ESPN Men's Basketball

1. The National Association of Basketball Coaches' board of directors is meeting in Indianapolis on Thursday, with the issue of transfers and how to handle the requests as a primary agenda item. The board has some notable names, including Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who was involved in a high-profile case in which the player was initially restricted from transferring to a number of schools; Michigan State’s Tom Izzo; Pitt’s Jamie Dixon; Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim; Notre Dame’s Mike Brey; and NC State’s Mark Gottfried, among others. The NABC doesn’t have legislative power but does serve as a lobbying group to the membership -- and can also influence other coaches on how to handle a transfer situation.

2. The men's NCAA tournament basketball selection committee will also meet Thursday in Indianapolis. The primary agenda item, according to incoming chair Mike Bobinski of Xavier, is to determine the 2013 East Regional site. The finalists are expected to be Syracuse and Brooklyn (Newark, N.J., is still technically in, but it would be a surprise since the regional was there in 2011). Bobinski said it is unusual for the site still to be unknown less than a year before the event. The dismissal of former NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen apparently contributed to the site selection delay; Shaheen’s replacement, Mark Lewis, will be at the meeting. The original plan was for the tourney’s 75th anniversary to have a presence at Madison Square Garden. But the NCAA couldn’t make a commitment before the Garden had to turn in its Knicks and Rangers schedules to the NBA and NHL, respectively. The 2013 Final Four is in Atlanta. The other regional sites are set in Los Angeles (Staples Center), Dallas-Fort Worth (Cowboys Stadium) and Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium)

3. New Illinois coach John Groce has added two transfers in Rayvonte Rice from Drake and Sam McLaurin from Coastal Carolina. The Illini are also busy finalizing their last major non-conference game. Illinois will play Auburn on Dec. 29 at the United Center in Chicago to fill the final significant game on the schedule.

1. NCAA vice president Greg Shaheen tweeted out a number of links Monday to the NCAA site where the exact team sheets are online for the selection and seeding process. The selection committee’s transparency process up until the actual computer votes for selection has been a long time coming, but is welcomed. Now everyone can easily see what the committee looks at in evaluating the raw numbers.

2. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon never panicked as the Panthers went to 0-7 in the Big East. He said not having Travon Woodall healthy was a big deal. And it clearly was for Ashton Gibbs and the rest of the team. The Panthers have won three straight (the latest at West Virginia on Monday) and have a winnable Big East schedule that could put the Panthers on the bubble in March. Unlike teams in the Pac-12 and leagues outside the power six -- Pitt has opportunities for quality wins. Also, Pitt will be judged on when Woodall was healthy and when he was not.

3. Missouri coach Frank Haith has to be a finalist for national coach of the year. On Monday Haith coached one of his best games against his mentor and former boss, Texas coach Rick Barnes. Going zone on the final possession was a tremendous move. Haith may not win the award (KU’s Bill Self could win it within the Big 12), but he has done a marvelous job coaching the Tigers without its top post player from the preseason. There have been no hiccups in taking over this team.

Seven straight losses to open Big East play. A defense allowing opponents well over a point per possession. The usually impenetrable Peterson Events Center and the rowdy fans that inhabit it have borne witness to five -- count 'em, five -- home losses in 21 games. Coming into the season, Pittsburgh was 149-12 in the Pete.

In short, it's been the most un-Pitt of Pitt seasons in 2012, as Jamie Dixon's team, long a haven for underrated prospects blossoming into veteran stalwarts, has suddenly run short on defensive stoppers, ball handlers and glue types. The result has been the Panthers' worst year in memory, a rare plunge for one of the nation's most consistent programs. Needless to say, no Pitt fan is used to this.

Perhaps it's understandable, then, that the Panthers' fans weren't exactly out in force at the Pete on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh got a win -- its first in Big East play, and its first at home since the Dec. 23 loss to Wagner -- 86-74 over Providence. Previously injured point guard Tray Woodall combined with shooting guard Ashton Gibbs for 39 points, 13 assists and just two turnovers in the win. As Pittsburgh news goes in 2012, this is exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ron Cook, the signs of promise in the Pitt backcourt were witnessed by a startlingly small Peterson Events Center crowd -- a sign of the current tough times in Panthers' program. To wit:

It was hard to believe it was The Pete.

It was sad, actually. [...]

You easily could count the number of people sitting in the 100 courtside seats in the 12 luxury boxes. The Oakland Zoo -- the arena's famed student section -- was only a third full despite tweets earlier in the day urging kids to get off their "arse" and come out to support their struggling team. Eight minutes into the game, ushers still were moving fans down from the upper levels to make the lower bowl full. That might have happened over the years for some of the one-sided non-conference games against the likes of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Houston Baptist and Maryland-Baltimore County, but I can't remember seeing it at a Big East game. I also can't remember coach Jamie Dixon nearly begging -- OK, lobbying -- for the fans to come out, as he did Jan. 16 after Pitt's loss at Syracuse. He and his program have been much too successful to have to do that.

Yeah. Yikes.

