ESPN Men's Basketball

Andy Katz discusses Miami's Angel Rodriguez, New Mexico State's Cullen Neal and the beginning of a potentially historic season for Kentucky.

Editor's Note: We want to be clear: This is not a piece about the hot seat. Rather, it's one that identifies three secure coaches who nevertheless have a lot on the line in 2013-14, whether it’s taking that first big step, fulfilling sky-high expectations or trying to prove doubters wrong.

Jason King: Steve Alford, UCLA

In some ways, it doesn’t make much sense to say that Steve Alford has something to prove. In his six years at New Mexico, Alford averaged 25.8 victories and won five Mountain West Conference titles. There’s no question the man can coach. Alford, though, will be operating under a whole new set of circumstances at UCLA, where expectations will be unreasonably high. This, after all, is a school that in March fired a coach who had been to three Final Fours and was weeks removed from winning the outright Pac-12 title. That might cut it at some programs, but it didn’t do Ben Howland any good in Westwood, where sub-30-win seasons are considered a failure.

Alford won’t have the grace period that most coaches are extended during their first season. He inherited a team that returns a likely first-round NBA draft pick in Kyle Anderson and a trio of proven forwards in David and Travis Wear and Jordan Adams. Arizona may be the clear-cut favorite in the Pac-12, but UCLA will be expected to at least make the race interesting. If the Bruins don’t, Alford will endure a boatload of criticism, especially considering the lukewarm reception to his hiring by fans and media. Alford’s lack of NCAA tournament success -- and his mediocre performance on the recruiting trail thus far -- has prompted some concerns about his ability to return UCLA to its days of dominance. And his often prickly personality may make it tough to win over fans. As a player at Indiana, Alford grew used to being in the spotlight. But never during his coaching career has he encountered what lies ahead during his first season at UCLA.

Myron Medcalf: John Calipari, Kentucky

It’s odd for a man with a national championship and Final Four appearances in two of the past three seasons to have something to prove. But that’s the position John Calipari is in after assembling the greatest recruiting class in college basketball history. Sure, there’s no guarantee this class will live up to the hype. But no group -- ever -- has warranted this much hoopla and excitement. He has six McDonald’s All Americans, and that’s just the freshmen. In all, Calipari boasts eight players who might be first-round picks in next summer’s NBA draft.

So what could go wrong? Well, last season, another talented young crew in Lexington lost to Robert Morris in the first round of the NIT. Was that a fluke? There’s immense pressure on Calipari and this Kentucky squad to prove that it was. He’s always been a premier recruiter, but recruiting alone, as we learned last year, is not the only quality that breeds success within the coaching ranks. Developing talent is critical. Calipari did that when he won a national title in 2012 with a squad that was led by freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The same result will be anticipated by Big Blue Nation in 2013-14. Yet the stench of last season’s tumult remains. The only relief will be a rally that ends in Texas with a Final Four appearance. Many will expect -- demand -- a national title. That’s what happens when a coach brings so many stars together. But can Calipari lead an inexperienced yet advanced group of young players to the championship again? Anything short of that could be considered a disappointment.

Dana O'Neil: Josh Pastner, Memphis

The news that Michael Dixon would be eligible immediately at Memphis turned the Tigers’ already terrific backcourt into arguably one of the best in the nation. It also upped the ante for the team overall, which means even higher expectations for Josh Pastner. The fifth-year coach has some questions on the inside, namely can Shaq Goodwin continue to make strides to help replace Adonis Thomas. But he’s got awfully good answers on the perimeter. Dixon, Joe Jackson, Geron Johnson and Chris Crawford are all different but all very good and, more important, all seniors. If Pastner can steal a page from Jay Wright’s four-guard handbook, he’s got the makings of a pretty good team.

Pastner has done a more-than-admirable job since taking over for Calipari. In three of his four years, the Tigers have made the NCAA tournament and last season won their first NCAA game in his tenure, beating Saint Mary’s before losing to Michigan State to finish 31-5. The trouble is, before Pastner arrived, winning an NCAA tournament game was a foregone conclusion. Calipari’s last four teams went Elite Eight, Elite Eight, national title game, Sweet 16. It’s an absurdly high bar. It’s frankly unfair to measure a team by its NCAA success only. Matchups and injuries can alter so many fates, but it is definitely Pastner’s reality. The folks of Memphis love their coach and love their Tigers, but they want to see the tourney's second weekend again.

Following his induction this weekend, Louisville's Rick Pitino will become the fourth active men’s college basketball coach to join the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.

The number could soon grow. Here are four other college coaches who have an excellent shot of being inducted before the end of their careers.

John Calipari, Kentucky: Calipari is arguably the greatest recruiter in college basketball history. The only problem with that label is that it overshadows his excellence as a coach. Calipari’s teams at Memphis and Kentucky have averaged a national-best 32.5 wins over the last eight years. He’s reached three Final Fours during that span (once at Memphis, twice at Kentucky) and won the NCAA title in 2012. Yes, Calipari’s teams are loaded with future NBA players, but coaching one-and-dones is hardly an easy chore. Many arrive with huge egos and poor work ethic after being coddled throughout their high school careers. Calipari is a master motivator who almost always gets the most out of his players while getting them to buy into the team concept. Defensively, his squads are usually among the nation’s toughest and most physical. On the other end of the court, it’s rare to see a player average more than 15 points per game for Calipari, who stresses selflessness and sharing the ball. The 2012 NCAA title was a first for Coach Cal, though more could be on the way.

Billy Donovan, Florida: Donovan led Florida to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007, making him one of just 13 coaches in history to win multiple titles. That feat alone should make him a strong candidate for the Hall of Fame. The 48-year-old Donovan, however, is far from finished. Heck, he might even be getting better. His program took a huge hit when it lost Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer from the championship teams, but Donovan rebuilt his roster and guided Florida to the Elite Eight each of the last three seasons. He averaged 28 wins during that span. Donovan also receives deserved praise for his character off the court. He’s contacted for other jobs almost every year and even briefly accepted the Orlando Magic gig in 2007, but has remained loyal to Florida, where’s he’s coached the last 17 years. He’s also active in charitable organizations and worked closely with USA Basketball. In short, along with a successful coach, Donovan has been a tremendous ambassador for college basketball. And there is still so much more to come.

