Miami coach Frank Haith said it was a consensus among coaches at the ACC meetings earlier this week to try and override the proposal that will eliminate the April evaluation period.

``We’ve got to get that back,” Haith said. “Collectively, we all want that back.”

Haith also said that the 16-game league schedule will stay in check until the current TV deal expires in two years – and then it will be re-visited.

Just about everyone knows that the Hurricanes will be a Top 25 preseason club, but what they don’t know is that Haith & Co. will welcome in one of the most underrated freshman in the entire country in 6-foot-5 athletic wing DeQuan Jones out of Georgia.

Jones is ranked No. 23 in the country by Rivals.com.

``He reminds me of a Quentin Richardson type,” Haith said. “He’s extremely athletic, his shooting has really improved and his ballhandling has gotten better, also. He’s a slasher who plays with reckless abandon and is a workaholic who always wants to be in the gym.”

Miami returns just about everyone except for solid big man Anthony King, but now Haith has that guy in Jones who can matchup with the other big, strong wings in the league – a la Gerald Henderson Jr., Marcus Ginyard, etc.

``He’s gives us athleticism and size on the perimeter, which is something we lacked last year,” Haith said. “That’s one of the reasons why he’ll make an impact this season.”

ALTMAN STRESSING STRENGTH

Creighton coach Dana Altman had such a young team last season that it was impossible to hide its deficiency: The players just weren’t strong enough.

So Altman has asked for and received a strength coach who will work primarily with the basketball players. In the past, the team had to share its strength coach with other teams in the program.

``We weren’t physical enough last year and that was one of our glaring weaknesses,” Altman said. “We need to emphasize it within our program and now we’ll have someone who works with our guys a little more.”

It was a down year for the Blue Jays and they still won 22 games. The only significant loss is that of senior big man Dane Watts (9.6 ppg).

Athletic freshman wing P’Allen Stinnett (12.6 ppg) wasted little time making an impact in Omaha – and guards Booker Woodfox (9.6 ppg) and Cavel Witter (9.1 ppg) were solid as well. Altman will need for former Louisville forward Chad Millard (4.1 ppg) and Kenny Lawson Jr. (5.9 ppg) to provide more along the frontline.

DUKES LOSE DUO

The real reason that Duquesne is losing Shawn James and Kojo Mensah to the NBA Draft (both have made poor decisions and signed with agents) is because their advisor, Norm Ostrin, wasn’t happy with their roles.

Specifically, Ostrin wasn’t in favor of Everhart using his system of using such a deep bench. FOXSports.com spoke to three NBA executives and the consensus was that neither player is expected to be selected in the NBA Draft – unless they have stellar workouts.

MORE TOURNEY INFO

- UNLV will host a tournament on Nov. 28 in which the Running Rebels will play California and Cincinnati will face Florida State.

- Kennesaw State is hosting a tournament on Nov. 14-15 with Western Illinois, Maine and one more team to be determined.

- Illinois State is hosting a tournament over Thanksgiving with Cal Santa Barbara, Nicholls State and Winston Salem State.

- BYU will play Arizona State and Louisville will face Minnesota out in Phoenix.

RANDOM NOTES: It appears as though LSU assistant Butch Pierre is headed to Oklahoma State. … Memphis coach John Calipari is also looking at Georgetown assistant David Cox (a former D.C. Assault guy) in addition to Pittsburgh assistant Orlando Antigua. Cox also got his start as Jamie Dixon’s director of operations. … The top unsigned player in the country, Devin Ebanks, is expected to make a decision either Sunday or Monday following his graduation at St. Thomas More (Conn.). … One source told me not to be surprised if Lute Olson brings back Reggie Geary to take Miles Simon’s spot on the staff. Simon has been the head coach in the NBDL. … Ohio State coach Thad Matta still doesn’t have any movement in his right leg. ``The doctors said it’s going to take time,” said Matta, who developed problems in the foot after back surgery. … Robert Morris assistant Andrew Toole has been given the associate tag. … Not sure if I mentioned that Jean Prioleau has gone from Iowa State to TCU and Jim Christian has also brought on Bill Wuczynski from Florida International.

