1. Yesterday we mentioned the report that West Virgina‘s potential Big 12 application was essentially pre-approved. In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend!” It turns out that the Big 12 is looking at either West Virginia or Louisville as a replacement for Missouri if/when it leaves for the SEC. Amazingly, it appears that this has become such a hot-button topic that United States Senators are getting involved because you know there aren’t more important things they should be worried about right now. As more than one analyst commented on Twitter yesterday, conference expansion seems to be spiraling into something akin to pledge week where schools are strung along and asked to do increasingly humiliating things to join a frat (in this case a conference).
2. With the Big 12 most likely poaching one of those Big East schools, the attention shifts to the Big East, who is losing members at an alarming rate. Rick Pitino, who appears to be assuming the role of “Godfather of the Big East” even if he might not be there much longer (see above), has two teams–Memphis and Temple–on his radar. Both are interesting choices and although Memphis has a higher profile basketball program (even if they are overrated) Temple has a much better football team right now. We find Pitino’s interest in Temple particularly amusing because the Owls were once a part of the Big East as a football-only member before they were essentially kicked them out for not being good enough. It is sort of like a husband dumping his wife then losing his job and his mistress and begging his ex-wife to take him back.
3. North Carolina picked up its fourth commitment for this year’s recruiting class when Brice Johnson tweeted, “I will be a UNC Tar Heel”. Johnson is a 6’9″ power forward who is a consensus top 50 player overall and compliments a well-rounded class for Roy Williams. The one thing that this UNC class is missing is a superstar and it appears that they will have to wait on Mitch McGary to make a decision as their other top target, T.J. Warren, appears to have eliminated the Tar Heels from his final two (NC State and Georgetown) from which he will announce his decision next week.
4. Last week we Tumblr’d what we believed to be a picture of the uniform that Michigan State would be wearing for the Carrier Classic. Yesterday, UNC released images of its uniform for the game and it appears to be very similar. While we appreciate the gesture including the decision to replace player names with USA on the back our feeling on the uniforms is indifference as we are not huge fans of all these alternate uniforms and neither of these are particularly attractive especially the UNC uniforms which would only serve as camouflage on a Teletubbies set.
5. Secondary violations are becoming almost as irritating as conference expansion. The latest near-victim was Washington, who had to cancel a scrimmage between current players and alumni after coach Lorenzo Romar mentioned the scrimmage on a local radio station because that would violate NCAA rules. Just to clarify, the actual scrimmage between current and former players would not have been a violation, but playing it after it had been “publicized” would have been a violation. Two former player–Spencer Hawes and Nate Robinson–expressed their displeasure with the decision more specifically with the NCAA being so rigid that the decision had to be made. We are assuming current players felt the same way, but were advised to refrain from saying anything. While some claim that the rule (14.1.8.1.6 of the NCAA handbook) is intended to limit teams from essentially holding exhibition games in this case it seems asinine.

Another preseason preview gives us reason to roll out the 2011-12 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured the most compelling moments from the 2010-11 season, many of which will bring back the goosebumps and some of which will leave you shaking your head in frustration. For the complete list of this year’s reasons, click here. Enjoy!

#15 – Where Fire the Cheerleader Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 seasons.

The massive amount of alumni, donors and fans of basketball science who support Kentucky care very much about mathematics. In particular, the accumulation of positive numbers.

Two years ago they celebrated being the first school to reach the number 2000 in basketball wins. A few days ago they cheered loudly as they unfurled the fourteenth colored banner allowed to decorate the huge research lab of Rupp Arena. The program also celebrated the three days worth of intense computation that resulted in an increment of Southeastern Conference Tournament titles.  While elated with the progress, none of these are the specific answer desired by Kentucky Math fans. They want the ultimate answer: An eighth NCAA National Championship.

Kentucky’s researchers were making incredible breakthroughs in the 1990s. Dr. Rick Pitino used several years of research in Full Court Pressology to finally solve for six. Before he could apply the same formula to solve for seven he left for a professional position for a storied firm in Boston. Dr. Tubby Smith immediately used many of Dr. Pitino’s components but mixed them with Intense Defense Limits stretching from one to suffocating. The result: Seven. As time passed Kentucky supporter’s error tolerance level was reduced to near-zero and Dr. Smith took his research to Minnesota. Dr. Billy Gillispie‘s early theories were promising but his science unsound.

