Chicago swingman Jabari Parker, designated on SI's cover as the best high school player since LeBron James, will be the center of the recruiting universe this year. But what separates Jabari from other prep phenoms in similar situations is the presence of a father who has been there and done that. Robert "Sonny" Parker, a two-time All-SWC first-team selection with Texas A&M in the mid-1970s before becoming a first-round draft choice of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, doesn't want coaches emailing or tweeting his son.

If history means anything, employment opportunities, personal relationships and what goes on behind closed doors probably will prove decisive. We probably could maneuver through some of the confusion if it was known whether the Parker family supports Obama (Chicago background) or Romney (Mormon) for POTUS. The Parker periscope will eventually need answers to the following questions posed for all the world to see:

• Will Jabari seek to stay home for a year or two and become a local legend by helping revive DePaul's program via powering the Blue Demons to their first Sweet 16 since 1987 or propelling Northwestern to its first NCAA playoff appearance?

• Will his family's emphasis on their Mormon faith give BYU an edge? LDS founder Joseph Smith was killed in Illinois but a basketball Zion could emanate from there if Jabari "took his talents to Provo" (not South Beach) perhaps via announcing the decision in another contrived ESPN hour-long special. At the very least, Parker could help the Cougars cope with their frustration of an NCAA playoff-record 17 opening-round defeats. Taking them to their first Final Four might assuage his conscience if prodigy Parker can't realistically go on a two-year mission disrupting prime earning years in the NBA.

• How close is Sonny to Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, a two-year teammate with Golden State, or did he have a more favorable firsthand impression of Larry Brown's coaching while opposing the Denver Nuggets in Parker's first three of six NBA seasons from 1976-77 through 1981-82? Romar is a coach unafraid to exhibit his religious faith and has been a guest on "Focus on the Family." For an extended period, he played and coached basketball for Athletes in Action, a Christian sports ministry.

• Could Jabari become Brown's next Danny Manning, who tagged along with his truck driver/assistant coach father from North Carolina to Kansas? In the wildest dreams of SMU fans, they hope former Illinois recruiter Jerrance Howard has maintained an inside connection and that Jabari's father would seek a venerable NBA coach to groom his son for the NBA by playing in a state where the junior college recruit was SWC Most Valuable Player in 1974-75. That would certainly justify the Mustangs reportedly doubling the estimated $180,000 salary Howard was getting from his alma mater. How about the possibility of Parker joining forces with the vaunted in-state Harrison twins?

• To what lengths might Illinois modify its staff under new coach John Groce by adding a well-connected individual from Chicago to jump start a renaissance and get the Champaign flowing? The law of averages is with the Illini. Oddly, Groce's stepbrother Travis Steele was an AAU coach who was hired by Indiana's Kelvin Sampson as a video coordinator. Coincidentally, Eric Gordon, the high school standout who played for Steele's AAU team, reneged on a commitment to Illinois and signed with IU, which also had an assistant at the time by the name of Jeff Meyer (coach of Gordon's father at Liberty). The Illini's pursuit of H.S. teammate Kendrick Nunn could also pay dividends if they choose to continue to play together.

• Is Sonny impressed by coach John Calipari's "one 'n done" philosophy after luring one-year wonders from Chicago and reaching the NCAA Tournament championship game with Derrick Rose (Memphis) and Anthony Davis (Kentucky) to finish with regal 38-2 records? Calipari has a penchant for pushing the envelope. For instance, he hired Tyreke Evans' personal trainer as an "administrative assistant" at Memphis, causing the NCAA to prohibit schools from hiring "associates" of recruits for non-coaching positions.

At any rate, the best-laid plans don't always work out. In a related and sobering item showing life is fragile, Parker isn't the first "can't-miss" player from the same high school. Ben Wilson entered his senior season of high school (1984-85) generally regarded as the premier recruit in the nation because of Magic Johnson-like skills. Just a few days prior to the first game of his senior campaign, Wilson was slain by a gunshot within a block of Simeon High's campus after bumping into two gang members while walking down the street on his school lunch break.

Speculation and more questions about Parker will run rampant as the months unfold. The only thing we do know at this stage is that Jabari won't need to take the junior college route like his father, who attended Mineral Area (MO) before becoming an Aggie.

We also know the ensuing year offers another "once-in-a-lifetime" prospect in Toronto's Andrew Wiggins, the son of former Clemson/Florida State swingman Mitchell Wiggins who is contemplating reclassifying to 2013. Father Wiggins is another former juco player (Truett-McConnell, GA) who also competed six seasons in the NBA after becoming a first-round draft pick. In player rating parlance, some think Andrew Wiggins will be a "10" compared to Jabari Parker, a "9.9", in a close choice for best prospect duplicating the NBA career scoring averages of their dads - Mitchell (10 ppg) compared to Sonny (9.9 ppg).

Shortsighted doesn't begin to describe Kentucky/Indiana and Kansas/Missouri for letting their entertaining rivalries expire. They are simply joining top six conference members DePaul/Illinois, Purdue/Notre Dame, Maryland/Georgetown, Boston College/Connecticut, UCLA/UNLV and Cincinnati/Ohio State as potentially great natural non-league matchups that their fans and players can't enjoy.

If bruised egos heal quickly, perhaps sounder minds will prevail in the near term but don't count on it. IU isn't interested in neutral court-only matchups with UK. Meanwhile, a neutral court might be the only possible venue to keep KU/Mizzou alive; perhaps with the Tigers opposing the Jayhawks in Kansas City much like Mizzou does in St. Louis against Illinois. But Mizzou can't moan and groan if the Jayhawks continue to act like a jilted lover because the self-centered Tigers fail to oppose competent in-state foes such as Missouri State and Saint Louis.

UK's inane quibbling with IU leaves one with the impression that the Wildcats will eventually threaten to leave the SEC unless opposing members play their league home games against them on neutral courts rather than their on-campus arenas (perhaps Alabama and Auburn in Birmingham, Arkansas in Little Rock, Georgia in Atlanta, Mississippi State and Ole Miss in Jackson, Florida in Orlando, Tennessee and Vanderbilt in Memphis, new member Mizzou in St. Louis, etc.).