Don’t be shocked if Pittsburgh has Mike Cook back next year.

Panthers coach Jamie Dixon submitted the appeal to the Big East yesterday, which is basically a formality. Then the Big East will pass it along to the NCAA.

There have been several cases in which a player has been awarded a sixth-year of eligibility (Cook sat out one season after transferring from East Carolina).

The key is that Cook went down with a season-ending knee injury on the 11th game of the season – in overtime against Duke. The current rule states that a player must play in less than 30 percent of the team’s games.

``We’re hoping he gets the extra year, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens,” Dixon said.

If Dixon gets Cook back in the fold, he’ll have four starters back and will have a club capable of making a legitimate Final Four run next season.

However, Dixon admitted the one area of concern may be that of perimeter shooting – as he lost his top outside shooter in Ronald Ramon.

TOURNEYS

- The two matchups out in South Padre Island will be Kent State against Illinois and Tulsa vs. Texas A&M.

- The Basketball Travelers Invitational at BYU on Nov. 20-22 includes host BYU as well as Cal Poly, North Florida and Rice.

- Cal will host a tourney in late-December that could wind up pitting new Cal coach Mike Montgomery against former player/assistant coach Eric Reveno of Portland in the second round. The other two teams in the event are Air Force and Dartmouth.

RANDOM NOTES: New South Carolina coach Darrin Horn has hired former Gamecocks player Mike Boynton to complete his staff. Boynton has been at Wofford, Coastal Carolina and Furman. … Murray State coach Billy Kennedy received a extension through the 2011-12 campaign. … Gardner-Webb associate head coach Chris Holtmann returned to his old spot after briefly taking a similar position at Lipscomb.

It looks as though UCLA may have its replacement for Kevin Love soon.

Sources told FOXSports.com that LSU coach Trent Johnson will release big man J'Mison Morgan from his letter-of-intent on Tuesday afternoon.

The 6-foot-10 Texan will likely sign with Ben Howland and the Bruins - and that would be fill UCLA's primary need for next season.

Howland has plenty of perimeter players with the return of point guard Darren Collison and also the arrival of freshman guards Jrue Holliday, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson.

Wing Josh Shipp and forward Luc Mbah a Moute have both declared for the NBA Draft, but both are expected to return to school.

The addition of Morgan (aka Bobo) would put UCLA in a legitimate position to go to a fourth consecutive Final Four.

Akron coach Keith Dambrot picked up the first Top 100 player in his tenure.

The Zips got a commitment from 7-footer Zeke Marshall out of McKeesport High (Pa.) and while Dambrot isn’t allowed to comment on the big man, he was ecstatic.

Marshall was also pursued by Pittsburgh, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Penn State.

Dambrot, better-known as the LeBron James’ high school coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary (Ohio), has done an impressive job since taking over the program.

The school has had 13 winning seasons since going D-1. Bob Huggins has four and Dambrot has had a winning mark in all four seasons at the helm.

Akron went 24-11 last season despite losing seniors Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce. Dambrot will again have his work cut off for him after losing his top three scorers – Cedric Middleton, Jeremiah Wood and Nick Dials.

Dambrot admitted that LeBron certainly helps on the recruiting front.

``That’s how we get guys,” Dambrot said. “It helps us immensely.”

``He’s the biggest name in basketball,” he added. “And he does everything here in Akron – runs his camps, plays with our guys in the offseason. We sell the fact that if you come here, you get to play with him. The effect of it is unbelievable.”

GRAND MARSHALL

Marshall coach Donnie Jones will have a completely revamped roster in Year 2 of his regime.

Jones will have three key transfers become eligible – Chris Lutz (Purdue), Brandon Powell (Florida) and Octavius Spann (Georgetown).

