Monroe’s primary strength is catching the ball in the high post, pivoting and looking for an open teammate.  If the opposition plays him straight-up, Monroe utilizes his dribble and attacks the basket, where he is tough to stop.  When Monroe is doubled, he not only passes the ball, but he consistently gets it to the cutters when they have an uncontested layup, which is an undervalued commodity in college basketball.

Greg Monroe is the best passing big man in the country, no question, which makes him a mismatch against most teams. Especially when the NCAA Tournament comes around.  It’s awfully hard to defend a style of play that you’re not familiar with, which Georgetown’s 11-1 nonconference record proves.

Chris Wright, Austin Freeman and Jason Clark are good players, but Monroe is the lynchpin to a Hoya run in the NCAA Tournament.  The only question is whether or not Monroe will make a commitment to playing like an elite player.  He needs to demand the ball, and lead his team down the stretch.

America loves the NCAA Tournament, and everyone will be watching.  Monroe was the No.1 ranked H.S. player in the country last year, so he has the opportunity to leave the legacy many anticipated for him when he signed with the Hoyas.  Georgetown doesn’t necessarily have to win a championship for that to happen, but he needs to have a dominating couple of games and the Hoyas need to be playing in the Elite Eight if Monroe is going to be remebered as leaving a noticeable impact on the national level.

Of course, this might not be Monroe’s last season on the college level.  Draftexpress.com has Monroe going No. 13 in its mock draft.  Personally, I hope he comes back, as he is one of my favorite players to watch.  However, if he doesn’t, he is running out of games to leave his legacy.

Monday

(1) Kansas @ Texas A&M. ESPN 9 p.m (ET)

Connecticut @ (3) Villanova. ESPN 7 p.m.

Virginia @ Maryland.  ESPN 360 8 p.m.

Tuesday

(2) Kentucky @ Mississippi State. ESPN 9 p.m.

(11) Michigan State @ Indiana. ESPN 7 p.m.

Texas Tech @ (22) Baylor. ESPN Full Court 8 p.m.

(23) Wake Forest @ Virginia Tech. ESPN2 7 p.m.

Townson @ Old Dominion. 7 p.m.

William & Mary @ George Mason ESPN Full Court 7 p.m.

Creighton @ Northern Iowa. 8:05 p.m.

North Carolina @ Georgia Tech. 9 p.m.

Wednesday

(4) Purdue @ (9) Ohio State. 6:30 p.m.

(6) Duke @ Miami (FL.) ESPN 7 p.m.

Nebraska @ (7) Kansas State. ESPN Full Court 7 p.m.

(8) West Virginia @ Providence. ESPN Full Court 7 p.m.

Wyoming @ (12) New Mexico. 9 p.m.

(15) Texas @ Missouri. ESPN2 9 p.m.

(16) BYU @ Colorado State. 8 p.m.

Illinois-Chicago @ (18) Butler. 7 p.m.

Georgia @ (20) Tennessee. ESPN Full Court 8 p.m.

(21) Temple @ St. Bonaventure. 7 p.m.

Fordham @ (25) Richmond. 7 p.m.

Notre Dame @ Louisville. ESPN2 7 p.m.

St. Joseph’s @ Xavier. 7:30 p.m.

South Carolina @ Arkansas. ESPN Full Court 9 p.m.

Maryland @ N.C. State 9 p.m.

Louisiana Tech @ Utah State. ESPN2 11:05 p.m.

Thursday

(5) Syracuse @ (10) Georgetown. ESPN2 7 p.m.

(13) Gonzaga @ Loyola Marymount. 9:05 p.m.

(14) Wisconsin @ Minnesota. ESPN 9 p.m.

(17) Vanderbilt @ Mississippi. ESPNU 7 p.m.

(19) Pittsburgh @ Marquette. ESPN2 9 p.m.

Auburn @ Florida. ESPN 7 p.m.

UCLA @ Washington State. Fox Sports Net (National) 8:30 p.m.

California @ Oregon State. Fox Sports Net (National) 10:30 p.m.

USC @ Washington. 10:30 p.m.

