Morgan Wootten has done it again.

A couple of years ago, the former DeMatha coach and McDonald's Selection Committee Chairman used his veto power to keep Paul Harris out of the McDonald's All-American Game.

This year, Wootten has done it to Devin Ebanks, who is clearly one of the top 20 talents in the senior class.

Ebanks, an Indiana signee who will likely explore other options when Kelvin Sampson is fired, received more than enough votes to be in the McDonald's Game.

However, he's a fifth-year player so he was left out.

J.R. Smith spent five years in high school and made the game in 2004. Gerald Green was a fifth-year kid and played in the McDonald's Game in 2005.

The announcement of those who made the game is tonight.

While Ebanks, who is ranked No. 13 in the country by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, won't play in the game, Mike Rosario, who wasn't ranked in the Top 50 by just about anyone, was included.

Rosario earned the invite because he plays for St. Anthony's and its legendary coach, Bob Hurley.

It's all about politics.

It's also a complete joke.

BURRELL MAKES DRASTIC TURNAROUND

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

Stanley Burrell never played defense in high school. In fact, he rarely defended for his first three years in college.

Then, after a terrific performance against arguably the nation's elite scoring guard, Eric Gordon, the Xavier senior guard changed his entire mindset.

Now he's become the defensive stopper.

Burrell held one of the nation's top shooters, Rhode Island's Jimmy Baron, without a field goal last night.

Gordon was 4-of-12 from the field in a loss to Xavier back in late November.

``It's what I do," Burrell said. ``I do my best to pitch a shutout every night."

Burrell's willingness to go from a guy who led the team in scoring for three straight years to a lock-down defender who rarely looks for his offense could be the key to Xavier making a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

RANDOM NOTES: It looks like we were a couple days off when it came to the official announcement of Tom Asbury being hired at Pepperdine. It'll come later today. ... Xavier coach Sean Miller said that Drew Lavender (ankle) played at about 50 percent last night. ... Memphis will be without Shawn Taggert at Tulane. Taggert broke his nose and also has a knee injury.