NCAA Basketball

College basketball coaches will be watching Brandon Knight's every move the next four months.

Knight, a senior at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest High, is widely considered the top point guard and top overall player in the Class of 2010 by recruiting services. Knight has visited Connecticut, Kentucky, Kansas and, most recently, Florida; he also has Syracuse and Miami on his list of favorites.

Since Knight's not expected to make a final decision concerning college until the spring signing period, the interest in Knight's play should only increase. The Panthers split two exhibition games and open their regular-season next Tuesday.

Were it not for a small bit of friendly advice, the most excitable voice in college basketball might right now be the most excitable voice among masters candidates.

College basketball fans -- not to mention professors with sensitive ear drums -- have Scott Perry to thank for that.

"You know, [I] was getting ready to quit and go into coaching at the University of Detroit and go back to school, get my masters and coach basketball," says Gus Johnson, now one of college basketball's most recognizable voices and a March Madness mainstay. "Thank God Scott Perry [then director of player personnel with the Detroit Pistons] talked me out of it."

Gus Johnson, the announcer your cup of coffee would tune into if it felt a little sluggish in the morning, sitting quietly in a classroom? Maybe the day Tony Stewart teaches driver's ed.

Nikki Caldwell gets to go home for the holiday, so from that perspective, this trip is already a success.

The UCLA coach, in her second season in Westwood, is bringing her team to Knoxville to take on her mentor, Pat Summitt, and the sixth-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols on Saturday.

It's a chance for Caldwell, the Oak Ridge, Tenn., native, to come back as a local girl made good, and to eat Aunt Janice's dressing.

"There are some good soul food places in L.A., but I'm looking forward to the home cooking," Caldwell said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- None of the five players Pittsburgh started in the NCAA tournament regional final last March -- the one the Panthers lost in heart-wrenching fashion to Scottie Reynolds' dramatic drive -- was around for Monday's CBE Classic semifinal against Wichita State.

Well, technically, one was. Guard Jermaine Dixon was on the bench in his warmups, but didn't set foot on the Sprint Center floor; he's still recovering, slightly behind schedule, from a broken foot from last summer. All he could do was watch the five players who had combined for one start last season try to stay unbeaten.

Pitt did, without him. And without sixth man Gilbert Brown, out for academic reasons until the end of the fall semester but one of the scant returning contributors from the 31-5 season that briefly saw Pitt ranked No. 1. It goes without saying that Pitt also did it without DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs, too. The total career starts for the rest of the roster as the season began was ... one. (Junior center Gary McGhee, early last season when Blair's knee swelled up.)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Apparently it's just going to be Texas' destiny this season to be the "other.'' The "other'' Big 12 team with Final Four aspirations, and the "other'' program with the blue-chip recruiting class.

However, it works in Texas' favor -- as well as the recruits' -- that their most highly-touted freshmen, guards Avery Bradley and J'Covan Brown, and swingman Jordan Hamilton, are also the "others'' on their own team. The fate of the team won't ride on them, the way Kentucky's will depend on John Wall and Co. No need so far for any of the Longhorn trio to save the day as Wall did in his very first collegiate game against Miami University.

(AP) -- Syracuse was so impressive in the 2K Sports Classic that it made one of the best entrances ever into The Associated Press' college basketball poll.

Two weeks ago, Pat Summitt surveyed the national scene and said this:

"A lot of people don't have Mississippi State on their radar screen and they should."

Never argue with Pat.

Mississippi State is climbing the rankings -- moving from No. 25 to No. 19 in this week's poll -- and the ladder of national recognition, particularly after Sunday's 84-55 win over No. 20 Maryland.

Granted, Maryland is remodeling after the graduation of Kristi Tolliver and Marisa Coleman and the transfer of Marah Strickland, and Brenda Frese's program will likely struggle with change most of the year, but the Bulldogs took it to the Terrapins on their home floor.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inducted eight new members Sunday night, and nearly half of the two-hour ceremony was devoted to two of them. Not that it wasn't deserved: from the moment the list of enshrinees for the Hall's fourth class was announced, it was universally known that it would be a Magic-Bird celebration.

Earvin "Magic'' Johnson and Larry Bird did not disappoint, as they served up memories of the moment they shared 30 years ago in the NCAA championship game, spoke of the legacies they carved out in basketball at every level -- and remained in their easily-recognizable characters almost as if they were scripted for the event.

Change doesn't always come quickly.

For example, when everyone says that Baylor freshman Brittney Griner will change women's basketball. Well, sure, she will.

But did we all expect it to happen in the first couple of weeks?

In the first three games of her college career, she has tried to dunk twice and missed both. Sunday at No. 17 Cal in Berkeley, Calif., Griner had an opportunity in the closing moments of a 69-49 victory. Baylor had the ball in transition and guard Melissa Jones passed the ball to Griner behind her back at the baseline. Griner went up with her right hand to dunk and the ball bounced off the rim. She pulled down the rebound and was fouled.

Bob Huggins has West Virginia flying high in the top 10, and a light pre-Thanksgiving schedule should keep the 1-0 Mountaineers from much Kentucky-style heartburn or any Carolina hiccups. But to keep those lofty expectations realistic heading into Big East play -- and before that the 76 Classic in Anaheim beginning Nov. 29, headlined by UCLA and No. 11 Butler -- Huggins certainly needs big things from standout sophomore forward Devin Ebanks.

For that to happen, Ebanks would have to actually be playing with the team. Which, as of right now, he's not, with no timeline for his return in place, nor even an explanation of why he is not with the team.