FanHouse Sec Basketball

Nikki Caldwell gets to go home for the holiday, so from that perspective, this trip is already a success.

The UCLA coach, in her second season in Westwood, is bringing her team to Knoxville to take on her mentor, Pat Summitt, and the sixth-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols on Saturday.

It's a chance for Caldwell, the Oak Ridge, Tenn., native, to come back as a local girl made good, and to eat Aunt Janice's dressing.

"There are some good soul food places in L.A., but I'm looking forward to the home cooking," Caldwell said.

When John Calipari told an interviewer at the SEC's basketball media day last month, "These fans -- I'm saying this lovingly -- are nuts,'' he was being very narrow-minded. In the SEC, this season and the last few, why single out the fans?

The idea has been thrown around that the arrival of Calipari (and his history) at Kentucky (and its history) is going to suck all the attention toward them and away from the rest of the conference. Truth be told, this might not be a bad thing. The SEC might not lead Division I conferences in dysfunction, but it's near the top. Only three seasons ago, it was celebrating one of its programs, Florida, completing the rare feat of repeating as national champion. But literally from the moment the Gators made that official by winning the 2007 title in Atlanta -- remember, coach Billy Donovan spent much of the postgame interviews fending off speculation that he was going to take over at, yes, Kentucky -- the SEC has been the home of constant chaos.

Half of the league's 12 schools have changed coaches since then, three this season; two newcomers, at Alabama and Georgia, follow coaches who departed in midseason, making Kentucky, which fired Billy Gillispie and hired Calipari, an isle of calm by comparison.

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Kay Yow is still very much a presence in the North Carolina State women's basketball program.

Her name is on the athletic department's Wall of Fame, and on the basketball court at Reynolds Coliseum. Her photo still hangs in the women's basketball locker room.

"She was North Carolina State basketball, and you don't and you can't wipe that away with a new staff," said new N.C. State head coach Kellie Jolly Harper.

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive might have been hoping that when college football season ends, he would not have to be issuing weekly warnings to his high profile coaches to watch their mouths. But it looks more like he will be chiding coaches some time into April.

The addition of John Calipari at Kentucky means the SEC coaching family gatherings promise to be more entertaining. Calipari has never been one to build warm relationships with other coaches in his conference (right, John Chaney?). His soured relationship with Rick Pitino should make his meetings with Florida's Billy Donovan more interesting.

The warm and special relationship that was built during his time at Memphis, with Tennessee's Bruce Pearl will undoubtedly produce the most entertainment. .

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.

Part of the beauty of college basketball is that it isn't like college football. The top teams don't have to be afraid of playing a tough opponent; worried that risking a single loss would derail a season's worth of effort.

Instead, the best teams in college basketball want to cut their teeth on one another, learn from their shortcomings, shore up before spring, or build a resume for the NCAA committee by collecting wins against stiff competition.

The following is a list of the top five schedules in women's college basketball this season. These teams are going to do it the hard way. And you gotta admire that.

Oh, the uber-talented guard is practicing and with the Wildcats and impressing all who see John Wall play. It's just that the NCAA has suspended him for the first two games. Well, an exhibition and the season opener. So it is more like 1.5 games. Wall will miss the exhibition game against NAIA Campbellsville on Monday, November 2. He will also miss the season opener with Morehead State. That means his debut will be on November 16 against Miami (Ohio).

Wall's eligibility was called into question because his AAU coach/adviser/future entourage and hanger-on Brian Clifton had also been failing to be an NBA agent while Wall was being recruited as a high school junior. Clifton had helped pay for some of Wall's travel expenses for unofficial visits to schools. Wall also has to repay Clifton almost $800.

Somehow, Kentucky should be able to find a way to get past those first two opponents without Wall.

No one really expected ex-Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie's lawsuit against Kentucky for breach of contract to ever make it to trial. Neither side really wanted everything in the open court, and dragging into the actual college basketball season.

So it was not a real surprise that the parties agreed to mediation and a settlement was reached for roughly half of the $6 million dollars in dispute. Gillispie gets $2.98 million and his attorney and mediation costs paid by Kentucky. Or roughly one-tenth of the amount Kentucky is paying John Calipari over the next eight years.

Gillispie gets to put one more aspect of his time in Kentucky behind him. Arguably that was the easiest item. He still has to sell his house in a bad real estate market and settle that DUI charge.

Sure, Renardo Sidney was academically certified to attend Mississippi State. That's meaningless if the NCAA will not certify his amateur status to play basketball for the single season before he goes pro. At the moment he is not cleared and the NCAA does not even have to make an actual decision as to his eligibility since Sidney and his family will not turn over requested financial records.

The NCAA wants tax and bank records from the Sidney family to help explain how the family could move from Mississippi to Los Angeles and afford to rent multi-million dollar homes to reside. Especially considering that Sonny Vaccaro has stated that he gave the Sidney's $25,000 to make the move and Renardo Sidney's father became a consultant to a sneaker company for no real reason other than because he is Renardo Sidney's father.

Former Kentucky and Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie has checked himself into the John Lucas After Care Program in Houston to help fight his alcohol addiction, a source close to the former head coach confirmed to FanHouse on Wednesday.

Gillispie, who was dismissed as the Wildcats coach after last season, was arrested on his third known DUI charge last month in Kentucky

"He didn't have a whole lot of choices," the source told FanHouse. "Either [go to] Lucas or go to Betty Ford or somewhere. This is the best PR move Billy Clyde can make."