With the graduation of Roy Hibbert and Patrick Ewing, Jr., no player stood to benefit more than Vernon Macklin. The sophomore power forward would likely pick-up a lot more minutes. With two years of the John Thompson III's Princeton Offense under his belt, he would have an edge in knowledge and experience over the incoming, talented front court players of Greg Monroe, Chris Braswell and Henry Sims.

Instead, the former McDonald's All-American has made a very curious decision. He's transferring. There's no indication where, but it has to be assumed that he will be staying in Division I and will have to sit out next year.

Macklin showed flashes this season of his potential but wasn't consistent. The decision for the transfer apparently had to do with Macklin feeling that he should be more of the focus of the team.

Rather, Macklin's decision was based on the advice of those inside his circle but outside the program that his growth as a player was being stunted at Georgetown.

Said the source: "Ticket [Macklin's nickname] chose to listen to what he wanted to hear from some folks outside the program, rather than what he needed to hear from those within it. When expectations don't meet reality, the hardest thing to do is point the finger at yourself."

When Macklin picked Georgetown, it was over ACC schools: UNC, Georgia Tech, Maryland and Wake Forest. Expect a few of them to make a play for Macklin. As will Nebraska.

Here's Georgetown's Patrick Ewing Jr. at Thursday night's college basketball dunk contest in San Antonio:

Amazingly, that behind-the-back dunk didn't even get Ewing past the first round of the competition, as his first dunk was incredibly weak. Arkansas senior Sonny Weems won the title. You can see Weems' between-the-legs dunk (which in my view isn't nearly as good as Ewing's) after the jump.

Watch the highlights of Davidson's 74-70 victory over Georgetown yesterday, and one player stands out:

Yes, of course, it's Davidson guard Stephen Curry, who is the unquestioned star of the first two rounds of this year's NCAA Tournament, and who may be emerging as the biggest star of college basketball. Curry is the man everyone is talking about this morning.

The only question that still hasn't been answered satisfactorily is how on earth none of the ACC schools Curry wanted to attend picked up on him. It's the same question people were asking at this time last year. The answer, I guess, is just that recruiting is an inexact science, and on this one, the coaches in ACC country screwed up.

Davidson eliminated Georgetown from the NCAA Tournament yesterday in large part because Georgetown center Roy Hibbert fouled out after playing just 16 minutes.

On ESPN Radio this morning, Dick Vitale made an impassioned plea for a rule change that would keep that from happening: Vitale wants the NCAA to get rid of the rule that says a player is disqualified from the game after five fouls. Here's what Vitale said:

"I really think basketball, we're the only sport where a player is penalized, and put out of a game with a whistle. And you take your star player who you prepare all week with, you work, you develop your offensive, defensive schemes, all of a sudden, boom boom, two fouls, he's out of the game.

"Hibbert played 16 minutes in the game. Vital player for Georgetown. I'd like to see a rule where a player can stay on the floor, at the coach's discretion, and every foul after the fifth is two shots and the basketball if he fouls, you get two shots and the basketball. ... Think about it. Basketball is the only sport where a guy is disqualified because a guy blowing a whistle controls the whole scenario."

I dunno. The rule that says players foul out after five (or six) fouls is so ingrained in the way I think of the game of basketball that I feel like there must be some good reason not to get rid of it. I wouldn't mind seeing some teams experiment with this rule in early-season games, but I'm not convinced that we want to eliminate something as fundamental as fouling out.

When the seedings were announced for the NCAA tournament on Sunday, there was a scramble for the next level of seedings. No, not the N.I.T. or College Basketball Invitational ... but the hotels which will host each of the eight teams in the site.

Take Raleigh, for example, which hosts games of Friday and Sunday. The East's top seed North Carolina gets to stay at the Embassy Suites in nearby Cary, NC (by the way, it is just a 20-mile ride from UNC's campus to the game). Georgetown, the #2 seed in the Midwest will be at a Sheraton in Raleigh.

#16 seed Mount St. Mary's gets a Holiday Inn near the NC State campus. #15 seed Maryland-Baltimore County gets a Holiday Inn near a mall.

The director of sales and marketing for the Holiday Inn Brownstone has no problem with his hotel's low-seeded status.

"We know our place in the community," Kevin Johnson said. "We're not a four-star hotel, but there were probably 20 hotels who put in for this. So we look at it as a 'glass half-full' situation."

I guess.

Georgetown's DaJuan Summers, Connecticut's Jeff Adrien, Xavier's Drew Lavender, Tennessee's Chris Lofton, Kansas's Brandon Rush and UCLA's Kevin Love are all on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, with subscribers and newsstands in each region of the country getting the cover that will generate the most local interest.

