Why are you here?

It's football season, you clown, less than two weeks until Rutgers and Louisville and a whole bunch of teams open things next Thursday night. In other words, you should be focusing on football, not basketball. And because most people are, I'm going to take advantage of the situation and sneak away for the next two weeks to clear my last bit of vacation time while hoping like hell Billy Donovan doesn't opt to change jobs.

(That's what happened during my last vacation. It was ruined. Damn you, Billy Donovan!)

Bottom line, I'm temporarily clocking out.

But I promise to return during the first week of September, and by then I should be refreshed, recharged and of proper mind to focus on and write about college basketball for the subsequent eight months, at least. So 'til then, take care. .. and let Dennis Dodd fill your college athletics needs.

Sonny Vaccaro has had a busy summer for a man who didn't run his famed ABCD Camp in New Jersey or Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas. He's continued working on a book, and perhaps you heard about his latest venture. But that hasn't stopped the so-called Godfather of Summer Basketball from focusing on his true passion of the moment, specifically a tour of college campuses during which Vaccaro plans to expose what he routinely calls the hypocrisy of the NCAA.

"I'm not doing it to promote the book or the movie, I'm doing it to ask questions that nobody wants to answer," Vaccaro told me Thursday morning. "I'm doing it to get somebody to answer the questions about the NCAA that I've had in my mind for 40-something years."

Sounds like fireworks.

Vaccaro is speaking at Harvard on Sept. 19, Yale on Sept. 20 and Maryland on Sept. 26. As many as four additional dates are in the works, and Vaccaro said his only goal is for people to forget the messenger -- he fully understands he is a polarizing figure -- and just listen to the message being delivered.

"People can love me or hate me, and that's fine," Vaccaro said. "But I'll be prepared, and the questions I'm going to ask deserve to be answered."

The Big Ten released its conference schedule Tuesday. Naturally, the first thing I wanted to know was the date for one of the true must-see events in college basketball this season, i.e., the game in which Eric Gordon will lead Indiana into Illinois.

It's Feb. 7.

So it looks like I'll be spending the week before Valentine's Day inside the Assembly Hall witnessing Gordon experience anything but hugs and kisses. The Illini fans -- including the Orange Krush student section -- figure to play the role of scorned lover that Thursday night, releasing an unprecedented amount of vitriol on the Indiana freshman who at one time planned to be an Illinois freshman.

Of course, things didn't go quite as planned. Gordon reneged on his commitment to Illinois and signed with Indiana in a move that sent the Illini faithful into a total meltdown and even prompted death threats that I'm confident will return as the date grows closer.

Sounds like perfect material for a column, don't you think?

So book me a flight to Illinois.

Because I'll be there.

And I can't wait.

One of the things I wanted to know while working on this week's column about Mark Fox is whether Luke Babbitt is the Wolf Pack's best recruit in recent years, if not ever. What I found with a little research is how he is indeed, and that it's not even close because Nevada hasn't traditionally signed great prospects despite producing great players.

Both Kirk Snyder and Kevin Pinkney played in the NBA last season.

But neither was a consensus Top 100 recruit.

Both Nick Fazekas and Ramon Sessions were selected in June's NBA Draft.

But neither was a consensus Top 100 recruit.

"The greatest compliment NBA scouts give us is when they say our guys get better while they're here," Fox said. "Guys who may've been under-recruited coming out of high school getting better while they're with us has been a real key. So hopefully it continues, and that success will get us some guys who are ready to step in and play."

Actually, it already has.

His name is Luke Babbitt.

He's one of Scout.com's top 20 recruits in the Class of 2008, a 6-foot-8 forward who will be on campus in time for the 2008-09 season. And so while it's reasonable to expect Nevada to slip a bit this season given four starters from last season's 29-win team are gone, it's difficult to imagine a scenario under which the success won't be sustained for the long term. If the Wolf Pack can win with a bunch of three-star recruits, they should have no issue winning with a roster built around Babbitt, i.e., a true five-star gem and threat to every record Fazekas just set.

Sonny Vaccaro has forever said something big was in the works, and I think having James Gandolfini play him in an HBO series certainly qualifies. Yes, that's the news out of Hollywood, that Gandolfini -- award-winning star of The Sopranos -- is returning to HBO for something called ABCD Camp in which he will portray Vaccaro, the longtime face of summer basketball in the United States.

(The only thing that'll make this news better is if HBO announces ABCD Camp is replacing John From Cincinnati. My fingers are crossed.)

Friday Night Lights' screenwriter David Aaron Cohen will reportedly write ABCD Camp, which will chronicle Vaccaro's legendary youth basketball event that was held annually (until this past July) at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., which, it's worth noting, is only about seven miles from the Bada Bing. And though the project is described as "fiction" I'm betting lots of storylines are close to accurate historical accounts, just with the so-called names and faces changed to protect the guilty.

Either way, this is good news for HBO, great news for Vaccaro and, almost certainly, bad news for the NCAA. So any college basketball fans without the HBO tier of channels should start budgeting for a subscription because this series is probably not to be missed.

