The Bentley men's basketball team is 19-0 and Athletics Director Bob DeFelice is loving life. DeFelice, who has been head coach of the Falcons' baseball program for the past 40 years, has been the Bentley AD since 1991.

During his time at the helm, DeFelice has won 569 baseball games, third in New England Division II history. Since he took over the athletics department, Bentley has won 85 conference championships and the field hockey team won the 2001 national championship.

On this edition of Campus Connection, the former Boston Red Sox minor leaguer discusses the success of the basketball program, his love for coaching and why college baseball should be played with wood bats.

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I think earning a national championship at Nebraska will be more than 4 times as difficult as meeting the NCAA APR, so it appears the priorities favor academics.

City of Brotherly Love. While Philadelphia is traditionally known as the "City of Brotherly Love," today the honor goes to Cincinnati. The Bengals signed former Texas-El Paso quarterback Jordan Palmer, the brother of starting quarterback Carson Palmer. Jordan, who is five years younger than Carson, was drafted in the sixth round of last year's NFL draft by Washington and played in one preseason game before being released.

Quit yappin! Michael Beasley is an excellent basketball player, but he should probably learn not to predict the outcomes of games in the media. This time it didn't come back to bite him, however, as Beasley scored 25 points to lead Kansas State to an 84-75 victory over previously undefeated Kansas. It was the first time the Wildcats beats Kansas at home in 24 years. Prior to the game, Beasley assured everyone that K-State would win: "We're going to beat Kansas at home. We're going to beat them at their house. We're going to beat them in Africa. Wherever we play, we're going to beat them." Who knows what will happen down the road, but one would think the Jayhawks won't forget his words next time the teams take the court.

Release the Wolves. A committee has recommended to Arkansas State Chancellor Robert Potts that "Wolves" should become the university's new nickname.

Settled in Muncie. Ball State has agreed to pay former men's basketball coach Ronny Thompson $200,000 as part of his settlement for racial harassment by the university. The school issued a formal apology last month.

No Candrea. Softball coaching legend Mike Candrea won't be in the dugout in Tucson this season, as he will instead concentrate on getting the 2008 United States national team ready for the Olympics in Beijing. The Wildcats have won two consecutive national championships, and hope to win a third under the watchful eye of veteran assistant Larry Ray, who led the Wildcats to a conference title in 2004 when Candrea was also with the national team.

Phil Scholz starts every swim race at a disadvantage - the walk-on freshman from Loyola (Maryland) can't see.

Scholz has suffered a series of illnesses in his life, including a tear of his left retina when he was 6-years-old. When he was 12, he contracted cataracts in his right eye and was declared legally blind.

But Scholz never wanted to be anything but normal, and for him, sports were normal. He wasn't going to be able to play baseball or football with neighborhood kids, but swimming seemed like a pretty good option.

Scholz picked up swimming when he was in middle school and quickly began to excel in the sport. When it came time for college, Scholz needed to find a place where he could continue to pursue his passion.

In his first college race December 1, Scholz set eight American Paralympic Records. He has set three more records since that meet and was named Division I swimmer of the week for the second week of December.

Scholz can't see the water before he jumps off the blocks, can't see the wall when a turn is approaching and can't see where he stacks up against his fellow competitors during a race. But none of that has ever stopped the kid from Long Island.

Scholz may never win an individual national championship at the Division I level, but he is certainly an integral member of the Loyola program. He won't ever see his coach or teammates, but rest assured, they smile when they see him in the pool every day.

Everyone is free to make any expression, [but there are] consequences. A decision to kick the student-athlete off the team but not out of school would make no sense.

UCLA freshman standout Kevin Love didn't expect to receive many cheers at his father's alma mater when the Bruins played at Oregon last week. But he also didn't expect to be the recipient of brutal and disgusting behavior from Ducks' fans.

Love and his family were subjected to homophobic chants and offensive signs during last week's game at Oregon, where Stan Love starred in the 1970s. To his credit, Love did nothing to react but work hard on the court, leading UCLA to an 80-75 win with 26 points and 18 rebounds.

Oregon Athletics Director Pat Kilkenny left messages with Love, UCLA coach Ben Howland and Athletics Director Dan Guerrero to apologize for the fans' behavior, and Oregon coach Ernie Kent addressed the fans before the next home game with USC.

Fans often like to jeer opposing teams, although it seems like it should be more fun to cheer for your own squad. Just as there is no place for racism in athletics, there should be no place for the type of behavior that transpired last week in Eugene. Universities are places of learning, and hatred and bias have no part in what should be a safe environment.

For what it's worth, Love really does get the last laugh. He's a freshman and he absolutely tattooed Oregon in the frontcourt.

NCAA settles White case. The NCAA agreed to a $10 million settlement in the Jason White antitrust case. The settlement provides supplemental money above the standard athletics scholarship for those student-athletes who have competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision and 16 Division I men's basketball conferences between February 17, 2002 and the present. Click here to read the NCAA's statement.

Politics and Super Bowl. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finished ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in yesterday's Republican Primary in Florida. Giuliani is set to withdraw from the presidential race. Does this political battle reflect what the Patriots will do to the Giants on Sunday?

Bigger stadium trumps education? Rutgers received approval for spending $102 million to add 14,000 seats to its stadium. While $72 million will be raised through increased ticket sales, $30 million is going to come from private donations raised through a campaign led by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. The Rutgers football program has certainly stepped it up a couple of notches in the last three years, but is this not the same university that was the recipient of severe budget cuts that negatively impacted educational opportunities on campus a couple of years back?

One-handed hoopster. How's this for a remarkable story? Southern Utah basketball player Dax Crum is playing hoops with just one hand. Crum, who was born with just one small finger on his right hand and lost his mother to cancer in 2004, is averaging six minutes per game for the Thunderbirds and played a career-high 16 minutes against Missouri-Kansas City two weeks ago. The 23-year-old is also married and working on his MBA. What's his wife do? She's in medical school.

Does Rich Rodriguez deserve this? The Wheeling Nailers, a minor league hockey team in West Virginia, will host "Shred Rich Rodriguez" night on Saturday. Fans who bring in pictures or articles of Rodriguez will have an opportunity to feed them through a paper shredder and receive a discount. Does this promotion take things too far?

Mixed priorities. If the Nebraska football team hits all of its academic milestones next season, new coach Bo Pelini has a chance to earn up to $250,000 in incentive bonuses. If coaches are going to be rewarded for the on-field performance of their teams, they should also be held accountable for academic success. While $250K is a sizable chunk of change, Pelini will earn an additional $800,000 for winning a national championship. Does this mean Nebraska has its priorities stacked inappropriately?

January's about to give way to February, and we all know what that means. March is right around the corner!

There are 47 days until Selection Sunday, 51 days until the Division I men's tournament begins and 67 days until the first national semifinal tips in San Antonio.

But before we begin discussing Tex-Mex while remembering the Alamo, fans can get a sneak peek at where their teams stack up - and we're talking better than Joe Lunardi. Next week, fans from across the country can find out just where their teams might be, and where they might go, if the tournament started a month early.

Last year, the NCAA invited sportswriters from across the country to come to Indianapolis and take part in a mock selections process for the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. There are a lot of misconceptions about how the field is chosen each year, so the writers have an opportunity to work through the data the same way the committee does in March.

What does all this mean? Next Wednesday, sportswriters will once again arrive at the national office to select a bracket. On Thursday, television and radio folks will come in and select a bracket of their own.

For the first time, women's basketball writers will have the same opportunity and will choose their bracket on Thursday and Friday.

Not just an exercise for the writers, this also provides us all with access that we can never get during the private discussions that happen in March. Next week, I will sit in on the mock selections and will live blog as the bracket is decided. We will offer analysis, podcasts, pictures from inside the room (which looks just like the one in March except a little bigger) and other live information for all of the college basketball junkies out there.

We will debate into the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday and Thursday about the brackets, as well as what we can expect in the next month of action. I'm not sure I've ever been more excited - and curious - about an assignment in my life. It's going to be a ton of fun - more to come on this as we get closer to Wednesday. Mark your calendars!

Division I has a cap. Division III should have a cap. And Division II needs more members. As the NAIA slowly crumbles, why not guide those schools to DII?

Facebook dismissal. Wake Forest kicked a 19-year-old running back off the football team for comments he made on his Facebook page. The student-athlete wrote on his page that he would "blow up campus" and have a machine gun "locked and loaded in his bag." Given the tragic events at Virginia Tech last spring, how can comments like these be ignored? In light of our conversation about Rick Majerus and free speech last week, however, I have to ask if comments on a social network should lead to dismissal from an athletics team?

Battle of the Bands. In case you missed it, some of the best marching bands in the country hit the field at the Georgia Dome on Saturday. Ten bands from historically black colleges and universities, left from an original field of 42, plied their trade before a crowd of nearly 60,000. North Carolina Central had one of the 10 bands in Atlanta, but was performing with a number of borrowed instruments, after 14 sousaphones were stolen. There are no winners and losers among the 10 finalists, so no word on if N.C. Central was negatively impacted, but there's no doubt that all the bands rocked out on their special day.

Hurricanes in Glendale. Here's your Super Bowl note of the day - Miami has seven players competing in Sunday's Super Bowl. Arizona, Marshall and Michigan each have five alums playing in the big game.

Atta boy Fritzie! St. Thomas men's basketball coach Steve Fritz won his 500th game last week. Fritz has spent 40 years with the St. Thomas program, including the last 27 as head coach. Check out an interesting interview with Fritz on the school's athletics Web site.

Refusing to lose. Lafayette men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon must promote physical fitness, as his players have had to play a lot of extra minutes this season. O'Hanlon also must address stress management, since his players haven't been fazed by five overtime games on the road this season. The Leopards have won all five road OT games - a new NCAA record. Lafayette also has a sixth overtime win at home, which ties an NCAA record with Wake Forest and Chattanooga. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22844139/

The Big East and ACC may be the most talented men's basketball conferences in the country, but those who argue that the league is the nation's deepest, just haven't taken a hard enough look at the college landscape.

If the last three days are any indication, the University Athletic Association may have the deepest and most balanced conference out there. Although the talent of the Division III programs is not the same as at its Division I counterparts, the competition is just as good - if not better.

