NCAA Basketball Acc Basketball

The deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft came and went Monday at 5PM. Plenty of underclassmen had already made decisions to not even test the waters (Willie Warren, Oklahoma) or previously decided to return (Patrick Patterson, Kentucky). Still, plenty of others never looked back by hiring an agent right away (Earl Clark, Louisville).

The focus is strictly on the players that took it up until this weekend or even right under the wire Monday afternoon. Before getting to the programs that "won" and "lost" with the decisions to stay or go there are two teams that have counter-intuitive situations.

In an effort to talk about something college basketball-related other than scandals in the summer, let's talk best current coaches. We'll attempt to order the top 25 current coaches in the nation. This is about the present and the future, not the distant past. What a guy did in the mid-90s doesn't matter near as much as the direction his program is currently headed. Past pedigree also matters, to an extent. For the perfect mix of past accomplishments with present achievement and a paved road for future success, look no further than the man atop the list.

Thank goodness for Georgia Tech basketball coach Paul Hewitt, a historically gifted recruiter who has been allergic to scandal. He represents a segment of his profession that could squeeze inside a foul lane.

Duplicity and college basketball are now one. I mean, if you name a program that has acquired a bigger-than-life player in recent years (Memphis and Southern Cal come to mind), it's like this: The odds are greater than Dick Vitale screaming into a microphone that such a program is destined for the NCAA slammer.

Hewitt disagrees. For one, he is high profile as president of the Black Coaches and Administrators and as a veteran of the Atlantic Coast Conference. So if he decided to shove a few of his peers under the bus, others would roll the wheels back and forth across his tongue.

A great advantage for big-time college athletics is that they are tax-exempt. From the NCAA to the athletic departments at Texas and Ohio State, they can reap the revenue and not pay taxes because they are part of educational systems.

With the country in a recession, the national deficits rising and tax revenue declining, the U.S. Government has to find other revenue streams. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in a report, suggested looking into the commercial activities of collegiate athletic departments.

John Wall, the nation's top point guard recruit and possible No. 1 pick of the 2010 NBA draft, was charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering yesterday.

Contrary to what my colleague wrote, this will likely have minimal impact on the teams recruiting him.

I never was clear why Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington waited until now to make their decision to enter the NBA Draft. The choice was never really in doubt.

The junior guards both are likely to go in the first round of the NBA Draft. Both nearly went pro as sophomores last season so the chances that they would stick around after winning the NCAA championship seemed slim at best.

With John Calipari now coaching at Kentucky, top shooting guard Xavier Henry reopened his recruiting. C.J. was already on the Memphis squad following a failed professional baseball career, but that meant little. Ultimately Xavier Henry has opted to go to Kansas, and his older brother will be joining him.

The addition of Henry to a recruiting class that includes power forward Thomas Robinson and point guard Elijah Johnson -- both top-50 recruits -- means that a likely top-10 recruiting class will join a Kansas team that finished in the top-10 and will be returning everyone. Kansas now joins North Carolina and Michigan State as the presumed favorites for 2010.

The few weeks after the NCAA Basketball season concludes are traditionally chock full of player movement announcements -- new recruits, transfers, entry entrants into the NBA draft, etc. This year has been no exception, but there is a trend gaining more steam. Having a collegiate basketball player become a football player isn't a new thing. Antonio Gates is an All-Pro tight end who didn't play a snap of college football, for example.

Still, the movement from football to basketball seems to be increasing in recent weeks. It makes sense, considering the speed, quickness and agility needed in both. For post players in basketball, they've become accustomed to a physical game anyway, and have the necessary strength-athleticism combo for a position like tight end. Here are four currently considering the shift:

It isn't any surprise that since Brett Favre announced he'd be done with football (umm, the fourth time), the quarterback situation with the Packers would be tumultuous.

Nobody thought it would get to this. Even with Aaron Rodgers doing whatever he can in Green Bay to win people over, rumors are flying around that the Packers have worked out Duke basketball player Greg Paulus. Yes, that was "Duke basketball player" you just read.

On a night North Carolina coach Roy Williams tried to start seven seniors, it turned out to be another reminder that all the Tar Heels really need is one junior.

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