Jones will also welcome in four freshmen – point guard Damier Pitts, 6-foot-10 big man Marcus Goode  and a pair of Florida natives - combo guard Shaquille Johnson and forward Kore White.

``We’re trying to blend experience with young,” Jones said. “We’ve got some guys who can help us out now and also some guys who will be able to help us in the future.”

Jones said that Lutz has used the past year to become more effective putting the ball on the floor while Spann has dramatically altered his body. ``He’s 6-foot-7 and 230, has six percent body fat and has increased his vertical five inches,” Jones said.

The Thundering Herd should be vastly improved despite finishing 16-14 in Jones’ rookie campaign.

They return one of the top players in C-USA in Markel Humphrey (13.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg), who was hurt much of last season, and also have Tyler Wilkerson (9.2 ppg, 5.9) and Tirrell Baines (11.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and point guard Darryl Merthie (8.1 ppg, 2.7 apg) back in the fold.

HUGGINS OK AFTER FALL

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said he’s fine after taking a fall last week at an airport in Charlotte.

``I just tripped,” Huggins said. “I didn’t want to break my cell phone – and I didn’t think I’d fall on my head.”

Huggins was checking his messages and tripped on a cone. He went to a local hospital for a few hours.

``I whacked my nose pretty good,” he laughed. “And if I get cut, I bleed.”
 
RANDOM NOTES: Doc Rivers’ son, Jeremiah, was on Indiana’s campus and is also looking at Georgia Tech and a couple other schools. Jeremiah opted to transfer from Georgetown after a couple of seasons with the Hoyas. The hook with Indiana is that Hoosiers coach Tom Crean was previous at Marquette – where Doc played back in the day. … Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie confirmed that freshman big man Mike Williams will transfer and also said that an announcement will come soon that guard Derrick Jasper is also leaving. … The Houston Hoops beat the Compton Magic to win the third annual Cactus Classic. … Florida transfer Jonathan Mitchell took a trip to Marshall this past weekend and, according to sources, the New York native is leaning towards Rutgers. … Memphis coach John Calipari has hired Arizona assistant Josh Pastner and is still looking to hire another guy to replace Chucky Martin. One name that has surfaced is that of Pittsburgh assistant Orlando Antigua.

Former Alcorn State star Larry Smith has returned to his alma mater as its head coach.

Smith, 50, had been a WNBA assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks. He was also an assistant with the Houston Rockets when they won NBA titles in 1994 and 1995.

Smith replaces Samuel West, who was 44-103 in five seasons at the helm.

Alcorn State was 7-24 last season.

Smith averaged 20.1 points and led D-1 in rebounding at 15.1 in 1980. He also spent 13 seasons in the NBA with Golden State, Houston and San Antonio.

Karl Hobbs makes no bones about it: George Washington is in rebuilding mode this year.

The Colonials head man tossed junior wing Cheyenne Moore and freshman guard Miles Beatty from the program. Hobbs also kicked point guard Maureece Rice off the team last season.

``They weren’t meeting the expectations and weren’t doing what they were supposed to do,” Hobbs said.

Moore, a Clemson transfer, averaged 5.6 points per game while Beatty battled through a suspension and averaged 4.8 points in 14 games.

Hobbs said the toughest part of last season was playing without a point guard and therefore, not being able to press and get out in transition as much as his teams have done in the past. He’ll get Travis King back from a knee injury this year and other than senior forward Rob Diggs, positions and playing time will be up for grabs this season.

``We’re rebuilding,” Hobbs said. “We’ll see where guys line up. We’re young and it’s going to take some time.”

Hobbs will still have Diggs (13.9 ppg, 7.7 rpg), King, Wynton Witherspoon (11 ppg) and Damian Hollis (9.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) as the core of his team.

MACK STOCKING UP AT EAST CAROLINA

East Carolina got a huge coup with the signing of North Carolina native Chris Turner and former South Carolina signee Darius Morrow.

Turner is a 6-foot-5 guard who spent this past season at Humble Christian Life Center in Texas and is a smooth scoring wing who could develop into an all-league player down the line.

