The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Spring Shakeout Edition

Lots of stuff going on around the basketball and football world at this moment.  Talk of Big Ten expansion, talk of a conference arms race, NCAA investigations, endless coaching searches, waiting for more UK basketball commitments, football heading toward the spring game and a partridge in a pear tree.

• Josh Selby picks Kansas, plans short stay - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

  Exactly how long will he be in Lawrence?

  "God willing one year," Selby said. "But I have to get where I need to be."

  Okay, where are the "intentions police?"  All those who have criticized Calipari for recruiting guys who have "no intention to graduate," you can head on over and go all sanctimonious on the Kansas Jayhawk sites now.

  C'mon, be consistent ...

• Vaught's Views: Calipari will add more top recruits: AMNews.com
  Could UK get Leslie and Jones? Two words ... damn skippy.

• courier-journal.com | Jody Demling - Recruiting blog | The Courier-Journal

  Rick Bolus' High Potential Recruiting Service has ranked Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick forward Michael Gilchrist as the No. 1 player in the Class of 2011.

  But you knew this.

• C.J. Leslie will announce college choice soon - College - NewsObserver.com

  A planned visit to Florida for this week won't happen, he said, adding for the umpteenth time that parched Wolfpack fans and others could expect an announcement, he said, "I would say shortly, maybe in a couple of weeks. ... I'm definitely ready to just go ahead and get on with it now."

  Three words, C.J. -- Dribble Drive Motion.  You are perfect for it.

More after the jump.

• Hartline leads Cats QB derby | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

  Next Saturday, the University of Kentucky football team wraps up its spring practice schedule. The race to be the Wildcats' starting quarterback next fall figures to linger longer.

  Ryan Mossakowski and Morgan Newton need to impress soon.  Hartline is building momentum.

• Cats WR bounces back from dangerous injury - Kentucky Football - Ledger-Enquirer.com
  Very interesting article. I think Brian Adams will help us a little this year, but a lot next year.

• Kentucky Sports Radio " Blog Archive " Arizona recruit’s father says Coach Cal is a failure
  Did you see this? Funny.

• courier-journal.com | Jody Demling - Recruiting blog | The Courier-Journal

  Portland, Ore., forward Terrence Jones said a few things have drawn him to looking closer at the University of Kentucky basketball program during his recruiting process.

  Come on over, Terrence.  You will find no equal to the Big Blue Nation, and we do have ... ahem ... seven of what you covet.  Come get some.

• CBS-Turner Outbids ESPN For NCAA Tournament | Seattle Times Newspaper
  Interesting.

• NBA Draft: Top Five Most Ready - Basketball News & NBA Rumors -

  John Wall – 6'3 Point Guard

  Right now there are simply not enough reasons to go anywhere other than John Wall with the top overall selection. The success John Calipari guards are having in the NBA is no fluke and Wall should quickly find himself mentioned with the likes of Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. His speed is game-changing and he is a collected customer under pressure.

  I think this is right.

• Ratings war goes to Cats - Business - Kentucky.com

  In a year with fans' high expectations, the University of Kentucky men's basketball team dribbled rings around Winter Olympians among television viewers.

  Surprising no one.

• Teague in middle of Kentucky recruiting war | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

  Except the longer Teague delayed his decision, the more the advantage seemed to shift to Kentucky. Calipari is sending more guys to the NBA this season (five) than the four Pitino has sent to the league during nine seasons at Louisville.

  Now there is an interesting statistic for you.

• Singler returning for Duke - Duke - NewsObserver.com
  Not a surprise, really. He was a late, late first-rounder at best.

• Forbes: Missing on Selby 'hurt' " GoVolsXtra

  Many suspected the influence of Nike was at work, and thought Kentucky would enter the recruiting picture.

  But Selby never set foot on the Wildcats' campus for a visit, and Kentucky wasn't a finalist for his services.

  I am accepting apologies from UT fans who claimed that Calipari back-doored Pearl on this, and that William Wesley convinced Selby to decommit from UT to come to Kentucky.

  Conspiracy theories are for losers.