One last thing on the issue of text messaging.

Then we'll move along, I promise.

Among the interesting answers delivered by Santa Clara's Kerry Keating and Iowa State assistant T.J. Otzelberger -- a pair of technologically savy, under-40 coaches -- on Thursday night came when I asked whether a prospect had ever asked them to not recruit via text message. Keating said of the 50 prospects he has actively recruited since taking over Santa Clara in April, only one asked to not receive text messages. Otzelberger said none had ever asked him not to text.

"Not one," Otzelberger said. "It's never happened."

Also worth noting is that Keating was the lead assistant at UCLA last season and the point man on the successful recruitment of Gatorade National Player of the Year Kevin Love. And when speaking about the subject last week at David and Dana Pump's coaching clinic, Keating explained how he recruited Love almost exclusively through text message and e-mail.

Why?

Because that's what Love preferred.

So perhaps the NCAA should give him a call and get his thoughts on the subject.

Or, better yet, just send the UCLA freshman a text.

Kansas State's ridiculously talented freshman class just got better.

Sort of.

Because the school announced Thursday that Bill Walker has received a medical redshirt, meaning the 6-foot-6 wing will be listed as a freshman this season after only appearing in six games last season before tearing his ACL. In other words, things are back as they were always supposed to be given how Walker was initially part of the Class of 2007 before he decided to graduate early from high school and enroll at KSU last year, or one year ahead of planned.

"We are pleased that the conference has given Bill this medical redshirt," said first-year KSU coach Frank Martin. "In reality, Bill is still a freshman because he participated in less than 10 practices and played in just six games last season, so he deserves the opportunity. We look forward to getting a healthy Bill Walker back to the floor because he will be a tremendous asset to our basketball team."

The funny thing about this ruling is that it's likely unnecessary.

Assuming Walker -- who averaged 11.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 2006-07 -- recovers properly from the knee surgery performed last January, there isn't a person on this planet who believes the high-level NBA prospect will play college basketball four more years or be a senior in the 2010-11 season. If that happens, something has gone terribly wrong. But either way, Walker will be a freshman on KSU's official roster this season, just like Michael Beasley, Dominique Sutton, Fred Brown and Jacob Pullen, and that, my friends, is probably the most-talented group of freshman in the nation.

Technically, at least.

The Jimmy V Classic matchups were announced Wednesday.

For college basketball fans, the doubleheader probably registers as must-see TV.

The opener is Kansas State vs. Notre Dame. The nightcap is Memphis vs. Southern California. What that means is that on Dec. 4 at Madison Square Garden the top three picks in next year's NBA Draft will be on display, at least according to a pair of prominent draft websites.

1. Derrick Rose (Memphis)

2. Michael Beasley (Kansas State)

3. O.J. Mayo (Southern California)

That's how NBADraft.net has the 2008 NBA Draft projected.

1. O.J. Mayo (Southern California)

2. Michael Beasley (Kansas State)

3. Derrick Rose (Memphis)

That's how DraftExpress.com has the 2008 NBA Draft projected.

So any way you slice it the doubleheader will be a star-studded event providing a glimpse at three stellar freshmen in the most famous arena in the world, and it'll likely be the last time the trio is together in NYC until June, you know, when they each presumably return with agents, nice suits and big smiles.

The wisest part of Ron Wellman's decision to promote Dino Gaudio at Wake Forest was the way he refused to attach the interim tag. For better or worse, Gaudio is now a legitimate ACC coach, one with a five-year contract and all the power Skip Prosser had before him.

In reality, this was the only way to go.

It's a move that shows confidence and stability, and who cares whether it's manufactured or fake? In this business, perception is reality, and the perception of an interim coach is that he's a man fighting for his job, and a man fighting for his job tends to lose credibility with players and prospects.

Take for instance Andy Kennedy, who was slapped with an interim tag when he replaced Bob Huggins at Cincinnati. Though Kennedy did a fabulous job given the circumstances (not to mention all those injuries), he has acknowledged struggling with demanding attention from players once they realized he probably wasn't going to be around the following season, and recruiting on behalf of the school was a hopeless proposition.

"That is the worst-case scenario for a coach to be in," Wellman said at Wednesday's press conference. "What you're saying (by tagging a coach as an interim) is that (he's) a lame duck. ... That was not an option that I was interested in whatsoever."

Smart move, I say.

Which is why the Gaudio era is off to the correct start regardless of how it ultimately ends.

The bracket for this season's Maui Invitational was released Tuesday, and one of the stranger coincidences is that if things go as scripted Marquette and Duke will play in the championship game of a tournament for the second consecutive season.

Last Nov. 21, Marquette beat Duke to win the CBE Classic in Kansas City.

This Nov. 21, the two schools could meet again, this time with the Maui Invitational title at stake.

My guess is it'll happen.

Marquette and Duke are the only schools ranked in CBS SportsLine.com's Preseason Top 25 (and one) scheduled to participate in Maui (Marquette is 10th, Duke 13th), and that's among the reasons the two teams were placed on opposite sides of the bracket.

