Already, it's starting. Talk show hosts and bloggers and columnists from coast-to-coast -- or at least bay-to-bay -- are chiming in on Mike Montgomery's firing from the Golden State Warriors. Some are even using the development as a launching pad to suggest college coaches are dumb when making the jump from the NCAA to the NBA, point being they rarely succeed.

On that subject, I have one question: Are you nuts?

Most elite college coaches at elite programs make about $1 million a year, give or take a nice shoe contract. Every NBA coach makes $1 million a year, and lots of bad ones make at least $2 million (Montgomery's contract was for four years, $10 million). Then there's Phil Jackson and Larry Brown.

So for the sake of future security -- financial security, not job security -- college coaches have to make the jump when they are afforded the opportunity. Barring a miracle, they'll probably fail and be fired, but then they get a buyout from the franchise and essentially become the hottest free agent on the market after the subsequent college season. And when they return to campus, they possess the ability to tell big-dreaming recruits that they are "NBA coaches" even if their win-loss record indicates otherwise.

Think about it, Rick Pitino's kids' kids' kids' will have college funds in place thanks to that 10-year, $50 million contract he once signed with the Celtics. And though he failed miserably at the NBA level, when Pitino was fired he immediately became the hottest coaching commodity on the market, and he has been the success at Louisville that everybody predicted almost from Day 1.

Bottom line, college coaches can't hurt their reputations or anything else by taking a shot at the NBA. It's a get-rich-quick scheme that will propel you to stardom at the highest level or straight back to college with an enhanced reputation. Either way, life is good.

If you haven't noticed, this is the slow time of the year for college basketball. Recruiting is pretty much wrapped up, and practice is yet to start. Actual news developments of any real significance are few and far between.

But there are still plenty of things you need to know.

OK, need is probably too strong a word. But there are plenty of things you should know. OK, should is probably too strong a word, too. But there are plenty of things that it can't hurt you to know. Yeah, that's it. That's a reasonable way to put it.

So every Monday until practice starts Oct. 13, I'll use this space to provide three things that happened over the weekend in college basketball that it can't hurt you to know.

I mean, it probably won't hurt, right?

1. Derrick Rose shortens list: So long as we can agree O.J. Mayo is committed to USC, Rose, a Chicago native, is the top uncommitted point guard in the nation. His brother, Reggie Rose, told The Chicago Sun-Times for Saturday's editions that a list of five finalists has been established, and that the list features DePaul, Indiana, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA.

Notably absent from the list: Illinois.

That's not good news for the in-state power, and it throws a monkey wrench into the Illini fans' theory that Rose and Eric Gordon -- teammates on the AAU circuit -- were planning to play together at Illinois. However, I'm sure my pals in Champaign will email to explain what happened. Can't wait for that.

2. Wisconsin returns from Italy: Bo Ryan's Badgers wrapped their preseason tour of exhibitions in Italy on Sunday night. Wisconsin went 5-0 on the trip, finishing with a comeback victory over a team featuring -- of all people -- former DePaul standout Drake Diener. Small world, huh?

Anyway, by all accounts the trip was wonderful on and (especially) off the court. Wisconsin sports information contact Brian Lucas did a nice job of chronicling the events. You can check that out at www.uwbadgers.com.

3. NMSU star remains suspended: There are no new developments in the Tyrone Nelson situation, thus the New Mexico State standout remains suspended after being charged by police with robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. Those, my friends, are felonies.

I'm all about innocent until proven guilty. But unless another really tall and recognizable black man happened to rob a Domino's delivery person in Las Cruces last Tuesday, then Nelson is in trouble. Oh yeah, the phone number that lured the delivery person to the location of the robbery had a "979" area code. That area code belongs to Hempstead, Texas, which happens to be Nelson's hometown. How many cell phones with a "979" area code do you think there are bouncing around Las Cruces?

In other words, it doesn't look good for ol' Tyrone. The Las Cruces Sun-News obtained the police report. All the juicy details can be found here.

Word this week that Louisville will build a new downtown arena primarily to host Cardinal basketball offered further validity to a growing theory, one that suggests Tom Jurich is among the best athletic directors in the country. He's a guy who gets things done at a rate about which most schools only dream.