For local fans, it's cool to see your own favorite player on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and for the players themselves, it has to be an incredibly thrilling experience to see themselves there. But something about this practice -- which Sports Illustrated has done before -- rubs me the wrong way.

In the old days of the magazine, there was always something special about the Sports Illustrated cover: It signified that this person was the athlete that we should care about. It was like all American sports fans could share in a national conversation about this one particular person. When we learn that Michael Jordan has been on the most covers, followed by Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Jack Nicklaus, we feel like we know how often those athletes have been at the center of the national sports conversation. When the covers are split up and regionalized, they feel cheapened.

And, of course, there's also the issue of the cover jinx. With six different teams getting the cover treatment, how do we know which one not to put in the Final Four in our office pools?

Georgetown had looked really, really good heading into the Big East Tournament Championship game. They dominated and seemed to be doing everything right. They were the #1 seed in the BET and the Hoyas had never lost a game when seeded first.

Pitt was coming into this game having been there 6 of the previous 7 times. Yet, with only 1 time getting over the hump and winning the whole thing. Pitt also had to play an extra game since they were a 7th seed. Only Syracuse in 2006 had won the BET after playing 4 games (beating Pitt who also had to play 4 games).

The Hoyas jumped out quickly. Taking a 6-0 lead as Pitt turned the ball over twice and put up a single wild shot. Georgetown was hitting their 3s early and it looked like they were going to keep Pitt from even having a chance. Pitt regrouped quickly, though, and kept it close. Pitt was simply more active on the glass. Completely dominating in rebounds.

Georgetown ended the season on a 5 game winning streak, but hardly seemed impressive. Despite the wins at Marquette and over Louisville to win the Big East Regular Season Championship, they hardly seemed like the top team in the Big East. They were just eking out wins.

Now they are playing in the Big East Tournament and just blowing out opponents. Villanova and West Virginia, two teams that lost by a total of 3 points and with controversial (no-)calls at the end of both games. Georgetown dismantled both of them by a combined 36 points. The Mountaineers were dispatched tonight 72-55.

Against Villanova it was bombing them into oblivion from the 3-point line. Tonight with the Mountaineers, it was going inside, attacking the basket, and letting Roy Hibbert wreak havoc inside. The defense in both games was outstanding.

I don't think they just turned it on in the Big East Tournament, but they have seemed to regrouped and rediscovered something. Their attitude and mannerisms are much more aggressive and attacking.

Going into the Big East Tournament, there were two historical themes. Georgetown has never lost a single game -- ever -- in the Big East Tournament as the #1 seed. The other being that only once in the 27 years of the Big East Tournament has a team won the BET playing 4 games in 4 days.

After Thursday's action, Georgetown looks like it is in great shape based on those two trends. The Hoyas are the #1 seed in the BET. They are also the only team that didn't play on Wednesday that will play on Friday. The 2, 3 and 4 seeds all lost on Thursday.

Georgetown actually blew an 11 point halftime lead against Villanova, before exploding late to crush Villanova 82-63. Villanova falls back on the bubble with a bad, ugly loss. Georgetown won going away despite Roy Hibbert finishing with 0 points and only 4 rebounds. Hibbert was saddled with foul troubles the whole game, and only played 14 minutes. Georgetown won big because they were unstoppable on the perimeter. They shot 17-28 on 3 point shots. Mind-boggling to watch.

I complained about it last year, so I'll spare everyone the rant on how the Big East pretty much puts everyone on their All-Big East squads. Seriously? 11 players on the 1st team, 10 on the 2nd team, and there was still a need for 5 more on "honorable mention?

Fine. Here's my All-Big East team with an eye to a real team:

• A.J. Price, Guard, UConn
• Kyle McAlarney, Guard, Notre Dame
• Roy Hibbert, Center, Georgetown
• David Padgett, Forward, Louisville
• Luke Harangody, Forward, Notre Dame

I feel somewhat guilty for not having a small forward on the squad, so what the heck, let's add a 6th:

• Sam Young, Forward, Pitt

As for an All-Big East rookie squad, again it isn't too hard to limit it to just five:

• DeJuan Blair, C-F, Pitt
• Donte' Green, F, Syracuse
• Austin Freeman, F, Georgetown
• Dominique Jones, G, South Florida
• Jonny Flynn, G, Syracuse

The Big East individual awards had little that surprised. And little to disagree -- though I do on "Coach of the Year." The awards below are my views on it, with a couple other awards added.