ESPN Men's Basketball

The Mountain West and Conference USA had to do something to survive, but the conference conglomerate that was formed is still ripe with unanswered questions.

"Our basketball will remain very strong," said Colorado State coach Tim Miles. "The MWC and C-USA couldn't stand still any longer."

The potential exists for a conference with multiple bids to the NCAA tournament.

Of course, that's the first question that doesn't have an exact answer yet when posed to the NCAA on Tuesday. Does the C-USA/MWC league retain an automatic berth? Commissioners Craig Thompson, a former NCAA tournament selection committee chair, and Britton Banowsky are seasoned NCAA committee members at various levels. They had to know this answer before making such a bold move. But the NCAA didn't have a set answer on the topic Tuesday.

The only natural rivalry that is now rekindled with the move is the return of New Mexico and UTEP to the same conference. These are two long-time old WAC partners that played countless quality games for decades.

Other than that, the similarities between the two leagues is minimal at best. "I'm not sure yet about how this will work," said New Mexico coach Steve Alford. "We had to do something with us losing so many teams. But I really haven't seen how the league schedule will be done or where the tournament will be. There are still a lot of questions."

Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said it best when he added that there is stability in the move but the travel was worse than the current situation.

The apparent goal of this conference is to have two essential regional conferences with one umbrella title league and a playoff to determine a champion.

The 2013 membership isn't expected to stay as is since there is hope of expanding.

As it stands now, the 16 teams in football would be: 1. Fresno State; 2. Nevada; 3. UNLV; 4. New Mexico; 5. Hawaii; 6. Air Force; 7. Colorado State; 8. Wyoming; 9. Tulsa; 10. UAB; 11. Rice; 12. Southern Miss; 13. Marshall; 14. East Carolina; 15. Tulane; 16. UTEP.

Hawaii will join the Big West in 2012-13 in all other sports, leaving the league with 15 basketball-playing schools in the fall of 2013.

One complaint already levied Tuesday by one school was that there are only two members in the Eastern time zone: Marshall and East Carolina.

The news release from C-USA and the MWC discussed raising the membership to 18 to 24 schools. And already programs are jockeying for position to join this league.

There are a number of options, none of which may move the meter in ratings or command a higher dollar fee in television rights. But there is potential to improve the basketball power rating if this occurs.

According to multiple sources, the candidates include Charlotte (A-10), which is about to start playing football; Florida International (Sun Belt); North Texas (Sun Belt); UT-San Antonio (WAC); Louisiana Tech (WAC); Middle Tennessee State (Sun Belt); Western Kentucky (Sun Belt), if the Hilltoppers want to bump up the football program; Old Dominion (CAA), if the Monarchs bump up football as well; and UMass and Temple (both would be coming from MAC in football, A-10 in other sports).

The West doesn't need to be shored up, but there are obvious candidates -- New Mexico State, Utah State and San Jose State are all possibilities -- if this league wanted to raid the WAC.

There are plenty of rich basketball-playing schools this group could pluck to add to the competitive nature of the league. Temple is atop the list, and if the Big East doesn't grab the Owls, they are ready to be taken (if they deem this a better fit than their current state).

Of course, if these raids happen, it would potentially weaken other solid basketball leagues like the A-10 and to some extent the Sun Belt and possibly CAA.

But Alford's concerns are shared by many. The MWC has done a tremendous job of creating a high-level conference with limited numbers. The rivalries among San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico -- and previously with BYU and Utah before the departures of those two schools -- were some of the best in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. The MWC had captured the vacuum in the West amid the Pac-12's demise. The WCC has had its moments at the top of its league, but it didn't have the depth the MWC had recently.

The MWC's dominance has been fractured with the departures of BYU (to the WCC in all sports but football, in which the Cougars are now an independent), once-proud Utah and the pending exit of the Aztecs from the conference in 2013.

Had Memphis stayed in C-USA instead of bolting for the Big East, this league would have had a bookend of elite programs in UNLV and Memphis -- two of the powers from outside the "power six" leagues in the past 20 years. Instead, UNLV will have to carry a heavy burden as the flagship of this merger.

The onus will be on New Mexico, UTEP, UAB, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Marshall and any newcomer to continue to raise their game and be top 30-40 programs on a consistent basis. Short of that, and this league won't have the necessary relevance to command the media rights dollars and/or the multiple bids that are necessary for the survival of a mega-conference.

NEW YORK -- If you put Memphis in a corner and asked the Tigers where they want their program to be, the answer would be the Big East.

If you directed that question toward UTEP and Houston, it would probably be the Mountain West.

Football decisions drive the direction of conferences, though, and Conference USA isn't exactly a football powerhouse.

"Basketball coaches aren't in control of any of that," said new UTEP coach Tim Floyd. "They were humbled this summer to find out how important college basketball was in the overall scheme."

So the collection of C-USA schools are stuck with each other for the foreseeable future and what that means is that this league has to make its basketball marquee this season, as in a multiple-bid league that advances in the NCAA tournament.

Conference USA needs to become at least as valuable a basketball property as non-Big Six leagues like the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West.

UTEP went 26-6 and 15-1 in the conference last season, but was one of the final at-large teams selected to the NCAA tourney after losing to Houston in the conference finals. The fact that the Miners had to sweat out Selection Sunday is unacceptable.

"We need multiple teams in the tournament, and last year with UTEP going 15-1 and barely getting in is a little bit scary," said Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik, in New York City on Wednesday for a media day event intended to get the league more national attention.

What's the identity of this league? It certainly has a host of second-chance coaches who have had plenty of on-court success elsewhere, like Floyd, UAB's Mike Davis, Southern Miss' Larry Eustachy, SMU's Matt Doherty, Rice's Ben Braun, East Carolina's Jeff Lebo and Houston's James Dickey. All of those coaches were considered on the rise at one point in their careers, but losing or off-court issues led to their search for a new home.

Donnie Jones went from Marshall to Central Florida, and former Division I head coach Tom Herrion took over the Thundering Herd. Those are two of the league's six new head coaches -- exactly half the league.

Conference USA's coaches preach the league party line -- as they did Wednesday -- about having more draft picks since 2005 than the Big Ten or Pac-10 (including this past draft). Memphis coach Josh Pastner said the league is played above the rim with plenty of athletes, "which makes watching this league fun for everyone."

Still, there is a perception problem. It's undeniable.

From March 2006 to January 2010, the Tigers played and beat 64 straight opponents from C-USA. It is tied for the longest Division I conference win streak of all time. So whether it was fair or not, the national attitude about Conference USA was that Memphis steamrolled through an inferior conference.

"I grew up around the Pac-10, coached in the SEC and coached in the Big 12 and it's strange to me how underrated this league is," Eustachy said. "My only thinking is that Memphis made such a mockery of it for [64] straight games, but then they made a mockery of Texas [and Michigan State and UCLA] in the NCAA tournament and should have won the national championship [in 2008]. People look at our league and think no one could beat them for [64] straight games.

"Memphis was great, but the league has never been more competitive and has great coaches."

UAB's Davis, who has been on the cusp of getting an at-large bid the past few seasons, said Memphis' dominance under Calipari completely overshadowed the league. Having the conference tournament in Memphis also hindered getting a second bid for the league. But a year ago, the tournament was in Tulsa and the league was nearly left with just one again after Houston upset UTEP in the championship game.

"Does this league have the opportunity to be better than the WCC, when it had three teams in with Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and San Diego? My guess is certainly yes, when you see the history of this league with the coaches and the players," Floyd said. "This league has to do what the Mountain West did last year and get four teams in and win."