On Friday night, top-ranked Rochester lost its first game of the season in overtime at Emory, 81-76. Rochester had just beaten second-ranked Brandeis a few days earlier, 74-68, but the Judges were able to hang on to the No. 2 ranking despite the loss. On Friday, Brandeis lost again, this time to UAA rival Chicago, 79-77. Fourth-ranked Washington-St. Louis beat NYU on Friday, 57-50.

On Sunday, Brandeis and Wash. U. tangled in Waltham and the Bears won on the road, 71-69, to give the Judges three consecutive conferences losses by a total of 10 points. Rochester bounced back to beat Case Western yesterday, 85-74, while Emory will likely receive recognition in the polls after following its upset of Rochester with an 89-85 win over a tough squad from Carnegie Mellon.

Is it possible that the UAA has the best men's basketball conference in the country, regardless of division? What do the Big East and ACC have on it?

For the next year, the Division III membership will discuss the potential of a membership split - with the possibility existing for the creation of Division IV.

Easily the largest of the three NCAA divisions, Division III has nearly 450 institutions, and there is some concern that if it continues to grow, access to championships and services could be compromised for student-athletes.

Therefore, a membership working group is examining the issues and hopes to make recommendations about the future of Division III before the 2009 Convention.

On today's edition of Mondays With Myles, NCAA President Myles Brand and Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher discuss the topic that will dominate discussion for most of 2008.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

A split to Division IV would create a lot of problems for Division III schools on the west coast. Conferences would be broken up, and Division III schools with a relatively small "travel" budget would be in a bind.

Ready for some football? Well it's finally Super Bowl week, so pull out your earplugs - there will be a lot of noise on the airwaves. In other football news, the All American Football League conducted its inaugural draft on Saturday, holding 50 rounds for its six teams. The AAFL, which requires all players to have their college degrees, is trying to capitalize on the seemingly insatiable desire of football fans, and will have teams in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. Former Troy offensive lineman Zarah Yisrael was the first pick in the draft, former Virginia Tech quarterback Bryan Randall was second and enigmatic 2001 Heisman winner Eric Crouch was the third pick. Some of these guys were awesome college players, but the question is, will you watch them now that they're out of eligibility and not in the NFL?

Record crowd. 5,377 people saw Jinelle Zaugg score two goals and lead the No. 5 Wisconsin women's ice hockey team to a 4-0 victory over St. Cloud State on Saturday. The 5,377 fans set a new NCAA women's ice hockey attendance record and raised $5,377 for the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin in the process.

ACC thriller. The best game of the weekend may have been the match-up between the women's teams of Maryland and UNC. After an early-week loss to top-ranked UConn, the Tar Heels answered back with a 97-86 double-overtime victory over No. 4 Maryland on Saturday

Shoeless everyone. We mentioned that Ron Hunter coached IUPUI without shoes last week in order to raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet, a charitable organization that strives to provide shoes for those who cannot afford them. Hunter wanted to spearhead a collection of 40,000 pairs of shoes, but after Converse donated 15,000 pairs to the cause, more than 110,000 pairs were donated..

Can Tigers run table? For the first time in school history, Memphis took its home court as the nation's top-ranked team on Saturday afternoon. Things went well for the Tigers, who outlasted non-conference foe Gonzaga, 81-73, behind 21 from Chris Douglas-Roberts and 19 from standout freshman Derrick Rose. Memphis improved to 19-0 and is one of two undefeated teams remaining in Division I. Kansas, the other perfect team, rolled Nebraska on Saturday to run its record to 20-0. Here's the question: if both teams finish the regular season perfect, is one streak more impressive than the other because of the leagues the teams play in?

The Cousins Lerg. Bryan and Jeff Lerg are the most popular guys in East Lansing this week, as the cousins led Michigan State to a thrilling 1-0 victory over rival Michigan on the ice Friday night. Bryan scored the game's lone goal with less than four minutes remaining in the first period and Jeff stopped 26 shots in the crease as the defending national champs snapped the Wolverines' nine-game winning streak.

Not the next NCAA sport. At the Division III Leadership Conference in Dallas this weekend, the attendees were taken to Medieval Times for a Saturday night excursion. It was an interesting experience, but I don't think jousting will be an NCAA-sponsored sport anytime soon.

Kyle Hines filed his latest blog entry on Thursday night - just after completing a 32-point performance with 14-for-16 shooting from the floor to help UNCG beat College of Charleston, 88-71.

Since I last left you, we really needed to get a win at Elon. Over the years, we have created a very intense rivalry with them (they are just a few miles up the road from us). Saturday was no different. We really struggled out the gate both offensively and defensively. It wasn't until the 8:25 mark of the first half that someone other thea I scored when Davor Garlic got to the line and hit a free throw.

Elon played tough defense and hit some open shots to go up by nine at halftime. During halftime, Coach Dement really got on us and challenged us to step up our game on the defensive end. (We hadn't played well defensively in our two losses the week before and we weren't off to a good start again.)

I guess his halftime speech really worked because the second half was a completely different story on both ends of the floor. We started the half on a run, holding them without a basket for nearly five minutes to start the second half. We really got after it defensively, causing three five-second violations, forcing numerous turnovers and making it difficult for Elon to get open shots. Everyone played really well in that second half, but I would have to say the stars of the game were Kevin Oleksiak and Ben Stywall. KO was able to penetrate the defense and find Ben for numerous lay-ups during the second half and get our offense back on track.

The win put us back in the race for the North Division title and positioned us back to get a first-round bye in the conference tournament. It also gave the senior class a .500 record in our career at Elon. It definitely felt good to walk out of Elon for the last time with a win.

The win also marked the 93rd victory for Coach Dement, which made him the all-time winningest coach in UNCG history. This is a great accomplishment and very well deserved. I guess it is only right that the original architect of the program (he was our first Division I coach before coming back a few years ago) be the winningest coach in the program history. (He's been saying that I've had nothing good to say about him in my blog, so there we go.)

The weather in Greensboro has been really cold this week. It reminded me a lot of the weather back home. It even snowed two times over the past weekend. I have always been amazed how people down south treat the snow compared to people up north. It only snowed two inches and it almost shut the whole town down. If it snowed like that up north, people would go about their day like nothing happened. I can remember going to school when there was almost a foot of snow on the ground and this past week our university postponed classes with less than an inch on the ground. I'm not complaining at all, I just find the contrast between winters in the north and the south to be very amusing.

Also during the week, the senior class (Dwayne Johnson, KO and I) went over to our assistant coach's house (Brian Judski) for a home-cooked meal. We all didn't know what to expect from this meal. I must say that Coach Judski did pretty well. We ate salad, garlic bread and a great-tasting lasagna. I must say that the meal was far past our expectations and would be very open to joining him for another dinner anytime he is willing to cook again. (Hint, hint.)

This past Wednesday, we traveled to Charleston, SC to play the last leg of our 5-game road trip. On Thursday, we played a very talented College of Charleston team. We ended up winning the game by 17 points, giving us another big road win and putting us in better position in the conference.

We all played really well, setting a school record for field-goal percentage. I'm a firm believer that if we play together as a team, as we did tonight, that we can play with any team in the country. The win also marked the first time in UNCG history that we have won at the John Kresse Arena (C of C's home court) and was one of their worst home losses ever. (For those that don't know, they've won something like 80 or 85 percent of their home games over the years.) With them opening up a new arena next season, it felt good to close out our last time playing in that building by getting a win and ending our losing streak.

Another interesting wrinkle from the game was my opportunity to meet the owner of Trademark Properties, Richard Davis, and his investment coordinator Ginger Alexander after the game. I guess most people don't know that I'm heavily interested in real estate and inspired to start my own investment real estate company. I almost religiously watch this show on A&E called "Flip This House." The show showcases different investors as they fix and flip properties for profit. One of the companies that is often shown is Richard's Trademark Properties. (I think he went to Clemson with Coach Judski.) It felt kind of weird to see someone that I've grown to be a fan of on television every week, sitting behind our bench watching our game cheering for us.

The final game of our road trip is against a young and talented Citadel team. (They were featured on ESPN.com this week for being so young - 13 freshmen!) The first time we played them at home, we handled them pretty easily. But I don't expect the same type of game as when we played them the first time. Every time we play at The Citadel, it has been a very tough and hard-fought game. The atmosphere is always tough down here because the cadets are right there in your ear. We don't expect it to be any different for this upcoming game. But as I said before, if we play as a team together, I'm confident that we can win the game.

Well, it's getting pretty late and I'm getting tired. (I played 39 minutes tonight, so I hope you understand.) Thank you to everyone that has continued to support us during this season. Wish us luck on Saturday.

Until Next Time..........

Kyle Hines #42

At this weekend's Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Dallas, student-athletes will be asked to share their thoughts on a potential restructuring of the Division III membership.

Division III is easily the largest of the NCAA's three bodies, with nearly 450 institutions and 150,000 student-athletes in the mix. As more and more institutions want to join Division III, however, there is a fear that the student-athlete experience (services, access to championships, etc.) could be compromised.

This was a subject of great discussion at the Division III Issues Forum and Business Session at the NCAA Convention in Nashville a couple of weeks back and the passionate conversations will continue throughout the membership for the next year.

On Monday, NCAA President Myles Brand and Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher will chat about the membership issues on a Mondays With Myles podcast.

Could the Division split? Might we see Division III and Division IV? How do you feel about Division III's membership issues?

The campus indeed houses a broad spectrum of religious affiliations. Are students obligated to remain silent when their opinions, based on religious tenets or personal conviction, run counter to Jesuit doctrine?

Channeling Don Larsen. What in the name of Don Larsen is going on? There???s a whole lot of perfection right now in Division II, as two men???s teams and four women???s squads are still undefeated. On the men???s side, Bentley is perfect at 17-0 and Grand Valley State is also unscathed at 21-0. For those interested about last year???s wonderworkers from Wilson, N.C., the Barton College men???s team is unranked with an 11-5 record. Delta State, Concordia, Seattle Pacific and Holy Family have yet to lose on the women???s side. 2007 champion Southern Connecticut State dropped out of this week???s top 25.