By almost any measure, KU has a superior program to Mizzou. But Jayhawks coach Bill Self should have reined in his rhetoric as the divorce dialogue intensified or at least take a crash course in college basketball history. When comparing the significance of the Kentucky/Louisville rivalry to the pending termination of KU's home-and-home conference conflicts with the Tigers, Self said: "Well, they've always played every year (out of league). That's all they know." Well, Self needs to "always know" that UK and Louisville went 61 years from 1923 through 1983 without a regular-season matchup before they came to their senses and saw the light.

Speaking of light, UK, IU, KU and Mizzou simply have to shed one lightweight apiece to keep a good thing going for the sport in general and for their fans specifically. By toning down picking on patsies, there is plenty of room on their respective non-league schedules to keep playing each other. For instance, UK feasted on Chattanooga, Loyola (Md.), Marist, Radford, Samford and UALR this season while IU shamelessly dined on Gardner-Webb, Howard University, Maryland-Baltimore County, North Carolina Central, Savannah State, Stetson and Stony Brook. KU had colossal contests with Towson, Florida Atlantic, Howard and North Dakota while Mizzou met mighty Mercer, Niagara, Binghamton, Northwestern State, Navy, Kennesaw State and William & Mary.

UK/IU might have been the nation's premier regular-season game last year. If the century-old KU/Mizzou spectacle remains intact, it could immediately surpass Kentucky/Louisville and go atop the following list of the nation's best 25 nonconference rivalries if only because of longevity:

1. Kentucky/Louisville
2. Illinois/Missouri
3. Cincinnati/Xavier
4. Indiana/Kentucky
5. Indiana/Notre Dame
6. Brigham Young/Utah
7. Iowa/Iowa State
8. Memphis/Tennessee
9. St. Joseph's/Villanova
10. Georgia/Georgia Tech
11. Florida/Florida State
12. Clemson/South Carolina
13. Marquette/Wisconsin
14. New Mexico/New Mexico State
15. Utah/Utah State
16. Temple/Villanova
17. La Salle/Villanova
18. Florida/Miami (FL)
19. Iowa/Northern Iowa
20. Colorado/Colorado State
21. Drake/Iowa
22. Penn/Villanova
23. Providence/Rhode Island
24. Creighton/Nebraska
25. Idaho/Idaho State

An average of five coaches annually since 1994 directed a team to the NCAA Tournament before using it as a springboard to bigger and better things by accepting a similar position with another Division I school. Sean Woods became the sixth coach in this category this year when he left Mississippi Valley State for Morehead State.

Woods also became the sixth coach in history to be hired directly from a historically black college or university by a predominantly white school. The SWAC and MEAC moved up to the major-college level in 1979-80 and 1980-81, respectively.

John Cooper recently became the fifth coach in this HBCU category when Miami (Ohio) lured him away from Tennessee State after he guided the Tigers to their first 20-win season in 33 years. Woods and Cooper joined Jeff Capel Jr. (North Carolina A&T to Old Dominion after 1993-94 campaign), Rob Chavez (Maryland-Eastern Shore to Portland after 1993-94), Steve Merfeld (Hampton to Evansville after 2001-02) and James Green (Mississippi Valley State to Jacksonville State after 2007-08).

No power six conference member ever has gone to a HBCU to hire its head basketball coach. None of the limited progress would have occurred if not for pioneer John McLendon, who was the first African-American mentor hired by a predominantly white university when he coached Cleveland State for three seasons in the late 1960s just prior to the institution moving up to DI. After winning three consecutive NAIA titles with Tennessee State in the late 1950s, McLendon had been the first African-American head coach in professional sports when he was hired in the early 1960s by the George Steinbrenner-owned Cleveland Pipers of the short- lived American Basketball League.

"Has anybody here seen my old friend _ _ _ _ _? Can you tell me where he's gone? I just looked around and he's gone."

Words from that Dion melody ring true amid off-season aimless contemplation of previous seasons; especially Final Four players and teams. But then the tune came to mind with a serious tone as police probed the mysterious disappearance of Gavin Smith, a backup guard for coach John Wooden's final UCLA champion in 1975. Smith, a 57-year-old movie executive for Fox, was driving a black 2000 four-door Mercedes E Class when he vanished at night in early May.

Smith, whose son (Evan) plays for Southern California, didn't participate at either the 1974 or 1975 Final Fours before scoring 14 points at the 1976 Final Four and subsequently transferring from the Bruins' bench to becoming one of the NCAA's top scorers. Most news outlets focus on Smith's connection to UCLA but he actually made a hoop name for himself playing with Hawaii, where he finished 16th in the nation in scoring in 1976-77 by setting a Rainbows' single-season record (23.4 points per game).

Detectives unearthed few solid leads although the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said it was an adult missing person's case, not a criminal homicide investigation. Smith's family declined to elaborate on why Gavin was staying with a friend rather than at the family residence.

It's criminal to jump to any conclusion, but this odd set of circumstances resembles one stemming from the NCAA's first championship team - Oregon in 1939. All-American center Slim Wintermute disappeared in Lake Washington in 1977, a case that has never been solved. Incredibly, starting guards Bobby Anet and Wally Johansen for that Ducks' squad also died in their 40s.

Whatever the outcome, there is no denying that a striking number of prominent Final Four players died prematurely. Any tribute isn't enough when a man is buried before his time. The following Final Four players passed away early, but the deceased left lasting memories:

• Center Bill Menke, the third-leading scorer for Indiana's 1940 NCAA champion who supplied a team-high 10 points in the Hoosiers' national semifinal victory over Duquesne, later became a Navy pilot and served in World War II. In January 1945, he was declared missing in action (and presumed dead) when he didn't return from a flight in the Caribbean.

• Thomas P. Hunter, a three-year letterman who was a sophomore member of Kansas' 1940 runner-up, was killed in action against the Japanese on Guam, July 21, 1944, while fighting with the Ninth Marines as a first lieutenant. Hunter was elected posthumously as captain of the Jayhawks' 1945-46 squad that compiled a 19-2 record.

• All 11 regulars on Pitt's 1941 Final Four team participated in World War II and one of them, guard Bob Artman, was killed in action.