The coaches know who has to be good for this league to ultimately survive in a changing, challenging college landscape. Memphis, UTEP, Tulsa, UAB and Houston have the most national name recognition with a national title in the group (Texas Western) and a few national championship game appearances (Memphis and Houston).

Eustachy says Southern Miss, with Angelo Johnson and Gary Flowers, are ready to challenge for the conference title. Their continued improvement would certainly help the league, but the Golden Eagles still don't resonate much nationally.

The pressure to be at the top still resides in Memphis.

"We need to be good; there's no doubt about that. We need to be good," Pastner said. "We've recruited well. We now have to perform well on the floor. That's the bottom line."

Eustachy disputes that Memphis has come back to the pack, despite missing the NCAAs this past season after four straight trips that included a title-game appearance, three Elite Eights and a Sweet 16.

"Memphis may have as good a players as Cal's better teams," Eustachy said.

Tulsa has had a rich history of NCAA tournament success under a plethora of name coaches like Tubby Smith, Nolan Richardson and Bill Self. Buzz Peterson won an NIT. Wojcik won a College Basketball Invitational. The Golden Hurricane had a great shot to be an NCAA tourney team last season, but weren't able to stand up and win the key games down the stretch when they had an elite center in Jerome Jordan, a second-round NBA draft pick.

"I think from a fan enthusiasm standpoint, they need us to be successful," Wojcik said. "What we need is multiple teams in the tournament."

To do that, though, the league's teams will need to start playing tough nonconference schedules in November and December -- and win some of those games, too.

That's not an issue for Memphis, which did that under John Calipari and still does so with Pastner. The Tigers play Miami and Georgetown at home, Tennessee and Gonzaga on the road and face Kansas at Madison Square Garden.

UAB has generally the same philosophy, and beat Butler and Cincinnati last season. The Blazers play Duke, Arizona State, Arkansas and Georgia this season. Floyd said he wants UTEP to have the scheduling attitude he had at USC, where he scheduled just about anyone to upgrade the team's power rating.

Tulsa has had solid shots to upgrade and does play in the Big 12 footprint, allowing it to get games with the Oklahoma schools. Southern Miss could use some success in Cancun this season, along with road wins at Ole Miss, South Florida and Cal that would greatly improve its national perception. Road wins always help.

"This is a process, but you've got to win those nonconference games and you've got to have 23 or 24 wins going into the conference tournament," Davis said. "It's difficult not to take a team that has closer to 30 wins than one that has 23 or 24. So if you can get to 25 or 26 or 27, you've got a better chance to get in."

A new identity for a host of schools that would probably like to be somewhere else would come if it could get multiple bids in the NCAA tournament and advance. Sounds easy enough, right?

"There are a lot of coaches in this league that have won a lot of games, a lot more than I have," Pastner said. "The league has gotten better. Memphis' dominance made everyone raise the level of recruiting and now the league has better players and is as athletic as ever before."

Five more observations from Conference USA media day:

1. So much talk was about the Memphis freshmen -- and it is a top-five class that deserves plenty of attention. But the consensus is that if the Tigers are going to be one of the nation's elite, then Wesley Witherspoon has to be a major presence. Memphis coach Josh Pastner is convinced that Witherspoon will be, or rather has to be, the star of this team.

2. C-USA put out its all-conference team, and one player was missing that could end up being a stud. UAB coach Mike Davis said Jamarr Sanders, a onetime guard at Alabama State, could be one of the best players he has ever coached. Sanders averaged 10.4 points and 4.9 rebounds a game for the Blazers last season, but Davis said he was just figuring out how to play the game after sitting out a year.

3. UTEP's Randy Culpepper was tabbed as the preseason player of the year, but the question Davis had was whether Culpepper was going to be set free to go up and down or if he would be in more of a half-court set. If it's the latter, that could change Culpepper's effectiveness. UTEP coach Tim Floyd has been known to change to his personnel, and that's why without a real serious post threat (no Derrick Caracter or Arnett Moultrie), it's hard to see this team slowing down too much.

4. The best news for the teams that might be struggling in the bottom half of the league is that at least three have a star. Rice coach Ben Braun said Iranian Arsalan Kazemi, who played for the national team at the world championships in Turkey, had a sensational summer and should be ready for a major season. East Carolina's Brock Young and SMU's Papa Dia, who made the preseason first- and second-teams respectively, will at least provide a reason to watch the Pirates and Mustangs this season.

5. When you sit at lunch and see the collection of coaches in this league, it really is amazing. When you look around the table and see Larry Eustachy, Tim Floyd, Matt Doherty, Jeff Lebo, Ben Braun, James Dickey and Mike Davis and know that they were all in high-major conferences and are now in this league, it says a lot about the coaching business. It is a fickle one at best. Fame is fleeting in this profession, but there is almost always a second chance. Conference USA is the epitome of that.

Angel Garcia hasn't played a minute for Memphis since he arrived a year ago.

Yet, the news that he tore his ACL made headlines across the country, including on the front page of ESPN.com.

"I had never heard of the kid, I wasn't aware he was on the roster," Houston coach Tom Penders said. "[Former Memphis coach John Calipari] is a good friend of mine and he had never talked about him."

Meanwhile, the Tigers received two high-profile commitments for 2010-11 over the past few months -- one earlier in the summer from the top shooting guard on the ESPNU Top 100, Will Barton (Brewster Academy, Baltimore, Md.), and one last week on the same day as the Garcia injury, from the No. 5 point guard in the class, Joe Jackson (White Station High School, Memphis). And with each commitment the Tigers were the only headline from Conference USA.

"We don't announce commitments until they're signed," said Penders. Memphis didn't announce the commitments but the news, like many items about top players, tends to leak out.

The Calipari-less Tigers, now led by Josh Pastner in his first head-coaching gig, still are the team of record in Conference USA. It doesn't matter what they do, the news follows them. And nothing done by Houston, Tulsa or UTEP -- arguably the three schools that could make a strong case to be tabbed as favorites this season instead of Memphis -- seems to matter.

Tulsa was ranked No. 21 in my latest preseason top 25. Memphis was not ranked.

"They've done it, they've got stuff UTEP, Tulsa and Houston don't have and that doesn't bother me at all," Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said of the Tigers' national recognition, NCAA tournament appearances, NBA arena and passionate fan base that does top the league.

"Nothing is going to change until something happens on the court," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "All of the news and the offseason articles [about Memphis], well none of that will change. Wins and losses change the perception."

Wojcik disagrees a bit. He said the publicity Tulsa received in the offseason has changed the perception of the Golden Hurricane. The word is out that Tulsa will likely be tabbed as the conference favorite.

"There's no doubt it has shifted for me a bit," Wojcik said. "But we've all got to go out and win some games in the nonconference. Memphis did play for the national title. You can't forget that."

Conference USA has had a serious image problem for the past few seasons. Memphis has dominated the conference the past three seasons, winning 58 straight league games. C-USA hasn't had multiple bids to the NCAA tournament since 2006, when UAB got in with Memphis, one year after the league lost marquee members Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette to the Big East.

The conference could have done a better job of lobbying for its most marketable player in Tulsa senior center Jerome Jordan, a lock for the NBA first round. Jordan wasn't named one of the top 50 preseason Wooden Award candidates, something that befuddled Wojcik.

The change in thinking about Conference USA won't occur in the preseason. It might not happen until March. But it could happen in February if Tulsa can pull off an upset at Duke. Barbee said he likes the Duke game for Tulsa and Conference USA, but only if Tulsa wins.

