Players on teams headed to the NCAA women’s tournament are graduating at a higher rate than those in the men’s field, a study released Tuesday showed.

An annual report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida also found that the graduation gap between white and black players is smaller among women than men.

There were 19 women’s teams that had a 100 percent graduation rate compared to six men’s teams. And 51 women’s teams graduated at least 70 percent of their players compared to 29 men’s teams.

Richard Lapchick, director of the institute, said overall graduation rates for men and women have continued to increase at a similar pace, so the disparity is not that alarming.

“For me, it’s not as worrying as the gap between black and white,” Lapchick said. “The gap between black and white, for me, is a continuation of a historical pattern that dates back to segregation when everybody was not afforded the same opportunities. In this case, women have turned the tables on past inequality and are getting recognized.”

NCAA spokesman Chuck Wynne said the collegiate sports governing body was “extremely proud” of the increasing graduation rates for women but did not address specifics about the gender or racial gaps.

“From baseline to baseline, our game continues to get better even as our student-athletes continue to excel academically,” Wynne said in a statement. “It’s a tribute to our student-athletes and coaches who work so hard to make it happen.”

Looking at just the women’s tournament, the report found that 50 teams graduated at least 70 percent of their white players, but only 40 teams graduated that same percentage of African American players. That makes for a 14 percent gap; the men had a 48 percent disparity in the same category.

Lapchick said the pull of the NBA and international men’s basketball leagues have put the emphasis on playing professionally and have taken the focus away from education.

“There’s that belief that so many men have had since they were boys that they would play in the NBA, Europe or somewhere else professionally,” he said. “There is a culture in men’s sports that focuses on playing professionally. The women’s game has historically had more emphasis on education” because going pro was less of an option.

Jarrod Chin, director of violence prevention and diversity at Northeastern University’s Sport in Society, said the gender gap is a social issue that goes beyond athletics.

“The educational gender gap has been increasing not only in sports, but overall,” Chin said. “We tend to think of women as more book smart, so we value education more with them. Men, unfortunately, we value athleticism more. So we don’t place as much emphasis on education.”

The report measures six-year graduation rates for the freshman classes that entered college from the 1999-2000 through the 2002-03 school years. The report relies on information provided by the NCAA and not federal graduation rates, which don’t account for transfer students.

Unlike the NCAA Women’s Tournament, the WNIT has more trouble with TV coverage. Therefore, local channels are likely to broadcast the games.

View the first round schedule.

Try watching the WNIT online with a satellite tv program on your computer. Using free websites are ok, but they are slow, sluggish and not exactly worth the time.

For March Madness you can get discounts, there’s a $20/off the normal price of $49.99 offered now. You can not only watch the WNIT but also, NIT, NCAA Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournament Online

You Can Download the Software by Clicking Right Here

I missed those things during the year and I am anxious to return to coaching next year, but the traveling I did was something everyone in coaching should get an opportunity to do.

For those “grinding it out,”  Good Luck!

The 2010 WNBA Mock Draft got a lot of you going!  Fantastic comments and debates going back and forth the last 4 days.  ABR has had over 3,500 visits in the last 3+ days!  Thank You!

NCAA Tournament Links:

MEN’S BRACKET

MEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT  at a Glance

MEN’S NIT – DAY ONE PAGE TWO PAGE THREE (WITH CBI info)

WOMEN’S BRACKET

WOMEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT at a Glance

*Not interactive or a “Tournament Challenge”, just a nice printable bracker for each.

AUTO BIDS

BigEast Championship Recap:

BIG EAST

ALL Conference Tournament Results:

ALL RESULTS

Top 25 Results:

TOP 25

AUTO BIDS

ALL Conference Tournament Results:

ALL RESULTS

PRINTABLE VERSION HERE

The 2010 WNBA Draft is just 25 days away.  Many things can happen before then with trades, player movement and free agent signings, but we’ll look at this draft-eligible class and see which college and European stars will be taking their game to the WNBA this summer.

Our Mock draft looks into the current WNBA roster of each team, assess their needs and predicts what college or draft-eligible European pros might best suit those needs and why.

