The Cincinnati-Xavier series will go on despite last year's brawl (AP)The ugly brawl in the final seconds of last year's Cincinnati-Xavier game won't force the Crosstown Shootout to take a hiatus, but it has led to a change of venue.

For at least the next two seasons, the site of the game will be off campus at the U.S. Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday. Both sides will reevaluate the behavior of the players and fans after that two-year trial period and decide whether the series should continue.

The future of the Crosstown Shootout had been in doubt since last year's Dec. 10 matchup when players from both sides embarrassed themselves with their actions on the floor and their comments afterward.

Four players from both sides were suspended including Cincinnati's Yancy Gates, who missed six games as a result of his right cross that bloodied an unsuspecting Kenny Frease. Xavier guards Mark Lyons and Tu Holloway both received two-game suspensions in part for failing to express remorse in their postgame news conferences.

It's good news both for the city of Cincinnati and college basketball as a whole that school officials didn't overreact and cancel the series because of one hot-headed incident. The brawl was a black mark for both programs, but an isolated incident shouldn't terminate one of the most cherished non-conference rivalries in the sport.

While moving the game to a neutral site will drain some of the atmosphere from the matchup and make it more difficult for students to attend, it's an acceptable temporary compromise under the circumstances.

Bob Thomason (AP)The man who has been the face of Pacific basketball for the past quarter century has opted to step aside and let someone else lead the Tigers into their new era.

Bob Thomason, who has led Pacific to four NCAA tournament appearances and six Big West championships in his 24-year coaching tenure, announced Monday he will retire after the 2012-13 season. That season will be the Tigers' last in the Big West before they move to the West Coast Conference.

"With us going to the WCC, I just think it's the right time to let a new coach lead the team," Thomason said Monday night. "I'll have 25 years of coaching here. I've really enjoyed every moment. I love the university. I have a team next season I think can compete for the Big West. We have nine guys back the following year, so I'll leave the new coach a team. I just think it's the right time."

That Thomason is ready to turn over the keys to the program to another coach is a good for both sides because the timing truly couldn't be better.

Pacific contended for the Big West crown consistently for more than a decade in the 1990s and 2000s, but the program slipped toward the middle of the league in recent years. The Tigers suffered through a 19-loss season a year ago after the top 10 scorers from the previous team departed, sparking criticism about Thomason's commitment to recruiting and ability to retain players.

Thomason's contract was up at the end of next season, but he insists that did not impact his decision to retire. He did acknowledge, however, that he made the announcement now rather than after next season to ensure his status did not become a distraction.

"I didn't want people asking, 'Is coach going to be back next year? Are they renewing his contract?' Thomason said. "That had nothing to do with anything. It's not like I told (athletic director Ted Leland) I wanted a couple more years. I didn't want that. I wanted to let people know, let the players know and then let's go play basketball."

photo via Naismithhome.com

In the market for a new home? Unafraid of some chilly winters? Interested in owning a one-of-a-kind piece of basketball history?

Well, this may be the house for you.

via Naismithhome.comThe Georgian-style three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Almonte, Ontario, where James Naismith grew up is on the market for $1,195,000 Canadian ($1,170,000 USD). Built in 1850 but renovated to meet modern standards, the stone house sits on 45 acres of sprawling farmland replete with three barns.

Naismith left Canada to enroll in YMCA training school in Springfield, Mass., one year before he invented basketball in December 1891, but the farm house in Almonte is where he cultivated his interest in teaching physical education.

According to his biography on the Naismith Museum's website, Naismith excelled in all forms of physical activity as a kid, from chores to sports. He spent long hours every week chopping trees, sawing logs and driving horses on the farm at the request of his uncle. Then when the work was done, he spent the summer swimming, the fall hunting squirrel or partridge and his winter tobogganing and playing ice hockey.

One of Naismith's favorite childhood sports was known as "Duck on a Rock,"  a medieval game which combined tag and throwing. The high-arcing method of throwing a baseball-sized stone to dislodge the rock atop the base rock influenced Naismith years later when he incorporated that same idea into basketball.

