They pack 'em in at Kentucky, Syracuse and Louisville. It's hardly a surprise to see those three college hoops powerhouses sit atop the attendance figures released by the NCAA on Wednesday.

But what about a nod to the devoted fans at Iowa State?

The Cyclones were hardly a success last season, winning just four Big 12 games and finishing 15-17 overall. Yet the good folks in Ames filled the Hilton Coliseum with 12,491 fans on average for 18 games, 26^th overall. For a place that only seats 14,356 people, that ain't bad.

Also impressive? Creighton. The Blue Jays were 15^th overall, filling Qwest Center Omaha (capacity 17,560) with 14,495 fans, second among non-BCS schools. Considering Creighton's enrollment is only 7,385, that's some support from the city. (Memphis tops non-BCS schools, but has nearly three times as many students.)

Also in the Top 15? Wisconsin, Kansas, Marquette, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State. They love their hoops in the Midwest. 

Other tidbits:

Highest per-game attendance: 1. Kentucky (24,111), 2. Syracuse (22,152), 3. Louisville (19,397)

Lowest per-game attedance: 1. Nicholls State (328), 2. New Jersey Institute of Technology (422), 3. New Orleans (477)

Best average attendance per conference: 1. Big Ten (12,591), 2. Southeastern (11,770), 3. Big 12 (11,214)

Lowest attendance for NCAA tournament qualifiers: 1. Robert Morris (1,029), 2. Lehigh (1,285), 3. Sam Houston State (1,434)

(H/T: The Dagger)

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here for more.

Connecticut is paying some serious basketball money right now.

Not only did the school just finalize a 5-year, $13 million contract extension for men's coach Jim Calhoun, it also asked the state to spend an additional $375,000 to a Kansas City law firm to defend the school against an ongoing NCAA investigation into the men's team.

The original contract with Bond, Schoeneck & King called for a three-year deal capped at $300,000, according to a story in the Hartford Courant. Yet the state spent more than that in a one-year period between April 2009 and April 2010, when $338,000 in legal bills were paid.

(But before anyone sends nasty letters to the school and state officials for wasting taxpayer money, know that the athletic department reimburses the attorney general's office for all the payments. It's just that that state comptroller's office has to pay the firm.)

This will hardly be the end of the legal fees, too. From the Courant:

And the bill is only going to get larger as the NCAA investigation into the school's recruitment of Nate Miles and the program's ties to former UConn team manager-turned-agent Josh Nochimson continues…

OPM Deputy Secretary Michael Cicchetti approved an additional $200,000 in legal fees to pay the Kansas City firm in late 2009. That was the second time that OPM had granted additional funds; it signed off on an extra $175,000 in July 2009, records show.

The school is already burning through the new money, records show. In a five-day period last month between April 10 and April 15, Bond, Schoeneck & King billed the state for more than $37,000. Enright said those legal bills were accrued from Dec. 1, 2009, through Jan. 31, 2010, and not during just a five-day period.

Well, at least the basketball coach is in place.

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here for more.

Maybe the Justice Department reads sport blogs. Or maybe it's finally catching on to some of unfair aspects of being a student-athlete.

Either way, this story is a promising development in how the athlete-college relationship is viewed.

The DOJ's antitrust division contacted the NCAA last week regarding its scholarship policies, including why scholarships are awarded on a year-to-year basis and when they're limited to five years. The NCAA responded with this statement:  

"Student-athletes must demonstrate that they deserve the merit-based award of athletics aid in two ways - by remaining academically eligible for competition and by meeting participation expectations in the sport for which aid is granted … The NCAA has also explained that the five year rule (or 10 semesters for Division II) is linked to the fact a student-athlete has only five years or 10 semesters in Division II in which to use his or her four years of eligibility to participate in NCAA sports."

They're reasonable explanations, but it just reinforces that everything's one-sided in the student-athlete relationship to their schools. It's part of the deal – some want their education paid for, some want exposure before a career as a professional athlete while the schools usually profit off those athletes – but it's good that the DOJ is at asking those questions, because there are several wrinkles that extend beyond just scholarships.