Saint Mary’s @ San Diego. ESPN2 11 p.m.

Friday

Old Dominion @ Northern Iowa. ESPN2 7 p.m.

Yale @ Princeton. ESPNU 7 p.m.

Cornell @ Harvard. 7 p.m.

William & Mary @ Iona. ESPNU 9 p.m.

Saturday

Colorado @ (1) Kansas. ESPN Full Court 4 p.m.

(2) Kentucky @ (17) Vanderbilt. ESPN 6 p.m.

Illinois @ (4) Purdue. ESPN 4 p.m.

(7) Kansas State @ Oklahoma. ESPNU 6 p.m.

Seton Hall @ (8) West Virginia. ESPN 12 p.m.

Air Force @ (12) New Mexico. 3:30 p.m.

(13) Gonzaga @ Pepperdine. 9 p.m.

(15) Texas @ Texas Tech. ESPN 2 p.m.

(16) BYU @ Wyoming. 6 p.m.

Siena @ (18) Butler. ESPN2 11 a.m.

(20) Tennessee @ South Carolina. ESPN Full Court 1:30 p.m.

(21) Temple @ St. Joseph’s. 12 p.m.

(22) Baylor @ Oklahoma State. ESPN Full Court 1:30 p.m

(24) Texas A&M @ Iowa State. ESPN Full Court 4 p.m.

George Washington @ (25) Richmond. 7 p.m.

North Carolina @ Boston College. CBS 12 p.m.

Florida @ Mississippi. CBS 12 p.m.

Louisiana Tech @ Northeastern. ESPN2 1 p.m.

Wake Forest @ N.C. State. ESPN Full Court 2 p.m.

Georgia Tech @ Maryland. ESPN Full Court 2 p.m.

Louisville @ DePaul. ESPNU 2 p.m.

Xavier @ Charlotte. 2 p.m.

Navy @ Army. 2 p.m.

Nevada @ Missouri State. ESPN2 3 p.m.

Alabama @ Georgia. ESPN Full Court 4 p.m.

Mississippi State @ LSU. ESPN Full Court 4 p.m.

Akron @ Virginia Commonwealth. ESPNU 4 p.m.

Connecticut @ Rutgers. ESPN Full Court 4 p.m.

UTEP @ Tulsa. 4 p.m.

Fordham @ Rhode Island. 4 p.m.

Virginia @ Clemson. 4 p.m.

Missouri @ Nebraska. ESPN Full Court 6 p.m.

Penn State @ Michigan. 6 p.m.

California @ Oregon. 6 p.m.

Arkansas @ Auburn. ESPN 360 7 p.m.

Cornell @ Dartmouth. 7 p.m.

Charleston @ George Mason. ESPN2 8 p.m.

Western Carolina @ Kent State. ESPNU 8 p.m.

UCLA @ Washington. ESPN 9 p.m.

New Mexico State @ Pacific. ESPNU 10 p.m.

Wichita State @ Utah State. ESPN2 12 a.m.

Sunday

(3) Villanova @ (19) Pittsburgh. CBS. 12 p.m.

Virginia Tech @ (6) Duke. Fox Sports Net (National) 7:45 p.m.

(9) Ohio State @ (11) Michigan State. 12 p.m.

Northwestern @ (14) Wisconsin. 2 p.m.

Dayton @ Duquesne ESPN2 1 p.m.

Marquette @ Cincinnati. ESPN Full Court 2 p.m.

St. Bonaventure @ La Salle. CBS College Sports 4 p.m.

Nice and long, for your viewing pleasure.  Predict or discuss completed games in the comments section.  Without you, I don’t exist.

• Doug Gottlieb remembers the 2001 Oklahoma State plane crash that killed 10. Gottlieb played for the Cowboys and graduated the season before the crash.

I remember the first time I really cried about the plane wreck. It was Dec. 24 of the same year, Christmas Eve 2001. I was on a bus with my Israeli team. Our wives traveled with us as we headed to Haifa in the northern part of the country. As I sat looking out the window at the Mediterranean Sea, Angie was a little homesick, as it was her first Christmas away from Oklahoma. Tears came as she mentioned 9/11 and how many others would never come home. I simply remembered The Ten (ESPN).

