Josiah Turner (Getty Images)Had a UCLA, Kansas or Kentucky offered troubled but talented Josiah Turner a second chance, those programs would deserve the inevitable backlash it would have caused since they can land baggage-free elite prospects.

That it's SMU who has reportedly added the Arizona transfer, however, makes it far more difficult to criticize.

SMU hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1993, didn't finish above .500 in Conference USA in any of former coach Matt Doherty's six seasons and has produced only one NBA draft pick since Jon Koncak in 1985. Even under new coach Larry Brown and his highly compensated staff, it's going to be difficult for the Mustangs to attract enough high-caliber players to compete in the Big East unless they're willing to take risks others won't.

And make no mistake, Turner is as big a boom-or-bust gamble as any available transfer this spring.

Hailed as the next great point guard in the Arizona lineage after he chose the Wildcats over Kansas, UCLA and Louisville among others, Turner struggled on the court and off during a disappointing freshman season. The five-star recruit lost his starting job early in the season, sat out a Dec. 6 game for disciplinary reasons and later was suspended for the rest of the season on the eve of the Pac-12 tournament.

It appeared to be Turner's nadir when Sean Miller asked him to leave the program for good last month, but he somehow managed to make things much worse. Campus police arrested Turner on suspicion of extreme DUI last week after he was stopped for driving through a red light and recorded blood-alcohol levels of 0.15 and 0.16 through a breath test.

Considering recruits have announced their college choices by holding the mascot above their heads or shaving the school logo into the back of their hair, it takes a lot to startle fans these days.

Still, it's safe to assume no player has ever revealed his decision quite the way Coastal Carolina transfer Sam McLaurin did.

At 2:29 a.m. ET Thursday morning, apparently after some moment of late-night clarity, McLaurin sent a crass yet hilarious six-word tweet that will surely be on the front of a bootleg T-shirt sold in Champaign next winter. The final three letters of the four-letter curse word are blacked out in case any innocent eyes are reading this.

McLaurin, who averaged 9.7 points and 7.6 rebounds as a junior last season, will be eligible immediately at Illinois next season since he is graduating from Coastal Carolina this spring. The 6-foot-8 big man should have an opportunity to crack first-year coach John Groce's rotation as an undersized low-post presence who shoots a high percentage and seldom strays far from the basket.

The language of McLaurin's tweet caused enough of a stir that he felt the need to apologize for it later Thursday.

"Hey everyone sorry about my language last night," McLaurin tweeted. "I was just extremely excited to be part of #illinination."

Jordan Hulls shoots over Marquis Teague (Getty Images)One of the great laments among people in college basketball circles is that the sport is gradually eroding in national relevance for all but the six-week sprint from middle of February to the end of the NCAA tournament.

Alas, with shortsighted decisions like the one administrators at Kentucky and Indiana made this week, can you blame many fans for choosing to ignore the majority of the regular season?

Indiana announced Thursday that it will not renew its series with Kentucky next season due to the Wildcats' insistence the games be moved to neutral sites rather than rotating between the two campuses. That means the series will take its first hiatus since 1969 in a year when the Wildcats are coming off their eighth national championship, the Hoosiers are likely to be next year's preseason No. 1 team and interest in both programs is at its zenith.

Uh, brilliant decision, guys.

"While we understand that such neutral site games could be quite lucrative, we think the series should be continued as it is, home and home," Indiana athletic director Fred Glass said in a statement. "Playing on campus enables our students to attend these marquee games which we believe is a great component of the overall college experience. Playing in the historic venues that are Assembly Hall and Rupp Arena is also a tremendous experience for our student-athletes."

The race to spin this decision as the fault of one side or the other had already begun even before Indiana's announcement was released.

Those in red point out it's likely not a coincidence Kentucky no longer wants to play in Bloomington the year after the Hoosiers upset the Wildcats in front of a crowd so raucous a few fans in blue got swept up in the ensuing court-storming. With Indiana back among the elite again, it certainly wouldn't be as easy for Kentucky to continue its recent dominance in the series if it has to play in that hostile atmosphere once every two years.

Tyler Harris (AP)When North Carolina State announced Wednesday afternoon that forward Tyler Harris intends to transfer, some speculated he might be leaving because he expects the Wolfpack to land coveted recruit Amile Jefferson at his position.

In reality, it doesn't sound like the decision had anything to do with Jefferson.

Harris' father told USA Today that his son is leaving NC State because the coaching staff didn't give him the playing time he earned in practice as a freshman, but the argument becomes far less cogent as it goes along.

"It's not about shying away from competition, my son has never done that," Torrell Harris told the paper. "He loves to compete. He played well in practice and wasn't rewarded. He was good enough to hold an All-American (Kansas' Thomas Robinson) scoreless for seven minutes in the Sweet 16, but when the team lost six games in a row, they never changed their rotation to play him. He wasn't recruited by Mike Gottfried, and he wanted to play his players."

There are as many errors in the final two sentences of the above quote as in an average Little League game, so let's correct a few of them here.

First, NC State's head coach is Mark Gottfried, not Mike. Second, Harris didn't hold Robinson scoreless for seven minutes. The Kansas star had a layup and a free throw and outscored Robinson 3-0 during that span. Third, NC State never lost six straight games. It had a four-game losing streak in February against North Carolina, Florida State, Duke and Clemson. 