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Rick Pitino cannot help himself.  When he’s hopping mad — like, really mad — he simply cannot save himself from himself.  Whether it’s Larry Bird walking through that door, quips about health insurance, or convoluted references to famous Italian-American movies, the guy seemingly always manages to find the spotlight.  Today’s Big East Media Day is only the latest example.  When queried by USA Today about Syracuse and Pittsburgh’s pending move from the Big East to the ACC, the Louisville coach spouted off in a predictably self-righteous manner when he answered that the two schools should “show a little respect” after having “dated [the Big East] for 30 years.”  The lack of the little voice of self-awareness in Pitino’s head is both astonishing and appalling, but that joke has already been made (here, here, here, here, here).

Pitino's Anger is Projected Because of His Own Fears

No, what we’re more interested in here is what is driving Pitino’s vitriol.  If you read the entire series of quotes, the erstwhile coach takes shots at (in order): the ACC, his own dignity, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Clemson, Florida State, NC State, Wake Forest, Boston College, Gene DeFilippo, the Boston Celtics, and university presidents.  That’s a substantial list for just a few seconds worth of soundbites, but it belies an anger that is eating at Pitino’s soul, causing him to seethe in ways we haven’t seen at least since the days of telling Celtics fans on talk radio that they need to get a life.  Since Pitino is the master of coachspeak, he won’t tell us the real reason.  But this is what we think.

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1. Over the next couple of weeks conferences around the country will be having their annual basketball media days, over-hyped events where coaches prattle on in coachspeak, players try not to say anything too controversial, and the assembled media spends most of its time angling for the free doughnuts, coffee and sandwiches.  On the eve of the Big East’s event at Madison Square Garden in NYC, the Syracuse Post-Standard has released its annual survey of 16 writers from each of the conference’s 16 markets, resulting in the closest race for the preseason top spot in the poll’s 20-year history.  Your winner: Syracuse, by a single point.  Even though defending national champion Connecticut received 8 first-place votes (vs. 6 for SU), the Orange showed up on more second and third-place ballots to slightly edge out the Huskies at this point.  The writers picked Pittsburgh guard Ashton Gibbs as its conference POY (7 votes), with UConn’s Jeremy Lamb second (4 votes), and his teammate Andre Drummond (12 votes) the overwhelming choice for conference ROY.
2. While we’re on the subject of Jim Calhoun’s team, freshman forward Michael Bradley — the player who gave up his scholarship so that Drummond could join the team — proved that karma bears no conscience when he received news that his right ankle was broken and will require surgery.  The former foster child who mentioned sacrifice for the team in recent weeks as the reason for choosing to walk on this year is looking at a best case scenario where he can return to the team in December.  Missing the first two months of the season is no way to get his legs and timing back, though — you’d have to figure that it will take him until January or February to completely recover from this unfortunate break.
3. We promise that this M5 isn’t only going to only be about the Big East Conference, but an interesting piece by Gary Parrish on the status of Louisville basketball going into this season brings up several good questions.  Even when Rick Pitino’s Cardinals played team basketball all the way to a surprising third place finish in the conference last season, there was a faint sense among some that Louisville was an overrated team getting it done primarily with smoke and mirrors.  That illusion was shattered in the NCAA Tournament’s Second Round when Morehead State parlayed an injury to Preston Knowles into an upset victory, but few actually had the Cards doing much damage last year despite its #4 seed.  Parrish appears to buy into the concept of a team without stars (he ranks the Cards #8 nationally), but unless Peyton Siva has plans to turn into a 2012 version of Shelvin Mack, we’re going to remain unconvinced about the long-term viability of this squad.
4. California head coach Mike Montgomery will have a minor surgical procedure today that will force him to take a short leave of absence away from his team.  Given that we’re in the first few days of the very first week of practice, it’s safe to presume that this medical problem came on rather quickly for the 64-year old Bears coach.  We trust the Cal athletic department when they inform us that the procedure is minor, but no surgery is completely risk-free, so we’re crossing our fingers for a totally successful intervention for Montgomery today and his subsequent recovery.
5. No matter your political persuasion and accompanying feelings about the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests going on around the country, one enterprising Kansas fan and his son decided to have some fun with a camera at one of the recent events in Denver, Colorado.  Mr. Greenhaw (the dad), perhaps ironically a banker himself, started ranting and raving about KU basketball to the delight of his son’s camera, even finding the wherewithal to get a shot in at “Missourah” while he was parading around with his KU #1 sign (although don’t get us started on his claim of “5 natl. championships.” Grrrrrrr…) in tow.  Check out the video below, which is rather hilarious:

