In an effort to make the long, scary college basketball offseason a little bit less so, we're going to be scouring the archives every day for great photos, videos, and stories from NCAA Tournaments past. Today: Deron Williams.

In case you have a hopeless inability to review your own temporal surroundings, you may be interested to know that it's now 2008. I know, right? Crazy. Where does the time go? It was just three years ago that your humble blogger was an undergrad at Indiana University, rooting with all his fiber against an Illinois national championship. Your humble blogger has too many friends in and around the Illinois area that would have made his life miserable had Illinois overcome North Carolina's incredibly talented 2005 squad in the national title game. The taunts would have been so loud. Life would have been barely worth living.

Because of that hatred, I never fully appreciated the mastery of Deron Williams. Instead of relishing his 25-foot threes, I scoffed at Illinois as a team of streak-shooting mini-me's, a batch of lightning in a bottle that Bruce Weber was wisely hitching to, or something; that was like three disjointed metaphors in one sentence. I'm confused.

Anyway, that perception holds, but it doesn't make it any more forgiveable that Williams was so underappreciated, at least to me. I didn't seperate him from Luther Head or Dee Brown. Time, and NBA success, has proven that to be a mistake.

If 2008's NBA Playoffs are teaching me anything about 2005's Final Four, it's that Williams' impact on the 2005 Illini is not to be understated. He's, um, really good at basketball. Where Chris Paul -- his Class of 2005 counterpoint -- is all raw unleashed ability, Williams is a hyperconnected technician. He's brilliant. Thankfully, that brilliance didn't end in college.

Anyway, the above photos is one of Williams' many threes from Illinois' most memorable game in 2005, a 15-point comeback to top Arizona in the regional final in Chicago. Pro-style Williams video, as well as Bruce Weber's horribly classic fist speech, follow the jump.

Before we begin, it's probably important to hammer home that I don't believe O.J. Mayo or Rodney Guillory or USC or anyone, really, is blameless in the now-certain cheating that surrounded USC's basketball program this year. It's pretty obvious that Mayo was complicit in the scandal, that Tim Floyd probably knew something was up but stuck his head in the parquet, and that everyone around the program could have imagined, if they even needed to, that money was changing hands somewhere along the way.

Here's the thing, though: How do you stop it? Is the NCAA even built to deal with this? Or is the one-year rule making it impossible?

It's simple for coaches: With the new breed of one-and-done (soon to be two-and-done) players on campuses, programs have to very, very carefully weigh the potential consequences of signing such players. If a player seems to carry too much baggage -- which Tim Floyd should have realized the minute a Mayo handler walked in to the coach's office -- the coach needs to stay away. Pretty easy stuff.

But for the NCAA at large, there will always be a coach willing to accept a player with Mayo-esque baggage. If big programs, fearful of NCAA retribution, ignore the one-and-done player, there will always be outposts (ahem, Kansas State, ahem) looking for the brief surge of national attention that comes with All-American talent. There will always be places for these players to go. There will always be places for them to cheat.

Which brings us back to the one-year rule. When the NCAA and NBA forged the agreement, it was with the knowledge that both sides benefited: the NCAA got to keep all that talent, and the NBA got to stave off the flood of high school prospects seen to be ruining the league's cohesive image. Both sides are benefiting. Lest we forget, this year's NCAA title game was chock with NBA-ready talent, while the NBA is having one of its most competitive seasons in recent memory.

But the NCAA is also forced to deal with a new problem: the Mayo-esque mercenary with the ability to ruin a program just before jumping to the pros. It's silly to think that in today's recruiting environment, this is limited to only one-year players, but the lack of commitment on the player's side of things makes this a uniquely dangerous situation for programs, and for the NCAA's reputation. These are not scholar-athletes, no matter what those NCAA commercials tell you, and what's worse, they're not staying anywhere close to four years -- Mayo's punishment won't come down for years, long after he's made his pro money. You think he cares if USC gets hit with the NCAA's death penalty?

These players' ability to take the money and run, as Mayo did, with little fear of direct retribution ... well, in the words of that fat Texas cop in No Country for Old Men*: How do you defend against it?

