(USA Today Sports Images)The NCAA gave men's college basketball programs some needed flexibility this week when it approved a rule change allowing preseason practices to begin six weeks before the first game of the season.

That means fans can count on some programs holding Midnight Madness, which traditionally starts the build up to the season, as early as Oct. 1.

It also could mean we'll see more of those events in the future with the proliferation of conference networks and the need for programming. The earlier date would give more programs a chance to be in the spotlight, though that obviously had nothing to do with the rule change.

Jud Heathcote and Tom Izzo (USA Today Sports Images)What do you get when you combine Mark Hollis' scheduling ingenuity and Tom Izzo's willingness to challenge his team in non-league play?

Another really creative early-season idea.

Michigan State is trying to honor legendary ex-Spartans coach Jud Heathcote by organizing a Dec. 7 doubleheader in his hometown of Spokane, Hollis told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday. The doubleheader would feature four teams with ties to Heathcote, with Michigan State facing Gonzaga in one game and Montana and Washington State squaring off in the other.

Heathcote, 85, served as the head coach at Montana from 1971-76 and was an assistant at Washington State prior to that. Since returning to Spokane after retiring at Michigan State in 1995, Heathcote has become close with Gonzaga coach Mark Few.

The event would hold special significance to Izzo and Hollis because both view Heathcote as a mentor. Heathcote, 85, hired Izzo as an assistant and Hollis as a student manager during his 19-year tenure as Michigan State coach. Hollis told the Free-Press he intends to invite every Michigan State player and student manager from Heathcote's era to fly out to the game at the university's expense and participate in a tribute event for Heathcote on the eve of the game.

First of all, how cool will that be for Heathcote if it comes together?

Perry Ellis and Naadir Tharpe (Getty Images)

Just because all five Kansas starters are either graduating or turning pro doesn't mean the Jayhawks are scheduling like it's a transition year.

In fact, Kansas coach Bill Self has assembled a non-conference slate as difficult as any he has ever put together.

Depending on the draw in the formidable Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, Kansas could face as many as seven preseason top 25 teams before the start of Big 12 play. The only surefire wins on the schedule are Louisiana Monroe, Toledo and ... well ... that's pretty much it unless you think quality mid-majors Towson and Iona pose no threat.

The marquee games on the schedule are a Nov. 12 matchup with Duke in Chicago, a Dec. 10 visit to Florida and the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30. The Blue Devils may have the best perimeter talent in the nation next season, the Gators are likely to start the season in the top 10 and the Battle 4 Atlantis field includes the likes of Tennessee, Villanova, Xavier and Iowa.

Besides those matchups, Kansas still has a handful of other challenging games against quality teams.

A Dec. 7 visit to old Big 12 foe Colorado will be difficult with the Buffs returning four of five starters and likely to contend with Arizona and UCLA for the Pac-12 crown. Games against Mountain West favorite New Mexico in Kansas City and new Big East contender Georgetown in Lawrence will also be tough. Heck, even a Jan. 5 visit from rebuilding San Diego State is no gimme, especially if the Aztecs have found new scorers to replace departed stars Jamaal Franklin and Chase Tapley by then.

Josiah Turner (USA Today Sports Images)

If Josiah Turner thought the low point of his basketball career was being asked to leave Arizona last spring amid drug and alcohol problems, the highly touted point guard quickly learned things could get tougher.

The Hungarian pro team he originally signed with last fall housed him in a filthy, bedbug-infested apartment so dilapidated his agent removed him from the team after only one month. The Canadian pro team he joined after leaving Hungary informed him in January his services were no longer required after he repeatedly clashed with the head coach. And even after a successful second-half of the season with another Canadian team, Turner still had to return to Arizona and serve two days in prison as a result of a DUI charge from the previous year.

"Everything I've been through has served a purpose because it has humbled me and forced me to mature," Turner recently told Yahoo! Sports. "I'm more focused and disciplined now. I'll never go down a bad path again."

The challenge now facing Turner is to prove that to skeptical scouts and general managers before next month's NBA draft. He'll have his first opportunity on Saturday in Los Angeles when representatives of about 10 NBA teams attend one of his workouts and visit with him afterward.

Though the 2013 draft is especially weak at point guard and the 6-foot-3 Turner has the size, court vision and explosiveness NBA teams covet at the position, raw ability alone may not be enough to get the Sacramento native drafted in even the second round.

He'll have to persuade executives from NBA teams he has matured enough that alcohol and marijuana are no longer issues and that he won't continue to butt heads with coaches the way he did in high school and college. It also wouldn't hurt if he showed improvement in his ability to sink an outside shot coming off a pick and roll, a liability both at Arizona and in Canada.