Wojcik jumped at the chance to play at Cameron Indoor on Feb. 25 on ESPN. Wojcik, who was an assistant to Matt Doherty at North Carolina, knows the importance of playing in Durham late in the season. He said he wanted the experience for his seniors Jordan and Ben Uzoh.

"I love it, why not play that game in November, December, January or February?" Wojcik said. "It will give them a lifetime memory. That will be a huge RPI game for us, on national TV, and will prepare us for the tournament. I love that game."

He's right. Rarely do teams that are possibly on the bubble get a game like Tulsa's at Duke in late February. The BracketBusters event doesn't produce a matchup like that. Tulsa plays host to Oklahoma State, a likely NCAA team out of the Big 12 on Dec. 2, and based on the rest of the nonconference schedule the Cowboys might be the only NCAA-bound team the Golden Hurricane play prior to the Duke game.

Wojcik added the last piece to a team that won 25 games last season when Donte Medder joined the team. Through individual workouts Medder has been everything Wojcik hoped for with his "old-style game" and his strength at the point that allow Uzoh to move to shooting guard. Jordan Clarkson, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard out of San Antonio, the No. 63-ranked guard on ESPNU's list, is Wojcik's Joe Jackson-like recruit -- a potential game changer even though few outside of the region have noticed the commitment.

"[The changing perception] is not going to happen until someone else steps up on the national stage," Barbee said. "This is a high-level league and Tulsa and Houston have been a few wins away from getting over the hump. Someone else has to prove it. If you look at Memphis' roster they still have the talent to win the league."

While Pastner did add Duke guard Elliot Williams for this season after he was granted a waiver to play immediately due to an ailing relative in his hometown of Memphis, Pastner is quick to point out not everything has been going smoothly. The Tigers did lose expected frontcourt contributor Latavious Williams to an overseas contract. The Tigers will lean on Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack and Roburt Sallie, all returnees but none of them stars yet, to lead a depleted roster (eight scholarship players) this season.

Memphis' season isn't affected by the ruling by the NCAA's committee on infractions that its wins in the 2007-08 season, including the national finals appearance, had to be vacated for the use of an ineligible player (Derrick Rose). Of course that was a headline for weeks and deservedly so. But the Tigers are the team of record in Conference USA, regardless of what is occurring on the other contenders' campuses.

"All of this is a credit to what Coach Cal built at Memphis, making this an elite program," said Pastner, who worked one season for Calipari as an assistant. "We don't want there to be a drop-off. Our assistants are doing a super job in recruiting so far. We know this is a really good league and we want to be right there."

The Tigers do have four high-profile nonconference games that are leftovers from the Calipari era. Memphis will play Kansas in St. Louis on Nov. 17 in a rematch of the 2008 title game; play Tennessee on Dec. 31; are at Syracuse on Jan. 6; and host Gonzaga on Feb. 6.

"Josh has the toughest job in the country," Penders said. "There's no question he does. But he had to take the job [when Calipari went to Kentucky]. People forget about the Tic Price or Larry Finch stuff before Calipari. Memphis has had good players, but there is no Tyreke Evans or Derrick Rose. But I hope they are still good for all of us. We need them to be."

Putting Houston near the top of C-USA wouldn't be a reach, either. The backcourt of Aubrey Coleman and Kelvin Lewis averaged a combined 37 points a game last season. Sophomore point Desmond Wade was just the sixth freshman to reach triple digits in assists (113).

And Penders, never shy promoting his squad, said even Coleman and Lewis are being pushed for playing time by "the new guys." Penders was referring to JC transfers Adam Brown and Maurice McNeil. He said two freshmen, power forward Kirk Van Slyke and guard Nick Haywood, are impact players, too.

"We've got a lot of good pieces," Penders said. "I know how good we are. It's the best team we've had."

If that's the case then Houston needs to win games like its matchups against Oklahoma in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout Nov. 26, against top-25 team Mississippi State at Hofheinz Pavilion on Dec. 19, and versus Sun Belt favorite Western Kentucky in Bowling Green, Ky., on Feb. 9.

The league finally moved the tournament out of Memphis and shifted it to Tulsa. The advantage is now for the Golden Hurricane.

"The chances are greater for getting more than one team in the tournament if someone else wins the league and Tulsa wins the playoffs," Penders said.

But if Conference USA is going to shake the news blackout outside of Memphis the change may come from UTEP. No player entering the league this season has had more written about him during his college career than Derrick Caracter, the much-maligned former Louisville center. Caracter will be eligible in mid-December. Caracter is now listed at 6-9, 275. Barbee said he arrived last January at 300 pounds.

"He's been the most impressive player I've ever seen skillwise in individual workouts," said Barbee, who was a Calipari assistant prior to getting the UTEP job in 2006. "He's been great the last two weeks."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino had issues with Caracter's conditioning. Barbee said that hasn't been a problem for him.

"Whether he's looking at this as a second chance or last chance, he's highly motivated right now," Barbee said.

Once Caracter is eligible, it will be hard to find a more imposing tandem of big men in the league than Caracter and 6-11, 240-pound Arnett Moultrie. Moultrie was a key big man for the gold medal-winning U.S. under-19 world championship team in New Zealand last July.

"[Moultrie] came back with the confidence I thought he would return with," Barbee said. "He's put on [nearly] 20 pounds. He knows he belongs."

Arizona State transfer wing Christian Polk, who Barbee said is playing with a bit of a chip, and the return of one of the more maligned backcourts in the country in Randy Culpepper and Julyan Stone give the Miners a possible C-USA championship lineup. The Miners did lose 24-point scorer Stefon Jackson off a 23-win team last season. But the newcomers and the returnees make the Miners a formidable option atop the league.

UTEP's schedule has the potential to produce power-rating points if Ole Miss (in Southhaven, Miss., on Dec. 16), Oklahoma (in Oklahoma City on Dec. 21) and BYU (Jan. 9) live up to expectations of being NCAA-bound teams.

Clearly, the rest of the league -- UAB, Southern Miss, Central Florida, Tulane, SMU, Rice, Marshall and East Carolina -- can't be in power-rating purgatory if the image is going to change this season.

The window is open for UTEP, Houston and Tulsa to grab the league from Memphis and make this a multiple-bid conference in March and ensure that there are headlines from the members other than the Tigers from January to March. If it doesn't happen this season, if these squads can't make themselves relevant now, then the league will have an even harder time convincing television executives that there is more to see here. The NCAA tournament selection committee will have the final say in March. But there are no gifts. The opportunity is now to earn the bids and make the news themselves.

Memphis didn't make my Top 25 after the NBA draft's early-entry withdrawal deadline.

I had Tulsa representing Conference USA at No. 21.

Should Memphis now be in the mix?

It's a worthy debate. But it's hard to know until a decision is reached on whether Duke transfer guard Elliot Williams will be granted a hardship waiver because he is going home to be with his ill mother, allowing him to play for the Tigers immediately without sitting out a season.

Williams was instrumental in Duke's turnaround during ACC play last season. The move of Jon Scheyer to the point was a catalyst for Scheyer and the Blue Devils. But it didn't hurt that Williams got more run, either. He went from consecutive DNPs to playing 31 minutes and scoring 11 points in a win at St. John's. He played over 30 minutes in each of the next six games -- all of them wins save the regular-season finale at North Carolina.

Since Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski started using Williams more on the perimeter, the Blue Devils went 10-2 to close the season. That's one reason why Duke will move down a few pegs in a fall preseason Top 25 from the No. 10 I had it at in June. Losing Williams means Duke won't have its two most athletic wings (Gerald Henderson left a year early for the NBA).

