Sweet Sixteen Notes

CARACTER REVEALED? -- Louisville's Derrick Caracter announced this week he's turning pro after this season.

The full-figured sophomore has NBA strength, hands and feet, but playschool judgment. He has the potential -- upside, we call it -- to be an excellent pro player, but not the ambition to tap into it. He will have a very short career in the NBA before spending his life in scenic Europe for another decade. At least he'll learn about history.

But before firing up the jabwagon -- oops, they already did here -- don't jump to the conclusion that Caracter thinks he's ready for the NBA game. Could be he's just ready to leave college.

Don't think for a minute that coaches are afraid to make a guy miserable enough that he'll leave and free up a scholarship for someone more deserving. Caracter was heavily recruited -- and just plain heavy -- long before his senior year of high school. But then he didn't play his senior year, when he committed to Louisville. And then he got to school overweight and you know how much Rick Pitino loves out-of-shape guys. Caracter even earned a suspension at one point, and never came close to reaching his potential. You think Pitino was hopeful he'd come back for his junior year? No way. I guarantee he ran him out of there.

MILLER TIME: It's pretty interesting seeing a boy turn into a man. I went to some basketball camps in high school, and at least two of them had a special guest named Sean Miller. Once a child phenom who with his dad took their basketball circus on late-night television -- Miller was a whiz with an array of ball-handling tricks -- Miller grew into a serious high-school recruit and eventually played at the University of Pittsburgh.

And I've been following him ever since. And it was cool seeing him lead Xavier to a nice defeat of Bob Huggins' surprising West Virginia team in Thursday's Sweet Sixteen. For the sake of my bracket, I hope UCLA beats the Muskies in Saturday's Elite Eight game. But for the sake of sentimentality, I'd love XU to get to the Final Four.

GUMBLE FUMBLE: Surprising that CBS Sports -- which hasn't only owned the NCAA Tournament forever, but they do a great job with it too every year -- let an error get by its video editors. Greg Gumbel's taped 30-second VO during Michael Beasley highlights late in the first half of the UCLA-Western Kentucky game included the erroneous excerpt, "Beasley led all freshmen in rebounding this year with 12 points a game."