The NCAA can't. Not really. So when the next O.J. Mayo happens -- and it will soon enough -- let's remember that it's not just the evil deeds of an 18-year-old trying to get paid, or the car salesman basketball coach or the shady backroom booster. It's also the NCAA, and its incredibly persistent systemic hypocrisy. Blame everyone.

*Yes, I'm still referencing No Country for Old Men at every opportunity. Get over it.

Or, maybe you turn on ESPN and watch Kelly Naqi go to work on your son with her menacing journalistic hammer.

Outside the Lines aired a thorough and scathing report yesterday about thousands of dollars that were allegedly funneled to Mayo through his high school and college days. It's a long and complex story (and I'd encourage you to read about it/watch it here), but Naqi reported the hell out of it, has plenty of evidence to support her claims, and it all seems very, very convincing.

A fellow named Rodney Guillory, working on behalf of Bill Duffy Associates Sports Management (BDA), is the main focus of the investigation. According to the report, BDA was providing Guillory with a lot of money, and he, in turn, provided a portion of that money to Mayo, in return for Mayo agreeing to hire BDA to represent him as a pro.

Everyone's in denial mode. Mayo denies receiving anything, BDA denies doing anything illegal, and USC says they knew nothing about it. But that isn't stopping Pat Forde from calling for USC, with this on top of the accusations about Reggie Bush receiving improper benefits, to get the death penalty from the NCAA.

That won't be happening, though. USC and the Pac-10 both investigated Mayo's eligibility while he was in school, and neither of them found anything amiss. USC may get a slap on the wrist, but I wouldn't think it would go much further than that. Mayo's now a pro and beyond the reach of the NCAA, so there's not a lot they can do to him, either.

Of course, the NCAA does have the option of pointing the finger at themselves and acknowledging that there are problems in a system that allows this to happen, but they don't ever seem inclined to do that sort of thing.

But that's apparently the story behind Eli Holman's departure from Indiana. If you'll recall, Holman destroyed a potted plant in a kerfluffle with Crean last week. Now, Crean is saying that Holman's decision to transfer -- Holman ended up at Detroit, new home of former IU assistant Ray McCallum -- was clearly "orchestrated":

"We were led to believe that this was a family decision and that he wanted to get closer to home, but now it doesn't look like that's the way it's going to turn out,'' Crean said. "I don't think there's any doubt that there was a certain amount of orchestrating going on. It's disappointing -- very disappointing -- on a lot of fronts.'' [ ...] Crean also said he was certain that Holman had been "coached up" on what to say when he informed IU he wanted to leave.

"I would say that he didn't get the answer that he probably would have liked,'' Crean said without divulging details of the conversation. "(Our approach) was about taking some time to go through this but I've now seen that this was all part of an orchestration. It just was, and I don't have a lot of respect for that.

Scandal! I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but it is awfully fishy that Holman would say he's leaving to be closer to his family -- which is in Richmond, California -- and then end up in Detroit. One doesn't need Yahoo! Maps to figure out Detroit is actually further from Cali than is Indiana. One also doesn't need a private investigator's license, or even an average level of cognition, to see McCallum and Holman reuniting as something slightly more than coincidence.

That said, it's almost just as fishy that Holman even has to lie about why he wants to leave the program. That's the NCAA's fault, not Holman's.

Anyway, The Dagger is still waiting for an explanation about the potted plant. Has it been replanted? Replaced? Buried in a dignified manner, preferably with 21-gun Taps salute? Until we get to the bottom of these questions, I think we can all agree that some serious Anenome orchestration is going on here. And I don't have a lot of respect for that.

After leaving Baylor, Bliss spent time volunteering with his son's high school team, and he gave some clinics in China. He coached for a year with the Dakota Wizards of the CBA (now an NBDL team), and now he works with Athletes in Action, an organization that uses sports to promote Christianity. At this year's Final Four, he spoke about -- get this -- ethics and the pressure of college basketball.

"I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem anymore," said Bliss, speaking recently by telephone from his Colorado home. "There are a lot of pitfalls out there, minefields. Look at me. I know. I've been on both sides."

[...]