• College Conferences Ponder Expansion and Extinction - NYTimes.com

  In the aftermath of the A.C.C.’s plucking of Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College in 2003, the Big East put in place what would appear to be some prohibitive measures for conferences swiping universities. One is a $5 million penalty for a university to leave. The other is a minimum 27-month waiting period — an eternity in college football — for a Big East university to join a new league.

  This may not stop the Big Ten from being a vampire, but I think it just might.

  The bottom line is that no matter how greedy the Big Ten gets, 12 still looks like the best number for a conference.  In the end, after all this Sturm und Drang, I expect that's where they'll end up.

• College basketball Q&A: Clark Kellogg : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

  JM: So has the NIT run its course?

  CK: If you're the NCAA and you've got 65 and 32, and you manage and run both of those tournaments, doesn't it make sense to put all those teams under one roof? Perhaps making the two into one makes one really good, big-time tournament. Those are reasonable options to explore, especially when you think about the money.

  I like the idea of two tournaments, an upper and lower tier.  Combining them into one does two things -- it eliminates a tradition that had been working just fine, and makes the tournament that much less watchable in the early rounds.

• If Big Ten Expands Will SEC Follow? Ranking the Expansion Candidates -- NCAAFB FanHouse
  If you forget about everything but the TV markets as the driver, this is all pretty logical.

• BCS chief Bill Hancock says potential expansion won't change attitude toward playoff - Orlando Sentinel

• Big Ten expansion coming soon - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN

  If the Big Ten goes to 16 teams, how much longer before the SEC, Pac-10, ACC or Big 12 expand? One 16-team conference is an interesting idea. Two is officially an arms race.

  Trust me, if the Big Ten expands beyond 12 teams, it will be an arms race.

• Daigneault: Interesting times in Storrs The Republican-American
  Heh. Kentucky has seen times like this before. Hopefully, though, they won't return for some time.

• OU basketball coach Jeff Capel addresses postseason turmoil, won't discuss Tiny Gallon | NewsOK.com
  If you think that losing all our freshmen was tough, just read this article. Things could be one heck of a lot worse than having to reload.

• Nike Connection - Card Chronicle

  You need to read this. It gave me a belly-laugh for 5 minutes.

  I'll say it again -- conspiracy theories are for losers.  (Note:  This is the opinion of one Cardinal fan, not all of them, and is not an invitation to go over to the Card Chronicle and act like a jerk.  Just enjoy the unintentional humor, and embrace the hate.)

• Dana O'Neil: So what's taking so long at Oregon? - ESPN

  Botched coaching searches are nothing new. Kentucky stumbled and bumbled is way through Billy Donovan and Rick Barnes before landing on Billy Gillispie three years ago. But as drawn-out as that process seemed at the time, the Wildcats still went from Tubby Smith to Gillispie in a matter of 13 days.

  But boy, is there a lot of difference between coach at Kentucky and coach at Oregon.  I don't care how much money you come up with, drawing a name coach to Oregon is going to be a tough thing to do.

  I highly recommend they look in the mid-majors and quit kidding themselves.  The next "name" coach has got to come from somewhere -- at this point, what do the Ducks have to lose?

• OU basketball: Capel supporters seem few | Berry Tramel's Blog

  That’s relatively unheard of. In the dark days of Sooner football, some zealots supported John Blake and even Howard Schnellenberger almost to the bitter end. Some hoop fans supported Kelvin Sampson even after the NCAA violations.

  But support for Capel seems minimal.

  Hey, Oregon -- need a coach?  I think I know where there is a proven one that is feeling the heat right now, and a few dollars more (plus his buy-out) might look like a sweet deal.

  Of course, if he is implicated in the Gallon affair, that could be trouble.  But you could always ask the NCAA.  It worked for us.

• The Effect of a Potential NBA Lockout on NCAA Basketball

  The author thinks the net effect of an NBA lockout would boil down to a lot of early entries this year and many of the 2010 players like Brandon Knight and Harrison Barnes hanging around for another year.

  This does make some sense, and it would be a really, really good thing for Kentucky basketball if it turns out that way.

• Rivals.com College Basketball - Best of the decade: The one-year players
  Interesting. I think I pretty much agree with this. Cousins is good, but he is no Greg Oden.