This excellent post from Chris Littman of the Sporting Blog details a football player and basketball player who must jump through several hoops in order to continue their athletic careers.

Consider the basketball player, Justin Knox. He's graduating from Alabama in three seasons and would like to play another season as a graduate student but there are three stipulations for him to do so: He cannot transfer to another SEC school; a school on Alabama's 2010-11 schedule; another school in the University of Alabama system.

Nevermind that previous Alabama athletes have transferred to UAB and played in the past.

Keep in mind: Not all athletes are simply there to play and entertain us. Most are student-athletes who won't be playing sports for a living. But they're caught up in the athletic machine and can often be treated unfairly.

It's time to re-evaluate everything, starting with the National Letter of Intent. Maybe the DOJ and the NCAA's new president, Mark Emmert, can work on it.

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here to follow him.

Mark Emmert doesn't officially become the NCAA's new president until Nov. 1, but he's not waiting to give an opinion on various matters.

Like the NBA's one-and-done rule.

"I have not obviously talked with the heads of any of the professional sports," he told USA Today. "But the impact of their policies and rules on intercollegiate sports is significant, and I intend to build relationships with those people to see how we can work together to mutual advantage if we can do that. The one-and-done rule would just be another example of things we could work on.

"We have to make sure we're proactive in building those relationships, and I'd expect to continue to do that with [NBA Commissioner David] Stern and others."

He says the rule "certainly creates a challenge" when it comes to fostering an environment for student-athletes, but knows he can't directly challenge the NBA. It's their rule after all.

Oddly enough, Mike DeCourcy thought Emmert did challenge Stern and issued a wagging finger Emmert's way. It's strange, given that Emmert would be trying to revamp one of the college game's biggest flaws. Why not go Blue Sky at the start? You can always compromise.

DeCourcy argues Emmert should've been more pragmatic:

Obviously it would be best for all involved if the age minimum were raised to 20 years. That's what Stern wants, and Emmert should have endorsed that position.

I'm sure hoopheads could live with that outcome, but I like Emmert's goal. Nothing wrong with stating what you'd like best.

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here to follow him.

Work productivity figures to drop significantly in few week s when the NCAA tournament begins. But why wait? Any hoophead can waste time at work right now!

The NCAA launched its "Vault" Web site earlier this week. It allows you watch any game from the Sweet 16 and beyond from the previous decade. If a team advanced to the second weekend since 2000, they're in there.

And it's not just games. There's play-by-play for each game and highlights are cued up. You can watch the best dunks, blocks, finishes, you name it. Just block out a chunk of time, because you'll need it.

If your video connection is slow, try this site instead: College basketball reference. Like the reference sites for MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL, it's a treasure trove of info.

Seriously. They have season summaries that go back to 1894-95 (when Temple went 8-3), every NCAA tournament, award winners and damn near every coach who's been in the game. (How did Benny Dees fare during that 1987-88 Wyoming season, anyway?)

Good luck with the rest of your day. Just don't tell your boss who told you about this stuff.

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here for more.

Forget NCAA tournament expansion. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has another idea: Separate the haves from the have-nots by splitting college hoops into two divisions.

"We should have like they have it in football," he told the Dominion Post (W.Va). "We should have I-A and IAA. Then schools would have to make a commitment whether they really want to have a basketball program or not.

"That's what they have to do in football. You have to make a commitment to have a football program. It's attendance and facilities and so forth. If we did that, instead of having 347 teams, we'd maybe have 110 or 150."

If that happens, Huggins would invite every team into a postseason event to determine a champ.

The reason behind Huggins' idea is to stop the NCAA and the conferences from "robbing" all the member schools. Yes, that's a bold statement. It's also a bold idea.

The odds of it happening however…

(H/T: College Basketball Nation blog)

Mike Miller's also on Twitter, usually talkin' hoops. Click here for more.

Ah, NCAA. You're like the shy kid who doesn't know how to dance. You understand you're supposed get out on the floor and do something, you're just not sure how to do it.

And when you do get up the nerve, it's an awkward, ugly thing to behold.