First came this: He positioned Louisville for a move to the Big East by creating nationally prominent programs in both football and basketball. The key was hiring two of the best coaches in the business, Rick Pitino and Bobby Petrino. Impressively, their names even rhyme, and that Jurich has been able to keep the ever-flirting Petrino faithful while other schools have called is quite an achievement, almost the equivalent of a guy keeping Paris Hilton faithful during a weekend trip to Las Vegas. Almost.

Now comes this: A 22,000 seat, $450 million arena complex that will be state-of-the-art in every way and Cardinal themed. It's scheduled to open in 2010-2011, and when it does UofL figures to make at least $2.5 million more off men's basketball per year while playing at a facility it helped design on the grandest scale all the way down to the colors, banners and logos inside.

"Once you walk in, it will be like walking into a new and updated Freedom Hall," former Louisville assistant coach Wade Houston told The Courier-Journal. In other words, it'll feel like home but won't smell like home, and by home I mean like a barn filled with horses. Likewise, there will be no more scheduling around horses -- specifically horse shows -- because UofL will finally have the scheduling priority it has always desired.

Long story short, Jurich did it again. The guy is not even an NBA owner, and he still managed to get a new arena built and a wonderful agreement for his team. Why the Seattle Sonics didn't hire him years ago is one of life's great mysteries.

That Billy Donovan is postponing his contract extension despite being due a hefty raise for winning a national title is really no big deal to Billy Donovan. He's already making $1.7 million per year, second only in the SEC to Kentucky's Tubby Smith. If the Florida coach can't get by on $1.7 million per year, he should change his name to Hammer.

In other words, Donovan doesn't need this money. An extra $300,000 per year isn't going to change his life one bit, and it's not like he's turning it down anyway. He's just putting it off. It's no different than if a buddy owed you $300, but because you had $1,700 in your wallet you told him to just pay you back in November. Come November, you're going to get that money. It'll all even out in the end.

And that's why this is a brilliant move.

In disclosing that he's not taking the contract extension now, Donovan makes a wonderful point to his players, at least three of whom -- Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford -- temporarily sacrificed NBA millions for the opportunity to repeat as national champions. The message is clear: You put-off money, so I'll put-off money, too. The fact that it will have no real effect on Donovan's life is inconsequential because the appearance is that of a selfless act filled with gratitude, one that doubles as a motivator and another example of why Billy D. is one of the smartest -- and most successful -- guys in this business. .. even if he's about $300,000 light in the pocket these days.

Anthony Randolph, the focus of some of Baylor's so-called negative recruiting tactics detailed by CBS SportsLine.com, has narrowed his list of potential colleges to five and has begun arranging official visits, according to a source close to the situation.

A consensus Top 20 national recruit, Randolph will visit Texas Sept. 9 for the Longhorns' football game with Ohio State. In subsequent weekends the 6-10 forward from Dallas will visit Georgetown and LSU. Randolph is also still considering Kansas and Cincinnati, though it's undetermined whether he will visit either of those schools.

A decision on college should come by mid-October.

John Calipari plans to spend part of this week trying to replenish a staff that has been depleted, though all defections came for career advancement and with the blessing of the Memphis coach.

First, Ryan Miller left his post as an assistant director of basketball operations to become a recruiting assistant at Pepperdine, where Calipari's buddy Vance Walberg is in his first year as head coach. Then, Tony Barbee left his post as lead assistant to become the head coach at UTEP. Barbee's first hire was Milt Wagner, who left his post as director of basketball operations to be a recruiting assistant at UTEP.

Add it up, and Calipari has three holes to fill.

Who said August was the slow month for basketball coaches?

"I'm going to talk to (former Tiger players) Marcus Moody, Nathaniel Root and Shyrone Chatman about Ryan Miller's old position this week," Calipari said. "It's an entry level position, but it's a way to break in."

As for Barbee's position, Calipari will likely travel later this week to search for possible replacements. It's also unclear what he'll do with Wagner's position, though it's possible -- if not likely -- Andy Allison, an assistant director of basketball operations, could simply be promoted.

The common theory is that being on national television a lot helps schools get big-time recruits. Me, I think it's the other way around, that getting big-time recruits helps schools be on national television a lot.

As proof, I submit the Ohio State Buckeyes.

OSU released its schedule this week, and it is guaranteed at least 14 games on national television, including six on CBS. Last year, the Buckeyes -- those Big Ten champion Buckeyes -- had just nine games on national television, and only four on CBS.

The reason for the increase?

Greg Oden, of course.

The lesson?

