By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big 12 Sports.com Correspondent

When Blake Griffin's name was the first one called in the recent NBA Draft, it marked another success for Big 12 basketball. Griffin was the first player in Big 12 history to be the No. 1 pick and it made the fourth consecutive year that the Conference had a player taken among the top two selections.

In those four years, two of those draftees have been of the "one-and-done" variety - Texas' Kevin Durant in 2007 and Kansas State's Michael Beasley in 2008 both entered the NBA Draft following their freshmen seasons. In 2005, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement added a 19-year-old age limit for the draft. That change ended making the jump to the league directly from high school.

The NCAA and college basketball had little say in the NBA rule change. And Big 12 coaches aren't a big fan of what the "one-and-done" rule has done to their sport.

"It's a bad rule. I think it's a really bad rule," Oklahoma's Jeff Capel said on the conference's summer coaches' teleconference. "In my opinion, it makes a mockery of education in college.

"Also, I think it's condescending on the NBA's part. If you follow the NBA, if you look at the guys that are promoted as the face of the NBA, you're talking about Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett. Those are four that jump right out, and none of those guys attended college. I don't think it hurt them."

Two players who followed the one-and-done route - O.J. Mayo at USC and Derrick Rose at Memphis - left behind ongoing NCAA investigations. The one-and-done rule also creates academic concerns. All a freshman basketball player must do is pass six hours during the first semester; if he's intent on leaving for the NBA Draft after one season, he has no incentive to attend class during the second semester because his college eligibility in the second half is determined by what he does in the first half.

"You pass six hours in the fall, you don't go to school in the spring, and the next thing you know, you're still eligible to play the whole year," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

"In our program, we told every kid that we recruited with those kind of aspirations, all we ask you to do is to be loyal to our program," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "If you come in here, you've got to promise you're going to do everything, at the start of the second semester, you've got to be a student, you've got to go to class. You're going to have to do things at the end of the year, but you can't leave us hanging where you're not going to take care of academics.

"So that's up to us, too, and if a person told me that they weren't interested in doing that, we wouldn't recruit them."

Capel correctly points out that basketball is a unique sport when it comes to how players transition to the pro level. The NFL requires its draft-eligible players to be three years removed from their senior year in high school. Major League Baseball requires players to be at least 16 years old and have a high school diploma. If they choose to go to college, MLB requires they stay there for three years.

The NBA players' union has started talks with the NBA about the 2011 collective bargaining agreement. Commissioner David Stern is on record as saying he would like to see the age limit increased by a year. Capel, though, doesn't see the NBA as an ally when it comes to improving college basketball by changing its draft rules.

"I'm not sure how much the NBA cares about college basketball," he said. "It's a business, and they're in the business of making the NBA the best product they can make it. In my opinion, and this is just my opinion, I think the NBA is happy with how their rule is from the standpoint, they get to market these kids for a year ... It's free marketing."

Two Sides Of A Site Debate
Some rivalry games are played at neutral sites - Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas, for instance. Other rivalries are home-and-home - Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State, Texas vs. Texas A&M. And some rivalries are sometimes at neutral sites - recently, Kansas vs. Missouri is a good example.

The subject of where to play Colorado vs. Colorado State is producing lots of discussion. Nine of the 11 meetings have been played in Denver but the 2009 meeting on Sept. 6 will be played at Colorado's Folsom Field.

"I think the game should be played in Denver every year," Colorado State coach Steve Fairchild said. "Moving the game back to Boulder makes no sense. I don't care if it's Oklahoma-Texas, there's not a better rivalry in college football. It's more than just a game. It's an event. What they're doing in moving it back to Boulder is just silly. It belongs in Denver for the next 100 years."

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, though, is happy to have a home game instead of playing at a semi-neutral site.

"Anytime you can play at home, I think it's great," he said. "You always like to play at home. There's always a little bit of a comfort level there. Playing the game in Denver brings an extra benefit in terms of bringing college football to Denver and the state."

Whoops
The Associated Press distributed brief previews on 33 potential first-round picks for the recent NBA draft. The list should have included one fewer prospect. The wire service included Texas forward Damion James in its list, even though James had withdrawn his name from the draft.

Here's the information included in AP's scouting report on James: Early entry. ... Very long and athletic player. ... Has an NBA ready body. ... Runs the floor extremely well, active on the glass on both ends of the floor. ... Heady defensive player.... Sometimes lacks intensity. ... Not comfortable handling the ball, needs to work on his free throws.

It's All Relative
Three recent coaching hires - two at Oklahoma and one at Texas Tech - involved familiar names.

First, Texas Tech hired Shanon Hays as its new softball coach. He has been the softball coach at Lubbock Christian University for the past three seasons, compiling a 114-16 record and a national championship in 2008. He is also the son of former Texas Tech coach Larry Hays.

Then, Oklahoma made two hires where the last name was familiar. The Sooners brought in John Roddick as their new tennis coach. He's the brother of tennis star Andy Roddick, who at one time was ranked No. 1 in the world. OU hired Ryan Hybl as its new golf coach. He's the brother of former Oklahoma quarterback Nate Hybl.

This And That
* Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman is the new chairman of the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee. He replaces President Dave Frohnmayer of Oregon, who is retiring from after being Oregon's president since 1994.

* Pitchers Chad Bettis of Texas Tech and T.J. Walz of Kansas were selected to the 22-man USA Baseball National Team for its summer tour that started Thursday. Walz is the first Kansas player to be selected for a national team.

* Texas junior high jumper Destinee Hooker will concentrate on the upcoming volleyball season after finishing fourth at the USA Track & Field Championships at Oregon. Hooker came up short in earning a berth to compete in the IAAF World Championships. Had she qualified, the track & field competition would have created a conflict with Longhorns volleyball practice in August. Hooker has won four NCAA high jump titles (three outdoor, one indoor).

* A year ago, Kansas coach Bill Self chastised point guard Sherron Collins for gaining weight during the off-season. Before the Jayhawks left to play a series of exhibition games in Canada, Self prevented Collins from practicing because of the weight issue. Collins, who will be a senior, recently weighed in at 228 pounds - 23 over his listed playing weight.

* Colorado's athletic department received its largest financial gift when Louise Bennett Reed bequeathed her $4.75 million estate. Reed had made Colorado her beneficiary in 1996 and she passed away at the age of 103 a year ago. The university recently announced the amount of the gift. The money will benefit the Louise Bennett Reed Scholarship Fund for football and men's and women's basketball. It can fund as many as 10 full scholarships each year in perpetuity, depending on whether students are in-state or out-of-state residents.

* Oklahoma's athletic department announced it will increase its financial support of the school's academic programs. OU's sports will boost its contribution to $7 million after announcing an increase of $3 million in annual payments to academics.

* Kansas recently won the gold medal for Best New Revenue-Generating Idea in 2008-09 at the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators' annual convention. KU's award-winning money-making plan is the Touchdown Club at Memorial Stadium. It's an exclusive luxury seating and hospitality area that features 84 Jayhawk recliners and 33 flat-screen LCD televisions. Season tickets to the Touchdown Club range from $1,500 to $2,500.

* Before former Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel tries to make the Washington Redskins roster as a free agent, he's doing something he's always wanted - giving back to the community. Before becoming a Tiger, Daniel was a standout at Southlake (Texas) Carroll High School. Daniel is conducting the Chase Daniel Elite Football Camp on July 11-12 at Southlake Carroll's indoor practice facility. The camp is for fifth through ninth graders.