Best player you don???t know. Have you heard about Celeste Trahan? Well if you don???t know about the all-American from Elizabeth City, you better start learning. Trahan is on pace to become the first women???s player in Division II history to score 2,000 points and collect 1,500 rebounds. As of Wednesday, Trahan had 1,953 career points and 1,428 rebounds.

Tallahassee overhaul. Florida State has overhauled its academic support program after a cheating scandal caused the football program to suspend more than 20 players for its bowl game. Three new hires have recently been made for the academic services department and a search for a new director of athletics is ongoing.

Spiking toward Beijing. The high jump field just opened up for Division I track and field athletes. Texas junior Destinee Hooker, the two-time defending national outdoor champion in the event, has decided to skip the spring season in order to work out with the United States national volleyball team before the Olympics. Hooker is a standout on the Texas volleyball team and was invited to compete for a roster spot for the Beijing Games. She will have two years of track and field eligibility remaining on her five-year clock when she returns to Austin.

Rick Majerus is making waves at Saint Louis, and as far as I know, the surfing out there isn't anything to write home about.

On Tuesday, St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke asked Saint Louis to "take appropriate action" against Majerus, who said in an interview that he supports abortion rights. The statement was made at a rally for Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Burke is angered that Majerus has views that aren't in line with the Jesuit university and believes the coach should be reprimanded.

Majerus attended the rally as an individual, not as a representative of the university, so it would seem that Burke's criticism runs contrary to freedom of speech. Shouldn't a coach, or any university representative, be free to express an individual opinion that differs from an employer?

If Majerus attended the rally as a representative of the Jesuit university, it might be different, but why shouldn't he have the prerogative to express his political opinions with millions of other Americans?

The NCAA is a great organization that younger students and athletes look up to. Would it be so wrong or bad for the NCAA to be a resource for topics on social injustice?

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Wake up Waco. Anyone tracking on what's happening in Waco? The Baylor men's basketball team has made a triumphant return to the top 25, just a few years after the program went below rock bottom. Last night, the Bears beat No. 18 Texas A&M in College Station in five overtimes, 116-110. Curtis Jerrells scored a career-high 36 points, including 11 in the fifth OT. Donald Sloan and Josh Carter logged 57 minutes apiece for the Aggies. Fifth-year Baylor head coach Scott Drew, son of Homer and brother of Bryce, has led the Bears back to the land of rankings for the first time since 1969. Drew won 21 games in his first three seasons, but things are clicking now for the former Valparaiso head coach, as Baylor is off to a 16-2 start. On the women's side, Baylor's Kim Mulkey picked up her 200th win in last night's win over Missouri. It was a good night to be a Baylor fan.

Shoeless Ron. When IUPUI hosts Oakland tonight, men's basketball coach Ron Hunter will be pacing the sidelines without any shoes. No word on whether the operations folks will do an extra cleaning of the arena floor prior to tip-off, but it's doubtful Hunter will care - he's doing it to raise awareness for children in need. Hunter, who is working with Samaritan's Feet, is hoping to send 40,000 pairs of shoes to Africa to honor the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Word in downtown Indianapolis is that many students will also go sans shoes to the game.

Santa must like soccer. The Major League Soccer draft was held on Friday, and although it doesn't receive much fanfare, it's obviously a big day for those blue-chip student-athletes moving on to the professional ranks. Four players were selected from both Santa Clara and Santa Barbara. Chance Meyers, a back from UCLA, was selected first overall by Kansas City.

Jammin' January. The Mercy College basketball teams hosted a free youth clinic for area children on Saturday as part of its "Jammin' January" festivities. Nearly 50 boys and girls showed up prior to a doubleheader against C.W. Post.

If you're not a fan of close talkers, you definitely wouldn't have enjoyed competing at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational a couple of months ago. Bad breath and the occasional flying spittle would have been the least of your worries.

The NCAA Wrestling Committee has decided to disallow results from the Invitational for use in NCAA championship selections this winter, because the tournament failed to properly conduct required medical examinations.

Wrestling rules require all participants be checked by a physician or certified athletic trainer for "communicable skin diseases" prior to competition. That didn't happen in Vegas.

While there were no reported outbreaks at the Invitational, committee members say it's unacceptable not to conduct the checks. That seems to make sense - how else can we protect wrestling student-athletes?

SIU Edwardsville recently lost two games in the final minute. Amy Austin tells us all about it.

After a very tough weekend loss, in which we saw our three-point lead with seven seconds to go evaporate and disappear with one shot and a foul against the eighth-ranked team in the country, you would hope that having an upperclassmen team would bounce back and learn from the mistakes we made. We didn't. Not at all.

Just five days after the heartbreaking loss we did it AGAIN! We were not playing our best basketball, but we had the lead with less than a minute to go and ended up folding. Luckily, our team places no blame on any one person and came back to beat our next opponent. We did a great job of rebounding especially limiting them to seven offensive rebounds. Although our turnovers were once again high, we at least found a way to overcome our mistakes and dig deep to win.

Now, I could dwell on the losses but I believe in truly learning from your mistakes and moving toward the future. We need to buckle down on defense, take care of the ball, and block every person out because you never know when that one rebound will hurt you. We need to take pride in finishing a game, not stopping when we think we have the game won. But most importantly, we need to have confidence in one another, the coaches, and the goals we have set to achieve, despite everything else that is happening.

Our record in the conference sits at 4-3 so we are very much in the race to a conference championship, although this next road trip is crucial. We travel to Owensboro, Kentucky and Evansville, Indiana for some very tough match-ups against Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Indiana. Both teams are capable of anything although their records might not indicate their power. From here on out, we must win and treat every game as if it were our last.

There is a problem with hazing in college. After the death in Colorado there should be more authority against hazing. What happens when there is another death and then another death? When is it going to stop?

Battle of the Cheesesteaks. It was a glorious weekend in Philadelphia, although my stomach has yet to recover from the devastation that comes with eating four cheesesteaks in less than 48 hours. I opened the competition with a cheesesteak from some local joint on 3rd and Market, but it wasn't that good and I forgot the name of the place. The next night, I went to Pat's and Geno's and lined the sandwiches up against one another. Geno's steak was easily better than Pat's, and both were better than the first place. Before heading to the airport, I swung by Jim's steaks, eager to try one more sandwich before heading back to Indy. I'm glad I made the stop, because as far as I'm concerned, Jim is King of the Cheesesteak. The steak had the best flavor, the amount of cheese whiz was perfect and the bread was sturdy and delicious. Jim's gets the Double-A Zone endorsement.

Best of DIII. While I was gallivanting in Philly, the top men's basketball teams in Division III were going at it. No. 1 Rochester topped No. 2 Brandeis, 74-68, on Sunday, as the Yellow Jackets improved to 14-0 overall. The Judges shouldn't fall too far in the standings and will be eager to get another shot at their UAA rival in Waltham, Mass. next month.

Young gun leads Butler. A former Division III player is making waves at the helm of the Butler men's basketball program. Brad Stevens, who played his college ball at DePauw, is the nation's third-youngest coach at 31, and has led the Bulldogs to a 17-2 record and No. 14 ranking.

London in Richmond. Richmond hired former police detective Mike London as its head football coach. London, who played at Richmond and spent six of the last seven seasons as an assistant at Virginia, is the first black coach of a major program at the university.

On the slopes. Ida Sargent, Elsa Sargen and Rosie Brennan swept the top three spots in a 15-kilometer carnival event Saturday, leading the Dartmouth women's ski team to its second straight carnival of the 2008 season. The Big Green won the 2007 national title.

Go Wildcats! Cheerleading isn't an NCAA sport, but the Kentucky Wildcats certainly wish it was. The UK cheerleaders won their fourth national title in five years, and 16th overall, on Sunday. Tennessee finished second.

After Eddie Sutton retired from Oklahoma State following the 2005-06 season, he had 798 wins and was heading off to battle his alcohol addiction.

About a month ago, Sutton returned to take over a 4-8 San Francisco program that doesn???t hold much hope of going anywhere this season. Sutton lost his first four games at the helm before the Dons broke through with 60-59 win over Portland on Saturday.

In Sutton???s first attempt at his 800th win, the Dons fell to Gonzaga last night in Spokane, 72-64. Sutton has been clear that he only intends to spend the rest of this season coaching at San Francisco, so most have speculated that he only returned to reach the 800-win club.

Does it matter if Sutton is chasing personal glory? Or should we celebrate the fact that a coaching legend has returned to do what he loves most?

My question is 'What is wrong with hazing?' Everyone gasps at the word, only because political correctness has gone so over-the-top in today's society that 'hazing' has gotten a bad connotation.

Some say that the NCAA should stick to college sports, and leave the social issues to others. NCAA President Myles Brand argues the contrary, suggesting that the Association has an important role to play in social justice.

In this week's Mondays With Myles podcast, Dr. Brand shares his thoughts on the NCAA as an arbiter of social change.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

UNC Greensboro's Kyle Hines discusses the team's tough week and his last semester of college.

Welcome back to my blog. It has been a couple of weeks since the last time I blogged. Due to our hectic road schedule last week, it was hard for me to find opportunities to sit down and write. Now that we are back in classes, I will be getting back to writing once a week like I did last semester.

When I left you guys last, we had a four-game winning streak. We ended up pushing that streak out to six games with wins over Georgia Southern and Citadel. Each of those games we continued to play well. The Georgia Southern game was our first home television game of the year. We ended up winning by 13 points after a season-high 29 points from Kevin Oleksiak (also know as KO). In the Citadel game, we ended up winning by 30 points. Citadel is a very young team. I think they're the youngest team in the nation with 13 freshmen. In that game everybody got a chance to play and everyone scored, it was good that everyone got a chance to play - especially our two walk-ons Mike Mitchell and Mike Hardiman. They work really hard in practice everyday and a lot of the time don't receive any reward for it.

After those two homes games, we began a stretch that we are in now where we play 7 of our next 9 games on the road. This includes a stretch of five games in a row. The next time we play at home aka "The Flem," will be on February 2nd. Our road trip started out against our to northern division rivals Chattanooga and App State last weekend.