Spending eight years in the WNBA, sitting in on countless draft prep meetings and being involved in seven WNBA Drafts, as well as spending the last four years in the ACC, may not mean I’ll get it right but I’ll take a stab at it.

Let’s look at the First Round:

1           Connecticut Sun            Tina Charles            6-4            C            UConn

This is probably the worst kept secret and prediction in the basketball world right now.  Other than UConn finishing as undefeated National Champions, again.  A big reason for that… Tina Charles.  Charles is without a doubt the clear #1 pick and best overall player in the country.  Charles is tremendously gifted athletically and has a versatile skill set allowing her to play at both the high and low post.

ABR:

Add Tina Charles (6-4) to the Sun’s front line of: Chante Black (6-5), Sandrine Gruda (6-4), Asjha Jones (6-3), DeMya Walker (6-3) and Tamika Whitmore (6-2).  Whoa!… There’s not a better, more experienced core group of versatile posts in the East, perhaps the entire league.  Combine that with the chemistry of acquiring PTG Renee’ Montgomery (former Charles team mate at UConn) with the shooting of Jekabsone-Zogota (39.4% on 3’s) and Tan White (37.7% on 3’s) and Aisha Jones (31.3% on 3’s).  Defenses have a lot of issues to contend with in Connecticut.

2            Minnesota Lynx            Monica Wright            5-10            G            Virginia

ACC Player of the Year, ACC leading scorer, 6^th leading scorer nationally (3^rd All-Time Scorer in ACC History), ACC Defensive Player of the Year.  The accolades go on and on, but what impressed me the most is that she is a humble, wonderful, hard working and confident person.  A true joy to know and coach.  Wright is an explosive guard who gets her own shot, is tremendous in transition, has a killer pull-up and mid-range game and has improved her 3-point range every year.  She’ll fit in perfectly into the Lynx backcourt plans and will grow into a tremendous pro.

ABR:

The backcourt rotation of Lindsay Whalen, Candice Wiggans and Simone Augustus needs an explosive scorer.  I like Hamchétou Maïga-Ba and Kelly Miller, but neither has the explosiveness of Wright.  Look for Wright to be able to be the chameleon in that backcourt, helping at any of the three guard spots.

3            Minnesota Lynx            Alysha Clark            5-10                        F Middle TN State

Did Minnesota say scoring?… Look no further than Alysha Clark.  28.7 PPG, #1 in the Nation, 62.2% FG, 32.7% 3FG add in 11.5 RPG.  And how about this for the month of March… 40, 44, 48 in back-to-back-to-back games.  Are you kidding me?  DANG!  Clark has the ability to create her own shot, finish in transition as well as post up and score on the block against guards or forwards.

ABR:

My only question is if you Minnesota will burn back-to-back first round picks on two wings and pass up on a big or trade a pick for a young veteran player.  It’s not often you are blessed with two picks this high in the same draft.  The 2010 draft is only 4 or 5 impact players deep and Minnesota is potentially setting its’ roster for the next several years.  It may be hard to pass on Appel or Amber Harris with this pick.

4            Chicago Sky            Epiphanny Prince            5-9            G Botas Spor/Rutgers

Prince is tough, a proven leader and scorer and has the skills to be a point or an off guard in the WNBA.  She has experience in the pro game by electing to forego her last season of eligibility at Rutgers and play overseas for Botas Spor.  Prince is good in the pick & roll, has 3-point range, can finish with contact and has the ability to run a team.

ABR:

An underestimated aspect of Epiphanny’s game is her defense.  Coming from Rutgers, she learned to defend from one of the best.   She will defend with a fury and she will be able to lead those around her.  With the guard corps of Dominique Canty, Jia Perkins, K.B. Sharp, Erin Thorn and Kristi Toliver, Prince will have an opportunity to have an immediate impact in the Sky backcourt.

5            San Antonio Silver Stars            Andrea Riley            5-5            PTG Oklahoma State

Can the Silver Stars pass on Jane Appel here?  No one has her going this late.  Yes they can, unless they have a deal in the works were they draft Appel and trade her.  San Antonio has plenty of options and talent at the 4 and 5.  The recent trade the Silver Stars made bringing Michelle Snow to San Antonio allows them to “go off the board” a little with this pick and fill a different need.