• Three of the top seven scorers for Kentucky's first NCAA Tournament and Final Four team in 1942 died during World War II - Mel Brewer (Army second lieutenant/25 years old in France), Ken England (Army captain of ski troop/23 in Italy) and Jim King (Army second lieutenant and co-pilot/24 in Germany).

• Curtis Popham, Texas' co-captain in 1943, was one of seven Longhorns lettermen since the mid-1930s to make the supreme sacrifice during WWII.

• All-American Audie Brindley of 1944 runner-up Dartmouth died of cancer in 1957 at the age of 33.

• Jim Krebs, the leading scorer and rebounder for Southern Methodist's 1956 Final Four squad, was killed in 1965 at the age of 30 in a freak accident. While helping a neighbor clear storm damage, a tree limb fell the wrong way and crushed his skull.

• Gary Bradds, a backup to national player of the year Jerry Lucas for Ohio State's 1962 NCAA runner-up before earning the same award himself two years later, died of cancer in July 1983 when he was 40. Bradds was principal of an elementary school in Bowersville, Ohio, at the time of his death.

• Bill Buntin, the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer (behind Cazzie Russell) for Michigan's Final Four teams in 1964 and 1965, collapsed and died during an informal workout one day after his 26th birthday in May 1968.

• Ken Spain and Theodis Lee, starting frontcourters with All-America Elvin Hayes for Houston's team that entered the 1968 Final Four with an undefeated record, died of cancer. Spain, who overcame cancer after he was first diagnosed with it in 1977, died of the disease 13 years later in October 1990 when he was 44. Lee, who played for the Harlem Globetrotters, was 33 when he passed away in March 1979, one week after the illness was diagnosed.

• Danny Knight, the leading scorer and rebounder for Kansas' 1974 Final Four team, was 24 when he died in June 1977, three weeks after sustaining injuries in a fall down the steps at his home. Knight had been suffering headaches for some time and doctors attributed his death to an aneurysm in the brain.

• Jerome Whitehead, the second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for Marquette's 1977 NCAA titlist, died in mid-December 2012 at the age of 56 because of chronic alcohol abuse.

• Guard Chad Kinch, the third-leading scorer for UNC Charlotte's 1977 Final Four team as a freshman, died at his parents' home in Cartaret, N.J., from complications caused by AIDS. He passed away on April 3, 1994, the day between the Final Four semifinals and final in Charlotte. The host school happened to be UNC Charlotte. It was the second time Kinch's parents lost a son. Sixteen years earlier, Ray Kinch, a Rutgers football player, was killed in a house fire.

• Forward Glen Gondrezick, the leading rebounder and third-leading scorer for UNLV's 1977 third-place club, died in late April 2009 at the age of 53 due to complications stemming from a heart transplant he received the previous September.

• Center Lewis Brown, the third-leading rebounder and sixth-leading scorer for UNLV's 1977 national third-place team, spent more than 10 years homeless on the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., before passing away in mid-September 2011 at the age of 56. According to the New York Times, family members said he used cocaine with the Rebels. "drugs were his downfall," said his sister.

• Murray State transfer Larry Moffett, the second-leading rebounder for UNLV's 1977 national third-place team, passed away in early May 2011 in Shreveport, La., at the age of 56.

• Point guard John Harrell, a point guard for Duke's 1978 runner-up after transferring from North Carolina Central, died of an aortal aneurysm at age 50 in the summer of 2008.

• Orlando Woolridge, a backup freshman in 1978 when Notre Dame made its lone Final Four appearance before he became a scoring specialist in 13 NBA seasons, died at the end of May 2012 at the age of 52 because of a chronic heart condition.

• Derek Smith, the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer as a sophomore forward for Louisville's 1980 NCAA champion, died of a heart ailment at age 34 on August 9, 1996, while on a cruise with his family. He was the leading scorer and second-leading rebounder for the Cardinals' 1982 Final Four team before averaging 12.8 ppg and 3.2 rpg in the NBA with five different franchises. His son, Nolan, became a starting guard for Duke's 2010 NCAA titlist.

• Lorenzo Charles, the second-leading rebounder for N.C. State's 1983 champion, provided one of the tourney's most memorable moments with a game-winning dunk against heavily-favored Houston in the final. Working for a limousine and bus company based in Apex, N.C., he was killed in June 2011 when the charter bus the 47-year-old was driving with no passengers aboard crashed along Interstate 40 in Raleigh.

• Melvin Turpin, the leading scorer and second-leading rebounder as a senior for Kentucky's 1984 Final Four team (29-5 record), was 49 and battling diabetes in July 2010 when he committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest.

• Baskerville Holmes, a starting forward who averaged 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for Memphis State's 1985 Final Four team, and his girlfriend were found shot to death on March 18, 1997 in an apparent murder-suicide in Memphis. He was 32.

• Swingman Don Redden, who averaged 13 points and 4.8 rebounds per game for Louisiana State's 1986 Final Four squad, was 24 when he died in March 1988 of heart disease.

• Armen Gilliam, the leading scorer and rebounder for UNLV's 1987 Final Four team, died on July 5, 2011, while playing basketball in a Pittsburgh area gym. He was 47.

• Larry Marks, a backup forward for Arkansas' 1990 Final Four squad after being a starter the previous season, died of an apparent heart attack in mid-June 2000 after playing some recreational basketball. He was 33.

• Sean Tunstall, a reserve guard for Kansas' 1991 NCAA Tournament runner-up was shot and killed in the parking lot of a recreation center in his native St. Louis on October 16, 1997. Tunstall, recruited to KU when Larry Brown was the Jayhawks' coach, had received a prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of selling cocaine in 1993.

Mid-major colleges aren't exempt from problems but occasionally a fondness for mid-level schools escalates to fascination because you're simply fed up with the seemingly endless quibbling and pettiness engulfing major universities. Isn't it about time for the NCAA to implement meaningful academic requirements and drug-testing policies?

There is no cure-all, but the best way to drain the swamp is to place more emphasis on authentic student-athletes and steer clear of many of the AAU wonders with their posses. Wouldn't you like to know the average ACT and/or SAT score for the exhaustive list of troublemakers cited by CollegeHoopedia.com as the "Bad Boys of Basketball"?

