It's a sad time, really.

I'm seeing my interest and enjoyment of college sports slowly slip away as the organizations governing them seem intent on screwing things up. First, it was the one-and-done rule implemented several years ago by the NBA, that said an athlete must be one year past high school graduation before entering the NBA Draft. What is the point of such a rule, except to severely screw up college basketball? College basketball has become simply a one-year showcase for the elite players, who don't play so much as 40 games in their college careers before shipping off to the pros. This disrupts the team aspect of the game and doesn't allow for consistency. Some coaches choose to play the game within the parameters (John Calipari), just recruiting the best players for their teams from year to year, and then going out and doing it again every spring. This is not against the rules, but it seems to be against the spirit. Again, I am not positing that Calipari is cheating, and he is working within the current structure, but, really, is it college basketball? Really? Or is it semi-pro traveling team basketball?

That's not to say that my team, North Carolina, hasn't benefited from the one-year rule. Almost certainly Brandan Wright and Marvin Williams (who both left after one season) would not have come to Chapel Hill. But I think the one year has put kids in school who otherwise wouldn't have come and thus taken away opportunities from other players. Maybe Carolina would have recruited  a second-tier player who'd have come for three or four years in Wright or Williams' spot. Maybe that player went to a second-tier school. Maybe that second-tier school would have reached down and given an opportunity to a third-tier player. And so it continues. Somewhere, some deserving kid is not playing basketball on scholarship because of these ringers.

I think college baseball has it right: either go straight to the draft, or come to school for three years. Don't come in for a season and then force me to recruit to replace you. Give me some sense of consistency. That's what college basketball needs. So waive the age limit, but make players who enroll in school stay for three years. If you get redshirted and impress enough in two seasons to make the jump, Godspeed.

Conference expansion is also going to kill college sports. Right now, there is talk that the ACC, SEC and Big Ten could eventually each have 16 teams. This is ludicrous. We don't need that. Remember back in the day when everybody played everybody in football, and everybody played everybody twice in basketball? Those were the days. This allowed rivalries to develop within conferences and stoked the fire between fan bases. As it is now, in the ACC, teams are guaranteed two home-and-home matchups every year with primary rivals, and then it's a toss-up. You'll get to play five teams twice and six teams once, on a rotating basis. That's just three more home-and-homes in addition to the primary rivals. It's not ideal, but it's what we have. Make that 16 teams, and then what? Do you play one team twice and 15 teams once? I doubt it. Probably there's a system where you play everybody in your half of the division, and then rotate around with teams in the other one. Silly. The Big East makes it work for them, somehow. I still don't like it.

The only reason for expansion in the first place was the dumb NCAA-mandated minimum 12 teams in a conference before you can stage a championship game. Well I say the NCAA can go jump in a lake. Seriously. They don't govern the BCS, so who cares what they have to say about Division I college football anyway? The NCAA's biggest cash cow could be college football, but they hand it over to an incompetent commission that is intent on preserving an antiquated bowl system, thinking somehow that the bowls will lose money if a playoff is in place. I recognize the irony of my own pining for the old days when I advocate for a playoff. But right now, the bowls are an exhibition game, and people go to them. Setting seven aside for an eight-team playoff wouldn't change the attendance at the other, inconsequential bowls.

So the NCAA doesn't concern itself with stepping in and forcing a football playoff in Division I, so why give them the power to say you have to have 12 teams to have a conference championship game? Just have it. Screw the NCAA. What are they going to do, keep you out of the BCS?

And we know now that the NCAA Tournament will expand to 68 teams, although there's no evidence that that's where it's going to stop. Eventually, the tournament will be a 96-team affair, with all regular season and tournament champions getting a pass into the dance. This is ludicrous. College basketball is wonderful because everyone has hope. But not everyone should get an NCAA Tournament bid just because coaches are complaining. Right now, it means something to get a bid. If 96 teams are in, that means each conference could have up to two teams. There are 31 conferences. It's likely that in some cases, the regular season champion will then win the conference tournament. But what if they tank the conference tournament (like some coaches do) because they're already in. So there are 62 automatic bids. That leaves just 24 at-large bids, or 10 fewer than there are now. Who gets those? The Top 25? Then coaches will complain more, because they finished runner-up in their conference and then got upset on the last day of the conference tourney. Then we'll expand again. Oh geez.