We didn't fair so well in our first two attempts of our road trip. We ended up losing both games. The first game versus Chattanooga was an absolute shootout. Between both teams there were 60 three-pointers attempted. For most of the game we were playing from behind until the last minute of the game when we pulled ahead for a late one -oint lead. "Chatt" scored a couple of late baskets to regain the lead and none of our final attempts to regain the lead were successful. On one of our final plays, Kendall Toney shot a three that was probably more than three-fourths in the basket and then it suddenly rolled out.

Our next game was in Boone, N.C. versus App State. From the moment we started the game, they absolutely ran us out the gym. At one point in the first half the score was 30-8. The closest we ever got was 11. But then after that, they made another big run and ended up winning by 23 points. We just didn't play well at all.

The back-to-back losses put us in a terrible position inside the conference standings. If the season ended today, we would be the seventh seed in the conference tournament. This would give us no first-round bye and make it very difficult to win the tournament having to play four consecutive games. We now have a sense of urgency growing within our team. Every conference game we play now has more importance and is vital for us to win if we are going to make an attempt to catch the conference leaders App State and Chatt. We still have 14 more conference games left, so we still have a very strong chance to get back in the hunt of things if we play like we were playing before.

This week is the beginning of my last semester as a college student. It is kind of scary when I think about it. It feels like just yesterday I was walking into my first college classroom. The time has flown past. This semester I have a lighter load of classes - I only have to take three more classes to graduate. All that I have left are two communications classes and an African-American film class. All three seem kind of interesting so far. Now that I'm taking fewer classes, it will give me the opportunity to concentrate a little more on basketball, which will be very beneficial now that we our in the heart of the season. For those other student-athletes out there, take that as a note. If you work hard in your first couple of years and take a summer class or two, you can lighten up the load on the back end and enjoy the end of your senior year.

Back to basketball. The next portion of our road trip occurs this weekend when we travel to Elon this Saturday. In the past couple of years, Elon has really developed into a rivalry game for us. The school is located near Burlington, N.C., which is only about 20 minutes from UNCG. The game is on TV on Saturday, airing throughout the Southeast on SportsSouth. A win versus Elon would help us to reposition ourselves closer to the leaders of the conference.

In order for us to do that, we must get back to the root of what made us successful during our winning streak -- our defense. We gave up more than 80 points in each of our previous two losses. After a very hard week of practice, I'm pretty confident that we can get back to our winning ways.

Well, it is getting pretty late and I'm starting to get tired. Wish us luck this weekend.

Until Next Time.......

Kyle Hines #42

P.S. - I would like to thank the Kronenfelds and the Browns for inviting our team to share dinner with their families.

Brittney Carfora is one of three seniors on the Columbia women's basketball team, which starts Ivy League play this weekend..

As we slowly approach the start to the Ivy League season, I can't help but reflect on our winter break and many road trips. We have put so much time, hard work and preparation into the past few weeks in hopes of attaining our ultimate goal of winning the Ivy League.

Our win at NJIT was definitely a big boost for the team. In that game, it was as if all of the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly and all of our hard work and dedication was paying off. We clicked well as a team and it has absolutely carried over to practice.

Following that game, we have had a 16-day break from playing. This is no easy task to have more than two weeks before the next game. It felt as if there was no end in sight, but we knew we had to get to work.

The past couple weeks we have been tirelessly working in preparation for what is the most crucial point in our season. Although this is a time for some serious work, we always find time to have our fun. Our road trips have brought us together and we've bonded in some unique ways that have carried over to winter break.

Our team can make any ridiculous situation fun. There is nothing like playing Catch Phrase with 15 girls (and our managers Jeff and Karem thrown in there) on a big coach bus. It is certainly an experience few can say they've had. If you think we're competitive on the court, just give us a game of Catch Phrase. I don't think anyone has ever heard so many intense, screaming girls.

Not only are these games undeniably fun, but we also discovered that the soft-spoken Caitlin Stachon has a laughing problem. We also have some characters on this team that LOVE (when I say love I mean it) to sing and share their vocal "skills." I have experienced some distinctive renditions of songs such as "Gimme More" by Britney Spears, courtesy of Katrina Cragg and Danielle Browne (dance moves included). These are the great experiences that keep us committed to each other. Even though something like that may seem silly, they are invaluable memories.

This winter break has been long with its ups and downs, countless hours spent in the gym and some unforgettable memories. This is my last winter break I will be experiencing as a member of the Columbia women's basketball team and I know that I will never forget Catch Phrase, my teammates' singing skills and all of the hard work we have put into our goals.

I believe this team has worked hard and is absolutely ready for the coming weeks of Ivy League play. We have many bus rides, pre-game rituals and work ahead of us, but all of our invaluable experiences up to this point will prove to be important. We are ready for the challenge of the long, demanding Ivy League schedule as it comes upon us.

GO LIONS!!!

I understand the technology at work idea here, but in what world do we live in for it to be an advantage to not have legs from the thigh down?

Millions can wait. Two-time all-American Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis has decided to return to Columbus for his senior season. Projected as a high first-round pick in the NFL draft, Laurinaitis has decided to choose college over imminent riches, and hopes to lead the Buckeyes to their third straight BCS national championship game next fall. Just a note, Laurinaitis is the son professional wrestler Animal. With a first name like Animal, you kind of have to be a wrestler, don't you? But here's the real question: if you had millions guaranteed, would you go back to college?

Lovin' Lefty. If you're floating around Davidson, North Carolina tomorrow afternoon, swing by Belk Arena for a special celebration. Davidson's men's basketball program is celebrating its centennial this season, and will have a panel discussion and a postgame autograph session bookending tomorrow's 2 p.m. game with Chattanooga. Former coach Lefty Driesell will be in the house.

Congrats Shanie! Dallas senior Shanie Cardinal hit a crucial layup in the waning seconds of last night's game against Millsaps to help propel the Lady Crusaders to a 61-58 victory. The points were 1,000 and 1,001 for the senior guard, who added two free throws before the buzzer to seal the win. Cardinal is the third Dallas player to score her 1,000th point in the last two years.

Rugby time. Women's rugby is classified as an NCAA emerging sport and Eastern Illinois currently sponsors a varsity program. Robyn Harris, an African-American student-athlete, details her experience playing rugby at Eastern Illinois in this outstanding video.

Lift the tarps. Forget winter, it's time for some baseball! The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) released its preseason poll yesterday. Arizona State, North Carolina, Rice, South Carolina and Arizona make up the top five. Two-time defending champion Oregon State is 11th.

Tom Brady loves lacrosse. Move over, Tom Brady, there's a new game in town. The NCAA announced yesterday that the 2009 Division I, II and III Men's Lacrosse Championships will be held in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The championships will also be in Robert Kraft's house this spring.

Attention volleyball fans. The American Volleyball Coaches Association launched a blog yesterday

Watch out Mike Schmidt, I???m coming to Philadelphia.

I???m headed to the City of Brotherly Love this afternoon, eager to spend a weekend in the land that William Penn built.

Philly is widely regarded as one of the top sports towns in the country, and is home to the Big 5 ??? La Salle, Pennsylvania, St. Joseph???s, Temple and Villanova. Officially founded in 1954, the Big 5 pits the city???s men???s and women???s basketball teams against one another each season.

Since 1973, the Philadelphia Big 5 has been selecting players, coaches, broadcasters, sportswriters and others for its Hall of Fame. Members include Paul Arizin, Chuck Daly, Tim Legler, and my favorite, Roland ???Fatty??? Taylor. The 2008 class, announced last week, includes Donnie Carr (La Salle), James Salters (UPenn), Rap Curry (St. Joseph???s) and Claudrena Harrold (Temple).

Of course, Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs are also steeped in college tradition, as higher education graces the campuses of Haverford, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Drexel, Messiah and dozens of others. Lest we forget, the legendary Herb Magee, winner of 841 games, is in his 41st season at the helm of the Philadelphia University men???s basketball program.

This weekend, Philly will actually be a destination for high school and college lacrosse coaches from across the country, as U.S. Lacrosse hosts its annual convention.

Although Philly is known for its professional and amateur sports scene, there is one competition this weekend that holds a special place in my heart ??? the Battle of the Cheeseteak.

A lover of all sandwiches, I will make stops at Geno???s, Pat???s and perhaps a couple of other local eateries to find the best cheesesteak in the city. Results will be discussed on Tuesday. No word if Fatty Taylor will take part in the festivities.

UCLA has asked fans to leave legendary coach John Wooden alone during home games. The 97-year-old Wooden attracts an autograph line as soon as he shows up to a game in Westwood, and it has to be exhausting. Wooden, who has to be one of the most gracious men to every live, never says no to anybody, so the university had to make the announcement to protect him.

While it's always exciting to meet legends like Wooden, wouldn't you think that people would be considerate enough to let him watch the games in peace?

While student-athletes on traditional campuses can roll out of their dorm rooms to the athletics facilities, city schools often have space challenges that change the experience.

On today???s edition of Campus Connection, Columbia associate director of athletics Jacqueline Blackett discusses the inherent challenges of being a student-athlete in Manhattan, what makes Columbia special and why she???s stayed at the university for 18 years.

Get connected with Columbia

Mount Olive's Sam Mitchell is about as busy as they come. How does she do it all?

It is quite ironic and humorous that I am writing about time management. I concluded in an interview for a school article that I really never considered myself as having good time management skills. My whole life, I have been extremely involved in almost anything I could fit into a 24-hour day. People always thought I was crazy and always asked me how I did it. For me it was normal, it was a way of life. I always liked being active and staying busy. I'm the kind of person who hates being bored. Ever since I was young, I was always able to entertain myself or be entertained very easily. Once I started growing up, I had to find more "mature" activities to stay busy. Being involved became second nature to me because it has always been my goal to make a difference wherever I go. I believe that I have been given an amazing ability to multi-task, handle stress, help people, and through it all, maintain a positive attitude and outlook on life.

It is funny when I look back on my life because there are some things I wonder how in the world I did, and I know I would never want to do it all again! There were periods in high school where I would go weeks with getting only a few hours of sleep a night. College and age have helped me slow down just a bit. People laugh when I say at 21 that I can tell I am getting old, but it is true! Believe it or not, sleep is actually something I make fit into my schedule these days.