Regrettably, this is an era of phony majors and the soft bigotry of low expectations. In a pimp-with-a-limp era, premium players only take the classes the athletic department wants them to take for GPA purposes.

And when a legitimate class is taken, even the Ivy League isn't exempt from the sense of entitlement. Kyle Casey, the leading scorer for Harvard's first NCAA playoff team in 62 years and first-ever Ivy League titlist, plus fellow co-captain Brandyn Curry, an all-conference second-team selection, were expected to miss this season amid an academic cheating scandal involving nearly half of the 279 students enrolled in a government course.

As far as we know, it's not the fault of a low-budget film one of Harvard's most famous alums is fond of focusing on. Even leaving the stench of AAU abnormalities out of the equation, it's almost as if no one showers when you take in totality the following distasteful episodes among so-called elite institutions:

• Venue-obsessed Kentucky, perhaps dismayed that none of its vital players would be around long enough to perform in both on-campus facilities, took its ball and went home and won't continue a stimulating series with Indiana because the Hoosiers have the unmitigated gall to seek to continue playing the game in their own arena every other year. IU won't be on the docket, but UK raised ticket prices and required donations for some priority seating despite an unattractive powderpuff nonconference slate featuring Eastern Michigan, Lafayette, Lipscomb, Long Island, Morehead State, Portland and Samford. The Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, boasting faculty members from 59 schools, condemned UK's refusal to compete on IU's campus, requesting potential opponents refuse to play the Wildcats at neutral sites. But Baylor didn't get the memo from the watchdog group. Meanwhile, former UK guards Richie Farmer and Michael Porter were immersed in salacious controversies.

• Kansas' freshman class was littered with marginal academic credentials but the Jayhawks' program was bright enough to get immersed in a spitting contest with natural rival Missouri, ending its longstanding series with the Tigers. In mid-summer, a federal prosecutor accused a member of an alleged massive drug ring based in Olathe, Kan., of recently selling marijuana to members of KU's team. It's difficult to digest, but the pot dealer's iPhone was seized with text messages to his clients and he reportedly was seen at Kansas City's Sprint Center sitting behind the Jayhawks' bench with a number of their Self-centered players. The nonsense almost makes KU long for its recent ticket scandal.

• Missouri's new mentor Frank Haith became national coach of the year in the aftermath of a suspect association with a Ponzi scheme booster at his previous outpost - Miami (FL). Haith then inherited a local stereo shop owner hanger-on indicted among more than a dozen people from central Missouri facing federal drug conspiracy charges for cocaine distribution. The booster, who received complimentary tickets from Mizzou players and regularly traveled with the squad to NCAA playoff games (including under Haith predecessor Mike Anderson), was arrested at the Tigers' team hotel in Omaha hours before they were upset by Norfolk State. Parcing "is is" words like Bill Clinton, Mizzou officials took pains to point out the too-close-for-comfort supporter "is not a donor or season ticket holder" and wouldn't describe his contact with players as "close." It was also a "close call" for Mizzou to keep quiet a late-summer sexual assault charge against Big 12 Conference Sixth Man of the Year Michael Dixon before hiding behind a "violation of team rules" suspension prior to him announcing a transfer.

• No one was murdered this time around, but Baylor was killing its recruits with kindness displaying an addiction to social media. And what a surprise when an AAU-affiliated coach who worked for the Bears' coaching staff wound up becoming the agent for one of their players declaring early for the NBA draft. Meanwhile, a former player was arrested and subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to extort $1 million from QB/Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III (RG3). Baylor and Kentucky ranked 1-2 in balloting conducted by CBS Sports, combining for 70% of the vote by DI coaches, as the perceived biggest cheaters in the sport.

• Texas Tech was engulfed in a player mutiny stemming from coach Billy Gillispie's alleged mistreatment of them including violations of NCAA practice-length guidelines. Based on the Red Raiders' paltry 8-23 record in Gillispie's initial season with them last year, they needed to practice 24/7. But by the time we absorb more facts as Gillispie departed for medical reasons, we'll all probably need to take some sick days or tour of the Mayo Clinic. Tech A.D. Kirby Hocutt served in a similar capacity at Miami (FL) when a felon (booster Nevin Shapiro) seemed to run the athletic department while immersed in all sorts of shenanigans.

• UConn's conniving while attempting to circumvent the APR (Academic Progress Rate) stunk like a skunk. The Huskies' conference looked like the Big Least with its petty machinations involving ACC defectors Pittsburgh and Syracuse in connection with scheduling for the Big East-SEC Challenge.

• Cincinnati couldn't even wait for a one-year anniversary to celebrate its nasty fisticuffs with Xavier. Wouldn't you know that an end-of-the-bench player, not a regular, was axed from UC's roster stemming from an investigation regarding a downtown nightclub melee with a bouncer when UC players reportedly wouldn't leave a (Cat)woman's VIP section? Bearcats coach Mick Cronin was reprimanded by the NCAA during the summer because of his poor language after a playoff loss against Ohio State. The distractions apparently prevented Cronin from assembling a respectable non-league schedule, fostering salty remarks from season-ticketholders who will be forced to watch Campbell, UMES, MVSU, North Carolina A&T, UTM and UALR.

• Many forgiving fans and pundits looking the other way resembling JoePa were annoyed about Louisville's coach not becoming a HOF nominee while seemingly forgetting it wasn't all that long ago he couldn't control his dessert craving at a local diner. Restaurant & Food Service Inspection personnel in Louisville should be placed on alert if the Cardinals put the municipality in a sensuous mood by living up to their preseason billing as the nation's premier program.

• Marquette dismissed an assistant coach and head coach Buzz Williams was slated to serve a one-game suspension as part of the school's self-imposed sanctions stemming from recruiting rules violations it reported to the NCAA. There was no word whether Williams will be forced to take dance lessons for his late-season victory waltz to John Denver's "Country Roads" at West Virginia. Six Golden Eagle players had been ticketed in mid-season for being underage in a downtown Milwaukee nightclub. The previous year, the U.S. Department of Education reviewed how Marquette handled two cases of alleged sexual assault involving athletes amid reports a district attorney couldn't have law enforcement adequately probe the cases because the school's public safety department didn't tell authorities about the allegations.

