Willie Cauley-Stein and Kentucky will battle Russ Smith and Louisville in a meeting of the last two national champions on Dec. 28. (Icon SMI)

The offer came to me via email a few weeks ago after it was announced that the highly acclaimed musical The Book of Mormon was having a return engagement in Denver. A select few tickets were available through a local theater group. My wife enjoys theater, and that show is supposed to be incredibly funny, so I was game for a nice surprise for my better half. The date: Nov. 12. Gulp.

Perhaps it’s because there appears to be a wonderfully large number of legitimate Final Four contenders for the 2013-14 season, but as schedules continue to come public, it feels like there are a ton of really compelling nonconference showdowns between elite teams. And one of the two dates that’s absolutely a must-watch evening is Nov. 12.

That’s the night of the Champions Classic in Chicago, when Kansas (with Andrew Wiggins) will face Duke (with Jabari Parker) and Kentucky (with everyone else in the freshman class) will square off with loaded, experienced Michigan State. That day also includes Florida at Wisconsin, assumedly along with the rest of the annual ESPN 24-hour marathon. Needless to say, that’s not the evening you want to have theater tickets.

The other date to immediately circle on your calendar is Saturday, Dec. 14, when we already have Arizona at Michigan, Kentucky at North Carolina, and New Mexico “at” Kansas (in Kansas City) on the slate.

Overall, there is an impressive, growing list of big-boy battles and elite teams playing actual road games in dangerous spots. The list will keep growing, but here’s a quick sampling from what we already know:

• Duke-Kansas (Nov. 12 in Chicago)
• Kentucky-Michigan State (Nov. 12 in Chicago)
• Florida at Wisconsin (Nov. 12)
• Arizona at San Diego State (Nov. 14)
• Louisville-North Carolina (Very likely in Hall of Fame Tipoff, Nov. 24, Mohegan Sun)
• Arizona vs. Duke (Very likely as NIT Season Tip-off final, Nov. 29)
• Michigan at Duke (Dec. 3)
• North Carolina at Michigan State (Dec. 4)
• Kansas at Colorado (Dec. 7)
• Kansas at Florida (Dec. 10)
• Arizona at Michigan (Dec. 14)
• Kansas vs. New Mexico (Dec. 14)
• Kentucky at North Carolina (Dec. 14)
• Memphis vs. Florida (Dec. 17 Jimmy V Classic)
• Louisville at Kentucky (Dec. 28)

So anyway, I bought the tickets, and if I can’t work an exchange, time zone differences will likely mean only one game on the ol’ DVR in exchange for a dose of marital bliss. Whatever ends up happening that night, I’m going to see quite a show. Do we really have to wait six more months to get this started? It just looks sooooo good.

Russ Smith’s return coupled with a loaded backcourt should make Louisville a top contender. (Greg Nelson/SI)

Andrew Wiggins’ decision to play for Kansas not only sent Lawrence into celebrations while three other campuses grumbled, it also was the last major piece of the puzzle in terms of looking ahead to 2013-14. That means it’s also time for the linesmakers to adjust and republish their futures odds for next season’s national champion.

Kansas’ odds obviously dropped considerably after the announcement, with the Jayhawks now listed anywhere between 10-1 and 15-1 to win it all. I was more intrigued by a handful of other cases, though. For entertainment purposes only, of course, here are a few notable possibilities (based on odds provided by VegasInsider.com)

Louisville (12-1)
You get that price on the defending national champs, after they got Russ Smith back to go with an absurdly loaded backcourt? Gorgui Dieng is a loss inside, but his absence will just provide more minutes for Montrezl Harrell. Plus, the Cardinals will be spending this upcoming season in the decidedly less intense American Athletic Conference, which they should win easily. UConn, Cincy and Memphis are decent teams, but they shouldn’t touch the Cardinals over a full league slate. That means the Cards should be well positioned for a 1-seed, and if that’s the case, they should have a better chance than eight percent or so to win the title, even with this season looking particularly deep with championship options.

Michigan (30-1)
Losing Trey Burke is a huge blow, but the Wolverines, after getting Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson III back for another season, have plenty of firepower left. And they still have John Beilein on the sidelines. And Spike Albrecht needs to impress Kate Upton. The Wolverines should be one of the prime competitors in the Big Ten this season, so that price seems reasonable on a team that should have a solid NCAA seed and the experience of this past season’s title-game run.