The 6-foot-8 Morrow, who played at Columbia High in Georgia, was given his release following the coaching change at South Carolina

Turner was close to committing with Maryland at one time and considered Wake Forest in the spring while Morrow chose the Pirates over Auburn. Seton Hall was also pursuing Turner heavily.

``These were our top two targets when we got the job and for us to get both of them is a real tribute to my staff,” McCarthy said.

Remember, McCarthy took over on an interim basis last summer after Ricky Stokes was basically forced out.

East Carolina finished the season 11-19, but showed glimpses with wins over N.C. State, Houston and George Mason and McCarthy was rewarded with a five-year deal and the permanent gig.

``I think they recognized the fact that one thing the program needed was stability and we’ve got to get that in every phase,” McCarthy said.

TOURNEY UPDATES

I spoke with Rick Giles of the Gazelle Group yesterday and he confirmed that the four host schools for the CBE are Kansas, Florida, Syracuse and Washington. That’s four potential Top 25 clubs and also includes the winners of the last three national titles.

Giles also said that the Duke, UCLA and Michigan are set as three of the four hosts for the Coaches vs. Cancer. The other host will likely be either Pittsburgh or Rutgers.

The third preseason event that Giles organizes is the Legends Classic. If Pittsburgh isn’t in the Coaches vs. Cancer, look for Jamie Dixon’s team to play in the Legends. Also expect Pat Knight and Texas Tech to participate in this event.

RANDOM NOTES:

New Toledo coach Gene Cross has hired Brian Loyd and Bob Sundvold and retained Nate Tuori. … Missouri 6-foot-9 junior forward Leo Lyons has withdrawn his name from the NBA Draft. … On the flip side, Duquesne forward Shawn James has signed with an agent. … New Cal coach Mike Montgomery signed his first recruit in Findlay College Prep guard Jorge Gutierrez. ... New Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins will bring in Duke director of basketball operations Mike Schrage and promote him to an assistant coach.

Dominic James was ecstatic upon heard that Buzz Williams would be staying at Marquette and replacing Tom Crean.

``I thought everyone was going to leave,” the junior point guard said. “I was surprised when Buzz got the job.”

``He’s a workaholic and let’s us know his every move,” James added. “He’s hungry.”

James said he’s expecting Williams, who spent one season as the head coach at New Orleans, to keep much of what Crean implemented – with a few changes.

``I know he’s defensive-minded,” James said. “He’s also going to give us more freedom on the offensive end and isn’t going to dictate everything He’s let the offense be more free-flowing.”

The senior trio of James, Wesley Matthews and Jerel McNeal (who has tested the waters) will team with junior Lazar Hayward to form arguably the best group of perimeter guys in the Big East.

However, Williams will need increased production from the Marquette frontcourt. Dwight Burke is a solid big man, but it’ll likely fall to sophomore Trevor Mbakwe, an athletic 6-foot-7 forward who missed most of last season due to injury.

Williams has also raved about incoming freshman Chris Otoule out of Texas.

``We need more consistency from our frontcourt,” James admitted. “It’s been that way since I’ve been here.”

``Trevor is a guy who can definitely help us now that he’s healthy,” he added. “He’s a raw talent, but now that he’s healthy we’re starting to see him rebound and play above the rim. We didn’t really see that last year because of the injury.”

RANDOM NOTES: The loss of Doc Rivers’ kid, Jeremiah, from Georgetown may not appear to be a significant blow to the Hoyas, but the sophomore combo guard was a lock-down defender on the perimeter and that’ll be difficult to replace. … North Carolina reserve forward Mike Copeland’s career may be over after he suffered a torn ACL in a recent pick-up game.

Arizona assistant coach Josh Pastner has agreed in principle to a deal that will have him join John Calipari in Memphis.

According to sources, the 30-year-old is currently en route to Memphis to finalize the agreement.