"I was the frog that jumped in the box, and all of a sudden someone turned on the heat and gradually it got warmer and eventually it was too late," Bliss said. "It's a situation that defies much explanation, really. I got caught up, very frankly, in ambition, prideful reaction. And I made bad decisions, and the cover-up made everything worse."

Glib headline aside, I try to be a forgiving fellow, and I try to put myself in other people's shoes, but man ... this is a tough one. I can understand that the pressure to win at the college level is huge, and I can understand getting caught up in that and making bad decisions you might not otherwise make.

You want to win, you want to help a kid out, and you want to keep your job, so maybe you get sucked into bending some rules. Maybe you pay some bills you shouldn't pay, and maybe you overlook some discretions. That, I get. It doesn't make it okay, but I get it. I see how that pressure would make an otherwise good man do some bad things.

But scheming a plan to paint a murdered kid as a drug dealer, to cover your own heiney ... that's quite a leap from cutting a few corners to win, isn't it? It's kind of like the difference between smoking a little bit of recreational marijuana, or beating the hell out of a Salvation Army Santa Claus, so you can take his little change jar and go buy some smack, which you'd then give to a pregnant woman as a Christmas present.

Last week, some pretty tremendous photos of Tyler Hansbrough surfaced. They depicted Hansbrough and shorter, less-skilled sidekick Bobby Frasor leaping from a second-story frat balcony into a giant pool while hordes of onlookers, ahem, looked on. Presumably, everyone was cheering and pounding beers and celebrating springtime on a university campus. The entire thing screamed COLLEGE, bro. (Needless to say, don't even think about trying this at home.)

Alas, some didn't enjoy the spectacle. Namely, anyone with a rooting interest in the Tar Heels, who would prefer their returning Player of the Year and probable starting point guard not injure themselves in silly, fratty fashion. As FanHouse's Sportz Assassin reports, the message board denizens are riled up:

Right now, they are getting a lot of heat (and some love) over the stunt on message boards and blogs. [...]

However, these two are in college because of their physical gifts. Seeing Frasor up there was puzzling. He missed most of the past season after tearing up his knee. If Ty Lawson stays in the NBA Draft, Frasor inherits this team and will be counted on heavily. Seems like jumping off a balcony and into a pool isn't the best way to rehab that injury.

College athletes often grasp at some semblance of a normal college lifestyle -- hanging out, partying, dangerously jumping off things, et. al -- but at the end of the day college athletes aren't, and never will be, normal college students. Most college students don't get a full ride to play a sport. Most college students, unless they're journalism majors, don't take laughably easy courses designed to keep their GPAs high. Most college students don't attain celebrity status, no matter what that latest "Van Wilder" spinoff told you.

So sorry, Tyler and short friend: You guys can't act like normal people. (This is where I should interject that only in college is jumping off buildings considered "normal.") It sucks, I know, but if you ever get frustrated and incomprehensibly angry, just blame your parents for everything. In that small way, you can be just like the rest of us.

(Photo credit: 850 the Buzz)

Huggins actually coached his first year at WVU without having signed a formal contract. And despite having heard the same things from John Beilein and Rich Rodriguez, I do believe that Huggins is firmly committed to being a Mountaineer. Maybe this makes me a sucker. But if he was willing to leave Michael Beasley for Morgantown, he probably does want to be there.

The contract does come with a couple of peculiarities, though. A couple of the termination clauses written into the contract are sort of interesting. A .pdf of the actual contract is available here, via the Charleston Daily Mail. Huggs can be fired for:

2. Commission by Coach of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude;

3. Substance abuse or habitual insobriety which affects his job performance;

Phew. So Huggs can be habitually non-sober, as long as it doesn't affect his job performance. So, at least theoretically, he can be on the bench with a bottle of scotch, as long as he says something like, "I just want everyone to know that I'm going to spend the last 5 minutes of the game running isos for Joe Alexander, no matter how much of this scotch I drink. Cool?"

Also, according to the Daily Mail's Jack Bogaczyk, the deal was made without the knowledge of WVU's athletic director. The university has some other problems, and it seems possible that the university president went straight to Huggins with the deal, because he wanted to get some good news about WVU out there.