Syracuse (40-1)
C.J. Fair returned for his senior season, the Orange have a five-star point guard prospect coming in to replace Michael Carter-Williams, and they still have the length and probably more quality depth with the incomers as last season’s Final Four team. If guys like Trevor Cooney can rise to former expectations and provide some semblance of shooting, this team should do well in its debut ACC season and be well positioned for a March run.

Wisconsin (50-1)
To be clear, I don’t think Wisconsin will win the national title. So why put them here as a possible choice? Because they are getting Sam Dekker back to help run the show, they have a lot of returning talent from a team that overachieved last season, they have a favorable Big Ten schedule where they avoid road games at Michigan State and Ohio State, and there is a subregional in Milwaukee (hosted by Marquette) where the Badgers can play their first two games. If they get to the Sweet 16, you can start to hedge against them, as needed.

Gonzaga (70-1)
Similar hedging principles apply here as with Wisconsin. The Zags lost Elias Harris and Kelly Olynyk and didn’t land either Josh Davis or Mike Moser as a transfer, so their frontcourt — a massive strength last season — won’t be as imposing. That said, a Sam Dower-Przemek Karnowski combo has the potential to be very solid, and the backcourt with David Stockton, Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. returns intact. The Zags should win the WCC again ahead of BYU, and there is a Spokane regional (hosted by Washington State) where Gonzaga has every chance to wind up for the first weekend, given how the current committee appears to feel about keeping teams close to home.

Wichita State (70-1)
You can take a roll with the team that nearly took out Louisville in the Final Four and returns multiple starters and a lot of good depth. Fred Van Vleet should be able to slot in for Malcolm Armstead at the point, and guys like Evan Wessel (back from injury) and Tekele Cotton will help fill the scoring void left by Carl Hall. They still have Cleanthony Early and Ron Baker, and the league doesn’t have Creighton in it anymore, so the Shockers should be the preseason favorite in the Valley.

Oregon (125-1)
Losing Arsalan Kazemi and E.J. Singler (among others) hurts, but the Ducks have a super-athletic core of point guards Dominic Artis and Jonathan Loyd, wing Damyean Dotson and UNLV transfer forward Mike Moser to roll with. They also bring in athletic freshman Jordan Bell, who actually broke a rim in a game this past season. Seriously.

Dana Altman surprised many in the Pac-12 last season and then got the Ducks into the Sweet 16 from an undeserved 12-seed. Arizona is the likely preseason pick in the league, but after that, is anyone in better shape than the Ducks?

With the addition of Josh Davis. SDSU should be a force in the Mountain West. (William Purnell/Icon SMI)

After picking up Arizona transfer forward Angelo Chol for the future, San Diego State helped its present in a big way on Wednesday, with CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman reporting that the Aztecs have landed Tulane transfer forward Josh Davis.

Davis, who averaged 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds a game last season for the Green Wave, took advantage of the graduate transfer rule and will be eligible immediately for Steve Fisher’s club. The Aztecs beat out Gonzaga and others for the right to add a quality, experienced scorer/rebounder.

Of course, Davis can also do stuff like this, which should make The Show happy, too:

The Aztecs already were going to be a more heavily frontcourt-oriented team this season after losing perimeter-oriented standouts like Jamaal Franklin, Chase Tapley and James Rahon, but the immediate addition of Davis should allow less experienced talents like Skylar Spencer to develop without the consummate pressure of learning how to carry a much bigger scoring load in one summer. San Diego State is always a good watch, and now with Davis, they should be quite competitive again in a Mountain West that continues to be very solid.

On the flip side, this is a pretty big blow for Gonzaga, who missed on both Davis and UNLV transfer Mike Moser (who landed at Oregon). After losing both Elias Harris and Kelly Olynyk from last season’s breakthrough team, the Zags really could have used an experienced rebounder at the 4 to help complement returning bigs Przemek Karnowski and Sam Dower. After a season in which its dominant frontcourt elevated it to legitimate national contender status (thanks, insane Wichita State shooting, for crushing that narrative), the Zags likely will revert to more of a “traditional” non-blueblood posture, with guard play from Kevin Pangos, David Stockton and Gary Bell being a more crucial lead component of its success.