This is what happens when you sign the No. 1 player in the nation, even if that player probably won't play until January because of a wrist injury. The schedule-makers can't predict such misfortune.

Less than a month ago things didn't seem to be going too well for Indiana. Kelvin Sampson was serving that highly publicized ban from off-campus evaluating, and in-state rival Matt Painter of Purdue was tearing it up on the recruiting trail. A story in the Indianapolis Star described the situation as "Purdue 3, Indiana 0." Then when Painter committed another in-state standout it became 4-0, and Indiana fans were wondering if their new coach was going to be able to keep up.

Wonder no more.

Indiana, on Monday, received its second commitment from an elite prospect in a week when junior-college standout Jamarcus Ellis, a 6-5 forward, committed to the Hoosiers. He joins Brandon McGee, a 6-6 forward, as Class of 2007 pledges, and the developments seem to indicate Sampson has a solid inroad to Chicago considering both Ellis and McGee are products of the Windy City (Ellis was the 2004 MVP of the Chicago Public League and was considered the top prospect in Illinois that year not named Shaun Livingston.).

So the updated score is. ..

Purdue 4, Indiana 2.

Granted, the Boilermakers are still ahead. But Sampson appears to be making a nice comeback, recruiting sanctions be damned.

The phone rang early Sunday morning.

How early? If I attended church, it would've been way earlier than church. If I was still young enough to stay out all night, it would've been about the time we were swinging by Waffle House on the way home.

Anyway, the call was from Don Jackson. He's the notable, quotable anti-NCAA attorney who has attached himself to the governing body's attack on prep schools by continuously stating it's not right, it's not fair and that it's got to stop at some point ... even if that point comes in federal court.

"I was up doing some research," Jackson said. "You won't believe what I found."

What Jackson found was an old transcript from Outside the Lines, the ESPN show hosted by Bob Ley. The episode is from May 2002. The focus was prep schools, and the introduction stated, "Today on Outside the Lines, a school where for top recruits, eligibility is for sale."

Toward the end of the show, Ley introduced Diane Dickman, who was at the time the NCAA's director of membership services. Dickman was asked whether the NCAA would crack down on these seemingly fraudulent prep schools (like Christopher Robin in New York ) and stop accepting transcripts from them. Her answer, in hindsight, is interesting.

"There are almost no scenarios under which the NCAA would begin to police this secondary school or any secondary school in terms of whether we would accept core courses or not. It's an inappropriate role for us to play."

Problem is, that's precisely the role the NCAA is now playing. By banning certain prep schools and, more recently, sending questionnaires to graduates from NCAA-cleared prep schools that must be completed before their eligibility can be reviewed, the NCAA is doing exactly what it said it would not -- make that, could not -- do.

Funny how things change, huh?

"I almost fell out of my chair when I read that," Jackson said. "It's like I've already said. They know they don't have the authority to do what they're doing, so they're just trying to drag all this out. But these student-athletes should've been cleared a long time ago."

As always, to be continued.

Question: Why did a Top 30 national recruit from the Los Angeles area reject offers from UCLA and USC -- not to mention Washington -- to attend Arizona State?

Answer: Because of a package deal, of course.

Used to be these things were big news, and coaches would catch hell for signing a friend of a prospect to get the prospect, or even hiring the prospect's dad on staff to get the prospect. Now, it seems like one of these happens every month, and so when James Harden committed to Arizona State this week, the fact that the Sun Devils had hired his high school coach, Scott Pera, as director of basketball operations merely got a passing mention in most news stories, if it was mentioned at all.

You know how once upon a time networks refused to show TV couples sleeping in the same bed in an attempt to uphold some silly moral code, but now people are not only shown in bed together but in the back of cars, on the kitchen table and everywhere else? The same principle is at work here. What used to cause uproar is now accepted as "just the way things are." So college coaches sign friends, hire legal guardians or do whatever they have to do to get the next great star, and nobody seems to notice.

All of which is fine, I suppose. Far be it from me to re-write the NCAA rule book, and these types of things would be impossible to prevent anyway. It's just the contrast in reaction that I find interesting, how when package deals happened 20 years ago they were national news and now they're hardly news at all.

Somewhere, Danny Manning is smiling.

Good to see the people at Nevada reinvesting profits back into their basketball program, or at least their coach. The school reportedly made $1.5 million in hoops last year, and a chunk of that is headed toward Mark Fox to ensure loyalty for the time being.