If the seven-figure price tag of Naismith's childhood home seems expensive, consider what the two-page document on which he wrote the original 13 rules of basketball sold for in December 2010. A Kansas alum paid $4.3 million in an auction to ensure that document finds a permanent home on the Kansas campus. 

Logan Aronhalt (AP)In dire need of depth and experience at guard after leading scorer Terrell Stoglin abruptly entered the NBA draft last month, Maryland bolstered its backcourt on Sunday with a transfer who it hopes can help immediately.

Logan Aronhalt, a 6-foot-3 shooting guard who averaged 13.8 points and 4.3 rebounds for Albany last season, will enroll at Maryland for his final year of eligibility. The fifth-year senior will be able to play right away rather than sitting out a year because he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in human biology in December.

Seeing Aronhalt resurface at Maryland surprised a current head coach in the America East because the veteran guard lacks the athleticism he possessed early in his career. Chronic knee pain plagued Aronhalt all of last season, limiting him to a total of 26 minutes in Albany's final seven games.

"He has good mid-range game, he can shoot it out to three and he's physical, but I just worry whether athletically he can compete at the highest level because of the injuries he has had," the coach said. "They've kind of taken away his athleticism. Maybe he can use angles and use his body to get to the rim, but it's not going to be above-the-rim type stuff. It's going to be old-school using his craftiness to finish at the rim.

"Now I think, the intangible stuff, he brings to the table. He provides leadership. He's going to be a kid who works hard day-in, day-out. He's a good student. He's a winner. That's probably his biggest asset."

The addition of Aronhalt makes sense for Maryland even if he's not at full strength because the Terps backcourt is riddled with question marks.

Pe'Shon Howard, Maryland's projected starter at point guard, missed the first six weeks of last season with a broken foot, then returned for a month before tearing the ACL in his right knee in early February. He and potential breakout star Nick Faust will likely be part of the starting five, leaving one wing spot open for Aronhalt,  incoming freshmen guard Sam Cassell or promising 6-foot-8 Jake Layman if Maryland chooses to go with a bigger lineup.

VCU coach Shaka Smart (US Presswire)

In the three days since VCU announced it was joining the Atlantic 10 next season, Shaka Smart has reached out to each of the Rams' in-state CAA foes in hopes of continuing the rivalries as part of the non-league slate.

So far the results have been mixed.

Smart said Friday he's "98 or 99 percent sure" the Rams will begin a series with former CAA rival Old Dominion next season in Norfolk. He has met more resistance in talks with George Mason, James Madison and William & Mary, partially because their schedules for next season are mostly done and partially because they're unsure if they want to continue playing VCU.

"This is a bold move that we at VCU have made," Smart said. "I think there's certainly some people that don't like the move we made, but I think the people down at Old Dominion understand the importance of the rivalry we have with them. I'm almost positive we're going to be able to continue that and play this year. They said it would have to be at their place, so we're going to accommodate that."

If George Mason or the other Virginia CAA schools decide to turn down VCU's offer, it certainly wouldn't be the first time conference realignment jeopardized a regional rivalry.

Kansas has refused to schedule Missouri for the foreseeable future now that the Tigers are SEC-bound. The future of the West Virginia-Pittsburgh rivalry is also in doubt. And Baylor women's coach Kim Mulkey made it abundantly clear she won't schedule Texas A&M once the Aggies leave for the SEC by hearkening back to the divorce she previously endured.

"My feeling is this," she said. "If a man wants to divorce me and says our relationship has no value to him, and then he asks me if he can sleep with me, the answer is: No!"

Even though it's easy to criticize college basketball's one-and-done system for turning education into a necessary evil, it's important to remember there are players who work to become the exception to that rule.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the longtime NBA forward who turned pro in 1996 after one season at California, never gave up on his education. The 35-year-old took classes sporadically throughout his 13-year NBA career and more regularly since he retired, earning a degree in sociology from Cal on Monday with a 3.8 GPA no less.