• Coach K to the NBA?  Adrian Wojnarowski, an excellent NBA writer for Yahoo! Sports, offers his take on why the Nets want Krzyzewski and how they plan to land him.  He also offers damning information on the Pitino fiasco:

Pitino understood that new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire, wants to hire an immense figure to coach the franchise. Pitino mistakenly believed he could still be packaged as a transformative A-list hire in the New York market. Those days are over, and Pitino is seen as something of a desperate and diminished figure. Everyone knows he wants out of college and treats his denials for what they are: a mechanism to protect his recruiting, to deflect the embarrassment of appearing unwanted (Yahoo!).

• The New York Times on Binghamton’s downfall.  The Times’ utility college sports reporter Pete Thamel delivers the goods unearthed by a 99-page report investigation.  One of many gems in the article:

One player who transferred to Binghamton received credit for courses like Bowling I and Theories of Softball, according to the report. An assistant coach and a player discussed cash payments and having the assistant write part of a paper for him (NYT).

• Greg Doyle provides a unique take on the possibility of the NCAA Tournament expanding to 96 teams – he agrees with it? He asks us to think about it.  I did, read his column and still oppose the expansion.

Because none of you are thinking about it.  You can’t be. The hatred for this idea is almost universal, yet there appears to be no concrete reason for that hatred, unless you consider tradition a concrete concept. Which I do not. There have been other reasons given for the opposition to 96 teams, and I’ll get to them in a minute, but because those reasons are bogus and cannot be taken seriously, it all comes back to the same thing:

You don’t want the NCAA tournament to expand because you’re used to it the way it is (CBSSports.com).

The tournament will expand, and it will be driven by money.  Maybe the outcry isn’t about tradition, Mr. Doyle, but about how one of the most enjoyable sports will dilute the competitive balacne of it’s championship-determining tournament in order to become more profitable as an organization.

College basketball is appealing to me because we are witnessing players coming of age.  Greatness is not shared by the talent pool, but owned by a few of the sport’s elite.  Giving bids to mediocre teams = trying to force “Cinderella” to make an annual appearance.  Do you know why George Mason and Davidson were such good basketball stories?  Because it isn’t often when a mediocre team makes a run at a championship.  And it shouldn’t be.

Feel free to comment.  This blog is meant to act as a forum for college basketball fans to share opinions and debate.  If nothing else, tell me how shitty of a job I am doing, so at least I know there is a person behind the computer that my computer claims is reading this nonsense.

Kentucky’s freshman guard John Wall might receive most of the national recognition for the Wildcats, but the Rebels – sans freshman Reginald Buckner – will have to focus on shoring up their post defense, which was exploited by Arkansas Sunday night.

“[Buckner] is without question our most physical, our most athletic defensive presence at the basket,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said.

Buckner sprained his ankle in the No. 25 Rebels’ victory over Auburn on Thursday, and he will not be available tonight.

“He’s making progress, but it is still day-to-day,” Kennedy said.

The Razorbacks overwhelmed Ole Miss (16-5, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) in the paint on Sunday.  Senior center Mike Washington scored 22 points and freshman Marshawn Powell added 19 in Arkansas’ seven-point win.

The Rebels generally play a four-man rotation in the post with Buckner joining Murphy Holloway, DeAundre Cranston and Terrance Henry.  Buckner’s absence increases the necessity that the Rebel big men stay out of foul trouble.

“I can’t put a finger on anything to stay out of foul trouble because in practice we are physical, so we get a little more fouls in the game that we think aren’t fouls, but they really are fouls,” Holloway said.

Cranston fouled out Sunday night and Henry had four fouls in 17 minutes, forcing the Rebels to play a smaller lineup.

Cranston leads the Rebels with a foul committed every 5.38 minutes played.  Hollway and Henry have played 8.48 and 8.75 minutes per foul, respectively.

“When we went small, they did a good job of isolating, whether it be Zach [Graham] or Terrico [White] or [Eniel Polynice] on Powell or Washington, and they hurt us at the rim,” Kennedy said.

