How about FDU coach Tom Green being let go in June?  It's embarrassing for the school and athletic director David Langford to wait until now to fire a guy who has been at the helm for 26 seasons.

How about showing a little class?

It was clear that Green, whose program has struggled over the past couple of years, needed to turn things around. But again, a decision should have been made back in April - so that the 59-year-old Green (if he so chose) and more importantly, his staff, had a chance to go elsewhere.

BARBEE GLAD TO SEE BUDDY LEAVE

UTEP coach Tony Barbee played and coached with John Calipari, but he isn't shedding any tears now that his mentor has left Conference-USA.

``Those Memphis teams have been so good the last four or five years that it actually hurt our league," Barbee said. ``There were some really good teams in our league outside of Memphis. Tulsa should have been in the NCAA tournament last season with 24 wins, but they didn't even get a sniff."

Barbee said the league has opened up with the departure of Calipari to Kentucky.

``No doubt," he admitted. ``It was hard for anyone to overcome that {Memphis}."

Barbee lost the league's all-time leading scorer in guard Stefon Jackson, but the Miners should have a chance to compete for the league title with what could be one of the most formidable frontcourts out west.

But that will depend on the stability of Derrick Caracter.

Caracter is still in El Paso after transferring in the middle of last season.

Barbee said that Caracter practiced with the team the second semester and hasn't been a problem thus far.

``I have a lot of respect for the kid because with all the hype, he could have just packed his bags and gone overseas and made $100,000 or whatever," Barbee said. ``But he doesn't want to go down that road. He wants to prove everyone wrong."

Caracter, who has a year and a half of eligibility left, has dropped weight and is down to around 300 pounds. Ultimately, he needs to get down to around 275.

Barbee said he bikes to school from his off-campus apartment every day.

If Caracter, who is eligible on Dec. 12, does stick around until the season starts, he'll team with talented 6-foot-11 sophomore Arnett Moultrie and junior Claude Britten to form a potent frontline.

``He's as good as I've been around," Barbee said of Moultrie.

Barbee's backcourt - even without Jackson - will be solid with 6-foot-6 junior Julyan Stone at the point, Randy Culpepper coming off the bench and former Arizona State transfer Christian Polk eligible after sitting out last season.

Barbee also adds big wing Jeremy Williams, a junior college kid whose career began at Colorado.

``I think we've got all the pieces," Barbee said. ``I'm just trying to lay in the weeds."

That may not be possible. Not with Calipari gone.

HEWITT UPSET AT CONGRESSMAN

Tennessee congressman Steve Cohen has, for reasons that baffle me, gotten national attention for his recent comments that the NBA's age requirement should be scrapped and high school kids should be allowed to bypass college if they so choose.

I happen to agree with him, but why do we care what Steve Cohen thinks?  And NBA commissioner David Stern in all likelihood could care less what Cohen thinks as well.

Anyway, Cohen made a comment to the New York Times about one of the former players in his district, Thaddeus Young, who played one season at Georgia Tech and is now with the Philadelphia 76ers.

``He could have gone straight to the pros," Cohen told the newspaper. ``I don't think he's going to be an engineer. It's just kind of a mockery."

Cohen should have done a little research since Young was nearly a 4.0 student coming out of high school and actually skipped an entire summer of AAU ball in order to attend an academic camp at a prep school in Conn.

``He owes Thaddeus Young an apology and Georgia Tech an apology because to suggest because Thaddeus is an outstanding basketball player or a basketball player doesn't have an intellectual side is highly insulting," Hewitt said. ``What bothers me is everybody puts academic problems that come up with these kids and blames it on basketball and not the community they comes from. It's a systemic problem."

``If people think only one and done guys are the only ones, they are ignorant," Hewitt added. "These are systemic problems.

RANDOM NOTES: Seton Hall big man Brandon Walters is transferring.