Tom Izzo: Not many coaches in history have been as good in the NCAA tournament as Izzo, who has guided the Spartans to six Final Fours and one NCAA title during his 18 seasons in East Lansing. Michigan State has also reached four additional Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight under Izzo, who passed up an opportunity to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers to stay in the college ranks. Izzo’s teams are respected for their rugged, blue collar style of play, especially in the paint. They compete in one of the most balanced conferences in America and have still managed to finish fourth or higher in the Big Ten standings nine of the past 11 seasons. Izzo is known for scheduling one of the most difficult nonconference slates in the country every year, which makes his .713 winning percentage even more impressive. Michigan State’s postseason success and overall consistency under Izzo should make him a prime candidate for the Hall of Fame.

Bill Self, Kansas: No coach in college basketball has been as good as Bill Self over the last decade. While some programs have taken a temporary dip (Calipari, Izzo and Donovan all have NIT appearances on their résumés), Kansas hasn’t missed a beat. The Jayhawks have won nine straight Big 12 titles, the longest streak of consecutive league crowns by a major-conference team since UCLA won 13 in a row from 1967-79. In fact, dating back to his days at Illinois and Tulsa, Self has won 13 conference championships in his last 15 seasons. The other two years his team finished second. In his 10 years at Kansas, Self has averaged 30 wins. He took a program that was wildly successful under Roy Williams and made it even better. Self led KU to its first NCAA title in 20 years in 2008 and guided the Jayhawks back to the title game in 2012. Self’s teams almost always rank among the best in the nation for defensive field goal percentage, a sign that his players buy in and play hard for him. He’s a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.

Other coaches with a shot: Tom Crean, Indiana; John Beilein, Michigan; Mark Few, Gonzaga; Sean Miller, Arizona; Bo Ryan, Wisconsin; Thad Matta, Ohio State; Lon Kruger, Oklahoma; Tubby Smith, Texas Tech; Buzz Williams, Marquette; Bob Huggins, West Virginia

"Coach Cal is on a mission to help," the ad copy reads. "Coach Cal's new line is designed for athletes, businessmen, women and fans everywhere."

Yep: That's the introduction to the “Coach John Calipari Refuse to Lose to Lose Signature Series,” which is the real, actual, somehow-not-totally-made-up name for Calipari's new clothing line, announced by the man himself on Twitter Monday morning. Partnering with apparel company ST Brands, Calipari unveiled a line of ostensible performance attire pocked by a rather large logo, which reads "Coach John Calipari Signature Series" with a overlaid signature and "#RTL."

In typical Calipari style, the always-be-closing, hashtagging salesmanship is coupled with a legitimately philanthropic aim. Partial proceeds from each sold shirt will go to the Calipari Foundation, through which Calipari has donated millions to disaster relief and local charitable organizations in Lexington and Memphis. On Twitter, Calipari said "the best news of this announcement is why we're doing it: charity."

Not only are the charitable aims admirable; they also make it a little bit more difficult for yours truly to really poke fun at these shirts. But they are kind of funny though, right? That logo is basically the unsubtle cousin of the giant moose logos on those old Abercrombie polos you used to wear in high school. I also have no idea what "Refuse to Lose" has to do with nylon blend workout shirts, but maybe in the current hashtag-brand climate it doesn't actually have to mean anything? To each his own. Judging from my own experience, Kentucky fans have an insatiable appetite for Big Blue gear. That's another reason these exist, of course: They'll sell.

I have just a couple of questions: What about businesswomen? Women athletes? Athletes who are also fans? Do these categories cross over? If you're a female athlete who works in business, but you also consider yourself a fan, are these shirts for you? If you're a man who does not do "business" -- let's say you primarily play high-stakes bingo for a living -- are you cool to place an order? Do you have to provide proof of employment when buying a shirt? Do businessmen get a discount, sort of like Brooks Brothers? Did Pete Carroll ever make a Win Forever T-shirt? If not, why not? See? So many questions!

1. Lasan Kromah originally told George Washington he was returning as soon as the season ended. And then in late April he met with GW coach Mike Lonergan and athletic director Patrick Nero in late April and said he was leaving (once he earned his degree). He ended up landing at UConn Tuesday, where he’ll play for Kevin Ollie and former GW coach Karl Hobbs. Kromah was Hobbs’ best player when he was the head coach. As a freshman Kromah averaged 11.8 points a game, led the team in 3s (48) and had 62 steals. Kromah then injured his left foot and missed his sophomore season. The Huskies expect Kromah to be that seasoned, versatile guard who can create his own shot. He’s a decent 3-point shooter and has good size for a defender. Adding Kromah means the Huskies are even deeper in the backcourt with Ryan Boatright, Shabazz Napier and Omar Calhoun. The Huskies should be the top challenger to Louisville in the American Conference next season and a legit Top 25 contender. GW added Indiana transfer Maurice Creek to offset the Kromah departure.

2. Kentucky coach John Calipari said he went with a different approach since he had so many new freshmen in summer school. Instead of using the team workouts with the newcomers like he did last year, he is focusing on individual workouts to improve the skill level before the team starts to learn the dribble-drive offense. “It may hurt us early in the season but it will help us later,’’ said Calipari. Kentucky will play Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Nov. 12 in a matchup between two of the top 5 teams in the country. The Wildcats have eight newcomers next season.

3. Pitt guard James Robinson was a surprise cut of the final U-19 FIBA USA roster after winning gold in Brazil last year under Florida coach Billy Donovan. But he was a late add to the roster and flown to Prague to replace Syracuse’s Jerami Grant, who was suffering from mono. This could turn out to be a critical three weeks for Robinson heading into the season. Pitt will need Robinson to be an anchor for the Panthers, who join the ACC. Having the experience of competing against some of the best players in the world in his age group should be immeasurable for Robinson.