Gary Williams: Reach out and touch somebody. Preferably somebody good at basketball.

The past few seasons have not been kind to Gary Williams and his Maryland Terrapins, as Williams' program has turned from perennial national title contender to perennial NIT qualifier in the matter of four seasons. The issue, as is usually the case, is talent: Williams just hasn't had the same level of player he had in the Juan Dixon-Steve Blake-Chris Wilcox days, and it shows.

As Luke Winn reports in a really interesting story this week, that might be changing in 2008-09. Williams has effectively recruited junior college junior Tyree Evans, a Virginia prep legend who scored more points as a senior in high school than anyone not named Moses Malone or Allen Iverson. Evans is a baller. Shot caller. All of that stuff.

He's also 23, his age the product of numerous run-ins with the law, including a statutory rape and marijuana intent-to-distribute charges, and has been in a fight with a teammate, which is just naughty. And yet, Williams is taking a chance on him.

Which means Gary has officially pushed his chips to the middle of the table. The Dixon-Blake-Wilcox title -- as well as a follow-up act by one D.J. Strawberry -- have been enough to keep Williams gainfully employed and partially beloved among Terps fans. But if the now-well-behaved Evans backtracks, and his talent isn't enough to overshadow his off-court troubles, Williams will be forced to sweat it out. Given Gary's usual glandular issues, that's not something anybody wants to see.

Well, they probably shouldn't. Because he doesn't play basketball.

But that didn't stop him from declaring himself eligible for the NBA Draft. He wrote a letter to the NBA, declared, and then filled out the necessary paperwork. That's all it takes. He is in the system and is eligible to be drafted. He documented the whole process here. He's even listed at NBADraft.net, as an "unknown individual."

What's he get out of it? Well, he got to create a nifty little website for himself where he listed his stats (Assists: I Work Alone, and BLK: WHTE). He got an envelope with the NBA logo on it. And he also gets ... well, attention, I suppose, from lonely college basketball bloggers like myself who have nothing else to write about this time of year.

I'm pretty sure he's not the first fellow to do something like this, but I like the lengths he went to, trying to create his own web-based "Draft Feinstein" movement. Still, I wouldn't be at all disappointed if this was the last time someone played this gag.

Gracias, Can't Stop the Bleeding.

In an effort to make the long, scary college basketball offseason a little bit less so, we're going to be scouring the archives every day for great photos, videos, and stories from NCAA Tournaments past. Today: Stephen Curry.

Immediately after they're over -- just as soon as One Shining Moment begins to roll -- it seems like every NCAA Tournament has at least 100 moments to it, 100 times when you reveled in the joy of the game of basketball. (You should have been working, and not reveling, but I won't tell your boss if you don't tell mine.) Then, a few weeks after the tournament is over, like that nasty leftover Half and Half in the fridge, things begin to congeal. Smaller things get swept away. Only the definitive remain.

It could be argued, of course, that Mario Chalmers' championship game-extending three-pointer is that definitive moment from the 2008 Tournament, and I'd agree. It will stand the test of time. The one thing I'll never forget from 2008, though, is just how incredibly, oh-my-God good Stephen Curry was. For three rounds, he wasn't just interesting. He was utterly dominant. How often do you see dominance from spindly 6'1 shooting guards?

Anyway, the above video is the perfect mix of Curry and Gus Johnson, who didn't have to wait long in this game -- Davidson's easy win over Wisconsin -- for Son of Del to start making things look easy.

You can keep the rest of it; Stephen Curry was all things. He was 2008.

It's hard to make jokes about something like this, so instead I'll just admit how incredibly impressive it is: Chris Lofton was diagnosed with testicular cancer in the offseason last year. The reason you're just hearing about this? Lofton kept it private, beat the cancer, and then played his entire senior season with nary a mention of the disease.

Can I get a ruling from the toughness judges? Yep. That's a 10. Thought so.