I mentioned in my previous blog that I ran track during high school and had offers for college track scholarships. I'm excited that Mount Olive has added track and field this year and I'm going to compete this semester. When I introduced myself to the new coach, he joked that my resume is more extensive than his. I took that as a huge, huge compliment since he's been coaching for more than 20 years and has won several conference coach of the year awards!

For those of you who are interested in what I do, here it goes: Representative on the NCAA National Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), which means I represent Mount Olive and Conference Carolinas student-athletes' voices at a national level; volleyball team captain, member of Mount Olive College track and field team, management coordinator, waitress, tutor, church nursery worker, YMCA employee, lifeguard, swim and exercise instructor, president of Mount Olive SAAC, student ambassador, Fellowship of Christian Athletes secretary, member of Fellowship of Christian Students, Psychology Club public relations officer, student tour guide, babysitter, student mentor, student assistant, Certified Nursing Assistant, volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and director for Mount Olive College "Womanless Beauty Pageant" (fund-raiser for Make-A-Wish Foundation). In addition to these activities, I also do many volunteer activities for the community, the college, and for the organizations I'm involved in.

I wouldn't call what I do "managing" time; I would say I use my time efficiently and effectively. Believe it or not, I generally do not write things down, but I prioritize them in my mind. Once I prioritize them in my mind, I begin to go down the list. Unfortunately, I find the list never ends. I'm always doing what's due the next day the day before, and once that is done I start my project for the next day. There is nothing special about me - I DO get stressed! But if I don't have a little stress in my life, then I feel like I'm forgetting to do something. That little bit of stress keeps me going each day.

Anyone on campus will tell you that I'm always running, literally running around campus. They will also tell you I talk and walk the fastest, and am always on the go. I truly believe that God never gives a person more than they can handle. With that, I feel like I have been given a gift and I need to use it to the best of my ability. I am not just "okay" with being complacent in life, and I don't like my surrounding to be either. My goal here is not to leave a mark at Mount Olive College, but to help Mount Olive and the people here put a mark in the world.

All the things I do here are really in hopes of helping Mount Olive and the students here grow. Each activity I do includes numerous connections, and these connections I believe are the ticket to link the college, community, and the world together. My advice to anyone wanting to become more involved is to just go ahead and do it! Know your limits and what you can handle. Have an outlet for yourself, and make sure you are enjoying what you do. It is very rewarding being involved, but you MUST make time for yourself and the loved ones in your life.

Thanks to everyone who puts up with my craziness and supports me in what I do! (Mom & Dad)
Special thanks to (Mount Olive College basketball student-athlete) Justin Melton for teaching me the word "relax!"

The latest from Western Carolina's Kristen Feemster.

School has started back and all of our fellow classmates are back on campus. Though the majority of students went home to rest, make some extra money, or hang out with their friends, the Western Carolina women's basketball team was on the road playing basketball. We love the game but playing collegiate basketball means sacrificing as well.

Over the break, we played a total of nine games. We went through a rough spot after Brooke [Johnson] injured her knee in the Chattanooga game. Since the beginning of the season, we've all practiced together, learned each others strengths and weaknesses, and who should do what in certain game situations.

However, we've had to make some adjustments both physically and mentally on the court since we lost Brooke. We now have just four post players able to play right now so everyone's playing time has gone up significantly.

Personally, I went from playing about 10-12 minutes a game to at least 20 minutes every game. The dynamics of our team has changed slightly as well. Often times Brooke would be the one called on to knock down a 3 or get a shot up under the basket, but now others on the team are stepping up to get those points. We've also had to really work on our defense because Brooke is not there to alter and block shots.

We struggled some and lost three in a row to Chattanooga, NC State, and UNC Wilmington but now we are more comfortable with the new lineup. One of the great things about our team is that there is no drop-off from our bench. In practice there is no "starting five vs. second team" because we all can challenge each other in one way or another. Because of this, we have been able to find a way to win four games in a row even though an important part of our team is missing on the court.

Traveling to Raleigh, Wilmington and Boone was fun but going to Davidson, N.C. was the most memorable because we got to eat dinner at Moe's (Monique Dawson) house. In addition to the home-cooked meal, we also got to watch some home videos of Moe when she was little. For all of you who did not get to see it, Moe was a very...let's see...active child. When I say active, I mean singing, dancing, jumping, clapping, more singing, more dancing, running, rolling, flipping and any other action word you can think of! I guess that's why she's so fast on the court! By the time we finished watching her, I was tired myself!

Coming back to Cullowhee for a couple of home games felt good, and it was just nice to be home. We had a great crowd against UNC Greensboro and won 66-53. On Monday we played Elon at 12 p.m. so that children from local schools could attend as part of Education Day. The screaming made the atmosphere a little chaotic at times but we appreciate the kids' excitement for the game. We are continuing to concentrate on perfecting our defense. A wise man once said "Offense wins games but defense wins championships!" And if we work hard enough on our defense we just might get that championship.

Absolutely, the technology in his prosthetics represents an "unfair advantage." They provide him with far more of an advantage than any gained through the use of steroids. He can compete against others with similar technologies if he wishes, but he has no business in the Olympics, the World Championships, Pan American Games, or any similar venue.

No more men. At its business session on Monday, the Division III membership voted for restrictions to the use of male practice players in women's sports. Teams will be permitted to use male players during one practice each week, and they will be limited to half the number of a starting squad. The legislation was sponsored by the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

What a knight. Bob Knight became the first men's Division I coach to reach 900 wins last night when his Texas Tech squad beat ninth-ranked Texas A&M in Lubbock, 68-53. No chairs were thrown in celebration.

Big dude. UNC Asheville center Kenny George received national attention last week when North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough dunked over him during a game. George, who stands 7-foot-7 and wears a size 26 shoe, leads the nation in blocked shots. The Active Team Sports blog had a nice piece on George a couple days ago.

Adding sports. Fresno State will add women's swimming and diving and women's lacrosse to its varsity program next fall. The additions were part of recommendations made by the Gender Equity Plan Task Force, which developed a five-year plan for the university.

Whoa baby. Get out your earplugs, Dickie V is returning to the airwaves. Vitale, who had surgery to treat ulcers in his throat, will return to ESPN broadcasts in February.

Chatting blogs. I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Irrelevant blogger Jamie Mottram at the NCAA Convention. Jamie was in town to serve as part of a panel discussion: "Reaching the Public and Media Through New Technology."

Kerry Kenny is the new chair of the Division I SAAC.

When I contacted Josh Centor about writing a daily blog from the 2008 NCAA Convention, my goal was to be able to share my thoughts and perspectives on how the Convention affects and can be affected by student-athletes. It was my first Convention as a member of the SAAC, and I must say that it is an experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life.

The six days that my fellow student-athletes and I spent in Nashville have been more impactful on the Division I student-athletes than one could have ever imagined. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 31 members of the National SAAC, whose tireless work over the past few months ended in a magnificent culmination this past weekend. The membership upheld the text messaging ban and supported the override of the golf dates of competition legislation, both of which were issues that our committee had worked tirelessly on.

The SAAC voice also helped balance several topics of discussion during the Management Council meeting, and managed to help proposals 2007-44 and 2007-110 gain approval to be sent to the Board of Directors. On our final morning the SAAC even had the chance to discuss legislative issues over breakfast with the Board of Directors, including a plea to keep in mind the issue of student-athlete well-being when examining a proposal dealing with financial aid. All in all, it was a very productive meeting.

There are several people that I would like to thank for helping our group in Nashville: the Division I SAAC liaisons, David Berst, Beth DeBauche, the entire Division I Management Council and Board of Directors for giving us their time during two joint meals this weekend, Josh Centor, Dana Thomas, our outgoing SAAC Chair Anna Chappell, and finally the more than 160,000 Division I student-athletes for continuing to speak up when issues arise. If this experience has taught me anything, it is simply that people do continue to value the input of the student-athlete, and our voices are making a difference!

Over the weekend, Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee member Katie Schneider approached me with a drawing she had done during a wrestling match at Knox College. Katie, a softball player at Knox, sketched the picture during a match with Augustana.

I found out about Katie???s talent about a month ago, when she sent a holiday card with a sketch on it. I asked Katie if she might draw some pictures for the Double-A Zone in her spare time, and she has agreed to do so.

Katie started 29 games for Knox last season and has decided to start throwing the shot put for the indoor track and field team this winter. She represents the student-athletes of the Midwest and Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conferences on the Division III SAAC.

Marta Lawrence had the opportunity to interview Dot Richardson and Robin Roberts in Nashville.

After meeting Dr. Dot Richardson, a member of our team remarked, "I feel like a better person." How could you not? Dr. Richardson has a personality that lifts up anyone in her presence.

I had the opportunity to interview Dot and Robin Roberts before they accepted their Silver Anniversary Awards on Sunday night. Obviously, both women are tremendously accomplished, but what struck me most was how humble and gracious they both are.

Robin, who has waged a very public health battle, told me that she gets her strength from her faith and her mother's advice that "we're all just a little bit stronger than we think we are."

Dot's ideas on being a leader and making dreams come true literally gave me goose bumps. At the end of the interview she hugged me and every member of the crew. She hugged us!

After Convention, we will include more from these once-in-a-lifetime interviews. For now, enjoy this brief clip.

Click here to watch the interviews with Dot Richardson and Robin Roberts.

Oklahoma State ended the season with 3,161 yards rushing and 3,161 yards passing. How's that for a balanced offense?

Playoff conversation. Don???t close the door on a football playoff just yet. The Division I Board of Directors held an open and candid discussion on the state of postseason football and it sounds like the possibility exists that the highest level of college football could undergo some changes down the road. Nothing was decided during the discussion except that the presidents and chancellors will continue to toss around the subject for the foreseeable future. An important note ??? the NCAA is a membership-driven organization and any changes to postseason football must come out of the governance structure represented by chancellors and presidents. A presidential task force has been formed to look into the issues of commercialism and student-athlete welfare associated with intercollegiate athletics, including postseason football.