Here's what we know: Yes, Kentucky forward Kyle Wiltjer is considering a transfer. No, he's not totally sure if he's going to actually transfer. Yes, he announced the possibility in an open letter to fans on UK's website Monday evening. No, he did not definitively announce his transfer. Yes, coach John Calipari has already weighed in with his support on his personal home page. No, this is not an elaborate joke. Yes, you read that headline correctly.

Confused yet? Join the club.

At 5:26 p.m. ET Monday night, Wiltjer posted his "Letter to BBN [Big Blue Nation]" on UKAthletics.com. He thanked his coach, teammates and fans, and reflected on his accomplishments in two years in Lexington. And then he wrote the following:

During this next year, I will be working on my body so that I am able to compete the way I know I can. I want to find a situation that will help me do this as well as play a more significant role, wherever that may be. Even though I might physically leave Lexington, I will never forget the support and kindness that everyone has shown my family and me. It is difficult to put into words how hard it is to possibly leave BBN, yet I am confident that whatever I choose, I will give it my all. Regardless, I will always bleed blue and will never forget these amazing last two years at Kentucky.

All of which sounds like the young man's mind is made up ... save the words "might" and "possibly," which imply the opposite. Meanwhile, after discussing Wiltjer's strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments as a player to date, Calipari's typically thoughtful blog post on the matter makes clear how much he'd like to see the rangy Canadian back in UK blue by the time fall rolls around:

Kyle’s choice to explore options at another school disappoints me, but it’s his decision at the end of the day, and I fully support his decision. I would love for him to go through this process and return to us, but I will support him and help him in any way I can. He’s a terrific young man, a great student, a tremendous basketball player and an excellent teammate. If he does choose to go somewhere else, that school will be very lucky.

He's also sure to let UK fans know that Wiltjer's decision wouldn't impact the school's Academic Progress Rate ...

I want our fans to know if Kyle does indeed leave, his academics are high enough that his transfer will not hurt our university. We all need to understand that he’s leaving on his own terms. We all want him back, but it’s not what we want; it’s what he wants, and that’s OK.

... before finishing with this:

The end goal – the only true goal – is success: reaching your dreams. Anytime a player doesn’t feel like he can achieve those dreams with us, I feel like we’ve failed him, not that he’s failed us.

I told Kyle I’ll play whatever part he wants in his transfer, whether that’s being involved and calling other schools on his behalf or not being involved in any way. He expressed to me that he needs my help and advice, which I will give. Whatever Kyle chooses – and I still hope he ends up back with us – I wish him and his family the best of luck.

It's hard to overstate how unusual this is. In college sports, transfers are almost always handled as 100 percent closed-door affairs. That is especially true of a player's initial decision to transfer. The scramble of recruitment that ensues after that first decision is made is frequently open to the public, not unlike a high school recruitment. But that doesn't happen until the player has absolutely decided to leave, and the school he's leaving has issued its perfunctory statement wishing the player the best of luck with his future.

This is not that. It's strange, and it comes with its fair share of questions. Why announce before Wiltjer leaves, in case he comes back? Is there any reason to parse these statements for subtext indicating some perceived difference in the likelihood of his return? Just how small is that chance, anyway?

This is also, in its own way, refreshing. Rather than dumping the news with a stern statement and nothing more, Calipari has allowed Wiltjer to pre-emptively address his desires in an open letter to Kentucky fans, and followed it up with about as supportive a missive as any coach could probably ever muster for a player who has decided to transfer. Calipari's backing means everything for the public perception of UK players; what he says resonates with UK fans in a lasting way.

You could also argue that pre-empting the news undercuts the wave of rumor and innuendo sure to spring up as soon as the rumblings -- heard third-hand and distorted by the massive game of telephone that is modern Internet fandom -- began to creep outward from Lexington in the weeks to come. The announcement also gave Calipari a chance to lay out more of his recruiting and development philosophy, which is on some serious "I am the nucleus" next-level stuff at this point. In this case, maybe transparency is a win-win?

It's pretty confusing stuff, unusual in both tone and execution, and really only one thing is for sure:

Whatever Wiltjer decides, there are going to be plenty of teams interested, and many more fans waiting anxiously to see what happens next.

John Calipari's success is, in and of itself, easy to describe. Calipari has ushered fifteen players into the draft in just three summers, with a couple more on the way this week. He's had five players drafted in the top five overall, including two No. 1 picks. His classes have arrived at UK ranked No. 1 in four out of the past five seasons (the only exception being 2012, when UK ranked No. 2), with the latest already being hailed as the best recruiting class ever. And, of course, there was the 2011-12 national title, when an immensely talented and unusually cohesive group made the sport its five-month plaything.

Describing why Calipari has been so successful is much more difficult. Last week, my colleague Myron Medcalf and I spent most the better part of a morning attempting to do just that. I'm biased, but I think we did an OK job -- from the self-sustaining cycle of draft results that practically recruits players without any need for human salesmanship, to Calipari's rejection of the old-school attitude that college basketball exists solely to make men out of boys. To Calipari, college basketball exists to pull families out of generational poverty. There is no song-and-dance about the value of a four-year degree. That's the level Kentucky's playing on, and it works. Obviously so.

But even having noted these things, we may still have undersold the point. Today, ESPN.com's Dana O'Neil follows up with her feature story on the new rules of recruiting, which must account for players' -- and their families' -- NBA dreams in a way coaches never quite had to before. The entire story is excellent (obviously), and you should absolutely read all of it. But possibly the most interesting point is slammed home rather early, and Arizona coach Sean Miller has the hammer in hand. To wit:

"In general terms, you have to be careful at times when you're talking about getting a degree," Arizona's Sean Miller said. "It could be taken as an insult I'm not good enough or my player or my son isn't good enough to leave early. Is that every situation? Of course not. But you have to be careful."

Did Sean Miller just blow your mind? Because he blew mine. Of course the NBA looms large over any recruiting interaction between high-profile college coaches and high-profile high school stars. To some extent that has always been the case. As Dana notes, that attitude has only accelerated in Calipari's wake. But we've actually gotten to the point now where a college coach has to be careful not to promise a recruit's family a college degree because it might be perceived as a diss. "You want my son to stay in college long enough to get a degree? How dare you!"

