George Beamon hopes to lead Manhattan to a MAAC title two years after a 6-25 season (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. 18 league, the MAAC.

In coach Steve Masiello's first season at Manhattan, the Jaspers went from laughingstock of the MAAC the previous year to one of the league's best teams.

Now the Jaspers will try to prove the nation's biggest turnaround was no fluke.

Returning for Manhattan is league player of the year candidate George Beamon and three other starters from the team that won 21 games and finished 12-6 in the MAAC last season just one year after the program bottomed out during a disastrous 6-25 campaign. The Jaspers also add a large recruiting class that should push the returners in practice and give the program greater depth than it had a year ago.

Manhattan's best returning player is definitely Beamon, a 6-foot-4 all-league wing who can beat opposing defenders off the dribble or from behind the arc. Beamon scored in double figures in every game he played last season, averaging 19.0 points and 5.6 rebounds and shooting 42.7 percent from behind the arc.

Headlining the supporting cast for Beamon is sophomore Emmy Andujar, a versatile 6-6 forward capable of producing double-digit points, rebounds or assists any given night. Defensive standout Rhamel Brown led the MAAC in blocked shots despite logging only 19.1 minutes per game off the bench, while point guard Michael Alvarado became a more efficient scorer last season but still needs to cut down on his turnovers. 

Andrew Lawrence was one of two collegiate players at the Olympics (Getty Images)

Five years after he abandoned his dreams of playing professional soccer only months after he began dabbling in basketball, College of Charleston guard Andrew Lawrence still remembers the stunned reactions of his friends and coaches.

Lawrence was a promising striker on the U-16 team for Chelsea F.C., perennially one of the strongest sides in the Premier League. The London native isn't certain he would ever have been one of the lucky few who receive a call-up, but he believes he had enough talent to play soccer professionally in England's second or third division at the very least.

"It was tough because I was decent in soccer and I could have had a career in it," Lawrence said. "Basketball is not as high-profile as a lot of other sports in England, especially soccer, so all my friends gave me a little bit of a hard time. This summer, they realized why I did it."

Indeed any lingering doubts about Lawrence's gamble melted away in July when the 6-foot-1 senior learned he made Great Britain's Olympic basketball team. Lawrence was one of only two U.S. collegiate players to play in the Olympics, joining Saint Mary's senior Matthew Dellavedova, who started at point guard for Australia.

Having the chance to play in the Olympics in his hometown was a dream opportunity for Lawrence, so it's difficult for him to pinpoint one favorite memory.

He joined the rest of his countrymen and women entering Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony as 80,000 fans chanted, "Team GB." He shook hands and snapped photos with numerous Olympic luminaries, from Michael Phelps, to Usain Bolt to British double gold medal-winning distance runner Mo Farrah. And he enjoyed some success on the court, carving out a spot in his team's rotation and helping spark Great Britain to a win over China for the country's first-ever basketball victory in the Olympics.

Jake Cohen hopes to lead Davidson back to the NCAA tournament (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. 19 league, the Southern Conference.

Davidson may not have a star the caliber of Stephen Curry, but next season's Wildcats will probably be deeper and more well-rounded than the team the future NBA lottery pick took to the Elite Eight 4 1/2 years ago.

Five starters and a handful of key reserves return after the program won 25 games last year, rolled to the Southern Conference title and pushed Final Four-bound Louisville into the final minutes in a opening-round NCAA tournament game in Portland.

The headliners are the two forwards, 6-foot-7 junior De'Mon Brooks and 6-foot-10 senior Jake Cohen. Brooks is an efficient scorer in the paint who averaged 15.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season, while Cohen flashed the league's best inside-outside game, scoring 14.3 points, grabbing 6.1 rebounds and flummoxing opposing defenders with his ability to score from the perimeter or down low.

Although interior depth is a bit of a concern for the Wildcats, perimeter talent is another one of their strengths. Nik Cochran is a veteran point guard who can shoot the deep ball or attack the rim off the dribble, JP Kuhlman is a slasher who can also handle the ball and Chris Czerapowicz is a shooter with good size for his position.

Davidson's schedule is challenging enough that an at-large NCAA bid is conceivable with enough non-league wins, but the Wildcats may have to rely on the Southern Conference's automatic bid. If so, there are a handful of teams that will pose a significant threat.

New Mexico State is one of three schools committed to the WAC beyond this season (US Presswire)

In its tumultuous recent history, the Western Athletic Conference's turnstiles have spun faster than those at amusement parks during the summer.

An astonishing 24 schools have left the NCAA's most volatile league since 1999, forcing officials to abandon football after this season and sending them scrambling to secure a future for the WAC in other sports.

[More: Wisconsin players meet President Obama, talk hoops and get LSAT tips]

With the national landscape still in flux and only New Mexico State, Seattle and Denver still members of the WAC beyond the 2012-13 school year, it raises the question whether the WAC's 50th basketball season could also be its final one. Both commissioner Jeff Hurd and athletic directors from the remaining schools acknowledge that's a possibility, yet they're hopeful they'll be able to reinvent the WAC anew via the addition of new member schools in time for the 2013-14 school year.

"I'm confident we'll reemerge as a non-football league," Hurd said. "We're working hard to maintain the WAC brand and conference. I'm not naive. I understand the obstacles that are there. But at the same time, I also look at this as a challenge that certainly has answers. I look forward to the time 3 to 5 years from now when I can look back on these days and know we built something pretty good."