1. A dramatic turn in SEC Expansion 2011: ALL YOUR TEAMS ARE BELONG TO US! The New York Times’ Pete Thamel reported yesterday evening that Missouri‘s application to the SEC was “inevitable and imminent” according to an unnamed source close to the process. Thamel also reports that the SEC Presidents will accept Missouri’s application barring any legal problems that would complicate the school’s exit from the Big 12. (For the sanity of the nation, somebody please keep Baylor President Ken Starr from registering the domain name dontmesswithmissourifootball.com.) Missouri’s Board of Curators will be meeting later this week and may actually finalize an application to the SEC.
2. What has been the hold-up for Mizzou? An excellent article published last weekend by the Kansas City Star relates the differing opinions of Missouri’s conference alignment with the diverse population. The article does an excellent job of showing that Missourians’ identity is a mixture of sub-identities: the cowboys of the west plains, the farmers of the northern midwest, the traditionalists of the south and the big-city indifference from St. Louis. If each of these factions are represented on the Mizzou Board of Curators, then perhaps we finally understand why the school has been very deliberate in making its decision.
3. Vanderbilt’s Festus Ezeli should try being more deliberate when making travel decisions. Over the summer the senior center accepted a furnished meal and hotel room from a Vandy alumnus; a violation specified somewhere in the NCAA Huge Book O’ ByLaws. Vanderbilt Athletics self-reported the violation and he will sit out the Commodores’ first six regular season games. He will return for Vandy’s November 28 game versus Xavier. Vanderbilt’s Vice Chancellor David Williams said in a released statement that, “we have a very good compliance education process in place and this incident shows how easily someone can fall astray, even with the best intentions.” Remember, Vandy student-athletes: Don’t accept any illicit gifts, even if the gift is a near-mint copy of Detective Comics #27.
4. It’s pretty easy to deduce that the quote war between Kentucky head coach John Calipari and Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is nothing but a little hype from two coaches that don’t necessarily get along with each other. A Lexington-area sportscaster often jokes that Pitino and Calipari are acting like “a bunch of catty schoolgirls”. Yesterday, CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish believes he discovered a new layer of cattiness with the Wildcats head coach: The recent emphasis of the phrase “Players First Program” to describe Kentucky is to trump the Cardinal’s newest team phrase of “Louisville First.” We tend to disagree. Most of Coach Cal’s “Players First” talk was in direct build-up of his “State of the Wildcat Nation” speech. The emphasis about “Players First” was primarily given in sections of the speech written directly for the 2012 recruits attending and those who didn’t attend but would watch the highlights later. Additionally Calipari had no problem directly dissing Coach Pitino during his speech: He left out Pitino when referencing a list of former coaches and explicitly omitted the 1995-96 National Championship team (led then by Pitino) when listing some of the great Wildcat teams of the past. The coaches will probably not stop being snippy until the Cards and the Cats play on New Year’s Eve in Rupp Arena. Maybe we should take away their cell phones and ground them from going to the mall until the game.
5. Full team practices launched over the weekend. Check out my homeboy Brian Joyce’s SEC Practice Report from yesterday for a detailed look. Bryan ran out of time before he could preview Alabama. ‘Bama is returning one of the most powerful and experienced frontcourts in the nation which includes senior forward JaMychal Green and junior forward Tony Mitchell. Last season the Crimson Tide struggled to find consistent shooting from deep. (Last season only then-senior guard Charvez Davis made more than 40 three-pointers in the season [71].) The additions of freshmen Trevor Lacey, Levi Randolph and Rodney Cooper will more than make up for Davis’ departure due to graduation. In an interview after ‘Bama’s first practice Green said, “I think we’re a better scoring team. We’ve got better 3-point shooters this year. We have more than one.” If head coach Anthony Grant can find multiple consistent deep threats from his freshmen, they will spread out defenses and let Green and Mitchell feast in the middle. Mmmmmmm… post-up play.

