college basketball

Myles Brand announced Tuesday that the NCAA has "new information" on the recruitment, purchase and pimping of O.J. Mayo. So do we. It's called cable television, because ESPN made a deal out of it last weekend. It's also called the Internet, because CBSSportsline.com and other sites raised the issue as long ago as two years.

Stay or go? The stories of Chris Taft and Brandon Roy show how weighty the decision is.

Most of the 69 college players who applied for early entry into the NBA draft have not signed with an agent and have until June 16 to withdraw.

I was taking a look at the list of NBA early entries this week and noticed that four underclassmen from the University of Memphis and three more from the University of Kansas were on the list.

That means, of the 10 starters on the floor for the opening tip of last month's national championship game, seven had intentions of moving on to greener pastures immediately thereafter.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- North Carolina's men's basketball team on Tuesday had what a team official called an extraordinary chance to play basketball with presidential candidate Barack Obama.

So extraordinary that an NCAA rule appears to have been broken -- and the NCAA is apparently going to ignore it.

LOS ANGELES -- The law of college basketball percentages just caught up to UCLA.

Coach Ben Howland, who beat the odds and took his past three Bruins teams to the Final Four, may have to do it the hard way if he gets there next year -- starting over.

Howland, like most coaches, has a firm, controlling grip over virtually every aspect of his program. Except one.

Michael Beasley, Kansas State -- one and done.

Derrick Rose, Memphis -- one and done.

O.J. Mayo, Southern Cal -- one and done.

Eric Gordon, Indiana -- one and done.

Jerryd Bayless, Arizona -- one and done.

Anthony Randolph, LSU -- one and done.

DeAndre Jordan, Texas A&M -- one and done.

Kevin Love, UCLA -- one and done.

One NBA Draft analyst said Monday that North Carolina basketball players Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington likely won't be lottery picks if they choose to declare early and make themselves a part of the NBA Draft.

Darrell Royal slept on it.

Barry Switzer slept on it.

Bill Self slept on it.

A good alma mater is worth a good night's sleep.

Shortly after North Carolina's 84-66 loss to Kansas in the Final four last Saturday, Tar Heels forward Tyler Hansbrough reiterated that "it's every college basketball player's dream to win a national championship."

But will following that dream be enough to make him and teammates Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson return to Chapel Hill for another season?

The Bill Self Watch continues, with candlelight vigils headquartered in Stillwater and while I still say it's a long shot for Self to hop on Pistol Pete's Oklahoma State buckboard, don't rule it out. Like Self's lawyer said the other day, never say never.