This is an indictment of many things, most of which Dana notes. There is the very millennial desire to have everything now now now (of which we are all at least somewhat guilty). There's the insular and often narcissistic social media climate, in which everyone is the star of their own story. There's the overheated grassroots hoops culture, in which everyone is a star, which dovetails nicely with the everyone-gets-a-ribbon ethos Baby Boomers and Gen X'ers are always affixing en masse to my purportedly "coddled" generation. There's the one and done rule, which makes sense for the NBA and no one else. And there's the shortsighted desire to get paper now and a degree later, which is impossible to deride when it is a family's best chance of breaking through a decades-old cycle of poverty. (Or, for that matter, middle-class-ness -- $10 million is $10 million to anyone who doesn't have considerably more than $10 million.)

But it is also, to some small degree, an indictment of the NCAA. While justifying its own tax-exempt existence as one of academic necessity, and touting how many student-athletes go pro in something other than sports, the NCAA generates its revenue because elite prospects like the ones Miller talks to are immensely entertaining to watch play single-elimination games in March. We worry about if schools are living up to their academic obligations to players, but what happens when the players, and their families, aren't remotely interested in academics either? When coaches have to lightly tread around the notion that a degree is one of the benefits of playing college basketball, hasn't the artifice crumbled entirely?

Thirty years ago, a degree was an ironclad part of that promise. Now, depending on the player and his family, a degree is a touchy subject. At worst, apparently, it's an insult -- a derogative notion that must be massaged, if not avoided altogether.

The cognitive dissonance here overwhelming. It's 2013, and if it wasn't official before, it is now: College basketball has officially entered its bizarro period. This can't possibly be sustained.

John Calipari is one of the game's most polarizing coaches. He is the central figure in the one-and-done era. Somehow, he's convinced a multitude of high school All-Americans that they're better off playing together than they would be on separate teams.

He's pumping out pros at a ridiculous rate. We've never seen anything like this.

John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight and Anthony Davis are just a few of the players who've gone on to earn NBA paychecks during his tenure. And there are clearly future lottery picks in the pipeline.

How does Calipari do it, and can he keep Kentucky on a national perch with one-and-done prospects alone?

That's Myron opening salvo in our latest Watercooler, in which we discuss the state of Kentucky recruiting, the myths and realities of John Calipari's draft-enhanced system, and what we should expect of another young but gifted Wildcats group in 2013-14. You can read the entire piece here.

In the weeks leading up to the June 27 NBA draft, we’ll be taking a look at the 20 schools that have produced the best pros in the modern draft era (since 1989, when the draft went from seven to two rounds). Click here to read Eamonn Brennan’s explanation of the series, which will be featured in the Nation blog each morning as we count down the programs from 20 to 1.

Top Five NBA Draftees Since 1989

1. Penny Hardaway (1993)
2. Derrick Rose (2008)
3. Tyreke Evans (2009)
4. Lorenzen Wright (1996)
5. Elliot Perry (1991)

Sixth man: Will Barton (2012)

The rest: Elliot Williams, Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Rodney Carney, Shawne Williams, Antonio Burks, Dajuan Wagner, Cedric Henderson, David Vaughn

Why they're ranked where they are: Star power. Guard power. Stard power? Whatever weird phrase you'd like to try to coin to describe it -- and hopefully you can do better than "stard power," yeesh -- Memphis has it, plain and simple. No other team ranked below them in this top 20 can say the same.

Rose was the MVP of the National Basketball Association at the ripe old age of 22, and you surely don't need me to tell you why his inclusion dramatically boosts Memphis' pro pedigree. Rose suffered a major setback with his anterior cruciate ligament tear in the 2012 playoffs, and his standing among Bulls fans was hurt by his inability (or unwillingness, or any of the other motives the city of Chicago ascribed to a dude taking the long view of his sure-to-be-brilliant career, as though this was a bad thing) to come back in time to face the Miami Heat in the 2013 stretch run. But Rose is one of the game's brightest young stars and, barring injury, will be an MVP-level player at the point guard spot for the next decade.

The key phrase, of course, is "barring injury." Just ask the top player on the list.

If you're my age, and grew up with Lil' Penny, you probably don't need me to outline why Anfernee Hardaway is on this list, or even why he's No. 1 above Rose. But in case you're too young to remember, Penny Hardaway was the capital-T Truth. A 6-foot-7 point guard who could score and dish and do pretty much anything else, Hardaway blitzed the NBA in his first four seasons, averaging 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game in his second season, when the Orlando Magic won 57 games and knocked the Michael Jordan-less Bulls out in the second round of the NBA playoffs. As a young Bulls fan, I remember being horrified by this new world order. Balance was soon restored to the force but not before Nike could sell a gazillion pairs of Hardaway's Air Pennys, enough to make me the most consistently jealous 10-year-old basketball camp attendee of all time.

Despite the injuries -- chief among them a 1997 knee injury -- that eventually derailed what would have been a surefire Hall of Fame career, Hardaway went on to play 14 seasons in the league. Even if he hadn't, his early brilliance would have been enough. I know what I saw.

The rest of this list, as you might expect, is just sort of blah. Evans gets the nod at No. 3 because he has been a very productive player in his first four seasons, even if he's done so for one of the NBA's worst franchises (Sacramento) and earned a huge heaping of scorn for his seeming unwillingness to get teammates involved. Wright is a name you might best recall thanks to his mysterious 2010 disappearance and death, but, before that, the beloved Tiger had a nice 13-season NBA career. Perry did pile together 10 years in the league, but is listed fifth mostly because of that grotesque list of the rest, almost none of which has made any impact in the NBA. (To be fair, one-time uber-prospect Dejuan Wagner would've almost certainly cracked this top 5 had he not been beset by a series of scary medical ailments.)