Senior point guard Trae Golden’s transfer isn’t the only issue facing Tennessee athletics. (Wade Payne/AP)

A week after Tennessee abruptly announced that rising senior point guard Trae Golden was transferring from the school, with reports of academic impropriety possibly at the root of it, the school may have a related and seemingly bigger issue on its hands.

The Knoxville News-Sentinel reported on Monday that the university fired Director of Student Judicial Affairs Jenny Wright for not cooperating with an investigation into whether she conducted inappropriate relationships with student-athletes. The paper wrote that Wright attempted to resign from her position last Thursday, but the school did not accept the resignation because of the ongoing investigation. The university offered for Wright to come in yesterday morning to discuss her status, and when she declined, she was fired. According to a local TV report, Wright was terminated for unsatisfactory work-related behavior, per an email from the school’s Provost on Monday.

As for whom was involved in Wright’s alleged indiscretions, there are multiple reports that one of the athletes was Golden. Local radio host Jimmy Hyams is one of those who has publicly named Golden.

Wright was being investigation into whether she had inappropriate relations with student-athletes. One of those athletes: Trae Golden.

— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) May 13, 2013

While Golden’s father gave a generic denial of the plagiarism allegations, it make sense that if that’s what Golden was accused of, he and Wright would have been in contact. Tennessee’s Office of Judicial Affairs, which Wright oversaw, would handle allegations of academic impropriety and its website has a specific link discussing plagiarism.

Where this goes from here is anyone’s guess, with Hyams also tweeting that a second athlete has been found to be involved with Wright. The biggest concern here for the Volunteers is that Wright was conducting or helping mask academic impropriety for basketball players. A sordid sex scandal is newsworthy enough, but if academic cheating is involved as an undercurrent, this may have much grander implications for the program and the university.

Bill Self just landed the top prep prospect in the country, now he needs to make all the pieces fit. [David J. Phillip/AP]

The Andrew Wiggins Decision Drama ended Tuesday, when the mega-prospect selected Kansas over Kentucky, North Carolina and his parents’ alma mater, Florida State. But now that Wiggins has decided to spend his one pre-NBA season in Lawrence, it creates a number of other questions that will have a significant impact on the 2013-14 college basketball season.

1. What does this do for Kansas’ personnel?
The Jayhawks will be replacing all five starters from last season’s Sweet 16 team, so landing a player who is a near-lock to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft in 2014 (or whenever he decides to declare, if he somehow wants to stay more than one season in college) is an enormous boon. But the Jayhawks were bringing back (and in) more talent than a lot of people were acknowledging prior to this announcement. As a result, the addition of Wiggins not only gives the Jayhawks a bona fide star, but also makes all of the quality pieces around him that much more formidable. Complementary players can now focus more on what they do very well without the pressure of having to do more than that.

Sophomore forward Perry Ellis came along well down the stretch of last season. He was an excellent rebounder (by percentage) at both ends of the floor, actually grading out as a better overall glass man than 7-footer Jeff Withey. He also got to the free throw line a ton for a freshman big, and made 74 percent of his attempts from there. He was productive carrying a solid usage rate when he was on the floor, and with Wiggins and others arriving, he doesn’t have to be a primary scorer for this team, which should make him a really good piece in the equation for this season.

The other crucial returnee is junior point guard Naadir Tharpe, a quicksilver pass-first specialist who now should have an array of options to look for, both in half court and in transition. Tharpe’s shooting struggles were well documented last season, but with the firepower elsewhere on the court and the way KU likely will play more this season (see below), Tharpe will probably improve offensively. He’ll have more open 3s and be able to finish more on the break, as needed. Imagine Kendall Marshall’s role at North Carolina as a desirable outcome.

Kansas is also bringing in numerous other elite freshmen, starting with Joel Embiid, a rapidly developing 6-foot-11 big man from Cameroon, a product of the “Basketball Without Borders” project in Africa. He lacks significant high-end game experience, but his raw rebounding and shotblocking ability combined with very nice extended range with his shot make him scream potential. Wing Wayne Selden is another top-20 recruit, a strong-bodied player who should thrive in transition as the rest of his game continues to develop. Add point guard Connor Frankamp and 2-guard Brannen Greene, both of whom also are arguably top-50 national recruits, and this newcomer class is loaded.

