Lockout Talks Hit Crucial Stage

Talks between the NBA and NBPA continue in New York today, and have reached what many consider to be a critical but potentially productive stage.

Discussions apparently took a big leap forward when the league unveiled a new proposal that does not include the dreaded "hard" salary cap. They've substituted a revised luxury tax system with far more punitive charges for exceeding pre-set salary levels, the levels themselves and the penalties involved have not been revealed as of yet.

I'm highly skeptical of such a system. Bear in mind, the league implemented the current luxury tax structure thinking the dollar-for-dollar tax on salaries above a certain level would act as a brake on payrolls. But many teams simply accepted the tax as part of the cost of doing business. Will higher taxes do a better job of slowing salary growth? For some teams, probably... but as Tim Donahue points out, the Lakers and Knicks have a massive edge in revenue, even compared with successful big-market teams like Houston, Chicago and Boston. Even a three-for-one tax wouldn't hurt Jerry Buss' profit margin all that much.

Obviously, many of the details have yet to emerge. But as described, it is hard to see this proposal as anything but a hard cap on everyone except the Lakers and Knicks.

Of course, that may be the point. The players have insisted all along that they will not accept any deal with a hard cap. Technically, this deal doesn't. If it is combined with a percentage-based split of league revenue - one that allows the players to share in the league's growth over the life of the next CBA - this could become the basis for a deal.

Time is running short - the scheduled start of the season is just over a month away. If there's no deal by the end of this week, the likelihood that regular-season games will be lost grows exponentially.

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Amber Rose

Move to New York, get a Page Six girlfriend.

Amber Rose attends the Pam Hogg Spring Summer 2011 fashion show at On/Off during London Fashion Week on September 19, 2010 in London, England.

Getty Images / Ian Gavan

Knicks center Amar'e Stoudemire has been featured on the back page of the New York tabloids of late for his MVP-caliber play. He's also showing up in the gossip columns after making several public appearances with fashionista Amber Rose -- perhaps best known as the long-time girlfriend of rapper Kanye West.

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What is a Medical Redshirt?

Definition: A medical redshirt is a student who misses an entire year of competition due to injury and is granted an extension of his or her athletic eligibility to replace the lost season.

In men's college basketball, a student who participates in less than 30 percent of his team's games may apply for medical redshirt status.

The term is derived from redshirt, the practice of sitting out a year by choice, usually to avoid wasting a year's eligibility on a season that would otherwise be spent on the bench. Redshirting is far more common in football than in basketball.

Examples:

Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a game last December, and missed the remainder of the season. Because he had played in just 10 of Syracuse's 32 games, the Big East determined that Devendorf was eligible to apply for a medical redshirt. That request was granted in September, and as a result Devendorf is now classified as a junior athletically for the 2008-09 season.

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Will the Last Team to Leave the Big East Please Shut Off the Lights?

When the news of Syracuse and Pittsburgh leaving the Big East became public, the natural first question was, "who else is leaving?"

The answer is apparently "everyone."

ACC commissioner John Swofford confirmed that multiple members of the Big East - including Villanova - have applied for membership in the ACC. The Wildcats' application is particularly interesting because Villanova does not currently play football at the "Football Bowl Subdivision" (formerly known as Division I-A) level.

But Villanova has long been a power at the Football Championship Subdivision (aka I-AA) level.

This raises two interesting possibilities.

Perhaps Villanova has decided to make the jump, and to start competing at college football's highest level. Or perhaps, as Chris Lane of The Nova Blog suggests, the Wildcats hope to shift to the ACC under the same conditions as their Big East membership, participating in all sports save for football. In that case, Lane continues, it would make sense to bring along another basketball-only member from the Big East, to keep an even number of teams in the league. He mentions Georgetown and St. John's as reasonable possibilities.

Of those two, St. John's would seem to make more sense, given their presence in the New York media market. (The ACC already has a pretty good presence in Washington DC thanks to the Maryland Terrapins.) Of course, there have also been reports that John Swofford believes Syracuse will get him New York, which is a reason the league seems dis-inclined to add a school like Rutgers or even Connecticut unless other offers fall through.