What might be even more suprising, as Thirty Five Seconds notes, is that no one -- not Bruce Pearl, not nefarious message board posters -- decided to trot this out early in the season as Lofton struggled to get back to 100 percent. That a secret like this can be effectively kept not only restores my faith in doctor-patient confidentiality laws, it reassures me that no one reading this will ever find out about my crippling bout with jaundice.

I've said too much.

[...] The conversation was very cordial but unfortunately, it did not end that way. His behavior took me, along with the other people in the office, by surprise. We saw him as a danger to himself and wanted to take precautionary measures to help him. We felt bad for Eli and hopefully were able to help him.

I do not anticipate Eli being back at Indiana. We will do our best to help him move forward and wish him well.

No, I do not anticipate Eli being back at Indiana, either, but I do have at least one question: Was Holman's fate sealed before the potted plant, or after? Because some people are really protective of their Areca palms.

Boy, that really seems like a bad idea on so many levels.

First, I'd ask you to keep in mind that this is a facebook page, and it's entirely possible that this isn't real, or that someone's goofing around. I hope that one of those two things is the case.

If not, though, and Craig Austrie is really asking for two grand on his facebook page, he might as well have posted something like:

Hi there! UConn basketball player here, seeking to open the University of Connecticut basketball program up to a myriad of NCAA violations. Please help me out in any way you can. Seeking the death penalty for the program, but will settle for probation and loss of multiple scholarships. I'm asking for a relatively large amount of cash, so I'd also like my personal life to come under intense scrutiny as well.

Again, I don't know how much of this is reality, and if it is real, maybe Craig Austrie has some perfectly reasonable reason to need two grand right away. But asking a "true UCONN basketball fan" to hand you a large amount of cash, for any reason, using facebook as the medium ... that seems like a bad, bad idea.

Four more pictures of Barack's run with the North Carolina basketball team follow below.

"So, Roy ... I took Kansas. You?"

I wonder if the Senator posed with that rack intentionally, as a metaphor for what his campaign brings to the table that Hillary Clinton's does not.

"Hey, someone else wearing sweatpants! Good for you, young man!"

I'd really like to see a presidential candidate wear something on his feet that gives him a little bit more ankle support.

According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, a bunch of friends gathered at an apartment on Harbour Towne Drive to watch the national semifinals of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

During the course of the game Aaron Dumas and John Capista began discussing how much success Crean would have in the Big Ten. [...] While the complaint is silent about who was taking which position, Dumas and Capista were discussing the possibilities "when the discussion turned from friendly into a heated debate," according to the criminal complaint charging Dumas with battery. Capista told police that Dumas became so upset he lunged toward him and "punched him in the face with a closed fist striking him on the bridge of the nose," and followed that up with four or five more punches.

But on the other hand, he's nowhere near NBA-ready. At least not offensively. You can put him on the block and give him the ball with his back to the basket all day long, but he couldn't put a post move on Sue Bird. He made huge strides from his freshman year to his sophomore year, but his offensive repertoire is still limited mostly to putbacks and being taller than everyone else.

He's sort of like the anti-Kevin Love. Love doesn't have the tremendous height or athletic ability, but he's got an incredible feel for the game. Thabeet's a physical freak of nature, but a feel for the game is something he's still working on developing. And that's only natural, as he hasn't been playing ball very long.

For his sake, I'm thrilled he's coming back. I'd hate for him to have left UConn so soon, because I sometimes wonder about his confidence, too. If he went to the association right now, I think he'd be in real danger of having his confidence shattered when he plays every night against guys who are far stronger and so farther advanced with their offensive games.

But two weeks later, here we are, and Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News has reason to believe that Packer's job could be in jeopardy.

CBS is paying $6 billion for the right to air the tourney over the life of its contract with the NCAA. From a business perspective, telling viewers to turn off the TV is not a great idea, especially in a soft advertising market.

Naming a "winner" with plenty of time left in a game does not sit well with corporations paying top dollar to advertise their products during the tournament. Some of these same companies will be asked to purchase time on next year's tourney.

[...]

Encouraging viewers to tune out, to protect "the integrity of the sport," does not sit well with colleagues working in an environment of uncertainty.

As for Packer's own CBS future, well, normally storm clouds like this blow over in time, especially for a guy of his stature. The fact that there's still static in the air is unusual - highly unusual.

