Juan Pattillo News

By DREW DAVISON All signs point to the Big 12 taking home a lot of hardware at the end of the men's college basketball season.

Coach: Jeff Capela '69-33 at Oklahoma, 148-74 overall. '08-09 Record: 30-6 overall; 13-3 Big 12 .

Coach: Jeff Capel . Last season's record: 30-6 overall, 13-3 in Big 12 . Postseason: Lost in fourth round of NCAA tournament to North Carolina .

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: The inside-outside potential of F Tiny Gallon and G Tommy Mason-Griffin is partly what's stirred favorable ratings for Oklahoma in the preseason.

Kentucky has started the season with the same tailback-by-committee approach that coach Rich Brooks has used for most of his time with the Wildcats.

Following his May dismissal from the Oklahoma squad for violation of team rules, F Juan Patillo transferred to Western Kentucky .

Oklahoma guard Willie Warren spent the past year trying to shed the label that he couldn't handle playing with another star player.

The day started with carefully phrased talk about the Clipper on deck, Blake Griffin.

1 pick in the NBA Draft. What will happen to the place Griffin left behind? Oklahoma went 30-6 last season with the national player of the year.

Oklahoma won't play a basketball game for another five months. November is still a long ways off.

Juan Pattillo is going to be a Hilltopper. The former Oklahoma basketball player, who was dismissed from the Sooners last month for violating team rules, has signed with Western Kentucky.

Each week I'll talk about the sport I love, college basketball: &#8226 I have written about athletes and responsibility on numerous occasions.