1. Despite a few late rumors to the contrary, Trey Lyles ended speculation and picked Kentucky over Louisville yesterday afternoon at his Indianapolis Arsenal Tech High School. All signs pointed Lyles to UK after he experienced Big Blue Madness, but leading up to the decision, a few people including Scout.com analyst Brian Snow hinted the five-star recruit may have made a different choice. Lyles cited his desire to get the the NBA and UK’s 22 players in the league as an enticing reason to wear blue over red next season. A power forward, Lyles is a top 10 prospect by all accounts. Kentucky racking up another major recruit doesn’t mean a whole lot, just more of the same; but for Louisville, however, a program that collected a national title of its own without a plethora of five-star players, it would have ignited the fan base in excitement.
2. In other recruiting news around the AAC, 6’8″ junior power forward Alex Owens recently backed out of his September commitment to Central Florida. The news may have come as a surprise to Knights fans, since Owens transferred to Orlando’s Oak Ridge High School last spring. Owens is ranked No. 44 in the class of 2015 by ESPN. Oak Ridge head coach Alex Jackson said Owens still likes UCF as one of his finalists, but he wants to enjoy the recruiting process. Central Florida should not be too bummed, because it’s not unprecedented for a recruit to back out of a commitment and then eventually return to that school. It happened just last week with James Blackmon Jr. and Indiana, in fact.
3. Louisville senior walk on guard Tim Henderson, who saved the day with two monumental three-pointers in the Carinals’ Final Fur game against Wichita State, said he’s already impressed with the progress of Kevin Ware. Ware just began full practice on Sunday after suffering a horrific compound fracture in his left leg in the regional finals versus Duke last March. Henderson said he’s coming hard off screens, still has his explosiveness and quickness, and is taking it to the big men. Ware may even see the court in the squad’s season opener Saturday against College of Charleston. At full strength, the junior guard gives coach Rick Pitino all sorts of options in the backcourt. He was a key component in the team’s Sweet Sixteen victory over Oregon after Peyton Siva went to the bench with foul trouble. Ware and Terry Rozier give Louisville great length in the backcourt as well, making Pitino’s full court press that much more difficult to manage.
4. Houston is still awaiting word on whether its highly-touted four-star recruit, Danrad “Chicken” Knowles will be eligible this season. Knowles sat out all of last season because he was ruled academically ineligible, but the 6’9″ forward could be the missing piece the Cougars need to make a run into the middle of the pack of the AAC this season
5. Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan said former walk-on Logan Kelley is no longer with the basketball team. Kelley saw action in three games a year ago and Jordan placed him on scholarship after replacing the fired Mike Rice. It doesn’t sound like Kelley found himself in any trouble, as Jordan only revealed that the best course of action was for Kelley to pursue other opportunities elsewhere. Rutgers opens the regular season Saturday against Florida A&M.

1. Its finally here. The first week of college basketball action is upon us, with real games to be played starting Friday. Most teams are finishing up their exhibition portion of the schedule, including Cincinnati, who had a hard fought win over Division II power Bellarmine over the weekend. Bearcat senior Sean Kilpatrick totaled 43 points in Cincinnati’s two exhibition wins. Under new head coach Eddie Jordan, Rutgers also won its exhibition game versus Division II Caldwell College in more convincing fashion, 90-60, led by Myles Mack’s 16 points. Rutgers blogger Dave White gives his five thoughts following the exhibition win.
2. Temple head coach Fran Dunphy understands the challenge ahead for his squad in a rebuilding year and a stronger conference. The Owls’ six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances could be in jeopardy this season after they lost experienced players Khalif Wyatt, Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, Scootie Randall and T.J. DiLeo.
3. While expectations may not be high, there’s reason for optimism in Tampa for Stan Heath and the South Florida Bulls with the return of a pair of all-conference selections in guard Anthony Collins and forward Victor Rudd. Bulls’ fans will get an opportunity to see their team in action tonight at 7:00 PM in exhibition action against Barry University.
4. The Louisville Courier-Journal’s Tim Sullivan says the American Athletic Conference will have instant credibility in the basketball world, but finding an identity may take a little longer.  Sullivan cites the conference’s two Hall of Fame coaches and the fact that two of the last three national champions now call the AAC home. The guard play in the league will be second-to-none, he writes.
5. The Courier-Journal also previews the defending national champion Louisville Cardinals and says now comes the hard part, defending that title. Louisville hopes to join the rarefied air in winning back-to-back championships, something that’s only been done by Duke (1991-92) and Florida (2006-07) in the modern era. Rick Pitino says the team looks at pressure as a great thing because it brings out the best in them. The Lexington-Herald Leader also previews the Cardinals by focusing on senior Russ Smith. And finally, Louisville guard Kevin Ware took part in full time practice for the first time last week.