Stay tuned.

My own take here is that no one's going to make their decision about whether or not to keep watching a game based on whether or not Billy Packer says it's over. If you turned the channel because Billy Packer told you it was safe to do so, then I'd like to recommend that, at some point in your life, you begin having your own original thoughts and opinions. You don't have to let the short, ill-tempered, bald man control your television.

I think it would be a weak reason to fire or reassign the guy, but if it does end up happening, the data shows that there won't be a lot of tears shed for Mr. Packer in the sports blogosphere (he's all the way down at the bottom).

I'm not as anti-Packer as the rest of the world appears to be, but the man has called the last 34 Final Fours. It's got to end at some point If this was indeed his last one, no one's going to be heading to their grave saying, "If only I could have heard more Billy Packer."

Gracias, Sports by Brooks.

Billy Gillespie confirmed yesterday that Jasper's "a little homesick," and that he has been ever sense he set foot on campus. He's a sophomore, so he's a pretty young guy, and I'm not in his shoes, so it's hard to judge, but ... this is the sort of thing you have to fight your way through, Jasper.

If you're at Kentucky, I assume there's a reason you wanted to be there. No one kidnapped you and dropped you off in Lexington, right? This was your choice. You probably could've stayed home and played ball for the Cal-Poly Mustangs, but you didn't. You went to Kentucky. You took your big-time talent to a big-time program, and you did so for a reason.

Whatever that reason was, it's still there. And whatever it is that's bothering you isn't going to be fixed by packing up and going home. That's the easy, short-term, non-solution. The real solution is to stay where you are, get some help if you have to, and find a way to make yourself comfortable where you are. If you go home, you'll regret it. There is no doubt about that.

If he does bail and go home, it leaves Kentucky perilously thin at guard. Ramel Bradley graduated, Jodie Meeks just had surgery for a hernia, and Michael Porter's the only other player who say any significant action in the backcourt last year.

But there were those who did wonder why spectacular Memphis point guard Derrick Rose didn't have such a press conference, and as it turns out, there is a reason: he recently had his ass whooped.

From Gary Parrish's blog at CBS Sports (via The Big Lead):

But multiple sources close to the Memphis basketball and football programs have told CBSSports.com that Rose was recently involved in an altercation over a girl with Tiger football player Steven Black, an altercation that -- how to phrase this? -- didn't go so well for Rose. Put another way, the possible No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft spent the early part of this week looking like a person who had just been in a scrap, making the way he announced his future plans -- through a release distributed by the Memphis Sports Information department -- convenient, if not necessary.

I've never really understood fighting over a girl. She either prefers him, or she prefers you, and if she prefers the other guy, punching him in the face probably isn't going to change her mind. I've never heard a woman say, "Oh, I like a guy with a sense of humor, a nice smile, and most importantly, he beats the hell out of people I like more than him."

The tale of the tape presents a pretty fair advantage to Mr. Black. He's 6'3", 213, a junior, and as a football player, probably spends more time hitting the weights. Rose is 6'3", 190, and a freshman. Apparently, he didn't win, though there's no word on who went home with the girl.

Either way, in a couple of months, Derrick Rose will have the means to have Stanley Black killed if he wants. And this is just a hunch, but being a millionaire and an NBA lottery pick probably also comes with its share of new dating opportunities.

 - UMass head coach Travis Ford, April 10th.

"I have greatly enjoyed my three years here at UMass. It was a very difficult decision to leave UMass, one which my family and I struggled with mightily."

 - Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford, six days later.

I don't offer those quotes to paint Travis Ford as a bad guy or a liar, or anything of that sort. He's just a coach, like any other. I'm just calling for an end to the notion of loyalty and honesty in sports.

What I'm saying is that Travis Ford never should have made the first comment up there. It was unnecessary. It was something he said because he wanted to make UMass fans happy, and it was something that naive UMass fans were happy to hear, because it gave them a warm, fuzzy, "he really like us!" feeling.

But come on. We're past that, aren't we? We're all getting a little bit too grown up to believe in things like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and coach loyalty, right?

