Other Hoop Thoughts

MAILBAG Seth Davis will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his Hoop Thoughts column. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

• I hate to disappoint Kentucky fans, who have every reason to be excited about their team's run of eight wins in its last nine games, but I'm hearing Patrick Patterson is seriously considering turning pro.

• I'm also hearing there is a strong pocket of influence in Bloomington that would like to see Notre Dame's Mike Brey become the next coach at Indiana.

• I happened to be looking through Scout.com's rankings of the nation's top juniors and noticed North Carolina has already gotten verbal commitments from four players in the top 30. I'd say that's getting a pretty good jump on the competition.

• Speaking of North Carolina, if the season ended right now Tyler Hansbrough would get my vote for national Player of the Year. Michael Beasley has better numbers and he may still win it, but Hansbrough has been just incredible carrying his team while Ty Lawson has been out.

• Meanwhile, Hansbrough's brother, Ben, who plays for Mississippi State, hit three clutch free throws with less than a second remaining to send the Bulldogs into overtime at South Carolina. MSU won the game, and if the Bulldogs squeak into the NCAA tournament, those free throws could prove to be the difference.

• A thought about Memphis: None of the Tigers' big men can make a good scoring move or pass efficiently out of the post. It's a subtle weakness, but it's definitely a weakness.

• Then again, at least the Tigers have some bona fide big men. Duke has not had that for most of the season, but the good news is that Brian Zoubek, the 7-1 sophomore who missed nine games with an injury, played his most extensive minutes since December on Saturday against St. John's. Zoubek had 11 points and 13 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. It is absolutely vital that Coach K develops him from here on out. If the Devils are going to get to San Antonio, they will eventually need some production from Zoubek.

• Word has it that VUC's Anthony Grant is the first, second and third choice at South Carolina.

• Texas is tied first in the nation in fewest turnovers at 9.4 per game. That's extremely impressive considering the Longhorns like to push the tempo and are so guard-oriented.

• UCLA is going to be the trendy national-title pick next month. Just watch.

• This is the time of year when a lot of coaches are shortening their bench for the stretch run. Rick Pitino, however, is lengthening his at Louisville. Freshman guard Preston Knowles has now played double-digit minutes for five-consecutive games, which makes the Cardinals' rotation legitimately nine deep.

• Texas A&M has now lost at home to Oklahoma State and Nebraska. If you're a really good team, you just don't do that.

• It's important to note that the name of Indiana assistant Ray McCallum, the former head coach at Ball State and Houston who also coached under Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma, does not appear in any of the reports detailing infractions. It's unfortunate that McCallum got passed over as interim coach solely because Dan Dakich is an IU alum, but whatever happens from here, McCallum has firmly established himself as a man of the utmost integrity. That will carry him a long way.

• Watching that scintillating Memphis-Tennessee clash, I once again bemoaned the fact that Maryland and Georgetown don't play each other every year. C'mon, JT3 and Gary, have a heart and make it happen!