NCAA Basketball

With the exception of New York Knicks fans, there will not be much booing tonight when Isiah Thomas steps on the court at the Dean Dome. UNC fans will not be cheering for Thomas or his FIU team, but who is going to boo a guy on the same day his mother has heart surgery after a heart attack on Saturday?

According to Jeff Goodman at FOXSports.com, Thomas' mother told him to go and coach the game. This will be Thomas' national debut as a college coach. Not much is expected from a very bad Golden Panthers team that has to play the defending national champs in Chapel Hill.

Tonight is the opening night for college basketball. Defending champion North Carolina tips off at 7PMtonight on ESPN, followed by Syracuse. Plus teams like California and Ohio State start their season as part of one of the "Coaches vs. Cancer" Tournaments. All with little hype despite being on one of the ESPN family of networks.

So, the quiet start kicks off what has become the annual lament among college basketball writers. There are no festivities. There is no "celebration." There is no coordination. There is only a quiet and disjointed start to college basketball.

The reasons are familiar. Both external and internal. Pro and college football are dominating most of the market. The NBA and NHL have been underway for a few weeks, as well. Plus the NCAA and basketball programs do themselves no favors with teams no organized start to the season. Teams kicking off their season with no rhyme or reason (other than planning around on-campus football games). College basketball just gets lost in the shuffle.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Even before the start of both events during the past two days to celebrate the seven inductees into this year's Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame, everybody hoped. Everybody prayed. In fact, everybody who bleeds Hoosier red meant no harm, but they wanted Bob Knight to do the wrong thing.

Instead, Knight did the right thing.

He stayed away. And, yes, I know these aren't the same folks who used that myth nine years ago to get rid of the greatest college basketball coach ever.

Kay Yow is still very much a presence in the North Carolina State women's basketball program.

Her name is on the athletic department's Wall of Fame, and on the basketball court at Reynolds Coliseum. Her photo still hangs in the women's basketball locker room.

"She was North Carolina State basketball, and you don't and you can't wipe that away with a new staff," said new N.C. State head coach Kellie Jolly Harper.

Take it from the pioneer who started this idea of cozy, contractual relationships between the shoe giants and the NCAA schools: adidas has screwed up this time.

Sonny Vaccaro speaks from experience.

"What a PR nightmare for adidas. This should have been a no-brainer,'' Vaccaro said. "It's nothing but a personal thing against Michael Jordan.''

At issue is the recent decision by adidas to severe its relationship with the University of Central Florida, which has a contract that requires all of its athletes and coaches to wear adidas products.

For most of this decade, the Pac-10 was UCLA and the rest. The Bruins have been the Pac-10's representation in the Final Four three of the four times the league has placed a team on the final weekend since 2000, failing to claim the championship each time, but pulling themselves ahead of the West Coast pack as the elite program.

That all changed last season, when Washington won the Pac-10 regular season and head coach Lorenzo Romar was named conference coach of the year. Now, his team returns as a favorite to win in the conference, and Romar knows it.

"Our team this year has the benefit of having some players that were on our team last year that won a Pac-10 Championship and that certainly helps us," Romar said. "I think we have the fastest team since 2005 when we had Nate Robinson," Romar said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Tuesday's weather in Florida's state capital was Sunshine State-perfect for early November. Aubry Boyd opened his eyes and welcomed the bright, 75-degree day with a wish he has repeated for the past 14 years.

"Every day I wake up hoping it's a better day than it was yesterday," Boyd told FanHouse. "I am not complaining because I am still here. I still want to be part of life."

Paralysis and a motorized wheelchair have not stolen Boyd's genuine love for vitality and people. He still talks hoops, politics, religion and women over cold suds and wings with the fellas. He still wants to make a difference.

Boyd's smile and personality -- continued sources of pleasure and inspiration -- were on display Tuesday night when the Florida State basketball program honored one of its own.

Cincinnati freshman Lance Stephenson has been cleared by the NCAA and is eligible to play immediately.

A 6-foot-5, 210-pound forward, Stephenson was named the 2009 Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year.

"I am happy to be able to put this behind me," Stephenson said in a statement. "Since I committed to the Bearcats back in the summer, all I have wanted to do was get here and start playing ball with my teammates. I want to thank everyone that has given me encouragement and support during this, especially my family, coaches and teammates. They have been with me every step."

The NCAA had been investigating Stephenson's amateur status. Stephenson will make his debut Thursday night when the Bearcats play an exhibition against Saginaw Valley State.

So you think Air Jordans are expensive? The pair Marcus Jordan put on Wednesday night cost $3 million.

That's what his school's exclusive deal with adidas was worth. Now adidas has canceled the contract, and UCF athletes may have to play in their Crocs.

If we didn't know better -- and we don't -- we'd say it's all a Nike conspiracy.

It wanted adidas to make a stink over Jordan's feet so it can swoosh in on a white horse. But until that plot is exposed, we'll take this rift face value.

That means only one person can truly save the day.

Come on, Marcus. Put on the adidas.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive might have been hoping that when college football season ends, he would not have to be issuing weekly warnings to his high profile coaches to watch their mouths. But it looks more like he will be chiding coaches some time into April.

The addition of John Calipari at Kentucky means the SEC coaching family gatherings promise to be more entertaining. Calipari has never been one to build warm relationships with other coaches in his conference (right, John Chaney?). His soured relationship with Rick Pitino should make his meetings with Florida's Billy Donovan more interesting.

The warm and special relationship that was built during his time at Memphis, with Tennessee's Bruce Pearl will undoubtedly produce the most entertainment. .