Personally, I don't ever want the head coach of my team to ever say anything like, "Oh, I love this job, and I want to be here forever, and I'm never leaving!" Because I know he doesn't mean it, and I'm not going to believe him, and it's all a big waste of time. It makes me feel the same way I feel when a stripper whispers in my ear, "I'm getting so turned on right now."

Because I know that's not the case. She says it because it's part of her job, and because she thinks it makes me more likely to stuff money into her cleavage. And while she's blathering such nonsense, I might nod and smile, but to myself, I'm thinking, "Whatever, sweetheart. Let's just get some of your body glitter rubbed off on my face, alright? Then I'll give you money. End of transaction."

Just like when Travis Ford says something like that, I'm thinking, "Whatever, coach. Just shut up and win, okay? I know you're leaving me when a high-roller walks through that door, so, you know ... on with the body glitter."

Metaphorical body glitter, that is, in the case of Travis Ford.

It's time that we, as fans, stop asking for these hollow reassurances. If you don't realize it by now, let me make it clear for you: YOUR COACH DOES NOT LOVE YOU. He is not at his dream job, he is not going to stay there forever, and he does not feel like part of the family. If he says otherwise, he's placating you.

And the fact that we know this is good news for you, coaches. You don't have to make liars of yourselves anymore. You don't have to say that you're going to be here for "awhile." Because we're not going to believe you anyway. Do your job, win some games, and there's no need for the sensual whispering.

Just show up and win. End of transaction.

Why is this a big deal? Because Tyreke Evans can do this:

He's ranked 6th in the Rivals Top 150 recruits for '08, and first in a handful of other publications. He's just about the last unsigned big fish out there. He's a 6'5" shooting guard, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say he's as good as Derrick Rose, he can certainly help offset the loss with his perimeter scoring (crossover stepback threes appear to be a favorite of his).

So, why Memphis? Well, according to this report, partially because he doesn't want to get his wig split. From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

"He was torn between 'Nova, Texas and Memphis," the source said. "Then he just said, 'I think I just want to get away from [the Philadelphia area]. I just want to get away from here.' "

With that, Evans' decision was down to Memphis and Texas.

Then he said, "Texas is a long plane ride," the source said. "He narrowed it down to just Memphis."

Reggie Evans confirmed that there was a meeting, but he would not comment on what was said.

It's understandable that Tyreke Evans would want to leave the area. He faced what Chester Township authorities called the possibility of gang retaliation after a fatal shooting in Brookhaven. Evans was at the scene of a homicide that involved his cousin Jamar "Mar Mar" Evans on Nov. 25.

Jamar Evans was charged with third-degree murder in the shooting death of 19-year-old Marcus Reason. Chester Township Capt. Kenneth J. Coalson said at the time that investigators had no doubt that Reason's death was gang-related. The Evans family had reason to be fearful, he said, speaking after police contacted gang members in the Toby Farms neighborhood.

I don't expect him to mention that in the press conference later this afternoon.

And it's rare that a coach would get to use something like that in his recruiting pitch. "Hey, Tyreke, we've got great facilities, I know how to send players to the pros, and oh yeah, no one in Memphis wants to murder you."

Universally respected and liked in the coaching community, Engles has been associated with teams that have won a total of 238 games, including at least 10 in each of the last 17 seasons.

In two of his stops--Wagner and Columbia, he was involved in noteworthy program turnarounds. And at Rider, he was with teams that averaged better than 15 wins per season in his six-year stint.

The college leaders—among them the top officials at Harvard, Abilene Christian and Georgia State—wrote a letter to NCAA President Myles Brand on Wednesday calling beer advertising “embarrassingly prominent” during tournament broadcasts. They asked the organization to reconsider its policies on alcohol advertising.

“Given the persistent problems caused by underage and excessive college drinking, much of it in the form of beer, we find it inconceivable that the NCAA’s profiting from beer promotion during the telecasts of college basketball games comports with the best interests of higher education, sports, or student welfare,” the letter said.

Pringle told police he has "a bad habit of putting his hand down his pants," and demonstrated for the officer by placing his hand down the front of his sweatpants, according to the complaint.

