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The Morning Mix

Syracuse v Georgetown

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 9: Head coach Jim Boeheim of the Syracuse Orange reacts to a call during a college basketball game against the Georgetown Hoyas on March 9, 2013 at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Hoyas won 61-39. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

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Today is the day.

There are 365 days in a year. Today is No. 1 of 365.

Carpe Diem.

Read of the Day:
According to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, Syracuse received a notice of preliminary inquiry from the NCAA. This could be huge. Apparently a probe of the program has been going on for years. (CBS Sports)

Observations & Insight:
- The new Big East became official yesterday. (New Jersey Star-Ledger)

- This is the second year in a row that Syracuse will enter the NCAA tournament under a significant cloud of controversy. (Syracuse Post-Standard)

- A good-read on Cinderella teams and “Survive and Advance” (Fayetteville Observer)

- Drew Cannon has a very unique position with the Butler Bulldogs. The graduate student’s sole responsibility is to track and analyze the Bulldogs’ advanced statistics. It’s fascinating stuff, and Butler is one of the only programs in the country that has a guy like Cannon. That’s because head coach Brad Stevens is a big believer in advanced statistics. Not all coaches are. But then again, not all coaches are Brad Stevens, either. (Sports Illustrated)

- Luke Winn’s Power Rankings for tournament teams ranked No.11-seed and up. (Sports Illustrated)

- Butler is joining the Big East. Think about that for a second. Think back to a decade ago. What did you know about Butler in 2003? Probably not very much. But thanks to kid-genius Brad Stevens, the Butler Bulldogs are joining one of the most prestigious athletic conferences in the country. I’m not sure there is another coach out there that has done as much for his university in the first five years as Stevens has done for Butler. (ESPN)

- UNLV freshman Anthony Bennett is still undecided about his NBA draft future. The Runnin’ Rebels performance in the NCAA tournament should have an impact on his decision. (Mercury News)

- Meet Sim Bhullar. He’s the center for New Mexico State. He';s 7-foot-5 and weighs 340 pounds. He’s the largest player in D-I hoops, and he’s just a freshman. Oh, and he’s really good too. (The Dagger)

Odds & Ends:
- The 12 biggest reason why everybody hates Duke. Number two is brilliant. (USA Today)

- Yeah, this type of rivalry isn’t exactly something you could plan in advance. (WISH-TV8)

- The bland, monotonous tournament courts need a face lift. A drastic face lift. Matt Norlander has some ideas for change. (Eye on College Basketball)

- A Syracuse fan wants Seth Davis fired because he picked Montana to eliminate the orange. Oh that’s rich. (Syracuse Post-Standard)

- Wichita State forward Carl Hall was known for his trademark dreadlocks. He was supposed to be next in a growing line of dreadlock’d bangers (Kenneth Faried and Jae Crowder his predecessors). But alas, it was not meant to be, as the senior decided to shave his head in advance of the Shockers second round match-up against Pittsburgh. (Wichita Eagle)

- This is probably the best map of NCAA fandom we will ever see, and it’s from Facebook. (Deadspin)

- A Syracuse violation dartboard. Awesome. (The UConn Blog)

- This bares repeating: the wife of FGCU head coach Andy Enfield is really, really, really, really hot. Like, supermodel-hot. (Busted Coverage)

Hoops Housekeeping:
- Julius Randle verbally committed to Kentucky yesterday. If Poythress, Goodwin and Cauley-Stein come back for sophomore seasons, Kentucky is going to be LOADED. (SNY.tv)

- A controversial recruit rule change will be reviewed in May before a final decision is made. (ESPN)

- Steve Alford agreed to a new 10-year contract to remain head coach at New Mexico. (Albuquerque Journal)

- The Mountain West Conference has agreed in principle to a seven-year TV rights deal with ESPN. (ESPN)

- Chattanooga has fired head coach John Schulman after nine years of service. (Eye on College Basketball)

Video of the Day:
This is hysterical. Absolutely hysterical.

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