Why they could be ranked higher: Because Hardaway was the aforementioned truth? Because Rose is currently the truth? Because you believe Evans is misunderstood or in a bad situation and could be a brilliant player in a system that knew how to use him (or in any system at all, which isn't possible when you fire coaches as frequently as the Kings)? Any of these arguments is permissible, but none is particularly convincing. On the other other hand …

Why they could be ranked lower: As much as it pains me to say this, we have no idea if Rose is ever going to be Rose again. With the possible exception of Russell Westbrook, no player in the NBA -- certainly no star -- relies as much on sheer athletic genius as Rose. He cuts, he bumps, he flies, he finishes, and when he's hitting jumpers, he's basically unguardable. What if all those cuts are a little less crisp? What if he can't do the same things he used to do physically? What does that mean for his career?

We could also argue that Hardaway, for as good as he was, was essentially a six-year player -- from 1993 to 1999 there were few guards in the game not named Michael Jordan as good as Penny. But after Hardaway's body betrayed him, he was a shell of his former self, doomed to wander the NBA wilderness until limping home with a 3.8-points-per-game season in his final year with the Heat. Don't get it twisted: I love me some Penny Hardaway. But he wasn't exactly a pillar of longevity.

Likewise, Evans is arguably trending downward. As a rookie, he averaged 20.1 points per game; he's declined in each subsequent season, from 17.8 to 16.5 to 15.2. These are not the best numbers by which to judge a young player's career, and Evans did shoot his highest field goal percentage (albeit on fewer attempts) in 2012-13. But after four seasons, Evans still lacks a consistent outside jumper, doesn't find teammates as often as he should and has too many character-related questions to project much added upside.

What’s ahead? Barton's career will be interesting to watch. A two-year player under Josh Pastner at Memphis, Barton was criminally underrated (much like the Tigers) in 2011-2012, his final season at the school, in which he finished with a 115.7 offensive rating on 25.6 percent usage. Despite putting up these All-America-level efficiency numbers, the 6-foot-6 guard was passed over until the Portland Trail Blazers selected him in the second round. Barton, who had an OK rookie season, has to improve his perimeter skills if he wants to stick as a conventional 3 in the league, but there's no reason he can't be a Kawhi Leonard type for the right team one day.

In the meantime, Pastner's program continues to recruit as well as any program in the country. Adonis Thomas killed his draft stock with an awful sophomore season, but he has the size and talent to stick in the league. D.J. Stephens is a freak of nature. Down the line, keep an eye on rising sophomore Shaq Goodwin and top freshman small forward Nick King.

Final thoughts: For a program that spent the entire aughts coached by John Calipari, Memphis suffers from a distinct lack of depth when it comes to its pro pedigree since 1989. (Where have you gone, Dajuan Wagner? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.) But at the top end, the players the Tigers have produced are undeniably stellar. Hardaway was a 6-foot-7 to whom God gifted the keys to Magic Johnson's tall-triple-double-machine legacy; only the whims of fate could slow him down. Rose, meanwhile, is still at the dawn of his career and already has one MVP -- in a LeBron James-owned league, and during a season in which Dwight Howard was insanely good -- under his belt. Even with the ACL tear, the long-term prognosis is pointing toward the Hall of Fame. Evans is divisive even within his own locker room, and his stock has taken a drastic hit, but there's no escaping the fact that he was the first player since James, Jordan and Oscar Robertson to average 20, 5 and 5 in his rookie season. That's still in there, somewhere.

Where Memphis' shot at the top 10 in this list falls apart is in the huge drop between that top three and the rest of its products since 1989. Look for Pastner to change that in the coming years. Until then, No. 15 feels right.

The SEC was not very good last season. Some of that was because of Kentucky's surprising struggles, and because of the eventual season-ending knee injury suffered by Nerlens Noel; when Kentucky isn't Kentucky, the SEC won't win any of those oh-so-fun "best league" arguments no matter what the rest of the league does.

But it wouldn't be fair to just blame the Wildcats. Only three teams -- Florida, Ole Miss, and Missouri -- made the tournament. Florida dominated the SEC and finished in the Elite Eight; Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss (and Wisconsin) got Andy Kennedy the first tournament win of his tenure; Missouri had a decent if defensively flaccid season end in a first-round tournament loss. Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas spent most of the spring flailing about on the wrong side of the bubble. Everyone else was either rebuilding or just plain bad.

This kind of overall systemic weakness gives coaches, athletic directors and league officials pause. Is there a systemic flaw in league? What is the problem, exactly? Does a solution exist?

Those are exactly the kinds of questions best raised at offseason meetings, and the SEC's basketball folks are doing exactly that this week in Destin, Fla. Lo and behold, the league has already decided on one step it thinks will help: better nonconference scheduling.

But it isn't just reminding coaches why scheduling is individually, or even collectively, important. It also invited former NCAA Vice President of Basketball Operations Greg Shaheen to speak to coaches about the vagaries of the RPI.

Even more impressive than a visit from Shaheen? SEC commissioner Mike Slive actually persuaded his league's athletic directors to submit their program's nonconference schedules for league review. From the Birmingham News' Jon Solomon:

The conference is still developing a process on how to analytically review nonconference schedules through Ratings Percentage Index numbers.

"Think about it like a stop light," SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said today. "Some (teams) will be in a green zone, some will be in a yellow zone, and some of them might be in a red zone." [...]

"Our nonconference strength of schedule last year was 336. That's unacceptable," Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said. "That impacts every team in our league in a negative way. For example, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky got left out of the NCAA Tournament. They had decent RPIs. If my nonconference strength of schedule would have been 230 instead of 330, then their RPIs are in the 40s, and now I think maybe two of the three of them get in."

Martin might be being a little bit generous there -- an RPI in the 40s isn't a guarantee of much, if a team's own nonconference schedule is weak and/or that team doesn't have good wins on its resume -- but generally speaking, he's right. When you have a handful of teams playing schedules as bad as USC's (or Mississippi State's or Auburn's), it is bound to wreak at least some small measure of mathematical havoc on bubble teams, for whom every little distinction can mean the difference between a ticket to the dance and a trip to the NIT.

