Links for a Friday

I've been out of the Blogosphere for a while, but I've still come across some interesting reads while on the road with work and family...

* Rivals has a look at the upcoming rules changes for the 2008-09 college basketball season, including emphasis on palming and illegal screening

* Former Baylor head basketball coach Dave Bliss is one of the biggest scumbags on the planet. How this asshat is not in jail for what he did at Baylor is beyond me. It is tragic that he is allowed anywhere near a basketball court. It is despicable that Athletes in Action would even consider hiring this guy. What a disgrace.

* ESPN's got a variety of interesting football reads up here and here and here and here.

In the first one, Mark Schlabach takes a look at the 25 biggest stories to come out of the Spring. Not surprisingly, 7 relate to SEC teams (The dismissals of Ryan "McLovin'" Perriloux and Michael "Big Gun" Brown, Ryan Mallet not being allowed to be destroyed by SEC defenses until next season, Chris Rainey's emergence at Florida, Jevan Snead's emergence at Ole Miss, and Stephen "How 'Bout Another One?" Garcia's continued run-ins with the Columbia PD) as well as former SEC QB (and precious snowflake) Mitch Mustain not winning the starting job at USC. The countdown is on until Beck Campbell makes a fool of herself again.

In the other 3, they break down the SEC by team by division, but offer no predictions on final standings.

* Meanwhile, Mike Organ at the Shreveport Times does predict final standings. While there's no big shockers in the way of final placement of the teams, he does predict 6-6 records for both Vandy and Kentucky. With what each team lost, there is no way either of those teams finish with more than 2 wins in conference. 6-6 would be nothing short of a miracle and would put either Bobby Johnson or Rich Brooks in the lead for SEC Coach of the Year. The 'Dores and the 'Cats will be fortunate to win 10 games between them.