INDIANAPOLIS -- The suite reserved for Indiana at Conseco Fieldhouse Tuesday night was packed with supporters. Among the crowd was IU president Myles Brand, who was doing what all school presidents do at a big-time game -- meet, greet, and cheer their school while dressed in the school's colors.

A week earlier, Brand was in Maui with the Hoosiers, doing the same thing, but this time courtside in Lahaina. Between Hawaiian prints, he wore the new shade of Indiana crimson and cream, and was even the recipient of a surfboard from the hosts as a token of their appreciation for simply showing up.

But all the partisan behavior will have to change in a month. That's when Brand becomes NCAA president, a job that will make him an employee of all schools, instead of just one. A position that will instantly make him one of the most influential men in the world of sports. And, as the first president to take over the NCAA (Brand is replacing former Arizona athletic director Cedric Dempsey), Brand can offer a unique perspective of balancing a university's academic mission against what is obviously his love of sports -- big-time athletics, from Maui to Indy, watching courtside, in a suite or a skybox at a football bowl game.

	“	My first task is to listen and learn, but I don't come in this with a blank slate. The first thing to do is continue the reform. We've made progress, but we're not where we need to be. ”
		— Myles Brand

During halftime of Indiana's overtime win over Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday night, Brand discussed a few key issues he faces over the coming months, his philosophy when it comes to those issues, not to mention the irony of where he has landed just two years after firing Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight.

"My first task is to listen and learn, but I don't come in this with a blank slate," Brand said. "The first thing to do is continue the reform. We've made progress, but we're not where we need to be."

Brand said he wants to become an advocate for college sports and promote the positives, rather than always focusing on the negatives. But he does see almost too much attention on men's basketball and the Final Four -- the breadwinner for the organization.

He wants to see a change made in graduation rates. And when it comes to those rates, Brand wants to see incentives as well as disincentives. If there is talk about cutting scholarships or limiting a team's chances for postseason play because of poor graduation rates, Brand is all for the opposite occurring with more scholarships, perhaps, for those who do have high graduation rates.

"We have to reward teams that do well -- not just in basketball, but in all sports," Brand said.

Brand wants to see the way graduation rates are compiled changed. The present way is to track a freshman entering school. But if he transfers, he is counted against a school's graduation rate and not counted for the school in which he finishes his degree. Brand would like to see tracking reports, possibly every semester, to see if each student-athlete is on target to graduate. He said waiting to see if a student-athlete graduates at the end of a six-year period is too long and outdated when it comes to obtaining an accurate picture of that student, coach and program.

"It's too late," Brand said of the six-year tracking period. "We need more contemporary reports, like every semester."

Brand is interested in exploring a five-year eligibility for all athletes, too.

While in Maui, Brand saw the positives of exempted tournaments. But he is concerned about the tournaments leading to teams playing too many games during the season. He doesn't have a set limit of games in mind, whether it's 30 or 28, but exempted tournaments will figure into the equation. And he understands he can't say too much about exempted tournaments because of a lawsuit trying to get rid of the 2-in-4 rule and one regarding the NCAA's rule that if invited to the NCAA Tournament, teams must choose the NCAAs over the NIT. The 2-in-4 suit is an anti-trust suit filed by plaintiffs who organize tournaments and claim they can't find enough teams to field the events in 2003 and '04 because teams have already used their two exemptions in four seasons.

Ironically, Indiana went to the Preseason NIT in 2000, the Great Alaska Shootout in 2001 and the Maui Invitational in 2002 -- three in four seasons because they signed the contracts prior to the deadline of Oct., 1998.

"Preseason play (exempted tournaments) is exciting because it gives the young men a chance to experience something different and play basketball," Brand said. "But there are so many lawsuits out there that it's hard to comment on it.

"We'll see how it plays out. There are positives basketball wise. The young men can experience something they don't normally do like going to Alaska or Hawaii and seeing parts of our country that they should see."

"But it is a lot of games to play and they get tired," Brand added. "They need to have a chance to study. But right now it's in the hands of the courts. Part of the problem is that three of those games counts as one. We'll have to let the courts give us some guidance in that."

Brand envisions his job as a bridge from the presidents, to the athletic directors, to the staff at the NCAA. He doesn't want to be hands on in investigations, but he does agree that the NCAA has "to speed things up, not just in investigations and the appeal process, but in everything because sometimes it's just too slow."

As the buzzer for the second half sounded, Brand headed back to the Indiana suite. On the court, the man he hired to replace Knight was coaching (Mike Davis) the Hoosiers into the top 15 and possibly back to the Final Four after reaching the national title game. The man he fired, meanwhile, has successfully resurrected Texas Tech's program in one season and is on track for a second straight NCAA berth.

"We wish Bob well and he's doing well in Texas," Brand said. "Mike Davis is a tremendous coach and having a great year again."

And Brand? He'll be the NCAA president in a month, proving once and for all that every principle character in the "Battle of Bloomington" has landed on his feet since the summer of 2000.

"What do you know," Brand said with a chuckle.

Whistling Watson

	Travis Watson could get a little more respect on and off the court.