Pastner's departure makes it a clean sweep of Arizona assistants to leave the program - joining Kevin O'Neill and Mikes Simon. However, O'Neill and Simon were forced out while Pastner is leaving, according to sources, because he feels as though he'll have a better chance of landing a head job with Calipari than under Lute Olson.

Tennessee didn’t take long to find a replacement for Ramar Smith.

The Vols got a commitment from another scoring point guard, Bobby Maze, on Wednesday.

According to sources, Maze committed while on his visit. The former Oklahoma guard had visited Cincinnati last week.

Maze averaged 20.7 points, 6.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds at Hutchinson Community College (Kan.) this past season.

Here’s some info on some of the preseason tournaments and other key matchups.

First of all, it looks like Tom Izzo and Michigan State will once again have a brutal non-conference slate.

We’ve got the Spartans as our preseason No. 2 team in the country and it could provide a matchup of FOXSports.com No. 1 vs. No. 2 when Michigan State plays North Carolina at Ford Field on Dec. 3.

Michigan State will also play in a loaded tournament down in Orlando (see field below) and will play defending national champion Kansas on Jan. 10 in East Lansing and Texas in Houston on Dec. 20.

PRESEASON NIT

The four regional hosts for the Preseason NIT are: Purdue, Oklahoma, Arizona and Boston College.

Purdue site – Georgia, Loyola (Ill.), Eastern Michigan
Arizona site – Santa Clara, Drake and a likely WAC team
Oklahoma site – Davidson, James Madison and one more team
BC site – St. John’s, Cornell and Loyola (Md.)

ANAHEIM CLASSIC

Here are the teams confirmed for the Anaheim Classic (Nov. 27-30)

- Arizona State
- Baylor
- Wake Forest
- Providence
- Cal State Fullerton
- Charlotte
- UTEP

There will be one more team added to the field.

PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF (Nov. 20-23)

- Xavier
- USC
- Virginia Tech
- Missouri
- Seton Hall
- Hofstra

There will be two more teams added to the field

LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL (Nov. 28-29)

- Kansas State vs. Kentucky
- West Virginia vs. Iowa

THE FOLLOWING FIELDS HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANNOUNCED:

PARADISE JAM (Nov. 21-24 in The Virgin Islands)

- UConn, Miami, Wisconsin, San Diego, Southern Miss, La Salle, Valparaiso, Iona

OLD SPIICE CLASSIC (Nov. 27-30 in Orlando)

- Michigan State, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Georgetown, Maryland, Oklahoma State, Siena, Wichita State

MAUI INVITATIONAL (Nov. 24-26)

- North Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, Alabama, Indiana, St. Joe’s, Oregon, Chaminade

OTHER SCHEDULING NOTES: Louisiana Tech and Grambling will play for the first time in the history of both programs in men’s basketball this year. The two teams will play at Grambling on Nov. 18 and at La Tech on Dec. 6.

Lute Olson said that it isn’t quite done, but numerous sources indicate that Denver Nuggets assistant coach Mike Dunlap is set to join Arizona as the associate head coach.
Olson confirmed to FOXSports.com that Dunlap is “going to come down and take a look at Tucson this weekend.”

Dunlap has a terrific reputation in the industry and has been unable to land a head college job. He met with the Chicago Bulls about their opening, but the Bulls will likely go for a high-profile guy such as Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni.

Dunlap won two national titles at Metro State and can provide Olson with a veteran on the bench.

Olson also made it official earlier this week that Russ Pennell has also come on board.

``He’s got the whole package,” Olson said of Pennell. “He can recruit, he played for Eddie Sutton. He’s strong in all phases.”

Olson may not be done yet, though, as it appears imminent that Josh Pastner will depart for Memphis.

Georgetown lost Vernon Macklin, but wasted little time in replacing him with Julian Vaughn.

Vaughn, who spent his freshman year at Florida State, grew up a short distance from Georgetown and has decided to transfer to the Hoyas.

``I feel like i can get better and take my game to the next level and pursue my basketball goals," The 6-foot-9 Vaughn told Dave Telep of Scout.com.