We???re going international. Things are good right now for our friends north of the border ??? the Canadian dollar is strong in the states and the Division II membership overwhelmingly approved a 10-year pilot program for Canadian institutions at the NCAA Convention. This is the first time the NCAA has facilitated international membership. Sounds like a good idea, eh?

Is this fair? Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius was ruled ineligible for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The International Association of Athletics Federations said that Pistorius??? prosthetic racing blades give him an unfair competitive advantage over other runners. Is this a fair ruling?

Lady Orange on rise. The Syracuse men???s basketball team will do its best to snap a two-game losing streak tonight against Rutgers, but the noise around town is the emergence of the women???s team. The Orange women lost last night to top-ranked Connecticut, 65-59, but for the first time in years, the 14-3 squad is a national player.

I think this incident should send a message to other young players in the professional ranks. There is a world of difference from being the BMOC and playing PROFESSIONAL sports. When some of these young players vault into the pro ranks on the heals of being a collegiate superstar they have failed to learn the discipline required to function as a successful professional.

President Myles Brand delivered his 2008 State of the Association address at the Opening Business Session of the NCAA Convention on Saturday evening.

The integration of academics and athletics was a key message of the address, which Dr. Brand discusses during today's Mondays With Myles podcast.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

CYA. In Saturday's Division I vote, 78 percent of delegates decided not to override current legislation that places a ban on text messaging as a recruiting tool. OMG.

TBD. At its business session this morning, Division III will consider restrictions on male practice players. The proposal was referred last year.

Dealing with tragedy. Remember Don Imus? How about the bus that crashed with the Bluffton baseball team last spring? The massacre in Blacksburg? Representatives from Rutgers, Bluffton and Virginia Tech participated in the "Crisis Communication Planning Strategies and Tools" education session on Saturday in Nashville. "A tragedy likes this really helps you put other things in perspective," said Bluffton President James Harder. "We are not the same institution we were (before the bus accident). ... We work more closely together, we have built trust and we understand the importance of relationships. Good things can happen through tragedies."

Where would you go? The Colts lost and the Giants won yesterday. But where were the Manning parents? How do you decide which child to watch? One would guess many college parents have to answer the same question when they have multiple children competing.

Watch your step. And of course, we're going to hear that the Cowboys lost because Tony Romo went to Mexico with Jessica Simpson. I place no judgment on Romo - he's a grown man and didn't do anything wrong taking some days away with his girlfriend. But it does serve as a reminder that both professional and collegiate athletes need to think twice before they act in public.

Team says no. Former Florida star Joakim Noah was suspended one game following a confrontation with Chicago Bulls assistant coach Ron Adams before Friday's contest with Philadelphia. Not that strange, right? Athletes are suspended here and there, so what's interesting about this particular instance? Well, all of Noah's teammates were so incensed at his behavior that they unanimously voted to bench him again for yesterday's game against Atlanta. It's unique to have a team take such a stand against one of their own. Will the suspension from his teammates have more of an impact than the one from the organization?

The NCAA Convention is a place for the Association to do its business, but it has also become a place for people to come and be educated about the important issues surrounding intercollegiate athletics.

Saturday morning, NBA Hall of Famer Willis Reed was in Nashville to take part in a panel discussion about issues affecting historically black colleges and universities.

Reed, who went to Grambling, is best known for his heroic performance in game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals, when he played against the Lakers despite a devastating leg injury.

While I wanted to play a no-dunksies round of HORSE with Willis, there weren't any hoops within close proximity, so we just sat down to chat about HBCU's, his heroic exploits and why he would go back to college if he had four years to live all over again.

Click here to watch the interview with NBA legend Willis Reed.

Kerry Kenny is the new chair of the Division I SAAC.

Just more than a day to go here in Nashville, and things are certainly not slowing down anytime soon. Saturday was one of the most exciting days that I have had since enrolling in college five years ago. Several of the members of the Division I National SAAC had the chance to speak in front of the Division I membership at the Legislative Forum. I was fortunate enough to carry the torch for the Division I student-athletes when I spoke on the issue of text messaging. With the help of my peers, I drafted a passionate speech that was well received on the forum floor.

It was the culmination of two years of hard work done by our committee to make sure that the student-athlete voice was heard. There haven't been many experiences in my life that have been more exhilarating than what occurred in that room. Today, I will be attending the Division I Management Council meeting as the new chair of the Division I National SAAC. I am excited and humbled to be in this position, and I look forward to providing the student-athlete voice during the initial consideration of legislation. The committee will also have its annual joint lunch with the Management Council, which allows both committees to learn from one another in an effort to find a common ground on several broad issues.

Until next time!...

Well the early results are in, and 70 percent of you like the new design of the Double-A Zone. Admittedly, I just posted the question, so we only have 10 responses, but I'm encouraged by the numbers.

There have been a few glitches, and we apologize for those. Please bear with us for the next few days and I promise we'll get it up to snuff.

I'm truly excited about the potential for this new design, mostly because it puts more emphasis on you, the readers. We want to hear what you think, and the new site puts your comments front and center. That will benefit the conversations, and will have an impact on the future of intercollegiate athletics.

Make sure to peruse the entire front page. We added a guest blog from Kerry Kenny earlier, and that's down with the other guest blogs.

So weigh in - what do you like, what don't you like? I'd like at least 17 respondents to the poll, so vote away and elaborate with some comments.

Thanks for your loyalty.

Kerry Kenny, vice-chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is blogging from the NCAA Convention in Nashville.

We are now officially over the hump at Convention, with three days down and three to go. In saying that, however, it is imperative to remember that the next two days will go a long way in determining the very near future of student-athlete well-being.

The Division I SAAC spent Friday finalizing our speaking points and speeches for the Legislative Forum on Saturday afternoon. This is the most important day of the year for the student-athlete voice, as it gives us the chance to speak on the behalf of all Division I student-athletes in front of several hundred administrators. Our voice has affected change in the past, and we hope that it will continue to strike a chord with those that will be casting votes. The override votes dealing with text messaging, golf dates of competition and financial aid in baseball have occupied our agenda for the past year, so it will be the culmination of a lot of hard work and discussion.

The other experience that we were fortunate enough to be a part of yesterday was a panel discussion involving Dr. Myles Brand, Ohio State AD Gene Smith, NY Times sports writer Bill Rhoden , and Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher. The discussion centered around diversity and change in collegiate athletics and how student-athletes and administrators can adapt. It was a very informative discussion, especially due to the distinguished panel set before us.

That's all for now, and hopefully the next time I check in I will have some good news that will benefit all Division I student-athletes!

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Emily: Very powerful commentary. I really applaud your urging of student-athletes themselves to take responsibility for the safety and well being of their teammates. Bravo.

Bravo to Mary Wilfert for bringing the Hazing Summit together.

I was so glad when they announced Trinity as the winner. I hope people begin to realize that exciting things happen at all levels of intercollegiate athletics, not just as the major Division I schools.

Hear from the experts about some of the issues happening at the NCAA Convention in Nashville.

Learn about the importance of athletics research from Wally Renfro and Dennis Cryder

Learn about hazing from former all-American Don McPherson

Former Luther track and field student-athlete Emily Pankow, chair of the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, was impacted by yesterday's Hazing Prevention Summit.

After a morning of meetings, DIII SAAC was excited to attend yesterday's Hazing Prevention Summit organized by the NCAA. The summit was a powerful educational experience featuring the foremost researchers and experts on hazing.

The afternoon began with a powerful video account about the hazing death of Colorado student Lynn Gordon Bailey, Jr. The video provided a shocking account of the danger and irreparable damage that can occur as a result of hazing. Although the video was focused on hazing that takes place in fraternities, it was an eye-opener that brought the audience to a sense of the urgency and importance in addressing this topic on campuses nationwide. (http://hazethemovie.com/blog/) Although many students do not recognize that hazing occurs on their campuses, it is a prevalent reality.

As statistics were disclosed, it became obvious that student-athletes are a particularly susceptible population. Several research studies conducted on NCAA schools have found similar findings among student-athletes. Nearly 100% of student-athletes participate in some form of initiation to their team or school. Nearly 80% of the student-athletes in the study had participated in events that could be defined as hazing, but only 12% of those same student-athletes reported that they were hazed. This disconnect, between the definition of hazing and what we as student-athletes consider hazing, is the reason we as student-athletes need to work to increase education on this topic among our peers.

We need to make this issue known on our campuses and work to prevent hazing so that we do not need to recover from the serious damage that is caused both mentally and physically to those who are hazed. As leaders on our campuses and teams, we need to have the courage to stop traditions that humiliate and endanger our teammates and create new traditions that are positive and healthy. This summit opened my eyes to the difference that I can make as a student-athlete. We can't expect administrators to carry the burden of hazing prevention alone...we are the ones directly affected. We are the ones whose teams are torn apart. We are the ones who will pay the price if nothing changes. And we are the ones who can affect the greatest amount of change in preventing hazing.

Kerry Kenny, vice-chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is blogging from the NCAA Convention in Nashville.

Hello again from Nashville! It has certainly been a busy 24 hours since the last time that I checked in, but hopefully I can catch you up to speed on what happened on the first official day of Convention. The Division I National SAAC began meeting early yesterday morning, and continued through until after 9 last night.

The main agenda item was the continued examination of the legislative proposals in the 2007-08 legislative cycle. Although we had formulated many of our positions at the November meeting, we were charged with providing the membership with our position on several additional proposals dealing with student-athlete well-being. The focus for the remainder of the time was shifted toward the three override proposals. It is our mission as SAAC reps to speak on behalf of those student-athletes that are affected by the proposals and overrides, which is what we will be doing on the Legislative Forum floor on Saturday afternoon.

I am looking forward to this afternoon, when we will participate in the Habitat for Humanity build, where all three SAACs will join forces with administrators and others to help construct a house on site. Until then, enjoy your Friday, and I'll check back in with ya'll tomorrow!

P.S. - I would like to say congrats to my former teammate Bilal Abdullah at Lafayette, who scored his 1,000th point in an overtime win at Princeton on Wednesday night.