The Wildcats (20-1, 5-1) boast one of the most talented frontcourt duos in the country.  Junior Patrick Patterson and freshman DeMarcus Cousins have combined to average 31.4 points and 17.4 rebounds this season, intensifying the Rebels’ need to play solid defense underneath the basket.

“A big part is not having [Buckner], our shot-blocker,” Holloway said.  “They killed us on the inside, and we just got to try to do something because Reggie is not back.  We have to come up with some kind of defensive scheme for Kentucky.”

The Wildcats are coming off a roller-coaster week that saw them vault to the top of both major college basketball polls, lose their first game of the season at South Carolina and become the first SEC team to beat Vanderbilt.

The Rebels are also coming off an awkward week.  Inclement weather pushed the Rebel’s game against Arkansas to Sunday, which left the Rebels with only Monday off before playing Kentucky tonight.

“We have one of two choices,” Kennedy said.  “We can feel sorry for ourselves and go up to Kentucky and name the score, or we can try to learn some lessons and man up and make a commitment to changing and go up there with the right approach.

“We’ve got one day.  We’ll practice tomorrow, try to get as much Kentucky information in them as possible and then we’ll fly to Lexington, so obviously, it will impact how detailed we can get into scouting.”

- I did not expect Syracuse to be able to replace three starters and still be better than they were the year before.

- Andy Rautins has made improvements in his game. He still has a killer stroke, but he has also become more of a facilitator and a better defender.

- Wesley Johnson and Scoop Jardine can take this team deep in the tournament.  After seeing the way the Orange man-handled North Carolina, I am embarrassed to have left them out of my preseason poll.

- On the other hand, I am glad I included Cincinnati through the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

- Deonta Vaughn and Lance Stephenson make up a dynamic backcourt, and neither has played as well as I thought they would.  Stephenson will grow as a player and Vaughn will raise his shooting percentage and the Bearcats could play deep into March.

- Yancy Gates is having a great tournament, averaging 16.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.  He needs to be able to have performances like this consistently if Cincinnati plans on competing for the Big East title.

Also, some housekeeping before I present the Top 25.  I will post these sporadically, not regularly.  It will be whenever I have some free time, so there are no real rules to this.  Also, I included a note or two with each team. I will not do this on every poll but more likely every two or three.  Nothing groundbreaking, but I figured they might interest the one or two readers that will see this post.  Top 25 follows the jump.