Add in sophomore Jamari Traylor and redshirt freshman Landen Lucas, and Bill Self will have a lot of options to sift through as he designs his approach and rotation. And that doesn’t even count Memphis transfer Tarik Black, who is also considering the Jayhawks and would provide additional shotblocking.

2. What will this do to Kansas’ style of play for this season?
There will be a number of questions to answer, but defensive excellence is an annual thing at Kansas. Per KenPom.com, the Jayhawks have ranked in the top 10 in adjusted defensive efficiency in each of the last eight seasons, and have been in the top four in defensive 2-point FG% in seven of those eight years. So while it’s easy to look at Jeff Withey’s departure and assume losing his shotblocking prowess will hurt (and it does), Bill Self has established this as his footprint. With the various pieces at his disposal, this season shouldn’t be any different, at least once the team matures and gels over the course of nonconference play.

The offensive side of the ball has been where the Jayhawks have been more variable, with the last two seasons being relatively less potent (and moderately slower in tempo) than the two before that, where Self had the Morris twins, Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins and other efficient offensive talents to use. Eyeballing both the inexperience and style of players Self will have at his disposal, you’d have to believe this team is going to run more and be very, very potent in transition. In the halfcourt, there likely will be a heavier move into earlier high and off-ball screening to create space for a team that may be better going to the rim than it may be shooting from the perimeter, at least when they’re challenged. This roster also should be better on the offensive glass than the last two seasons, getting closer to where KU historically has been under Self.

3. What does this do to the college landscape now?
Well, Oklahoma State has a problem, and the games between the Jayhawks and Cowboys are now absolute must-see TV. At the very least, with Self’s track record and Wiggins in the fold, Kansas now has to be considered the favorite to keep its league title run going. In the bigger picture, the Jayhawks are now a legit threat to make the Final Four, joining Louisville, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona and others in what is an increasingly competitive and compelling list. If these teams come anywhere close to living up to expectation next season, it’s going to be incredible, and that’s without mentioning any surprise teams of the sort that make college hoops so much fun.

It also makes the Jayhawks’ incredibly loaded nonconference schedule that much more compelling to follow. Kansas plays Duke in Chicago in the Champions Classic, so now we get to see Wiggins and Jabari Parker square off (as well as Kentucky’s wunderkinds against loaded Michigan State — what a doubleheader!) right out of the chute. The Battle 4 Atlantis now has a cornerstone team. Games against New Mexico (in Kansas City), Georgetown and San Diego State, along with trips to Colorado and Florida all grow in overall watchability and competitiveness.

Wiggins would have made North Carolina a strong national title contender and watching a Kentucky Experiment with Wiggins rounding out the greatest recruiting class in history would have been fascinating, but Wiggins going to Kansas creates more intrigue and overall options for next season.

4. Why did Wiggins choose Kansas?
Maybe the reasons will come out now that the decision has been made, but all the schools involved (and everyone else) were really in the dark heading into today. I had tweeted earlier in the week that, given everything we believe we know about Wiggins as a player and a person, that I would have picked Kansas for him.

The Jayhawks have a ton going for them — blueblood program, an elite coach, a track record of good NBA draft placement, a great fanbase, a great national schedule with huge TV exposure — but they offer all of that without the accompanying level of craziness of Kentucky and the possible pressure/potential clash of egos/crazy competitive league of North Carolina. Plus, there’s the talent on tap and his brother, Nick, is relatively close by at Wichita State, and Wiggins’ family focus has been a large part of this process. For a young man who, through his actions and the descriptions of those who know them, doesn’t seem to actively seek out the most attention or biggest spotlight, the decision to come to Lawrence made a ton of sense.

You can argue from a purely financial/connections/global brand standpoint that going to Kentucky and tapping into the Calipari Machine would have made the most sense. But Wiggins’ approach has been more nuanced than that from the outset, and when you’re probably worth $100 million in contract and endorsements the minute you step off the college court, you probably can mix in comfort level as part of the decision process. You can also argue that by picking KU over the other bluebloods, he’s shining the biggest spotlight on himself since Kentucky and North Carolina were perceived as having more equivalent talent, but as addressed above, I think this is the perfect mix of “No. 1 option” and “fits well in a bigger picture with good talent.”

5. Where does Wiggins go from here?
In an immediate sense, the pressure to make this decision is finally gone. The lone media member at the announcement, local reporter Grant Traylor, tweeted afterward that this was the happiest he had seen Wiggins in six months. College is a huge life decision, let alone when you are a basketball prodigy and when your parents and best friend seem to have wanted you to go elsewhere than where you ultimately felt was right for you.

