Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

DJ White will return to Indiana for his senior year. The 6-9 power forward averaged 13.7 points and seven rebounds per game.

Indiana went 21-11 and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers dropped a 54-49 decision to eventual Final Four visitors UCLA

Throw in returning contributors AJ Ratliff and Armon Barrett and the No. 6 recruiting class on Scout, and Indiana might be the best team in the Big 10 behind Ohio State (with or without Greg Oden). But Michigan State and Purdue are just ahead of Indiana in the recruiting rankings on Scout. Let's break down the top four teams in next year's Big 10.

The top shooting guard on Scout and No. 2 overall recruit on Rivals, Eric Gordon, a 6-4 stud, will probably get the nod at two. I'll bet on this starting lineup for Kelvin Sampson:

PG Bassett - Soph.
G Gordon - Frosh.
G Ratliff - Senior
F White - Senior
F 6-8 Lance Stemler - Senior

Then consider 6-9 center Eli Holman, a five-star recruit who defends and rebounds well with a lanky frame, will get considerable minutes off the bench. That's a core of six solid players.

Add solid 6-6 forward Mike White and three other highly touted recruits -- 6-4 Jordan Crawford (four stars), 6-5 Jamarcus Ellis (four stars) and 6-7 Brandon McGee (four stars) -- and the Hoosiers aren't just good, they're stacked.

Ohio State returns talent, too
The Buckeyes will reload and retain some talent, with or without Oden. Let's look at this as if Oden leaves, which I think we will eventually do.

Mike Conley, Jr. looked fantastic as the season progressed. He might be the best point guard in the nation with Ty Lawson. Look for him to take over this team.

PG Conley Jr. - soph.
SG Jamar Butler - senior. Averaged 8.3 points per game.
SF Daequan Cook - soph. Will shoot the lights out.
PF Othello Hunter - senior
C Kosta Koufos - frosh

Koufos is seven feet, a five-star recruit and loves to step out. If coach Thad Matta can get him to keep improving his post game, Koufos will be a stud.

Returning wing David Lighty will contribute and develop. Then 6-8 Matt Terwilliger played a lot this year and should play a bigger role in the post.

Four recruits join Koufos in another highly-regarded recruiting class: 6-6 forward Eric Wallace, 6-6 forward Evan Turner, 6-8 center Dallas Lauderdale and 6-4 shooter Jon Diebler. Ohio State might not have the Ron Lewis-Greg Oden combo, but it will have a slew of fantastic wing players.

Purdue stays hot
Sure, Carl Landry and David Teague graduated, but the next six players of the team's top eight scorers from last year are returning. And Purdue has the fourth-best Scout recruiting class.

E'Twuan Moore, a 6-3 shooting guard and five-star recruit, will play right away. That is, if he can defend. Matt Painter will want to keep playing his style of hoops -- physical and defensive.

The Boilermakers will be able to defend as well as they did this year, but now they'll be able to score. At least I think. This is, after all, the Big 10.

Spartans back on the map
After a few years of disappointing seasons, campaigns that fell well short of the preseason expectations of Tom Izzo's teams, Michigan State will be a tough out this year.

Michigan State -- get this -- doesn't graduate a single player from it's roster. The Spartans made the second round of the tournament and pushed UNC for 30 minutes.

Now MSU has Drew Neitzel leading his team for one more season, with everything from draft status to legacy to play for. And Izzo recruited the fifth-best 2007 class on Scout.

Shooting guard Durrell Summers, a 6-4 combination player who shoots the light out or slashes whenever he wants, will get minutes right away. In fact, he might be a better scorer than Neitzel.

Throw in two four-stars, and MSU has plenty of guys to carry this team deep.

More on other conferences later.

Make it rain

The Penguins lost a tough one today. Colby Armstrong earned points by knocking Patrick Eaves into oblivion.