If Williams is eligible for Memphis then the Tigers would have Williams, Willie Kemp, Roburt Sallie and Doneal Mack on the perimeter, four scoring-minded guards who can also beat their defender off the dribble (much more so for Williams and Kemp than Sallie and Mack).

The question will be scoring in the post. New Memphis coach Josh Pastner said returnees Pierre Henderson-Niles and Angel Garcia are more than capable in the post as is 6-9 power forward Will Coleman from Miami Dade Junior College (Fla.). If 6-8 Latavious Williams (Christian Life Center Academy, Texas) gets through the NCAA eligibility center then the Tigers will have not just one but two legit options in the post arriving in the fall (the jury is still out on Niles' and Garcia's ability to produce).

With or without Williams (who will begin the appeal process with the NCAA with the help of Memphis), the Tigers have the personnel to challenge Jerome Jordan, Ben Uzoh and newcomer point Donte Medder of Tulsa for the Conference USA title (UTEP coach Tony Barbee wants to make sure you don't dismiss the Miners, either, with a front line of Arnett Moultrie and Louisville transfer Derrick Caracter as well as returning guards Randy Culpepper and Julyan Stone).

But one thing is certain: While the Tigers won't win 33 games next season or go 16-0 in the league, they will be in contention for the league title and a Top 25 appearance either in the preseason or in possible cameos throughout the season.

• The U.S. team's head coach at the World University Games, Bo Ryan (Wisconsin), shook up his starting lineup for his third exhibition game after splitting the first two with Canada (win) and Serbia (loss). Against Russia, Ryan moved Mississippi State's Jarvis Varnado and Ohio State's Evan Turner into the starting lineup, replacing Marquette's Lazar Hayward and Clemson's Trevor Booker. Varnado was 2-of-4 from the field, grabbing six boards and scoring seven points. The nation's top shot-blocker had just one block.

Turner, the team's best 3-point threat, missed all six shots he attempted and didn't take a 3-pointer. The U.S. won 67-63 and still struggled on 3s, making just 4 of 14. Villanova's Corey Fisher remains the most consistent player. He scored 15 points, had three steals and made two of the four 3s he attempted. Fisher's play should continue to give Cats fans hope that the Wildcats will be the Big East favorite. Fisher will team up with Scottie Reynolds to form the best backcourt in the Big East. The WUG tournament in Serbia begins Thursday.

• The decision by the NCAA to uphold Kelvin Sampson's show-cause penalties shouldn't come as a surprise. The committee on infractions is rarely supportive of a repeat offender, especially when it is similar rules that have been broken. Sampson lucked out when he was hired by Scott Skiles and the Milwaukee Bucks. He doesn't have to worry about any kind of college opportunity anyway.

• Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was named the chair of the NCAA tournament men's basketball selection committee for the 2011 tournament. The 2010 tournament will be chaired by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero. The selection committee continues to look at ways of improving the tournament. But expanding the field still hasn't had traction. The idea I wish could gain legs would be if there were four opening-round games between bubble teams for the four No. 12 seeds. Those No. 12s are usually teams that are the last ones in the field from either high- or mid-major conferences. You could have two of those games on Tuesday with the games feeding into Thursday's 12-5 matchups and then two on Wednesday to feed into Friday's 12-5 games.

To make it work, you would have to organize the pairings so as not to upset the bracketing principles (i.e., same conference teams meeting before the Elite Eight) as well as take into account logistical concerns. You can't have play-in games with bubble teams with the 16-seeds because the top seeds still need to be protected in the first round with a game against a 16-seed.

• In other news pertaining to the selection committee, the NCAA has decided to eliminate from the at-large discussion the results of a team's last 12 games. Starting in the 2009-10 season, the selection committee will no longer take into consideration the results of the last 12 games a team has played when awarding one of the 34 at-large berths.

Considering a team's record over its final 12 games was seen as a way to gauge how strongly a team finished the season, but was not meant to carry more weight than other portions of a team's schedule.

This decision makes sense. Due to imbalanced schedules within most of the power six conferences and the inability of mid-major schools to schedule high-quality games that late in the season, it was difficult to measure and compare the results of a team's final 12 games.

• Cincinnati should know within the next two days if it will land highly touted Brooklyn Lincoln High guard Lance Stephenson, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. The Bearcats' ability to get a commitment from Stephenson does not hinge on Stephenson's ongoing sexual assault case, according to sources. But any commitment from Stephenson wouldn't be binding since the national letter of intent spring signing period ended in May. Cincinnati does have one scholarship open.

The only difference you'll see at USC as far as the coaching staff is concerned is Kevin O'Neill standing where Tim Floyd used to in front of the bench.

The coaches behind him will all be the same.

Although it's not official, O'Neill did confirm he is retaining assistants Phil Johnson, Gib Arnold and Bob Cantu.

That's a significant move, considering those three are largely responsible for securing a number of the top talents USC has recently had under Floyd.

"I feel comfortable with all of them," said O'Neill.

The USC situation is unique in that the Trojans hired a coach who wasn't coming directly from another program, so the transition from one staff to another should be rather seamless. Johnson and O'Neill have known each other for decades. They both coached under Lute Olson, albeit not at the same time.

Johnson is a contemporary of O'Neill's and should serve him well as a trusted sounding board. Arnold has plenty of recruiting contacts not just in the West but globally, and he may be searching for a point guard since O'Neill has made that the No. 1 priority for the upcoming season now that the Trojans are without Daniel Hackett (who left to play professionally) and Lamont Jones out of Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).

USC released Jones from his national letter of intent and watched as Jones latched on to Arizona and new coach Sean Miller. Miller has landed three former USC recruits in Jones, Derrick Williams (a power forward from La Mirada High in California), who like Jones got out of his letter of intent, and former USC recruit Solomon Hill (a forward from Fairfax High in Los Angeles).

Evan Smith, a small forward from Calabasas High in California, is the only remaining recruit left from the Trojans' original top-five recruiting class (which also included Renardo Sidney, now off to Mississippi State). O'Neill said Smith is staying put.

According to O'Neill, most of the returnees from last year's squad are expected back. Senior guard Dwight Lewis (14.4 points per game) should be the top scorer, North Carolina transfer Alex Stepheson should be the anchor in the post and Marcus Simmons (1.9 ppg) and Leonard Washington (6.1 ppg, 4.2 rebounds per game) should be the defensive bruisers on the wing.

Keeping Arnold on the staff should mean that forward Nikola Vucevic (2.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg) will return. The same is true with center Mamadou Diarra (0.4 rpg). O'Neill has already recognized that this squad has much more of a tough, defensive-minded approach -- something Floyd had instilled -- and should be a better match for his personality than the more finesse squad he inherited at Arizona, which included Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill.

Senior Marcus Johnson (3.1 ppg), who won a waiver earning him a sixth year of eligibility after an injured shoulder limited him to just 16 games last season, declared for the NBA draft, then withdrew, then declared again. But he wasn't selected and now there is a chance he could be back at USC. The staff was noncommittal as to whether or not he will officially be back. They are also still waiting to confirm if backup point guard Percy Miller (0.2 assists per game) is returning, as well.

The staff seems energized by the O'Neill hire (keeping your job certainly helps) and committed to recruiting top-tier talent to USC. USC remains one of the best jobs in the country because of its proximity to elite talent, the resources at a football-rich university, top-level facilities in the Galen Center and SoCal as a recruiting destination.