For the WAC to retain its automatic bids to NCAA tournaments in all sports after this season, it must sponsor a minimum of six men's and six women's sports and have at least seven members that compete in Division I men's and women's basketball. Hurd would eventually like the WAC to become a 10- or 12-team conference, but his immediate goal is to satisfy those requirements.

Whereas other conferences have enjoyed the luxury of adding new schools out of opportunity, the WAC is expanding for the purpose of survival. Few schools will likely be willing to leave the security of their current conferences to come to an unstable WAC, so Hurd may have to seek out Division I independents and Divison II schools with an interest in moving up.

Preston Medlin (AP)

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. 20 league, the WAC.

Utah State won 23 or more games every season from 2000 to 2011 and advanced to the NCAA tournament eight of those years, a track record of consistency few programs can match.

Now the Aggies will take on a new, less familiar challenge: They're going to have to figure out how to bounce back from a frustrating season.

A fourth-place finish in the WAC and a CIT title game run might be reason to celebrate for some programs, but it was cause for hand wringing at Utah State. Not even seven wins in the Aggies' final nine games could salvage a season bogged down by injuries, inconsistent frontcourt play and a handful of unusual home losses.

Utah State doesn't appear formidable enough to contend for an at-large NCAA tournament berth in its final season before leaving for the Mountain West, but the Aggies do have the talent to improve on last year's results and make a run one last WAC title.

Any reason for optimism in Logan begins with Preston Medlin, the all-conference guard who averaged 17.0 points per game as a sophomore, showed the ability to get to the rim and shot 42.8 percent from behind the arc. Medlin's elevated play during the second half of last season contributed to Utah State's strong finish.

Wisconsin players pose with President Obama (Scout Tufankjian for Obama for America)

Despite a two-day Twitter crusade, a formal request and some local and national publicity, Wisconsin forward Zach Bohannon's campaign to get President Obama to play a pick-up game with the Badgers was probably a long shot.

Luckily for Bohannon, one of his teammates had a little more juice.

When guard George Marshall heard his teammates talking Thursday morning about the slim chance of meeting Obama during his visit to Madison that day, it suddenly dawned on the Chicago native he had a connection who might be able to make it happen.

Marshall called former AAU teammate Alex Nesbitt, a basketball player at Harvard who is also the godson of Obama and the youngest son of the president's closest friend. Since Nesbitt's father Marty Nesbitt happened to be traveling with the president, he was able to ask Obama to carve out a few minutes in his schedule to meet privately with the Badgers.

"I heard President Obama was coming, but it never really crossed my mind until this morning I might be able to make it happen," Marshall said. "Maybe if I'd reached [Marty Nesbitt] earlier, we might have been able to play basketball with him, who knows? But it still was a great experience I'll remember the rest of my life."

Even though the Wisconsin players only had about five minutes with Obama before his speech Thursday afternoon, they still made the most of their opportunity.

Andrew and Aaron Harrison (Getty Images)

On Sunday afternoon, John Calipari, Mark Turgeon and Larry Brown will be among the five coachesconducting a clinic for coaches and fans at SMU's Moody Coliseum.

Only Calipari will have bragging rights.

Calipari landed the most significant package deal in recent college basketball history when Andrew and Aaron Harrison announced live on national TV they'll attend Kentucky in fall 2013. The Harrison twins, Rivals.com's No. 3 and 4 recruits in their class, chose the Wildcats over Maryland and SMU.

"I think Coach Calipari presented a challenge for us," Aaron Harrison said. "He told us from day one it was going to be hard, it was going to be tough, he was going to push us every day. That's what we really wanted to hear. We just want to become better players."

That Calipari managed to land the Harrison twins only reinforces his status as college basketball's premier recruiter. No other coach in the nation would have been able to out-duel Maryland for the Texas natives given the many, many advantages the Terps had in their quest to land them.

Maryland would have been attractive to the twins no matter what since their father, Aaron Sr., is a Baltimore native. The Terps became even more appealing when they hired Turgeon, who began pursuing Andrew and Aaron at Texas A&M when they were in seventh grade and has made them his top priority since coming to College Park. It also helps that Maryland has Shaquille Cleare, a friend and former AAU teammate of the twins.

Pat Summitt (Getty Images)UPDATE: In a statement released Friday afternoon, Pat Summitt attempted to clear up the "misunderstandings" caused by the release of her sworn affidavit this week by insisting she was not forced to retire.

"It was entirely my decision to step down from my position as Head Coach of women's basketball at the University of Tennessee," Summitt said. "As I stated at my press conference in April when I announced my decision, I loved being the Head Coach for 38 years, but, after consultation with my son, my doctors, my lawyer, and several close friends, I concluded that the time had come to move into the future and step into a new role.

"I did not then, and I do not now, feel that I was "forced out" by the University. Anyone who knows me knows that any such effort would have met with resistance. If my affidavit has caused confusion on that point, it needs to be dispelled."

Six months after Pat Summitt insisted it was her decision to step away from the program she built into a national power, evidence has surfaced suggesting the legendary Lady Vols coach may have been coerced into retiring.

In a signed affidavit that's part of a lawsuit filed against the University of Tennessee by former Lady Vols media director Debby Jennings, Summitt said she felt athletic director Dave Hart was forcing her to step down due to her early-onset dementia. Summitt said she and Hart met one-on-one on March 14 just before the Lady Vols left for Chicago to begin NCAA tournament play.

"Dave Hart indicated to me that I would not be coaching the Lady Vol Basketball Team in the next school year (2012-13) and he planned to name Holly Warlick as the head coach," Summitt wrote.