1. Kansas (0) – Won a close game against Memphis, but they have the most talented team in the country.

2. Michigan State (+1) – Summers and Lucas make up dynamic backcourt. Avg. margin of victory – 21ppg.

3. Texas (-1) – Dropped one spot, but only because of Spartans’ brilliance.

4. Purdue (+3) – Hummel went for 20 and 7 in one-point victory over the Volunteers.

5. Villanova (+1) – Won Puerto Rico Tip-Off fairly easily.  Pena and King need to keep rebounding.

6. Syracuse (UR) – Very impressive in wins over Cal and UNC.  Wesley Johnson was a great addition.

7. West Virginia (-2) –  Weak non-con outside of Ole Miss makes it hard to move Mountaineers up.

8. Kentucky (0) - Conundrum. Blow out Rider, but squeak by Miami(OH) and Sam Houston State. 

9.  North Carolina (-5) – Deon Thompson and Ed Davis combined are both averaging 9 rpg.

10. Washington (+1) – Pondexter averaging 24 and 12. If he keeps this up, he will garner some hardware.

11.  Ohio State (+4) – Only loss is to UNC. Jumped five spots because 12-15 haven’t beat anybody.

12. Duke (0) – Nolan Smith averaging 22 points.  Can he keep up this pace when they play real schools?

13. Butler (0) – Gordan Hayward is leading the way with 15 and 8.  Play Minnesota on Thursday.

14. Conneticut (+2) – I’m still not sold on this squad, although I really like Robinson, Walker and Dyson.

15.  Georgetown (+4) – Greg Monroe’s return to college basketball is awesome.  He is fun to watch.

16. Cincinnati (+9) – Impressive early in the season.  Can Gates and the Bearcats keep it up?

17.  Michigan (0) – John Beilein’s team will be tough to knock off, especially in March.

18. Tennessee (-4) – Tyler Smith (12, 6) is off to a slow start.  The Vols will only get better.

19.  Notre Dame (+4) – Harangody (27,9) off to strong start.  Lil’ Hansbrough fitting in well.

20. Minnesota (+4) – Avg. margin of victory 34 ppg, but they face their first test with Butler on Thursday.

21. Louisville (UR) – Intriguing team with Samuels surrounded by four guards.  Sosa still worries me. 

22. Gonzaga (UR) – Young team, but I like the way they hung in with Michigan State.

23.  California (-12) – Lost two games to two good teams.  Hard to drop the Bears this far.

24. Georgia Tech (UR) – Loss to Dayton almost kept them out, but they can compete with anyone.

25.  Memphis (UR)  - C-USA win streak will probably end, but Tigers will still dominate conference.

Dropped Out:

Mississippi State (9), Oklahoma (18), Vanderbilt (20) Dayton (21), Maryland (22)

Notable Omissions:

Illinois – It would be nice to see somebody help Mike Davis rebound.  Until somebody steps up to help clean the glass, I am going to have a tough time putting them in my Top 25.

High-Risers:

Syracuse – Unranked to No. 6

Cincinnati - No. 25 to No. 16

Free-Fallers:

Mississippi State – No. 9 to Unranked

Oklahoma – No. 18 to Unranked

By Conference:

Big East – 8

Big Ten – 5

ACC – 3

Big XII – 2

SEC – 2

Pac-10 – 2

C-USA – 1

Horizon – 1 

West Coast – 1

The loss won’t hurt the Bulldogs as far as their tournament chances are concerned. Their RPI shouldn’t take a major hit, unless Rider sucks it up this season.  The only real issue that could come out of this loss is Kodi Augustus’ toxic attitude (from AP recap).

“This is Rider,” Mississippi State forward Kodi Augustus said. “[We're] preseason ranked No. 18 [in the AP] in the country. We’re not supposed to lose our first game, home opener. Wow. It’s crazy

“I talked to my dad.  He said we got outcoached. I don’t know. But I looked at it, I only played 15 minutes the whole game. Yeah, I’m [upset], but like I said, I can’t do nothing about it. I played all those minutes the exhibition games and then you come and play me 15 minutes? Wow!”

My thoughts after the jump.

Other than a blatant disregard for a talented opponent, there are some obvious issues present.  Augustus and Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury have a questionable history.  Augustus has threatened to transfer multiple times in his career, most recently after their loss in the NCAA Tournament to Washington.  Stansbury would not comment on Augustus’s criticism of the coach.

With Renardo Sidney still awaiting a ruling on his eligibility, the Bulldogs desperately need Augustus to contribute.  He is a very talented player, averaging 6.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in only 13.1 minutes last season.  He says he stayed in Starkville because he only wants to help the team, and if that is true, he should probably not call his coach out in the media.  Keep your mouth shut in public, handle it internally and reap the benefits.  That is what will help your team the most.  

The Bulldogs play again on Thursday, the 19th when they host Southeastern Louisiana.  This game should not even be close, but it will be interesting to see how many minutes the combustible forward is out on the court.

The first games between teams currently ranked will not commence until Thursday, November 19, but hoops action is good action as we all know that somebody will fall in the first week.  The 19th will provide fans with three barometer games including (4)North Carolina at (17)Ohio State, (25)Syracuse at (12) California and (22)Dayton vs. (20)Georgia Tech at a neutral site in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

I know the first batch of games have already been played, but I’m going to post my preseason Top 25.  Feel free to predict the Final Four in the comments section, and if somebody correctly slot the four teams, some kind of present will be produced.  Without further ado, here are my rankings, with notes accompanying the Top 10.