The only negative right now, and it's a big one, is the ongoing NCAA investigation into the recruiting and one-year tenure of former player O.J. Mayo. No one knows if and when the NCAA will issue a notice of allegations. Until then, the O'Neill regime is going on as status quo, dealing with the departures of a highly touted recruiting class and preparing to still be a thorn in the Pac-10 race.

• Miller's additions of Hill, Williams and Jones to an Arizona recruiting class that also includes former Xavier recruit Kevin Parrom of South Kent (Conn.) and hotly-contested center Kyryl Natyazhko (Pitt and Xavier were recruiting him) of the IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla., puts Miller's class right behind his good friend John Calipari of Kentucky for best late-signing class in the country. Both schools could easily be in the top five to 10 regardless of when their players were signed.

The Arizona pickups and the play of the Washington State tandem Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto at the Under 19 USA Basketball trials in Colorado Springs, Colo., two weeks ago means there should be a shakeup in the Pac-10 preseason predictions. I would still go with Cal and Washington at the top, but there will be an extremely tough chase for third on down among Arizona (remember, Nic Wise is back), Washington State, UCLA, Oregon State and Oregon, with USC still lurking in the mix if it figures out a way to put points on the board.

The Trojans should still be a tough defensive team. It's hard not to push Stanford and Arizona State down to the bottom based on what everyone has coming back. The Sun Devils lost two players selected in the top 31 picks in this year's NBA draft in James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph. The Cardinal, meanwhile, lost key seniors Mitch Johnson, Lawrence Hill and Anthony Goods.

• Sometimes you get a player when you least expect it, when there is almost no recruiting done and it can be a season-changing get. That's what happened when Oklahoma State got John Lucas III after the Baylor tragedy. Villanova landed Scottie Reynolds after Kelvin Sampson left Indiana for Oklahoma. Kansas wasn't expecting to land Brandon Rush after he withdrew from the NBA draft out of high school. Now Memphis has just picked up Duke guard Elliot Williams because of extraordinary circumstances.

Williams' mother is ill and that's why he's leaving a good situation with the Blue Devils. Trust me, no one leaves Mike Krzyzewski for Josh Pastner. That's not a knock on Pastner. He knows that. That's just reality. Williams will now appeal to the NCAA to play immediately instead of sitting out the one-year-in-residence requirement. A year ago there were a number of these cases and the NCAA rejected the majority of them -- Jordan Crawford (Indiana to Xavier), Alex Stepheson (North Carolina to USC), Herb Pope (New Mexico State to Seton Hall) -- with the exception of a select few like Julian Vaughn, who transferred from Florida State to Georgetown.

It's hard to judge how a person should handle this type of situation. No one did it better, though, than Kevin Coble of Northwestern, who truly took the semester off to be with his mother during cancer treatment in her home in Phoenix. When she was done with the treatments, he returned to Northwestern for the second semester. Coble was by his mother's side during her entire ordeal.

Having Williams home in Memphis should do well for his family, as well. Pastner is smart enough to always put Williams' family first. He's not the type of person who would demand Williams be at practice if there was a conflicting appointment for Williams' mother that he felt he should attend. Expect Pastner to do the right thing by Williams and his family. Had Williams transferred to Tennessee, Kentucky or even Vanderbilt, still a decent day's drive, it would have been harder to justify considering a waiver for him to play right away, since he wouldn't be in the city where his parent was ill.

• Lance Stephenson's sexual assault case was adjourned until July 15, according to ZagsBlog.com, a blog based in New York City. The hearing at the Brooklyn Criminal Court that also involves high school teammate Darwin Ellis, is based on an allegation that occurred last fall outside Brooklyn's Lincoln High.

The Sporting News reported over the weekend that Stephenson visited Cincinnati. The Bearcats have a scholarship open. This is the deal: If Stephenson is cleared by everyone involved -- the courts (i.e. a plea deal to a misdemeanor or charges dropped) and the NCAA eligibility center -- then the Bearcats seem to be the most likely destination.

Stephenson's talent isn't in question, but in the past few months Kansas, Memphis, Arizona, Maryland, St. John's, Florida and even Florida International have been linked in some form to his recruitment. As of now, Cincinnati may be the last school standing. With or without Stephenson, the Bearcats are primed to be a sleeper in the Big East. The Bearcats will get former Oklahoma State center Ibrahima Thomas eligible in mid-December and added expected impact players such as shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick and point guard Jaquon Parker to go along with redshirt freshman Cashmere Wright, who was out last season with a torn ACL in his left knee.

Wright is projected to be the starting point guard for the Bearcats. The Bearcats already bring back their top two scorers -- Deonta Vaughn (15.3 ppg, 4.7 apg) and Yancy Gates (10.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg) -- after going 8-10 in the Big East, 18-14 overall. If Stephenson were to go to Cincinnati and he can mesh with the aforementioned players, it wouldn't be unrealistic to consider the Bearcats a Big East title contender.

• This week, Holy Cross is bringing to campus its two finalists to replace departing coach Ralph Willard: Notre Dame assistant Sean Kearney comes in on Monday, and Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion comes in on Tuesday. Willard left the head coaching gig to be an assistant on Rick Pitino's staff at Louisville. Kearney has never been a Division I head coach, while Herrion had a solid stint at the College of Charleston before he was abruptly forced out. Herrion is from Worcester and has strong New England ties. Kearney has been at Notre Dame under Mike Brey. A move from Notre Dame to Holy Cross, two similar institutions, would make sense. Holy Cross athletic director Dick Regan said last week he wanted a head coach in place by July 1, which is Wednesday. So his timing is on track. Holy Cross is the best job in the Patriot League.

• The U.S. team at the World University Games split its first two exhibition games in Serbia, beating Canada and then losing to host Serbia over the weekend. We'll see if Bo Ryan (Wisconsin) goes with the same starting lineup for the tournament later this week, but the first five against Serbia was an interesting mix. He went with Corey Fisher (Villanova) at the point (one assist, zero turnovers, 12 points) and then went big with Da'Sean Butler (West Virginia), Lazar Hayward (Marquette), Trevor Booker (Clemson) and Deon Thompson (North Carolina). Ohio State's Evan Turner and Oklahoma State's James Anderson, the two shooting guards on the team, came off the bench and provided some scoring pop with 16 and eight points, respectively.

The bench also had point guard Talor Battle (Penn State), Robbie Hummel (Purdue) and Quincy Pondexter (Washington). What was even more intriguing is that two of the players with the most NBA buzz had the least amount of minutes -- Iowa State's Craig Brackins (11 minutes, 1-for-3 shooting, five fouls, two points, two turnovers) and Mississippi State shot blocker Jarvis Varnado (nine minutes, 0-for-2, two rebounds, two fouls, one turnover, one block and one steal). The U.S. shot only 5-for-19 on 3s in the 98-82 loss.

• Two omissions from my 2010 potential draft list were Villanova's Scottie Reynolds and Tulsa's Jerome Jordan. Reynolds declared for the 2009 draft and then went back to school. He wouldn't have been in the first round and it's unclear if he would have been selected in the second. The wealth of point guards in this draft meant Reynolds didn't have a chance in the first round and may have gone undrafted. He'll have a shot, at least in the second round, in 2010. Jordan should be one of the better true centers in the 2010 draft. He still needs to be much more of a dominant presence in the post and could put more meat on his bones. But he'll be in the mix to climb into the first round next year.

So far, the SEC has been the biggest winner in early-entry withdrawal decisions after Patrick Patterson (Kentucky), Michael Washington (Arkansas), Tasmin Mitchell (LSU) and Jarvis Varnado (Mississippi State) all announced they would come back to school.