ABR:

Riley is a jet-quick PTG, who loves to run and push the ball up the floor and can create open shots for others.  With guards Helen Darling (32 in August), Becky Hammon (just turned 33 March 11^th), *HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!, Roneeka Hodges (28 in July) and Edwige Lawson-Wade (31 in May) can all still play, but this allows the Silver Stars to start setting themselves up for the future as well.

6            Washington Mystics            Jayne Appel            6-4            C            Stanford

The Mystics could use another post player, and one of Appel’s ability would pay immediate dividends to the Mystics.  Opponents in the East will have to guard Appel on the block, leaving guards Matee Ajavon, Alana Beard, Marissa Coleman, Monique Currie and Lindsey Harding with a great deal of room to penetrate, score and kick for open looks.  If you were to tell Julie Plank and GM Angela Taylor Appel would be there at 6… they’d jump for joy.

ABR:

Jane Appel is the real deal.  She is easily talented enough, skilled enough and well respected enough to go anywhere with picks 1 – 5.  The situation of the first five teams needs and some question of just how much better is the already gifted Appel going to get drop her to #6 for me.  More than any other team, this would be a great fit for her.

7            Tulsa Shock            Amber Harris            6-5            4/5                        Xavier

If you are starting a team, as Nolan Richardson is, you look for a PTG and/or a post.  If Andrea Riley (the perfect home-town fit on all fronts for Tulsa) is gone, then the pickings are slim.  The Shock could also use a versatile forward.  Enter Harris.  Harris needs strength to play on the low block in the WNBA, but her perimeter shooting, her ability to drive and her shot blocking make her a nice complement to Kara Braxton (6-6), Taj McWilliams (6-2) and Olayinka Sanni (6-2).

**Amber Harris can elect to return to Xavier for one more season.  Sources say that she and fellow RS-Jr. Tashia Phiilips want to return to help Xavier to win a National Championship.  If they win it all this year (with UConn playing?… not likely) they may both jump to the WNBA this summer.**

ABR TRADE ALERT: Let’s play GM here. Nikki Teasley (PTG 6-0) is a Free Agent and the only true PTG on the roster.  If it’s me, I’m working like mad on three things:  1.) To trade up and pick Riley,  2.)  to sign FA Teasely and 3.)  to also try to sign FA Katie Smith (who has indicated she won’t play in Tulsa).  Couple Smith with the #7 pick and see if we can find another young PTG to run this team and lead a new franchise into the future.  Now Smith doesn’t have to do this. She’s an unrestricted FA, but if she did it might make a better deal for her, the league and everyone involved.  What team is out there that is very close to winning it all?  Who needs a proven champion, leader, scorer and team player like Katie Smith and the #7 pick?  Who also has a PTG worthy of this level trade.  Answer:  Indiana.  The Fever are on the verge of a championship in Indiana, they were so close last year.  Catchings, Smith, Douglas and Sutton-Brown might just get it done for Lin Dunn if this trade happens.  The #7 Pick and Katie Smith to Indiana for Briann January?  January is the PTG of the future in Indiana, but for a potential championship – the future is now.  I don’t know the ins-and-outs of Indiana’s salary cap, that’s for the bigwigs to figure out.  Rumors of the team moving last year means the Fever needs to win it now, not plan for “down the road.”  Even if Indiana has to flip picks and give Tulsa #11 – do it, add Harris or Kelsey Griffin to the Fever with that pick, strengthen your depth and put yourself in a position for a ring!

8            Los Angeles Sparks            Kelsey Griffin            6-2            F            Nebraska

Griffin has destroyed the Big 12, ranked as the Nation’s #1 Women’s Basketball Conference by collegrpi.com She has an extremely high skill level – especially from the high post where she passes, shoots and will rebound the basketball.  The All Big 12 selection is a very good screener and her feel for the game and basketball IQ are exceptional.

ABR:

In Griffin, the Sparks get a tremendous compliment to Vanessa Hayden (C, 6-4) DeLisha Milton-Jones (F, 6-1) Candace Parker (F, 6-4) Tina Thompson (F, 6-2).  There is tremendous size, skill, experience and versatility with this roster.  Candace, Tina and DeLisha could play anywhere at the 2, 3 or 4, with some combination of Shannon Bobbitt, Marie Ferdinand-Harris, Betty Lennox, Ticha Penicheiro with them.  Interesting and dangerous potential in the West for new coach Jen Gillom.

