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What started as a major overhaul to college sports now appears just to be another money-motivated burp of a few power schools.

Texas, who seemingly was the central piece in the realignment puzzle, opted to stay in the Big 12 rather than joining the PAC-10.

The move came down to the TV rights. The PAC-10 is planning to create a model similar to the Big Ten’s, but under that plan Texas would not be able to secure its own local TV rights. With a new deal with FOX looming and the ability to create the Longhorn Network of whatever they decide to call it, Texas was best off staying put.

The decision by Texas and the other Big 12 South schools to stay should stave off any further radical realignment.

If the PAC-10 doesn't expand to 16 and Notre Dame sticks to its stated goal of remaining independent in football, the Big Ten may opt to remain at 12 teams. That would keep the Big East safe.

With Texas A&M still in the Big 12 and no obvious reason to get bigger, the SEC likely will remain at 12 schools. That would keep the ACC safe.

Now if they could only figure out a way to implement a playoff format in college football everything would be alright.

College Football, College Hoops ncaa realignment, texas, texas a&m, big 12, big ten, pac-10

It now appears imminent that Nebraska will leave the Big 12 for the Big Ten, according to ESPN.com.

The move is likely the first of several changes ahead in the college sports landscape as the larger conferences begin to reposition to become “power conferences”.

A Big 12 source told the website officials from Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, in a move sensing Nebraska's determination to join the Big Ten, have already met to pledge their solidarity. The first choice is to save the Big 12, but if that's not possible, officials from those schools are prepared to merge with the Pac-10.

The source said the meetings included the chancellors, presidents and athletic directors from the three schools. Not present was a Baylor contingent. Baylor is locked in a battle with Colorado for what is presumed to be the sixth spot along with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State that would create a 16-team super-conference with the Pac-10 schools.

RUMOR TRACKER (CollegeSportsInfo.com)

College Football, College Hoops ncaa realignment, big ten, big 12, nebraska cornhuskers

John Wooden, the longtime coach of the UCLA Bruins and Wizard of Westwood, passed away on Friday night at the age of 99.

His legacy will live on forever and his accomplishments will likely never be matched.

Some of his amazing marks include:

--10 national championships
--7 straight national championships (1967-73)
--88 straight wins
--620 victories (27 seasons)
--four 30-0 seasons
--47 NCAA tournament victories

Born Oct. 14, 1910, near Martinsville, Ind., on a farm that didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing, Wooden's life revolved around sports from the time his father built a baseball diamond among his wheat, corn and alfalfa. Baseball was his favorite sport, but there was also a basketball hoop nailed in a hayloft. Wooden played there countless hours with his brother, Maurice, using any kind of ball they could find.

He led Martinsville High School to the Indiana state basketball championship in 1927 before heading to Purdue, where he was All-America from 1930-32. The Boilermakers were national champions his senior season, and Wooden, nicknamed "the Indiana Rubber Man" for his dives on the hardcourt, was college basketball's player of the year.

Wooden coached two years at Dayton (Ky.) High School, and his 6-11 losing record the first season was the only one in his 40-year coaching career.

He spent the next nine years coaching basketball, baseball and tennis at South Bend (Ind.) Central High School, where he also taught English.

Wooden served in the Navy as a physical education instructor during World War II, and continued teaching when he became the basketball coach at Indiana State Teachers College, where he went 47-17 in two seasons.

MORE ON JOHN WOODEN (WikiPedia.org)

College Hoops ucla bruins, john wooden

from NY Times...

Two years ago, Eric Bledsoe was a star point guard without the grades to meet the N.C.A.A.’s minimum standards and needing to find a new high school. He solved both problems by moving to A. H. Parker High School and now, after one season at the University of Kentucky, he is awaiting a lucrative payday in next month’s N.B.A. draft.

The changes in Bledsoe’s academic and athletic prospects have attracted the attention of the N.C.A.A., which has sent investigators to at least three places in Alabama to ask about him. The N.C.A.A. does not talk about its investigations, and the scope of this one is unknown.

But Bledsoe’s academic makeover and the extra benefits he apparently received could be another blow to Kentucky Coach John Calipari, who led teams at Massachusetts and Memphis that had their records and Final Four appearances expunged after rules violations were found under his watch.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

College Hoops kentucky wildcats, uk, john calipari, eric bledsoe, ncaa investigation

With the NBA Draft a month away we check in on where some local players are projected to go...