The league could be bolstered even more if Jodie Meeks (Kentucky), Tyler Smith (Tennessee), Devan Downey and Dominique Archie (South Carolina) do the same.

But when grading schools that will dramatically benefit from players' decisions to withdraw from the draft, Arizona will be near the top of the list.

Nic Wise's decision to return to Arizona for his senior season gives new coach Sean Miller one of the top point guards in the Pac-10, a scoring threat every time he touches the ball, and the guarantee that the Wildcats won't go through any kind of Indiana-like transition period.

Miller wants to temper the enthusiasm in his new locale, as any first-year coach would. But getting Wise back to go along with role players Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne and impact newcomers Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom and Kyryl Natyazhko means the Cats should be considered for a top-half finish in the Pac-10.

That would have seemed impossible a month ago, when it appeared Wise would leave with Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and before Miller locked up three key recruits. But after Cal and Washington, the Pac-10 is wide open. Arizona has just as good a shot to finish third among a group of teams that includes UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State.

• Memphis coach Josh Pastner found out Sunday that fourth-year junior center Shawn Taggart would stay in the NBA draft. This didn't come as a shock. He will, after all, be 25-years-old by the time the 2010 NBA draft rolls around. Taggart would have been returning for his fifth season and playing for his third college coach. (He transferred from Iowa State.) But let's also not kid ourselves into thinking Taggart is going to be a star -- it's hard to imagine that he'll be any more than a role player. And there's a decent chance he might not be drafted at all.

The Tigers will now lean on 6-9 JC forward Will Coleman for inside scoring, as well as the return of limited offensive big man Pierre Henderson-Niles and 6-11 redshirt Angel Garcia. Highly touted 6-8 newcomer Latavious Williams will also be counted on to score inside, along with a true project, 6-8 Martin Ngaloro of France. Doneal Mack will be Memphis' top returning scorer at 8.7 points a game, followed by guard Roburt Sallie (5.8), who busted out with a 35-point performance in last season's NCAA first-round win over Cal State Northridge.

• Pastner's pickup of Baltimore-area brothers Will and Antonio Barton from the class of 2010 proves that he can recruit as a head coach. Getting Will -- ranked No. 12 in the ESPNU 100 -- away from Kentucky, Louisville and Pitt, among others, is a huge coup for Pastner. He should be an impact player for the Tigers at multiple positions. And Memphis didn't hesitate to take Antonio, who was being recruited by Syracuse and Miami (Fla.), among others. The Tigers anticipate he'll have a role as well.

• Tulsa made the official announcement that Connecticut guard Scottie Haralson transferred and will sit out the 2009-10 season. Haralson saw limited minutes at UConn and clearly will be much more featured with the Golden Hurricane. He's a sturdy guard who has the potential to be a solid shooter. Western Kentucky's D.J. Magley is also transferring to Tulsa and sitting out one year.

• In an attempt to fill his staff, Isiah Thomas went back to Indiana and approached fellow Hoosier alumnus Dan Dakich about being on his staff at Florida International. But the timing wasn't right for Dakich to leave the Indianapolis area. Thomas is hiring Franklin Holloway, who coached locally in South Florida after spending time coaching in Germany. FIU also picked up seldom-used 6-9 Arkansas freshman Brandon Moore. He will sit out next season and be eligible in 2010-11.

The NCAA legislative panel voted Monday to shorten the time frame in which underclassmen who declare for the NBA draft must decide whether to stay in the draft or return to school.

If the NCAA board of directors endorses the legislative panel's decision to reduce the early entry decision window from six weeks to approximately one week, there won't be any reasonable way for underclassmen to test the draft process.

Players really should declare whether they're in the draft or out. The current proposal makes the process of "testing the waters" or "gathering more information" moot.

USA Today first reported the panel's decision, which would make underclassmen decide by May 8 whether they were staying in the draft. The current deadline is 10 days before the draft in mid-June. (The rule would go into effect for next year's draft class.)

This year, the early entry declaration deadline is Sunday, April 26. It likely would be in the same time period in 2010. NBA teams don't allow underclassmen to work out at their facilities until the official list from the league office comes out, and that usually doesn't occur until four or five days after the declaration deadline. That means players would have about one week to work out and gauge how high they could go in the draft. A problem with this time frame is that it comes during or near final exams for most semester schools. If players were considering returning to school, they would have to be on campus for exams and couldn't afford to miss study or class time to work out for various NBA teams across the country.

The ACC originally proposed shortening the time frame a player has to decide whether to declare for the draft to about 10 days after the Final Four. The problem with that proposal was the NBA controls the important dates regarding the draft per its collective bargaining agreement. The NCAA can't change those dates -- namely the decision to declare in late April and the withdrawal date 10 days before the draft. NBA spokesman Tim Frank said that new rule would have little effect and wouldn't change the NBA's timeline.

The NCAA is aware of the tight timeline with a May 8 deadline and the practical obstacles like exams and workout schedules that might prohibit more informed decisions.

The NCAA's Steve Mallonee said Tuesday that it was a compromise from the ACC's original legislative proposal of making the deadline soon after the Final Four. But Mallonee also said the NCAA is waiting for the new collective bargaining agreement in 2011. In advance, the NCAA is talking to the NBA and NBA Player's Association about uniform dates.

Mallonee said this new date allows schools some time to fill recruiting needs before the spring signing period ends, too.

If this new rule goes into effect, there won't be any chance for underclassmen to gather concrete information about their draft status. The NBA is transitioning into a new NFL-like combine in late May in Chicago with no five-on-five scrimmaging. The NBA is still working through the logistics, but the tentative plan is to have interviews with the top players followed by skill work and some 3-on-3 scrimmaging at Attack Athletics, well-known trainer Tim Grover's NBA-like facility on the West Side.

Elite underclassman prospects who currently remain on the fence are expected to participate in the workouts May 28 and 29. But under this new rule in 2010, they wouldn't be weighing the decision of staying in the draft or returning to school. They would have to already be in or out.

• Duke doesn't expect to hear anything official from junior guard Gerald Henderson until Saturday. There were reports Monday that Henderson declared for the draft, but Duke couldn't confirm anything. Henderson is expected to be a solid mid-first-round pick if he declares.

• Texas A&M still should plan on being a contender for a top-five finish in the Big 12 next season even though three juniors -- Donald Sloan, Bryan Davis and Chinemelu Elonu -- declared for the draft this week. They were the second, third and fourth best scorers for the 24-10 Aggies this past season behind senior guard Josh Carter.

But Sloan, Davis and Elonu won't go in the first round of the NBA draft. They all are long shots to get close to the second round. So why declare? The feeling in College Station is that these players received little or no pub this past season. The Aggies weren't ranked. They were bounced early in the NCAA tournament, getting blasted by Connecticut in the second round. When the three players finish their eligibility after next season, they won't get any name recognition for being draft eligible. They will just be on a list of seniors. This is their one shot to get their names on ESPN's Bottom Line.

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon supported the decision for them to declare because their dreams are to be in the NBA. But there doesn't seem to be any real concern that he might be down his top three returning scorers for next season. A year ago, DeAndre Jordan left Texas A&M for the NBA draft after his freshman season, thinking he would be a first-round pick. He went in the second. Whom these players listen to, as is the case with most of the marginal draft players, will determine whether they make an informed decision to stay in or withdraw from the draft.

