NCAA Basketball

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.

The roll call of eye-popping scores began with the start of the college basketball season. And there's a chance they won't slow down soon, for an important reason: this time, the names on the front of the jerseys tell less of a story than the names on the back.

The opening week's finals look like someone's idea of a joke. The opening acts, in exhibition season, should have warned everybody: LeMoyne 82, Syracuse 79, and Georgia Tech 84, Indiana (Pa.) 76 in overtime. Then, when the games counted: Texas-San Antonio 62, Iowa 50. Cornell 71, Alabama 67. Wofford 60, Georgia 57. Rider 88, Mississippi State 74. Cal State-Fullerton 68, UCLA 65 in two overtimes.

None of that includes Kentucky 72, Miami of Ohio 70, in Game Two of the John Calipari Era in Lexington; if not for freshman John Wall's heroics in, literally, the final second, that era would have been a carbon-copy of the start of the now-infamous Billy Gillispie Era (loss at home to Gardner-Webb in his second game).

When Roy Williams was asked exactly where he felt his North Carolina team stood at this point in the season, he responded with the sort of enthusiasm usually reserved for a weekend with your mother-in-law.

And, being Roy Williams, it was in the form of an anecdote.

"I had a friend of mine tell me, Roy, you have more patience than anyone I've ever seen,'" the Tar Heel coach said. "So I looked at him and said, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'You haven't used any of it yet, so you've got it all stored up."

Now might be the appropriate time to start using a little.

In the Tar Heels first real test of the season against Ohio State, North Carolina opened with a Broadway worthy debut, pushing around Big Ten title hopeful Buckeyes on the way to a 77-73 victory-slash-statement.

At least for the first 39 minutes.

The remaining 60 seconds served precisely as a reminder as to why Job never picked up a clipboard.

Tina Charles' stat line in the box score looks just fine by almost any measure: 15 points, 11 rebounds in 18 minutes.

Unless the person doing the measuring is UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma, who sees the personal fouls that kept her out of the game for much of the first half.

Auriemma has a knack for viewing the glass half-empty when it comes to Charles. Fine has never been good enough to stop the yelling and the cajoling. It is really an existential thing between the demanding coach and his senior center who hasn't always risen to meet his demands.

"It's easy to be frustrated with Tina. If I didn't get frustrated with Tina it wouldn't be any fun coaching this team," Auriemma said Tuesday after the top-ranked Huskies' 83-58 win over Texas in San Antonio. "You watch Tina play for the first six or seven minutes and you will say 'Wow, there is nothing this kid can't do.' She could go for 30 every night.' "

TAMPA, Fla. -- The University of South Florida's men's basketball program has violated numerous NCAA rules over the past months, a former USF assistant coach, former USF players and other school sources told FanHouse.

Most of the NCAA violations involve USF video and conditioning assistant Terrelle Woody, who was hired Aug. 26, 2008, in a non-coaching position by USF coach Stan Heath (right) as part of a package deal to guarantee the signing of highly touted Maryland transfer Gus Gilchrist.

The violations include Woody providing transportation to student-athletes, watching "open gyms," coaching players and illegally working out USF players.

SAN ANTONIO -- I should have known better.

Never leave a Geno Auriemma press conference. At least, not without leaving behind the tape recorder.

LORETTO, Pa. -- Delaware women's basketball coach Tina Martin let the phrase "triple-double'' creep into her comments following her team's season opener Tuesday night, and once it was out, she couldn't reel it back in. But anybody who had watched the highly anticipated, unusually delayed college debut of Elena Delle Donne wouldn't have needed prodding to envision such feats in the future.

"If Coach says it, then yes, I can, definitely. Whatever I can do to contribute to the team the best I can to my ability, I'll try it,'' said Delle Donne, the redshirt freshman who, on her way back to her favorite sport, had once been the best high school player in the country, then one of its best-known victims of intense homesickness.

"We'll see what the future holds,'' she added.

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- In the rematch, Kansas missed the free throws and Memphis had the final shot.
The Jayhawks won again, but not without a tougher-than-expected fight from the undermanned and supposedly overmatched Tigers.

Cole Aldrich had 18 points, 11 rebounds and blocked five shots, helping No. 1 Kansas overcome a sloppy night to hold off Memphis 57-55 in a rematch of the 2008 national championship game Tuesday.

No miracles from Mario, no confetti flying from the rafters, but still another exciting finish.

"I can tell you this for sure: I'm 32 but I'm getting out at 35," Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. "I don't know how these coaches coach until they're 70. It's unbelievable."

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