The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Willie Mays Edition

Today in 1951, the great Willie Mays started playing for the New York Giants.

The news follows the jump.

• Dominos Falling Into Place: ACC Signs Television Deal With ESPN
  Interesting.

• Big Ten could kill college football as we know it | The Augusta Chronicle

  What we essentially might be left with is a college landscape ruled by four or five families, creating a disparity over those left out that makes the current situation seem like parity.

  That's why the Big Ten should stick to 12 and forget trying to take over the world.

• John Wall or Evan Turner: Who should be No. 1 overall pick in NBA draft? - Mike DeCourcy - College Basketball - Sporting News

• What Calipari's flirtation with the NBA means to UConn - The UConn Blog

  It's going to be a real pleasure to see the disappointment on the UConn fan's face when Brandon Knight suits up as a Wildcat and Calipari is on Kentucky's bench next year.

  Sometimes, wishful thinking is all you have.

• SEC 2010 // Three Things We Know and Don't Know About Kentucky - Team Speed Kills
  Team Speed Kills talks about what we know and don't know about the Gridiron Felines this year.

• SEC 2010 // Kentucky Looks to End the Streaks. At Least One of Them - Team Speed Kills

• LeBron, Calipari and the mystery man Worldwide Wes | Mark Bradley

  And now you’re asking: The local NBA club could use LeBron and needs a coach; why shouldn’t the Hawks open negotiations with Worldwide Wes? Answer: Because Rick Sund might as well fire himself if he does, because he’d have just enfranchised William Wesley as de facto GM. The Hawks have needs, sure, but they’re not that desperate. Not yet, anyway.

  By extension, is there any real possibility that Calipari is willing to put his career in the hands of Wesley?  Not likely.  And Cal knows that if Wesley brokers some kind of package deal, he won't be a man in charge of his own life.

  Again, not likely.

• What I learned from the Terrence Jones decision

• Andy Katz's Daily Word: Terrence Jones' commitment to Kentucky Wildcats is latest coup for coach John Calipari - ESPN

  There's no question that the perception that he needs friend/confident/networker William Wesley to get an NBA job isn't flattering. If Calipari wants back in the NBA in the near future, he's going to want it on his own merit, and not in a package deal with James or because he's being shopped by Wesley.

  Katz finally hits the nail right on the head.  This is exactly why this Lebron/Wesley/Calipari thing isn't happening.

• Terrence Jones: Looking back on a storied high school career | OregonLive.com
  All the information you might want about Terrence Jones.

• NBA Playoffs 2010 - Mike Brown Fired By... | Gather

  Well, this may not come as a major shocker to those who have followed the NBA Playoffs 2010 closely, but the Cleveland Cavaliers have fired coach Mike Brown after the team was ousted by the Boston Celtics in the second round, ESPN is reporting.

  Well, it's official.

• iS8 finals notebook: Lamb expects Calipari to stay - NYPOST.com

  Doron Lamb has heard the rumors. He’s seen them online. John Calipari, his future coach at Kentucky, is allegedly angling for an NBA job, perhaps with LeBron James. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard isn’t worried.

  "He told me isn’t leaving, he’s going to stay," said Lamb, who scored 10 points to help lift the New York Panthers to a record 17th iS8 title, 82-80 over New Heights, on Sunday. "I hope he does stay."

  Offered without comment.

• Kentucky-bound Jones treated initial decision poorly - The Daily of the University of Washington

  Terrence Jones should have cared a lot more about his decision, especially before holding a news conference to announce it to the world when he was clearly having his doubts. As a top-100 recruit, Jones clearly should have treated his choice as much more than a "spur-of-the-moment thing." By putting off an announcement until he was completely sure, he would have avoided this messy situation altogether.

  In other words, neither fan base would have been upset, and Jones would not have become, as he termed in another Tweet, "the most hated player n 2010."

  I mostly agree with what is in this piece, but this part is simply naive.

• Fat Guy From Lost’s Monday Notes
  Updates from Matt on the Kenny Payne situation, and who the mystery last recruit is.

• Oregon assitant Payne spends weekend visiting UK - CBSSports.com

  A move by Payne to Kentucky would come as no surprise given that he's a close friend of William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, the basketball powerbroker with ties to Calipari. It's also worth noting that Payne has spent years recruiting Terrence Jones, a Portland native who committed to Kentucky last week. Multiple sources told CBSSports.com that Payne's probable presence at Kentucky was a factor, though not the determining factor, in helping the Wildcats lure Jones away from Washington. Jones publicly committed to Washington last month but waffled in the wake of a phone call with Calipari. The McDonald's All-American signed a financial aid agreement with UK last week.