• Maryland looked somewhat undignified seeking a waiver from the NCAA for transfer Dez Wells to be immediately eligible after he was expelled from Xavier. Did UM already have or start a "Truth or Dare" major in order to attract Wells?

• Is it too much to ask athletes to get out of bed and attend the same courses as the remainder of the student body rather than bogus no-show classes? North Carolina's preferred path to a higher education included a peculiar emphasis on African & Afro-American Studies and intermediate Swahili to satisfy foreign language requirement. According to academic support, the "guys are in this class for a reason." The preseason #1-ranked Tar Heels must have been studying too hard for that rigorous coursework when they were humiliated at Florida State by 33 points. Carolina has had a penchant for clustering players in a mischievous major - seven scholars from UNC's 2005 NCAA titlist graduated with degrees in African & Afro-American Studies (whatever that demanding curriculum might be). The good news thus far is that "The Carolina Way" apparently doesn't include having players exposed to the school's lurid physics professor. More naughty news surfaced when the mother of four-time All-American Tyler Hansbrough was placed on leave and subsequently resigned from her $95,000/year UNC fundraising job as part of a travel discrepancies probe. Three Rivers Community College in their hometown of Poplar Bluff, Mo., apparently didn't have the resources to capitalize on her assets. Ditto for Mississippi State and Notre Dame, where her other All-American son (Ben) played and who she made special arrangements to go see. Rather than work directly for Carolina, couldn't she at least have placed applications with nearby Duke boosters who previously hired the parents of Blue Devil standouts such as Carlos Boozer and Chris Duhon to see if they would have offered her a similar hefty salary? There's no word yet as to whether Tyler needed to take Afro Studies and/or Swahili to help the Tar Heels keep their grade-point-average up. He did, however, endure a suspect Naval Weapons Systems class; perhaps as a precaution in case UNC opposed the Midshipmen in a non-league game.

• Why in the world did Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski permit mystery man William Wesley (a/k/a "World Wide" Wes) to hang around the U.S. Olympic team? With the stench of AAU payments to 1999 Final Four standout Corey Maggette lingering, it appears as if Coach K should be concerned with supplying some of his championship team players with world-class accounting lessons. Forward Lance Thomas, a starter on Duke's 2010 NCAA titlist, was sued by a deluxe New York-based jeweler for not paying the balance ($67,800) of what he owed after purchasing nearly $100,000 in custom merchandise midway through that season. What percentage of college seniors can make a $30,000 down payment on such bling? Surely, Coach K has the clout to simply sit Thomas down and ask integrity-preserving questions discerning what in the world went on. Shouldn't Duke be more concerned about restoring the integrity of its 2010 NCAA championship banner rather than banning Chick-fil-A? But Thomas, who should have meandered down the highway and asked Hansbrough's mom for a loan, isn't the only former Blue Devil title team member facing debt collectors. His predicament pales in comparison to Christian Laettner and Brian Davis, teammates on Duke's back-to-back titlists in 1991 and 1992, who are immersed in huge financial and legal hurdles stemming from a loan their real estate company failed to repay of nearly $700,000 to former Duke captain/assistant coach and current Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins. A $170 million project in Durham ran into difficulty as Laettner and Davis owed millions to creditors although an investment firm recently threw a lifeline to the financially-strapped developers by making a $5 million capital investment in the second phase of West Village. Court documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal indicated that Laettner and Davis were defendants in several civil lawsuits seeking repayment of about $30 million.

• Desperate for some semblance of success, South Carolina frankly believes staring and bulging veins will propel it to an NCAA playoff victory for the first time since 1973. The Gamecocks apparently didn't notice how much of a flop highly-ranked Kansas State was just a couple of years ago under coach Frank Martin.

• Mississippi State, in the aftermath of the departure of embattled Renardo Sidney, dismissed guard Shaun Smith and forward Kristers Zeidaks for "repeated violations of team rules."

• Tennessee's former "Bruce-on-the-loose" coach exhibited a pearl of wisdom by forgetting what his residence looked like inside. This was the same self-promoter who, while a recruiter for Big Ten Conference rival Iowa in the late 1980s, was so detail-oriented he recorded a telephone conversation with celebrated Chicago prep prospect Deon Thomas that triggered putting Illinois on NCAA probation although Thomas went on to become the Illini's all-time scoring leader.

• Memphis, although the Tigers' program with young gun Josh Pastner at the helm is a far cry from the Final Four-caliber exhibited under coaching predecessor John Calipari, is "crying" about scheduling nonconference games against SEC regional rivals Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Tennessee.

• The FBI poked around Auburn investigating potential point shaving. Investigators should also check to see if Charles Barkley ever took a golf instruction, gambling statistics or women's apparel class.

• Jim Boeheim, earning about $2 million annually after receiving a 33 1/3 percent salary increase in a depressed economy, finally can afford a cleaning agent to scrub his glasses. He claimed a former ball boy wasn't in his longtime assistant's hotel room on the road and also seemed as if he either didn't read or just ignored Syracuse's drug-testing policies. With such lenient drug enforcement, the Orange should be joining the SEC rather than the ACC. Meanwhile, a salacious story will go on interminably after the wife of his former long-time assistant sued ESPN for libel. Her attorney, resembling George Stephanopoulos defending Bill Clinton against Gennifer Flowers' answering machine tapes, said a recording of his client was doctored. He also said the audio was selectively edited, reported out of context and did not definitely contain her voice. The legal beagle might need to request a donation from Boeheim for ear treatment. Meanwhile, the former ball boy's lawyer said a recent report by a special committee into the university's 2005 probe of her client's claim is "a complete whitewash." She called on New York's state attorney general to investigate whether Syracuse was in compliance with the Clery Act, a federal law requiring colleges participating in federal financial aid programs to disclose information about crime on campus.

• UCLA's me-generation roster devoid of any tradition traits honored John Wooden's passing by almost leaving the Bruins in ruins via a series of unsavory incidents and classless demeanor. Dismissed forward Reeves Nelson, taking to wallet Wooden's word about "failure to act is often the biggest failure of all," sued SI for $10 million, citing defamation, false light and intentional infliction of emotional distress over an article depicting him as a "psychotic bully" and central figure regarding turmoil in the Bruins' program. A Los Angeles judge subsequently dismissed the suit, finding that the SI reporter had numerous sources to back up the facts in his story. UCLA was supposed to turn a corner with its regal recruiting class but NCAA investigators were still poking around at the start of school.