One week, people. One week.

1. So many people are assuming threat postures over this so-called battle of words between John Calipari and Rick Pitino, but to us this is just a symptom that fans of college basketball just want something to talk about. We’ll never fault anyone for that, but it just doesn’t seem like there’s a lot in this. Here’s the deal: speaking in front of the tent village that pops up around Lexngton’s Memorial Coliseum annually as people camp out for Midnight Madness tickets, Calipari told an interviewer that Kentucky basketball was the biggest deal “throughout this whole state,” raising the ire of Louisville fans. Pitino responded with a little bit of name-calling without actually saying Calipari’s name. That’s it. There’s no feud here because what Calipari said is correct. There are thousands of UK fans who live in Louisville. Yes, there are thousands of U of L fans who live in non-Louisville Kentucky, but to us Calipari’s comments were meant to compliment UK fans and were centered on his program, and did not constitute an insult of the Louisville program or its fans.
2. Grantland.com doesn’t need our help getting attention, but we’ll always link quality college basketball discussion wherever it is, and this qualifies: remember that brawl in the summer that happened when Georgetown took its trip to China and played an exhibition against the Bayi Rockets? No surprise, there’s much more to it than you’d think. The New York Times’ Jim Yardley was in China three years ago doing a story on another Chinese professional team but got the scoop on Bayi. The team is a former military propaganda showpiece and have been given every break by those who run that league, are the most hated squad in the country, but have lost relevance of late. The incident with Georgetown, as Yardley writes, may be the thing that puts the Rockets away for good. His history of that team and the Chinese pro league is a must-read, and provides considerable insight on the fracas with the Hoyas.
3. With conference realignment buzzing along as it is and people talking about the eventual superconferences at some point seceding from the NCAA, college hoops fans are wondering what effect these changes will have on the holiest of holies, the NCAA Tournament. Inspired by a series of tweets last night from Bylaw Blog and SI.com’s Andy Glockner, Rock Chalk Talk has laid out one fantastic (though obviously remote) possibility: the establishment of a champion based on the UEFA Champions League model. Can you imagine, say, six Selection Sundays as opposed to one? True, the singularity of Selection Sunday is what makes it so special, but in this model each one would mean just as much. And the idea of certain Power Six conference programs getting relegated, you have to admit, is pretty intriguing. Interesting stuff whether you’re a soccer fan or not.
4. “Ladies and gentlemen…Tone Loc!” Such an introduction would inspire exactly zero excitement in anyone currently enrolled at Syracuse. Frankly, it probably wouldn’t inspire much excitement in anyone who has children enrolled at Syracuse. But that’s who was slated to host the midnight madness festivities at the Carrier Dome. Unfortunately, it’s been a tough month for Tone, who recently pleaded no contest to a domestic violence charge. That in mind, the ‘Cuse made went with a change of host, tapping Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill (no, really) as master of ceremonies. As the Syracuse site Troy Nunez Is An Absolute Magician points out, at least Julie Boeheim will still be there. By the way, the last two sentences in the linked article are great.
5. One of the best (or worst, whatever you prefer) examples of a kid that was hyped to death and just never, ever panned out was Schea Cotton. This is no exaggeration; Cotton had been touted as a basketball messiah from the age of 15, and many pros — meaning no less than Baron Davis, Tyson Chandler, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce — compared both the style and skill level of Cotton’s game to that of LeBron James. And many, including those same pros, can’t explain why he never played a minute in the NBA. Cotton is the subject of an upcoming documentary entitled Manchild, and we cannot wait to see it. If you want to see the reason for the hype (and the opinions of the aforementioned pros), check out the trailer contained in the linked article. Oh. My. Goodness.