1. Washington - PG John Wall (Kentucky)
2. Philadelphia - SG Evan Turner (Ohio State)
6. Golden State - PF Patrick Patterson (Kentucky)
7. Detroit - C DeMarcus Cousins (Kentucky)
18. Miami - PF/C Daniel Orton (Kentucky)
25. Memphis - SG Lance Stephenson (Cincinnati)
36. Detroit - PG/SG Eric Bledsoe (Kentucky)
38. New York - SG Jordan Crawford (Xavier)

COMPLETE MOCK DRAFT (NBADraft.net)

College Hoops, NBA 2010 nba draft, 2010 nba mock draft, kentucky wildcats, cincinnati bearcats, xavier musketeers

Despite rumors that John Calipari is part of a package deal for NBA free agent LeBron James, the coach continues to draw premier recruits to the University of Kentucky.

Terrence Jones, a 6-foot-8, 220 pound power forward, became the latest top prospect from the Class of 2010 to commit to UK.

Rivals.com already had Kentucky with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation and Jones addition only adds to its supremacy.

"Adding another five-star prospect in Terrence Jones gives Kentucky a recruiting class with four five-star prospects and gives Kentucky the definitive No. 1 class in the country," national analyst Jerry Meyer said. "And going beyond the numbers, Jones is a terrific fit for (John) Calipari's system with his diversified skill set."

Jones had given a verbal to his home state team, the Washington Huskies, on April 30 but opted to switch on the last day of the signing period to the Wildcats.

He joins fellow five-star signees Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter (another former UW commitment) and shooting guard Doron Lamb.

The Wilcats also locked up highly touted, junior-college power forward Eloy Vargas last week and four-star shooting guar Stacey Poole this past fall.

College Hoops kentucky wildcats, uk, john calipari, recruiting, terrence jones

from Kentucky.com...

College Hoops, NBA kentucky wildcats, uk, recruiting, john calipari, john wall, demarcus cousins

from Lexington Herald-Leader...

Coach John Calipari made it clear Wednesday that he loves Kentucky and is interested in a long-term contract extension, but that he's not in search of a raise.

"I said I didn't want the compensation to change," Calipari said, relaying his conversation with UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart, in an audio tweet on Lexy.com. "I'm doing fine."

In the audio tweet recorded around noon, Calipari said that Barnhart approached him about 10 days ago saying, "Cal, I want to extend your contract. I want you to be here until you retire," according to Calipari.

In a statement released through UK on Tuesday night, Barnhart did express interest in retaining Calipari for an extended period.

"We have begun initial discussions on restructuring his contract so that he's the coach at Kentucky until he retires," the statement said.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

College Hoops kentucky wildcats, uk, john calipari

from ESPN.com...

The NCAA hopes to expand the men's basketball tournament from 65 to 68 teams beginning next year and announced a new, $10.8 billion broadcasting deal with CBS and Turner Broadcasting on Thursday that will allow every game to be shown live for the first time.

The three-team expansion is much more modest than 80- and 96-team proposals the NCAA outlined just a few weeks ago at the Final Four. The move coincides with the new, 14-year broadcasting arrangement that interim NCAA president Jim Isch said will provide an average of $740 million to its conferences and schools each year.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

College Hoops ncaa tournament expansion, ncaa tournament

Point guard Marques Teague, one of the nation’s most coveted recruits from the Class of 2011, has verbally committed to University of Kentucky.

Teague is ranked No. 2 nationally in the ’11 class by Rivals.com and No. 5 in by Scout.com. In recent months, Teague continued to list five schools with Cincinnati, Indiana and Purdue also on the list. But it was really battle of the Bluegrass State with Louisville fighting Kentucky for his services.

He joins forward Michael Gilchrist — the consensus No. 1 player nationally — as the first two commitments for the Class of 2011 at UK.

Teague averaged 16.3 points and 4.3 assists a game as a junior at Indianapolis Pike.

He choose Kentukcy because of head coach John Calapari's unprecedented ability to help point guards get to the next level.

Check out this killer in-game dunk from him:

College Hoops kentucky wildcats, marques teague, recruiting

SI.com answers some of the biggest questions surrounding conference realignment in college sports:

Q: And that (biggest reason for Big Ten expansion) would be?