Right now the regular season means something, because it's supposed to be hard to get to the NCAA Tournament. I hear people saying that, well, more than half of the Division I-A football teams get to play in the postseason, so why do only 1/5 of the basketball teams get to play in the postseason? Well, as we discussed before, all but one of those bowl games are inconsequential. Every team in the NCAA Tournament has a chance to win the championship. Not so in the bowl games. So, coaches, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HARD TO GET INTO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT. THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE INCENTIVE-LADEN CONTRACTS.

Eventually, everything I just wrote about is going to happen. The NBA will never be able to enact a draft policy like Major League Baseball, conferences are going to expand to at least 16, and the NCAA Tournament will keep growing. In the meantime, let's just appreciate what we have now. Because these are the good old days we'll be reminiscing about in the coming years.

Rising freshmen Dexter Strickland, John Henson, Leslie McDonald, David Wear and Travis Wear have chosen their jersey numbers. It's an exciting time for Carolina basketball, coming off a national championship and moving forward with a new crop of talented recruits. 2006 redux? We'll see.

Just look:

One by one, Amaker called five players into his office before
classes began in early September and told them they no longer had spots
on the team. The five players included all three sophomores on the
team, each of whom started games last season.

Amaker said they
were welcome to play on the junior-varsity team, but did not have
varsity roster spots and could not participate in the preseason
workouts and conditioning work, the players said. The move cleared room
for Harvard’s heralded seven-man freshman recruiting class.

Class, Tommy. Class.

Because the players were not told by Amaker of his decision until they
were registered for classes in September, they could not transfer to
another university.

Harvard doesn't give athletic scholarships, but these kids are stuck playing JV or intramurals because their coach didn't tell them soon enough for them to transfer. Awesome.

UNC Sports Information issued a press release this afternoon stating that junior Danny Green is will "test the waters" and enter the NBA Draft without an agent.

Is his situation different from Ellington and Lawson? A little bit. He's a junior, and can only test said waters and pull out of the draft once.

Well, no it's not, but I thought I'd get your attention.

Disclaimer: This post is being written by a Carolina fan, someone who places team wins and championships above all else (save player safety).

Now that that is out of the way, let me continue. First, the good news: Tyler Hansbrough is returning for his senior season of Carolina basketball. Fantastic. Tyler has been a pleasure to watch for three seasons, and we'll get to see him for one more. He's been "A joy to have in class," as it used to read on other kids' report cards. Tyler is one that we will tell future generations about. He's good.

Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson have decided to go through the NBA Draft process without an agent.

I hate the phrase 'test the waters.' It's cliche, like 'golf-ball-sized hail.'

This is what I think the process must be like for Carolina players thinking of leaving school early to play professionally:

Coach advises me to stay + I want to stay = Stay in school (Hansbrough)

Coach advises me to stay + I want to go = Declare without agent (Lawson, Ellington)

Coach advises me to go + I want to go = Declare with agent (Brandan Wright)

Coach advises me to go + I want to stay = Declare (Michael Jordan, James Worthy)

I can't envision a scenario in which Roy Williams advised these two players (particularly Ellington) that they would set themselves up best by leaving after the 2007-08 season. I have not seen a mock draft that projected Ellington as anything about the second round. Every day, as we waited for Hansbrough, Ellington and Lawson to make their decisions, it seemed another player declared for the draft that could be picked before them.

Take a look at some of the guards that have declared for the NBA draft, and probably would go ahead of Lawson and Ellington: Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, D.J. Augustin*, Jerryd Bayless, O.J. Mayo, Mario Chalmers*, Brandon Rush, Chris Douglas-Roberts.