NC State‘s Mark Gottfried took a big step towards rebuilding the Wolfpack program in picking up a commitment from Rodney Purvis on Friday. Assistant coach Tim Fuller originally recruited Purvis to play for Rick Pitino at Louisville. However, once Fuller left to take an offer from former Miami coach Frank Haith at Missouri, Purvis reopened his recruitment. Friday Purvis announced his decision to stay home and play for the Wolfpack.  The commitment has huge implications, especially with former point guard Ryan Harrow transferring to Kentucky. Purvis is an incredibly talented combo guard, ranked in the top sixteen prospects of the class of 2012 by Scout.com, Rivals.com (where he is highest at sixth) and ESPNU.

Purvis Gives NCSU Fans Reason For Hope

But Purvis’ commitment means more than the pure talent he brings to the court. He represents a local star staying home–much like his future teammate CJ Leslie did–but he also represents Gottfried’s first step towards restoring NC State’s basketball tradition. Leslie’s former high school teammate John Wall attended Purvis’ announcement and noted the importance of his decision: “There’s a lot of pressure […] He’s the hometown hero now.” Wall was faced with a similar decision, but chose the bright lights of Rupp Arena over the RBC Center.

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1. Southern Mississippi head coach Larry Eustachy received a three-year extension on his contract.  You might recall that Eustachy gained some notoriety in 2009 for giving back a $25,000 bonus to his employer because he didn’t feel as if he had earned it.  In the two seasons hence, his Golden Eagles have gone 42-24 and were invited to the CIT postseason tournament in 2009-10.  Southern Miss was in the conversation for an at-large bid in last year’s NCAA Tournament prior to hitting a tough stretch during the last two weeks of the season.  His extension does not include a salary boost, but it will keep him employed at the school through the 2013-14 season.
2. Rick Pitino really must not want to end up in the ‘fertile’ recruiting grounds of the Big 12, searching for talent in a place like Manhattan, Kansas, rather than Manhattan island.  In an interview with Adam Zagoria on Tuesday night, he went on a somewhat incomprehensible tirade about why Connecticut would be “dumb” to leave the Big East for the ACC if there was another spot available for the Huskies.  He invokes none other than the legendary John Wooden to explain why UConn should not consider such a move: “Do you ever think [leaving the Pac-10] crossed his mind? No, when you’re great winner, those things don’t cross your mind. The only thing that crosses your mind is the ability to win a championship and carry on the great tradition you’ve built.”  He even goes so far as to suggest that the Huskies might be less successful in a conference like the ACC, citing Boston College’s one soccer title as a relevant example.  But… didn’t Pitino tell us a hundred times in March that the Big East was by far the best basketball conference?  Why would leaving the best basketball conference for a weaker one hurt them, Rick?  We haven’t seen video of this interview, but it reads like the rantings and ramblings of a man desperate to avoid irrelevance.
3. We’re all aware that Syracuse is headed to the ACC, although the when behind that move is still up in the air.  What might also be up in the air is the idea Syracuse chancellor Nancy Cantor floated on Tuesday — Syracuse possibly playing some home ACC games in New York City.  Calling the Orange “New York’s college team,” Cantor strongly stated that one of the must-haves for her school was to play some home ACC games in the Big Apple.  Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim fired back with unequivocal statements to the contrary on Wednesday.  Suggesting that Cantor was mistaken about which games might be played in NYC, Boeheim said, “we absolutely would not take conference games to New York City. It was never the intent… She meant games in New York. Yes. And bringing the ACC Tournament to New York.”  From an economic standpoint to the school, it makes a lot more sense to bring elite ACC teams to upstate New York and the enormous Carrier Dome than to try to play the likes of Duke, UNC, Maryland and others in the much smaller venues of Madison Square Garden or the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
4. Speaking of the new NYC arena, we’re already loving this place.  New York always felt like it should be a two-arena kind of town, and the Barclays will now allow some interesting simultaneous events for people in the city to enjoy.  The first example of this will now occur in 2013, as the Atlantic 10 has signed a five-year deal to bring its conference tournament to Brooklyn.  If the league keeps with the format it has now so that the quarters, semis and finals occur on Selection Sunday weekend, savvy hoops fans might be able to commute between the Big East extravaganza at MSG and the best A-10 games over in Brooklyn.  With a mere half-hour trip by subway line between the two arenas, hoops junkies like ourselves could find themselves in a heavenly situation.
5. Let’s finish with some really good news.  Arizona’s Kevin Parrom is back on campus in Tucson and is set to resume classes and begin rehabilitation from the shooting injury he suffered last weekend in his hometown of New York.  The bullet entered his leg in the back of his right knee but head coach Sean Miller said on Tuesday that it’s unclear how the injury will impact his basketball activities this season, suggesting that it will be at least a month before a true assessment can be made.  Parrom, a junior who averaged 8/3 last season while knocking down 41.8% of his threes, is a key contributor for Miller, but at this point everyone is just happy that he’s alive and not critically injured.  Even in what has to be trying times for a young athlete, he still has his humor intact, tweeting at former conference rival Isaiah Thomas, “Idk what hurts more your shot that went in at the end of the game or the 1 i got this weekend smh lol.”  Well played, sir.

