Over the past week the comprehensive NBA statistical web site 82games.com has published in-depth analysis of the NBA Draft. Today, they looked at the performances of each NBA player based on their college in order to determine which school was the most efficient at producing NBA talent. Their findings, while fascinating, weren't altogether surprising.

Based on draft position and player efficiency ratings over the past 20 years, Wake Forest tops the site's list of NBA factories. Tim Duncan and Chris Paul are two of the top players in the league, and Josh Howard helped the Deacs ratings after turning into an All-Star despite being taken with the 29th pick in the '03 Draft.

UTEP (Tim Hardaway, Antonio Davis) is second, followed by Marquette and Xavier. The best-ranked title-winning team is Kentucky, with Michigan, Connecticut and Arizona lagging a bit behind. Remember, this is a compilation of all the talent schools have produced. So if a school has produced a number of busts, they drop

-- I've long been fascinated with the "others receiving votes" section of the Associated Press Top 25 rankings. How close is the first team left out from being No. 25? Does the team at No. 28 ever refer to itself as such and is it even kosher for anyone to do so? And, most importantly, who's that dude who routinely ranks all those really random teams?

For years I've been curious who was ranking the likes of American, UMBC or, as was the case this week, Robert Morris in the poll. While most pollsters use the No. 25 spot as a dumping ground for underperforming major teams (like Florida, Maryland or West Virginia), some choose to highlight mid-major (or even low-major) squads that are in the midst of a good season.

I have no problem with this. In fact, I enjoy it. It's always nice to see a solid, under-publicized basketball team getting a little national love.

Some teams (ones with Final Four aspirations) probably view the latter "others" designation as demeaning. Texas was once a top 10

When most people find a single, missing sock it's often in the laundry room laying behind a dryer and covered in lint. When Shane Noordhoff found one, it was stuffed with four Olympic medals.

While picking up his stepson from a San Antonio-area Boys and Girls club, Noordhoff found the three golds and one silver that had been stolen from the car of American swimmer Josh Davis earlier in the week. Yahoo! Sports Video has the story:

Davis, a relay swimmer at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, said he figures that media attention on the stolen medals convinced the culprit to leave them on the steps of the Boys and Girls Club. The medals were in a sock because Davis had brought them on an out-of-town speaking engagement. He told the San Antonio Express-News that he likes children to experience the feeling of wearing them and hopes that doing so will serve as a motivational tool.

Oddly, Davis lost another silver medal two years ago. Apparently that experience wasn't enough to convince him not to

Elbowing is the new black. It seems like more than ever this college basketball season, players are throwing dirty-looking elbows at their opponents, leading to more technical fouls and ejections than I can ever remember for such offenses.

Yesterday, Florida State's Solomon Alabi was tossed after throwing a 'bow at the throat of Wake Forest's Chas McFarland. In the Kansas-Kansas State game, Wildcat guard Denis Clemente was whistled for a technical after he did the same to KU's Brady Morningstar. (That foul was the catalyst for an 8-0 Kansas run that ended up putting the game out of reach for Clemente's squad.) Michigan's Manny Harris was involved in a similar incident earlier this season, while All-American Blake Griffin was on the receiving end of the dirty play. And it wouldn't be a story about elbowing if we didn't mention Duke:

Is elbowing really up this year or are these incidents just over-reported, thus making it seem like there's more (sort of like what happens with shark

Virginia Tech forward Jeff Allen didn't respond too kindly to fouling out of the Hokies 83-73 loss at Maryland on Saturday evening. Such a gesture is greatly disappointing, not because of the intent, but because Allen's form leaves a lot to be desired. A true Hokie gives the bird with a forceful, extended arm, slightly tilted hand and an upward thumb. Respect your elders, Jeff Allen.

Where ever would Jeff Allen learn such immature histrionics while playing basketball in Blacksburg?! Oh, right.

Thanks: Terps Insider via DC Sports Bog

The Atlanta Falcons announced this week that they were looking to trade the rights to Michael Vick, who is indefinitely suspended from the NFL and currently imprisoned for his role in a dogfighting operation. In essence, they want somebody to give them something in return for their massively overvalued, damaged product. Good luck with that.

It's not even a guarantee that Vick will be back in the NFL in 2009. Roger Goodell has said he won't consider reinstatement until Vick's legal obligations are settled, and that might not be until July. Plus, it's Goodell and he likes to drag things out, so don't expect a quick decision on Vick's future.

If Vick does get reinstated, it is still difficult to imagine that there will be too many teams lining up to give away draft picks in order to get a guy who's been in prison for the past 18 months and is due to get $15 million in 2009 from his current contract. More likely, teams will wait for Atlanta to release Vick, thus enabling them to sign him

In a move that would make those pig-tailed girls from "The Parent Trap" proud, Chavis and Travis Holmes, identical twins on the VMI basketball team, told The New York Times' Quad blog that they pulled the twin-swap on unsuspecting referees in the Keydets victory over Richmond on December 31.

"When we played Richmond," Chavis said, "we did a little switcheroonie."

In that Dec. 31 game, Chavis had missed three free-throws in a row early in the first half, and Travis could see that his brother was struggling. So the next time Chavis was fouled, Travis had an idea.

"He just walked up to me like, Man, let me shoot these," Chavis said. "So I just let him."

Travis made both free-throws, and the Keydets went on to win, 73-70. The twins said their parents were the only people who noticed the switch.

If true, that would be both amazing and underhanded at the same time. Looking at the game log, though, there are some major holes in Chavis' story.

According to him, the switch came after he

This about sums up Duke's second half performance tonight against North Carolina:

I wish I had the video of that. Coach K's head spun around like he was in "The Exorcist". Krzyzewski hasn't been that mad since JJ Redick criticized him in a free-verse poem.

North Carolina made a serious statement tonight, namely that if they can play any semblance of defense (like they did in the final 20 minutes tonight), they're going to be very tough to beat come March. Even on a night when Tyler Hansbrough played average basketball, the Heels still rolled over one of premiere teams in college basketball.

If you watched tonight's game and didn't know anything at all about Carolina, you'd have thought that Hansbrough was maybe the fourth option behind Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington. And that's why UNC is so dangerous. They run so deep that they can still dominate even when their best player blends into the crowd.

With the win, Hansbrough and Green became the first opposing players to go