• In one of the most shocking moves ever by the NCAA, Dee Bost was reinstated by the college athletics governing body after failing to remove his name from the NBA Draft on time. Bost has been given back his eligibility, but must serve a nine-game suspension once he regains his academic eligibility first. By my calculations of when the semester ends in Starkville, the currently released schedule through other outlets, and the SEC slate, Bost is looking to return around mid-January for either a home game against Auburn or in Athens against Georgia, but others have said it to be even earlier for possibly Ole Miss or the SEC opener against Alabama. Brad Locke got a few words out of the NCAA to explain the ruling.
• Of course, with this unprecedented decision, the out-pour of opinion began concerning Bost and the NCAA. Yahoo! Sports Jeff Eisenberg says this decision sets a bad standard for future cases that may be similar. Rush the Court agrees with The Dagger and thinks the NCAA is sending a message to the NBA about the new draft deadline. Brad Locke looks into what Bost's return really means for State and how it dramatically improves the prospects for their season.
• John Pelphrey finished off an outstanding recruiting class yesterday bygetting in-state five-star recruit Rashad "Ky" Madden to commit to Arkansas. Reports say Madden told Ole Miss on Sunday he would be a Rebel, but then changed his mind at the table to head to Fayetteville. I said right after he committed that Pelphrey should keep his job so he would get a chance to coach this class, and Gary Parrish agreed with me, but with more words. This class locks in Arkansas as the second-best recruiting class in the SEC for the 2011 haul, barring some major shifts in leans and favorites, and easily makes them the SEC West favorites for the 2011-12 season.
• With so many cases still hanging over college basketball, and many of them tied to the SEC, there is now a panic over whether or not these will drag on into the season. With Bosh out of the way, the biggest one remaining is Enes Kanter and Kentucky. Another one that may not have as much attention, but carries just as much importance to the team, is Varez Ward and Auburn. If you remember, Ward transferred to Auburn to be closer to family, and the NCAA usually allows a player to play immediately in those kinds of cases. If Ward is eligible, Auburn's season turns dramatically better, but it will still be a rough year on The Plains. with all that said, Dick Vitale says the NCAA needs to find a way to speed up the process of getting through all of these cases in a timely manner.

• As everyone continues to wait on the ruling of Dee Bost at Mississippi State, Andy Katz of ESPN threw in a twist yesterday and said the NCAA is also looking into who paid for Bost to spend three weeks in Las Vegas to prepare for the NBA Draft. Bost claims his grandfather paid for the trip, but the NCAA will have to look into these claims before they can make a ruling.
• You've already got the Free Enes T-Shirt, but now you also have some tunes to listen to as you camp out for Big Blue Madness. A "Free Enes" rap has been created and will surely be pumped all through eastern Kentucky until the NCAA can make a ruling in the other eligibility case that has grasped the attention of the SEC.
• John Calipari had a team that was poised to make a trip to the Final Four last year, but was tripped up in the Elite Eight by West Virginia. Yesterday, Cal said the reason the 'Cats went down was because they were looking forward to playing Duke in the next round instead of focusing on the task at hand. The ESPN College Basketball Blog looks into other reasons why this may not have been true, including Cal saying he wasn't going to give any excuses right after the game ended.
• Rivals.com has updated their basketball team recruiting rankings for the 2011 season, and Arkansas has moved up to no. 9, but just as a few weeks ago, the same six SEC teams are ranking in roughly the same spots.

Florida's Key Stretch

January 29th- @ Mississippi State
February 1st- Vanderbilt
February 5th- Kentucky
February 9th- @ South Carolina
February 12th- Tennessee

What comes before the stretch: The Gators travel to Georgia to take on the Dawgs during a Super Tuesday showdown in Athens. Georgia beat this same Florida starting five at home last season, and with an improved starting lineup and a little added depth, there is no reason to believe Georgia couldn't do it again, but Florida will be ready this time.

What comes after the stretch: The Gators go down to Baton Rouge to take on an LSU team that could very easily be reeling at this point in the season. There is no real threat to be afraid of in this game, but after a gauntlet of home games, it never hurts to face a West team whether it is at home or on the road.

