Nerlens Noel and Kelly Melton (via @NerlensNoel3)

Just about anyone would have agreed to be Nerlens Noel's guest at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday evening.

That's why it's so awesome that the former Kentucky star and future lottery pick chose a seven-year-old leukemia patient.

Kelly Melton, who was diagnosed with leukemia in November and has undergone intense chemotherapy since then, accepted an invitation to the Derby from Noel during a hospital visit the 6-foot-11 big man made earlier last week. The above video from the Louisville Courier-Journal shows Noel taking Melton on the red carpet and this heartwarming photo from the Lexington Herald-Leader shows Noel lifting him over puddles so he wouldn't wreck his three-piece suit.

Noel is one of a handful of Kentucky athletes who have gotten to know Melton during the seven-year-old's stay at Kentucky Children's Hospital. New Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops has also made frequent visits, recently inviting Melton to the Wildcats' spring game and awarding him the game ball in the

Ben McLemore (Getty Images)

When Ben McLemore's former AAU coach revealed to USA Today he accepted $10,000 cash and other gifts to steer the Kansas guard toward certain agents, he didn't just create a headache for one of his former players.

He also put the NCAA in a very difficult spot.

Unless evidence emerges proving either McLemore or Kansas coach Bill Self knew about the payments, it doesn't seem fair to punish the Jayhawks for something they neither were part of nor benefited from in the slightest. The money St. Louis-based AAU coach Darius Cobb acknowledged taking from a man trying to worm his way into position to serve as a runner for high-profile agents had nothing to do with McLemore choosing Kansas two years prior.

At the same time, if the NCAA were to follow its rulebook, it would seem to have little choice but to punish Kansas and perhaps even vacate the victories the Jayhawks achieved after Cobb and McLemore's cousin allegedly began accepting cash and gifts. NCAA rules state a player becomes ineligible if he, his relatives or friends accept transportation or other benefits from an agent or representative of an agent.

Acquiring information not already in the USA Today story will not be easy for the NCAA since most of the key figures in the case are under no obligation to cooperate with investigators. Kansas will have questions to answer because would-be runner Rodney Blackstock's name appears on McLemore's pass list for multiple games, but Blackstock's connections to agents don't seem concrete enough to fault school officials for not being aware of them.

That the NCAA isn't facing this quandary more frequently is somewhat surprising because deals like the one would-be runner Rodney Blackstock tried to foster with Cobb are likely pretty common.

Agents, runners and financial advisers often try to cultivate relationships with NBA draft prospects and their families long before the college season ends, a process that often includes payments to family members or former coaches in exchange for their influence. As CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish correctly pointed out Sunday, it's no coincidence many future lottery picks select an agent days after declaring for the draft if not sooner.

(USA Today Sports Images)

Nebraska football is no longer the toughest ticket in town in Lincoln.

Nebraska basketball finished 15-18 last season and in 10th place in the Big Ten Conference, but a sparkling new arena in downtown Lincoln has helped the program sell out the public allotment of tickets for the 2013-14 season despite those results and has started a wait list.

Nebraska announced Friday the 15,147-seat Pinnacle Bank Arena is sold out aside from tickets the school is required to reserve for visiting teams and approximately 100 student tickets.

(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.