(photos via Complex.com)

If the alternate jerseys Maryland will be wearing against Kentucky on Nov. 9 appear to be merely the latest abominable example of college basketball's newfound infatuation with gray, then take a closer look.

(Photo via Complex.com)Those aren't just basic ugly gray jerseys. They're ugly gray jerseys with a textured pattern meant to resemble wool.

Since the season-opening Kentucky matchup will be held at the brand-new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Under Armour chose the unusual look to honor the Brooklyn Dodgers. The faux-wool jersey is supposed to be reminiscent of 1950s-style baseball uniforms, while the Maryland script is both something the Terps have worn previously and another homage to baseball.

"The expectation is for teams to come out in unique uniforms for big games," Adam Clement, Under Armour's lead designer for uniforms, said in a statement. "We worked with the school to do something that showed the appreciation for sports in Brooklyn."

The gray jerseys are just one of a myriad of new looks Maryland will be unveiling next season. Expect the Terps to also don a "Pride" basketball jersey modeled after the state flag and reminiscent of the ones the football program wore during the 2011 season.

Whereas the preliminary design of the Pride jerseys appears to be bold yet tasteful, these Brooklyn jerseys don't hold the same appeal.

Tyler Haws (US Presswire)

At the same time as Jimmermania was spreading across the nation during BYU's remarkable 32-win 2010-11 season, the kid who'd have been the starting small forward on that team was 7,000 miles away in a country he knew little about a few months earlier.

Tyler Haws admits he sometimes thinks about whether he could have helped that BYU team go even further than the Sweet 16 had he been there to help on the floor rather than getting weekly updates from his dad via email. Nonetheless, the 6-foot-5 sophomore feels he made the right decision taking two years away from basketball to serve a Mormon mission in the Philippines.

"I never felt any regret," Haws said. "I was happy for what was going on at BYU, but I knew I was supposed to be in the Philippines. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. That experience over there, those two years, will be something I reflect on the rest of my life."

A more mature, more well-rounded Haws returned from the Philippines last April with his mind at ease but his body out of shape. Since he seldom had time to play basketball more than a few times a month during his mission and the competition wasn't exactly Division I caliber, Haws lost 10 pounds of muscle, much of the stamina he'd built up and any semblance of his shooting touch.

In the first few months after he returned to campus, Haws spent long hours lifting weights and conditioning before gradually easing his way back into playing pickup games again and working on his all-around game. Finally back in basketball shape, he hopes to build on the promise he showed before his mission when he started 33 games as a freshman and averaged 11.3 points and 4.2 rebounds.

"It was a pretty weird feeling  this summer playing pickup games again for the first time in a couple years," Haws said. "I remember getting the ball and being like, 'OK, what do I do with it? Am I supposed to dribble?' Obviously it was rough at the start trying to find my game again and get back into it, but eventually it came back. I feel really comfortable right now."

Gonzaga's run of conference titles ended last season (Getty Images)

Yahoo! Sports is breaking down each league for the upcoming college basketball season working backward from No. 31 to No. 1. Here's a look at our No. 9 league, the West Coast Conference

If Gonzaga has ruled the WCC with an iron fist for more than a decade, two developments last season suggested the Zags' grip is loosening a bit.

First BYU came aboard, providing Gonzaga another worthy foil. Then Saint Mary's swept the regular season and conference tournament titles, serving notice that the Gaels remain a threat and snapping a 15-year run in which the Zags won at least one of those crowns.

Don't expect Gonzaga to cede control of the conference, however, because the Zags are loaded once again next season. They lost center center Robert Sacre to graduation, but they return standout sophomore guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell and easily the deepest frontcourt in the league.

The starters will probably be Elias Harris and Sam Dower, the former a versatile scorer and elite rebounder and the latter a potential breakout star who finally will have the chance to blossom now that Sacre is gone. Canadian Kelly Olynyk is a capable third big man off the bench who benefited from a redshirt year last year, while promising 7-foot freshman Przemek Karnowski from Poland also could make an impact.

Neither BYU nor Saint Mary's have the frontline depth Gonzaga does, but they're both definitely worthy conference title contenders.

Nerlens Noel (US Presswire)

Two of the top five freshmen in the nation still await word from the NCAA on their status. A third will officially be allowed to play.

Whereas UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson remain in limbo as the NCAA investigates whether they received extra benefits during their recruitment, Kentucky's Nerlens Noel has been cleared to play immediately for the Wildcats. Kentucky coach John Calipari broke the news on ESPN on Wednesday morning and an NCAA spokesman confirmed the news to multiple media outlets Wednesday afternoon.

"He's cleared right now to practice and compete," NCAA spokesman Bob Williams told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

At issue in Noel's recruitment were a series of perceived red flags from his high school days that were initially reported by Pete Thamel in the New York Times and on SI.com. CBSSports.com also reported Wednesday that one of the final issues concerning Noel's amateur status was how he once paid for an unofficial visit to Louisville.

Based on its ruling, it's clear the NCAA could not find concrete evidence Noel accepted any impermissible extra benefits. Noel's status could be reevaluated if the NCAA finds any new evidence, but at this point it appears the 6-foot-11 shot-blocking centerpiece of Kentucky's latest No. 1 recruiting class is good to go.

Not quite so fortunate are Muhammad and Anderson, the two decorated freshmen UCLA recruited to reverse its recent fortunes. UCLA continues to say their status remains unchanged at this point and refused to let either address their respective situations during media availability last week.

Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino shake hands at last year's Syracuse-Louisville game (US Presswire)

Thanks to a friendly war of words between Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino at Big East media day on Wednesday, the two meetings between league contenders Syracuse and Louisville this season promise to be especially entertaining.

