NBA Wednesday

Both Tyler Hansbrough and Tywon Lawson have said that they are returning back to UNC next year. Brandan Wright is still trying to make up his mind, and it make take a few more days before we know either way.

However the news for the UCLA offense were not as good, as their primary scorer Arron Afflalo is going to the NBA. Because he already withdrew last year, he will be gone no matter what this year. Goodbye Afflalo. He will be withdrawing from his classes (Hello APR headaches) but will make plans to take his remaining 10 classes in the future and graduate

As we get closer to the April 29 deadline, expect more and more of this type of announcements...

Andy Katz looks at the saga of John Beilein, the $2.5m buyout, West Virginia and Michigan at espn.com. This is a must read story!. It is ironic that it was John Beilein who actually initiated the inclusion of the contract buyout for his own protection. His then agent had similar provisions for a couple of his other fired clients who got paid big time, Pete Gillen ($2 million from Virginia) and Tom Herrion ($800K from Charleston)... This makes it even funnier when Gillan says "I got fired, I'm here selling bagels with you". Hey, I want to get fired and get a $2 million severance deal. Fire me please!!! :-)

Meanwhile in his "Daily Word Insider column" Katz wonders whether Ohio State will lose both Mike Conley and Greg Oden to the NBA... As you may recall a few days ago there were reports that Conley's dad was becoming an NBA agent. Coincidence? But regardless, usually the knock on players going early to the NBA is that they don't play in enough pressure situations, and they don't play in winning programs over time so as to develop the leadership and game-changing performance skills of a seasoned four year college player. However, in their case, Conley/Oden have been playing together and winning just about every game in both high school, AAU and their one year at Ohio State... But don't cry for Thad Matta and the Buckeyes (I wish I had a WAV/mp3 of Gus Johnson saying "The Buckeyes" to insert here), they have one of the best classes of 2007 coming in this year!

Good news as the Wizard of Westwood is released from the hospital.

Google Search Rumors: A couple of Google searches in the last few hours of "Steve Alford having an affair with a cheerleader" found their way to this blog. Well, I know nothing of a Steve Alford affair with a cheerleader... Another search was looking for information on John Calipari and dirty recruiting. Some (but not me) may say it's every time he picks up the phone (ouch!)... Another was looking for Billy Gillispie recruiting violations while he was at Tulsao... Another one was looking for news on Paul Westphal becoming a head coach once again (at the K12 level?)... Another search wanted Alex Legion to go to UCLA. Well, with Afflalo gone to the NBA, why not? Although offensively Chace Stanback can fit in really nice in some of the plays UCLA ran for Afflalo. And Stanback is taller so he can shoot over people... There is a saying "when there is smoke there is a fire", but on the net, you can never really know...

Reading is fundamental Segment If you are a fan of the Lord of the Rings books or dvds, there is a brand new book by JRR Tolkien, pieced together from many drafts by his son. The new book is titled "The Children of Hurin" and will be released on April 17, 2007 (Amazon pre-orders at $15.60 and eligible for free ship with orders over $25). For more, visit the Tolkien Store at Amazon