We all know that Gary Williams' recent comment about McDonald's All Americans was/is inextricably linked to the following (fun) fact - Since 1979, every national champion save Maryland (2002) has had at least one McDonald's All American on its roster.

We all know it is an outrage within the Gang of 500 to compare a fellow member to Jayson Blair, but NOT an outrage to compare a fellow member to Judy Miller.

We all know that sometime in the last 15 hours, Steve Lavin thought to himself, "Hmmmm — I wonder how I could get on Nancy Zimpher's good side..."

We all know that Pete Gillen and Todd Bozeman thought about that one too — but maybe in their sleep.

We all know that the study by Carleton College professor Mark Kanazawa and financial analyst Jonas Funk that found that each white player on an NBA team increased that club's average Nielsen ratings by 0.54 of a point does not tell us much about the (relative) popularity of college basketball.

We all know that Blue Ribbon produces the best preseason magazine.

We all know that Seth Davis is the face of CSTV.

We all know that Anthony Mason Jr. is the second coming.

We all know that Dick Vitale isn't on Adidas' dole.

We ALL know these things — or do we?

-- Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel believes Mike Krzyzewski "can deliver Olympic gold to the USA...Not because of why everyone thinks he will (applying a college system and standards to pro players), but because he is smart enough to know better." A must-read.

-- Former Barton County Community College assistant Shane Hawkins was today indicted and charged with lying to a federal grand jury.

-- The Bearcats' James White is stronger than he appears, or so writes Bill Koch of the Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer. White now benches 260, up 80 from his first year at UC. Not too shabby.

-- The NCAA now has the American Psychological Association in its corner. An APA study recently found that the use of Native American mascots and images in college sports creates stereotypes and damages Native Americans' self-esteem.

-- Why is it that beat writers, scouts, and columnists devote far more attention to high school recruits than they do to junior college signees? Part of the reason CBS SportsLine's Gregg Doyel (and many others, myself included) "can never tell with junior college transfers" is because of a relative lack of information...for which Doyel (and many others, myself included) are (partly) responsible...Think about it. I've known for years which ice cream flavor Sherron Collins prefers. But even today I can't tell you in which offensive sets Rekalin Sims feels most comfortable setting up. And in the here and now, I need to know much more about Sims than I do about Collins.

-- Declawing Johnny Nappster, NCAA style.

The James Madison senior, whose stage name is "Johnny Napp," has not participated in any of the Dukes’ first four practices because of NCAA eligibility problems caused by his budding country music singing career.

Chief among those is the use of his likeness on the album cover of his debut CD "Cowboy Up and Party Down" as well as on promotional posters and his Web site, johnnynapp.com.

The pictures call Naparlo’s amateurism into question because they violate an NCAA bylaw that says an athlete may not "permit the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of any commercial product or service of any kind."

Naparlo was told by the NCAA in mid-September that he must remove his picture from his CD and promotional material before he can practice. In addition, he can’t record or tour during the basketball season, because athletes are not allowed to work while their sports are in session, according to another NCAA bylaw.

"The Web site and the album are the biggest things," Naparlo, a 6-foot-3 reserve guard, said Tuesday. "I have to try and take care of that before I can practice."

Naparlo isn’t sure he can do all of that – and he’s not 100 percent sure he wants to...Taking the photos off his Web site and album will assuredly slow a career that was making quick strides. He has already opened for two national country acts, David Allen Coe and Jason Aldean, and has attracted interest as a headliner.

The former walk-on said he doesn’t want to skip his senior basketball season, but Naparlo is unlikely to receive much playing time this year and has to wonder if a season on the bench is worth putting the brakes on his music career...

The hubbub started in June when JMU’s [compliance director Kurt] Johnson read a newspaper story about Naparlo’s music career. Johnson contacted the membership services division of the NCAA to make sure Naparlo was not committing an NCAA violation.

"I have to protect the athletics department," Johnson said. "I had to inquire as to what was going on, to get a dialogue with the NCAA and make sure what John was doing was permissible. The last thing we want to do is to participate an ineligible player. Then you have a whole host of ramifications. But I wanted John to be able to do both. The report I sent them was in John’s favor."

And, in Johnson’s mind, the word he got back was pretty favorable.

"The NCAA actually could have declared him ineligible as soon as it found out, but they wanted to continue to work with him because they said they didn’t have any previous experience with a situation like this," Johnson said. "I don’t want to say they were lenient, but I’d say it’s been an amicable situation between us and the NCAA."

-- Jim Valvano's daughter, Jamie Valvano Howard, was 2 1/2 weeks ago diagnosed with breast cancer. Jamie lost her dad when she was 20 and briefly served on the V Foundation's staff.

-- News of the Wierd: Colorado point guard Dominique Coleman doesn't wakeup to an alarm clock. He wakes up to a boom box.

-- The Nashville (TN) City Paper's Brett Hait reports that Kevin Stallings this fall put his players through extra-tough conditioning drills.

-- Baylor University's Board of Regents today approved plans for a new basketball practice facility.

-- Junior college transfer David Jackson is the first player in Penn State basketball history allowed to wear cornrows. (No lie). Take that, David Stern.

-- Alvin Carter's return to Fairfield could have a major impact on the Stags, or so says Connecticut Post basketball savant Chris Casavant.

-- Marshall Strickland is looking forward to his final season at Indiana. (Good. So is the rest of Hoosier Nation).

-- Frank Burlison pens a news, notes, questions and answers column for Scout.com. On Kirk Walters: "He'll be much more effective than anyone not coaching in the Pacific-10 Conference assumes."

-- Those who cannot do write. Heh. For example, Albuquerque (NM) Tribune scribe Jeremy Fowler. The subhead says it all.

-- ESPN's Dick Vitale goes after the little guy. He's not pleased with the actions of Arkansas State's Jerry Nichols.

-- St. John's Norm Roberts believes his team will this year turn the corner.

-- The WWLIS' Fran Fraschilla (Kansas) and Jay Bilas (Kentucky) writeup their impressions of Midnight Madness. Note that Wildcat fans cheered for Randolph Morris.