A: Television revenue. In the quarter-century since the U.S. Supreme Court freed schools from the shackles of the NCAA's contracts, nearly every major realignment move -- from Penn State joining the Big Ten to Miami joining the ACC -- has been driven by conferences' quests to secure the most desirable possible product for TV networks. More teams = more households = more money in rights fees. The same holds true in this current movement -- but with a modern twist.

In addition to the traditional TV deal where a network pays a league a flat fee to televise its marquee games (like the Big Ten's 10-year, $1 billion deal with ABC/ESPN), the Big Ten is an equity holder (along with Fox) in the Big Ten Network, which became profitable within two years of its inception. The more the network's annual profits increase, the more its members' portfolios grow. Multi-team expansion helps in two ways: A) It provides for more live programming, which elicits more advertising dollars; and B) It can gain substantially more subscribers by adding teams with large national appeal (like, say, Notre Dame) or those in major media markets (like, say, Rutgers).

COMPLETE ARTILCE

College Football, College Hoops big ten, big ten expansion, conference expansion, college expansion

from Kentucky.com:

John Calipari's last three point guards blazed a one-year trail through college basketball and came to epitomize what now is known as the one-and-done player. John Wall, the third member of this terrific trio, soared across Sports Illustrated's cover last winter as a headline proclaimed "The Great Wall of Kentucky."

Talk about tough acts to follow.

Yet Brandon Knight, the latest fuzzy-cheeked savant to place his point guard skills in Calipari's hands, shrugs.

"I feel wherever you go, you're going to be looked at as someone stepping in, I mean, if someone's leaving," he said here on Thursday.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

College Hoops kentucky wildcats, brandon knight, john wall

from Lexington-Herald Leader...

Coincidentally or not, an official UK news release announcing that junior Patrick Patterson and freshmen John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe would enter this year's draft included several quotations that could be used in the next one-and-done recruiting pitch.

"I never thought I'd be in this position after one year," Bledsoe said. "Coach Cal pushed us all to be the best we could be, and he believes I'm prepared to take my game to the next level."

Orton acknowledged his hope for so-called one-and-done status, that is, playing one college season before turning pro.

"Battling with DeMarcus and Patrick every day helped improve my game," he said. "I want to thank the coaching staff for helping put me in a position to be drafted this year."

The Los Angeles Times, which published its mock draft late last month, projected all five UK players in the so-called lottery (the picks by teams not making the playoffs this season): Wall, 1; Cousins, 8; Patterson, 10; Orton, 12; and Bledsoe, 13.

NBADraft.net had Wall first, Cousins fifth, Patterson ninth, Bledsoe 17th and Orton 24th. Draftexpress.com had it Wall first, Cousins third, Patterson 11th and Orton 26th. It did not project Bledsoe as a first-round pick.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

College Hoops, NBA 2010 nba draft, kentucky wildcats, john wall, demarcus cousins, daniel orton, eric bledsoe

After one season Cincinnati guard Lance Stephenson has announced his eligibility for the NBA draft, ending his short career as a Bearcat. The school has said that Stephenson is signing with an agent and it

appears that he’s withdrawing from classes.

Stephenson put up 12.3 points per game, but on a shot 44 percent from the field and he hit just 21.9 percent from the college three and that doesn’t translate into too much playing time as a two guard. He can't shoot at near an NBA level.

He has an NBA body, can get to and finish at the rim, and he was a high school legend in Brooklyn. There are some that think he could slip into the late first round, but they are in the minority.

Unlike some of the one-and-done players from Lexington – i.e. John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, Stephenson is not going to garner much attention and is opting to play at the next season in the NBA’s developmental league rather than playing his sophomore season in Clifton.

It’s a terrible decision for Stephenson and only exemplifies the ugly side of the NBA draft.

****

Stephenson wasn’t the only college player from the Queen City garnering news on Wednesday. Xavier guard Jordan Crawford’s mom posted on her Twitter account that her son is declaring himself for the NBA draft.

This one is not hard to believe as Crawford is on the heels of a great NCAA run and his stock may never be higher.

ESPN.com reports that Xavier's Jordan Crawford will explore the NBA draft while leaving open his option of returning for another season with the Musketeers.

The sophomore guard led the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 20.5 points per game and had a sensational NCAA tournament, helping the Musketeers reach the round of 16 for the third straight season.

College Hoops xavier musketeers, cincinnati bearcats, jordan crawford, lance stephenson, 2010 nba draft