Can anyone hang with Kenyon Martin and Cincinnati?

"It's a great advantage to have him," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. "When you're playing six games, you're going to have a game when you don't make shots. You can't always score from the perimeter but you should be able to score inside. It's a wonderful thing to know if you get the ball in there, there's a great chance he'll score."

Pete Newell, who teaches a summer big-man camp in Hawaii every year, has seen Martin's development from afar and marvels at his strength in the post. Martin will likely end up playing power forward in the NBA, but he's creating his own area in the college lane.

More praise for the Bearcats

This from Marquette coach Tom Crean: "They're so good, they're not even clicking. They're not even peaking." The Eagles host Cincinnati on Sunday. And, an encore from UNLV coach Bill Bayno: "They're the best team since the '90 UNLV Rebels (which won the national title)." The response from Bob Huggins after routing the Rebels on Jan. 2: "If I were sitting where Billy was, I would think that too. We played great. But they ran up and down with us." -- Andy Katz

Buzzing a rule change
The men's basketball rules committee will hold an emergency teleconference next week to discuss allowing officials to use replay monitors to review judgment calls.

"We want the calls made correctly," said Air Force coach Reggie Minton, who chairs a rules committee with members Stanford coach Mike Montgomery and Kansas coach Roy Williams.

"The technology is such that with all the games being televised now, you're sure to get it right," Minton told ESPN.com. "We'll check with the NCAA and the women's group to see if they want to be on the call, but if the women aren't interested, we'll go alone. We perceive it as a problem."

Conference officiating directors told ESPN.com that officials are only allowed to look at the monitor to check scoring (such as if a player's foot was over the 3-point line), clock issues (if a clock goes dead, or accidentally kept running during a stoppage) or see who was involved in a fight.

However, they cannot review whether a ball left the hands before a buzzer because that's a judgment call. Officials also go by the sound of the horn for the end of a game, which they wouldn't be able to determine on a slow-motion replay. They are allowed to check a judgment call with the official timer, but usually don't for fear of getting a biased opinion (most timers are from the community where the game is being played).

That was the mistake made in the Texas Tech-Texas A&M game, when an official went to the replay to review a winning basket by the Aggies. Official Charles Range was subsequently suspended by the Big 12 for waffling and spending 45 minutes reviewing the call.

Flag flap won't be resolved soon
Protests over South Carolina's display of the Confederate flag have reached the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee after the National Association of Basketball Coaches called for the 2002 regional games scheduled to be played at Greenville, S.C., to be moved.

Craig Thompson, the committee chair, told ESPN.com that the most appropriate time to discuss moving the first- and second-round games would be in May when the NABC board meets with the committee.

"Sooner is better," NABC executive director Jim Haney said. "But Craig told me the same thing about having the time to have a discussion at some length. Personally, I would prefer them discussing it in February. We obviously we're not in a position to force their agenda. We expect them to make a decision soon."

Summer changes inevitable
Syracuse chancellor Kenneth Shaw, who was the chair of the 27-member Working Group to Study Basketball Issues which met last summer, was adamant that changes will occur with summer recruiting after last week's NCAA Convention in San Diego. But how severe?

The models range from Southeastern Conference commissioner Roy Kramer's call to shut down the summer, to the Northeast Conference's call for 20 days on the road, to the Pac-10 submitting proposals for 14, 16 and 18 days.

"Our coaches wanted a break in the middle to go home," Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen said.

Kramer's analogy at the meeting was that limiting the days in the summer was like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. He said it's still a sinking ship.

"The question is what is Division I," NABC executive director Jim Haney said. "The vast majority of Division I need summer recruiting. They don't need to look at the top 100 players. There will be summer recruiting and the issue will be the number of days. It will fall between 14 and 20. It won't stay at 24. A year ago, 14 was proposed and that was rejected."

Meanwhile, UCLA sophomore forward JaRon Rush continues to meet with Bruins' athletics director Pete Dalis in their attempt to speed up the investigation into his acceptance of extra benefits prior to enrolling at UCLA (from Piggie) and during college (from agent Jerome Stanley, although he denies the charge). The NCAA will likely request interviewing the same people UCLA did before giving a final ruling. Rush, who was indefinitely suspended on Dec. 11, is practicing with the Bruins.

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