I had only spoken to Myles Brand on a few occasions, but the overwhelming sense in the college basketball community is that he'll sorely be missed.

Brand died yesterday of pancreatic cancer at 67.

While Brand may be best-known for firing Bob Knight when he was at Indiana, the NCAA president was instrumental in stressing academics since heading up the NCAA in 2003.

While the APR (Academic Progress Report) may not be perfect, it's certainly a step in the right direction.

DEEPEST TEAM IN AMERICA?

Imagine having Travis Releford as arguably the No. 13 man on your roster, or boasting a freshman that was ranked in everyone's top 50 players in the nation a year ago as your 13th man.

Or having a Mr. Basketball and a player who checked in at No. 45 in Scout.com's rankings be No. 12 on your depth chart.

That's the enviable situation that the nation's three deepest teams are in this season.

Two of them – Kansas and Texas – hail from the Big 12. The other is Kentucky.

North Carolina has depth, but not at the level of the three aforementioned programs. The trio is in a different league from anyone else in the nation when it comes to quality depth.

Releford, a 6-foot-5 scoring guard out of Kansas City who played sparingly last season as a freshman at Kansas, will likely find playing time a rarity this season with the addition of talented freshman Xavier Henry and another freshman guard, Elijah Johnson.

More than one BCS coach has told me that Releford would start for them this season.

Williams won't stand much of a chance of getting into Rick Barnes' rotation with guys like veteran wing Justin Mason, freshmen Avery Bradley and Jordan Hamilton and sophomore Varez Ward.

Kentucky's Mr. Basketball, Hood, could fill a role, but it'll be difficult with plenty of guards and wings up and down the roster.

Here's a projected starting lineup of each team and their reserves.

TEXAS

Projected Starters: Avery Bradley, Dogus Balbay, Justin Mason, Damion James, Dexter Pittman.

Bench: J'Covan Brown, Varez Ward, Hamilton, Jai Lucas, Clint Chapman, Matt Hill, Alexis Wangmene, Shawn Williams.

KANSAS

Projected Starters: Tyshawn Taylor, Sherron Collins, Xavier Henry, Marcus Morris, Cole Aldrich.

Bench: Brady Morningstar, Mario Little, Markieff Morris, Thomas Robinson, Elijah Johnson, Jeff Withey, Tyrel Reed, Travis Releford.

KENTUCKY

Projected Starters: Eric Bledsoe, John Wall, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins.

Bench: Darnell Dodson, Perry Stevenson, Daniel Orton, DeAndre Liggins, Josh Harrellson, Ramon Harris, Jon Hood.

RANDOM NOTES: Wisconsin freshman Diamond Taylor has withdrawn from school, and freshman walk-on Jeremy Glover has been dismissed from the team after both were arrested for burglary earlier in the month. ... Utah landed power forward J.J. O'Brien of Alta Loma (Calif.). ... Scout.com reports that Tennessee landed shooting guard Trae Golden out of McEachern High (Ga.). ... Naperville Nequa Valley 6-foot-6 wing Dwayne Evans pledged to Saint Louis.