Why is this a key stretch for Florida: With the Gators expected by every media outlet to be the class of the East, they must win at least four of these games, but can't lose one of the home games against their divisional opponents. Starting this stretch in Starkville won't be easy, but Rick Stansbury's squad isn't as good this year as last year. After that, coming home to face Vanderbilt may be a step down, but the Gators have some demons to extract against the 'Dores. Vandy swept the Boys of Florida last year, a big reason why many believed this team underachieved. This year, though, Florida won't win the East if

• The Birmingham School Board met on Friday and released their findings on the Eric Bledsoe investigation, revealing there was no solid evidence of any grade changing despite having no belief in the words of the teachers involved. With such a shady ending, and investigation all around, there has been plenty of opinion to go around. Gary Parrish had not only one article on Bledsoe, but also felt like he had to explain his first post with a second post. Birmingham News Sports editor Tom Arenberg, who coached my little league baseball team about 10 years ago, is not satisfied with the decision handed down by the school board and says more digging should be done on the investigation.
• Late last week, John Calipari said that he views Enes Kanter as an amateur, and he "knows" that Kanter will play at Kentucky this season. Cal's confidence is surprising to many considering what has been said through the New York Times and by many other coaches. Gary Parrish brought up the claim in his Five For Friday column and pretty much says over 300 coaches agree that Kanter isn't an amateur, so this NCAA ruling will be interesting.

Ole Miss' Key Stretch

Jan. 8th- @ Florida
Jan. 12th- Mississippi State
Jan. 15th- Georgia
Jan. 19th- @Vanderbilt
Jan. 22nd- @LSU

What comes before the stretch: Ole Miss closes out their non-conference schedule with a road trip to SMU. There is no real danger in this game except for ill-timed injuries, but it is a good chance to get the final kinks worked out before the SEC comes on, and as can be seen above, it comes on hard and fast.

What comes after the stretch: Ole Miss comes back home for two games, but don't expect the Rebels to be favored in either of them. Tennessee and Kentucky visit Oxford in back-to-back games. Because the outlook on those games are bleak, that makes winning the games mentioned above all the more important.

Why is this a key stretch for Ole Miss: The Rebels have lost four straight SEC openers, including a 10-point defeat in Gainesville two years ago. This also means that Andy Kennedy has yet to win an SEC opener. Considering the personnel for both of those teams heading into this season, it is hard to pick against the Gators in this game, which will put pressure on a team who has five of their first seven games of the SEC season against the better division. Ole Miss comes home for two games, and the Rebels need to split these games, at worst. The rivalry with Mississippi State always makes for a good game, but

• After almost three weeks of hearing the Eric Bledsoe report will come "next week," the Birmingham School Board is meeting this afternoon to go over the findings of the report, meaning things should go public as well today. Before that was even announced yesterday, eligibility became a hot-button topic when Jay Bilas finally broke his column silence from about two months ago to put out this little dandy on why colleges should be able to determine their own eligibility for their own players. The column is ESPN insider only, but Gary Parrish responded quickly and agreed with Bilas on the issue. The issue set off a Twitter firestorm, that I'm sure will continue today, but also garnered responses from John Clay as well as the guys over at Ballin' is a Habit.
• Things on Rocky Top got a little more uneasy as another member of the Tennessee system, Chattanooga, was hit hard with NCAA sanctions for making impermissible phone calls between four different sports, including men's tennis. The NCAA gave the Mocs two years of probation, but no post-season ban. It is pretty safe to say that probation would be the icing on the cake for Mike Hamilton's probable cause for firing, but there was no post-season ban, and if that standard is held up for the boys in Knoxville, the sanctions won't hurt too bad.
• Darrin Horn picked up his second commitment yesterday when in-state player Damien Leonard, no. 86 in the Rivals' 150, pledged to the Gamecocks. Leonard joins Anthony Gill for the Class of 2011 heading to Columbia, and South Carolina is getting some decent players. Most importantly, though, they kept one of the high profile guys home. Leonard will officially make his announcement next Wednesday. His other choice was reportedly Oklahoma State.
• In more recruiting news, this is once again a big weekend for Auburn, as 2011 shooting guard David Gardner takes the first of his official visits by heading down to The Plains for what should be a great game between the Tigers and South Carolina. Gardner is also considering Mississippi State, UTEP, and Memphis, and will visit all three next month. Elsewhere in the SEC, Ky Madden is heading to Oxford to check out what Andy Kennedy has to offer the five-star prospect. Arkansas is already in good shape for their home grown talent, and Baylor is the only
  Tweet

LSU's Key Stretch

January 8th- @ Auburn
January 12th- Arkansas
January 15th- @Kentucky
January 22nd- Ole Miss

What comes before the stretch: The second game of a three-game road trip sends LSU to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on the Cavaliers who finished near the bottom of the ACC last season. The game will be a good taste of a road atmosphere that they will have to face in the SEC in just the next game.

What comes after the stretch: A two-game conference road trip to Knoxville and Tuscaloosa await the Tigers after their stretch, and neither game seems promising from the pre-season. Tennessee should still battle for the SEC crown and Alabama held LSU to 38 points in Tuscaloosa last year.