It's like the D-I Legislative Council's first stab at cleaning up basketball recruiting. A new proposal is something, but it's not going to be much to look at.

Prohibiting schools from hiring anyone associated with a basketball recruit for a two-year period before or after the player enrolls at the school sounds nice, but hoping it actually works is another story.

Is it too broad? Will it mostly affect families – aggravating recruits – and not associates? Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt thinks it's also wrong to simply focus on basketball, given that hiring associates of recruits also affects football. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

 He also cites an Arkansas football situation from a few years ago when coach Houston Nutt hired a high school coach, Gus Malzahn, seemingly in order to influence the decision of star quarterback recruit, Mitch Mustain, who signed with the Razorbacks.

"That didn't gather much reaction as much as John Wall and Baylor, about him possibly going to Baylor," Hewitt said. "It was much ado about nothing."

The NCAA is trying – it added 49 pages to its recruiting rules; sorry to all the school's compliance officers -- but trying is different than getting it right.

A rule proposal that may or may not work? Awesome use of resources.

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The early consensus among hoops reporters and bloggers regarding the possible NCAA tournament expansion from 65 to 96 teams: Dumbest idea since New Coke.

Some are succinct; some have lengthy lists why it's dumb. Some include amusing anecdotes regarding why it's so dumb. Bob Knight, Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps all talked about it during halftime of the Butler-Georgetown game. But the overall message seems to be "the tournament is perfect now, so why change?"

C'mon. Is change such a bad thing?

Part of me wonders if it's just guys who don't want to do any extra work. Adding 31 teams and another week of games would suck for those of us in the business, but it's not about us.

The tourney format has remained the same for essentially the last 25 years (ignore that play-in game).  And that's been by the longest span in which the tournament hasn't changed. It had 8 teams for the first 12 tourneys. Starting in 1953 is usually had around 24 teams, then jumped to 32 in 1975, and was at 48 by 1980. It hit 64 in '85.

That's not to say the tourney should expand simply because it hasn't done so recently. The 64-team bracket is an ideal format. But it doesn't account for the sheer explosion of D-I teams. (Which was Bilas' main contention on Tuesday; too many D-I teams.)

There are 344 schools playing D-I hoops, which means less than 19 percent of them are in the Big Dance. Consider that compared to playoff formats for MLB (27 percent), NFL (38 percent), NBA and NHL (53 percent), among others. Even if it expands to 96, that's 28 percent. That's not giving everyone a shot at the title, that's simply adjusting to the overall base.

Not all of them would have a realistic chance at the title. Not even close. And yes, it would diminish the feat of simply making the tournament. Perhaps more coaches would feel more secure in their jobs. Perhaps an extra week of hoops wouldn't be as compelling. And maybe the bracket wouldn't fit as nicely on a single sheet of paper.

But to say the format is perfect and should always stay the same is foolish. Change happens. People adjust. The tournament's expanded before, with great success. Why wouldn't it do so again?

Mike Miller (@BeyndArcMMiller) loves the Big Dance. But he's OK if it changes. It'll always be better than the BCS.

The NCAA tournament hasn't significantly expanded since it went to the 64-team format in 1985. Sure, the play-in game was added in 2001, making it a 65-team field, but the basic format stayed the same. Three weeks, and the champ has to win six games.

Perhaps it's time that changed.

The NCAA and its broadcast partners are discussing a possible expansion, according to a report in Sports Business Journal. The talks are characterized are preliminary and wouldn't really be taken seriously until after the 2010 tournament, but the basics include bumping the field to 96 teams, giving the top 32 schools a bye and adding another week to tournament overall.

And why? Money, dummy. Giving 31 more schools a shot at the title would just be an added bonus. From the article.

The NCAA clearly expects that the added week of games would significantly increase the tournament's rights fee. A larger field would mean more content, more scheduling opportunities and theoretically more revenue for the broadcaster and the NCAA, which derives more than 90 percent of its total annual revenue from the tournament's media deal. Nearly all of that revenue passes through the NCAA and is distributed to its member institutions.