• Tulsa might be the preseason favorite in Conference USA over Memphis with the return of center Jerome Jordan and the addition of point guard Donte Medder. Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said the Golden Hurricane were a point guard away from being a difference-maker this past season. Having Medder means Ben Uzoh can return to the wing, a more natural position for him.

But will Tulsa have enough early season marquee games to warrant a potential NCAA at-large berth? Wojcik said the Golden Hurricane will play Oklahoma State and Colorado at home. The Cowboys could be an NCAA team, but the Buffaloes likely won't be next season. Other games include a tournament in Las Vegas with Nebraska, BYU and Nevada. Again, there are no NCAA locks in this group. Wojcik looked at Dayton getting an at-large bid with just two BCS nonconference games -- Marquette and Auburn. The Flyers won both. Dayton also finished 11-5 in the A-10. Tulsa finished 12-4 in Conference USA. Tulsa didn't get a bid.

"We were 12-4, and it didn't mean as much," Wojcik said. "The teams that won the Mountain West were 12-4, too [three-way tie with NCAA-bound Utah and BYU and NIT semifinalist New Mexico]."

Wojcik was blunt about the loss of John Calipari for Conference USA after his departure from Memphis to become Kentucky's new coach.

"I'm hoping the perception changes about the league," Wojcik said. "The perception was that Memphis was always so much better than everybody else."

Wojcik wants to get another marquee game and would go on the road but wants a return. He would consider a two-for-one but can't get a bite on any of those types of games, either.

• The NBA draft early entry deadline is Sunday. But early season tournaments can't wait until the withdrawal date. Here are some of the key tournament fields that are filled so far, all in November:

Coaches vs. Cancer: Four teams move on to New York

Four campus hosts in the 16-team event: Syracuse, North Carolina, Cal, Ohio State

NIT Season Tip-Off: Four teams move on to New York

Four campus hosts in the 16-team event: Duke, Connecticut, LSU, Arizona State

Maui Invitational: Gonzaga, Colorado, Cincinnati, Maryland, Wisconsin, Chaminade, Arizona, Vanderbilt

Paradise Jam, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands: Purdue, Tennessee, DePaul, Boston College, Northern Iowa, East Carolina, South Dakota State, Saint Joseph's

Old Spice Classic at Disney, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.: Baylor, Alabama, Florida State, Creighton, Iona, Marquette, Xavier, Michigan

76 Classic at Disneyland, Anaheim, Calif.: Texas A&M, West Virginia, Butler, UCLA, Portland, Long Beach State, Minnesota, Clemson

Quick hitters for Friday:

• The classiest move at the Final Four in Detroit went without publicity. Princeton athletic director Gary Walters made sure he got tickets for the family of Lorin Mauer and her boyfriend, Kevin Kuwik, Butler's director of basketball operations. Mauer, who worked in the Princeton athletic department as the Athletics Friends group manager, died in the Buffalo plane crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo on Feb. 13.

Kuwik and Mauer's parents were going to go to the games and visit with friends. The NCAA's Greg Shaheen, a vice president in charge of men's basketball, had also made quite a gesture while Mauer was still alive by pursuing a job opportunity for her in Indianapolis to help her get closer to Kuwik.

Kuwik said he, the family and relatives of other passengers who perished were going to pursue lobbying efforts in Washington on plane safety issues. Kuwik, a former assistant coach at Ohio University who also did two tours in Iraq with the Indiana National Guard, has been warmly received during his one year at Butler. Kuwik was understandably trying to get through a rough transition period as he deals with his grief as well as the lull in his duties for Butler. Kuwik isn't recruiting at this point for Butler. But he has found a home with the Bulldogs and they too have embraced him. Kuwik will be a head coach one day. He is diligent, determined and passionate about the game. Nothing will replace the love of his life, but he is clearly trying to find a cause to channel his grief. He is a good man, who deserves only the best.

• Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun passed on his thoughts through a spokesperson Friday that he doesn't believe junior Stanley Robinson will declare for the draft. If Robinson does turn away from the chatter that he would be in the first round then the Huskies should be a top 25 team, with Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson, assuming he's OK after knee surgery, in the backcourt.

• Kentucky coach John Calipari said Friday he fully expects sophomore forward Patrick Patterson to follow junior guard Jodie Meeks and declare for the NBA draft. Calipari said he sees no reason why, under the current structure, college players wouldn't declare and get four or five workouts in to see where they stand before going back to school if they don't sign with an agent. Calipari did say the one danger is that a bad workout won't be forgotten. Teams tend to latch onto the bad workouts in their own gyms. NBA teams can pay for the workouts in May and June. There are no five-on-five games for underclassmen this season (a number of fringe seniors are at the Portsmouth Invitational in Virginia this weekend). The Chicago combine in late May will be some light drills in the morning followed by interviews with teams the rest of the day. It will be interesting to see how many personnel are sent from teams that normally would send their whole scouting staff to Orlando for the pre-draft camp. That won't be necessary with the main part of the combine being interviews.

• Calipari said he has two more workouts next week with the returning Kentucky players and should know then who will or won't be back next season. He's still trying to sort out who wants to play for him and under his dribble-drive-motion offense. Calipari said he's also reviewing the schedule. The Wildcats will honor games against Louisville, Indiana and North Carolina but he still needs to sign off on playing Connecticut in the SEC-Big East Challenge in Madison Square Garden and is looking at the exempted tournament options. Former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie had put Kentucky in an event in Cancun, Mexico. That is also being reviewed.

• Gonzaga coach Mark Few said he would talk to new Memphis coach Josh Pastner about continuing their series that was predicated more on Few and Calipari.

• Davidson coach Bob McKillop said the Wildcats start a new series at Duke and return a BracketBusters game at Butler. But McKillop is on hold about any other scheduling requests until he knows for sure if Stephen Curry is returning for his senior season.

• Calipari said he would put Rod Strickland on the road for Kentucky. He will have a spot open on his staff with Pastner staying at Memphis. Pastner is interviewing candidates, especially experienced, older coaches, for a prime spot on his bench. Florida has a prime assistant gig open now with Shaka Smart left to be the head coach at VCU.

• Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski said he would likely have a decision on the next head coach sometime in the middle of next week. He also said not to read that a time lag would hurt assistant Chris Mack's chances of replacing Sean Miller.

• Tulsa got great news Friday when Jerome Jordan said he would return for his senior season. The Golden Hurricane will likely be the favorite now ahead of Memphis in Conference USA. Jordan has helped Tulsa to consecutive 25-win seasons, averaging 13.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a junior.

• Friday's way-too-early Top 25 will get crushed over the next few weeks, especially the back end of it. I'm not too worried about being wrong with the top 10 teams being capable of landing in that range next season. From Nos. 11 to 35 you could put a host of teams in there and not be off. This will be a fluid process over the next six months.

Auburn expects to get an NCAA tournament bid.

The Tigers look at the numbers. And if you're in their world it's hard to argue. Auburn has won eight of nine games. The Tigers just smacked the SEC's best team, LSU, by 16 points. Auburn finished the SEC with a 10-6 record, 21-10 overall.

But not everyone agrees. Auburn is hardly a discussion point among locks, let alone strong bubble teams because of a nonconference that is devoid of a quality win.

"I think the biggest thing is that [the players] have been reading some stuff blowing them off and it has bothered them," Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said. "To not even be in the discussion has been a slap in the face to us and to our league."

Lebo isn't totally naive. He said the Tigers had to beat LSU on Saturday to make the case. Beat LSU handily, and he said then the argument could be made.

"How do I tell the difference between Penn State and Auburn? I've watched Penn State three or four times. How do these people know?" Lebo said.

