1. Sheldon Jeter and Isaac Hamilton are still searching for places to play next season. Jeter was initially blocked by Vanderbilt from transferring to Pitt, but a source said that is still where he'd like to land. Jeter still hasn't found a home. The only certainty is that he's not returning to Vandy. Hamilton hasn't been in college yet, and wants out of his National Letter of Intent to play at UTEP. UTEP isn't releasing him. Hamilton wants to play closer to home in Los Angeles, which could mean ending up at UCLA. But like Jeter, Hamilton might have to pay his own way if he isn't let out of his NLI. Jeter is more than likely going to have to sit wherever he lands. Hamilton has a legitimate shot to play next season if an agreement can be reached between UTEP and the Hamilton family about a destination. As long as it's not USC -- since UTEP coach Tim Floyd says there was tampering -- then Hamilton has a chance.

2. Give Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan credit (and St. John's Steve Lavin for agreeing to do it) for staying true to a former player and current staffer in Joe Krabbenhoft. His dad, Kelby, the CEO for Sanford Health, is behind the new Sanford Pentagon basketball facility in Sioux Falls, S.D. Wisconsin plays St. John's in South Dakota to open the season Nov. 8 (Minnesota will play Milwaukee in an NBA preseason game on Oct. 10). "We wanted to help showcase the building and expose people to what a great facility it is,'' said Ryan. "And Steve agreed to play it. It's a great neutral-court game. It's going to be really good for us to get a neutral-court game like that against an athletic St. John's team.'' The Badgers have an aggressive schedule with home games against Florida, Marquette, a road game at Virginia, Old Dominion in Cancun, Mexico, and this opener against St. John's (as well as going to Green Bay). Ryan said the Badgers will skip a year in a return game to Cal, settling on going to Berkeley in 2014-15.

3. The NIT Season Tip-Off is the last early season tournament to produce its brackets. NIT officials said the bracket isn't complete. The four "hosts" are Arizona, Duke, Rutgers and Alabama. The NIT is the only remaining neutral-bound tournament where the hosts have to earn their way to the semifinals. The other similar tournaments pre-determine the semifinalists. While the semifinals are still up for debate, you can lock in that Duke and Arizona will be on opposite sides of the bracket ... The University of New Orleans reported that there was a game in Asia after the 1982 Virginia-Houston game. From UNO, the Privateers played Georgia and UAB in Dec. of 1987 in Tokyo. Regardless, the Georgetown-Oregon game in South Korea at Camp Humphreys will be the first regular-season opener on Asian soil ... Congrats to former NBA and college player Chris Herren on five years of sobriety. Herren has been a huge success in his post-sober life of educating high school, college and professional teams about the hazards of any drug and alcohol addiction.