Xavier's Dez Wells (Getty Images)

Temporarily a 16-team league next season because of the addition of Butler and VCU a year ahead of schedule, the Atlantic had to revamp its league schedule for next season on the fly to accommodate the newcomers.

The solution league officials adopted was to have every team play seven league opponents just at home, seven just on the road and one travel partner at home and on the road. The league tried to preserve rivalries by having teams like VCU and Richmond, Xavier and Dayton and UMass and Rhode Island play twice.

Atlantic 10 schools released their schedules Tuesday, and as always with unbalanced schedules, some teams will be happier than others. Here's a look at on paper which teams have the most challenging and most favorable league schedules:

Most challenging schedules:

1. Richmond: If Richmond is going to emerge as a surprise team in the Atlantic 10 next season, the Spiders will have to do it against perhaps the league's toughest conference schedule on paper. Not only did they draw a very difficult travel partner in city rival VCU, Fordham is the only lower-tier team on their road schedule. Of Richmond's other seven road games against VCU, Temple, Saint Joseph's, Butler, Dayton, UMass and LaSalle, the Spiders may not be favored in any of them.

2. Butler: As if it wasn't challenging enough drawing preseason Atlantic 10 favorite Saint Louis as the opponent they play twice next season, the Bulldogs also will play most of the league's upper echelon on the road. In addition to visiting Saint Louis, Butler will also travel to VCU, UMass, Saint Joseph's and Dayton. The Bulldogs are a potential A-10 contender as a result of the addition of sweet-shooting Arkansas transfer Rotnei Clarke to a strong core returning from last year, but they'll be tested by a league schedule far deeper and stronger than the Horizon League.

Donte Morales (US Presswire)Whichever schools were vying to land UNC Wilmington transfer Donte Morales prior to Tuesday probably aren't beating down his door anymore.

That's because it's tough for any coach to take a chance on a player allegedly peddling weed in his spare time.

Morales was arrested Tuesday morning in New Hanover County, N.C., on multiple drug charges, including felony possession of marijuana and conspiracy to sell or deliver marijuana. Bond is set at $35,000.

Morales, Buzz Peterson's first recruit at UNC Wilmington, was one of three Seahawks starters to announce their intent to transfer in early April in the wake of a disappointing 10-21 season. The junior-to-be started 48 games in two seasons and averaged 7.2 points per game last year, though Luke Hager had a chance to beat him out for a starting position next season.

"Either you want to be here or you don't," Peterson told the Wilmington Star-News after Morales decided to transfer. "We have guys in the program who want to be here. This lets us move forward and get ready for next year."

It sounds like Morales may be addition by subtraction for UNC Wilmington, but the roster turnover as a whole is a concern. Eight players have transferred out of the program since the 2008-09 postseason, contributing to the Seahawks' current Academic Progress Rate (APR) issues that have rendered them ineligible for the 2012-13 postseason.

Butler's Darnell Archey set the record for most consecutive free throws in 2003 (Getty Images)

The Untouchables is a 10-part series spotlighting college basketball's most unbreakable records. Up next is No. 9: Butler guard Darnell Archey's consecutive free throw streak.

The summer before his junior year of high school, a friend invited Darnell Archey to join him and his family on a trip to the Bahamas.

To the shock of even his own parents, Archey chose not to accept.

"I said, 'Darnell, you need to go,' but he told me he didn't want to because there wasn't a basketball court there," Archey's father Dennis recalled. "That's how focused he was. He refused to even go on vacation."

Choosing jump shots at the gym over relaxing at the beach is an example of the dedication that eventually helped Archey shoot his way into the record books in college. The Butler guard sank a Division I record 85 consecutive free throws from Feb. 15, 2001 to Jan. 18, 2003, eclipsing the former mark of 73 set by Villanova's Gary Buchanan two seasons earlier.

No Division I player besides those two has ever

Deane Martin (via Idaho State)The only thing more depressing for Idaho State than its six straight seasons of 19 or more losses is the Bengals may have needed to cheat to achieve what little success they had.

A letter warning of a booster willing to pay recruits to get them to come to Idaho State has sparked an NCAA investigation, the Idaho State Journal reported Sunday after obtaining a copy from a university employee.

Former interim coach Deane Martin reportedly sent the letter to athletic director Jeff Tingey on March 6, the day after he learned Idaho State would not hire him as permanent coach. Martin wrote that the booster has made offers to recruits and junior college coaches and specifically told him "if it took a 'money handshake' from him to a coach or a recruit, to seal the deal, he was happy to do that."

It's certainly possible Martin's allegations are valid, but the timing of his letter diminishes his credibility. By reporting the potential violations the day after he got cut loose rather than while he was still on the job, he creates the appearance he has an axe to grind against the school.

If indeed the unnamed booster has been enticing recruits, it raises the question, what exactly has he been paying for? Idaho State fired head coach Joe O'Brien last December after a 2-8 start and staggered its way to a 9-21 finish under Martin.

The specter of an NCAA investigation hanging over the program certainly won't help new coach Bill Evans as he seeks to rebuild the program.

It's tough enough to win at Idaho State already. Now Evans has an additional challenge.

Montrezl Harrell (Rivals.com)Opposing teams won't enjoy seeing Louisville's frontcourt next season. Neither will national play-by-play announcers.