• O.J. Mayo apparently wasn't the lone USC player dealing under the table in 2007-08. A central figure in a corruption scandal at the Los Angeles County assessor's office said he gave more than $3,700 cash to Mayo's fellow one-and-done teammate Davon Jefferson.

• Michigan State's leadership is suspect after its lone senior returnee was fined and ordered to perform community service for an impaired driving case. A marijuana possession charge was dropped.

• Minnesota's Trevor Mbakwe, the Big Ten Conference's leading rebounder in 2010-11, was arrested for driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to one year of probation and community service. The incident re-opened a felony assault case in Florida but he avoided jail time. Assistant Saul Smith, a son of head coach Tubby Smith and former player for him with Kentucky, was placed on unpaid administrative leave following an arrest at 2:20 a.m. for suspicion of DUI after being stopped for speeding and driving on the shoulder of the highway.

• Northwestern's chances of reaching the NCAA playoffs for the first time suffered a blow when guard JerShon Cobb was suspended for the entire season because of a violation of undisclosed team rules. Cobb averaged 16 during the Wildcats' final four games last year.

• Indiana, while pursuing an eighth-grader for future glory, overbooked on scholarships as if Hoosiers can't count to 13. Did Branch McCracken or Bob Knight grovel before junior highers?

• More than 70 different active head coaches had at least three years remaining on their contracts when they departed for greener pastures but Wisconsin and other schools lectured peons from the top of Mount Ignorant about how transfer players should be treated (like indentured servants).

When it appears that snooty schools are about to implode like a North Korean rocket, it almost makes an observer want to take a vow to always root for mid-majors in matchups with the big boys if the elite schools have the cojones to oppose them in the first place. For instance, West Virginia is paving the way to get out of its entertaining Capital Classic matchup with Marshall.

If Colgate could finally defeat Syracuse, it might set the stage for giving the Orange and its arrogant brethren a generous dose of humility. It's an off-season fantasy, but we can hope for the following "David" successes until the Goliaths come to their senses and restore some dignity:

• South Alabama and UAB over Alabama and Auburn
• Arkansas State over Arkansas
• Harvard, Holy Cross and UMass over Boston College
• Butler and Evansville over Indiana, Notre Dame and Purdue
• Coastal Carolina and College Of Charleston over Clemson and South Carolina
• Colorado State over Colorado
• Creighton over Nebraska
• Georgia State and Mercer over Georgia and Georgia Tech
• Rhode Island over Providence
• Davidson over Big Four schools in North Carolina
• Dayton, Ohio University and Xavier over Cincinnati and Ohio State
• Detroit, Oakland and MAC members over Michigan and Michigan State
• Drexel and Lehigh over Villanova
• Bradley, Illinois State and Southern Illinois over DePaul and Illinois
• Fordham, Long Island and Manhattan over St. John's
• Marshall over West Virginia
• Green Bay and Milwaukee over Marquette and Wisconsin
• American, George Mason and George Washington over Georgetown and Maryland
• Southern Mississippi over Ole Miss and Mississippi State
• Belmont and Middle Tennessee State over Memphis, Tennessee and Vanderbilt
• Lehigh over Penn State
• Missouri State and Saint Louis over Missouri
• Murray State and Western Kentucky over Kentucky and Louisville
• Oral Roberts and Tulsa over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State
• Old Dominion, Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth over Virginia and Virginia Tech
• Saint Mary's over California and Stanford
• Long Beach State and Loyola Marymount over UCLA and Southern California
• Gonzaga over Washington and Washington State
• Wichita State over Kansas and Kansas State

Despite regal recruiting hauls by Kentucky and UCLA, Arizona might have the top collection of additions for next season after guard Mark Lyons, a fifth-year senior, chose to align with the Wildcats. Lyons was originally signed by Xavier when Sean Miller was coach but never played for him in 2008-09 while sitting out as an academic partial qualifier.

A similar playmaker shift from the Midwest to the Pac-12 to rejoin a coach occurred in the late 1980s when Anthony Pendleton signed with Iowa but never played for the Hawkeyes because of scholastic shortcomings before hooking up again with coach George Raveling at USC.

Elsewhere, Jersey Shore high schooler Mike Aaman plans to join Dan Hurley at Rhode Island after getting released from his commitment with Wagner, guard Brent Arrington followed Sean Woods from Mississippi Valley State to Morehead State and playmaker Nic Moore is slated to tag along with SMU coach-in-waiting Tim Jankovich from Illinois State. Following is an alphabetical list of prominent players who transferred from one major college to another with the same head coach although he wasn't his father:

*Erdmann played for a junior college between four-year school stints.

NOTES: Aaman committed to Wagner before choosing to enroll with Hurley at Rhode Island, Fisher signed with Pepperdine but never played there before choosing to follow Romar to SLU, Kilgore never played for EMU after transferring there from Central Michigan, Lyons was an academic partial qualifier in 2008-09 and Pendleton signed with Iowa but never played for the Hawkeyes because of scholastic shortcomings. . . . Mitchell played two seasons at Fresno State under Grant's successor (Ron Adams). . . . Varner went on an LDS Mormon mission for two years between stints at Pepperdine and Saint Louis.

In the aftermath of eyebrow-raising success in recent NCAA tourneys, Butler and Lehigh are guardedly optimistic next season because of eye-popping backcourters Rotnei Clarke and C.J. McCollum. Butler, the NCAA playoff runner-up in 2010 and 2011, can bounce back next year if long-range bomber Clarke, a transfer who set Arkansas' single-game scoring standard with 51 points against Alcorn State, is unleashed. Lehigh, after posting its first NCAA playoff victory last year, is poised to generate more headlines because McCollum withdrew from the NBA draft and should become the Patriot League's all-time leading scorer well before Christmas.

In fact, Clarke and McCollum could become the first All-American for their respective schools. If so, it might be a banner year for mid-major colleges as Creighton's Doug McDermott and Murray State's Isaiah Canaan are the only returnees among NCAA consensus All-American selections. Another gifted mid-major guard is Matthew Dellavedova, the West Coast Conference MVP who might become Saint Mary's first All-American since Tom Meschery in 1961.