The expansion talks come about a month after ESPN floated the news that it would be interested in buying the tournament broadcast rights. CBS owns those rights, but the NCAA can opt out after the 2010 Final Four. It'll lose $2.13 billion in remaining fees from the network, but if another week is added, the NCAA would undoubtedly do even better because the networks will be desperate to secure the broadcast rights. Advertisers would love another week of flogging March Madness, right?

And the edge would go to ESPN. From the article:

The NCAA also believes a move to cable could increase its revenue, especially given last year's deal ESPN signed with the BCS, which agreed to move its five annual games to cable in exchange for a 50 percent increase in its rights fee. ESPN paid $495 million over four years for those rights.

How much money would ESPN pay for NCAA tournament rights? Put it this way: Whatever it takes.

Mike Miller won't be bidding for tourney rights. If he does, you'll find it on Twitter. (@BeyndArcMMiller)

If anyone ever doubted the NCAA lacked chutzpah, doubt no more.

From an AP story yesterday:

The NCAA Committee on Infractions wants its punishment of the University of Memphis upheld because schools need to be punished when they use ineligible players.

In case you forgot, the punishment refers to the school using an ineligible player – Derrick Rose – during the 2007-08 season, a player who was cleared by the NCAA clearing house. Yes, the NCAA wants to uphold a penalty it imposed on Memphis because the Tigers used a player the NCAA approved.

(sighs)

It was an illogical lesson when the ruling was handed down. If the infractions committee gets its way, the ridiculous lesson will only be enforced. Thanks for that, NCAA. Remind me not to ask about that whole college football playoff thing…

Mike Miller also occasionally rants like this on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller). Just shorter.

Sign of the times: The South Florida will probe the "issues" raised by an AOL Fanhouse report of numerous violations at the school. Ignoring Internet stories like this used to be easy. No longer.

The lengthy report, written by former Tampa Tribune reporter Brett McMurphy, who covered the Bulls and the Big East for the paper, is fairly well documented and covers a litany of issues, including a basketball aide providing improper transportation to a current player and overseeing open-gym workouts.

I don't know the history between McMurphy and Bulls coach Stan Heath, but it doesn't sound like Heath is impressed.

"You want to keep nickel and diming him," Heath said. "All this little [crap] ... I don't know what this is all about. It's stupid."

Are they serious allegations that could result in NCAA sanctions? Hard to say. It depends on how often they occurred. After all, even little things like phone calls can pile up into one big mess.

If the school deems it didn't gain a competitive advantage from the allegations, they'll likely self-report everything to the NCAA and it won't be a big deal. I mean, even squeaky clean coach can make mistakes.

Follow me on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller) and get more college basketball news at NBCSports.com.

What if I told you the college basketball season could be shorter but still have the same amount of games? Is that something you'd be interested in?

Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski certainly are. With any luck, people will listen. And by people, I mean the NCAA.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty images

You want to start after Nov. 1? Hey, me too!

The NCAA's 30-member Men's Basketball Enhancement Group (terrible name, but it actually has a decent amount of responsibilities) thinks that dropping a regular-season would be a good way to shorten the season and thus ease some of the burdens on student athletes. The NCAA's Legislative Council is going to consider the proposal in January.

Shortening the season is fine, but eliminating one regular-season game would be stupid. That wouldn't reduce any practice time, which is the big time suck for players. Taking away a game also would reduce revenue for schools since that's fewer tickets sold.

But hey, don't take my word for it. Listen to a couple of the game's top coaches.

Williams and Krzyzewski both told the Raleigh News & Observer that they're in favor of starting practice Nov. 1 – two weeks later than it starts now – and starting the season a couple weeks after that. It would affect a couple of games and particularly the holiday tournament schedules, but there's enough room to adjust.

And the potential pay loss looms large, especially during this recession.

"When we talk about length, I don't think they should do number of games," Krzyzewski said. "Kids want to play games. I think that's a big mistake, and also financially, that's a big payday every game. They can shorten the season, the practice time."

If the coaches aren't sweating the loss of practice time, isn't that enough to sway the NCAA?

Follow me on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller) and get more college basketball news at NBCSports.com.