If Green Bay is the New Rutgers, Is College Basketball Becoming South Park? (UPDATED)

In the wake of the Mike Rice video scandal, the prevailing sentiment was that coaches nationwide were frantically digging through practice tapes and ordering them burned.

Once that was done, there were a lot of directors of player development/basketball operations/towel-and-shoe maintenance/whatever to be given raises, taken to dinner or plied with liquor and whores, whatever it took to keep those guys from going all Murdock on their program.

The other worrisome storm on the horizon was the specter of further accusations against coaches across America. It would have been a surprise if we got through the offseason with no other coaches being accused of verbal or physical abuse.

We didn't even make it a week.

Lawson, Marcius Leave Purdue: How Boilers' Depth is Affected

Two days, two defections. In the post-Mike Rice era, the more scurrilous conspiracy theorists (especially those near Bloomington, Indiana) will begin searching for video of Purdue coach Matt Painter throwing toasters at his players.

Forward Sandi Marcius received his release to transfer on Thursday and another Boiler frontcourt player, Jacob Lawson (No. 34 in your picture), did the same on Friday.

In workouts before the 2012-13 season, Painter was excited about the idea of having plenty of big men at his disposal. With Marcius and Lawson bailing, though, how does that depth look now?

UConn Unveils New Husky Logo: No More Mr. Nice Pup

Coming straight from UConn Today, we get the new and improved Jonathan Husky.

Wait. Jonathan? Really? Was Claude taken? Or Horatio?

Actually, scratch that last. Horatio would be sort of cool. Better than Jonathan, anyway.

The report explains that the new logo is part of a rebranding campaign that will make "UConn" the exclusive phrase on every athletic uniform and have all Husky teams rocking the Husky logo.

(Yeah, this dude totally doesn't look like a Jonathan.)

More following le jump.

Steve Alford's Pierre Pierce Statement: The Ultimate Spin Move

New UCLA coach Steve Alford and his athletic director, Dan Guerrero, released a statement today designed to finally stop people nagging him about former Iowa star Pierre Pierce, whose repeated legal issues and multiple cases of sexual assault were a major black eye to the Hawkeye program during his abbreviated career.

Unfortunately for Alford, all the statement has done is fan the flames higher, serving as a spin move more flamboyant than anything the former Indiana Hoosier legend ever uncorked on the court.

College Basketball 2012-13 Review: The Nation's Top 10 First-Year Coaching Jobs

Last May, I ran down a ranking of every college basketball coaching change made official at the time. A few more trickled in, including a Hall of Famer bailing to elevate his former point guard at UConn.

With the season now complete, which guys performed the best in their new jobs? Once again, to clarify, we're talking about coaches in their first year at a new school, not necessarily men in their first seasons ever as head coaches.

Some of these coaches may become hot names a la new USC coach Andy Enfield if lightning strikes right next season. Some may be out of jobs this time next year. For now, though, these 10 men did great work following a change of scenery.

Conference Calling: Players to Watch for Championship Week (Part III)

Yeah, it's Tuesday, not Saturday. I get it. Anyway, let's get into the final batch of conference tournaments and the players that might make some impact therein.

More after the jump.

Conference Calling: Players to Watch for Championship Week (Part II)

Tuesday, we hit up the first batch of conference championships to point out some players who would make an impact. Some are still alive, some have already been sent home. (Looking at you, Alex Francis, although major props to first-year Mt. St. Mary's head coach Jamion Christian. Dude's done some good and fast work.)

Today, 10 more events, and then we hit up the rest tomorrow.

Read on after the jump.

Conference Calling: Players to Watch for Championship Week (Part I)

Conference tournaments begin in the next few hours, with the Big South tipping off near Myrtle Beach and the Horizon League playing its openers tonight.

It's about to get real, kids.

In honor of those events starting, let's examine each league and find one player who can determine his team's fate as relates to an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. We'll hit the first 10 today, the next 10 on Thursday and finish up on Saturday, by which point most brackets should be close to set.

Tournaments will be presented in the order they begin after the jump.

Diamonds in the Dirt: 10 More of College Basketball's Best Players on Losing Teams

Over at Bleacher Report, I've produced a list of the 10 best players in America that are condemned to toil in silence because their teams have records at or below .500 this year.

For those who might be a little indignant that their favorite team's not represented, try this supplemental list on for size. Consider them Nos. 11-20.

Check out the next 10 hidden gems after the jump.

Back Iron Bracketometry Feb. 9: Signs of Life for Kentucky, Illinois

I was once a Professor of Sports Philosophy on 4 Quarters Radio (still in occasional podcast form) before I got a doctorate in Bracketometry. As a fully accredited doctor, I'm qualified to pronounce college basketball teams' tournament hopes alive and dead.

There are a few schools who looked to be on life support a couple of weeks ago that are recovering nicely. Conversely, we've got some patients who are deteriorating before our eyes.

Read on to see if any of your loved ones are approaching terminal status.