The hit went something like this:

-Eaves collects puck and starts his wraparound
-Eaves puts head down
-Armstrong sails toward Eaves
-Armstrong's shoulder catches Eaves' head
-Eaves head spins like the girl in the Exorist
-Eaves lies on the ice, stretcher carries him off

Not that I condone hits like that, even though this one was legal, but it was a doozy. And certainly worth discussing. But let's be honest, I just led an entry with something about hockey. Must. Scramble. For. New. Topic. Getting. Weak.

-- So the Mavs and Spurs squared off earlier today in a fantastic game. It went down to the wire and featured several runs. The game contained playoff intensity. And, like the color guy said during the broadcast, every coach in the NBA should've had his team watch the game. It was that good. Needless to say the Mavs won, 91-86.

-- Greg Oden's dad said Greg is headed to the draft. His agent, father of Mike Conley, Jr., and yes, that makes him Mike Conley, Sr., said otherwise.

My thoughts? Well, my heart wants Oden to stay -- he was amazing for college hoops and, with Durant, generated the most buzz about a college basketball season that I've ever seen. Sorry, Miles Simon and Mike Bibby.

But my head tells me Oden is going. I mean, why stay? He proved he could compete at the highest level -- 26 points and 12 boards in the title game -- and should be fully healthy in time for training camp. Sure, he lost that title game and the competitor in him might want to stick around and get another shot at it. But when the No. 1 pick is waving in your face, and contracts read seven figures, would you, a 19-year-old manchild, want to stay?

I guess I haven't seen enough Ohio State girls to really decide yet.

-- With Gilbert Arenas out, I don't know if I feel like watching anyone in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Give me Steve Nash and the Suns and Nowitzki and the Mavs, a beer and that'll be good. Thanks.

-- Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert declared for the NBA Draft last week. But no, they didn't sign an agent. So Pitt fans, don't get too excited. If Green and Hibbert bolt for bucks, then Georgetown slides down the rankings in the Big East considerably. But you didn't need me to tell you that, Roc, did you?

-- Barry Bonds hit two home runs Friday night at PNC Park here in the 'Burgh. And, shockingly, the Pirates fall from opening-series grace coincided with Bonds' eruption of power. The Buccos are 0-4 at home.

-- Everything, and I mean everything, was rained out today. But Friday and Saturday, the Red Sox demolished early-season favorites, the LA Angels, in a pair of donnybrooks at Fenway Park. Call me crazy, but if Schilling keeps pitching well (at least like he did against Texas and LA, and not KC) and Wakefield gets some run support, the Sox are going to win the division.

Beckett and Dice-K will be the studs. Julian Tavarez will hold down the fort until stud-to-be Jon Lester comes back. And this rotation, with Timlin appearing healthy enough to return to the bullpen, Brendan Donnelly pitching well and Jon Papelbon closing, will not lose very often.

-- The Yankees' starters are troubled with injuries. My roommate Kyle, an avid Yanks fan (and one of my best friends, go figure), is a little worried. He shouldn't be. The Yankees always find a way. This year will be no different.

-- DeAndre Gordon kept his commitment with Texas A&M, even with Billy Gillispie out as head coach. New head coach Mark Turgeon, who did a fantastic job at Wichita State, kept the 7-footer on board. Rivals rates Gordon eighth. Scout has him 16th. With some studs returning to Turgeon's team, A&M will be tough to beat again in the Big 12.

-- Charlotte Bobby Lutz decided to stay on as coach after South Alabama tried to hire him. Lutz has done a good job at Charlotte and deserves consideration for a lot of jobs. But not at South Alabama.

-- Gregg Marshall is in at Wichita State after helping Winthrop to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Is the MVC considered a step up? Definitely. Will Marshall be successful at WSU? Maybe not a huge success right away. But he will have the talent and the recruiting ability to make the Shockers competitive year in and year out.

-- The NCAA will address text messaging at its next meeting, where it will also comb over the Division I manual. Maybe it should look at the rules on letters of intent. Centralize that, so players like Michael Beasley can go elsewhere if the coaches who recruited them leave for other jobs. Make it fair.