We have UConn at No. 3 in the nation in our preseason poll, but it’s dependent on the knee of A.J. Price.

Price tore his ACL in the first half of the Huskies first-round loss to San Diego in the NCAA tournament and seriously contemplated giving it a go in the seconds half.

Instead, he was the team’s biggest cheerleader and instead of sitting on the bench with his head down, Price was limping around the huddle and trying to keep his teammates upbeat.

It’s been a little more than a month since Price had surgery and he’s out of the brace and off crutches.

"I’m just working on strength of the knee and range of motion,” he said. “Everything’s looking positive.”

Price said they told him the recovery should be approximately six months, which would put him back on the court in September – which gives him plenty of time to get ready for the start of the season.

"I’d sign up right now for being back in six months,” Price said. “Without a doubt.”

If Price returns at 100 percent, the Huskies return all five starters now that Hasheem Thabeet opted to return to school. They would go from a team that was heavily and rightfully criticized for failing to live up to expectations two years ago to one that could content for a Final Four this season.

"The only question mark right now is me at point guard,” Price admitted. “But hopefully I’ll come back stronger than I did last year.”

"All along, I felt we had the pieces,” Price added. “We have a unique piece that no one else has in a 7-foot-3 player. That alone puts you in a different plateau that everyone else. But the biggest part was the point guard. I struggled so badly two years ago and last year I did a pretty good job and turned it around.”

KENTUCKY NO. 1 IN 2011-12

I’m getting it on the record: I’m already putting Kentucky as my Preseason numero uno in 2012.

Dominique Ferguson and Dakotah Euton will both be juniors, Vinny Zollo will be a sophomore and Michael Avery will come to Lexington as a standout freshman.

I’m just kidding, of course.

But Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie is stockpiling young kids at an alarming rate. In the past week, he added a kid who hasn’t even chosen his high school in Avery and yesterday got a verbal pledge from the 6-foot-8 Zollo, an Ohio native who spent his freshman season at Greenfield McClain High.

EBANKS VISITING MEMPHIS THIS WEEKEND

Jody Demling of the Louisville Courier-Journal said a source told him Devin Ebanks will wind up at Rutgers. Other feel that Ebanks will wind up at Memphis.

The most talented uncommitted player in the senior class has visited West Virginia, Texas and Rutgers over the past month and will finish his visit schedule this weekend with a trip to Memphis.

Ebanks told me shortly after his visit to West Virginia how much he loved his visit to Morgantown and I’m not discounting Bob Huggins in this equation.

Just imagine Joe Alexander and Ebanks on the wings.

RANDOM NOTES: Duke has promoted Blue Devil Nate James to replace Johnny Dawkins on the staff. James was an assistant strength and conditioning coach last season. … Scoring point guard Bobby Maze visited Cincinnati last weekend and is headed on a visit to Tennessee today. … Patterson School (N.C.) guard Varez Ward appears to be headed on a visit this weekend to Texas. … Bud Mackey, the one-time Indiana commit (under Kelvin Sampson), is back in jail. He was arrested last year for being caught with cocaine in his shoe. He was attending school in Cincinnati and living with his grandmother under terms of his bail, but dropped out of school and returned back to Scott County, Ky., without informing the court. His trial is slated to begin in late-August. … New Indiana coach Tom Crean continues to add bodies with the latest being the commitment of unsigned senior Verdell Jones, a long and lanky Illinois native. … We forgot to mention that Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has secured two commitments from the Class of 2010 in the last week – 6-foot-11 forward Evan Anderson and fellow in-stater Vander Blue, a 6-foot-3 guard.

Derek Kellogg wastes little time admitting that this two-week stretch is the best of his life.

Kellogg got the job as the head coach of his alma mater at UMass and one week ago today, his wife gave birth to their first child, Maximus Antonio Kellogg.

``It’s the greatest two weeks of my life and also the craziest two weeks on top of that,” Kellogg said.

