Allow me to be one of the first to pose the question that will surely become prominently asked as college basketball season perks up in early November. Looking at the crop of freshman that will hit college campuses across the country next season, it definitely looks inferior to what we’ve just seen in ‘07-’08.

Standing six-foot-four and already having carved out some muscle and a name for himself, Evans looks to be a step below Rose (no insult there), but has the ability to be POTY in C-USA. I’ve only seen him in NBA Wannabe Classic also known as the McDonald’s All-American game,  but he and Kid ‘N Play copycat Brandon Jennings looked damn good in that game. (Evans had 21, 10 boards and four assists in 24 minutes.)

Calipari may have missed his chance to get himself a national title, but while we wait on what CD-R will do and look at Memphis next year, Evans could have the potential to “carry” this team in some sort. Feels more like reload than rebuild at this position.

No surprise here, but it just came across the wire (yeah, I’ve got one of those wires here!) that Eric Gordon has zero interest in sticking around to see what Tom Crean’s philosophies on college basketball will be. (The Indy Star has the story.)

The 19-year-old kid who was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and is a Top-10 NBA prospect ends his college career with an average of 20.9 points per game, the highest in the history of Indiana freshmen.

I see the potential in Gordon, and I never think a player should have to stick around in college for the viewers’ benefit, but I think he could use another year. Alas, another fresh, youthful face leaves us for the tepid waters of the NBA.

Hoosiers’ Gordon to Enter NBA Draft {Indianapolis Star}

Sorry for the bad editing on the first video … RedLasso was being kooky. Anyway, we’ve got Wesley Matthews showing the Stanford fans his true feelings on their support of the Cardinal in the midst of a first-half Golden Eagles run. (About seven seconds in.)

The second video is just Bilas and Enberg giving us their best baseball analysis, which is exactly what I’m looking for this time of year. No video of the Brook Lopez shot, I know, but: A) you’ve seen it and B) I’m not really huge on putting up a video of a favorite winning a game on a shot that isn’t a true buzzer-beater.

Awful Announcing covers the good, random, funny and notable quotes from CBS’ coverage yesterday.

Your NCAA Tournament Day One in Quotes {Awful Announcing}

If I’m running this site, I think I should put myself out there for some public embarrassment. Bold indicates an upset (has to be 3 seeds or greater difference), parentheses are my Final Four pick. I’m not going to justify any of these picks. I’m either riding this train into the station or the river. (more…)

Here are the links. It’s okay to make cheap, prop bets on the NIT with your buddies, but you should just get ridiculous for the CBI. In case you don’t know, that’s new, unncessary third tournament brought to you by the NCAA. It’s so bad I couldn’t even tell you who the favorite is.

NIT & CBI

If you’ve caught any of the ACC tournament on ESPN2, you’ve seen this…

“Wearing the colors PROUDLY!”

ESPN, I think none of us get it. But your annual conference tournament themes usually confound us, so this comes as little surprise.

It’s getting pretty hectic, and I didn’t set up a HoopTube, but here’s where the games of consequence are being played today (throwing in the Patriot League title game pub). I can’t believe how few games there are now, with so many teams losing yesterday. Talk about an underwhelming conference tournament Friday.

»Ohio State vs. Michigan State, Big Ten quarterfinals; 2:30 ET (ESPN).

»Miami vs. Virginia Tech, ACC quarterfinals; 2:30 ET (ESPN2).

»Colgate vs. American, Patriot League championship; 4:45 ET (ESPN2).

»Saint Joseph’s vs. Xavier, Atlantic 10 semifinals; 6:30 ET (Not national).

»Charlotte vs. Temple, Atlantic 10 semifinals; 9 ET (Not national.)

»Texas A&M vs. Kansas State, Big XII quarterfinals; 9:30 ET (Not national.)

»Utah vs. UNLV, Mountain West semifinals; midnight (CSTV.)

On a couple of occasions, I’ve mentioned how I avoid Joe Lunardi at all costs during the early months of each calendar year. And it’s not just because of his toupee. (Seriously, that’s gotta be a rug, right?) No, he’s just very good at what he does, and I’d prefer to not have my Selection Sunday diluted with prior knowledge of someone else’s accurate predictions. It’s a don’t-tear-away-the-corner-of-the-presents-under-the-tree type of thing, I guess.

So I clicked on this video at espn.com with a little bit of hesitation, but I thought it’d be a cool chronicle of what Lunardi does this time of year. No, it’s more creative than that.

In my book, the 11th-seeded Broccoli Cheese Soup will upset the lazy No. 6 Penne a la Vodka almost every time.

Great call by Lunardi with the ‘97 Kansas reference.

Don’t miss the boat: Nothing rings of absolutely unnecessary, unqualified gambling like getting a nice Division II bracket pool going.

In case you’ve forgotten how last year’s ended…

So why wait another week for that, you know, other releasing of the brackets extravaganza?

Division II Men’s Bracket