So does this mean SEC coaches are going to be turning over their schedules to the league office, or scheduling collectively? Not quite. Kentucky coach John Calipari, who praised the idea, told Solomon he thought the best use was to have the SEC as a sounding board -- "'If you know you're in good shape, run with it; if you have some issues, talk to us,'" he said. Likewise, Georgia coach Mark Fox asserted that it while it might be good for the league as a whole, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for young rebuilding teams (like his own) to get their "brains beat in" every November and December. Which is also true.

Probably the best quote from the whole thing comes from Calipari (no shock there), who outlined his own proposed strategy for getting more SEC teams in the NCAA tournament:

"Probably win more games," Calipari said.

It sounds like a joke, but it's really not. Whether you agree with his stance on true road games (pardon me, "experiences") or not, Calipari knows how to strategically schedule as well or better than any coach in the country -- a product of his time at Memphis, when he had to make sure his typically talented Tigers wouldn't be punished by the RPI for dominating Conference USA. There is a science to scheduling. Smart coaches can not only ensure they aren't punished by RPI weirdness but, if they really dig in, can consistently exploit the RPI's essential dumbness to their own advantage. This is stuff any coach worth his salt ought to be deeply aware of; that the SEC feels like it needs to exert oversight over schedules is almost kind of remarkable.

Still, despite all the ways the RPI can be gamed, at the end of the day the best way to get to the NCAA tournament is to, you know, win. The SEC and its coaches can start scheduling like geniuses, but if they don't rack up at least a few key nonconference wins, the entire point is moot.

If I were an 18-year-old college basketball star, I would want to play for Team USA. Maybe it's because I grew up playing soccer, and representing your state, region or country at various age Olympic Development Program levels was always the goal (one I fell far short of reaching; I settled on playing for my high school). Or maybe I'm partial to being flown around the world to play basketball for what amounts to an age-appropriate national All-Star team. Who wouldn't be?

Quite a few of the best players in the class of 2013, as it turns out. On Thursday, USA Basketball released its list of players who accepted invitations to try out for the U19s in advance of the FIBA World Championships in the Czech Republic this summer. While the list is full of talent, much of it with a year of college experience under its belt, it is not full of top incoming freshmen in the class of 2013. Arizona's Aaron Gordon is the only top 20 guy on ESPN's top 100 to accept an invitation.

Conspicuously absent alongside the Jabari Parkers of the world is pretty much all of Kentucky's best-ever incoming class. On Thursday, Kentucky coach John Calipari made it clear to the Sporting News that wasn't his idea:

"Most of it is, they didn’t want to play. I’m not forcing kids to do anything,” Calipari told Sporting News. “I think the reason they all turned it down is, they want to get started.”

[...] Calipari said center Willie Cauley-Stein was invited to try out for USA Basketball this summer; Cauley-Stein is eligible for the World University Games. But Cauley-Stein said he preferred not to go and asked if it that would be OK. He said Randle took the same approach.

“Willie said, ‘This is not the summer for me to do this stuff. I just can’t wait to get back. I want to get prepared,’ ” Calipari said. “I’m happy they’re thinking in those terms. They know the spotlight’s on them.”

I'm anticipating a wave of "these kids don't respect their country!" comments, but let's go ahead and just not, OK? USA Basketball is an excellent development program in its own right, and no doubt a great experience, but the summer climate is different now. Gone are the days when players were essentially on their own until the official start of practice, when local summer ball leagues, open runs and the odd FIBA event were their only way to stay crisp during the offseason. Two years ago, the NCAA passed a rule that allows players enrolled in summer courses to receive a couple hours per week of individual instruction from their coaching staff. Not only can this class of incoming freshmen spend time getting used to their new collegiate homes, and getting a head start on schoolwork, they can actually work on specific basketball skills with their coaches. The idea of staying on campus is much more persuasive.

I'd say that goes highly touted freshmen, from Parker to Randle and Co. at Kentucky. For many of these players, the plan is to stay one year in college. That might not the most fun idea; there must be some impulse to stick around as long as possible. But at the very least, all of these players -- Kentucky's in particular, certainly -- must know that one college season isn't nearly as long as it seems from the beginning. If you really want to be good enough to win a national title in just five months, you'd better get a running start.

(Correction: An original version of this post listed Andrew Wiggins as absent alongside other young American players; Wiggins is Canadian. Duh. My apologies for the error. -- EB)

Editor's Note: This month, ESPN Insider's college basketball and recruiting experts are teaming up to examine how 15 of the nation's best recruiting classes will fit in with their teams in the 2013-14 season. Today's featured program: Kentucky . Check out the Nation blog each morning for a corresponding post on the key returnee for each of the 15 teams.

Remember when Kentucky freaked everyone out?

It wasn't hard to figure out why. To the untrained eye, Kentucky's 2011-12 national title was the product of nothing more than John Calipari's immense recruiting advantage over everyone else in the sport. To many, the dominant triumph of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist proved that all Calipari had to do every year was get the best players, coax them into playing his typically stifling defense and let the talent do the rest. He had cracked the code. The sport would never be the same.

A year later, as the Wildcats ended their season in Moon, Pa., in the first round of the NIT, losing to a Northeast Conference team (Robert Morris) that has lost more games in its history than it has won, the noise diverged. Suddenly, Kentucky couldn't recruit; it had missed on Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin; only pre-ACL tear Nerlens Noel panned out as planned. Or: Maybe you can't win a national title relying on talented freshmen after all! Maybe 2012 was just luck! Ha!

All of this stuff misses the point.

Kentucky 2011-12 wasn't the best team in the country because it comprised only talented freshmen. The freshmen UK did have were special, but just as important were Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller. None was a freshmen. Jones would have been a lottery pick had he left during the lockout uncertainty. Miller was a fourth-year senior who came off the bench.

The 2012-13 team didn't have any of these things. The freshmen, particularly Poythress and Goodwin, disappointed. But save the inconsistent Kyle Wiltjer, there were no veterans, let alone veteran leaders, to provide any semblance of core consistency, confidence or backbone. When Noel tore his ACL at Florida and UK lost 88-58 at Tennessee, you could just see it. There was nothing there, particularly on the defensive end, where a team's cohesion and heart shine brightest. And the Wildcats were hardly impenetrable with Noel in the lineup, either.