Cook draws a larger conclusion from this information: Namely, that Pittsburgh is a tough pro sports town, that it's hard to gain traction as a college entity here, and once you have it -- as Pitt hoops obviously has -- all it takes is one losing season before the attendance starts to dry up. That's a shame, but it appears to be the reality. There also seems to be a trend of great student sections simply not showing up these days. Between the Zoo and the Cameron Crazies (who are struggling to get 700 kids in a 1,200-seat section some nights), let's hope this doesn't become a thing. Of course, it's easy to turn up for a big game, or when your team is riding high in the Big East. It's a lot more difficult to show up and support your peers when they're struggling.

But if Pitt ever needed a rocking, rowdy, filled-to-the-rafters Peterson Events Center, that time is now.

As good as the afternoon was, with exciting upsets and huge road wins over top-five teams, the evening may have matched it in the vital FOPM statistical category. (FOPM stands for freak outs per minute. It's a tempo-adjusted metric, naturally.) Let's lead with what may be the result of the day -- Syracuse's very first loss of the season, at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame 67, No. 1 Syracuse 58

What we learned: Nobody's perfect. OK, yeah, Murray State is still perfect, but you get the drift: Everyone loses eventually. Sooner or later, the Orange were going to have a particularly bad shooting night. Sooner or later, they were going to struggle on the road. Sooner or later, they were going to do these things against a coach and a team that had designed the perfect gameplan to take advantage of this opportunity. As it happens, that coach was Mike Brey. That team was Notre Dame.

Of course, the Fighting Irish don't have a tenth of the talent available to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. What do the Irish have? The Burn. That's what Brey calls his team's intentionally slow, clock-killing offense, and while it isn't always the preferred strategy in South Bend, it is something the Irish keep in their back pocket when they find themselves facing a bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled, pretty-much-all-around-better opponent.

Indeed, as ESPN's Doris Burke noted late in the game, the Irish played a sort of semi-burn Saturday night. They lulled the Cuse into seven fewer possessions (61) than its average adjusted tempo (68) on the season (including a handful of late heaves when the game was out of reach), but ND was also opportunistic: When it broke SU's press, it didn't always pull out and set up the halfcourt offense. It was a clinic in opportunistic decision-making. (At one point, it ended in a contested fast-break dunk by Jack Cooley. Jack Cooley? Jack Cooley!)

Syracuse, being Syracuse, still managed to force a mess of turnovers. At several points in the second half, as Notre Dame forward Scott Martin struggled time after time to inbound the ball on his own baseline, it appeared the Irish were just a few possessions away from a late collapse. But the Orange's poor shooting (they posted a 40.0 effective field goal percentage) and ND's solid free throw shooting sealed this game in the closing moments.

Burke called it a "masterful" gameplan from Brey and, as usual, she was dead on: Notre Dame knew exactly what it needed to do to take a walk through any door Syracuse left ajar. When the time came, it executed.

Going forward, this loss may knock Syracuse out of the top spot in the rankings, but it shouldn't change the perception of this team much. First of all, the absence of leading rebounder and shot-blocker Fab Melo (due to an unresolved academic issue from the fall semester) was a blow to this team's inherent interior advantage. Second, Syracuse didn't shoot the ball well. Frankly, it didn't play well. Overreact if you like, but it's the opinion of this writer that, well, hey, these games happen.

For Syracuse, it was bound to go this way eventually. When it did, the Irish were ready.

No. 15 Mississippi State 78, Vanderbilt 77 (OT)

What we learned: The Commodores will struggle with capable frontcourts. They struggle late in close games. They struggle on the defensive end. They are, in other words, the same Vanderbilt Commodores we've come to know and love in each of the past three seasons. Their recent improvements created the notion that this team had turned some vague corner, that it was finally ready to assume the top-10, Final Four-worthy preseason expectations foisted upon them.

Instead, on Saturday, we saw the team that led us to doubt that status in the first place. Vandy yielded a 12-point second-half lead, allowed Mississippi State to score 1.14 points per possession and got vastly outrebounded on both ends of the floor. In the end, even with very good chances to win the game -- particularly the final shot in regulation, which ended up being an uncontested four-foot shot for Festus Ezeli (which he missed) -- Vanderbilt just couldn't make the key defensive plays.

In the meantime, Mississippi State deserves credit for a major road win. Forward Arnett Moultrie was brilliant (21 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, one block) and guard Dee Bost was just as good (24 points, five rebounds, four assists and a handful of key second-half shots). Even Renardo Sidney, who struggled for much of the game and suffered an injury in overtime, got in on the act, hitting a monster 3 with 1:22 remaining in the second half.

Three days ago, the Bulldogs went to rival Ole Miss and lost and looked vulnerable -- even downright overrated -- throughout. Their ability to rebound from that loss with a win on the road against a streaking Vanderbilt team, one that had won its past eight games -- including on the road at Alabama -- is to be commended. Surprising stuff, to say the least.

No. 12 UNLV 80, New Mexico 63

What we learned: UNLV is still the Mountain West favorite. Yes, yes, San Diego State certainly has a claim to that distinction, too, especially since its first two conference results -- a two-point home win over the Rebels and an incredibly impressive road win at New Mexico -- were among the most impressive back-to-back performances we've seen from any team in any league this season. New Mexico is no slouch, either. Before Wednesday's loss to SDSU, the Lobos had won 13 in a row. There are three very good teams in the MWC, folks. That much we know.

