally committed, he would have been playing all year. I think since he went to Kentucky and was playing for coach Cal and nobody wants us to get back to where Kentucky used to be, they took it out on him."

The notion that Kanter would not have been ruled permanently ineligible had he attended Washington instead isn't a new one. Dick Vitale has talked about it, and the NCAA has vehemently denied that Kanter was treated differently because he plays for Calipari at Kentucky.

Here's what NCAA president Mark Emmert, the former president at Washington told Seth Davis after the ruling was upheld in January in reponse to that particular charge:

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but that's ridiculous," he said. "By all accounts this is a very talented basketball player, but yet there were very few schools recruiting him. Why was that? Because everyone understood that there was a very large probability that he was not going to be deemed eligible. This has nothing to do with Kentucky or Coach Calipari. It has to do with a clear rule and a clear set of facts."

Harrellson, who recently began selling pairs of jean shorts on his website in honor of his nickname "Jorts," has his opinions. The NCAA has its stance -- the one that counts in the end.

That the discussion remains relevant in Kentucky four months after Kanter was banned for a player on the team that went to the Final Four speaks to how strong the perception of bias is.

ESPN analyst Dick Vitale breaks down the Badgers' rally to upset the No. 1 Buckeyes.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America announced the recipients of its 21st annual Chris Greicius Celebrity Awards. The Foundation selected the honorees in recognition of their exceptional dedication to helping grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

Among the honorees? Basketball Hall of Famer and ESPN.com contributor Dick Vitale, who received this year's Industry Icon Award for his longstanding support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. For years, Vitale has granted kids' wishes at the Final Four and other sporting events, going above and beyond to share his experiences as a college and NBA coach and as college basketball’s most famous broadcaster.

For those who know Dickie V., and know the many kind things he does for people when the cameras are off, the award comes as no surprise. We're proud to call him one of our own.

ESPN's Doug Gottlieb, Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and Dick Vitale make their NCAA tournament picks.

Have a link you want, um, linked? A new college hoops blog you'd like to share? An interest in sending me recipes so I can stop eating Hot Pockets for dinner? Follow me on Twitter, send me your stuff, and accomplish all three. Now, links:

• Imagine my shock last night as I learned, via a Twitter friend, that UCLA students had rushed the court after a one-point win over Washington, a mediocre team in a bad conference likely headed for a one-berth postseason. Scandalized, I emailed Diamond, who was actually at the game, and he said students sort of half-rushed the court before they were stopped by Pauley Pavilion security personnel. Hooray for security personnel! UCLA is the most storied program in all of college basketball. It is having a down year, but just two years ago it was riding a wave of pro talent to one Final Four after the next. Had this court storm occurred, it would have gone on record as the worst, least-deserved court storm of all-time, and this is coming from someone that more often than not doesn't care about court storms. (My latest post on the topic might insinuate the contrary, but really, I usually don't care.) Bruins Nation was likewise upset, writing, "It was definitely exhilarating moment. Apparently too exhilarating for bunch of folks in the Bruin Den to lose all perspective and attempt to rush the court. Come one people, show a modicum of respect to the banners hanging in our rafters. Don't act like a D-2 program which is all excited about beating a mediocre, NIT-bound Washington team which still hasn't won a single road game this season. It makes our student section look pathetic and embarrassing. Thankfully the security turned them away." UCLA fans: High five your Pauley security guard next time you go to the arena. They're heroes, you know.
• Rick Majerus is not happy in the Atlantic 10. According to Majerus -- whose St. Louis team is having a pretty solid year so far -- the flights are too long, the East Coast cities are too expensive, and the academic situation too difficult on his players, who he says are "in peril" from missing so many classes when the Billikens fly to play their A-10 counterparts. It's not often you hear a coach openly campaign for a conference switch (Majerus makes it clear the he wants to be in the Missouri Valley, which makes more sense geographically), but hey, this is Rick Majerus. Rick Majerus says funny things sometimes.
• The Cleveland Plain-Dealer posts video of Evan Turner's visit to his boyhood home in Chicago, where Turner taught himself to hoop in an alley behind his house. That sound you hear is thousands of over-involved sports dads abandoning expensive basketball camps and sending their sons to the back alley with nothing more than a basketball and a crate. If it worked for Evan Turner, it can work for you! Now SHOOT. And stop crying!
• Storming The Floor takes a revisionist's look at the Trent Johnson-John Brady-Johnny Dawkins coaching carousel, and how it's worked out for each school.
• It's not just ISU fans that are ticked at defector Lucca Staiger, who left ISU this week to return to Germany to play professionally. Gary Parrish is irate, too.
• Luke Winn hits your face with another batch of his patented power rankings, which cram more information into each team's blurb than your brain can probably handle in one sitting. Kentucky ranks atop the board, as you might imagine.
• Rush The Court acknowledges Winn's ranking (really, where else would you put the Cats?) but also mentions Kentucky's low KenPom rating -- the Wildcats are No. 11 in adjusted efficiency margin thanks largely to a soft perimeter defense -- as reason for slight concern. Calipari's teams are typically not this soft defensively, and giving up too many threes is not a vulnerability you want to take into the NCAA tournament.
• Frank Martin is in line for a raise. That sounds about right.
• Some controversy on the last play of Louisville's loss to Seton Hall last night. Matt Norlander explains the situation and says the Cardinals were "jobbed" out of a chance at overtime. Rob Dauster isn't quite so sure.
• Gasaway looks at UConn's situation both on the court and off it, and on the court, UConn is shooting a drastically low number of threes. This is not, despite what your high school basketball coach might have told you, the most efficient way to run an offense.
• Speaking of Gasaway, here's a longer, in-depth look at what seems to be plaguing the North Carolina Tar Heels this season.
• FanHouse's Terrence Moore declares Indiana's undefeated season unmatchable. Sure, the college basketball landscape is different now -- more games, more pressure, better competition -- but never sure seems like a long time, doesn't it?
• Rivals pinpoints some "under the radar" seniors worthy of your attention. Yes, there are still seniors in college basketball. Who knew?
• Oh, and speaking of power rankings, here's SB Nation's blog poll, which combines the votes of the network's college basketball bloggers in the same way as the AP poll combines media members' votes. Always a fun comparison.
• And last but not least, some guy named Dick Vitale weighs in with some of his favorite home court advantages in college hoops. Clemson, stand up!