In the same vein, now the pressure of expectations will start to build. In articles like this and elsewhere for the remainder of the spring and summer, we can speculate as to Wiggins’ impact on the college game, Kansas’ status as a contender, how Bill Self will bring all of this together, etc. Then, once official practices start and then the games come, the expectations on “the best prospect since LeBron” will be enormous. Wiggins’ game, which like any prep player’s isn’t fully developed, will be picked apart by media, fans and scouts. He’ll be on national TV a ton. There will be comparisons to other elite freshmen and how they’re playing, and to the teams he snubbed and whether he should have gone there instead. He’ll have to deal with team expectations created by his own presence. There’s going to be a lot on his plate as he navigates his way through a high-level college season and, lest we forget, a college environment for the first time.

From a fan’s standpoint, though? We couldn’t ask for anything more. This freshman class is absolutely loaded and we may be seeing a once-in-a-decade prospect in his formative years. Much like we knew with LeBron and with Durant and with Greg Oden (pre-injuries), we know with Wiggins. We don’t know exactly what we’ll see from him next season, but we do know it’s just the start of what should be a sensational basketball career. He’s that kind of prospect, and it’s that kind of celebratory day for Kansas.

Andrew Wiggins selected Kansas over other contenders like North Carolina, Kentucky and Florida State. (Robin Alam/Icon SMI)

Mega-recruit Andrew Wiggins, arguably the best prep prospect since LeBron James, announced on Tuesday that he will be attending Kansas. Wiggins, the final player in ESPNU’s top-100 rankings to select a school, chose the Jayhawks over Kentucky, North Carolina and his parents’ alma mater, Florida State.

Wiggins’ decision immediately elevates the Jayhawks to serious Final Four contender status, despite losing every starter from last season’s team. Wiggins slots in perfectly at the small forward spot and should be the team’s lead option from the get-go, despite having other talented returnees around him and some really good other freshmen coming in, as well.

Wiggins’ announcement process has been as unique as well, waiting well into the spring signing period to decide and then not making a giant spectacle of the decision, electing to announce it at his prep school in front of family, friends and classmates, with only local media member Grant Traylor invited to observe.

Now that he has made his decision, we pretty much have all the information we need to start fully speculating about the forthcoming season. It’s a celebratory day in Lawrence, and now we can start thinking about all the juicy matchups that will come soon enough.

Canada’s Andrew Wiggins has been heralded by some as the best prep prospect since LeBron James. (Rich Graessle/Icon SMI)

On Sunday, Rob Fulford, the head coach at Huntington (W. Va.) Prep, confirmed that the nation’s No. 1 prospect, Andrew Wiggins, would finally be making his college decision on Tuesday. Now we have just about all the pieces in place to frame the story as Wiggins picks from a reported final list of Florida State, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina.

The who and what of this story — Wiggins, arguably the best prep prospect since LeBron James — have been known for awhile. Ever since last October, when Wiggins reclassified back into the Class of 2013, he has been the top-rated player in what is a loaded incoming class. The where and when of his decision are now in place, with Wiggins announcing tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. ET at his school, with friends, classmates, family and just one local reporter on site to relay the information once Wiggins makes his choice.

So now we’re down to the why, which will be an interesting retro-question once Wiggins makes his pick. Each of the four options has very compelling reasons to be the right fit for Wiggins, but some of the things that make those situations appealing for others may actually not apply here, for this particular prospect in this particular year.

Kentucky
If Wiggins chooses the Wildcats, they would have landed the No. 1 prospect at all five positions in this class. It would easily be the top recruiting class in (ratings) history, and when you mix in returnees like Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, etc., the pure talent on this roster would be unsurpassed in the college game, even with defending national champ Louisville bringing back a ton. The question with the Cats is does Wiggins want to be part of something where he’s not going to be the clear star, with the pressure (40-0 talk?) of playing for Big Blue Nation and an outspoken media star in John Calipari.

Calipari obviously has a track record of getting guys high into the lottery, but that’s not really in play here. It’s hard to believe anything would keep Wiggins from being the top NBA selection next summer, even if someone else outplays him in his one college season. Is Wiggins the type of person who wants to join a superteam, with all the egos and agendas that could come with it? The Cats certainly could make a run at history next season, even with a relatively stiff nonleague slate and a very good Florida team looming in the SEC. It would just be a choice that would be very different than the others he is considering.