Oh, and one final thought, Pitt football looked awful at its Blue-Gold game on Saturday. I'm gonna call it 3-9. You heard it here first.

You turn me right 'round, baby, right 'round

The hoops carousel is spinning faster than Bob Huggins' wheels as he peels out in front of his Manhattan, Kansas home. And I have to be honest, some of the decisions won't reap benefits right away.

The biggest job opening in the off-season, obviously, was at Kentucky. I've often said that Kentucky, right there with UCLA and Indiana, is one of the top three jobs at this level. These schools have the history, the mystique and the shine that the Alabama A&M job lacks. First, let's rank the top 10 jobs in college hoops. They get to that level because regardless of the coach, the program will be good. You'll notice most of them are basketball-first schools, too. Coincidence?

1. UCLA
2. Kentucky
3. Indiana
4. North Carolina
5. Kansas
6. Duke
7. Georgetown
8. Ohio State
9. Michigan State
10. Cincinnati
10a. Louisville
10b. Michigan
10c. Connecticut
10d. Syracuse

So, naming No. 10 turned out to be harder than I thought. And Nos. 7-9 are debatable, too.

Nonetheless, let's shake down the teams that hired newbies and how they'll fit in at their new schools.

Kentucky hired Texas A&M boy wonder, Billy Gillispie, took bring the Wildcats into a new era -- the post-Tubby Smith, first-round-and-done era. Granted, Smith won the title in his first year. And he won five SEC titles and five SEC Tournament championships. And he went to six Sweet 16s and four Elite Eights. So...why were fans so furious with him again?

Because he didn't add to his ring collection. And for that reason alone, Smith escaped the pressure of the job for the sweet air of the Greater Midwest. Now he will coach in a much friendlier atmosphere and work hard to bring a program back fromt he dead at Minnesota.

Gillispie's style is similar to Smith's. But Gillispie might be a better developer of talent. Smith got great recruits. Any coach at Kentucky can get great recruits. But Gillispie's style might help players, McDonald's All-Americans no less, improve their games to a higher level. While I think it'll be hard for Gillispie to win a title his first year, he certainly has the players in place to play his style of ball -- a grind it out, defensive game -- and be successful.

Michigan got the best coach in college basketball -- yeah, I said it -- in John Beilein. Beilein left his extremely comfortable job in West Virginia, where he turned dirt into diamonds three years in a row, for the ho-hum neighborhoods of Ann Arbor, Michigan. (I guess Morgantown, West Virginia is ho-hum, too).

But will Beilein's style of play be instituted with the athletic group of guys he's going to inherit? I just don't see the Wolverines winning a bunch the first season. You don't just learn the 1-3-1 and execute right away. And the two most prolific 3-point shooters on last year's Michigan team are leaving. So Beilein, whose teams never had a boat load of talent, will have his work cut out for him. But still, Beilein will get them to be competitive. Give him one year, and in the 2008-2009 season, Michigan will be among the top dogs in the Big 10.

West Virginia hired its prodigal son Bob Huggins. Huggins will take over a team filled with Beilein's unathletic, rag-tag misfits. Beilein got the most of them. Can Huggins? His style, a man-to-man defense with brutal toughness and physical emphasis, might not fit these guys. But, like Beilein, he is a very good coach. He will develop them and bring in his style players with his first recruiting class.

It's time to start shaking, Pitt fans.

Michael Beasley got screwed. The No. 1 power forward on Scout.com and No. 1 overall player on Rivals.com is headed to Kansas State.

He signed with Huggins. Huggins left. Beasley wants out of his committal. Kansas State doesn't allow players to pull out. Trouble ensues. He told reporters last week that he liked Memphis, Florida State and NC State. I mean, that's weird, but I guess when you are strange enough to pick Manhattan, Kansas -- Huggins or no Huggins -- as your college of choice, FSU and NC State wouldn't look so bad after all.

I'm out. E-mail me at jag59@pitt.edu and we'll chat hoops.