Given Montgomery's 18-year tenure at Stanford, however, he should now be at the top of every athletic director's list.

I'm still processing schedules and so will before commenting do some major cribbing from Rivals.com's Andrew Skwara.

Circle the Dates

Many of the big games had already been revealed months ago, but when the ACC released its full schedule last week there were still some interesting dates to note:

Nov. 7: Maryland plays the first game of any team on Nov. 7 by hosting Hampton as part of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. The Terrapins will have played three games before North Carolina begins its season by hosting Sacred Heart in the NIT Tip-off in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 14.

Nov: 14 Matt Doherty makes his return to the ACC as SMU's coach when the Mustangs travel to Florida State for the start of the Colonial Classic.

Nov. 24 Florida State, which narrowly missed out on an NCAA Tournament bid last season because of a weak non-conference schedule, begins what may be the toughest three-game stretch of any team in the nation when they travel to Pittsburgh. Next up is a trip to Wisconsin, which has lost five home games in the last five years, for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 28. That is followed by a visit from defending national champ Florida on Dec. 3. The Panthers, Badgers and Gators are all expected to be in the preseason top 10.

Dec. 9: George Mason is back in the limelight. The Patriots travels to Duke for a nationally televised game. With only one of five starters returning from the mid-major Cinderella that made the remarkable run to the 2006 Final Four, this could get ugly in a hurry.

Dec. 28 American coach Jeff Jones makes his return to Charlottesville to face Virginia in the new John Paul Jones arena. Jones played at UVa from 1979-1982 and coached there from 1991-1999. He led the Cavaliers to the Elite Eight and a share of their first ACC regular-season crown in 12 years in 1995.

Dec. 29 Wake Forest and Florida State both try and gain an edge over the rest of the league when they play at the St. Pete Times Forum, site of the 2007 ACC Tournament. The Deacons face South Florida and the Seminoles will play Providence.

Jan. 27 Sandwiched right in the thick of the ACC schedule, North Carolina will travel to Arizona. The road trip is part of a brutal non-conference schedule for the Heels, who also face Ohio State (Nov. 29) and Kentucky (Dec. 2).

The University of Toledo men's basketball program is looking to hire two student assistants for the upcoming 2006-07 season.

Individuals must be organized and are required to be at all home games as well as travel to all away games. Duties for student assistants include the following: participating in various practice drills, videotaping, scoreboard operation, mailing out recruiting information in addition to many other tasks.

This position is a great opportunity for someone looking to pursue a career in coaching or athletics in general.

If interested, please contact assistant coach Mark Vanderslice at 419-530-2527.

Father Knows Best: Kevin Kruger is leaving the 'bright lights' of Tempe for Las Vegas. Thanks to Proposal 2005-54, the fifth-year senior is eligible to transfer to UNLV -- where his pop, Lon, currently coaches -- because he earned his undergraduate degree in four years and has one year left of eligibility. Kruger last year averaged a team-high 15.0 points and a school-record 38.96 minutes per game. He is a significant pick-up for Nevada-Las Vegas -- and a significant loss for Herb Sendek at Arizona State.

Family ties notwithstanding, however, Kruger's transfer illustrates the downside to the new rule. As Gregg Doyel wrote last May, Proposal 2005-54 encourages free agency in college basketball. Not only is Kruger able to leave Arizona State, but Gary Neal could have departed Towson (he opted against so doing), and Taylor Coppenrath could have ditched Vermont. In short, the rule enables talented fifth-year seniors at mid-major schools to transfer to larger programs for extra exposure. It also encourages players at high-major programs to transfer to more competitive high-major programs, in the hope of securing an NCAA Championship. (Consider, for example, many an NBA player's desire to sign his next contract with a championship contender).

Read Only: Am I the only one who believes it is only a matter of time until the NCAA limits the number of text messages coaches can send recruits?

Lator, Gator: Does Kentucky really have lower academic standards than Florida? Seems so. Gators recruit Doneal Mack is unlikely to qualify for Billy Donovan, but should be able to suit up this season for Tubby Smith. Good for the Wildcats. But it should never have come to this at Kentucky. One of the few - perhaps the only - legitimate criticism leveled at Tubby is his (relative) inability to recruit quality talent to Lexington.

The Cremins of the Crop: Soon to be 59 years young, Bobby (!) will return to the bench -- at the once-proud College of Charleston. The Cougars were the George Mason Gonzaga of the 1990s.

Father Knows Best: Kevin Kruger is leaving the 'bright lights' of Tempe for Las Vegas. Thanks to Proposal 2005-54, the fifth-year senior is eligible to transfer to UNLV -- where his pop, Lon, currently coaches -- because he earned his undergraduate degree in four years and has one year left of eligibility. Kruger last year averaged a team-high 15.0 points and a school-record 38.96 minutes per game. He is a significant pick-up for Nevada-Las Vegas -- and a significant loss for Herb Sendek at Arizona State.

Family ties notwithstanding, however, Kruger's transfer illustrates the downside to the new rule. As Gregg Doyel wrote last May, Proposal 2005-54 encourages free agency in college basketball. Not only is Kruger able to leave Arizona State, but Gary Neal could have departed Towson (he opted against so doing), and Taylor Coppenrath could have ditched Vermont. In short, the rule enables talented fifth-year seniors at mid-major schools to transfer to larger programs for extra exposure. It also encourages players at high-major programs to transfer to more competitive high-major programs, in the hope of securing an NCAA Championship. (Consider, for example, many an NBA player's desire to sign his next contract with a championship contender).

Read Only: Am I the only one who believes it is only a matter of time until the NCAA limits the number of text messages coaches can send recruits?

Lator, Gator: Does Kentucky really have lower academic standards than Florida? Seems so. Gators recruit Doneal Mack is unlikely to qualify for Billy Donovan, but should be able to suit up this season for Tubby Smith. Good for the Wildcats. But it should never have come to this at Kentucky. One of the few - perhaps the only - legitimate criticism leveled at Tubby is his (relative) inability to recruit quality talent to Lexington.

The Cremins of the Crop: Soon to be 59 years young, Bobby (!) will return to the bench -- at the once-proud College of Charleston. The Cougars were the George Mason Gonzaga of the 1990s.

The Price is Right: Glad to hear Connecticut's A.J. has recovered nicely from the near-fatal brain ailment that almost ended his collegiate career before it began.

Elsewhere: High schoolers continue to enroll at 'diploma mills,' risking NCAA ineligibility (ugh), Israeli stud Dan Steinberg yesterday reported that Jim Larranaga's base salary will increase by more than 90 percent -- to $375,000 per year.

Users of March Madness on Demand watched 19 million streams of live and archived games, and the online effort pulled in an additional $4 million in ad revenue.