9            Atlanta Dream            Jacinta Monroe            6-5            F                        FSU

Jacinta Monroe can run, defend, rebound, shoot the high post jumper and block shots. The Dream are a guard heavy roster right now with many “Tweeners” playing at the 3 and the 4.  Monroe would give them another athletic, around the basket player that has the ability and skill set to excel in the pro game from the high post.  She could really be a steal at #9 in the long run.

ABR:

Jacinta needs to add strength, consistency and range to her jump shot and has a tendency to disappear in games at times, but she’s long and talented and as she improves overall and establishes that she will work and play hard every game, she can take the place of the recently traded Michelle Snow.

10            Seattle Storm            Allison Hightower            5-10            G           LSU

Hightower brings a tenacious defensive presence to the game along with her offensive capabilities.  Playing for the Hall of Fame and legendary WNBA coach Van Chancellor she will be ready for the expectations that Brian Agler will have for her.  The Storm needs an explosive guard who can score.  Hightower doesn’t need to come in and carry the Storm with Jackson, Sue Bird and Cash but it would help if they can get a player at 10 that can help.  Hightower might just be that player.

ABR:

Hightower’s ability to break down a defense from either wing spot with her drive, pull-up or 3 will continue to improve and develop as she adds strength and experience.  This is a quality player to be available at 10 and one that could find her way on to an opening day roster.

11            Indiana Fever            Danielle McCray            5-11            G/F            Kansas

McCray is perhaps one of the most flexible players available in the draft.  Her versatility allows her to do a little bit of everything. McCray’s ability to shoot the basketball is tremendous and a great asset.  Any team, at any level can always use shooters.  She could add an extra outside presence for Indiana.  When adding to a roster with the 11^th pick, a player who may or may not make it to opening day, the ability to do it with an all around player is a key.  Those type of players, like McCray, can provide depth and play a variety of roles in practice and when preparing for opponents as they develop and adjust to the pro game.

ABR:

McCray’s greatest asset is probably the fact she might be able to be on the “unable to perform list” for 2010.  If she is not fully recovered from her knee injury and if the Fever can draft her, not having to worry about finding a roster spot for her while retaining her rights until 2011, that is a huge plus.

12            Los Angeles Sparks            Alexis Gray-Lawson            5-8            G            Cal

I just want to say Gray-Lawson tore us apart (at Virginia) in the NCAA Tournament in 2009.  She was tremendous.  That made a believer out of me.  This year she received her third All Pac-10 award, averaged 17.5 PPG, while becoming the career leader in 3’s at Cal.  She is a player whose competitive spirit and tenacity are undeniable.  Gray-Lawson gives the Sparks another scoring weapon that can also defend.  The bonus for the league and the Sparks is she played at Cal and is from Oakland.

ABR:

Gray-Lawson is a flat out scorer. She can be streaky from 3 (30.3%), that will need to improve, and is tremendous off the dribble possessing a very good mid-range game.  Gray-Lawson has the ability to take contact and get herself to the free throw line, 171 FTA in 31 games.

There you have it… the 2010 MOCK WNBA Draft.

Let’s hear what you have to say and why.

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS

WOMEN’S CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT RESULTS

As conference, NCAA and NIT/WNIT tournaments get started… this little gem helps us keep it all in perspective.

The Strength of a symbol

When Ross Deutsch read the advertisement, it seemed too good to be true.

For a fee, he could go to Las Vegas with some friends and attend Michael Jordan’s Flight School, essentially a summer camp for basketball-crazed adults. It was a place to live out one’s hardwood fantasies for a few days and receive instruction from NBA and college coaches, Hall of Famers among them.

Mike Krzyzewski and Ross Deutsch first met in 1997 at a basketball camp in Las Vegas.

It was 1997, and Deutsch was working in the financial world in Chicago. He was 36; he had the money and an interested friend; and his wife, Mindy, had no objection. He was certainly passionate about basketball and, as a Chicago native, had a love for all things Michael Jordan. He had three young sons — Rory was the oldest at 6; Robbie and Rickey were younger — but it was for only a few days, and besides, what kid wouldn’t get a kick out of his dad playing hoops for a few days as though he were a star?