One thing that does seem abundantly clear: if even the non-football schools are looking for an exit strategy, the Big East as we have come to know it is on its very last legs.

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How Basketball Teams Qualify for the Olympics

Sep 14 2011

In July of 2012, twelve teams will head to London to compete for Olympic gold in men's basketball. Twelve others will be going for the gold in women's hoops. But in reality, the competition started years ago; simply qualifying to compete in the Olympics is an arduous process that plays out over the course of several years.

Host Country

Generally, the first berth in the Olympic basketball tournament is reserved for the host country. In 2012, that's Great Britain. But the British aren't exactly known as a hoops power. FIBA, basketball's international governing body, asked Great Britain to make substantial improvements in its basketball programs before agreeing to give them a host nation berth in the tournament.

London was awarded the games back in 2005, but was not officially given the berth until March of 2011.

Reigning FIBA World Champions

The reigning FIBA World Champion also gets an automatic slot in the Olympic games. Team USA has that honor for the 2012 games, thanks to Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and the other NBA stars that won gold at the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

FIBA Regional Championships

Seven more spots in the Olympic field are distributed based on the results of tournaments held in each of FIBA's five geographic divisions:

• Two from Europe
• Two from North and South America
• One from Africa
• One from Asia
• One from "Oceania" - essentially, Australia and New Zealand

Those berths go to the champions - in Europe and the Americas' case, the champions and runners-up - of tournaments held in each region.

The Olympic Qualifying Tournament

That leaves three unfilled slots. Those are filled by the top three finishers in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which matches up twelve of the lower-tier finishers from the FIBA regional tournaments.

The Olympic Qualifying Tournament includes the third through sixth-place finishers from Eurobasket, the third through fifth from the Americas, the second and third-place teams from Africa and Asia, and the Oceania tournament runner-up.

Criticisms of the Process

There are some pretty significant problems with the geographic divisions, due to the fact that most of the world's best basketball teams hail from Europe or the Americas. According to FIBA's 2010 rankings of men's national teams, eight of the world's top twelve squads - Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Turkey, Italy, Serbia, Russia and Germany - are European. Two more come from the Americas - the United States and Argentina - with Puerto Rico and Brazil just outside the top dozen at 15 and 16.

Australia and China are the only representatives from Oceania or Asia in the top twelve. Africa's top team, Angola, rated 13th.

Under the current format, two European squads qualify for the games based after Eurobasket, and four more get invites to the qualifying tournament. But that means the seventh-best European club doesn't even get a shot at the qualifiers.

But according to the FIBA rankings, the seventh-best team from Europe is the eleventh-best team in the world.

Meanwhile, Oceania is guaranteed a spot in the Olympics and another in the qualifying tournament, despite the fact that the entire region has only two teams of note. In 2011, the Oceania "Tournament" that determined an Olympic berth was actually a best-of-three series between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand went 0-2 against their rivals, but will still get a chance to qualify for London ahead of a European club that ranks several spots higher on FIBA's list.

Improving the Process

Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated published a number of suggestions to improve Olympic basketball qualifying and ensure that more of the world's top teams are seen on the biggest stage. First off, he recommends expanding the tournament field to sixteen teams, a change that FIBA has pushed for some time but Olympic organizers have rejected. He also recommends combining the Oceania and Asia regions for the purposes of Olympic qualifying.

Olympic Women's Basketball Qualifying

The qualifying process for the women's Olympic basketball tournament is very similar. Automatic berths are given to the host nation and reigning FIBA World Champion (Team USA). But only the champion of each regional FIBA tournament advances - one each from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania. That leaves five slots to be determined by the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women, which will take place in London prior to the official start of the games.

The qualifying tournament includes the second through fifth-place teams from Europe, the second through fourth from the Americas, the second and third-place teams from Asia and Africa, and the Oceania runner-up.