Virginia's Travis Watson is the only returning player off last season's first or second all-ACC teams. He's the top returning scoring in the league and the best rebounder back for another season. But that doesn't mean he's getting any love from officials.

Or, at least, that's how the Cavs' see Watson's season, so far.

Watson was whistled for three quick fouls in the first half of Wednesday's game at Michigan State. He played only 23 minutes, scoring 10 points and was essentially a non-factor. Watson had four fouls in the game, five in the loss to Indiana in the Maui Invitational tournament title game, three against Kentucky and four against Chaminade in Maui. Conversely, Watson has only been to the line nine times in the past four games.

"Every game it seems like there's always something," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "He gets ticky-tack fouls. But having said that, he still has to make better decisions. But (Duke's Chris) Duhon wouldn't get those calls."

"I don't get a lot of calls and I do draw fouls," said the 6-8, 225-pound senior. "I'm not going to complain to the officials, but it's not the same, especially when we get to the ACC."

Watson said he shot nearly 20 fewer free throws two years ago than Wake Forest's Darius Songalia and North Carolina's Brendan Haywood. But more than the officials not paying attention to Watson, he does tend to get overlooked by the media and everyone else. But Watson is more concerned about ensuring he gets his proper due from the officials than the media. Staying on the court will ultimately help Virginia more than getting face time or pub in print.

Virginia needs Watson to be a factor in the middle for the Cavs to get into the NCAAs. Beating Kentucky will certainly help, giving them a win that will look good come Selection Sunday. The Cavs will have a few more chances for quality wins at Rutgers (Dec. 21) and Georgetown (Dec. 28) before the ACC. They won't have point guard Majestic Mapp for any of those games, but don't rule him out for the ACC. Mapp has missed the past two seasons after undergoing four knee surgeries, but his spirits remain high for 2003.

Mapp travels with the team and is one of the three captains. His locker room presence was termed invaluable by the staff. He goes through warm-ups and stretches with the team before each game.

And he's determined to come back after the first of the year.

"I'm trying to get it to 90 percent before I step on the court for good rather than getting on there at 70 percent," Mapp said. "That's all I'm doing right now. I want to get out there so bad."

The Cavs aren't putting pressure on Mapp to make it back any earlier than his knee will allow, and do have a plan in place as if he won't return. But Virginia could use another ballhandler. Point Keith Jenifer and combo guard Todd Billet struggled in the first half against the Spartans. Jenifer never got untracked, fouled out, committed four turnovers and scored only two points. Billet scored 26 points in the second half, but it came too late for the win.

Still, there is no timetable for Mapp's return. Just hope he'll be on the court sooner, rather than later, and Watson will be able to stay on the court once he returns.

Too Much IU?

	Keady isn't thrilled about playing IU twice.

One game between Indiana and Purdue just isn't enough for fans. It would have been just fine, however, for Purdue coach Gene Keady.

The rivals are playing a "non-conference" game Dec. 14 at the RCA Dome. Under the quirky Big Ten scheduling arrangement, this is the season the rivals play only once in conference. Now, while adding a second game against Indiana, at least closer to Bloomington than West Lafayette, was good for the rivalry and the fans, Keady called it "another dumb move (because Indiana is the Big Ten favorite).

"I didn't have to do it, but the administration wanted to have the game." said Keady, who also feels the Big Ten should have rivals play twice or play 20 games and dump the Big Ten tournament. "But that would be impossible, and to be honest I even have gotten to like it." Keady was originally not as much a fan of moving to the Big Ten tournament format.

So, while the Boilermakers are far from back after a 2-1 start, it could quiet any critics. Purdue beat Louisville in Indianapolis last Saturday before losing during the week at Xavier. So how did Keady instill patience in his team and the fans after last season's 13-18 record (5-11 in the Big Ten)?

"It gets down to playing right," Keady said. "You've got to get them into good habits. They have to buy into that.

"And the fans? If you win, they'll come watch you play. But you have to play hard and buy into the style of the coach. If you're a shabby looking bunch and don't play hard or smart, especially here at Purdue, then they'll notice."

Keady said the Boilermakers lacked senior leadership last season, and it's the tutorials veteran players give the newcomers that make his program work. Keady and his staff were more demanding after last season, and it stayed with them on their European trip in the spring.

"It carried over to this fall and our assistants did a great job of conditioning them and getting their fundamentals down," Keady said. "But the pressure of our jobs is that you've got to win and get to the NCAA. If you get to the NCAA, then you've got to go to the Final Four. And you've got to be a teacher.

"If you don't enjoy teaching everyday, then get fired or get out of it quickly because you'll be frustrated. You have to be patient yourself."

Keady said he has been trying to pass on any kind of good will and leadership advice to his former assistant Steve Lavin, as he struggles to deal with the constant criticism of some fans at UCLA.

"I wrote him a note after I saw that article in USA Today last week," Keady said. "I just keep telling him to hang in there and that any publicity is good, even if it's bad. Steve is patient, more patient than I am. I think you have to be that way at UCLA."

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