By Mike DeCourcy

updated 3:47 p.m. ET May 3, 2008

Mike DeCourcy

There no longer is such a thing as an offseason in college basketball, nor in any sport, but this is the time when the game goes into sleep mode. Coaches are back from their April recruiting excursions. Most of the significant job openings have been filled. Only a few quality recruits have yet to make their decisions.

So here are some concepts to ponder as we wait for college basketball's next big event -- the June 16 withdrawal deadline for the NBA draft:

Does the ACC need to play 18 games?
Conference athletic directors are considering a proposal to increase the league schedule from 16 games to 18 games -- like the Big Ten, Big East and Pac-10. There is a feeling among some coaches and administrators it might lead to more NCAA Tournament bids for a league recently starved in that department.

The ACC should remember the other leagues didn't switch to 18 for that reason. The Pac-10 did it to preserve a double round-robin format. The other two did it to have more league games for TV purposes.

ACC folks never want to believe this, but it's true: Getting more teams in the tournament requires those teams to win more games. These teams beat ACC opponents last season: Penn State, South Florida, Providence, Missouri, Richmond, Old Dominion. Each finished over 100 in the RPI standings, and yet each beat an ACC opponent that fashioned itself a tournament contender.

The wanna-bes also must close the gap on North Carolina and Duke. The other 10 teams were 3-25 against those two last year. There's no doubting the Blue Devils were excellent -- but does anyone believe they would have dominated like that in the Big East?

Might the NCAA rules committee consider a no-charge zone?
College players have become more adept at flopping all over the court and conning officials into believing they've been steamrolled to the ground. So a no-charge zone would not eliminate that affliction from the college game -- any more than it has the NBA.

But the rules committee is forcing colleges to go to all the trouble to extend their 3-point lines to 20 feet, 9 inches, in the hopes that it would create better spacing on the court and help promote driving to the basket. But wouldn't the two best ways to make that happen be installing an obvious no-charge zone in the basket area and forcing officials to better recognize what is and is not a flop?

Can the Big Ten actually get worse?
The Big Ten placed just four of its 11 teams into the NCAA Tournament -- and one of those, Indiana, has seen its roster implode since the end of the season. Ohio State figures to storm back from an NIT championship to regain an NCAA bid, although it will have to solve concerns at point guard. But which of the other stragglers appears ready to return to the show? Penn State? Illinois? Minnesota? Anyone?

Will we ever see the real Ronald Steele again?
Of all the players who entered the draft, no one needs it more than Steele, who redshirted this season to recover from knee injuries that what could have been an All-America season in 2006-07. Steele can use the competition to knock off whatever rust accumulated. Whether he winds up in some team workouts or at the Orlando pre-draft camp, it won't hurt to get some individual attention to his game. There isn't always a lot of time for coaches to deal with redshirting players as they perform for the scout team. Does anyone deserve a super senior year more than this young man?

Who will play the point at Texas?

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There may be more possible replacements for All-American D.J. Augustin than it seems at first glance. First, A.J. Abrams will be back for his senior year. This draft thing is just an excursion. If it helps his game, terrific, but there is no question he'll be back. Abrams insists he is a point guard. Watching him as a freshman, it was hard to detect that in his game. He played a bit at that spot and did not look genuinely comfortable; he could manage it, but he would not excel in the way he does running off screens as a shooting guard.

The Longhorns played wing Justin Mason at the point frequently in the second half of the season, and he handled it well. He had ballhandling help from Augustin and Abrams, but he finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.28-to-1. He certainly can continue helping out.

The hidden answer could be Dogus (pronounced Dohge) Balbay, a 6-1 prospect from Turkey who sat out his freshman season with a knee injury. He has played internationally at the position for Turkey and was performing well in practice prior to his injury. Might there be enough at the position for the Longhorns still to compete for the national title?

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