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ACC Expanding at Big East's Expense

Sep 19 2011

Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh have accepted invitations to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Panthers and Orange will become teams thirteen and fourteen, giving the ACC a footprint that covers nearly every major television market from Miami to Boston, but leaves the future of the Big East very much in doubt.

Fourteen Teams (and Counting)

With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, membership in the ACC now stands at fourteen teams:

1. North Carolina
2. Duke
3. Florida State
4. Virginia Tech
5. Clemson
6. Boston College
7. Maryland
8. Virginia
9. Miami
10. North Carolina State
11. Georgia Tech
12. Wake Forest
13. Pittsburgh
14. Syracuse

They're also the fourth and fifth teams to jump from the Big East to the ACC; Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech did so for the 2004-05 academic year.

More could follow. The ACC's ultimate goal could be a sixteen-team group, split into two divisions for conference play in hoops and football. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina's Roy Williams have already spoken out in favor of such an alignment.

According to rumor, Texas and Notre Dame top ACC commissioner John Swofford's wish list. Of course, the Longhorns and Fighting Irish also figure heavily in the expansion plans of the Big Ten and Pac 12. If the Longhorns look west, or manage to keep some semblance of the Big 12 intact, and if Notre Dame opts to stay independent in football, the 15th and 16th ACC teams could also come from the Big East, with Connecticut, Rutgers and Louisville obvious targets.

Adding the Huskies would give the ACC eight of the last eleven NCAA champions.

Big East bylaws require two years' notice from any team choosing to leave for another conference, but most expect some sort of settlement that would allow the Orange and the Panthers to begin ACC play with the 2012-13 season.

The Small East

The defections leave the Big East with just seven members in football - six, if TCU re-considers plans to join starting next year. That's a major problem for a conference desperately trying to hang on to membership in the BCS, and that's in the process of negotiating a new television contract. League commissioner Ed Marinatto may live to regret turning down a $1 billion contract extension with ESPN; at the time, he believed he'd be able to negotiate a better deal by getting ESPN, Fox and NBC's new Sports Network (formerly Versus) to bid against each other.

The last time the Big East lost teams to the ACC, the conference responded with its own expansion, adding five new members (Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, DePaul and Marquette) to replace the three that left. Marinatto will most likely attempt something similar to save his league, snapping up the leftovers from the imploding Big 12, such as Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State Baylor and Missouri, or by raiding Conference USA to add a Memphis, Central Florida or East Carolina.

The Much-Anticipated Schism

This latest round of uncertainty could be the motivation the Big East's basketball-only members need to split off and form a new conference, made up of Catholic schools in major cities. A basketball conference consisting of Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, Marquette, Seton Hall, Providence, DePaul and (assuming they stay independent in football) Notre Dame might be a pretty good option.

That hypothetical new conference could expand its geographic footprint by adding schools with similar profiles, such as Xavier, Duquesne, Saint Louis, St. Joseph's or Fordham from the Atlantic 10. The last two on that list could be least likely, as they share television markets with Villanova and St. John's, respectively. But Fordham has been making substantial new investments in its basketball program, partly in anticipation of a new Catholic-school conference that might split off from the Big East.

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Training Camps Postponed, Preseason Games Canceled, NBA Lockout Going Strong

NBA training camps have been "postponed indefinitely" and the first week of the preseason schedule has been cancelled due to the ongoing NBA lockout, the league announced today.

We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games," said NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver. "We will make further decisions as warranted.

This doesn't necessarily mean we won't have a complete 82-game season this winter. Opinions on the matter vary, but the general consensus seems to be that a full season is possible so long as the sides come to an agreement before mid-October. The regular season is slated to begin on November 1.

So far, only meaningless preseason games have been canceled - but that doesn't mean today's announcement is insignificant. As Bleacher Report's Moke Hamilton points out, the preseason is when NBA players start collecting their 2011-12 salaries. Knocking roughly three games per team off the schedule represents a total savings of about $50 million.