Then again, I'd say we knew that already. The main takeaway from Saturday night's best late-night matchup -- and this is a good old-fashioned eye-test thing to say, but I'm doing it anyway -- is that UNLV just looks like the best team in this league. The Rebels have few, if any, holes in their attack. They have talented players at every position. Their guards push the pace; their forwards run to the rim; their wings hit 3s with ease. Anthony Marshall, Chace Stanback, Mike Moser, Oscar Bellfield and even reserves like Carlos Lopez and Justin Hawkins -- these players are perfectly suited to Dave Rice's new emphasis on uptempo basketball, and when you watch them play, it shows.

The Mountain West race is going to be fascinating, and we'll hear more from the Lobos -- and, of course, the league-leading Aztecs -- before the season is out. Sure, I'd take UNLV as the favorite. But whatever happens, if two of these three teams are playing, it promises to be very entertaining.

A few more observations from the Saturday evening that was:

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AP Photo/Keith SrakocicPitt lost its ninth game Saturday, matching the highest season loss total of Jamie Dixon's tenure.
• Bad times got worse for Pittsburgh on Saturday night, as the Panthers fell to No. 21 Louisville at home, 73-62. In case you're counting, that's Pitt's eighth straight loss and seventh in a row in Big East play ... for the first time in Pitt hoops history. Ouch. Even worse? According to ESPN Stats and Information, this is the first time Pitt has lost four straight home games since 1999-2000. The loss is also Pitt's ninth this season. Jamie Dixon-coached Pittsburgh teams have never recorded more than nine losses in a regular season. There are myriad issues afflicting the Panthers right now, chief among them defense, but it's hard to see any major improvements coming any time soon. If this wasn't a lost season already, it is now.
• Neither VCU nor Old Dominion are likely to end up with a chance at an at-large bid come March, but their meeting tonight was still full of implications for the CAA title race. Before Saturday, ODU was 6-1 in conference and VCU 5-2, both right there hanging around with George Mason and Drexel in the Colonial standings. In other words, Virginia Commonwealth got a rather massive 61-48 win, handling the lackluster Monarchs rather easily at home. Shaka Smart's team is still rebuilding after last year's miracle NCAA tournament run, but they're not nearly as far down as most would have expected. Keep your eye on the Rams.
• The C-USA race is going to be interesting. Marshall appeared to have the best odds to challenge Memphis' purported superiority, with Southern Miss a notch or two below -- a dark horse at best. After Saturday -- when Southern Miss topped Marshall and tied the Thundering Herd at 4-1 in league play -- it seems clear things aren't quite that simple. There are no remaining unbeaten teams in the league, with UCF at 5-1 and Memphis, Marshall and USM all now residing in second place at 4-1.
• I don't know if we'll call the Pac-12 race "interesting." "Mystifying" feels more appropriate. Either way, consider what went down in the conference Saturday: Cal fell at Washington State (not an unforgiveable loss, given how well Wazzu has played at home, but still) just as the Bears appeared set, thanks to a blowout Stanford loss at Washington, to create some separation between themselves and the rest of the league. Meanwhile UCLA -- which keeps struggling, week after week, to sort things out -- fell on the road at Oregon, which is now 6-2 and tied atop the league standings. Elsewhere, lowly Utah not only didn't lose, but actually blew out Arizona State in Salt Lake City; and Colorado held on for a one-point home win over Arizona. Those Pac-12 power rankings are going to be a bear to write. I can't wait.
• Two results from the West that shouldn't be dismissed. Long Beach State, a team that played perhaps the most grueling nonconference schedule in the country, continues to see the dividends from that gauntlet. On the road Saturday night, LBSU went into the Thunderdome and absolutely obliterated chief rival UC Santa Barbara, 71-48, the talented squad that's beaten the 49ers in the Big West final in each of the past two seasons. And in Laramie, Wyoming beat rival Colorado State -- which had won eight straight -- 70-51 to improve to 16-3. Yes, 16-3. What a job by first-year coach Larry Shyatt. And what a performance by USC transfer Leonard Washington, who set career highs in points (32) and rebounds (14).
• As for the momentum Nebraska created with that dramatic victory over Indiana on Wednesday? Ohio State did not seem to care. Buckeyes 79, Huskers 45. So much for that.

1. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Sunday night that his team's poor shooting that began with the Wagner loss (seven games ago) is hard to explain. Losing two expected stars -- Travon Woodall (groin) and Khem Birch (transferring) -- was also a legitimate hit. He has had many text conversations with his good friend and mentor, UCLA coach Ben Howland, who recently experienced going through a tough season.

2. I know Kansas fans are salivating to pounce on those of us who didn’t pick the Jayhawks to win the Big 12. But it was impossible to predict how KU would deal with the lack of depth (losing two key newcomers) and their overall inexperience. After losing to Davidson last month, the Jayhawks have been been stellar and have the best homecourt in the country. Kansas will be in the thick of the race with Baylor and Mizzou (two places they still have to go to this season). While SDSU’s Steve Fisher could be a favorite for national coach of the year, the Jayhawks' Bill Self is now fully in the race and possibly nudging ahead of Mizzou’s Frank Haith and Baylor’s Scott Drew with this latest surge.