The original contract Fox signed with Nevada following a promotion as an assistant under Trent Johnson (now at Stanford) would've paid him $270,000 this year, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. Now, with his second raise since April, Fox will make $500,000 this season, the culmination of back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and Nebraska expressing interest in luring him away before ultimately settling on UTEP's Doc Sadler.

So will this keep Fox at Nevada forever?

It's doubtful, especially considering he's likely to make a third consecutive NCAA Tournament this season thanks to the return of Nick Fazekas. If that happens, it would take something like Fox running over an elderly woman while driving drunk (or worse) to prevent bigger names -- even bigger than Nebraska -- from approaching him to fill one of many vacancies sure to open next March.

Still, the seed of loyalty has been planted. And though in the end it might not mean a thing, the raise is a nice gesture on Nevada's part and evidence that the school will do all it can to keep its basketball program moving forward.

The Southern California staff won't know for certain until the end of the month whether Class of 2007 commitment Daniel Hackett will graduate from high school early and be allowed to play for the Trojans this season. Still, USC is counting on the addition, which would help ease the loss of late point guard Ryan Francis (at least in a basketball sense) and academically ineligible shooting guard Gabe Pruitt.

Assuming Hackett becomes eligible, what USC hopes it will have is a bigger version of former Arizona standout Miles Simon. The 6-5 guard is the type of smart, heady, intense competitor whose team wins when he's on the court, evidence being last month's title game of the Reebok Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas.

Truth is, Hackett was far from the best player on his team, surrounded on the Southern California All-Stars by guys like Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings and Renardo Sidney. But anybody who watched the contest realized Hackett brought all the intangibles to the game, and ended up being largely responsible for SCA's comeback that led to a victory over Meanstreets Express of Chicago.

Hackett helped slow Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose in the second half, defending at such a high level that both were visibly frustrated. Hackett's biggest moment came on, of all things, a five-second call in the second half. That's what had him excited, and anybody who has ever been around a coach understands the level of desire there is for elite prospects who love to guard and try to produce five-second calls.

It seemed obvious even back in April that SMU used some minor NCAA rules violations as an excuse to rid itself of Jimmy Tubbs. Now it seems really obvious.

According to a Friday story in the Dallas Morning News, SMU has already reported a secondary violation committed by the staff of new coach Matt Doherty. The school did not, however, similarly follow the report with the termination of Doherty, which, of course, would have been silly, though no sillier than firing Tubbs for violations that reportedly consisted of the coach practicing a little too much, buying two players hamburgers and another player laundry detergent.

In fairness, SMU officials have stated there were more violations under Tubbs than what has been reported. But if the infractions were worthy of termination they would have likely been disclosed or at least leaked to the media by now, especially considering the school has taken heat locally for the way it handled things.

Instead, we're left to accept the lone reasonable conclusion, that minor violations will only get a man fired if that man is on the path to getting fired anyway. Win a few more games, and those burgers wouldn't have done a thing except add an extra pound or two.

It's hard to imagine the Maui Invitational being better than it was last year when it featured a thriller between Gonzaga and Michigan State, including the coming out party of Adam Morrison. Still, Thursday's release of the bracket offers some nice story lines. Like:

• Will a possible second round match-up between Memphis and Georgia Tech materialize? If so, this will be huge -- at least in Memphis -- because of the fact that Yellow Jacket freshman phenom Thaddeus Young spurned the hometown Tigers and left town for college following a long, tough and very public recruiting battle. Some Memphians turned on Young once the circus closed, which is unfortunate because he's one of the few elite prospects whose personality and maturity seem to match his physical gifts. Regardless, this game in Memphis would rival a build-up unmatched for a non-Tiger player since Tony Harris left the city to play at Tennessee or Todd Day left the city to play at Arkansas.

• Will this be the opening of the first of many great years for Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel?

• Will this be the opening of the last of many great years for Kentucky coach Tubby Smith?

• Will Purdue's Matt Painter figure out a way to get his Class of 2007 recruits in school a year early to help make a run at a title?

• Will the top two seeds -- UCLA and Memphis -- meet in the championship game? If so, will anybody dare watch? That second question seems silly, but it's worth pondering considering the Elite Eight contest these two schools played last March. UCLA won, 50-45, and sitting courtside bordered on torture. Memphis made just 17 of 54 field goal attempts (31.5 percent) and only 2 of 17 from 3-point range (11.8 percent). UCLA made just 14 of 40 field goal attempts (35.0 percent) and only 2 of 8 (25.0 percent) from 3-point range. How bad was it? Here's what Ben Howland, the winning coach, said a few weeks ago when I mentioned the game to him: "Did you know we only made four field goals in the second half?" he asked with a big smile. As for John Calipari, the losing coach, his take has forever been this: "If we had just played (crappy) we could've won."