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ACC Expanding, Big East in Trouble

Stop me if you've heard this one before: the ACC is set to expand, and the Big East is scrambling to fill sudden vacancies.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh were accepted as the newest members of the Atlantic Coast Conference over the weekend, giving the ACC a 14-team conference that will include some of college basketball's brightest lights. But Big East hoops fans are considerably less enthused about the move; the Orange have been a mainstay of Big East basketball since the conference was founded, and Pittsburgh has been a member since 1982.

Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College left the Big East for the ACC before the 2004 season. Those moves touched off the Big East's expansion to its current size: sixteen teams for hoops and eight for football. TCU is set to join the conference next season, bringing those numbers to 17 and 9, but the Horned Frogs seem like less of a sure thing given the events of this weekend.

It's possible the ACC isn't finished; Texas and Notre Dame are reportedly next on John Swofford's hit list, with the Connecticut Huskies hoping they won't get left out.

The Big East most likely respond by looking to snap up the schools that are left over from the upcoming implosion of the Big 12 - the Kansas Jayhawks would be the biggest prize. But there's a also chance that the Big East's basketball-only members - who have been burned before by football-related manoeuvrings - could look to form their own league; one in which basketball is the top priority.

• ACC expanding at Big East's expense

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Coaches with Multiple Titles

Apr 5 2011

Winning the 2011 National Championship puts Connecticut's Jim Calhoun in a very exclusive club - only five coaches in Division I Men's Basketball history have won three or more titles.

Calhoun's third title puts him into a tie with the legendary Bobby Knight - only Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski and John Wooden have more.

Here's a rundown of all the coaches that have cut down the nets more than once.

bold type = active

Coach	Titles	Years
John Wooden	10	1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975
Adolph Rupp	4	1948, 1949, 1951, 1958
Mike Krzyzewski	4	1991, 1992, 2001, 2010
Bob Knight	3	1976, 1981, 1987
Jim Calhoun	3	1999, 2004, 2011
Dean Smith	2	1982, 1993
Roy Williams	2	2005, 2009
Denny Crum	2	1980, 1986
Billy Donovan	2	2006, 2007
Ed Jucker	2	1961, 1962
Henry Iba	2	1945, 1946
Phil Woolpert	2	1955, 1956
Branch McCracken	2	1940, 1953

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NBA Lockout

The owners are also likely to push for a reduction in both the length and size of NBA contracts in the next labor agreement. This could be the area where the owners make the greatest gains; while the "hard cap" concept doesn't resonate with the fans, even casual observers of the league can see the insanity of Joe Johnson -- a good player, but no one's idea of a superstar -- making $119 million over six years.

The owners will also look to remove some of the guarantees that are built in to today's NBA contracts. They'd love to move to NFL-style non-guaranteed deals that can be terminated at any time for any reason, but that seems too radical a departure from the current system to ever pass muster with the players. Perhaps some sort of more-aggressive buyout system -- one that would allow teams to get out from under albatross contracts like Eddy Curry's and Kenyon Martin's -- would work.

This could be an area where owners and players can find common ground. As we saw last summer, even top players are willing to take less money if it means landing in the right situation -- LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all took less money from Miami than they could have earned otherwise.

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Mascot Galleries

How did a Blue Devil come to represent a school in the Bible Belt? Why does Oregon's mascot look so much like a Disney character? And what's up with that Stanford Tree? These answers, and more, are revealed in our look at the mascots of Division I college basketball.

Pac 10 Mascots

Getty Images / Doug Benc

The mascots of the Pac 10 honor local history, natural resources, Disney characters... and the disturbing creativity of the Stanford band.

ACC Mascots

Getty Images / Kevin C. Cox

The mascots of the ACC have some unexpected background stories... NC State and Virginia Tech's come from unflattering remarks made about their student bodies, Bible Belt schools Duke and Wake Forest feature fire and brimstone, and FSU's Chief Osceola has the full backing of the Seminole Nation.