Considering Tom Crean will have the same roster that beat Duke 73-62 last season, it's reasonable to give the Golden Eagles the edge if the game materializes. But it should be noted that the Blue Devils are 9-0 all-time in Maui, and incoming freshman Kyle Singler is pretty damn good.

I didn't get to it in last week's column because I was too busy injecting Larry King into the debate (note to message board folk: You guys took that part of the column a tad bit too seriously), but Dave Telep actually has a way to fix the growing problem of players decommitting from schools.

His solution?

Eliminate the traditional signing periods.

"We'd be telling college coaches that if they want to take a commitment from a player, then they have to be comfortable signing him to a letter of intent," said Telep, scout.com's national recruiting analyst. "If it's a freshman, it's a freshman. So be it. But if he's signed, he's bound to your program."

In other words, non-binding, verbal pledges would be a thing of the past because if a school genuinely wanted a prospect who genuinely wanted to attend said school, then a national letter of intent would be signed, regardless of whether it was the fall of a recruit's freshman year or summer before his senior year. This, Telep believes, would prevent schools from tendering premature offers and keep prospects from making half-hearted decisions because there would be no turning back without significant penalty.

Under Telep's plan, once a player is signed, he's signed.

That means other schools are prohibited from making contact.

"And," Telep said, "here are the stipulations for getting out of the letter: If you sign when you're a freshman or sophomore, nobody knows if you're going to be admitted to that school. So if you're not admitted to that school, you're out of your letter of intent. If that coach leaves that program, let's be honest, we're not committing to schools, we're committing to coaches, so you're out of your letter of intent. And if a school wants to get out on its end, it can, but it's going to cost them a scholarship."

And that's it. Unless the prospect doesn't qualify or there is a coaching change, the prospect can't renege on his commitment without losing a year of eligibility, and the school can't renege on its commitment without losing one of its 13 scholarships.

Will Telep's proposal ever come to pass?

Doubtful. But if nothing else it's at least nice to see somebody thinking, trying to figure out a way to fix a burgeoning problem.

"This would put some of the focus back on evaluating these guys," Telep said. "It would put the onus back on people making good decisions."

We could all use more of that, no question.

LOS ANGELES -- One of the neat things Indiana basketball has going for it -- besides a preseason top 15 ranking, of course -- is a barnstorming tour featuring its 2007 recruits. The spectacle got under way Thursday night at New Albany (Ind.) High in the first of at least four games to be played in the next week, and the star of the show was -- surprise, surprise -- Eric Gordon.

According to an article by Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star, Gordon led the incoming Indiana recruits with 38 points on 16-of-27 shooting. And while I realize this was merely a glorified pickup game lacking defense against a group of past and present high school players -- the final score was 140-106 -- Gordon's stat line solidifies my prediction from long ago, that even if the heralded prospect isn't the best player in the country next season, he's certainly going to be among the most fun to watch because he shoots it deep and dunks it hard.

For entertainment purposes, that's gold.

"It was fun to get a chance to play with these guys," Gordon told the Star. "We have so much talent and so much athleticism. We just have so many different guys who can score for us, and as people saw tonight, this is a really unselfish group of players."

The Indiana recruits are playing again Friday night, this time at Batesville (Ind.) High.

There were thousands of words written about Skip Prosser's funeral. I read most of them this morning, and they pretty much all relayed the same message, that it was a fitting and deserving memorial for a man universally respected.

"For his staff and family, it was a perfect tribute," Scout.com's Dave Telep, who attended Tuesday's service, told me by phone. "It summed up the life of a guy who, frankly, wasn't appreciated enough because he was one of those guys who transcended the battle lines in college basketball."

That is by far the most-frequently mentioned attribute Prosser possessed, his ability to be liked and respected by everybody. And I cannot stress how unique that is in the business of college basketball, where victories on and off the court seem to create jealousy that in turn creates disdain.

But Prosser was different.

For proof, consider Paul Hewitt's comments to the Winston-Salem Journal.

"They don't come any better than him," said Hewitt, the coach at Georgia Tech. "He was an outstanding person. I thought all the speakers really summed him very well, how friendly a person he was and how he went out of his way to make everybody feel comfortable. ... I told somebody the other day that the thing about Skip is that he's an easy guy to root for."

Those words are noteworthy not because they come from a fellow ACC coach, but because they come from a fellow ACC coach who recently finished on the wrong end of an intense recruiting battle with Prosser, one that featured Al Forouq-Aminu -- perhaps the top prospect in the nation, a 6-foot-8 forward from the state of Georgia -- committing to Wake Forest over Georgia Tech. In other words, if there was anybody who had a reason not to root for Prosser it was Hewitt, but if he had to miss on a prospect Hewitt would rather miss because of a guy like Prosser than because of some of the other reasons coaches sometimes miss.

If there's a lasting memory of Prosser, that should be it.

Even when he was beating you, you respected him.

All coaches should be so lucky.

"I think people left Skip Prosser's funeral asking themselves what they could do to be a better person," Telep said. "It was really, really unbelievable.'