Przemek Karnowski (via FIBA.com)At a time when elite recruits make their college choice at news conferences with a row of hats in front of them and their family at their side, one of the top available prospects in the Class of 2012 chose a school with considerably less fanfare.

Przemek Karnowski, a 7-foot Polish center unknown to all but the most diehard fans, said on Twitter on Wednesday morning that he will attend Gonzaga in the fall.

Karnowski's subdued announcement didn't draw the attention those of Nerlens Noel, Shabazz Muhammad or Tony Parker did last month, but the few who have seen him play insist he'll make a considerable impact as soon as next season at Gonzaga.

Jonathon Givony of DraftExpress tweeted that Karnowski is a "McDonald's All-American-type recruit" who is more ready to contribute immediately than elite future Pittsburgh big man Steven Adams. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla called Karnowski a "huge get" for the Zags and compared him with Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. And in an email to Yahoo! Sports, Christophe Ney of EuropeanProspects.com said Karnowski will fit in well with returning Gonzaga stars Kevin Pangos and Elias Harris.

"Karnowski is a technically skilled and physical left-handed big," Ney said. "A real low post player, using a lot of fakes and moves. Mainly using his left hand to start his moves, often with a dribble. Likes to hit the turnaround jump shot. Good passer, sometimes a bit too much. Not very athletic but improving in terms of explosiveness.

"He should become a great target for Pangos drives but also create spaces with his shooting capabilities around the key for Harris."

European players sometimes can be overhyped before they arrive in the U.S. because fewer scouts and analysts get to evaluate them, but there's reason to believe Karnowski may be an impact player for Gonzaga.

Almost two decades after Michael Jordan definitively proved it isn't easy to transition from high level basketball to baseball, two other prominent basketball players offered another reminder.

Ohio State stars William Buford and Jared Sullinger found throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Triple-A Columbus Clippers game Tuesday night to be a bit more difficult than they expected.

Buford air-mailed his throw badly enough that the catcher had to get out of his crouch and reach up over his head to snag it. Clearly that made Sullinger paranoid of doing the same thing because the NBA-bound big man then bounced his attempt a few feet shy of home plate.

By no means were these anywhere close to the worst first pitch attempts we've witnessed from athletes — point guard John Wall and gymnast Shawn Johnson are top contenders for that title. Nonetheless, Buford and Sullinger were bad enough that they both ribbed each other about it afterward.

"He definitely out-threw me since it almost went into the stands," Sullinger joked in a TV interview with NBC4i.com. "I was trying to be polite. I didn't want (the catcher) to have to jump up and catch the ball like William made him to do." 

Brad Stevens and Shawn Vanzant (AP)

If anyone was still clinging to the charming yet antiquated notion of Butler as college basketball's little engine that could, Wednesday's announcement the Bulldogs are joining the Atlantic 10 should finally shatter that myth once and for all.

Ditching the backwaters of the Horizon League for a stronger, more high-profile league is a step up in class the program has been building toward since even before the first of its back-to-back national title game appearance in 2010 and 2011.

Yes, Butler will have to upgrade its facilities, increase its guarantee game budget and keep recruiting at a high level to annually contend in the Atlantic 10, but that evolution was already underway long before Wednesday's news conference.

Twenty-six percent of Butler's athletic budget was spent on men's basketball last season, a commitment comparable to the 31 percent Gonzaga currently allots. The school extended coveted coach Brad Stevens' contract through the 2021-22 season at a salary believed to be more than $1 million per year and is in the midst of giving historic Hinkle Fieldhouse a $25 million facelift.

On the recruiting front, Butler also has altered its approach since 2010. Stevens still puts a premium on finding high-character kids willing to adapt to his "Butler Way," yet the Bulldogs have also recruited more well-known talent that would have been outside their grasp before the notoriety the Final Four runs provided.

They were a finalist along with North Carolina and Indiana for Cody Zeller, one of the nation's top centers in the 2011 class. They landed Arkansas transfer Rotnei Clarke, a sharpshooter coveted by many elite programs. They signed top 100 prospect Kellen Dunham in the Class of 2012. And they secured a commitment from top 100 power forward Nolan Berry and have offers out to at least a trio of other even more highly ranked Class of 2013 recruits.

Tim Abromaitis (AP)Since the NCAA typically only grants a sixth year of eligibility to athletes who have missed two full seasons due to injury, Notre Dame knew its petition to get sharpshooter Tim Abromaitis back next year was unlikely to succeed.

Nonetheless, the Irish have every right to be disappointed by the NCAA's callous decision not to give the senior forward back the season denied to him by an untimely ACL tear last November.

Abromaitis is an ideal representative for what NCAA officials like to say college basketball should be about even if the first season he redshirted was due to the limited playing time available to him rather than injury.

He's a three-time Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, a two-time academic All-American and an active participant in various forms of community service. Since he earned a degree in finance a year ahead of schedule in 2010 and became one of the youngest ever to earn his MBA at Notre Dame 11 months later, coach Mike Brey joked in January that he might have to enroll Abromaitis in law school if he returned next season.

The NCAA always likes to insist it judges every situation on a case-by-case basis, but if Abromaitis isn't the type of kid worthy of an exception, who is? How many other all-conference caliber players can balance academics, basketball and a social life in the manner that he did?

Abromaitis, of course, is too classy to complain. He admitted to the Chicago Tribune that it's "disappointing" but insisted he will not appeal the decision because he "decided one rejection would be enough."