Lebo said the SEC is getting a bad rap. That's understandable. All SEC coaches are going to defend the league, especially this week. Lebo's defense lies with the injuries to Ole Miss, Trent Johnson getting adjusted to LSU earlier in the season, transitions going on at Tennessee with new players, and development at Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

"I don't agree that the league is down," Lebo said. "I fail to believe that the league is as bad as what everyone is saying. We're young."

Auburn's issues earlier in the season, according to Lebo, rest with the groin injury to Rasheem Barrett. He was out until late December and missed three games, including a loss to Mercer. Barrett is averaging 11.9 points in SEC games. He played limited minutes early in the season in losses to Northern Iowa and Dayton and averaged just 2.7 points in Auburn's first six games of the season when the Tigers were 3-3. Auburn lost to Mercer and then dropped three games in a row to Dayton, Northern Iowa on a neutral court and at Xavier. The best nonconference win is at Virginia. Auburn did beat SEC East champ Tennessee as well as the West's top team, LSU.

The Tigers' defense is improving, holding LSU to just 53 points. Auburn is a fun watch, too, with high-fliers on the court led by Korvotney Barber and a shooter in Tay Waller.

The one thing that irks Lebo is how Florida's NCAA chances are hinging on knocking off Auburn in a potential quarterfinal game.

"What's odd is that a month ago we were a bad loss and now we're a quality win? We've flipped from one to the other. It's odd," Lebo said.

Another issue for Auburn is its lack of exposure. The Tigers had one nationally televised game against Alabama last Tuesday, a game they won in Tuscaloosa.

"We haven't had national television and the perception is that if Auburn is good then the SEC must be down," Lebo said. "Kentucky not being as good also hurts the league. That's the perception."

Still, if Lebo can get the Tigers to the NCAAs, which could happen with a win over Florida in the quarterfinals and then possibly Tennessee in the semifinals, it would be an "unbelievable story, a dream come true for the seniors, a feel-good story for college basketball." It certainly wouldn't hurt for Lebo. Lebo is in his fifth season at Auburn and this is the first time the Tigers are within a sniff of getting an NCAA bid.

"We're a tough matchup the way we're playing," Lebo said. "We shoot the basketball well, beat you off the bounce and are defending well. It's all about matchups and if we get the right one we could certainly win a game or two in the tournament."

• Tulsa's case rests on one path toward an at-large: beat UAB in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament and lose in a close game to Memphis.

"We have to get to the championship game," Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said. "But we have to play UAB. We both need each other to win and play each other in the semifinals, which would give us both a good RPI game and winner of that game could play Memphis with a chance to get an at-large berth."

Not sure I'm buying the UAB case at 21-10, 11-5. But Tulsa might have more of a claim with a win over Texas A&M, a better record at 22-9 and a league mark at 12-4 and a buzzer-beating loss to Memphis at home when Antonio Anderson converted a layup.

Tulsa has won 14 of the past 18 games with two of those losses coming against Memphis. In the three losses to Tulane, Central Florida and Ohio, 7-foot center Jerome Jordan fouled out early in the game. Tulsa has a record of 5-6 against top-100 RPI teams with three of those losses coming against top-seven teams Oklahoma and Memphis.

The win over the Aggies is something the Golden Hurricane are showing around like a prized trophy.

But the perception that Memphis doesn't get competition in Conference USA irks Wojcik.

"People think Memphis ran away with it," Wojcik said of the 16-0 Tigers.

Memphis coach John Calipari agrees that the Tigers were fortunate to win at Tulsa and have been tested, despite not losing a game.

"Why should the winners of the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 get in with 12-4 records? We went to Charlotte and won by 15 yet Charlotte beat Dayton and Xavier at home," Wojcik said. "Why should I be penalized for a bad loss at Tulane and those teams not penalized for losing at Charlotte?"

Wojcik added to the chorus of coaches who don't understand why the MWC gets a break for its league champs finishing 12-4 (all three that tied for the title -- Utah, BYU and New Mexico -- still have to get the bids although many assume all are in the field).

BYU did go to Tulsa and win, though.

"They beat us and I give them credit," Wojcik said.

But Wojcik does understand that for Tulsa to have any shot, the Golden Hurricane have to play in the final against host Memphis as well as they did when the Tigers beat them on a last-second shot.

• Home court is proving to be decisive so far in conference tournaments. VCU won in Richmond. Siena won in Albany. East Tennessee State won in its own state, in Nashville, over Jacksonville. Radford won the Big South at home while Chattanooga won the Southern Conference at home. We'll see if that trend continues later this week with Binghamton hosting the America East final; Weber State hosting the Big Sky; Memphis hosting Conference USA; UNLV hosting the MWC; Nevada hosting the WAC; Robert Morris hosting the NEC; and American hosting the Patriot.

• Siena earned the automatic berth to the NIT by virtue of winning the MAAC. That is now moot because of its conference tournament title. Niagara deserves a postseason appearance and a second-place finish should be good enough for the NIT.

• The CAA tournament continues to be dominated by its southern brethren. A northern team -- Northeastern, Drexel, Hofstra or Towson -- still hasn't won the event since moving over from the America East.

• Enter Anthony Grant in the hot coaching candidate pool in April. Grant was viable for the SEC openings at Alabama and Georgia even if VCU didn't make the field. But earning an NCAA berth and a legitimate chance to win a game make him much more of a news conference hit.

• Saint Mary's will need to get the word out on its results in Friday's added game against Eastern Washington. The Gaels played well in the semifinal win over Portland but were overmatched Monday night in the WCC final loss to Gonzaga. Australian Olympic guard Patty Mills was 5-of-28, 2-of-16 on 3s in the two games in Las Vegas -- his first two games back in a month after suffering a broken right hand. Mills also had only five assists to six turnovers. Mills moved well up and down and laterally so his conditioning wasn't an issue. But clearly his shot is off after missing so much time with the injury. The Gaels, at 25-6, will be an interesting test case for the selection committee to see how they view a player who did come back from an injury but wasn't playing at the same level as when he went out (he scored 18 points in 17 first-half minutes against Gonzaga before getting hurt on Jan. 29).

• I saw five of perhaps the top 10 contenders for the national title over the weekend in Pittsburgh, Morgantown and Chapel Hill. Pitt is the best among Connecticut, North Carolina, Louisville and Duke and my new favorite to win the national title, even without seeing the bracket. Senior Sam Young is an extremely tough matchup on the wing with his ability to score facing the basket or with his back to the basket, and he runs the floor like a wide receiver. He can catch anything as long as Levance Fields gives him a wink that it's coming. Fields isn't the quickest, but he's a savvy point guard who is showing toughness by playing with pain. DeJuan Blair can play with any big man in America. Tyrell Biggs is a consummate unselfish role player. Jermaine Dixon can make shots. And the bench is deep enough with a scorer in Brad Wanamaker and a solid reserve in Ashton Gibbs who doesn't make many mistakes.

• I was at Bob Huggins' Midnight Madness at Kansas State. I've seen Huggs countless times in Cincinnati. But Huggs just seems to be in the right place at the right time in West Virginia. He fits Morgantown. He also seems to be beloved and there's no question with the recruiting going well that Huggs will keep the Mountaineers relevant and in the NCAAs for as long as he stays at his alma mater. Huggs has been fortunate to be at two schools that have the two most regal stars from the 1950s in the Big O (Oscar Robertson) from Cincinnati and the Logo (Jerry West) from West Virginia. Both schools have statues of their iconic figures outside their respective arenas.