3. Murray State coach Steve Prohm said he was humbled by the No. 10 ranking in the coaches poll Monday. To him, it was even more important that it came from the coaches, which he said shows tremendous respect from his peers. Prohm said staying unbeaten while juggling lineups without second-leading scorer Ivan Aska makes it even more special and says the team's ceiling will depend on how long the Racers can continue this streak.

1. The Atlantic 10 may have its most competitive balance in years from top to bottom. But the problem is that beating each other may end up hurting the league when it comes to tournament selection. The one thing that may occur is some leap-frogging. Temple has one of the best wins in taking down Duke, but is off to a 1-2 start in the league. The beneficiary of the teams beating each other up will be Xavier. The Musketeers still have the most talent, and prior to the free-fall had the best nonconference schedule. I’d be surprised if the winner of the A-10 doesn’t have at least four losses.

2. I have said this before but it is worth repeating: I cannot get over the transformation at San Diego State. I’m not sure I’ve seen a program come from such depths to becoming a consistent national winner in front of a frenzied crowd that simply didn’t exist. The atmosphere at Viejas Arena for a big game screams through the television, and when in person is quite a sight to see. Steve Fisher will be challenged to get quality nonconference games once the Aztecs go to the Big West. The odds of a ranked conference team coming into Viejas will diminish once UNLV and New Mexico are no longer common opponents. But SDSU is attractive enough to command a national schedule now.

3. Villanova and Pitt both lost on the road Saturday at Cincinnati and Marquette, respectively. But both teams played well enough to win in the final few minutes. They are at the bottom of the standings for the first time under Jay Wright and Jamie Dixon, respectively. There is still enough talent in place to fear these two teams in February and March. To think either will be a walk would be foolish. And to dismiss either team from causing some problems in the Big East tournament would also be a mistake. Neither can make the NCAAs as an at-large, but I have a hunch both will be pests going forward.

College hoops polls might be inconsequential noise, but that doesn't make the arguments any less fun. In that spirit, I present the creatively named "Poll Thoughts," which you can expect every Monday until the season is over.

It's the first ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll of 2012. Does it feel different? Do you? No? OK, me neither. So let's jump right in:

The Southern Indiana showdown: Perhaps the most intriguing argument surrounding the polls today -- at least for folks ensconced in that Southern Indiana/Louisville/Lexington nexus where so much impactful basketball was played Saturday -- is which team, Louisville or Indiana, deserves to be ranked higher in the Week 9 polls.

And this is why the polls are the polls: At this point, of course Indiana deserves to be ranked higher. The Hoosiers are 13-1 with a win over Kentucky and a win over Ohio State; few teams outside of UNLV can boast one win of that quality, let alone two. Indiana's only loss came on the road at now-No. 11 Michigan State. Contrast that with Louisville, whose best win is probably a 62-60 overtime victory over a then-struggling Vanderbilt team. The Cardinals lost twice last week, and while the Kentucky loss was actually somewhat impressive -- the Cardinals hung tough on the road with a much more talented team -- the disappointing home performance to Georgetown early in the week raised appropriate questions about this team's true quality. If you're willing to use per-possession statistics as even a general sign of ability -- and why wouldn't you be? -- Indiana's numbers rank it among the best seven or eight teams in the nation. As of Monday, Louisville is ranked No. 17.

Yet, because the Cardinals were overranked at No. 4 overall -- thanks almost entirely to the slow attrition that naturally occurs when a team begins the season in the top 10 and doesn't lose until the last week of December -- the Cardinals stayed in the top 10 this week, at No. 10. The Hoosiers came in at No. 12. This is the way the polls work. The coaches, and even the AP voters, are almost always unwilling to reset their ballots entirely, even when the evidence would seem to nudge them rather obviously in that direction. Which is why it's good these polls don't matter one bit. Sometimes -- often, even -- they're just flat-out wrong.

Speaking of Ohio State: How far would the Buckeyes fall after Saturday's loss at Indiana? Not too far, it turns out. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 7 in this week's poll, and given the six teams above them (in order, Syracuse, Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Baylor and Missouri), it's hard to find much issue with that. Of course, one could argue that there's no way Ohio State should be ranked lower than Duke (not after the 86-63 beatdown the Buckeyes administered in Columbus on Nov. 29), and yeah, you know, that's probably correct. Likewise, most discerning fans would disagree with the idea that Duke is the No. 3 team in the country. But the Blue Devils haven't lost since that ugly trip to Columbus, and you know the drill: If you win, you move up, whether or not you really deserve it. Oh well.

Good poll times in the upper Midwest: Michigan State's 12th and 13th straight wins moved the Spartans up to No. 11 in this week's poll, and it's hard to find any fault with that. This team is playing very good basketball, particularly on the offensive end (and specifically on the low block), and the guard play of Keith Appling has been an improvement in nearly every way from last season's apathetic, scattershot efforts. Michigan State is a legitimate Big Ten title contender this season, and its poll ranking is slowly but surely beginning to reflect that.