Following is an alphabetical list of long-time major colleges with an eyesore on their resumes because they've never had an All-American cited by AP, Converse, NABC, UPI or USBWA: Air Force, Brown, Bucknell, Butler, The Citadel, Cornell, Harvard, Kent State, Lafayette, Lehigh, Manhattan, Montana, Pepperdine, St. Francis (NY), Saint Peter's, San Jose State and Virginia Military.

Only seven individuals have coached at least 14 All-Americans with one major college. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski broke a tie with Kentucky's Adolph Rupp and moved atop that list this past season when freshman guard Austin Rivers, despite registering more turnovers than assists, became Coach K's 24th player to earn All-American acclaim.

In one of the most overlooked achievements in NCAA history, Harry Combes amassed 16 different All-Americans in his first 19 of 20 seasons as Illinois' mentor from 1947-48 through 1966-67. No other coach has accumulated more than 13 All-Americans in his first 20 campaigns with a single school - North Carolina's Dean Smith (13 in first 20 seasons), Indiana's Bob Knight (12), Krzyzewski (12), Rupp (12), Indiana's Branch McCracken (11), Arizona's Lute Olson (11), UCLA's John Wooden (10) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (eight).

As a means of comparison, keep in mind that inactive NCAA Division I national coaches of the year P.J. Carlesimo, Perry Clark, Tom Davis, Eddie Fogler, Jim Harrick, Marv Harshman, Clem Haskins, Maury John, Jim O'Brien, George Raveling, Charlie Spoonhour and Butch van Breda Kolff combined for 17 All-Americans in a cumulative 251 years coaching at the major-college level. Moreover, prominent active coaches Steve Alford, Dana Altman, Tommy Amaker, Mike Anderson, Jim Baron, John Beilein, Randy Bennett, Brad Brownell, Bill Carmody, Tom Crean, Mick Cronin, Ed DeChellis, James Dickey, Scott Drew, Fran Dunphy, Bruiser Flint, Tim Floyd, Travis Ford, Mark Gottfried, Brian Gregory, Frank Haith, Stan Heath, Paul Hewitt, Mike Jarvis, Trent Johnson, Billy Kennedy, Lon Kruger, Jim Larranaga, Steve Lavin, Fran McCaffery, Bob McKillop, Dan Monson, Stew Morrill, Kevin O'Neill, Oliver Purnell, Tubby Smith, Brad Stevens, Scott Sutton, Blaine Taylor, Bob Thomason, Mark Turgeon and Gary Waters have combined for only 16 All-Americians. Indiana boasts two of the following seven coaches with the most different All-Americans at one university:

NOTE: Spoonhour joins respected retired mentors Gale Catlett, Mike Deane, Bill Henderson, Shelby Metcalf, Stan Morrison, Bob Polk and Ralph Willard as coaches who never had an All-American despite at least 18 seasons coaching at the major-college level.

An average of 50 schools annually get new bench bosses but the chances of a coach inheriting an All-American are slim and none in an era of players departing early for the NBA if they generate any success at all. Only two players in the last 25 years exemplified supreme loyalty as All-Americans for two different coaches - North Carolina's Antawn Jamison (Dean Smith and Bill Guthridge in 1997 and 1998) and Notre Dame's Troy Murphy (Matt Doherty and Mike Brey in 2000 and 2001).

Yale's Tony Lavelli is the only player in NCAA history to become a major-college All-American under three different head coaches (Red Rolfe in 1946, Ivy Williamson in 1947 and Howard Hobson in 1948 and 1949). Larry Brown, Doherty's successor at Southern Methodist, is among the coaches who have shared an All-American as UCLA's Rod Foster was also an A-A under Larry Farmer. Following is an alphabetical list of major-college players who earned All-American accolades under two different coaches:

Player	School	Coaches and All-American Years
Ernie Andres	Indiana	Everett Dean (1938) and Branch McCracken (1939)
Gene Banks	Duke	Bill Foster (1979) and Mike Krzyzewski (1981)
Butch Beard	Louisville	Peck Hickman (1967) and John Dromo (1969)
Larry Bird	Indiana State	Bob King (1977 and 1978) and Bill Hodges (1979)
Charley Brown	Seattle	John Castellani (1958) and Vince Cazzetta (1959)
Bill Cartwright	San Francisco	Bob Gaillard (1977 and 1978) and Dan Belluomini (1979)
Kresimir Cosic	Brigham Young	Stan Watts (1972) and Glenn Potter (1973)
Bob Cousy	Holy Cross	Doggie Julian (1948) and Buster Sheary (1949 and 1950)
Hook Dillon	North Carolina	Ben Carnevale (1946) and Tom Scott (1947)
Rod Foster	UCLA	Larry Farmer (1981) and Larry Brown (1983)
Artis Gilmore	Jacksonville	Joe Williams (1970) and Tom Wasdin (1971)
Jack Gray	Texas	Ed Olle (1934) and Marty Kanow (1935)
Tom Heinsohn	Holy Cross	Buster Sheary (1955) and Roy Leenig (1956)
Antawn Jamison	North Carolina	Dean Smith (1997) and Bill Guthridge (1998)
Ron Johnson	Minnesota	Ozzie Cowles (1959) and John Kundla (1960)
Leo Klier	Notre Dame	Moose Krause (1944) and Elmer Ripley (1946)
Butch Lee	Marquette	Al McGuire (1977) and Hank Raymonds (1978)
Mike Maloy	Davidson	Lefty Driesell (1968 and 1969) and Terry Holland (1970)
Dick McGuire	St. John's	Joe Lapchick (1947) and Frank McGuire (1949)
Jim McIntyre	Minnesota	Dave MacMillan (1948) and Ozzie Cowles (1949)
Calvin Murphy	Niagara	Jim Maloney (1968) and Frank Layden (1969 and 1970)
Troy Murphy	Notre Dame	Matt Doherty (2000) and Mike Brey (2001)
Eddie Phillips	Alabama	C.M. Newton (1980) and Wimp Sanderson (1982)
David Robinson	Navy	Paul Evans (1986) and Pete Herrmann (1987)
Dave Schellhase	Purdue	Ray Eddy (1965) and George King (1966)
Dave Stallworth	Wichita State	Ralph Miller (1963 and 1964) and Gary Thompson (1965)
Wes Unseld	Louisville	Peck Hickman (1966 and 1967) and John Dromo (1968)
Kenny Walker	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall (1985) and Eddie Sutton (1986)
Bryan Warrick	St. Joseph's	Jim Lynam (1981) and Jim Boyle (1982)
Richard Washington	UCLA	John Wooden (1975) and Gene Bartow (1976)

What can Brown do for SMU or what will Brown do to SMU? That is the question! Hiring a coaching fossil such as Larry Brown has already generated more national publicity than Southern Methodist basketball enjoyed collectively since 1988, which was Brown's last year as a college coach and the Mustangs' last year to post an NCAA playoff victory.