A few days later, Ross and his friend David Duckler found themselves in Las Vegas on a Bally’s court. They had just finished a few drills and were attending a makeshift draft where they were to be divided into their teams, selected by the coaches in attendance. Across the court, Duke coach and fellow native Chicagoan Mike Krzyzewski, already a two-time national champion, evaluated Deutsch and Duckler and decided to go local, selecting the two friends for his team.

Neither Deutsch nor Krzyzewski knew at the time that those fortuitous circumstances would mark the beginning of a lifelong friendship, that the two would bond in a way that few men do in adulthood. They were new acquaintances then, player and coach for a few days, but Krzyzewski would soon be supporting Deutsch through something no parent can ever imagine after looking into the eyes of a healthy child at birth.

“There were talks that we would have that you don’t have very much in your life, and for the two people involved, you become brothers,” Krzyzewski said. “There’s no way you don’t have a bond for life.”

The connection began during the first game at the camp. Their team was getting smoked, and when they gathered for a halftime talk, Coach K let them know what he really thought of their performance.

“He ripped us pretty good,” Deutsch said.

“I blew them out like they were my own team,” Krzyzewski said.

It worked. They came back and beat a team coached by Gene Keady and Eddie Sutton. But as soon as the game ended, Krzyzewski felt guilty. This wasn’t really his Duke team. These 35-and-older men had paid thousands of dollars to play, not to get yelled at for 10 minutes. Or had they?

“He starts apologizing to us for getting on us, but we told him, ‘No, that’s what we wanted,’” Deutsch said. “We wanted to be treated like we were Duke players.”

Not everyone at the camp felt the same. In one instance, Deutsch said, Larry Brown was railing at a player when the camper interrupted the Hall of Famer and said, “Coach, I’m just a dentist.”

“We ended up winning the whole thing,” Krzyzewski said. “Ross and I had one of those player-coach relationships.”

“It was at that moment that I knew there was an instant connection of a friendship,” Deutsch said.

Coach K remembers it fondly.

“I saw these guys, and they were like the Jewish Columbos of Highland Park and Skokie,” Krzyzewski said. “We just hit it off. There was enough of an age difference that they could see me as their coach. They were genuine guys. And we won, too. We weren’t supposed to win; [we] had an upset, and it ended up being a cool thing. We ate together and went out a little bit. We got to know each other as people. We found out we were very similar guys, with very similar family and friends, and once those family and friends met each other, it was easy.”

When the camp ended, players and coaches went back to their normal lives and daily routines. Ross went back to Chicago and his family and returned to the financial world. Krzyzewski headed back to Durham, N.C., to coach Duke.

And then Ross and Mindy’s world stopped.

It was February 1998, six months after the camp ended. Deutsch’s 6-year-old son, Rory, had gone to a park district activity class on a Saturday, where he played tennis. On Sunday, he complained that his arm was hurting. Initially, Ross and Mindy weren’t overly concerned. What parents haven’t heard some complaining from their child after physical activity?

The following day, Deutsch came home from work, and as usual, Rory wanted to hang out with him, sit on his lap and work on his computer. He tried to lift his right hand to move the mouse. But it didn’t work. His left wrist went limp, and he couldn’t make a fist. He couldn’t move his wrist without raising his arm.

Ross and Mindy immediately called a friend nearby who was a pediatrician. They were told to bring Rory to the doctor. Rory got a physical exam, and while testing his strength, doctors were concerned enough to call a neurologist. Next stop was Children’s Memorial Hospital. Anxiety, fear and horror were all filling their heads. Various possibilities were being thrown around, from a tumor to a virus to a blockage to a stroke.

Then the brain scan came back.

“It was over these next 40 hours where his symptoms, before our very eyes, the difficulty swallowing or breathing and his right side was dragging,” Ross said, his voice trailing a bit. “The tumor was in the area of the brain stem. It was in the area that controls life’s necessary functions. They did the MRI and explained to us how aggressive a tumor it was.”

The Deutsch family was told the tumor was inoperable. Like an hourglass filled with sand, Rory’s life would begin to slip away, grain by grain.