1. A couple of top prospects made their college choices within the last couple of days and the rich keep getting richer. On Tuesday night, Kentucky opened its account within the 2012 class when 6’4”, 180-pound shooting guard Archie Goodwin tweeted his intent to be a Wildcat. It was Perry Ellis‘ turn on Wednesday, and the 6’8”, 220-pound forward chose Kansas, citing Bill Self’s knack for getting the most out of his Jayhawk bigs as motivation for heading to Lawrence. Goodwin is ranked 13th overall and Ellis is 37th in the ESNPU 100 class of 2012 rankings. Ellis was also the first ranked recruit to commit to Kansas from that class, but it goes without saying that neither program is finished mining its talent.
2. Oklahoma took some heat for the ultimatum it gave to the Big 12 on Tuesday, claiming that it would stay in the conference if, among other demands, some restrictions were placed on exactly what Texas’ Longhorn Network could show, and if current Big 12 commish Dan Beebe was removed. Nobody (including us) bought it as a good-faith negotiating tactic, but it turns out that OU might be getting at least part of what it wants. Evidently Oklahoma isn’t the only school that would welcome Beebe’s ouster, and the most recent word is that the presidents of the conference’s member institutions are having a conference call (no pun intended) tomorrow that will determine the future of the Big 12, beginning with the removal of Beebe and the installment of former Big 8 commissioner Chuck Neinas as the new boss.
3. Last week, when people who follow college sports weren’t talking about conference realignment, they were talking about the piece that appeared in The Atlantic by essayist and historian Taylor Branch entitled “The Shame Of College Sports.” The 14,573-word diatribe against the NCAA was lauded by almost everyone as a stinging polemic, to say the least, and an utter rout for Branch. CBS’ Seth Davis, however, took Branch and his essay to task yesterday, charging Branch with basing his whole article on a faulty premise and conveniently leaving out obvious counterpoints. We provided a CliffsNotes version of the Branch essay, and we highly recommend you check out Davis’ response, too, linked above.
4. Rick Pitino had a chat with ESPN’s Andy Katz yesterday in which the Louisville coach predicted that the Big East would survive Realignment ’11, that the conference would add two service acadamies (football only) by the end of the week, it would still remain one of the strongest basketball conferences in the land, and that he is “happy with Big East basketball.” Pitino has a gift for spin that makes even the most skilled of lobbyists envious, but he’s probably right about the Big East staying strong. Obviously it won’t be what it once was if Syracuse and Pittsburgh follow through with their departures, but as far as basketball power, assuming Rutgers and Connecticut leave and Notre Dame and West Virginia stay, you’d have those two programs plus Louisville, Marquette, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Villanova, and St. John’s, all NCAA Tournament teams last year.
5. We bet you can win a few bar bets — though your chances of success increase dramatically if you’re outside the state of Michigan — on one of the great riddles in college basketball: who was Michigan State’s only three-time basketball all-American? Hint: he was a point guard. Your sucker will probably pounce at the chance to answer “Magic Johnson!” and expect to relieve you of your cash, but he’d be wrong. Magic was a two-time AA as a Spartan (because he only played two years). It’s a Flintstone named Mateen Cleaves who holds that honor, and today he will be inducted into Michigan State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Despite feeling as humbled and honored as you’d expect, the 34-year old Cleaves told Eric Woodyard of the Flint Journal and MLive.com, “It does make me feel old that I’m entering the hall of fame.” No comment.