Solutions for hazing. At yesterday's Hazing Prevention Summit at the NCAA Convention, student-athletes from the three national Student-Athlete Advisory Committees formed a panel to discuss the hot-button issue. Steven Suggs, a Division III student-athlete from Stevens Institute of Technology, suggested that the only legitimate way to curtail hazing on NCAA campuses is for administrators and student-athletes to work through coaches. The argument makes sense. If a coach is proactive and promises severe consequences for violation of a hazing policy, student-athletes would cease to participate in degrading and humiliating behavior. Kyle Waterstone, a former swimmer from Hope College, offered that the end result of hazing is generally thought of as a positive form of team bonding, but that dangerous and negative activities are used to achieve that goal. Kyle believes that energy can be redirected to keep all things positive. If the student-athletes have solutions to rid us of hazing, shouldn't we listen to them?

Stick around, coach. Do you understand why folks are calling for Ty Willingham's job at Washington? In three years at the helm of the Husky program, Willingham has yet to have a winning season, but is that a reason to get rid of a football coach? When Willingham was axed after three years at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis led the program to an outstanding season the following fall. Would Willingham have had similar success? Maybe. The fact is, three years isn't enough to judge the success of a college coach. Willingham hasn't had enough time to help the players he recruited mature into solid college student-athletes. Shouldn't coaches have at least five years to turn a program around?

College or Pros? If you were Pete Carroll, would you leave one of the premier college coaching jobs in the country for the head position with the Atlanta Falcons? Reports suggest that Carroll is interested in Michael Vick's old squad.

Win one for the gipper. New Jersey Institute of Technology's men's basketball team is 0-17 this season, and has struggled mightily in its move from Division II to Division I. Yesterday's article in The New York Times recaps some of the challenges the program is facing.

Low-scoring Billiken. The Saint Louis men's basketball team scored just 20 points last night and we're not talking about 10-minute halves. At one point, Rick Majerus' squad missed 23 consecutive shots en route to a 49-20 loss to George Washington. The 20 points were the fewest scored in a Division I contest since the inception of the shot clock.

One of the most exhilarating sessions at the NCAA Convention each year is Career Connections, the Association's annual job fair. More than 100 future athletics administrators are presently gathered in Nashville to take the next steps toward their future careers.

The energy that exudes from the young professionals is exciting - it reminds those of us who are already working in intercollegiate athletics that we are truly fortunate. There is a networking reception for the attendees tonight at 7, and meeting the newbies is one of the highlights of the week.

Kerry Kenny, vice-chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, will be blogging from the NCAA Convention in Nashville during the next few days.

Hello everyone. And greetings from Nashville, Tennessee. I will be blogging from the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, site of the 2008 NCAA Convention, for the next several days. My hope in doing so is that I will be able to provide some perspective about how Convention unfolds from a student-athlete's perspective. I will be taking you from the SAAC meeting room, to the Habitat for Humanity build and from the Legislative Forum floor to many of the other sights and sounds from around this truly remarkable event. The next few days will be crucial in determining several issues dealing with student-athlete well-being, most notably the three override votes that will occur on Saturday. That's it for now, but check back in over the next few days to see how student-athlete's effect and are affected by the NCAA Convention!

Postseason football discussion. NCAA President Myles Brand received a letter from Georgia President Michael Adams about the state of postseason football Tuesday. Dr. Brand released the following as part of a statement in response to the letter: "In a letter to me dated January 8, 2008, University of Georgia President Michael Adams requested that a discussion committee to the Division I Board of Directors be appointed to explore options related to postseason football. I will bring to the board that request at its meeting in Nashville on January 14. The structure of postseason football in the Football Bowl Subdivision rests with the presidents of those institutions."

Number crunch. On January 5, Northern State's men's basketball team beat Minnesota State-Moorhead to give head coach Don Meyer his 876th career victory. With the win, Meyer tied Adolph Rupp for the third-most wins among NCAA men's basketball coaches. Meyer is just three wins shy of tying Dean Smith for second place on the all-time list. On the same weekend that Meyer tied Rupp for third, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski moved into 10th place on the all-time wins list and Bob Knight grabbed his 899th victory. These are a lot of wins, but what's more impressive - 900 basketball wins or 300 football wins?

Willingham a willing prez. Ty Willingham was elected president of the American Football Coaches Association. The Washington coach succeeds Ken Sparks of Carson-Newman.

Stepping it up. A former Division III men's lacrosse coach is hitting the big time. John Combs, who led Plattsburgh State from 2000-03, was named head coach of the Chicago Machine, a Major League Lacrosse team.

Rewarded for excellence. The Western Illinois athletics program will launch its Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance Reward Program this Saturday as part of its new community outreach initiative. Through the program, local elementary and middle school students who made honor roll or had perfect attendance will receive a free ticket to the men's and women's basketball games on January 12 against North Dakota State.

Amy Austin and SIU Edwardsville are rolling along.

After winning our last game of the year at home on December 22, it was a great relief to finally head back home for the holidays to spend time with family and friends for a week. Although it is supposed to be a break, I couldn't help checking out two basketball games at my alma mater. Most people I talked with couldn't believe I am finishing up my last semester of college. At least I'm not the only one who has thought these years have flown by!

Returning to school is hard when you know there is no one on campus, but it gives everyone on the team to give their full concentration on the game of basketball and clear up any cobwebs we have with our offense, or personal struggles. There are no excuses for not giving everything at practice because you can't be tired from school, meetings, or homework.

Road to Nashville. Beginning Friday, more than 2,500 chancellors, presidents, student-athletes, athletics directors and other administrators will gather in Nashville for the annual NCAA Convention. A large number of NCAA staff members are headed to the Music City on buses this morning, and will begin preparing for the most important week of the year upon arrival. While official business won't commence until Friday, a lot of exciting events will begin tomorrow, including Career Connections, a Scholarly Colloquium on College Sports and a Hazing Prevention Summit. We will cover those events and more from the ground in Nashville.

Hot in Hawaii. Have you been following the interesting proceedings in Hawaii? Not even 24 hours after football coach June Jones left for Southern Methodist, Hawaii Athletics Director Herman Frazier was fired. Reports are suggesting that Frazier was let go because he failed to keep Jones. Is that right?

Big save. Washington State guard Stephen Sauls collapsed and appeared to stop breathing after being struck in the head during practice on Monday. Trainer Nick Gallotto administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and Sauls regained consciousness. The freshman is currently recovering in the hospital.

Are you serious? Rich Rodriguez and his family have been receiving threats from West Virginia fans angered at the coach's decision to leave for the head job at Michigan. Rodriguez' teenage son has received death threats and his daughter has had to be escorted to her classes. Fans can be as angry as they want, but is harassing children going to solve anything? Is it going to bring the coach back?

It's an SEC world. A wild football season has come to a close, and the SEC once again finished on top of the BCS. LSU got the best of Ohio State in last night's BCS national championship game in New Orleans, topping the Buckeyes, 38-24. The Tigers become the first two-loss champion in the 10-year history of the BCS, and also the first two-time champion. After the game, the final Associated Press poll had LSU and Georgia ranked at the top. With Florida winning the BCS title over Ohio State last year, and LSU winning yesterday, is there any question that the SEC is the best football conference in the country?

Late night. Did anyone make it past the third quarter of last night's game? Did it really need to start that late? It would be more conducive to start the game an hour earlier so school-aged children could catch more of it before bedtime.

Looking backwards. Fifteen laterals propelled Trinity (Texas) to a big victory during the football season, but the remarkable play also helped fill the university's coffers. Last night, the Trinity play was named the Pontiac Game Changing Performance of the Year, giving the university a $100,000 scholarship for its general scholarship fund. The play beat out other nominees from Auburn, LSU and Appalachian State. More important than the $100K, however, is the attention the play and award brought to Trinity and Division III football. While you can't always count on a historic play, how can other Division II and III institutions follow Trinity's lead to attract more attention from the public?

Playoffs anyone? Will the BCS be around forever? Maybe not. Georgia President Michael Adams, who chairs the NCAA Executive Committee, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he advocates an eight-team, single-elimination playoff administered by the NCAA. Presently, the NCAA has no role in the Bowl Championship Series. A number of influential people have come out in the last few days in favor of a playoff, so who knows what might be coming down the road?

A ton of bricks. The big news in the world of men's basketball last night was Kansas State's 85-25 win over Savannah State. The box score doesn't reflect unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of the Wildcats, as Frank Martin played 13 men in the game, and none more than 28 minutes. Instead, it was some of the worst shooting in NCAA history on the part of Savannah State, which missed its first 15 shots of the second half and ended the period with just one made field goal on 1-for-23 shooting. The Tigers scored just four points in the second half.

Go Judges! How about some excitement from the land of Division III basketball? Brandeis senior guard Joe Coppens poured in 37 points and sophomore Andre Roberson hit a three-pointer with three seconds left in overtime to propel the second-ranked Judges to a 96-94 victory at Elms. Brandeis improved to 10-1 overall and will take on top-ranked and undefeated Rochester on January 20. Amherst, Williams and Augustana round out the top five in the DIII men's poll.

Cleaning up. Athletes from Mitchell College recently got out the rakes and trash bags to help clean up a local beach near the campus in New London, Connecticut.

Wheaton (Massachusetts) basketball player Jennie Pleat discusses the positive finish to the team's trip to Hawaii.

Our week in Hawaii was a great experience for all the Wheaton crew in Honolulu. We had our first game against South Dakota Tech and played with a lot of intensity but didn't play that well and ended up losing. However, we came prepared and hungry for a win against Briar Cliff, another Division II NAIA team out of Iowa. We stuck to our game plan that aimed to shut down their fast-paced offense and running jump defense. Honestly, that game was the first game all year I have seen every single player on our team play and cheer with so much focus and heart. After our win, I really thought our team had grown in our trip to Hawaii. I think we became more of a true team after the Briar Cliff game, and I hope we can continue to play that way for the rest of the season.

Following our great win, we headed about an hour outside of Honolulu for the Paradise Cove Luau. Our bus escort Cousin Trina gave us the rundown of all the activities on the way there. Once we got there, we went for canoe rides, made leis, sipped virgin Mai Tais, watched people climb trees for coconuts and of course, took too many pictures, all while the sun was setting behind us over the Pacific. The Cove was decorated for Christmas with tiki torches everywhere. It was a beautiful night and everyone had a blast.

