Should Mike D'Antoni and the Suns soon part company, his name will be added to Cuban's short list that ultimately may include Pitino. I've been told he'd consider leaving Louisville for a third NBA chance, but the team would have to be in relatively good roster shape.

I don't know; the thought of coaching Erick Damper (11M/$12M/$13M) for the next three seasons might be a turn-off. It's not as if he can be traded. I doubt Cuban could package Dampier with Microsoft and get a good deal.

Where to start in breaking this apart. First, this is from Peter Vecsey. Two, it's not a rumor that the Mavs want Pitino, it's that Pitino might want the job. Does that even amount to a rumor? Of course, Greg Doyel at Sportsline is also saying that Pitino might be interested.

That still only makes it one way interest. I don't see Cuban and Donnie Nelson going to Pitino. Especially since they won't have any interest in letting Pitino have much say in the roster.

He hasn't hired an agent, still is attending classes at the University of Louisville and sends coach Rick Pitino text messages almost every day. Advertisement

But Pitino said yesterday that it's in the best interests of both Caracter and the program for the enigmatic 6-foot-9 center to move on.

"My plan is to see him get on to the NBA or get on to Europe and get on with his life," Pitino said. "He has a change of heart right now, but he's had two years to show he wants to be a student, he's had two years to show he wants to be an integral part of college life, and he has not shown that."

"That is nice rhetoric, but it is zero rhetoric in my opinion," Pitino said. "I think that Earl is bent on it. He's going pro. Trust me on that one.

"I'm not in agreement with it, but it's sort of like your son or your daughter. You don't approve of the person they are going to marry because you see all the blemishes and all of the future problems. They don't see it. They get married, and you hope it turns out to be a good marriage."

Ever since the ACC took Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College from the Big East, the conferences have had a strained relationship.

Since then, the Big East has had the better of the deal. From a football standpoint, the ACC have actually suffered (though has a conference title game) while the Big East has had teams in the BCS Championship hunt.

Same thing has kinda happened in basketball. UNC's win over Louisville last night in the Elite Eight ended a tough losing streak the ACC was suffering against the Big East.

In the 2008 tournament, both Clemson and Duke were ousted by Big East teams (Villanova and West Virginia, respectively). In both games, the ACC team was better seeded team.

In the 2007 tournament, both Boston College and North Carolina were eliminated by Georgetown in the only meetings the two conferences had in the dance.

In 2006, the conferences met once in the tournament: Villanova beat Boston College.

The last time that the ACC beat a Big East team in the NCAA tournament was back in 2005 when North Carolina beat Villanova in the Sweet 16. Since then, the Big East had won five straight tournament games in the series.

Tyler Hansbrough helped fend off a Louisville rally by scoring 28 points and grabbing 13 boards in North Carolina's win over Louisville, 83-73.

The East Regional Final matchup was like watching two games in one.

In the first half, Louisville pressed the Tar Heels which led to a ton of easy baskets. UNC simply threw over the press and beat the defense back for layups. When they did have to play a halfcourt game, Carolina could shoot anything they wanted because they dominated the offensive glass. Danny Green and Wayne Ellington were awesome, scoring a combined 20 points.

UNC went into the break up 44-32.

The second half was much different. The Cards made a great adjustment of having David Padgett (who Roy Williams successfully recruited to Kansas) at the high post and running screens off him. He found cutters open for layups and/or created a foul on the Heels. It also kept Carolina's big men away from the basket and Louisville found some offensive boards.

One of the underlying stories of the Louisville-UNC game today is a beef between coaches Rick Pitino and Roy Williams. The two are among the greatest coaches in basketball and have taken multiple programs to the Final Four.

However, a game in 1989 became a sore spot between the two.

That's when Williams was in his second year at Kansas and Pitino was in his first year at Kentucky. They met in Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse and it wasn't pretty. Kansas won 150-95.

Jeff Gueldner, who played guard for Kansas, said multiple people told him Pitino flashed his middle finger when Williams asked about backing off.

Chris Cameron, who was Pitino's sports information director at the time, remembers Pitino throwing a towel. Cameron said Pitino vowed during his postgame news conference that he would never schedule Kansas again.

Here are just some little tidbits about the Elite 8, which begins tonight:

Of the eight games that comprised the Sweet 16, only one was close in any way. That would be Xavier's overtime win over West Virginia. And the Muskies blew an 18-point lead in that one.

Sure, Western Kentucky made a mad dash to get back into the game against UCLA, but the Bruins then went away.

Every other game was won by double figures with each of the winning teams holding at least a 19 point lead at one point.

• North Carolina won by 21 (and had a 26 point lead)
• Texas won by 20 (had a 23-pt lead)
• Louisville won by 19
• Memphis won by 18 (had a 34-pt lead)
• Davidson won by 17 (had a 21-pt lead)
• Kansas won by 15 (had a 21-pt lead)
• UCLA won by 10 (had a 21-pt halftime lead)

Well, Louisville coach Rick Pitino ... with his own national championhip and five Final Fours ... disagrees with Ol' Roy.

"Tell Roy to get on a plane for the first time and let's play the game at Freedom Hall," Pitino said. "Or let's go to Lexington and play it at Rupp [Arena]."

"I don't think it's a homecourt advantage," Pitino said. "I think those are mostly mannequins dressed in powder blue."

Pitino did qualify his comments.

"It's a very strong homecourt advantage but they deserve it because they're the No. 1-ranked team in the country," he said.

He's right. It is a huge advantage and not because ... as all these analysts have been saying ... Charlotte is just two hours away from Chapel Hill. Anyone who knows anything about North Carolina knows that there are more Tar Heels fans in Charlotte than there are in Chapel Hill.

"Sometimes it's just best you take your game another way," Caracter said. "I don't want to bring a distraction to the team."

"Derrick Caracter has always been about Derrick Caracter. He doesn't care about his teammates or his school. Derrick could care less about the other players on his team."