Interestingly enough, Michigan is hot on its chief rival's heels. The Wolverines are ranked No. 13 in this week's poll, and with all due respect to John Beilein's high-octane offense, that's too high. The Wolverines' best win of the season is probably that neutral-court Maui Invitational victory over Memphis. The Wolverines lost to the two quality opponents they've played since, Duke and Virginia (at Virginia). Since the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, all but one of Michigan's wins have come in Ann Arbor (the exception being a neutral-court victory over Oakland), and the best win was probably Sunday's five-point victory over Minnesota. The Wolverines are ranked No. 43 by Ken Pomeroy; their defense is ranked No. 83 in adjusted defensive efficiency. At this point, the Wolverines are blatantly overranked, more than any other team in the poll.

The good news? Michigan will have an opportunity to prove it's better than the sum of its results to date and thus worthy of top-15, Big Ten-contender-type consideration, on Thursday, when it travels to Bloomington to face a hot Hoosiers team in its home building. That's a tough task, but if Michigan leaves with a win, then we can start talking top 15. Until then, this is way too high. Fair?

Farewell, Pittsburgh: This is no surprise, of course, but it is worth a brief note. In their past three games, the Panthers have lost at home to Wagner, on the road (and convincingly so) to Notre Dame and at home to Cincinnati on Sunday. The 2012 Panthers do two decidedly uncharacteristic things: They don't defend, and they don't protect their home court. With no obvious fix in sight, there's a chance we won't see Jamie Dixon's typically consistent program in the Top 25 again all season, let alone sometime soon. This team just isn't very good. (Taking the Panthers' place and coming in at No. 25: San Diego State. Gonzaga certainly has an argument after its road win at Xavier, but I'm fine with the SDSU inclusion. You?)

Where Murray State's climb stops, nobody knows: The undefeated Murray State Racers just keep on winning, and no surprise there: With each passing win, this team's chances of making it through the regular season without a loss just keep creeping higher and higher. And so the Murray State Racers keep climbing in the poll, up to No. 18 from No. 21 this week thanks in large part to strange home losses by Wisconsin (to Iowa) and Marquette (to Vanderbilt). Thing is, the Racers are hardly done climbing. Chances are, they aren't going to lose for a while; per Pomeroy, Murray State is at least an 82 percent favorite (and is more often a 90 or 95 percent favorite) in every one of its remaining games. This will be fascinating to watch. Barring a shocker, Murray State is going to keep winning, other teams are going to keep losing, and so the Racers will keep moving up and up and up. But how high? Where's their ceiling? Will voters step back, realize the Racers aren't exactly dropping the nation's best competition (especially relative to their poll colleagues) and eventually cut them off? Or will they just keep going? And how high? Top 10? Top five? Impossible, right?

These are the trivial yet fascinating dynamics that rule our weekly college hoops polls. In the daunting passage of the new year, it's good to know some things will never change.

1. Kentucky coach John Calipari said the Wildcats aren’t where they need to be at this stage in the season, especially with Louisville on deck Saturday. “We’ve got a ways to go,’’ Calipari said. “I would have hoped in the (Lamar) game we would have shown improvement. We’re not executing the way we need to be right now. Indiana executed better than us. Louisville can be that same kind of team.’’ The players that Calipari knows will likely produce on a given night are Anthony Davis (on the defensive end) and Doron Lamb and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (on the offensive end).

2. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Travon Woodall probably shouldn’t have played at Notre Dame. Dixon said Woodall wasn’t ready to return from the groin injury that kept him out of the previous six games; he went 0-for-5 in the loss to the Irish. Meanwhile, Dixon said the Panthers saw defensive slippage in the defeat, something that must be corrected before the Panthers host Cincinnati on Sunday.

3. Saint Joseph’s still won’t release graduate student Todd O’Brien to play at UAB, a likely requirement for him to get a waiver that has been denied twice. The NCAA responded to the inaction, through spokesperson Erik Christianson: “It is extremely rare for an NCAA member to oppose a student-athlete transfer, and St. Joseph’s opposition was an important factor in both the NCAA staff’s and the independent Division I Subcommittee for Legislative Relief’s review of this waiver request. The Subcommittee also spoke directly with Mr. O’Brien, UAB representatives and Mr. O’Brien’s legal counsel as part of the appeal process. These decisions are never easy, and the Subcommittee’s final determination was based on all facts and views presented.”

1. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim think if West Virginia finds a way out of the Big East for 2012, the Panthers and Orange want to start playing in the ACC then, too. Neither coach wants to go through more than one lame-duck season. The Big East is adamant that it will hold the three schools to three more seasons based on the conference bylaws.

2. West Virginia should be a perfect fit for the Big 12. Morgantown is a difficult college town to get to, much like a number of the spots in the Big 12. The Mountaineers have a terrific home court. Of course, these alignment moves are made for football and the Big 12 did a fantastic job of adding West Virginia and TCU. But the league needed the Mountaineers in hoops since the Horned Frogs don’t offer much in basketball right now. West Virginia should be a top five school in the conference once they join.

3. Florida coach Billy Donovan has known former NBA and Fresno State guard Chris Herren for quite some time. He recruited Herren in the ‘90s and he was well versed in his recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. So he didn’t hesitate to bring him down to talk to the team earlier this season. Herren was the subject of Tuesday’s documentary “Unguarded’’ on ESPN. “When he spoke to our team it was off the charts,’’ Donovan said. “He’s really, really good. It’s so good that he’s getting his life together.’’

1. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said senior forward Nasir Robinson should be back at practice sometime next week after missing the past few weeks following a torn meniscus in his right knee. Robinson is one of two key seniors for the Panthers. The other is lead guard Ashton Gibbs. Dixon said Gibbs has been playing at a high level, making shots, and proving to be the necessary leader for the Panthers. “He’ll play in the NBA some day,’’ Dixon said of Gibbs.

2. BYU coach Dave Rose said that so far the two players on the Cougars who appear to be ready to take over for Jimmer Fredette’s production are wing Charles Abouo and big man Stephen Rogers. Rose said both have been highly productive so far in practice. But the one player who has the most NBA potential and is starting to be even more assertive is forward Brandon Davies. Davies was reinstated to the team in the fall after being dismissed for an honor code violation last February. The Cougars will need the inside-out combination to have a chance to catch Gonzaga in the WCC.

3. Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he might have his best set of big men in his tenure with Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk, Sam Dower and Ryan Spangler. If Gary Bell and Kevin Pangos can have as much of an impact as projected and David Stockton proves to be a calming presence at the point then the Zags have a shot to be a deep March team. Gonzaga needed to be deeper inside and with more options. It appears they have that this season.

Make no mistake, kids: Conference realignment is all about football. That's true even when the programs involved are Syracuse and Pittsburgh. It's true even when the conferences involved are the Big East and ACC. It's always, as Jim Boeheim said Monday, about football.

Every time a school has made a football-oriented move, we've been forced to ask how that move would affect basketball. Would a team adapt to a conference? Would a conference be strengthened or watered down by a particular addition? This was the case with last year's minor realignment moves. It was the case this summer with Texas A&M. And it's the case with Syracuse and Pitt, two of the nation's strongest and most consistent college basketball entities.

So what does the move do for Syracuse and Pitt basketball? For one, it puts those programs in a geographically disparate position -- as northeastern schools playing mostly south and southeastern programs. Is it harder to shine in the ACC than the Big East? Is it more difficult to convince players to come play when they're going to be playing North Carolina and Duke twice in the same year? Or does that become an advantage?

On Monday, Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News made the argument that Pittsburgh hoops in particular could suffer:

Pitt has been able to visit New York, D.C., Philadelphia and New Jersey and entice recruits -- most of them not at the top of prep rankings, but nearly all possessing the toughness and team-first character Dixon values -- to play in a league they have known all their lives.

Take away the lure of the Big East, and those recruits might view Pitt as a less-appealing destination. The Big East not only provides the opportunity for a Philly kid to return home periodically for a game against Villanova, or to the region to play Seton Hall or Rutgers or even St. John’s, it also provides the thrill of ending the conference season at Madison Square Garden in the Big East Tournament.

Really think there are dozens of kids from Jersey who’ll be excited about playing road games in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Tallahassee, Fla.?

Without a solid recruiting home base in Pittsburgh itself, coach Jamie Dixon has had to extend himself outward to land the kind of players that have made Pittsburgh such a steadily elite program in the last eight years. What happens now?

Conveniently enough, Dixon actually answered this exact question in a radio appearance in Pittsburgh Monday. His retort?

“I actually read that article, there was a lot more to that article than just that line, but I mean, there’s still planes, there’s still flights going into New York, D.C., Philly -- we’re going to be in there. And hopefully we’re still going to be playing there. I’ll just have to see how it all falls out here in the near future with the rest of the league to see if there’s any more movement. But the reality of it is BC is the conference, Virginia Tech, Miami -- former Big East teams -- and then now with Syracuse in the league, there’s five of the 14 and there could be some others. So once it all settles, it won’t be quite as much change as it may seem initially.”

The real question is this: How much does conference affiliation affect Pittsburgh's recruiting? If the answer is "a lot" -- and Dixon seems to cede that point -- then Pitt could face some serious challenges in the new-look ACC. If the answer is "not at all" -- and how many recruits cite a team's conference as their reason for committing? -- then Pittsburgh should have few problems adjusting. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. There may be players from New York and other East Coast hoops havens that have seen Panthers as the perfect mix: Successful and far enough away from home to be attractive, but with enough games scheduled against St. John's, Seton Hall, Rutgers and other metropolitan schools to allow parents and family members to see their games more than once a season. But perhaps there are players that would see Pitt in the ACC as the best of both worlds.

Honestly, I don't know. It will be years before we see how these changes affect the way Syracuse, Pittsburgh and potentially Connecticut -- three of the nation's best programs -- adapt to life in a conference where Duke and North Carolina dominate on a yearly basis. But if Pitt's situation feels the least bit precarious -- if Dixon seems less than 100 percent confident in the move, which he does -- well, this is why.

For the next month or so, 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 Insider preview with some adjusted efficiency fun. Today's subject: the Pittsburgh Panthers.

If you've been hanging out this summer, you'll remember this visit with Pittsburgh guard Ashton Gibbs at the Nike Skills Camp in Chicago. Gibbs, who might be the purest shooting guard in the college game, was participating in the Deron Williams Skills Academy. Naturally, he was surrounded by point guards, players used to facilitating teammates and finding their own shots. Gibbs, on the other hand, has been a curl-screen-and-spot-up 2 guard for his entire career. So why sign up for a point guard camp?