* - has not hired agent

That's just at the guard position. Other players like Michael Beasley, Kevin Love, Brook and Robin Lopez and Chase Budinger could go ahead of the two Heels. So what are they listening to? Do they love playing basketball at Carolina but wish to do without everything that goes along with it? I'm curious, because another season (with a sweeter ending) could do wonders to their 2009 draft stock.

I still think a team without Lawson and Ellington could be in the mix for a Final Four run, but they certainly make the team the prohibitive favorite in 2009.

We just got our asses kicked.

Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino bumps into Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz. "Why the long face, Jeff?"

"Oh, we just lost to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, and our season is over."

"That's too, bad."

"You don't look so happy yourself, Rick."

"Yeah, well, we just lost to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, and now our season is over."

"Sorry to hear that, Coach."

"You too."

The ink hasn't yet dried on the Tar Heels' victory over Louisville, but the men's basketball team is headed to the Final Four in San Antonio next weekend. And the Tar Heel women's basketball, thanks to LaToya Pringle, came back from an 18-point deficit to get past Louisville and into the Elite Eight.

"The big fella" has a very nice jumper. I love the fact that Tyler Hansbrough can hit from 18 feet now. Twenty-eight and 13 for the national player of the year, when the Tar Heels needed him. Didn't get a lot of scoring help in the second half from the backcourt (save a big three from Lawson), so Hansbrough took the game into his own hands, and the Tar Heels move on to face the Davidson/Kansas winner. Funny that all of us that cheered for Davidson in Raleigh could see them on Saturday night. Funny thing: I just saw Jonas Sahratian blow kisses to the crowd from the podium and saying, "We love you!"

LaToya Pringle, the quiet one, the one that's always there, but you don't realize it until she's got 27 and 11, willed the Tar Heels into the Elite Eight past Angel McCoughtry (35 and 13) and Louisville. I thought the ride was over for Coach Hatchell's crew, but the Tar Heels regrouped, made a run, and held off a furious rally. They'll play LSU Monday in New Orleans for a Final Four berth. The #1 seed plays the #2 seed 65 miles from LSU's home floor. Right . . .

68-47. Good, quality win over a good, quality team. Tyler got off to a slow start but Danny Green provided the offensive spark he'd been missing in the first two games. Also . . . Alex Stepheson did a yeoman's job defensively and had two highlight-reel blocks in two straight possessions. . . Ty's ankle continues to look better - he's getting back that blow-by speed we'd missed. . . Deon had a solid contribution . . . Wayne did a nice job on both ends of the floor, and I love his confidence in his jumper.

Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews, the four-letter network has 96 hours of programming daily. Let's say they have 16 minutes of commercials per hour (I don't know, I'm just estimating). That's about 26 hours. So now we're down to about 70 hours of programming. So let's take those 70 hours and parcel it out thusly for this time of year:

40 percent NCAA Tournament
30 percent Baseball opening day
20 percent NBA
10 percent other stories (football off-season, hockey, etc.)

40 percent of 70 hours is 28 hours of NCAA tournament talk per day. There are now 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament. If all teams are talked about equally (they aren't - when's the last time you heard the talking heads prat on about Western Kentucky), then each team is talked about for an hour and 45 minutes. That's a lot of talk time. If you include Washington State's talk time because that's the matchup, it's 3 and a half hours. If your team is going to be talked about for 105 minutes every day on one of these networks, crap like this is going to happen.

The Tar Heels ran up the score? Really? I don't have the stats on this, but I'd wager that Carolina is the only school still standing that can say every single dressed player has scored in the first two games of the tournament. And it's incumbent upon Arkansas to play defense. Show some pride. To his credit, I don't remember John Pelphrey complaining. It's just people trying to fill their 105 minutes.

If Skip Bayless is talking to himself, is he still wrong?