The lesson in all this exists on neither extreme of the rhetorical continuum. Calipari didn't lose his touch or totally whiff on recruits last season any more than his 2011-12 team changed college basketball forever.

The lesson here is something more fundamental about the game itself, and it's true whether you're playing in your pickup game or in the NBA: Talent isn't everything. Championships don't just happen. Personalities matter. Intelligence matters. Defense matters. Veterans matter.

That's why, even as Calipari prepares to bring the best recruiting class in college hoops history into the fold, Kentucky can't merely hope to glide by on glimmering talent. If UK is going to upend the reigning national champs at Louisville and avoid challenges from every corner, the Wildcats will need the scattered returners to step up, too.

None will be more important than Willie Cauley-Stein.

With Goodwin and Noel off to the NBA and Ryan Harrow having transferred to Georgia State, Cauley-Stein, Poythress and Wiltjer were the only three candidates for this prestigious position. I was actually torn about this Tuesday night, so I ran an informal poll among Kentucky fans on Twitter. Dozens of replies later, the consensus was overwhelmingly in favor of Cauley-Stein. Some made the case for Poythress, particularly in light of Andrew Wiggins' decision to play at Kansas (thus preserving Poythress plenty of minutes and possibly a starting spot). Few made the case for Wiltjer, even though I would contend his length and shooting -- he finished at 36.7 percent from 3 last season, which isn't bad for a 6-foot-10 guy -- could still be crucial in 2013-14.

But Cauley-Stein's case really is the most convincing. You won't find many 7-footers as athletic as Cauley-Stein at any level, full stop, and the big man already demonstrated solid rebounding on both ends of the floor and competent finishing ability around the rim. He ended the season having shot 62.1 percent from the field, which is great pretty much any way you slice it. Despite that output, though, Cauley-Stein couldn't be relied on to score over a competent defender. According to Synergy scouting data, Cauley-Stein scored 1.55 points per possession when he cut to the rim and 1.05 on offensive rebound putbacks but just .067 points per trip the 75 times he was put in a legitimate post-up opportunity.

This is rawness personified. A little more touch and one or two reliable moves, and there's no reason an athletic 7-footer can't score over even the best collegiate post defenders.

But that would be a bonus. After all, Kentucky shouldn't have much trouble scoring the basketball next season. The Harrison twins (Andrew and Aaron) will be deadly on the perimeter, and power forward Julius Randle -- the No. 3-ranked player in the class, behind only Wiggins and Duke's Jabari Parker -- will be the go-to post force. Also, Kentucky has the No. 2 center in the class, Dakari Johnson, whose chief strength is his offensive polish.

No, what Kentucky needs -- what has made Calipari such a consistently successful coach in the past decade -- is defense. Last season's Wildcats finished ranked No. 77 in KenPom.com's adjusted efficiency rankings. That was the first time since the 2004-05 Memphis Tigers that a Calipari-coached defense wasn't among the 15 stingiest in the country. In five of those years, it ranked in the top 10. This is Calipari's formula: His offenses are usually excellent, but sometimes they're merely good. What sets his teams apart is his ability to meld young players into a lockdown defensive group.

Cauley-Stein will be massive in this effort. He blocked a shot on 8.4 percent of his available possessions last season, which is a totally respectable rate on its own and especially impressive given that he was playing on the same team as human block-sponge Noel. Johnson is not known as an elite athlete or defender, beyond his ability to clog the lane. Cauley-Stein, on the other hand, has a chance to be a dominant defensive presence. He could be the prohibitive force that makes interior penetration against Kentucky impossible, the player who lets the rest of the team's talent press out on shooters, unafraid of either (A) inefficient midrange shots or (B) deep drives. Cauley-Stein can be on that wall. He should be on that wall.

The great luxury of Calipari's signing five of the best nine players in recent history's most loaded incoming class is that none of his three returners will be seen as the team's most important player. That title likely will go to either Aaron or Andrew Harrison, or Randle. Neither Poythress nor Cauley-Stein is guaranteed a starting spot; Wiltjer, veteran of a national title team, is practically guaranteed to come off the bench. And we haven't even talked about James Young (a 6-foot-6 lefty scorer ranked eighth overall in the class) or Marcus Lee (the best oh-yeah-they-have-that-guy in recruiting history).

Conceivably, UK could start five freshmen -- the Harrisons, Young, Randle and Johnson -- and still be a legitimate national title threat, if not the favorite. But it is hard to imagine Kentucky approaching its incredibly lofty ceiling if Cauley-Stein isn't contributing in big ways to that effort. The Wildcats need his size, his shot-blocking, his rebounding. They need the size and strength borne of a full offseason spent in an elite training and conditioning program.

They also need his anger. Few players were more vocal about the frustration of last season, how embarrassing getting walked off in Moon, Pa., really was.

"I feel like something’s empty, and I want to fill it," Cauley-Stein told the Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker in April. Kentucky needs Cauley-Stein to be that guy -- the guy who has been through it before, who knows it isn't easy, that no matter how bad it gets in practice, he has seen worse. On every rotation and every box-out, Kentucky needs someone who feels an emptiness that can be filled only by winning.

In short, Kentucky needs a veteran. Poythress or Wiltjer might be that guy. Maybe all three are. Maybe there's an MKG in the freshman mix. Someone must embrace the role, tangible or otherwise. Kentucky will be very good the minute it begins the season. Whether it will be great is another matter entirely, one up to Cauley-Stein and, to a lesser extent, Poythress and Wiltjer.

Because that is the real lesson of the past two seasons of Kentucky basketball. Talent is great, but greatness is about so much more than talent. Sometimes we need a reminder, you know?

The Maui Invitational is pretty great. I think the gym has a lot to do with it. Instead of Random Sterile Corporate Arena X or a strangely converted hotel ballroom space, the Lahaina Civic Center looks and sounds like a high school basketball gym, at least on TV. The combination of good basketball and good trappings give it the best osmotic televised atmosphere of any early-season event, and the hoop usually follows suit. Plus ... it's in Maui. Who wouldn't want to go to that?