Gibbs' reasons were both collective and individual. To have a shot at the NBA -- the senior tested the waters before returning to Pitt this spring -- he has to prove to scouts that he is capable of playing a combo role; he lacks the size and athleticism most NBA scouts want in modern shooting guards. More pressing, though, is coach Jamie Dixon's need for Gibbs to do so much more with the ball in his hands. The Panthers are going to remain as tough as ever on the interior. The steady inertia of Dixon's program practically guarantees it. But for the first time in recent years, questions exist. Chief among them: Can Gibbs do what he's done in his first three seasons -- hyper-efficient spot-up shooting, basically -- while also taking a larger and more diverse command of the offense?

In today's Summer Buzz, ESPN Insider LaRue Cook delved into the Synergy scouting data to prove just how drastic a change this might be:

According to Synergy Sports, more than half of Gibbs' plays last season were spot-ups or screens, and nearly 50 percent of his jumpers were of the catch-and-shoot variety. In other words, Gibbs wasn't generating a ton of points for himself or for others on his own. So Big East teams would be foolish not to double every time he crosses half court, meaning those reserves and blue-chip recruits Dixon keeps stocked better be ready to produce. If not, Pitt won't have an easy march to its 11th consecutive Dance.

Anyone who's watched Gibbs the past three seasons recognizes as much. He's at his best running to space off the ball, where he utilizes screens in classic, fundamental ways. It's as simple as reading your defender and deciding whether to curl, fade or slip; well-coached eighth graders learn this stuff, but so few players execute it well at the college level. Gibbs, on the other hand, is as good as anyone. If not better.

There is some good news here. For one, despite the loss of guard Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh does have a suitable replacement in junior Travon Woodall, who notched an assist rate of 28.6 percent in reserve duty last season. Likewise, Pitt's main offensive attack in 2011 came thanks to offensive rebounding, and while the Panthers will no doubt miss the bruising presence of Gary McGhee on the offensive boards, it retains Nasir Robinson (who grabbed a promising 9.5 percent of available offensive rebounds despite playing next to his rebound-hogging counterpart) and will add a top-ranked center (and arguably the highest-profile recruit of Dixon's tenure) in forward Khem Birch. Many of Gibbs' open looks came as the result of rebounds and kick-outs. It's fair to assume many of those same looks will be available in 2012, too.

In other words, Pittsburgh's not going to stop rebounding the ball. That's the most important feature of this team, one that has kept its offense among the nation's best for the past few seasons. But the Panthers weren't just a chuck-and-grab bunch like, say, West Virginia in 2011. They were also efficient before the ball hit the rim, hitting 39.5 percent of their 3s, the 12th-highest percentage in the country. Will those looks still exist for Gibbs? Will he be able to get them if he is the primary ball handler? Will defenses honor high ball screens, or will Gibbs face constant traps and hedges? And if he does, will he be able -- and this is one of the things he said he has worked on all summer, including at the Nike camps -- to attack those matchups with the panache of an experienced ball handler?

We know Pitt will rebound. We know it'll be tough inside. We know Robinson, whose crucial mistake led to Pitt's upset loss to Butler in the NCAA tournament, will be as durably motivated as ever. And we know Gibbs will be able to make open shots. What we don't know is how everything will work before the ball goes into the air. If Gibbs evolves into the multifaceted player he wants (and needs) to be, then there's little reason for concern. If Woodall is as capable as he was last season, then it might not matter. But if neither of those things happen, a team whose offense has drive its recent success will find itself struggling to score for the first time in years. That's not a welcome prospect for any Pitt fan. We'll see.

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- During last week's EYBL Peach Jam, ESPN.com surveyed 15 head coaches on a range of topics. Here are their responses on a topic involving their fellow coaches.

Who is the smartest coach in college basketball right now?

Rick Barnes, Texas: “I don’t know if I can name one guy.’’

Mark Fox, Georgia: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s on a different level than everyone else. Conceptually, philosophically he’s just ahead of everyone else.’’

Darrin Horn, South Carolina: Tom Izzo. “His consistency and to do what he’s done at a place that isn’t Kansas or UCLA, with 50 years of amazing tradition, that’s just incredible.’’

Ben Howland, UCLA: Brad Stevens and Jamie Dixon. “He looks pretty darned smart to do what he’s done. And Jamie’s winning percentage at Pittsburgh is incredible.’’

Bob Huggins, West Virginia: John Calipari. “I cannot understand how he can have all these things going on and still be as good as he is. Who can do that? To be involved in all he’s involved in, that’s incredible. I don’t think anyone realizes what a great job he’s done the past two years basically starting over with a new team. And he’ll do it again this year and still be good.’’

Tom Izzo, Michigan State: Mark Fox. “I watch what he’s been able to do with his program and I’m really impressed. His demeanor, the way he runs his program and handles his players. I think he’s a really great young coach.’’

Kerry Keating, Santa Clara: Jim Calhoun. “Whoever won the last championship has to be the smartest guy because he figured it out. We are all only as good and as smart as our last game. Plus, Coach Calhoun was smart enough to recruit Kemba.’’

Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s: Jim Boeheim. “I don’t think people appreciate how well he knows the game. You could ask him the top freshmen right now and he could tell you. He really studies the game.’’

Fran McCaffery, Iowa: John Calipari. “He’s so innovative, off and on the court.’’

Josh Pastner, Memphis: Mike Krzyzewski. “He takes everyone’s best shot every night and he never wavers. The teams that they’re supposed to beat by a large margin, they beat by a large margin. To be up like that all the time just speaks volumes to the level of motivation he gives that team.’’

Rick Pitino, Louisville: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s the most experienced and no matter what the situation, he never panics.’’

Mark Turgeon, Maryland: Kevin Stallings. “He’s a very intelligent guy and an excellent coach.’’

Bruce Weber, Illinois: Tom Izzo and Roy Williams. “They both run competitive programs. They recruit kids that graduate. They win championships and they have good reputations.’’

Roy Williams, North Carolina: Mike Montgomery and Mike Krzyzewski. “I think Mike Montgomery is pretty darned sharp and I have no problem saying that I think Mike Krzyzewski is, too.’’

Jay Wright, Villanova: Mike Krzyzewski. “He’s got it all. He’s a great X’s and O’s coach. He has the personality. He’s a great motivator and he develops his players.’’

When you're a new, young head coach at a place like Penn State -- whose last coach saw Navy as a more desirable position and is going to be rebuilding for at least a few years -- you have to bring some added excitement. Pat Chambers is a pretty exciting guy. He's got great stories. Penn State fans seem to be excited about him. So far, so good.

Along with all of this stuff comes ideas. New, fresh ideas, stuff your program hasn't done in a while that can boost its profile and shake up the status quo. For Penn State and Chambers, that impulse led to his hope of, yes, reviving Penn State's long-dormant rivalry with cross-state foe Pittsburgh. Chambers told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (hat tip: The Dagger) that he likes Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and would love to reengage the old arch-enemies in a nonconference rivalry series at some point in the future. Just maybe not right away.

"I would like a rivalry," Chambers said. "I think [Pitt] would be great. I think Pennsylvania would come out and watch that game.

"Am I trying to schedule that game next year? Probably not. But in the future? Yes."

See? This is the reason you hire a guy like Chambers. Not only does he provide all those personality traits we media types tend to find very, very important in new coaching hires -- excitement, youth, energy, blah blah blah -- but he also happens to be very familiar with the Pennsylvania sporting scene. Penn State and Pittsburgh may not revive their football rivalry anytime soon, but a hoops reincarnation would be the next best thing. It would also be strategically helpful to Penn State, which desperately needs to improve its profile in and around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia if it wants to start luring some east coast talent to play at a nascent hoops entity in the Big Ten.

Of course, the rivalry isn't helping anybody if it begins this year. Pittsburgh's really good. Penn State is not. In a few years? Hey, you never know.

It's important to be confident. It's important to be self-assured. These are the things you hear from your teachers, parents, Intro to Psych professors, self-help authors and daytime TV talk-show hosts. If you don't love yourself, how you can love anyone else?

Good advice, I suppose. Thing is ... what if you're not supposed to be confident? What if a certain situation requires not only humility, but a keen, mature understanding of one's personal or professional limitations? What if, sometimes, the best long-term decisions are made in that frame of mind?

There is a point to all this rambling, and it's about Ashton Gibbs, the Pittsburgh junior who, to the surprise of many, entered his name in the 2011 NBA draft earlier this month. Gibbs has not hired an agent and his decision was initially described as exploratory, but the sharpshooting guard told CBS's Jeff Borzello (proud owner of three Blackberries) that he was 100 percent certain on his plans to stay in the draft:

“When I entered the draft, I entered to get drafted,” Gibbs said. “I feel like I can play on that level and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The problem here, simply put, is that Gibbs needs another year in college basketball. He's a fantastic shooter and scorer, but he's a little too small and a little too unathletic to just be a scorer in the NBA. Gibbs would probably work best in the league as a combo guard -- someone who can create plays for teammates, too -- and those skills might be best acquired with another year under Jamie Dixon at Pittsburgh.

The NBA seems to agree with this assessment. Gibbs isn't listed as a first- or second-round pick in any notable mock drafts. ESPN.com's Chad Ford doesn't even list Gibbs in his top 100.

Which is where that whole confidence-versus-doubt dynamic comes into play. Gibbs is a very skilled, elite Division I athlete. From a young age, every coach worth his salt has been telling him to compete with hard-nosed defiance, to work every day at proving he's making the most of his prodigious talent, to never accept failure as an outcome. It's not hard to figure out why Gibbs would take his marginal draft status as a challenge; that's what top athletes are supposed to do.

Still, at this point, the benefits of returning to school far outweigh the riskiness of this year's lockout-riddled draft for most prospects. Gibbs is no different. In other words, let's hope the young star's confidence doesn't lead him to an inadvisable decision. Sometimes, you have to know your limits.

(Update: According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gibbs will make his decision in "a week or so." It's also worth noting that he seems far less determined to stay in the draft than his statements to Borzello might indicate.)