Other Hoop Thoughts

• Memo to Syracuse junior guard Louie McCroskey: That was a great dunk you had over Hilton Armstrong on Monday night. It was also the first time I have ever seen a player woofing at another player when his team was trailing by 21 points.

• Alabama sophomore point guard Ronald Steele finally spent some time on the bench during Wednesday night's overtime win over Arkansas. Steele had played the previous five games without coming out, yet he only played 43 out of a possible 45 minutes on Wednesday. The breather must have done him wonders.

• I spoke with an ACC head coach last week who surmised that Boston College would get worn out unless the school flew on chartered planes for its road trips. BC flew commercially after losing on the road at Georgia Tech on Jan. 8 and lost at home by 18 points to N.C. State two days later.

• Former Villanova and UMass coach Steve Lappas told me a hilarious story on Wednesday night about a clear-the-air meeting that former Big East commissioner Dave Gavitt once called involving every coach in the league plus his top two assistants. Lappas, who was an assistant under Rollie Massimino at the time, had me in stitches as he described the various coaches cursing each other out over each other's recruiting tactics. What amazed me was how the story never got out. It's impossible to imagine something like that staying under wraps in today's day and age.

• Since most of you were probably watching football when I spouted my latest coaching domino theory on CBS last Saturday, I'll repeat it again here. If Skip Prosser does take the Cincinnati job, then West Virginia coach John Beilein will be at the top of Wake Forest's wish list of replacements. Beilein has an excellent relationship with Wake AD Ron Wellman, and he would have been hired at Wake if Prosser had turned the job down four years ago. Beilein has a long-term contract with an expensive buyout, but if he does leave, I would expect West Virginia to immediately go after Bob Huggins, a WVU alum. I know Huggins would have a shot at Missouri if Quin Snyder doesn't hang on, but he has great affection for his alma mater.

And here's the cherry on top: Since "resigning" from Cincinnati in September, Huggins has maintained a close relationship with schoolboy studs O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker. Those two are teammates at North College Hill in Ohio and have already said they're going to play in college together. They are also originally from Huntington, W. Va. 

• Oh, and incidentally, just in case Prosser does not end up going to Cincinnati, I have a very reliable source who tells me that the school is already taking a close look at Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings.

• Good for the AP and for John Kaltefleiter of The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald for revealing that Kaltefleiter was the lone voter who picked Florida as the No. 1 team in this week's Top 25 poll. I don't agree with Kaltefleiter's decision to bump Duke in favor of the Gators, but I'm glad he had the cojones to stand up and be counted. Just one more piece of evidence that college basketball writers are a lot tougher than college football coaches.

• Check out Air Force if you can. It's fascinating to watch this team play so well, even though its best player, Nick Welch, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, was lost to a season-ending injury before the start of practice.

• I want to offer my belated congrats to legendary coach Herb Magee at Philadelphia University for notching his 800th career win in December. Magee has long been recognized as one of the best shooting teachers the game has ever seen. You can learn more about him by checking out herbmagee.com.

• Given the way college hoops is going, perhaps our All-America teams should have four-guard lineups.

• It would really make a huge difference for Michigan State if point guard Drew Neitzel could hit a few more jump shots. He's certainly getting enough open looks.

• When Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt tells me to remember a name, I remember a name. In this case the name is Mohamed Faye, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Africa who is redshirting because he could not get cleared academically by the NCAA. Hewitt told me Faye is very long and skilled and possesses a great feel for the game. When I asked Hewitt to compare him to another player, he said Faye reminds him of Mike Dunleavy.

• Gotta give credit to Charlotte and Manhattan for turning things around after shaky starts.

• There's just no question that Washington's Brandon Roy is the front-runner for Pac-10 Player of the Year.

• Memphis coach John Calipari has set a very specific goal for his team: He wants them to break the NCAA record for field goal defense of 35.2 percent set by Stanford in 2000. So far Memphis is holding opponents to 37.1 percent, ranked fifth in the nation. (Texas is first at 35.8 percent.)

• Finally, I owe a big-time thank you to Indiana SID Pete Rhoda, who was kind enough to drive me through the snow late Tuesday night to pick up my rental car after it had been towed. Guess I owe Pete a really nice wedding present.

My First Weekly Seed Report

 I am no professional bracketologist, but beginning this week I will offer up my amateur assessment on how the top four seeds would look for each of the NCAA tournament's four regions. I will base my rankings primarily on where things stand as of that moment, but I'll also allow for the hunches and projections that the professionals won't permit themselves to include. Herewith the inaugural 2006 edition:

Washington, D.C.

1. Duke

2. Illinois

3. Villanova

4. UCLA

Atlanta

1. Memphis

2. Indiana

3. Gonzaga

4. Washington

Minneapolis

1. UConn

2. Pittsburgh

3. Wisconsin

4. Ohio State

Oakland

1. Florida

2. Texas

3. Michigan State

4. West Virginia

Comments: Why am I sending Florida to Oakland and not Atlanta? Because the Gators have played just one team ranked in the top 50 of the RPI and are thus ranked fourth among my No. 1 seeds. Undefeated Pittsburgh has played two top-50 teams, but the Panthers played all but one non-conference game at home, so I have them behind Florida. I also have Gonzaga as a No. 3 because I think by the time the tournament rolls around it will be hard for the Zags to get a No. 2 coming out of the one-bid West Coast Conference. You'll also notice I have five Big Ten teams in my top 16, compared to four from the Big East.