Wait, don't answer that. Because it turns out there is at least one man in America who doesn't find the charms of Maui worth the not inconsiderable travel logistics: Kentucky's John Calipari. This is via Missouri Frank Haith, who essentially confirmed his friend's distaste to the Lexington Herald-Leader this weekend:

"Cal did say, it's too long a trip," Haith recalled. "He just brought it up."

Calipari has made no secret of how he dislikes the arduous trip to and from Maui.

"That's legit," Haith said of Calipari's concerns about traversing across five time zones. "He hates it. It's just too far for him."

You can understand why someone might feel that way: It is an awfully long flight! And as Haith pointed out, there isn't a ton of reasons for Calipari specifically to be interested in the event, because it doesn't do anything for him or Kentucky's schedule (nonconference neutral court games, good competition, etc.) that he can't already do for himself. Other than getting his players excited for a vacation to Hawaii, what benefit is there?

But it's a great, fun early event and no doubt a lot of fun for the players, and probably totally worth a long flight. Just sleep on the plane, right?

The only concern is that, as with all things Calipari and Kentucky, this preference becomes a trend. For whatever reason, I'm guessing this one won't catch on. After all ... it's in Maui.

1. Kentucky cured any hangover from the Robert Morris loss by getting a commitment Wednesday from Julius Randle. The Wildcats will have as heralded an incoming class next season as they did in John Calipari's first and third seasons in Lexington. But there will have to be scholarship discussions in the coming weeks. This is nothing new -- and Kentucky is hardly alone in this type of scenario. Players who don't turn out as expected can see coaches recruit new talent for their roster spots, especially at elite programs -- thus creating scholarship issues. Of course, the Wildcats have a few players -- like Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin -- who could be drafted based on potential. But the only player on Kentucky's roster who could contribute next season in the NBA is a healthy Nerlens Noel. No one else. Don't be surprised if there is some natural attrition on this roster. Any time a team underachieves and reaches the NIT instead of the NCAA, roster changes are possible.

2. Boise State lost to an unheralded La Salle team in the First Four on Wednesday night. But the Broncos were way ahead of schedule this season. Boise State coach Leon Rice said earlier in the week on ESPNU that he told the administration in the preseason he had no idea how good this team would be by season's end. The Broncos' appearance in the NCAA tournament could be akin to Colorado State's a year ago. The Rams popped up a year early and are back again this season. The Broncos now have to ensure that this season was hardly a fluke -- with the added expectations of repeat NCAA appearance. Rice has done wonders in making Boise State relevant in hoops. There's no reason to believe he won't continue to do so.

3. Two of the biggest winners in this alignment game will ultimately be the fan bases at Creighton and Butler. Just think about the change on the schedule for these two programs. The Bluejays are going from hosting Bradley or Evansville to having Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova come to Omaha, Neb. And within two years, Butler will have gone from hosting Youngstown State to welcoming Georgetown to Indianapolis. Bulldogs coach Brad Stevens said that this will be a challenge for the coaching staffs, which now have to learn new systems and styles on the fly. Butler had to try to figure out the Atlantic 10; now, within a year, the Bulldogs will be in another league, playing a true round-robin schedule.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A towel draped over his head and his eyes filled with tears, sophomore guard Ryan Harrow sat in a despondent Kentucky locker room Friday night and tried to make sense of a performance that likely sealed the Wildcats’ postseason fate.

Harrow shouldered the blame for Kentucky’s ugly 64-48 loss to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament, a loss that may well keep the Wildcats out of the NCAA tournament for only the second time in the past 22 years.

“I didn’t start off well, and it just trickled down to everybody else. I apologize,” said Harrow, who suffered through a nightmarish 2-of-15 shooting night, many of his misses drives to the basket.

“Of course, we want to get to the [NCAA] tournament, because if we play well, we can beat anybody. I basically just messed it up for us.”

The truth is that he had plenty of help. Nobody played particularly well for Kentucky, while Vanderbilt played lights-out.

The Commodores (16-16) are playing their best basketball of the season, and after being left for dead three weeks ago, have won six of their past seven games.

They placed four players in double figures Friday and turned it over only five times, while holding Kentucky to a season-low 48 points.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been as proud of a team as I am this team,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings, whose red-hot Commodores will face Ole Miss on Saturday in the semifinals.

Vanderbilt shot 59.1 percent from the field in the first half and built a 14-point halftime lead. That lead swelled to 21 points less than four minutes into the second half, and Kentucky never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

As the final seconds ticked down, the Vanderbilt students were taunting the Kentucky team with chants of “NIT, NIT.” Stallings quickly motioned for them to stop, but that’s precisely where the Wildcats may be headed.

Kentucky coach John Calipari almost seemed braced for the worst.

“When you play a game like this, it hurts you,” Calipari said. “But the good news is everyone else is losing, too. So at the end of the day, it will shake out and I trust the [selection] committee to put the right teams in. If we’re in, we’ll play better. And if we’re not in, we’re not. I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it.

“We had an opportunity. It was in our hands to take it out of everybody’s hands, and we didn’t take care of business.

“We laid an egg.”

A smelly one, at that. But Calipari was careful to praise Vanderbilt.

“They had more energy than us,” Calipari said. “I told my team for three days that the hardest thing in tournament play is to have a bye and have a team that’s playing well play a game and then come up against you.

“So it was a combination of everything. I don’t want to take anything away from Vandy. They played great. We laid an egg. We had one guy go 2-for-15 and miss 12 layups.”

Kentucky’s résumé, especially since Nerlens Noel went down with his season-ending injury back on Feb. 12, has been mediocre at best. The Wildcats (21-11) have lost five of their past nine games and haven’t won away from home since they beat Texas A&M on Feb. 2.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi dropped the Wildcats out of his latest projection for the NCAA tournament field and had them among the “first four out.”

The Kentucky players said they will do their best not to think about it until the selection show Sunday night.

“It’s going to be extremely difficult knowing how badly we played,” Kentucky sophomore forward Kyle Wiltjer said. “You have to give them credit, but it’s going to be difficult waiting to see if our name is called.”