Rory was diagnosed Feb. 13, 1998, Krzyzewski’s birthday. The occasions aren’t comparable, but the date is burned into Ross’ memory nonetheless. He can’t forget it.

“The problem with many of these illnesses is that they come back, and when they come back, they come back with a vengeance,” Ross said. “You couldn’t radiate at his age and in the location. So we were told to bring him home.”

To this day, Deutsch isn’t sure how Krzyzewski found out about Rory’s illness. Krzyzewski said someone from the camp contacted him to let him know. He called to see what he could do, putting the Deutsches in contact with the Duke Medical Center and Dr. Henry Friedman, a brain tumor specialist, to see whether there was any other treatment. They were told the medical professionals were doing all they could.

Krzyzewski and Deutsch would talk a few times over the next couple of months before Deutsch went into a shell. Rory was in his bedroom, a hospice-like situation. He couldn’t communicate. Mere months after the diagnosis, after Rory had turned 7 years old, he was going to die.

Deutsch sat at Rory’s bedside in an almost catatonic state, watching his firstborn’s life fade away. He wasn’t answering the phone during this time. But one time it rang and, for some reason, he picked it up. It was Krzyzewski.

“He said: ‘Ross, in basketball we define success by winning and losing, but with Rory, with this sickness, you don’t define it with a cure or no cure. The definition will be how you handle it. You have handled the most horrific illness as winners.’ It was a little thing. And it wasn’t like I needed to hear this from Mike Krzyzewski. But it was the perfect thing to hear from him at the perfect time.”

The next day, Ross and Mindy established the Rory David Deutsch Foundation for brain tumor research.

“I think when we started talking, he felt that I would tell him the truth,” Krzyzewski said. “He knew he could be completely honest and forthright and straightforward about everything. It was very emotional stuff. We are really, really close friends.”

Ross didn’t hold back when he would talk to Krzyzewski. If he had to cry, he would let it all out.

“He could show weakness to me, emotion that he couldn’t show as a man to his family because he had to be strong,” Krzyzewski said. “I can remember telling him for us to be strong together. I told him to let it out. I said whatever you need to let it out, let’s get through this together. …

“How do you recover from that? How do you make something positive from that, or does it ruin your life? Ross and Mindy, the way they’ve honored Rory’s life and memory is to keep it alive and talk about it,” Krzyzewski said. “To me it’s beyond belief. I don’t know if I could. I tell him he’s a mensch. He’s a mensch, no question about it.”

“Mensch” means “person” in Yiddish, but the figurative meaning is much deeper. It’s someone you would want to befriend and be with because you feel genuine when you’re in their presence. A mensch is said to make others feel good.

Being with Deutsch, talking to him, going through the hell he had to endure as a friend, and sharing an enriching relationship with him through the foundation has touched Krzyzewski beyond words.

Rory was born March 9, 1991. He died July 22, 1998, five months after his diagnosis.

“It’s the worst thing that a parent can experience — the loss of a child,” Krzyzewski said. “The foundation has become a huge part of the healing process. There still is a healing process.”

For Deutsch, the healing process began with a commitment and a hope to find a cure for brain cancer. Needing a symbol, something to carry with him and show the world who Rory was, he came up with the idea of a pin. Engraved with a picture of Rory with a baseball cap bearing his name, the pin is engraved with the words of the foundation he and Mindy started: “Rory Foundation For Brighter Tomorrows.” They wear it every day.

A month after Rory died, Deutsch, encouraged by Mindy, returned to the Jordan camp in Las Vegas and reconnected with Krzyzewski. He would return every year until 2004, playing for Krzyzewski three times and actually serving as an assistant coach in ‘04 after a hamstring injury prevented him from playing.

In August 2001, Mindy and Ross were having dinner with Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski at a restaurant in Las Vegas when Coach K told Ross he wanted to do something to honor Rory’s memory. With the help of the Krzyzewskis’ daughter Debbie, they planned a fundraising event in Chicago at the Standard Club. On Oct. 4, 2002, 400 people attended the charity dinner to hear Krzyzewski speak.