Ditto for his wife,

Kellogg, who was a part of the glory days at UMass, said it’s surreal looking out on the campus from his hotel room. Kellogg was back in Amherst this past weekend to host a couple of potential transfers.

Kellogg will also hire former Pepperdine coach Vance Wallberg and bring along Andy Allison as the director of operations and Shyrone Chatman from Memphis (he was the assistant to the recruiting coordinator at Memphis). He will also keep Adam Ginsburg, who worked for former UMass coach Travis Ford and was responsible for landing the majority of the players on the team, on the staff.

Kellogg raved about the play of his perimeter guys – and for good reason. The trio of Chris Lowe, Ricky Harris and Wake Forest transfer Anthony Gurley should give the Minutemen a trio of guards who match up with just about anyone in the A-10.

``They work so hard and have such a good demeanor,” Kellogg said. “The biggest thing I’ve noticed is their maturity.

GOTTFRIED IN HOLDING PATTERN

You’ve got to feel for Alabama coach Mark Gottfried.

The Crimson Tide coach expected to lose senior Mykal Riley, but it could wind up being a mass exodus in Tuscaloosa with Richard Hendrix, Ron Steele and Alonzo Gee all testing the waters and declaring for the NBA Draft.

``We have to hold three scholarships,” Gottfried said. “My approach is we’re going to find a way to be good with them or without them, but we have to prepare to play without all of them.”

``In my mind right now, we’re preparing as if all three are gone,” he added. ``That’s what you have to do.”

None of the trio of underclassmen are projected as first-round picks at this point, according to two NBA executives.

If all three return, the Crimson Tide could legitimately contend for the SEC title with a starting unit that features a healthy Steele at the point, Gee and sophomore Senario Hillman on the wings and Hendrix and one of the top freshman big men in the country, JaMychal Green, up front.

ARIZONA LOSES MILES SIMON, MAY LOSE ANOTHER ASSISTANT

Kevin O’Neill is history – and Miles Simon is gone as well.

The guy largely responsible for bringing a national title to Arizona was let go this past week.

Look for former Arizona State assistant Russ Pennell, who is currently an AAU coach in Arizona, to come on board officially in the next day or so. According to sources, Lute Olson is also trying to bring on former Metro State coach and current NBA assistant Mike Dunlap.

Olson may also have to replace his top assistant Josh Pastner, who is being pursued by Memphis coach John Calipari. Sources told FOXSports.com that the pair met in Los Angeles last week and that Pastner will likely make a decision whether to remain in Tucson or head to Memphis in the next week.

RANDOM NOTES: Buzz Williams hired his former boss at Colorado State, Dale Layer, to help him at Marquette. …The guy that Williams replaced, Tom Crean, got a nice pickup at Indiana with the commitment of South Kent (Conn.) junior wing Maurice Creek. … DeMatha (Md.) wing Naji Hibbert has committed to Texas A&M, according to Scout.com’s Evan Daniels.

Honestly, the loss of Ramar Smith and Duke Crews really isn't that big of a deal other than the fact that it limits Tennessee's depth for next year.

Smith was a part of Bruce Pearl's biggest issue last season, anyway. Poor point guard play.

Crews never lived up to the expectations when he was landed as a big-time recruit out of Virginia.

Both were kicked off the team by Pearl yesterday. Sources told FOXSports.com that Smith was booted for failing multiple drug tests - including one during the NCAA tournament - while it was numerous issues that prompted Pearl to boot Crews from the team.

Now the Vols will likely go with either J.P. Prince or freshman Daniel West. I haven't seen West play, but I've heard some good things about the Saginaw (Mich.) native - and personally, I'm not sure the long 6-foot-6 Prince can run the point on a full-time basis for a Top 10 caliber team, anyway.

UT still has Wayne Chism and Brian Williams up front - with Tyler Smith as one forward. Look for Scotty Hopson to step right in and start right away on the wing, Prince at the other wing and potentially West from day one at the point.