Artist rendering of Jerry Tarkanian statue (UNLV athletics)

When I heard last week that UNLV would be unveiling a statue of former coach Jerry Tarkanian outside the Thomas & Mack Center, I immediately wondered the same thing I'm sure most people did.

Would Tarkanian be chewing on a towel?

Sure enough, artist renderings UNLV unveiled at a press conference Wednesday evening show Tarkanian sitting in a folding chair clad in his trademark short-sleeved shirt and tie and holding a towel to his mouth. The bronze statue, created by sculptor Brian Hanlon of Toms River, N.J., is expected to be finished sometime this summer.

"It's a real nice honor," the 82-year-old Tarkanian said at Wednesday's ceremony. "It means a lot to me, my family and the [former] players. It's really nice that the kids who were in the program are now being recognized for their accomplishments."

The statue for Tarkanian is the latest proof that the legendary coach is finally getting the recognition he deserves, albeit at a time when his failing health makes it difficult for him to appear in public anymore. Last month, it was announced during the Final Four in Atlanta that Tarkanian was finally voted into the Naismith Hall of Fame, a long overdue honor for a man who won 729 games and led UNLV to four Final Fours and the 1990 national championship.

Parody songs are rarely more clever than this takeoff on Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" released Wednesday by Syracuse sketch comedy group "Humor Whore."

Entitled "Boeheimian Rhapsody," the song mimics Queen's original music video with its shadows, lighting and sequencing while mixing in scenes of well-known Syracuse landmarks. The lyrics poke fun at every aspect of the Syracuse basketball program and celebrate a 2012-13 season that exceeded expectations but ended two victories shy of a second national championship.

They bemoan Trevor Cooney's ill-fated errant shot with Syracuse down three in the final seconds against Michigan in the Final Four. They lament Jim Boeheim's tendency to pick his nose with TV cameras rolling. And best of all they take a shot at the player whose academic woes derailed Syracuse's Final Four bid the previous year, introducing the concept of "Good Melo" (Carmelo Anthony) and "Bad Melo" (Fab Melo)."

Humor Whore member Nick Ferreiro, 19, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that he, Samii Ruddy, 21, and Matt Del Greco, 22, wrote the Boeheimian lyrics together in about two weeks and filmed it over the next three weekends. The video has more than 5,000 views on YouTube in less than 24 hours and it has been well received so far among Syracuse fans and rival fans alike.

Tweeted Georgtown fan site @CasualHoya, "This 'Boeheimian Rhapsody' is the best thing to ever come out of Syracuse. By far."

John Calipari and Alex Poythress (Getty Images)

Outside the victorious Kentucky locker room not long after the 2012 national title game ended, John Calipari admitted he had even larger goals than merely winning his first championship.

(via CatsIllustrated.com)He told a small group of reporters he wants to coach a team that goes 40-0.

Next year's unprecedented recruiting class might give Calipari his best chance yet to chase perfection, but attaining it will not be easy with the non-conference schedule the Kentucky coach has assembled. The Wildcats will face two teams expected to join them in the preseason top three next year, a third likely top 10 team on the road and a handful of other NCAA tournament contenders either at home or on neutral courts.

The biggest early test is a Nov. 12 matchup in Chicago with a Michigan State team that returns every key player besides Derrick Nix from a team that contended for the Big Ten title and reached the Sweet 16. The Spartans will be much more experienced than the freshman-heavy Wildcats and should start the season no lower than third in the polls.

Among the other marquee games on the non-league schedule are a visit to North Carolina on Dec. 14 and a home game against Louisville on Dec. 28. The Tar Heels have the talent to contend in the ACC thanks to the return of James Michael McAdoo and P.J. Hairston, while the defending champion Cardinals have seven of their top nine back and are the only team besides Kentucky with a legit case to begin the season ranked No. 1.

There are no true road games on the schedule besides the visit to Chapel Hill, but some of the remaining home and neutral-court games will be challenging.

Nerlens Noel is one of nine freshmen in this year's draft (Getty Images)

The official early-entry list the NBA released on Wednesday morning didn't contain too many surprises aside from a handful of low-major and lower-division players who decided to enter the draft. Click here for the full early-entry list and read below for some relevant statistics from this year's list.

77: Early-entry players on this year's list, 45 college underclassmen, 31 international prospects and one post-graduate high school student

60: Number of players selected in every NBA draft

9: Freshmen on this year's list – Steven Adams (Pittsburgh), Anthony Bennett (UNLV), Archie Goodwin (Kentucky), Grant Jerrett (Arizona), Ricky Ledo (Providence), Ben McLemore (Kansas), Shabazz Muhammad (UCLA), Nerlens Noel (Kentucky), Joshua Simmons (Spartanburg Methodist JC)

10.4: Average number of freshmen on list the past five years

13: Sophomores on this year's list

23: Juniors on this year's list