Big 12 Mascots

Getty Images / Ronald Martinez

The 2008 National Championship gives the Kansas Jayhawk bragging rights over all the other mascots.

Big East Mascots

Getty Images / Jim McIsaac

From Otto the Orange and Jonathan the Husky to the unlamented "Thunder," the short-lived horse mascot that briefly worked the sidelines at Madison Square Garden.

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Splits Emerging Among NBA Owners?

It has been my opinion for some time now that the NBPA cannot win a battle with the NBA, so long as the owners stay together... that eventually, the players would have to accept what they most want to avoid: the dreaded hard cap.

But I also thought owner unity would last well into the new year. And recent leaks from the negotiating table seem to indicate that isn't the case. According to a story first reported by Dave McMenamin and Chris Broussard of ESPN, the sides seemed to be making significant progress in Tuesday's talks. But when the owners started discussing specific points among themselves, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Robert Sarver of the Suns raised objections to many of the proposed deal points.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss and James Dolan of the Knicks were said to be "visibly annoyed" by Gilbert and Sarver's hard-line stance, and it's not hard to see why. Buss has reportedly accepted the idea that revenue sharing and other competitive balance measures - changes that will significantly impact, if not eliminate, many of the Lakers' biggest advantages - are inevitable.

Unsurprisingly, David Stern was quick to discount the very notion that his owners were losing solidarity.

What do we make of all this?

Without questioning the talents or journalistic integrity of McMenamin, Broussard or Kevin Ding, who wrote the Jerry Buss piece for the Orange County Register... I can't get past the fact that both stories do such a good job of reinforcing the points made by the NBPA and league. Union president Derek Fisher suggests the owners are split on key points... and then, suddenly, an unnamed source gives ESPN a story illustrating that, and giving fans a couple of "bad guys" in the process. And the "Lakers are willing to accept a hard cap" story can just as easily be read as a warning shot across the union's bow.

Point is, both sides in this dispute are well-versed in the media game.

Meanwhile, it seems fair to suggest that Derek Fisher is the last person who should be questioning anyone's solidarity - not after just 35 players showed up for the NBPA meeting in Las Vegas yesterday. There are over 400 union members currently... and about 60 in Las Vegas alone, participating in the Impact league.

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JR Smith to Become Highest-Paid Player in China

Denver Nuggets swingman J.R. Smith has signed a $3 million contract with the Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Association, NiuBBall is reporting. That deal makes Smith the highest-paid player in China's pro league.

As with Smith's Denver teammate Wilson Chandler, the deal does not include an opt-out to allow Smith to return to the United States when the lockout is settled. The Chinese league does not allow opt-out clauses in contracts. Smith is a free agent, and will be able to sign with any NBA team when (and if) he returns to the States.

He is the third current NBA player to sign a deal in China, joining Chandler and Earl Clark.

Smith is an... interesting choice for the Chinese league. At his best, he's an electric scorer and outstanding three-point shooter. But he's nearly as well-known for his long-running clash with Denver coach George Karl, and has spent the bulk of his NBA career in and out of Karl's dog house. Coaches in China have shown very little tolerance for that sort of thing in the past. Steve Francis' career in China lasted just 13 days and 14 minutes of playing time before the one-time NBA All-Star was waived.

Poor conditioning also played a major role in Francis quick exit.

Ex-NBA players Ricky Davis and Mike James had similarly brief cameos in the Chinese league. But Stephon Marbury - one of the NBA's most notorious knuckleheads during his tenure with the Knicks - is one of China's most popular players.

Some are predicting Smith will re-write the league's record book - and it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case. I'd be equally unsurprised if he returns home well before the CBA season is over.

(h/t: Scott Schroeder, SBNation.com)

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Book: Sarah Palin "Hooked Up" with Glen Rice

A new book reportedly claims Sarah Palin had an affair with Michigan Wolverines basketball star Glen Rice in 1987.

