Wednesday Morning Dump

- Today's must-read comes from Hoops Weiss of the New York Daily Times. Weiss writes about the public perception of coach Calipari and the fact that despite being vindicated of many possible wrong-doings, coach Cal remains heavily scrutinized.

- Another must-read: Fanhouse has been pumping out some fantastic content lately, and this post is no different. They put together their all-second generation team.

- Gregg Doyel put together just about the best argument I have seen against college athletes getting paid. He makes the obvious points that it is extremely difficult to differentiate between a star and a bench warmer, or between players at a high-major and players at a low-major. But he also makes the excellent point that it is very easy for these kids to line their pockets with some of the money provided by their scholarship. It reminded me of this story by Seth Davis about St. John's. The Johnnies downfall happened to coincide with the construction of new dorms on campus. Once just a commuter school, these dorms greatly reduced the amount of money St. John's was allowed to give players for living expenses, which all could have been pocketed for kids that where New York natives.

- Yesterday we touched on the fact that Indiana had gotten a second verbal commitment from a high school freshman. Here are some updated news and notes on the youngster's game.

- Good read from Mike DeCourcey on Kawhi Leonard. I'll say this about Leonard: if he develops some perimeter skills -- better ballhandling, a mid-range jump shot, improved range -- this kid has 1st round pick written all over him. Also worth reading is Gary Parrish's column on John Henson. We definitely agree with Parrish's assessment that Henson, who will be playing inside this season, is primed for a big year. He's not ready for the league yet -- he needs the weight I've put on in the last year -- but he should be fine at this level.

- Andy Katz gives us his 50 players for the Wooden Award preseason watch list. Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish did as well. From a cursory glance at them, I'd say that Parrish's in the best. Katz left off E'Twaun Moore and Goodman left off Austin Freeman. How? Those guys could end up being all-americans.

- A couple of injuries to take note of: Michigan State's Korie Lucious will be out 2-6 weeks after undergoing surgery on his left knee yesterday afternoon; Stony Brook's Tommy Benton, a 6'5" rebounding machine and potential America East player of the year, dislocated his knee yesterday and could possibly miss the entire season; Duquense head coach Ron Everhart broke his toe when he fell at the Bob Huggins roast.

- Just because the Eric Bledsoe investigation is over doesn't mean we have to stop talking about it. Jerry Tipton, from the Lexington Hearld-Ledger states, amongst other things, that many of Bledsoe's grade books went missing. Coincidence? We'll let you decide.

- The expectations are high for Baylor freshman Perry Jones. But what should we really expect from him in his first year at Baylor?

- A couple recruiting notes: Dorian Finney-Smith is headed to Virginia Tech, while Ky Madden will be announcing his decision today.

- Xavier is getting a fresh set of uniforms and some new amenities at their home arena.

- St. Johns is looking to get back in the mix of potential contenders in the Big East Conference. With Steve Lavin at the helm, and nine seniors on the roster, the Johnnies could be back in the mix.

- A fantastic Q&A session with Northwestern legend Evan Eschmeyer.

- Great story.