NCAA staffer Greg Johnson has questions about tonight's BCS Championship Game.

Is it me, or is the usual buzz missing from the Bowl Championship Series title game? I'm not sure what is missing this year, but the usual media hype for the event seems subdued. It could be because both LSU and Ohio State lost at home late in the season. The Tigers fell in triple overtime to Arkansas in "Death Valley'' and Buckeyes lost to Illinois in "The Horseshoe.'' Yet here they both are with a chance to claim a national title to quench the thirst of their fervent fan bases.

I'm sure those in New Orleans attending the game are having a good time on Bourbon Street and throughout the French Quarter. Maybe that energy will come through the television set as we watch tonight.

On today's podcast, NCAA President Myles Brand shares his thoughts about the advancement of the Association's communications platforms. The changes include a redesigned Web site, the transition of The NCAA News to an online-only format, the launch of Champion magazine, a new-look Double-A Zone and a daily (and weekly) e-mail called NCAA News Direct.

Find out more about the changes in today's edition of Mondays With Myles.

Listen to Mondays With Myles

Naismith first again. Springfield College recently named its refurbished basketball court in honor of the game's inventor - alum James Naismith. Because work on the court was underway when the NCAA Playing Oversight Rules Panel decided to move the three-point line from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20-9, the court will be the first to display the line that will be used beginning next season. Will the extra foot make a difference in the college game?

Championship Monday. The BCS will crown its national champion tonight. For the second straight year, the title game will be a match-up between programs from the SEC and Big Ten. Ohio State will look to bounce back from last year's shellacking at the hands of Florida, as the Buckeyes prepare for an LSU squad that plans on playing two quarterbacks. Any predictions?

Video game central. We'll see if LSU's pre-game preparation bears any impact on tonight's outcome. The Tigers have spent the season using a custom-made video game to help prepare for opponents.

What a streak. For the first time in nearly 35 years, the Brandon High School wrestling team lost a dual meet Saturday night. Brandon, located east of Tampa, won 459 consecutive matches before falling to South Dade, 32-28. Can you think of any streaks more impressive than one which lasted for 35 years?

Smith chooses NFL. Kevin Smith has decided to cash in on his sensational season. Smith, who initially announced he would return for his final season at Central Florida, has decided to enter the NFL Draft. The junior ran for 2,567 yards this year, just 61 yards shy of Barry Sanders' NCAA single-season record.

A Chinese adventure. The Emmanuel women's basketball team spent nine days over its holiday break in China, touring the country and playing exhibition games. The Saints visited the Forbidden City, climbed the Great Wall of China and played a lot of basketball. It sounds like the experience of a lifetime.

The NCAA established the Double-A Zone in November 2005 so that we could engage student-athletes, athletics administrators, fans and even critics in conversations about intercollegiate athletics. More than two years later, it has become time for us to enhance our site in order to keep up with the growth that has transpired.

We are hoping to unveil a new design for the Double-A Zone sometime in the next few days. There won???t be any changes to the content, but the Web site should be much easier to navigate. The most notable improvement will be the increased emphasis on the comments made by our visitors. We receive a number of comments each day, but often, they are left on older posts and regular readers never see them.

The new design will include prominent placement of the most recent comments left by our readers, regardless of how long ago the original post was made. We are also going to pull out featured comments. The bottom line is that we want to know what people are thinking about intercollegiate athletics and we are hopeful the new design will give our readers a more prominent voice.

Instead of the diary format currently employed on the Double-A Zone, the new design will allow for a featured post, a spot for the day???s morning coffee, permanent locations for Mondays With Myles and Campus Connection, as well as three spots for recent guest blogs. We will also offer an RSS feed of content found on NCAA.org.

We are truly excited about the redesign of the Double-A Zone. The engaged participation of our readers have made it a necessity and we look forward to continuing conversations about intercollegiate athletics in the future.

Thanks for reading the Double-A Zone and we hope you enjoy the new look!

Kyle Hines and company are riding a four-game winning streak headed into today's match-up with Georgia Southern.

I would like first to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. It has been almost two weeks since the last time I have wrote an entry, so as you can all imagine a lot has happened over the two-week period.

When I left you last, we were heading to New York City to play Fordham University right before our holiday break. Our hotel was right in the middle of Times Square. This was quite the experience for many of the guys on the team because many of them have never been to New York City before. If you have never been to New York before the holiday season, it is probably a great time to take your first visit because the city is so vibrant. Dwayne Johnson (our point guard and also my roommate) and I were laughing on the bus as the guys were taking pictures and asking him questions as if he was the official tour guide. (By the way, he's from Queens. He told them all "this isn't my neighborhood.") We were like, "look at these tourists." But I guess we looked at it from a different perspective than the others, since he was from the city and I travel back and forth at times because my girlfriend lives there. I guess Mikko and my former teammate Bart Tooms, both from Europe, were probably looking at us the same way when we were doing the same to them while we were in Italy last summer.

Even though we were in New York City, we had to look past the bright lights and step out of tourist mode to focus on our game versus Fordham. We ended up playing a very good game, withstanding a late run by Fordham to win, 58-54. It was a good win because everyone on the team played really well. We played with a lot of effort and intensity. It was also a good win because many of our family members were there. I think between Dwayne, Pete Brown, Kevin Oleksiak and myself, we had almost 200 people combined in attendance. After the game was over, the four of us were allowed to go back with our families - home for a three-day holiday break while the others would spend the night in the Big Apple before heading back to Greensboro the next morning.

Duke's Abby Waner shares her unique Christmas experiences.

???Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a...well, not exactly. That is, not if you were in the Waner household that night. Someone was definitely stirring, and that would have been me crawling on all fours from my bed to my bathroom, proceeding to throw up for the seventh time, and then collapsing in a state of feverish exhaustion on my bathroom floor.

My long winter's nap consisted of a series of delirious dreams, if you can call them that, broken up with me either putting on my second hoody or throwing off the multiple blankets and sweatpants depending on which way the fever swung! By no means am I looking for sympathy because I was so happy to be at home for a few days, that I honestly didn't mind spending some time with my head in a toilet - hey, that was MY toilet in MY house!

So here I was, quarantined in my room for two nights and one day sipping on Sprite, and watching my fair share of movies. Outside of Superbad, because no matter what time of year there is always good reason to watch McLovin and crew, I attempted to prepare for Christmas all by my lonesome with Polar Express, Love Actually, and Home Alone. Aside from the aforementioned and probably too graphically described stomach flu, I was full blown with my sinus infection that I had been fighting off for a solid two weeks at school. So picture this: trash can close at hand alongside my bed, Sudafed and cough drops piled on my nightstand, and my Christmas tree that my mom so festively decorates every year when I come home in the corner.

Every winter, countless individuals criticize the NCAA for a variety of reasons related to the bowl season and specifically, the Bowl Championship Series. The criticism for the NCAA is unfounded, however, as the Association has nothing to do with postseason football for Football Bowl Subdivision programs.

On Wednesday, the NCAA received a letter from the individual who runs the Seattle Sports Blog. In his post, the blogger criticizes the NCAA for the numerous corporate advertisements found on the field at each of the bowl games and said the Association "was starting to look like the WWF." It's fine to take issue with the plethora of advertisements on the fields, but the criticism was directed in the wrong place: the NCAA doesn't see a dime from the bowl games or their sponsors.

In his note, the blogger noted that he has thousands of readers, so I am hopeful he will notify them that his letter has been received and the misinformation corrected.

When the outcome of Monday's game between LSU and Ohio State is settled, a national champion will be crowned. But we won't be looking at the Division I football champion - that honor goes to Appalachian State. Monday's winner will be the BCS national champion, not one of the 88 titles handed out by the NCAA each year.

Those magic changes. It's an exciting day for fans of intercollegiate athletics. The NCAA has revamped its Web site (www.ncaa.org) and the new product is online today. The Association has discontinued the print edition of The NCAA News and will now publish articles online in a daily format to keep us all informed about the happenings in intercollegiate athletics. Make sure to sign up for NCAA News Direct, which will put an e-mail in your box (daily or weekly) with the most pressing story updates.

Congratulations Toto. Kansas finished its historic football season on top last night, beating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, 24-21. How about Frank Beamer suspending tailback Brandon Ore for the first quarter after the junior was late to practice? In three quarters of action, Ore ran 23 times for 116 yards and a touchdown. If he had played the opening quarter, would the Hokies have had a better shot at winning? Kudos to Beamer for not allowing his values to be compromised - even for a BCS game.

So long, Frank. After 36 seasons as head football coach at Lycoming, the legendary Frank Girardi has announced his retirement. During his tenure, Girardi compiled a record of 257-97-4 and currently ranks 15th on the NCAA's all-time winningest coaches list. Girardi led Lycoming to 13 Middle Atlantic Conference championships and 11 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Girardi, who has also served as athletics director since 1984, twice led the Warriors to the Division III national championship game.

Tour de Athens. Before the holiday, the Georgia women's basketball team provided bicycles for 20 local children through the Boys & Girls Club of Athens. Each player and manager contacted local individuals and business to raise funds for the bikes.

Hooray Beavers! A few thousand miles west, the Oregon State football team also made the holidays brighter for local Benton County children. Each player donated a portion of his per diem for the Emerald Bowl so that gifts could be purchased for less fortunate children. The Beavers raised nearly $1,500.

Jessica Knox and the Harvard women's basketball team enter Ivy League play at 7-7.

It is 2008--the year I graduate from Harvard. I always knew that this year would come but, somehow, I also thought that it might never get here. In a dream state, I thought maybe I could be in college playing basketball with my friends forever. But alas, the milestone year is here. And with it, just as suddenly, comes my final Ivy League season.

Hopefully the New Year will be better to my team than the holiday season was - the five days after Christmas brought us two close losses and a long day at the Atlanta, Ga. airport.

Last year's New Year brought us outstanding success - 13-1 in the Ivy League and a trip to the NCAA tournament. Might this New Year--having been rung in by a more victorious Harvard women's basketball team (we are currently 7-7)--promise the same success?