The book, written by Joe McGinniss - the journalist who famously rented the house next door to Palin's while doing research - claims that Palin and Rice hooked up when he was in Alaska for a tournament and she was covering sports for a local television station.

According to the National Enqirer, Rice confirmed the story to McGinniss.

Palin married her husband Todd about nine months after her encounter with Rice.

Rice went on to lead the Michigan Wolverines to the national title in 1989, then had a highly productive 15-year NBA career, primarily with the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets. He won an NBA title with the Lakers in 2000. Palin, of course, became governor of Alaska, John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election, and a highly controversial voice in conservative political circles.

It is impossible to say what impact this claim will have on Palin's future political aspirations; many other politicians have been elected after admitting to youthful indiscretions far more damning than a one-night stand. But it isn't that simple. As Dan Levy of SB Nation pointed out on Twitter, the biggest ethical issue in this story is that Palin was a journalist at the time.

I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about this as the book's September 20 release date approaches.

(h/t: @TheBigLead)

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CBA Talks: Sides Close on Money, Far Apart on Cap

"We did not have a good day." That was NBA commissioner David Stern's initial statement when he emerged from Tuesday's bargaining session with the players union. Stern's grim pronouncement spread on Twitter even faster than rumors of a political sex scandal, and felt like a stomach punch to basketball fans hoping for an end to the lockout.

But the situation may not be as grim as the commish led us to believe. It seems the NBA and NBPA are actually very close to agreement on one of the two big issues that must be settled before the business of basketball can resume, but still miles apart on the other. According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, who has been following the talks as closely as anyone, the sides have reached a tentative agreement on high-level economics - on how the league and its players will split the NBA's $4 billion-plus in annual revenue.

But that's just half the battle.

The owners still want a hard salary cap... and that's the last thing the players want to give.

So what happens next? Opinions on that point vary wildly. Chris Sheridan believes both sides are posturing, and that there is still a good chance they'll reach a deal in time to save a complete season. But Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! thinks players' attitude towards Billy Hunter and NBPA leadership? is approaching an open revolt, and that several prominent player agents could force a vote on decertification very soon.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the union meets in Las Vegas this week.

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2011 NCAA Sites and Venues

The NCAA Tournament is the year's greatest event for couch potatoes -- there's just nothing like wall-to-wall basketball from noon to midnight. But even if you've got one of those HDTVs the size of a stadium jumbotron, it just isn't the same as being there.

Plan your trip now and experience the 2011 NCAA Tournament in person. Ticketing information -- and the ticket lottery for Final Four ducats -- will be available in early 2010.

Opening Round: Tuesday, March 15UD Arena, Dayton, OHHost: University of DaytonFirst and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 17 and 19Pepsi Center, Denver, COHost: Mountain West ConferenceSt. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FLHost: University of South FloridaMcKale Center, Tucson, AZHost: University of ArizonaVerizon Center, Washington, DCHost: Georgetown UniversityFirst and Second Rounds: Friday and Sunday, March 18 and 20Time Warner Cable Arenas, Charlotte, NCHost: UNC CharlotteUnited Center, Chicago, ILHost: Big Ten ConferenceQuicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OHHost: Cleveland StateBOK Center, Tulsa, OKHost: University of TulsaRegionals: Thursday and Saturday, March 24 and 26West: Honda Center, Anaheim, CAHost: Big West ConferenceSoutheast: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LAHost: Tulane UniversityRegionals: Friday and Sunday, March 25 and 27East: Prudential Center, Newark, NJHost: Seton HallSouthwest: Alamodome, San Antonio, TXHost: University of Texas-San AntonioFinal Four: Saturday and Monday, April 2 and 6Reliant Stadium, Houston, TXHost: University of Houston/Rice University

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What is a Letter of Intent?

Definition: A letter of intent is a formal agreement between student-athlete and team, stating that the player will attend a given institution in return for an athletic scholarship.

Once the student signs a letter of intent, the recruiting process is officially closed. Schools are no longer permitted to contact that player.

