5. It looks like Jim Calhoun won't be leaving the sidelines just yet. The legendary Connecticut coach has dealt with a series of illnesses and injuries over the past few years -- including three treatments for cancer and a recent trip to the hospital this past June after breaking several ribs in a charity bike ride -- but the Hall of Famer doesn't appear to be ready to call it quits on his coaching career. Calhoun, one of only seven collegiate coaches to reach 800 career wins (Syracuse's Jim Boeheim needs only one win to reach the mark), is currently in the midst of negotiating a new multiyear deal with the Huskies. "It's not going to be a one-year contract," team spokesman Kyle Muncy said. "How many years it's going to be, I don't know, but it will not be a one-year contract." And that's certainly a good sign for UConn fans, who thought Calhoun might be coaching his final year in Storrs this fall after the school was found to have illegally recruited highly touted freshman Nate Miles just days before the team's Final Four contest against Michigan State last April.
 
4. It wasn't that long ago that Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus was enjoying an America East championship and a trip to the Big Dance. In fact, it was just last March that the Bearcats took a trip to Greensboro, N.C., to face No. 2 seed Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament (Binghamton lost the game and ended its season with an 86-62 defeat). Fast forward six months later, and the program is an absolute state of disarray. And it's mostly thanks to starting point guard Emanuel "Tiki" Mayben, who got the snowball rolling last week when he was arrested in his hometown of Troy, N.Y., for selling and possessing cocaine. A day later, the program dismissed five other players -- including the team's leading scorer last year, Derrick "D.J." Rivera (20 ppg, 6.5 rpg). And that snowball continues to grow larger this week after the school's athletic director, Joel Thirer, announced his resignation. Thirer, however, will remain a tenured professor at the University, while Jim Norris will take over as the department's interim athletic director. Yet for Broadus, it's a major damper on what could have been another stellar season in upstate New York.
 
3. There isn't a team in college basketball with a bigger target on its back this fall than Kansas. The Jayhawks, who return their top three players in point guard Sherron Collins, shooting guard Tyshawn Taylor and center Cole Aldrich, are expected to be the preseason No. 1 when the polls come out in November and have the talent, depth and experience to cut down the nets in Indianapolis next April. That is, if Bill Self's players can manage to stay out of trouble before then. So far, that's been mostly a problem for the 6-foot-3 Taylor, who last week was involved in a fight between the Kansas basketball and football teams and dislocated his thumb in the process. The scuffle, which lasted two days and stems from a long-running dispute between the programs, has Taylor out for 3-4 weeks but more importantly, shines a bright light of embarrassment on the University and its athletic department. "The reason it happened was because a really small group of individuals put selfish motives ahead of what was really important," Self said. A few days later, even Taylor can attest to that now. "I'm embarrassed because of the situation," the sophomore said this week. "We embarrassed our campus, our university, both teams, and it's just a situation that shouldn't have happened. ... I wish I could take it back." While it's too late for that, Taylor's apology was an honorable move for a kid that still has some growing up to do.
 
2. What a scary week it has been for college athletes in the weight room. On the same day that USC running back Stafon Johnson dropped 275 pounds on his neck and was rushed to the hospital for immediate throat surgery, Tennessee forward Emmanuel Negedu collapsed during a workout inside Tennessee's weight room, needing a defibrillator to save his life minutes after falling to the ground. Despite not having a pulse at first, the 6-foot-7 sophomore from Nigeria was alert when an ambulance arrived to escort him to UT Medical Center. "I feel good," he said after the incident in a statement. "It means a lot that everyone has asked about me and that people are praying for me. It's good to be a part of the Tennessee family." Last season, Negedu played in 33 games, averaging 7.2 minutes, 1.9 rebounds and 1.7 points. While those numbers don't exactly jump out at you, there's a good chance that Negedu will take on a larger role this season with the Vols, who should contend with Kentucky for this year's SEC championship. "Lots of factors had to happen for God to do his work, and we thank God for the blessing of his work and the blessing of (team trainers Chad Newman and Jason McVeigh)," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl told WNML. And they'll be thanking him a lot more if they win that conference title in March, too.
 
1. Speaking of Bruce Pearl, the Vols coach has always had a tendency for speaking his mind -- and for the most part, it's been in a good way. But sometimes Pearl, who has done wonders to turn around Tennessee's basketball program in only five years, can be too much of a jokester and take things a little too far. And in this day and age when the media likes to dissect every word and sentence from coaches, players and parents, Pearl has to know better than to say what he said, especially at a charity fundraising event. And especially with the cameras rolling. But as the Boston native pronounced about his players: "I've got a tough job. I've got to put these guys from different worlds together, right? I've got guys from Chicago, Detroit. I'm talking about the 'hood! And I've got guys from Grainger County, where they wear the hood!" It's another thing to say what he said during a radio interview or in a post-game press conference. Sure, the crowd laughed, but how will other players take his words in the coming days and weeks? Will they remember what Pearl said in two months from now? While there's little chance that Pearl meant any harm by the joke and while he did apologize for the remark the following day, there's no guarantee that his perception won't change among players and coaches around the country in a sport heavily dominated by African Americans for quite some time.