"I started, so I wanted to at some point finish," Abdur-Rahim told Cal's official athletics site. "I was here a while ago, I had a good freshman year and I left early, but I always had a goal of wanting to come back and finish earning my degree. I just wanted to set an example for my children, younger brothers and sisters and any other younger athletes that left school early."

North Carolina's Vince Carter and Georgetown's Jeff Green are among the underpublicized group of other NBA players who have earned their diplomas despite leaving college early, but few have done it under the circumstances Abdur-Rahim did.

Not many players would be dedicated enough to take the equivalent of three full years of classes after being selected No. 3 overall in the 1996 NBA draft and making millions of dollars a year for more than a decade. And not many players would make the commute between Sacramento and Berkeley for classes the past couple years while also serving as the assistant general manager for the Kings.

It's fitting that Abdur-Rahim would be the one to buck that trend because he never wanted to leave Cal in the first place. Even after scoring 21 points per game as a freshman and being named Pac-10 Player of the Year, Abdur-Rahim changed his mind several times before entering the draft, ultimately turning pro because it was the financially responsible decision.

Steve Orsini, left, SMU President R.Gerald Turner, center, and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith pose for photo (AP)

In Steve Orsini's tenure as SMU athletic director, he revitalized the football program by hiring June Jones, he orchestrated the school's move to the Big East and he landed Larry Brown after an admittedly meandering, overambitious basketball coaching search.

Surely that success earned him a contract extension, right? Uh, apparently not.

In a move that apparently surprised even those within the athletic department, SMU announced Thursday afternoon that it has fired Orsini with three years left on his contract. The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday evening that a growing clash between Orsini and school president R. Gerald Turner led to the termination.

"After several discussions over the last few weeks it became apparent to me that it was necessary to make this change," Turner said in a statement released by the school. "While we both are committed to the support of our student-athletes and coaches, a unified effort is required for future progress."

The most bizarre aspect of Orsini's firing is the timing of it.

If Turner had lost faith in Orsini's ability to lead SMU's athletic department, why let him lead the school's search for a new basketball coach that culminated in the hiring of Brown less than a month ago? Orsini did bungle the search by going after unattainable candidates like Marquette's Buzz Williams and Harvard's Tommy Amaker, yet he also salvaged things by making a splashy, albeit controversial hire.

Ultimately, it appears the falling out between Turner and Orsini must have escalated in the past few weeks. We may never know what happened between the two administrators, but chances are it wasn't an amicable parting.

Murray State fans before last season's game against Saint Mary's (US Presswire)

With an All-American candidate and five other rotation players back from a team that won 31 games last season and fell just a few buckets shy of the Sweet 16, Murray State enters next year with high expectations once again.

That's great news for the Racers in every respect except one: Scheduling.

Opposing coaches are wary of agreeing to home-and-home series with Murray State since the Racers are good enough to beat anyone next season yet don't carry the prestige of a high-major or more established mid-major. As a result, Murray State coach Steve Prohm has been unable to fill two vacant home dates because potential opponents either aren't willing to come to Murray or aren't good enough to help the Racers' quest to contend for an at-large bid again.

"It's just tough," Prohm said. "We've still got to get two more home games because so far we're on the road for a tournament and four other games. We haven't gotten anything confirmed yet, but hopefully we can get a couple good programs in here that can help us in the long run."

Since Murray State plays in a league that was 21st in RPI last season even with the Racers' unprecedented success, Prohm knows the only way his team can build a resume worthy of an at-large bid is to notch marquee wins out of conference. Therefore he's trying to put together a schedule that strikes a perfect balance between giving the Racers ample chances to pick up big wins but not over-challenging them.

On Wednesday, Prohm accepted an invitation to the Charleston Classic, a solid eight-team tournament in mid-November featuring Baylor, Colorado, St. John's, Auburn, Dayton, Boston College and Charleston. Murray State previously agreed to a home game against Western Kentucky and road games at Dayton, Lipscomb, Evansville and Arkansas State.