Criticism of the LOI

The Letter of Intent is intended to effectively end the recruiting process and create a two-way commitment between player and team. In reality, the deal is fairly one-sided.

If the player decides, for whatever reason, that he wants to attend a different school after signing a letter of intent, he must first seek and receive a release from the first institution. This scenario comes up most often when there are coaching changes -- for example, Devin Ebanks asked for a release from his commitment to Indiana after the coach that recruited him, Kelvin Sampson, was forced to resign. Ebanks eventually signed with West Virginia.

Schools don't have to offer releases. On occasion, they'll release players from an LOI under strict conditions, forbidding the player to sign within their conference or follow a coach to his new school.

So, when Kentucky recruit Brandon Knight "signed" with the Wildcats, he refused to sign a LOI, possibly out of fear that coach John Calipari would bolt for an NBA job. The only paper that changed hands was an "aid agreement." It seems likely that other top recruits will take a similar stance in the future.

Signing Periods

Players can verbally commit to a school at any time. In fact, in rare cases, players have selected a college while still in eighth grade. But letters of intent must be signed during specific signing periods for each recruiting year. For college basketball, there is an "early" signing period in mid-November and a "regular" signing period that runs from mid-April to mid-May.

Also Known As: National Letter of Intent, NLI

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NBA Lockout

The NBA has followed up the "Summer of LeBron" with its biggest season in years. Television ratings are up, and fans are buzzing in markets -- like New York -- that have been quiet for years.

Enjoy it while it lasts. This may be the last you'll see of LeBron James and Amar'e Stoudemire and Kobe Bryant and the rest for a while.

The NBA's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) -- the document that outlines just about every aspect of the league and its relationship with its players -- expires after this season, and the owners are looking for changes.

Big changes.

The owners are looking for what they call "cost certainty" -- which translates loosely as "we'd like to continue raking in big bucks, but we're not so keen on sharing the dough with the players." The players, on the other hand, are very happy with the status quo -- and why wouldn't they be, when the current system ensures players like Eddy Curry continue to get paid well over $11 million this year.

At this point, a lockout is a virtual certainty -- but that just means the league will shut down operations after the NBA Finals, until a new CBA is in place. Depending on how negotiations go, the first casualties will be the 2011 NBA Draft and the summer leagues. The longer discussions drag out, the more cancellations we'll see. In 1998-99, the league and NBAPA didn't reach a settlement until mid-January. The 1998-99 season didn't start until February 5, was shortened to 50 games, and the all-star game was canceled entirely.

Worth noting -- it was during that lockout that most of the current labor agreement was put in place.

Will we see a similar delay to the start of the 2011-12 season? Or something worse, like the lockout that ate the entire 2004-05 National Hockey League season? Here's a look at the issues the negotiators will have to settle before next season can tip off.

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NBA Labor Talks Continuing and Expanding

Based on the official statements made by David Stern and NBPA union leadership, it is hard to tell how well the league's CBA discussions are progressing. But one thing is clear: the talks are expanding.

Neither side revealed any specifics, but after two straight days of what must have been substantive discussions in New York, both sides have agreed to return for additional talks next week. And they'll be bringing their full bargaining committees to the table for the first time since the lockout began.

The NBA's Board of Governors is set to meet in Dallas next Thursday, September 15. The NBPA will hold a similar meeting in Las Vegas that same day.

What does this all mean? Possibly nothing. David Stern cautioned reporters that any perceived sense of urgency is being driven "by the calendar" and not any progress in the talks. But union president Derek Fisher - possibly unintentionally - dropped several hints that significant progress has been made.

The sides probably have about two more weeks to reach a new deal before the lockout will force postponements and cancellations of training camps and preseason games.

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Recruiting Calendar

Nov 10 2010

It can be difficult to decipher the NCAA guidelines for recruiting without degrees in law, astrophysics and phrenology -- but here's a head start: the official calendar that dictates when recruits can and cannot be contacted by coaches or other official team representatives.