1. Kansas – Scoring wings Tyshawn Taylor and Xavier Henry will complement veteran core.

2. Texas – Damion James, Dexter Pittman and Jordan Hamilton provide an intimidating frontcourt.

3. Michigan State – Raymar Morgan is the key to another title in the rejuvenated Big Ten.

4. North Carolina – Deon Thompson + Ed Davis = Rebounds.  Many.

5. West Virginia – Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks put them ahead of guard-laden Villanova.

6. Villanova – Loss of Dante Cunningham may prevent them from repeat trip to Final Four.

7. Purdue – Incredible frontcourt.

8. Kentucky – Season depends on how fast they pick up on dribble-drive offense.

9. Mississippi State – What?  If Renardo Sidney is eligible, the sky is the limit.

10. Washington – Pondexter puts them ahead of Cal.  

11. California

12. Duke

13. Butler

14. Tennessee

15. Ohio State

16. Conneticut

17. Michigan

18. Oklahoma

19. Georgetown

20. Vanderbilt

21. Dayton

22. Maryland

23. Notre Dame

24. Minnesota

25. Cincinatti

Notable Omissions:

Georgia Tech – Don’t understand the love for them, yet.  Favors and Shumpert need to prove they can dominate on this level.

Final Four:

Kansas, Michigan State, Mississippi State and Cincinatti.  

Player of the Year:

Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)

Freshman of the Year:

Renardo Sidney (Mississippi State)

Well there it is.  I’m on the record.  Feel free to dissent in the comments section.  Thanks for stopping by.

Last weekend, two Lousville players – sophomore Terrence Jennings and senior Jerry Smith – were arrested after a confrontation with police.  Allegedly, the two players were at a party early Sunday morning (see: late Saturday night).  Police officers were working at the party, with shirts that had “Police” clearly printed on them.  

Jennings was allegedly found by police pushing and shoving people outside when they tried to restrain him.  He resisted arrest and it took two strikes with a Taser to subdue him (see: stud).  Smith tried to rectify the situation despite being told to back away, and resisted officers’ attempts to restrain him.

In a conversation with ESPN.com, Pitino called the charges “serious” but also said the players will not miss any game time.

The players are being charged with one misdemeanor count each of resisting arrest.  The misdemeanor holds maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

If anyone is potentially facing a year in jail for fighting police officers, they should at the very least miss a game or two.  Pitino is absolutely dropping the ball on this one.  Louisville opens their season on Nov. 17 against Arkansas in St. Louis, and it seems like Pitino does not want to lose two key players for the season opener.  It comes across as weak, whether the players seem contrite or not.  Not even a half for fighting the police?

Smith averaged 7.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 21.2 minutes last season, while Jennings posted numbers of 4.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 11.9 minutes.

1. Work with the NBA to give our student-athletes the same option as their classmates who play baseball enjoy. That sport’s players are allowed to either go straight to Major League Baseball from high school or, if they do commit to a college or university, are then required stay at least two years.

2. Eliminate the summer recruiting period all together and bring the game back to the high school level where educators can be more involved in the process which would help scale down summer basketball. I would still leave April and September long weekends open for AAU events (especially Labor Day) where AAU basketball could still have events to showcase and evaluate players against one another.

3. The elite players in the game today are eligible, through the NCAA to receive loans to pay for insurance policies. My suggestion is that those same players also be eligible to receive loans up to a certain amount for the school year. Those loans would be paid back upon graduation or when they receiving a pro contract and would be paid back by the athlete

4. I would allow time with our own players in the summer. If there’s no July recruiting, we should be able to conduct practices with our enrolled students, who are in summer session. We’d get an hour a day, four days a week to work with the players in groups of four.

My thoughts follow the jump.

The stipulation is hurting the coaches’ long-term recruiting plans by forcing players to play at least one year of college.  Players such as Greg Oden, Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo enrolled into Ohio State, Memphis and USC respectively knowing that they were only going to play one year before making the leap to the NBA.  Instead of having stability at those positions, the coaches are forced to recruit replacements immediately.  In fact, the argument can be made that teams are punished for targeting high-profile recruits.

Calipari is absolutely correct in his assessment that basketball should share the same approach as baseball. (See point #1).  Unlike football, a player that makes the jump from high school to the pros will not necessarily be more injury prone because of his lack of size.  They also will be able to contribute immediately, which is not at all the case in football.  Most elite high school football players cannot even make an immediate impact on the college level.  