Justin Cerasoli missed last season at Ole Miss per NCAA transfer rules. Now the 6-foot-5 point guard who left Seton Hall after one year is sitting out again.

This time it's because of a broken hand. The injury is costing him the summer.

"He's been in a cast, so obviously he's about to go through the roof with frustration because he hasn't been able to play as much as he'd like, and he's one of those kids who likes to play a lot," said first-year Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy. "But we think the cast is going to come off in the next week or so, and by mid-September he should be back to normal."

Kennedy described the injury as a "freak accident." It involved a YMCA, a revolving door, another person and a touch of horseplay.

"Justin was going in and out of a revolving door at like a Y, and some kid was running -- goofing around -- and ran through it," Kennedy said. "It snapped his hand back."

Assuming everything heals correctly, expect Cerasoli to be the starting point guard at Ole Miss this season. He was a consensus top 50 recruit coming out of high school, and the Chicago native's talent is undeniable despite his struggles at Seton Hall in dealing with coach Louis Orr.

Cerasoli averaged 6.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists as a freshman. He has three years of eligibility remaining.

"His skill set is certainly going to allow him the opportunity to play a lot," Kennedy said. "We need him to be good."

The idea of Dana Altman leaving Creighton to replace Barry Collier at Nebraska never really made sense considering the Bluejays traditionally outdraw and outperform the Huskers in basketball. So when Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson effectively squashed all speculation that he would pursue the in-state rival's coach, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"There has already been some national media speculation about Coach Altman,” Pederson said during Tuesday's press conference, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “That discussion serves no good purpose for either school. ... We’re not going to go down that path.”

Altman echoed that thought Wednesday morning to CBS SportsLine.

"I'm happy where I'm at," he said. "Right now there is no doubt that we have things heading in the right direction. Our support is great and we have a great administration here. We've been very fortunate."

Asked if that meant it was safe to report he is not -- and will not be -- interested in the Nebraska opening, Altman didn't hesitate. "That's safe to say," he said.

So Dana Altman isn't going to Nebraska. Instead, he'll spend the next month looking for one more non-league opponent to come to Creighton. Heck, if you're from a BCS league, he'll even start a home-and-home on your court or meet you at a neutral site.

That's how difficult scheduling has become for Missouri Valley Conference schools. Hardly anybody wants to play Creighton (or Bradley or Wichita State or Southern Illinois), especially after the 2005-06 season in which the MVC validated itself to the rest of the nation as a stronger-than-most-realized basketball league.

"Scheduling has always been difficult," Altman said. "It's tough to get games, and to get anybody back here to Omaha is virtually impossible."

Creighton already has home games with Final Four participant George Mason and Xavier, and road games at Nebraska, Dayton and Fresno State. The Bluejays will also play in the Rainbow Classic in December, where they'll join Houston, Charlotte, Valparaiso, Wyoming, San Francisco, Nebraska and Hawaii.

"So we've got a decent schedule," Altman said. "But we're still looking for one more game."

On the recruiting trail it was hard not to notice Rick Pitino and staff bouncing around. For a school that originally had just one projected scholarship for the Class of 2007 -- two once Chad Millard elected to transfer -- Louisville sure seemed to be monitoring things awful closely.

Now, it makes sense.

With Brian Johnson also opting to transfer the Cards have at least three scholarships to give. That number could actually increase if David Padgett, Juan Palacios or Derrick Caracter decide to turn pro after this season.

Some of the Cardinals' bigger targets include Patrick Patterson of West Virginia, Darquavis Tucker of Michigan, Herb Pope of Pennsylvania, Keenan Ellis of Ohio and Tracy Smith of North Carolina. Another more recent target is Jon Leuer, a 6-10 shooter from Minnesota whom the Cardinals monitored at the Reebok Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas last week.

Pitino was courtside -- along with Kansas coach Bill Self -- to watch Leuer in a morning win on July 24. Assistant Steve Masiello was in the gym later that same night when Leuer sank some shots while looking, perhaps, like the next Steve Novak.