What Should Donovan Do?

Billy Donovan keeps saying the question has "nothing to do with me," which is either his way of assuring he doesn't wind up making Nick Saban look honest, his way of holding up the University of Florida for millions of dollars or his way of, well, actually there is no other way.

Donovan is way too smart and way too savvy to actually believe that his repeated non-denial denials concerning his interest in the University of Kentucky job are going to make the questions go away.

Donovan-to-the-Wildcats might just overwhelm the Final Four as one of the strangest and more distracting storylines of all time, quite incredibly turning his Gators' chances of becoming the first repeat national champions in 15 years into a secondary news item.

Donovan knows this. Donovan has to know this. So when he keeps saying nothing, he has to know he is saying something.

To add fuel to the fire Monday, the Kentucky fan magazine The Cat's Pause reported a $28 million, 7-year contract

SAN ANTONIO – As Final Four celebrations go, this one was beyond subdued.

The Ohio State Buckeyes had just finished off Memphis, just finished off a wild, heart-pumping NCAA tournament journey, just finished off any and all skeptics who thought a team with all these freshmen never could reach Atlanta, yet on the exuberance scale, Saturday's postgame celebration ranked just above the dial tone.

Oh, they hugged. And high-fived. And clipped some nets and held aloft the South Regional trophy. But that was about it. No tears. No dancing. No climbing on scorers' tables or anything else.

Ohio State was in the Final Four, and all the Buckeyes wanted to talk about was winning two more.

"We're not done yet," said Greg Oden, their 7-foot center. "We want to finish this out."

Welcome to the Fearsome Four. No weak sisters here, just heavyweight programs set to battle Saturday down in Georgia.

The Buckeyes' reactions were matched by UCLA and Florida and, to a lesser extent, Georgetown, but only

Watch: Should Oden Go Pro? OSU Season Highlights

SAN ANTONIO – The email showed up on everyone’s Blackberry, and as each member of the Ohio State coaching staff opened the missive from their sports information director they couldn’t believe what they were reading, let alone their good fortune.

Memphis center Joey Dorsey had on Friday unleashed a press conference trash talk session on Buckeyes big man Greg Oden, the ultimate pregame cage rattle that ended any concerns that the occasionally sleepy 7-foot freshman might not be awake for the Elite Eight.

Dorsey had called Oden “overrated.” He said Oden had to work on his offensive game. He promised he’d get “20 rebounds.” In the end he described their expected battle as David and Goliath, before adding, “I’m Goliath.”

Apparently Dorsey didn’t know how that story turned out.

Buckeyes 92, Tigers 76 and on to the Final Four for Ohio State and its man-child in the middle, the one who looks middle aged but often acts middle school.

The two

SAN ANTONIO – When Massachusetts athletic director Frank McInerney was looking to hire a basketball coach back in 1988, he kept getting phone calls about one particular candidate.

Only the people – rival coaches, athletic directors, basketball power brokers – weren’t saying why UMass should hire John Calipari, but why it shouldn’t. Too much drama, too many shadows, everyone was whispering.

Then McInerney got a call from UMass alum Rick Pitino who laid it out simply: if all of your rivals are telling you not to hire a guy, then that’s who they fear and that’s, of course, who you hire.

So here in 2007, the University of Kentucky, seeking a head coach for its historic program, might want to consider not just Pitino’s old, sage hiring advice, but also who Louisville's head man would least like to see down the road in Lexington.

John Calipari may not even get a call from UK to replace Tubby Smith, but if you want to know the guy that the Wildcats' main rivals fear most, the one everyone in

Watch: Memphis Season Highlights

SAN ANTONIO – They all abandoned him and his Memphis Tigers for the Big East, left John Calipari to rot away in mediocrity, in charge of a fading program in a failing league. Deep down, of course, that's just how the irascible coach likes it – underdog and underappreciated; the black sheep son of the big time.

Given his choice, sure, he'd rather still have Louisville and Cincinnati and Marquette and the spotlight back in Conference USA. He didn't need them not just running off but laughing out the door.

"Cal's now the highest paid mid-major coach in the country," Bob Huggins cracked.

Rest assured no one enjoyed that line more than Louisville's Rick Pitino.

But a funny thing happened to the program that was supposed to die, to the coach whose career was supposed to suffer. They are still going strong, still playing deep into March, back in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year following a thrilling 65-64 victory here over Texas A&M.

Huggs,

In a relationship on the rocks, Tubby Smith made the break-up easy (and cheap) for the University of Kentucky.

With boosters at the ready to raise whatever it took to make a coaching change, with Smith desperate for recruits after 25 losses in two seasons overriding memories of the 1998 national title, and with athletic director Mitch Barnhart all but set to demand major staff changes, Smith found safe waters in Minnesota.

The move frees up a good man who did a good job in the pressure cooker of UK Basketball all while freeing up the Big Blue to go get a fresh coach to turn around this historic program.

There is no loser here, just winners. This was going to happen, either now or in a year when – barring some recruiting miracles – a thoroughly undermanned UK team shuffled through a truly subpar season as exasperated fans vented.

Smith is a tremendous game coach and his ball line defensive system has produced some legendary teams at UK. He was hired by then-Kentucky AD C.M. Newton for

A Sweet 16 for the Sweet 16 as college basketball goes roaring into the second week of the NCAA tournament.

1. Rock Chalk (Jayhawks included)

No double digit seeds survived the second round and only two – Winthrop and Virginia Commonwealth, both 11 seeds – won in the first round. Winthrop was a legit upset in beating Notre Dame, even if the Eagles had won 28 games heading into the tournament. VCU, however, beat a Duke team that was seeded sixth seemingly on name alone.

So it was a (mostly) good weekend for the chalk picks – all four No. 1s, three No. 2s and three No. 3s. A few teams, such as Kansas, North Carolina, Memphis and Georgetown, were only moderately tested and didn't have to deal with any true, heart-pumping finishes.

The bad news was a lack of thrilling endings – there were some, but not the normal amount. The good news is the best teams will match up from here on out. This is a heck of a final 16, with perhaps a majority of the teams still realistically believing they can

Regional blogs: Midwest - West - East - South | More exclusive tourney analysis

Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel will be spending the second day of the NCAA tournament as everyone should: Camped in front of a wall of televisions with a cold beer in front of him. Here's his report.

Also see: Wetzel's Thursday tournament blog | Regional blogs: Midwest - West - East - South
• Meet up with Wetzel at 24 Seconds in Berkley, Mich.
• Email Wetzel

12:15 p.m. ET: Welcome to Day Two at the fourth-annual (except the year my daughter was born) "man at the bar" column, where once again we'll spend the afternoon watching all the college basketball action and reporting various observations about that and everything else that goes on around here.

We are back at 24 Seconds in downtown Berkley, Mich., so if you are in the area skip out of work and come on by to watch, drink and manage your brackets. Today I will soon be joined by my freeloading father, which is always a positive.

Let's get to a couple