This is not the case for basketball as evidenced by Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett.  Granted, these players are elite and should not be used as a measuring stick to determine how other 18-year-old kids would fare making the jump, but the NBA uses this rule to their advantage to avoid bad contracts such as Sebastian Telfair and Kwame Brown.  That is the underlying factor as to why the rule is even in place.

What harm would come from letting the player make the decision?  None.  NBA teams are not forced to take these gambles.  In fact, it would help college basketball if they were a little more judicious in drafting high school players.  This would cause more players to attend college, and instead of having  players go through the motions in the classroom for one season knowing they are due for a big-time payday, they would be forced to go to class in order to remain eligible if they had to stay for at least two years like baseball players.  The talent level in college basketball would be increased dramatically, which would give NBA teams a larger pool of proven players (at least on a higher level) to draft from.  It seems like a win-win to me.

The problem with that is many players need the money as soon as possible to help support their family, which brings me to his third point.  Understandably, it seems like Calipari is advocating that elite college basketball players be eligible to receive compensation for their play, but that is not the case.  If these top-tier players are already allowed to take out loans for insurance purposes, there is already money exchanging hands.  Not all elite players will pan out.  

From what I understand, however, Calipari is in favor of a universal system for loan distribution.  If the NCAA would designate certain players eligible for these loans, it should not matter what school they choose to attend.  Thus, it would take the competitive advantage away from paying players.  No matter what school in the nation the player chooses, he would be eligible to receive the same compensation in the form of a loan.  This topic is highly controversial and will eventually get its own post, but I side with Calipari.

Perhaps the most interesting nugget to come out of this interview is the second point.  Calipari has always been associated with the unscrupulous AAU circuit, yet he believes that it should be less prevalent.  Shoe companies such as Nike and Adidas have too much of an impact on high school players’ decisions on where to enroll.  When one of the perceived benefactors of the system is speaking out against it, it shows that something must be done.   Anything that can even remotely curtail the corrupt system should be taken as a positive.  By placing less emphasis on AAU tournaments, the NCAA would restrict the influence shoe companies have on a player’s college decision, which would at the very least have a beneficial impact on the sport.

Finally, his fourth point addresses more practice time for players already enrolled.  As I said earlier, I am game for anything that will improve the talent pool in college basketball.  If coaches have more time to individually instruct players during the summer, they should have every right to do so.  It’s not like the players are overwhelmed during summer session classes.  Again, I see this as only a positive.

From my perspective, the basketball world as a whole can only improve by having a strong college talent pool.  NBA teams would be able to make informed decisions and the NCAA would have a much better product on the court. 

Taylor dislocated his left thumb and early reports have him missing 3-4 weeks, which would bring him back before the Jayhawks hit the court for their season-opener on Nov. 3 against Fort Hays State.

Kansas head coach Bill Self told FOXSports.com Taylor will wear a splint for about 10 days and he will probably not take part in Kansas’ version of Midnight Madness on Oct. 16, the first official day of practice.

The KC Star reported findings from Taylor’s Facebook profile.

Taylor, who was treated at a hospital for his injury Tuesday night, posted on his Facebook page about 12:10 [Wednesday] morning that he threw a punch.

“I got a dislocated finger ..from throwing a punch ..so don’t let the news paper gas yall up aite,” Taylor wrote.

The fight was not a spontaneous occurrence, as evidenced by Taylor’s earlier Facebook posts. 

“keep my name out ya’ mouth for you get smacked in it,” he wrote at 11:12 a.m. Tuesday, and 30 minutes later he posted, “never get outta character .. I’m always a G about it.”

About 4 p.m., Taylor posted, “(racial slur)s be muggin me ..you know I’m mugging back.”

The fight was reportedly over a girl, which is unsurprising. Police are questioning football players Dezmon Briscoe and Chris Harris, Kansan.com reports.

The Jayhawks are the early favorite to cut down the nets in March.  Taylor averaged 9.7 points, three assists and 2.2 rebounds in 35 games last season.