"Why would I need to masturbate?" he told police. "This is how I chill, ma'am."

[...]

After being informed of the victim's report during an interview with police, Pringle first denied being at Pattee Library last Thursday, but then remembered he had been there and recalled his conversation with the victim, according to the criminal complaint.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman said Pringle sat down on top of a desk behind her and asked if she wanted to purchase some hand lotion he was selling for the basketball team.

[...]

The woman told police that Pringle then answered his ringing cell phone and proceeded to make "moaning sounds" and "sounded like he was short of breath."

Frightened, the victim said she sent a text message to her friend asking for her to call her so she had an excuse to leave the area, according to the criminal complaint.

Being a sports fan is hard.

I don't mean hard in the sense that it's physically difficult. On the emotional scale it's not really up there either. There are far worse mental places to find yourself than on the couch, palms sweaty, cheering down the back half of a college basketball game. Like, I don't know, fighting for democracy in Zimbabwe. Or in Iraq. Comparatively, the couch looks pretty good.

But to be a die-hard sports fan requires serious commitment. The Daywalkers among us -- those who claim to care for sports but only really do when it assumes cultural significance -- they could never understand. It consumes thousands of hours of your life, thousands of dollars spent (some would say wasted) on gear and books and beer. It requires a constant level of study. Who's playing quarterback this weekend? Who's starting at third? What's his OBP? What's his true shooting percentage? Who's the MVP? Being a sports fan means caring about trivia for no good reason except personal pleasure and gratification and the collective interest therein. It's selfish and selfless, all at the same time. And rarely do sports give anything back -- seasons can become a slow, cynical grind, and moments of ecstasy are too few and far between.

Last night? Sports paid us back for our fandom. Did it ever.

February's Super Bowl was one of the closest and most thrilling (if not particularly well-played) games in the history of sports. Now we can add another to the canon, and only two months later. That's not a bad hit rate.

MJD mentioned it last night, but it's absolutely true: Everything about the 2008 National Championship was high-level. It matched the year's two best teams (both statistically and eyeball-tested), teams with a glut of NBA talent and high-impact programs behind them. It matched two of the country's new legendary coaches, Bill Self on one side -- who has risen through the coaching ranks about as fast as one person can -- and John Calipari who, it seems, is incapable of taking over a mid-major-ish program and not turning it into a national powerhouse. Memphis' dribble-drive motion vs. Kansas' suffocating ball defense. Rush vs. Douglas-Roberts. Chalmers vs. Rose. Dorsey vs. Kansas' 17 post players. The matchup paid off, and the game was never boring or out of reach for either team. It deserved its overtime period. Both teams deserved to win.

You really, as a fan of sports or the college game or even you, the Daywalker among us -- you really can't ask for better than that.

The Kevin Durant Doesn't Have Anything On This Performance of the Night: Mario Chalmers

Statistically, Mario Chalmers' game was just shy of impressive. It was solid -- 18 points means you're contributing in a very positive way to your team's win, but doing so on 5-13 shooting with only middling stats everywhere else (three assists, three rebounds) is not the stuff of legends. But Chalmers contributed in three very important ways: 1) He made the shot of the tournament, which was simultaneously one of the most exciting moments of the year in sports and which makes Chalmers a Kansas legend for life. 2) He, along with Kansas guards Russell Robinson and Sherron Collins, pressured Derrick Rose in ways he had yet to be pressured. 3) He went six-of-six from the free-throw line.

Those three little things -- and by little, I mean CAPS LOCK GIGANTIC -- are a big chunk of the reason Kansas won. Chalmers deserves all the media love he's sure to get, and all the consequence-free relations he's probably having right now.

Have at it, young Mario. You deserve it.

Honorable mention: Billy Packer. (Seriously. No, seriously.)

Usually, Billy Packer is an unpopular guy with me -- he's old, curmudgeonly, occasionally joyless, and drab. These are qualities which I not only dislike, but absolutely loathe. There is nothing worse than someone who has bittered with age and hardened with time, and who feels fit to tell everyone why he's kind of a jerk around every turn. When you give this person a microphone and let him talk to millions of Americ