At the conclusion of his speech, Coach K held up the pin that Deutsch had given him and talked about pride and what it meant to be a part of something bigger than you. To achieve that, he said, you need something symbolic.

Coach K always has Rory's pin on his lapel while he coaches.

“It needs a uniform, it needs a letter jacket, it needs something,” Krzyzewski said during his speech. “What I’m going to do is something very symbolic and I’m not going to tell the press about it or anything else. What I would like to do and what I’m going to do, and we get on TV more often a lot or more than ‘Friends,’ or whatever. I’m not saying anything about it, except my team will know. If you turn the game on for even one minute — and they show the sidelines for every game we play — I’m going to have on my lapel Rory’s pin.”

For the first time since the fundraiser in Chicago, Krzyzewski and Deutsch agreed to talk about the pin. Since its inception in 1998, Rory’s foundation has raised roughly $7 million, according to Deutsch, without any corporate sponsorship. It has no salaried employees and operates solely through the generosity of its volunteers. There is no plan to change that.

Ross and Mindy also serve on the advisory board of directors for the brain center at Duke Medical Center and are involved in causes close to the Krzyzewskis, such as the Emily Krzyzewski Center in Durham, an organization named after Coach K’s mother that is dedicated to inspiring economically disadvantaged students in the area.

Rory would have been a freshman in college this year. Deutsch has become a coach himself, serving as an assistant for the past eight years at Highland Park, a high school in a North Chicago suburb. He recently took his two sons, Robbie, now 17, and Rickey, now 14, to Durham for the Virginia Tech game. Ross and Mindy also have two girls — 10-year-old Reggi and 8-year-old Roxie Cameron, who is named after Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“I can’t say enough about Mike and Mickie’s friendship and love,” Deutsch said. “I was 36, and he was 50. It was 13 years ago. You don’t think that you’re going to make new friends at a certain age. We all face our own adversity at some point, and to me what will define you is how you respond. From that moment, Mindy and I decided we were going to do whatever we could. No family should have to hear those words: ‘Your son has a brain tumor and a very, very bad one.’ As long as we’re able, as long as we’re able to dedicate support and research, we will. There are people now who know Rory, who never knew Rory.”

Krzyzewski won another national title in 2001, his third. His team won Olympic gold in 2008 in Beijing. But he swears that he found better perspective in life after Rory’s death and the experience with Deutsch.

“That’s why I wear the pin on my jacket,” Krzyzewski said. “I’ve worn it every game since because I’m proud of it. It puts the game in perspective. How can a game ever be that difficult? It can’t ever be more difficult than what the Deutsch team went through. Wearing this pin is one of those things that makes you feel good about being a human being.”

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. The Rory David Deutsch Foundation can be visited here.

Here’s Charlie’s latest projection through games as of Feb. 21.  Scroll over a team name for more analysis. Records reflect Division I competition only.

Automatic bids are in CAPS.

This is the absolute best time of the year for talking basketball with everyone.

Bids by Conference is going to make some people edgy…

• Big 12 (8)
• ACC (7)
• Big East (7)
• SEC (6)
• Big Ten (3)
• Atlantic 10 (3)
• Pac-10 (3)
• America East (2)
• Sun Belt (2)
• Colonial (2)

I love the ACC, was part of it for 4 years.  It is arguably one of the Top 2 Conferences in the country year after year… but, 7 bids is high!  I say 5.  UNC and Maryland are all questions and NC State is on the cusp.  Each of those teams are currently 5-7 or 6-6 in the ACC.  If you allow all of them in, how then do you say no to Wake Forest and maybe Boston College?  Both are either 5-7 or 6-6 and Wake Forest is a head of UNC and Maryland in the ACC standings.  don’t go to the RPI and Strength of Schedule… it’s all comparable.

Why not give the Atlantic 10, Colonial or Mountain West a 4th, 3rd or 2nd team in, respectively.   Maybe give one or two of the MAAC, MAC, America East or Missouri Valley and 2nd team in.

Everyone screams for more parity in Women’s Basketball.  You can’t have parity if the Top 5 Conferences hold 31 of the 64 spots in the NCAA tournament every year.  Those coaches will never be able to consistently convince (recruit) top prospects to play in conferences where only one team goes to the NCAA’s year in and year out.

We’ll see…