No horns here – promise!

THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT
On Getting Off Lawns and Turning Down Music

Levels of pain for coaches when recruits defect:

Bad: “I just want to be closer to home.” A lie, but a plausible lie that has nothing (publically) to do with the coach.
Worse: “I think I’ll be a better fit elsewhere.” Closer to the truth, with a mild jab at the coach and his system.
Worst: “I feel they’ve lied to me all along about the situation.” Dead-on honest, with a laser sight on the man in charge.

Such is life in Arizona, where Lute Olson continues to give the Bobby Bowden treatment to the program he brought to national prominence. Emmanuel Negedu, a forward from Nigeria and Top-40 recruit, asked out of his LOI to Arizona, citing the … well, the batshit-craziness of the program right now, even after receiving a person visit from Olson begging him to stay.

U of A’s AD will decide today whether or not to release Negedu from his commitment – which he should, unless he actually wants publicity for the family-friendly thriller he’s ghost writing, about the white man who forces a man in Africa to Arizona against his will for physical labor.

While his new assistants are singing out of the Good Graces songbook in an attempt to restore trust in the program, one has to wonder if U of A will have the same patience as Florida State with a coach who is past his sell-by date.

FOUR STORIES WORTH ONE LINE APIECE

The Untouchables, Now With Pocket Protectors – In what has to be the first time he’s ever supported bureaucracy, Mark Cuban proposes that the IRS should clean up amateur basketball, comparing player agents to Al Capone. (HT: Henry.)

Kinda Like the BCS, Only 5% As Stupid – Only five non-BCS conference schools (Memphis, Creighton, New Mexico, BYU and Dayton) crack the list of the Top 30 basketball programs by attendance this season, causing a protest from coaches who claim bigger programs use ineligible fans.

C-USA: Preferring Quantity Over Quality Since 2004 – Not content with cashing checks from big programs looking for a tomato can, ECU’s AD suggests that C-USA should expand from 1 great team and 11 shitty teams to 1 great team and as many as 17 shitty teams.

We’re Sure This Plays Well to the Readership – A Kansas City Star opinionista argues that KU should be stripped of the national title if current allegations against Darrell Arthur are true. In what we’re sure was an unrelated story, thrifty KU students and fans have begun using the Star as toilet paper.