Kansas
The Jayhawks have a lot of what Kentucky offers — a blueblood program, an elite coach, a track record of good NBA draft placement, a great fanbase, a great schedule with national TV exposure — but without as much of the supporting talent that would be in place in Lexington. The Jayhawks are, however, returning potential talents like Naadir Tharpe, Perry Ellis and Jamari Traylor and also have well-regarded freshmen like center Joel Embiid and wing Wayne Selden coming in.

Wiggins could slot in as the star on this team, but he’d have more help than many people think. As much as Tharpe struggled with his offense last season, he should settle down more as a junior starter, and his passing ability could come in handy on a young team that will need to score easy baskets. If it matters, Wiggins’ brother, Nick, is at Wichita State, which makes a parental swing a lot easier, too.

North Carolina
What about a hybrid option of the first two. All the blueblood quality you need, with a loaded, experienced roster coming back that just needs a stud small forward to round it out. With James Michael McAdoo back in the fold, the Heels will just need him and/or one or two of their other frontcourt guys to become efficient contributors to be really, really good. They have a point guard, perimeter shooting and the depth to be a leading contender to win the ACC, which will be the nation’s best conference next season.

Does Harrison Barnes’ development come into play here, where a former top-rated prospect really stagnated in his two seasons at Carolina before showing more of his full game down the stretch of his rookie season at Golden State? Would Wiggins pick an ACC rival of his parents’ alma mater and preference, Florida State? When I first sized up his choices, this felt like the best roster fit in terms of slotting into a team that immediately would become a Final Four favorite, but we’ll see.

Florida State
The family choice. Also the college choice of his best friend, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who is signed to come to Tallahassee. It’s also the oddest pick for a talent like Wiggins, mostly because Leonard Hamilton is a) not known for his offensive basketball and b) has never managed a talent anywhere close to Wiggins’ projected level.

Since 2003 (as far back at KenPom.com goes), the Seminoles have finished in the nation’s top 50 in adjusted offensive efficiency just once, in 2007. That was a team led by senior forward Al Thornton, supported by then-redshirt sophomore guard Toney Douglas. Despite his defense-first philosophy, though, it’s misleading to say that Hamilton has never enabled players to carry pretty large offensive burdens.

Guys like Tim Pickett, Von Wafer, Thornton, Douglas, and Chris Singleton all have carried shot percentage and usage rates above 25 percent for Hamilton. A couple of them were much closer to the 30 percent mark generally reserved for superstars (or teams that really lack a second scoring option). So the precedent is there for Wiggins to be able to come into a Hamilton team and get his shots, if that’s what he wants.

Florida State’s supporting cast around him is also better than people will perceive, but it’s certainly not the talent that Kentucky or North Carolina can offer, and probably doesn’t have the upside of Kansas’ offerings, either. Will it be good enough for Wiggins to survive an ACC gauntlet against loaded Duke, UNC and Syracuse teams, plus a number of second-level contenders? The Seminoles, even with Wiggins, would have work to do to contend in the ACC, and there are no guarantees about a deep NCAA tournament run, either. This team would have a lot more experience than Kevin Durant’s Texas team which lost in the Round of 32, but it also doesn’t have a second lottery pick in the lineup, like point guard D.J. Augustin.

In about 24 hours, we’ll have our answer, and then we can really start mentally planning for the 2013-14 season. One fanbase will be in raptures while three others will feel the sting of disappointment. Everyone else? We’ll be anxiously waiting to see what he can do on a college court.

Changes to the block/charge call will have a significant impact on some top teams. (Chris Steppig/Pool/Getty Images)

In a major step toward implementing much-needed changes that should aid offenses, the NCAA men’s basketball rules committee has recommended an adjustment in the way block/charge calls are made, as well as encouraging more consistent application of current rules regarding the limitation of freedom of movement on the floor.

According to a release from the NCAA, the proposed rules changes must be approved by the “playing rules oversight panel” (which next convenes via conference call on June 18) before becoming effective for the 2013-14 season.

