FanHouse Ncaa Basketball Campus

Tonight is the opening night for college basketball. Defending champion North Carolina tips off at 7PMtonight on ESPN, followed by Syracuse. Plus teams like California and Ohio State start their season as part of one of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. All with little hype despite being on one of the ESPN family of networks.

So, the quiet start kicks off what has become the annual lament among college basketball writers. There are no festivities. There is no "celebration." There is no coordination. There is only a quiet and disjointed start to college basketball.

The reasons are familiar. Both external and internal. Pro and college football are dominating most of the market. The NBA and NHL have been underway for a few weeks, as well. Plus the NCAA and basketball programs do themselves no favors with teams no organized start to the season. Teams kicking off their season with no rhyme or reason (other than planning around on-campus football games). College basketball just gets lost in the shuffle.

A serious situation at the University of Arkansas seemed to resolve itself last month when it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to file rape charges against three unnamed Arkansas Razorback basketball players. For a program that has had numerous off-the-court distractions and dysfunctional coaching searches, this was a small relief not to have it hanging over its head when the season got underway.

So much for that plan. Questions quickly arose surrounding the prosecutor that determined there was insufficient evidence. Now the Razorbacks are looking at a case that's being reopened by a special prosecutor appointed by the state, just as the season opener looms.

Florida International has not played a game yet under new coach Isiah Thomas, but the program is acting like it is already a player in college basketball. They are threatening to pull out of the 2K Sports Classic Tournament, which benefits the Coaches vs. Cancer charity, because they are no longer slated to be the road patsy for Ohio State. Instead they are getting sent to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina.

The Golden Panthers had agreed to play in the preseason tournament even before Isiah Thomas was hired as the head coach. It had been presumed that they would go to Columbus to play the Buckeyes. Ohio State had indicated on its Web site that FIU would be the opponent. FIU and Thomas referenced starting the season there.

Jarvis Varnado has been the best shot-blocker in college basketball for the past two years. He also really loves his Mississippi State Bulldogs. To the tune of giving up his scholarship and taking out a student loan to pay for his senior year in Starkville. At least he is probably doing that.

The Bulldogs found themselves facing a possibility of having 14 players on scholarship. One over the thirteen player limit, assuming John Riek and Renardo Sidney are fully cleared by the NCAA to play this year. Varnado, came back to Mississippi State after an exploration of the NBA Draft.

If the NCAA was hoping that Renardo Sidney would simplify the investigation by somehow failing to get academically qualified, they are out of luck. Sidney was cleared for meeting minimum academic standards by the NCAA Eligibility Center. That has allowed him to enroll at Mississippi State for classes in the fall semester and begin participating in conditioning and individual workouts.

That does not clear Sidney to practice with the team and play for Mississippi State. The NCAA is still investigating his eligibility as an amateur in light of reports of how his family managed to live in multi-million dollar homes and afforded a move from Mississippi to Los Angeles in the first place. All without any clear idea how they earned the money for it.

There are days when the whole of college basketball -- or simply all of major college athletics -- is just too depressing and miserable. Where even Dick Vitale can not create a saccharine enough visual of the coaches who populate the major basketball programs.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published an investigation that found just 26 major league baseball players and managers have college degrees. Twenty-six! That's out of a pool of a potential 1,042 players and managers. You want that in percentage terms, that's 2.5 percent. A staggeringly low percentage, even if you pull out all Latin American players (who don't have the same collegiate opportunities) from the equation. Yet, I defy you to find an article that utilizes this fact to make an argument that baseball players need better educations.

The same would hold true for tennis, hockey and golf. As a society, we don't care about the education of our athletes in those sports. In fact, what are the only two sports that we seem to care about when it comes to the education of athletes? Football and basketball. Which just so happen to also have the largest percentage of minority athletes. That's got me wondering, isn't our society guilty of racial paternalism when it comes to sports?

Lance Stephenson is one of the top high school players in the country. He was a McDonald's All-American. He is also just about the only major recruit not running screaming from the rubble of USC that is without a college destination.

Where once he seemed headed for Kansas, that door has closed. Arizona opted against wanting him. Now Maryland has decided they are not interested any longer.

Saturday, Memphis appears before the NCAA Infractions Committee to discuss the Derrick Rose -- excuse us, name redacted -- imbroglio. Kentucky coach John Calipari will not be physically present. Why not? Because he has a previously scheduled trip to China. Boy, is that convenient. Coach Cal has known since mid-January that Memphis would be appearing before the infractions committee on June 5-7, 2009 (the letter preceding the notice of allegations informed Memphis of this date), and he just happens to schedule a trip to China during that time?

What a coincidence!

Calipari informed the NCAA via letter that he'd love to attend the hearing, but would be in China. The NCAA replied that they wanted him there anyway, by phone if necessary, foiling Calipari's ultimate rejoinder. "The NCAA hearing? I don't know anything about that. I was in China when they had the infractions hearing!"

Lost amid the kerfuffle overtaking John Calipari, Memphis, and Kentucky is the question that everyone should be asking: Is your average athletic director smart enough to handle their job given the intense pressure and attention that now descends upon the position?