Asked about Louisville coach Rick Pitino's assertion that the Big East adding Memphis and Temple "will more than make up for" the impending departure of Syracuse and Pittsburgh, a smiling Boeheim told ZagsBlog.com, "Rick's full of s--- if that's what he really said." Boeheim then went on to express mild annoyance at Pitino's frequent statements that Syracuse would be better off in the Big East than the ACC, noting that Louisville likely would have left for the Big 12 had it received an invitation.

"The only thing I'll say about what Rick said all summer is that if Louisville could have left they would have left," Boeheim said. "Everybody knows it and I'm really tired of him saying what Syracuse should be or should have done because they would have left in a heartbeat. Everybody knows it.

"I don't mind him denying that fact, but when they start talking about Syracuse, I'm going to start talking about them."

Asked for his response to Boeheim's comments by Zagsblog.com, a smiling Pitino joked, "I think he's full of s***, and so we're both full of it." Pitino acknowledged Syracuse may have the stronger brand than either Temple or Memphis but suggested that from a competitive standpoint, the difference wasn't all that significant.

"Anybody who looks at where Memphis has been in the last 10-12 years, anybody who looks at the tradition of Temple and knows Franny Dunphy, would know I'm not full of s***," Pitino said. 

Tulane coach Ed Conroy (Getty Images)

Over dinner on the peanut shell-strewn balcony of an uptown New Orleans bar, Ed Conroy listened to a sales pitch he fully expected to turn down.

From 2006 to 2010, Conroy had transformed the Citadel from a seven-win laughingstock into a winning program, a feat thought to be nearly impossible before he achieved it. Then in spring 2010, Tulane president Scott Cowen and athletic director Rick Dickson tried to persuade him to leave the waterfront house he loved, the school he once played for and the players he'd recruited to tackle a rebuilding project as daunting as the one he'd just completed.

"We were winning more games than the Citadel had ever won, I had a fantastic group of guys and it was my alma mater, a place I really cared about," Conroy said. "Myself and my staff, we weren't looking. But when I came down here and spoke to President Cowen and Rick Dickson about where they thought Tulane could go, I just thought it could be a really neat challenge."

What sold Conroy on leaving the Citadel for Tulane was the opportunity to vie for conference titles in a stronger league and the resources Tulane was willing to spend to make it feasible.

Unlike the Big South, where the conference champion typically became first-round NCAA tournament fodder for an elite program, winning in Conference USA meant national relevance. Furthermore, Cowen and Dickson promised the university had sufficiently recovered from Hurricane Katrina to invest in basketball by beginning construction on a new practice facility, renovating its aging arena and increasing its budget for everything from scheduling to academic support.

Two and a half years after Conroy's surprise move to Tulane, he's beginning to make it look like a wise decision. With Conference USA freshman of the year Ricky Tarrant back for his sophomore season, double-double threat Josh Davis anchoring the frontcourt and 7-footer Tomas Bruha and high-scoring Kendall Timmons back from injury, the Green Wave suddenly appear to have the ingredients necessary for a leap to the upper half of the league standings.

Josh Pastner is still in search of his first NCAA tournament win at Memphis (US Presswire)

Yahoo! Sports is breaking down each league for the upcoming college basketball season working backward from No. 31 to No. 1. Here's a look at our No. 10 league, Conference USA.

In the three seasons after he accepted the unenviable task of following John Calipari at Memphis, Josh Pastner has won a conference title, reached the NCAA tournament twice and thrived on the recruiting trail.

The one goal he has yet to accomplish is postseason success.

Memphis is 0-2 in the NCAA tournament under Pastner, falling to Arizona in 2011 and Saint Louis in 2012. Pastner's success landing top recruits and reestablishing the Tigers as Conference USA's dominant program have earned him patience, but the fan base will no doubt grow a bit restless if that doesn't translate into a March run sooner or later.

The good news for Memphis is it boasts more than enough talent to compete with anyone in the nation next season. Even though Central Florida has a slew of returning talent and Marshall brings back DeAndre Kane and Dennis Tinnon from a 21-win team, the Tigers are clearly a runaway favorite in Conference USA in their final season before joining the Big East.

Memphis' biggest advantage should be in the frontcourt, where it has three players with pro potential. Sophomore Adonis Thomas is an inside-outside threat and junior Tarik Black is a candidate for a breakout season, while promising incoming freshman Shaq Goodwin is unrefined offensively but a difference maker as an athlete.

Bob Knight (AP)If a prominent sports figure puts his medals, plaques or championship rings up for sale, more often than not, it's out of desperation after a spending spree or a bad investment plunged him into debt.

In Bob Knight's case, the reason is apparently far more benevolent.

The legendary former Indiana coach will put some of the most valuable artifacts up for sale in an auction running until Dec. 5 in order to generate some extra money to help pay for the college education of his grandkids and nieces and nephews. Among the items that will be the centerpiece of the auction: Knight's 1988 coach of the year award, his 1984 Olympic gold medal and the rings from his three NCAA title teams at Indiana — including the undefeated 1976 season.

"John Havlicek and I were just talking one day about all the stuff we had accumulated over the years," Knight told the Associated Press. "As we talked we decided the money could be very useful to put our grandchildren through college.

"Sports people are nuts. Look at how much they would pay for Babe Ruth's cap or Honus Wagner's card? I guess these are people who want to own things, things that are the results of what someone else did in sports. I was very pleased there was a market for something like this that my grandkids — I have two grandsons — and my wife has a niece and nephew, who would get good use out of this."

It's hard to imagine Knight needs the money since he transitioned from coaching to an analyst gig at ESPN, but it's still admirable he is looking out for future generations of his family. He also insists he sees so little sentimental value in these items that they've been packed away in boxes in his home for years.