Please note: In NCAA-speak, a "contact" is anything beyond "hello."

As a general rule, the NCAA sets aside a formal contact period in the late summer/early fall, another in March and another in April. Teams and coaches are limited to 130 person/days of recruiting during the academic year, and get two additional evaluation periods during the summer.

Spans where recruiting is limited to campus visits -- quiet periods -- or shut down almost completely -- dead periods -- are sprinkled liberally throughout the year.

Here are the official dates for the 2010-11 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball recruiting calendar.

NCAA Division I Men's Basketball: Official Recruiting Calendar

Dates	Status	Notes
August 1 - September 8	Quiet Period
September 9 - October 5	Contact Period	Fall Contact Period
October 6 - March 30, 2011 (with noted exceptions)	Evaluation Period
November 8 - 11	Dead Period
December 24 - 26	Dead Period
March 16 - 22, 2011	Contact Period	March Contact Period
March 31 - April 7, 2011 (noon)	Dead Period
April 7 (noon) - 20, 2011 (with noted exceptions)	Contact Period
April 11 - 14	Dead Period
April 21 - July 5, 2011 (with noted exceptions)	Quiet Period
May 19-27	Dead Period
Date TBD	Evaluation Period - NBA pre-draft camp
July 6 - 15	Evaluation Period	Summer Evaluation Period
July 16 - 21	Dead Period	Teams are allowed contact during this period with players who have enrolled in summer classes or who have signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI)
July 22 - 31	Evaluation Period	Summer Evaluation Period

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NBA Draft to Add a Third Round?

One of the issues being discussed at the NBA's CBA talks is an expansion of the draft, SheridanHoops.com is reporting. The owners want to add a third round. The union has countered with a number of proposals that would give additional picks at the top of the draft to the teams with the worst records.

My initial reaction? This is a problem in search of a solution. Under the current two-round system, most teams are more than willing to trade late second-round picks for a few dollars... or waste them on 27-year-old Qatari-league all-stars that aren't even eligible for selection.

But after further review, I'm starting to think of this as a no-lose proposition. Especially if it comes with an expansion of the D-League.

• Expanding the NBA Draft: Owners Propose Adding a Third Round

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Sheridan: NBA, NBPA Closer to Deal Than You Think

Chris Sheridan, one of ESPN's lead basketball voices for the last six years, has left the mothership and started his own site. And as is appropriate when launching a new endeavor, he's doing so with a healthy dose of optimism.

The first post on his new SheridanHoops.com site explains that the NBA and NBPA aren't as far apart on the most crucial issue - how league revenue will be split - as either side has been suggesting. To summarize... the numbers that the union has been throwing around, suggesting the sides are about $8 billion apart, are based on the owners' CBA proposal, which would have an active life of ten years.

But it's far more likely that the term in the next deal will be six years - and in that span, the sides are just under $3 billion apart.

("Just $3 billion." I'm starting to think that this summer's national debt crisis has rendered us unable to comprehend the sheer size of any number, so long as there's a dollar sign in front. But I digress.)

That's a lot of scratch, but it isn't insurmountable. In fact, Sheridan thinks the sides are close enough that they'll be able to settle things and still start the regular season on time.

The sides are expected to resume negotiations on Wednesday.

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Career Scoring Leaders

The most prolific scorers in the history of Division I NCAA basketball.

1. "Pistol" Pete Maravich - 3,667

Getty Images / Jonathan Daniel

LSU: 1967-70
The legendary "Pistol Pete" also tops the list of best-ever career scoring averages, with a ridiculous 44.2 points per game -- nearly ten points better than the runner-up. Even more remarkable... Maravich holds this record despite the fact that he only played three years at LSU.

2. Freeman Williams - 3,249

Portland State: 1974-78

3. Lionel Simmons - 3,217

LaSalle: 1986-90

4. Alphonso Ford - 3,165

Mississippi Valley State, 1989-93

5. Harry Kelly - 3,066

Texas Southern, 1979-83

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