What makes this a key stretch for LSU: Starting the season off at Auburn is definitely something that is working in LSU's favor. The two Tigers are supposed to battle it out for the title of cellar dweller this season, but LSU should be the better of the two teams. A win in Auburn definitely makes the home game against Arkansas an interesting date extremely early in the season. LSU matches up well down low with the Hogs, but containing the Arkansas guards is what will make the difference. Trent Johnson's team did that well enough last season, pulling out their first conference win against the Razorbacks at home, so this team knows it can be done. The trip to Kentucky is not going to go well,

• In a surprise move, 2011 point guard Kendren Johnson pulled the trigger for Vanderbilt yesterday with two visits still scheduled for Florida and Louisville and most recently visiting Alabama. Johnson is the first recruit to commit to the Commodores for 2011 and will probably be the jewel of the class for Kevin Stallings. The fact Stallings won out against Billy Donovan is definitely something to take notice of, as well. Stallings has long flown under the radar in Nashville, but this is definitely a spotlight moment for the program.
• Today, we continue our look at the key stretches for teams in the SEC West. Check back later for a look at LSU's schedule, and scroll down the home page to take a look at Alabama, Arkansas and Auburn.

Auburn's Key Stretch

January 11th- @ Kentucky
January 16th- @ Mississippi State
January 20th- Florida
January 22nd- Alabama

What comes before the stretch: Auburn kicks off the SEC schedule against LSU, and both teams will be eager to get to 1-0 in the SEC. Its fully expected both of these teams to make up the bottom of the league this year, but if Auburn can come away with a victory at home over Trent Johnson's team, season prospects may improve on The Plains.

What comes after the stretch: Auburn hits the road for two games, the first of which is to Fayetteville. The Tigers won once in Arkansas during Jeff Lebo's six years, and that didn't come from Lebo's best team last season. Tony Barbee will discover Bud Walton Arena is one of the most underrated home courts in the SEC, and Auburn better hope they win one of their first five.

What makes this a key stretch for Auburn: The Tigers second game of the SEC slate is a road contest at Rupp Arena. The Tigers haven't won in Lexington since Sonny Smith's 1988 team won by a point and Auburn hasn't beaten the Wildcats since 2000 anywhere. Knowing it will take a miracle to win against Kentucky, the Tigers may want to focus on the minor miracle of winning in Starkville. Auburn won there two years ago, but it was their only victory over Rick Stansbury's squad on their home floor in the past decade. Facing two squads who Auburn has had minimal success in recently is difficult to look forward to going into an SEC season. Knowing the issues of their first two road games, Auburn is going to need to put a lot of stock into their two home games during this stretch,

• After the documents Tennessee turned over to the NCAA became public information earlier this week, more investigation has led to find out some of the who and how surrounding the situation. I mentioned in a tweet that coaches should have a "recruiting board" to keep up with calls and such, and it turns out Tennessee and Bruce Pearl's staff weren't exactly on top of things in that matter. Also, two of the Vols current freshman, Jordan McRae and heralded Tobias Harris, were some of the recruits involved in the extra phone calls and other stuff that are involved in the investigation, but they are not in trouble of losing eligibility. There is no doubt as more stuff comes out, the names will be of interest, but it is good to know that none of these players' ability to play college ball will be jeopardized.
• When the NCAA Tournament expanded to 68 teams, it was announced Turner Broadcasting was a part of the deal, meaning TBS, TNT, truTV and other channels, on top of CBS, will carry the games of March Madness. Yesterday, it was announced that Turner also has the online broadcasting rights, so March Madness On Demand will be controlled by them as well. For anyone who has tried MMOD, it can get a little tricky, especially when games start jumping around and CBS changes coverage. Now that every game will be on TV, expect every game to also be available online despite what your local affiliate is carrying.
• Dick Vitale's article, which he had been broadcasting for two days before it finally posted, on the top twelve Diaper Dandies in the country has plenty of SEC flavor, but there is a little difference between his opinions and my list of the top 20 incoming freshmen. Vitale left Enes Kanter off the list, so Tobias Harris was still third, but behind Terrence Jones.
• In one of the more interesting things from yesterday, former Alabama star point guard Mo Williams considered retirement after LeBron decided to leave town and sign with the Heat. Williams said that he lost a love for the game and is still trying to find some of it as training camp begins in the next 10 days. It will be interesting to see how Williams handles a LeBron-less Cleveland team and how he plays this season as the star.
• In one of the more depressing stories I've seen in a while, there will be no college basketball video game released this season. Both EA Sports and 2k Sports have ended their series for the college game. It isn't clear why the series was discontinued, but it is believed to be a cross between lack of sales and poor game play/graphics that worked in a vicious circle to bring things to an end.