With the addition of former Virginia Tech signee Montrezl Harrell on Monday morning, Louisville's frontcourt becomes deeper, stronger and even more difficult to pronounce. Harrell, an athletic 6-foot-8 power forward rated No. 82 in his class by Rivals.com, will likely come off the bench as a freshman behind returning starters Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan.

Louisville instantly became the favorite to land Harrell when he sought his release from his letter of intent at Virginia Tech last month after the Hokies fired coach Seth Greenberg. One of Rick Pitino's assistant coaches is Kevin Keatts, who coached at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia for eight years and recruited Harrell to go there before accepting a job at Louisville last spring.

[Related: Former Virginia Tech signee picks Louisville]

"A lot of things sold him," current Hargrave Military Academy coach A.W. Hamilton told the Louisville Courier-Journal on Monday. "He really enjoyed meeting the guys and the facilities are probably the best in the country.

"He has an unbelievable relationship with (assistant) coach Keatts and the more time he spent around coach Pitino, it felt like home for him."

The addition of Harrell gives Louisville a hard-working pogo stick of a power forward who should excel on defense and rebounding early in his college career while his raw skill set catches up to his athleticism. Harrell also creates a scholarship logjam for Louisville, which now has one too many scholarship players even after encouraging senior Jared Swopshire to transfer for his final collegiate season.

North Carolina's 56-game home win streak vs. Clemson is the longest in college hoops history (AP)

The Untouchables is a 10-part series spotlighting college basketball's most unbreakable records. Up first is No. 10: North Carolina's unparalleled 56-game home winning streak against Clemson.

Eighty-two years into one of the most unfathomable streaks in college basketball history, the school that had never beaten North Carolina on the road was on the verge of finally breaking its Chapel Hill hex.

Clemson held an 11-point lead with three minutes left in its Feb. 10, 2008 matchup with the third-ranked Tar Heels, a margin that appeared safe the way the Tigers had dominated from the opening tipoff.

A trickle of blue-clad fans headed toward the exits. The rest sat in their seats in stunned silence. It was bleak enough for the home team that even North Carolina's players began pondering the sobering possibility of losing to Clemson in Chapel Hill for the first time in 53 games.

"I know for sure that thought passed through my mind," starting forward Marcus Ginyard said. "I was like, 'Wow,

Kentucky and Notre Dame will meet in the 2012 SEC-Big East Challenge (Getty Images)

The 2012 SEC-Big East Challenge will feature a Sweet 16 rematch, a clash of perennial bubble teams and a pair of challenging road games for two likely preseason top 10 teams.  Here's a look at the pairings released by ESPN on Friday and some very early thoughts on the matchups:

Must-see TV: Kentucky at Notre Dame (Nov. 29)

The Wildcats may not be playing Indiana next year, but they will will play a difficult true road game against one of the Hoosier state's other top teams. With Jack Cooley, Jerian Grant, Eric Atkins and the rest of the core of last year's surprising NCAA tournament team returning next season, Notre Dame promises to pose a stiff challenge for a freshman-heavy Kentucky team playing its first real road game.

Three others worth watching: Syracuse at Arkansas (Nov. 30), Marquette at Florida (Nov. 29), Tennessee at Georgetown (Nov. 30)

Even though four of Syracuse's top six scorers from last year's Big East championship team have departed, the Orange may begin the season in the top 10 anyway because of all the depth last year's team had. The visit to hostile Bud Walton Arena to play an improved Arkansas team promises to test whether Syracuse's returners can adjust to new roles.

As for the Marquette-Florida contest, it's a rematch of last March's Sweet 16 matchup in Phoenix. The Gators won that one because of their defense, but both teams will have a vastly different look next season with Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder, Erving Walker and Bradley Beal all having departed.

Tennessee at Georgetown doesn't feature a preseason Top 25 team, but both the Vols and Hoyas are NCAA tournament contenders. Tennessee returns the core of a team that nearly parlayed a late surge into a surprising NCAA bid last year, while Georgetown will rely on sophomore standout Otto Porter to help overcome the loss of Hollis Thompson, Jason Clark and Henry Sims.

Missed opportunity: (Mississippi State at Providence, Dec. 1)

Hopefully Providence has some other marquee non-conference games on its schedule because this matchup with depleted, rebuilding Mississippi State doesn't qualify. That's a shame too because it would be nice to catch an early glimpse of Providence's talented freshman class in a showcase game.  

Roscoe Smith (AP)If the NCAA grants transfer Roscoe Smith's petition to play immediately at UNLV next season without sitting out a full year, that decision will impact more than just the Rebels.

It also could cause major problems for Smith's former school.

UConn officials are worried that giving Smith a waiver could open the floodgates to other players on its roster seeking to transfer, ESPN.com reported Friday. The basis for Smith's waiver is that he left UConn because the school is banned from the postseason next year as a penalty for its sub-standard APR scores.

The NCAA has previously only granted transfers immediate eligibility if their former school's postseason ban is longer than the length of their remaining eligibility. Senior Alex Oriakhi will be eligible right away at Missouri next season because of that interpretation, but Smith is a junior and would only receive a waiver if the NCAA altered its policy.

UConn's concerns about the stability of its roster could certainly be valid if Smith becomes eligible next season. At the very least, you can be certain there would be opposing coaches sending feelers through back channels to guards Ryan Boatright and Shabazz Napier to let them know immediate playing time is available if they opted to leave.

The other interesting aspect of Smith's waiver request is that UNLV might be better off it gets denied. While it's understandable that Smith would want to play right away next season, where exactly is he going to play?