Long removed from the glory days of Phi Slama Jama, many Houston Cougars fans would settle for a return to the consistently competitive yet mediocre days of Tom Penders. In six seasons from 2004-10, Penders never had a losing record and played in some sort of postseason tournament in five of those years. After three seasons since at the helm, James Dickey has recorded just one winning season. The good news for everyone is that season was last year and so those around the program have reason to believe things are headed back in the right direction.

Houston Hopes Year Four Shows Continued Improvement

Plus, this could be the most-talented team Houston has had in quite some time with a strong nucleus returning from a year ago, led by junior forward TaShawn Thomas, a second team preseason all-AAC selection, and sophomore guard Danuel House, C-USA Freshman of the Year last season. Another contributing returnee is sophomore guard Jherrod Stiggers. Dickey also hopes to have the services of J.J. Richardson, who missed significant action last season with a foot injury. Impact newcomers are Baylor transfer L.J. Rose and Danrad (Chicken) Knowles, a 2012 recruit who sat out last year. Knowles was a late bloomer with the frame to grow to become a legitimate star and potential NBA player. Thomas, Rose and Knowles played AAU basketball together and hope to carry that chemistry over to the collegiate level. Other returning Cougars include Leon Gibson (6.3 PPG), J.J. Thompson (6.0 PPG), Tione Womack (2.7 PPG), Brandon Morris (2.6 PPG), Mikhail McLean (2.4 PPG), LeRon Barnes (2.1 PPG) and Valentine Izundu (2 PPG).

The bad news is the competition heats up a notch with the move from Conference USA to the AAC. While the conference serves as only a stopgap for Louisville and Rutgers, it offers an upgrade for the likes of Houston and Memphis. Gone are the days when the only strong RPI and resume-building match-ups had to come in the non-conference slate or against (maybe) Memphis. This winter Houston will have home-and-home contests with Louisville, Connecticut, Memphis and Cincinnati, all teams with at minimum Top 25 and NCAA Tournament aspirations.

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Don’t read too much into the indefinite suspension of Louisville forward Chane Behanan. While the news has the entire city of Louisville up in arms, judging by Pitino’s history, we’ll see the rebounding hawk on the floor sooner rather than later. Kevin Ware was suspended with some harsh words from his coach last January, only to return after missing just one game. Suspensions are Pitino’s best way to get through to his players, and most of the time — Derrick Caracter the exception — the players eventually get the message and are better people, if not players, because of it.

It Says Here That Behanan’s Absence Will Ultimately Help the Cards

Now, this suspension does seem to have more teeth behind it than previous ones, since Behanan was actually kicked out of the team’s lavish dormitories, can’t practice with the team and Pitino said there’s no way he’ll be back before mid-December. Many of the national writers and commentators are already writing off Louisville’s title defense hopes, just like that.

Not so fast.

The suspension, as long as Behanan does what is asked and eventually returns, will make Louisville a better team and more equipped to cut down the nets again in April. During the time frame Behanan will not be with the team — let’s say the first semester — players such as Stephan Van Treese, Mango Mathiang and Akoy Agau will garner some valuable (and much-needed for Mathiang and Agau) experience and playing time.

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