George Mason on Saturday hired former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt to replace Jim Larranaga, who left this month for the University of Miami, according to Yahoo! Sports.

“Both are very good coaches,” George Mason AD Tom O’Connor said. “We were glad to have Jim, and we’re proud to have Paul.”

Kentucky coach John Calipari is organizing a "first-of-its-kind" combine for his draft-eligible players to participate in.

The Kentucky Combine, as Calipari is calling it, will allow Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones,DeAndre Liggins and senior Josh Harrellson an opportunity to work out with NBA personnel, and every NBA team has been invited to the Kentucky campus next week to attend the event. Two days of private workouts are scheduled with accompanying one-on-one interviews with the players after they attend classes.

"My hope is this will allow our players to get direct feedback from NBA decision-makers and hopefully create a clearer picture of what their NBA potential may be," Calipari said in a statement. "Instead of us telling them what we are hearing, they can hear directly from the clubs."

Stanford junior guard Jeremy Green has made himself available for the June 23 NBA draft but will not hire an agent at this time in order to maintain his college eligibility, coach Johnny Dawkins said Thursday.

Underclassmen have until May 8 to withdraw from the draft and maintain their NCAA eligibility.

The NCAA’s Board of Directors adopted changes Thursday that will significantly impact the amount of time college basketball players have to decide whether to stay in the NBA draft.

Under the new rule, college basketball players must decide before the first day of the spring signing period, typically mid-April, to pull out of the draft and retain their college eligibility.

This year, players have until May 8 to withdraw from the draft.

“For players, I just don’t see how that helps them a whole lot,” Butlerforward Matt Howard said Thursday during a shootaround at Hinkle Fieldhouse. “It almost makes it pointless to put your name out and not sign with an agent.”

The legislation wasn’t intended to help players.

Coaches wanted the earlier date so they could find replacements for those making an early jump to the NBA.

On April 15, an undisclosed UCLA alumni decided to auction off one of the coolest and therefore most expensive pieces of memorabilia in Bruins history. The object at hand is th eclassic powder-blue UCLA center circle from the original Pauley Pavilion floor, the nexus of the John Wooden era.

It's as iconic as college hoops collector's items come, and that's why, according to SCP Auctions, the bidding for the center circle had already reached $94,948 by Tuesday afternoon.

The signatures of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Wooden himself certainly aren't hurting the value.

While speaking at the Senate Chamber during Husky Day about this past season and then his future, Jim Calhoun said Wednesday, "I haven't made my mind up about anything of that nature, but [players] will be in good hands no matter what."

Calhoun later said he has no timetable for a decision on whether to return for the 2011-12 season, which would be his 40th season in Division I and 26th at UConn.

"There's no rush," he said. "Last year I had to rush. This year, I don't have to rush. The minute the horn went off and we won the national championship, I had to find out what is best for me, where I feel most comfortable and if I wasn't coaching,what I would do."

Georgia coach Mark Fox has received a $400,000 raise and a one-year extension after taking the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament this season.

Georgia’s athletic board announced on Thursday that Fox will receive a raise from $1.3M to $1.7M and his contract has been extended through the 2016 season, according to an Associated Press report.

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is backing out of an agreement to coach the Puerto Rico national team in preparation for the 2011 pre-Olympic qualifying tournament because of scheduling conflicts, the school announced Wednesday morning.

"Too many conflicts arose," Pitino said. "It is a great disappointment that we cannot take on the challenge to help them qualify for the Olympics."

One issue, according to Louisville officials, is that Pitino had hoped to take the Cardinals with him to Puerto Rico on a preseason "foreign" trip so that he could work with them while also working with the Puerto Rico national team, but the NCAA declined to OK that plan because Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari confirmed Tuesday that he has been asked to coach the Dominican Republic's national team and that he is considering taking the additional role.

"Now that our season is over, I can give proper attention to other things, such as this," Calipari said in a statement on his Web site.

"They liked what we are doing in China, including coaching their coaches and being involved in promoting grassroots basketball. Not only would I help train coaches in the Dominican Republic and here in Lexington like we have with the Chinese coaches, but I would also coach their national team."

Calipari said the commitment to the national team would run mainly from the start of August through mid-September.

College basketball attendance across the three divisions has decreased slightly to 32.8 million.

The NCAA announced Tuesday that it still ranks No. 5 all-time.

Division I schools drew 27.6 million fans, an increase of more than 86,000 over the previous season.

Kentucky led the nation in average home attendance for the 15th time in 16 years. The Wildcats averaged 23,603. Syracuse was second at 22,312.

For the 35th consecutive year, the Big Ten led all conferences in home attendance with 2.4 million.