The block/charge call is the most difficult in the sport, but there is a prevailing sense that has emerged over the past couple of seasons that the balance of that call had tilted way too heavily toward calling charges. The implementation of a charge circle was supposed to help offenses by not allowing defenders to camp underneath the rim, but it just ended up being a crutch for officials, who were forced to look at multiple things (foot placement and defensive positioning) at once, and ended up calling a lot of charges that should have been blocking fouls simply because the defender was outside the circle.

The change in the rule, which will require a defender to be established in legal defensive position prior to the offensive player beginning to raise the ball to initiate a shot attempt (rather than when he leaves the floor) should help shift that balance, and won’t reward defenses for last-second slide-ins after primary defenders are beaten off the dribble. It will be interesting to see what impact that will have on teams that teach and use help defense in that way.

The other changes, which really are just a re-emphasis of existing rules on the book, will require officials to consistently and, perhaps exhaustively, crack down on handchecking, armbars, and other techniques used both on a primary ballhandler and on cutters moving through the lane. If the officials do call this regularly, we’ll end up with a lot of fouls and free throws early in the season, and then hopefully teams will adjust and we’ll see better, more free-flowing offense later in the campaign. The off-ball contact in the lane is an especially big problem in the college game, and it will again challenge coaches who teach this as part of their defensive approach to find another way to successfully guard.

As a supporter of the now-ineffective charge circle two years ago, it’s clear that what sounds good on paper doesn’t always mean it will work in practice, but these seem like reasonable improvements. It doesn’t mean there won’t be block/charge controversy, as the rule change would just be moving a blurry line, but if the benefit goes to the offense more often, it’s a good thing. Once these changes are observed, then a more educated decision on the length of the shot clock can be reached. These are good starting steps in an evolution of the game that is sorely needed.

The point guard battle is sure to be heated between Aaron Craft and whomever Maryland installs in the position. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)

The artificial construct of a competition aside, I usually enjoy the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, as it’s another device through which we get a handful of choice nonconference games each season. It matters not what bragging rights are assigned a league thanks to its ninth-best team beating its counterpart. I just want the good stuff, and the slate of games released today for the 2013 challenge should provide us plenty of that.

Here is the two-day event in its entirety (sorry, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest — the numbers, and your numbers, didn’t work), with some quick commentary.

Tuesday, Dec. 3
Florida State at Minnesota: There’s a chance Andrew Wiggins is involved. If he’s not, it’s still national exposure for Richard Pitino in his debut season in Minneapolis with what should still be a pretty solid Gophers team. Plus, it’s The Barn. Good enough.

Illinois at Georgia Tech: A winnable statement-type opportunity for a Yellow Jackets team that should be much improved. I can’t sell it all that much better than that, though. Smells like ESPNU.

Indiana at Syracuse: The organizers troll Tom Crean, wanting to see if he can do any better against Syracuse’s zone with less talent but seven months of prep. And hey, it’s a Syracuse home game! [/tiredjokes]

Michigan at Duke: McGary, Robinson, Parker and two definite Final Four contenders in Cameron? OK, twist our arms. And then call a foul on Michigan.

Notre Dame at Iowa: A really sneakily good game between two quality teams. The Hawkeyes should be in the early part of their breakthrough season and the Irish are still plenty pesky.

Penn State at Pittsburgh: Tim Frazier and a good in-state rivalry game? Good enough for me. This is how you dress up a couple of less-sexy options in an event like this.

Wednesday, Dec. 4
Boston College at Purdue: Early-season pressure check for both programs. This is the type of game Steve Donahue needs to start winning as his roster matures in Chestnut Hill.

Maryland at Ohio State: A future Big Ten preview! And what should be a solid game, although the point guard battle could be unfortunately one-sided between Aaron Craft and, well, whomever is there for the Terps.

Miami at Nebraska: A marquee show for #Nebrasketball’s new arena, and a winnable game for the homestanding Huskers against very rebuilding Miami.

North Carolina at Michigan State: Blueblood battle at Breslin. Another game that possibly could include Andrew Wiggins, and will include multiple 2014 lottery picks. Two more Final Four contenders.

Northwestern at North Carolina State: Chris Collins quickly comes back to the Triangle, looking for the kind of nonconference win that can help NCAA tournament resumes.

Wisconsin at Virginia: Slow and low, that is the tempo in this rematch of a pretty decent game from last season. Virginia got the upset on the road then. The Badgers have the talent to reciprocate.