Eamonn Brennan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Afternoon Links: All hail the DePaul Bench Mob

What we're reading while we pop some bubbly for net neutrality. Submit links via Twitter.

  • After a 6-7 nonconference run that included losses to Lehigh, Ohio and Loyola Marymount, DePaul has suddenly become a chief source of Big East torment. On Tuesday night, it upset Seton Hall at home, the second win over the Pirates this season and the sixth Big East victory already. Beyond the on-court interest, DePaul's single greatest feature is its bench mob, which on Tuesday added a double-dutch celebration to its already impressive made-bucket repertoire. That repertoire is being preserved for history by the DePaul Bench Mob Twitter account. Awesome.

  • Washington Post columnist John Feinstein comes out in favor of ditching the NBA's one-and-done rule and replacing it with a baseball-esque system. None of that is particularly revelatory. Everyone dislikes the one-and-done. Many agree that any current change should allow genuine high school phenoms to get to the NBA as soon as possible, with the alternative being a hardly harmful three-year stint in college. This would be great for the college game, if not necessarily ideal for players who surprise in their freshman or sophomore seasons, but in any case it would be better than the current system. The only problem? The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have to agree to change the rule. Feinstein's hope is that NBA commissioner Adam Silver meets with NBPA head Michele Roberts and says the following: "Look, we're both already rattling sabers in anticipation of the collective bargaining contract being reopened in 2017. Let's you and I agree that you guys are going to get some more money. But as part of that, let's also agree we're going to use the baseball model going forward when it comes to draft eligibility. It makes sense and it's better for the players and for the sport." If only it were that simple. Instead, Roberts has come out strongly -- moreso than any of her predecessors, even -- in favor of allowing young athletes to begin earning money as soon as they're able. In November, she told ESPN's Pablo Torre "There is no other profession that says that you're old enough to die but not old enough to work," and that she expects "the association will agree that this is not going to be one that they will agree to easily." Until that changes, the one-and-done is here to stay.

  • Inside the Hall has the key Indiana-related takeaways from Wisconsin's 92-78 Kohl Center win Tuesday. It was an entertaining game despite the second-half blowout for a couple of reasons: 1) Indiana's offense is fun to watch, even in games when the Hoosiers are drastically overmatched. 2) Wisconsin's offense, which scored 1.42 points per trip, is always fun to watch, but especially so when the Badgers are so assured of victory they feel free to pick up the pace. And, 3) Mike Tirico and Dan Dakich spent a considerable portion of the second half discussing the strange disparity in ball usage throughout the Big Ten, culminating in Dakich admitting that Wisconsin's unusual and much-derided ball choice -- Bo Ryan's favored Sterling brand -- have improved to the point that they "actually feel like a normal basketball." Broadcast gold, those two.

  • A few weeks back, New Mexico star Hugh Greenwood called out a Twitter troll who had harassed Greenwood about his mother's cancer diagnosis. A few weeks later, Greenwood's postgame interview on the topic more than tripled the money donated to the fund the player started in his mother's honor.

  • CBS's Sam Vecenie does a nice job highlighting exactly what made VCU's Briante Weber -- the nation's steals rate leader in a remarkable four straight seasons, whose devastating knee injury ended his college career last weekend -- such a profoundly gifted defender.

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