Next Town Brown is probably comfortable with nomadic SMU because the Mustangs are joining their third different league since the SWC disbanded in 1996. If Brown can guide SMU to the NCAA playoffs in the next few years for the first time since 1993, it will be the equivalent of him directing UCLA to an NCAA runner-up finish in his debut season with the Bruins in 1980. If he can win an NCAA Tournament game with the Mustangs, it will be the equivalent of him capturing a national title in his swan song with Kansas in 1988.

SMU, a total of 55 games under .500 over the last 24 seasons, is already vastly overpaying for an antique bench boss nearly a quarter century removed from the day-to-day college grind, a coach-in-waiting who has never had an NCAA playoff appearance in nine years and two recruiters hired from former powerhouses that have fallen on hard times. But is an even more critical cost in integrity looming? There is a shaky track record to worry about inasmuch as UCLA and Kansas each were on probation the season following Brown's departure.

After checking the national registry for truck drivers with standout sons/players (remember Danny Manning), Brown's first significant act with SMU was a down-and-dirty deed discarding several players at this late stage because they "weren't good enough to play for him." We're taking for granted that Brown's "good" refers to on-the-court performance rather than off-the-hardwood decorum. He apparently is more fond of bringing in a troubled transfer such as Josiah Turner from Arizona (before he abandoned ship for the pros during the summer) rather than retaining Jeremiah Samarrippas, who was SMU's captain as a sophomore. Perhaps Dean Smith should have treated a similar undersized guard the same shabby way when the Hall of Famer became North Carolina's head coach in 1961-62 after Brown averaged a modest 4.5 ppg as a sophomore the previous season.

Only a splendid tactician can be the lone individual ever to win NCAA and NBA titles. And Brown, who coached nearly half of the franchises in this year's NBA playoffs, has a shot at turning things around quickly for the Mustangs because the Big East Conference will be a shell of its former self after Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia depart for other leagues. But isn't there something more important than meandering all over the country seeking nirvana?

Brown, one of six men to be hired by an NBA team after winning an NCAA championship, is the only one in this category to compile a winning NBA playoff record. Three other coaches directed teams to the NCAA Final Four and the NBA championship series - Jack Ramsay (St. Joseph's 1961 and Portland Trail Blazers 1977), Fred Schaus (West Virginia 1959 and the Los Angeles Lakers 1962), 1963, 1965, 1966) and Butch van Breda Kolff (Princeton 1965 and the Lakers 1968, 1969). Neither Ramsay (8-11) nor Schaus (6-7) finished their collegiate coaching careers with winning NCAA playoff records, however.

Only Phil Jackson and Pat Riley coached in and won more NBA playoff games than Brown. It's a star-crossed crossing over from college to the NBA. Following is an alphabetical list summarizing the NBA careers of Brown and 14 additional individuals who aligned with NBA franchises as head coaches after marshalling a college team to the Final Four:

*Feerick's NBA record includes one season with the Washington Capitols (1949-50) before he was named coach at Santa Clara.

NOTES: Jucker (Rollins), Julian (Dartmouth), McGuire (South Carolina), Olsen (Northwestern), Pitino (Kentucky and Louisville), Schaus (Purdue), Tarkanian (Fresno State), van Breda Kolff (Lafayette and Hofstra) and Winter (Northwestern and Long Beach State) returned to college as head coaches after their stints in the NBA. . . . Ken Loeffler was coach of the St. Louis Bombers and Providence Steamrollers for three seasons (1946-47 through 1948-49) before directing La Salle to back-to-back Final Fours (1954 champion and 1955 runner-up). . . . Phil Woolpert, coach of San Francisco's back-to-back NCAA champions (1955 and 1956), coached the San Francisco Saints for one season in the old American Basketball League.

A demise of the Western Athletic Conference seems possible if mid-level schools such as Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio and Texas State renege on joining the league. But before the WAC goes on life support, it is time to issue props to the alliance for its history of being a trend setter recruiting impact foreigners.

No coach today is worth his sneaker endorsement deal without a passport and several international contacts. The WAC continued its "foreign aid" tradition this season with two all-conference first-team selections - Nevada forward Olek Czyz (Poland) and Hawaii center Vander Joaquim (Angola).

It's undeniable that more and more teams are looking abroad for important imports to make certain they don't have a trade deficit. Many of their competitors enjoyed a trade surplus in the aftermath of Yugoslavian import Kresimir Cosic bursting on the scene in the early 1970s. Cosic, a center for Brigham Young, became a three-time All-WAC first-team choice from 1970-71 through 1972-73. Brigham Young already had a foreign flavor because forward Kari Liimo (Finland) became an all-league pick in 1966-67 and 1967-68.

The coach of one opposing team called Cosic "the looniest guy with talent ever." Sports Illustrated reported that his "zest for the game was something to behold," explaining that he was "forever clapping hands, raising fists high, laughing, shouting `Opa! Opa! (I'm open, I'm open), jackknifing for layups, dribbling through his legs, passing behind his back, and joyfully firing all manner of shots from improbable positions and angles." Although teammates claimed they were sometimes hurt by Cosic's "circus act," his crowd appeal was unprecedented.

The fast track of major-college recruiting includes a global autobahn - and its precarious, impossibly varied tributaries. By any measure, the foreign legion has revolutionized the sport. The following list depicts how the WAC has benefited more from all-league first- and second-team foreigners than any conference: