Forget being a national program. Memphis coach John Calipari wants to make his Tigers global. The team’s practice Tuesday morning, like most this preseason, was attended by the best and brightest coaches China has to offer. They lined the bench scribbling notes that they can take home with their flashy Tigers blue apparel.

Jim Boeheim has known for a while who he wanted to succeed him as head coach of the Syracuse Orange when he decides to retire, and now it’s official that assistant coach Mike Hopkins is the man. Hopkins said Tuesday that he and the university had reached an agreement making him the designated successor to his Hall of Fame coach.

Edgar Sosa’s tears have dried. The pain of Louisville’s loss to Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament, however, remains fresh. Sosa had arguably his best game in Louisville’s 72-69 loss to the Aggies, scoring 31 points and holding his own against Texas A&M All-American point guard Acie Law IV.

Northwestern sophomore Kevin Coble said Monday he will take an indefinite leave from the basketball team to be with his mother, who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The 6-foot-8 forward, who led the team in scoring (13.4) and rebounding (5.2) as a freshman, will “return to the men’s basketball program when he feels the time is appropriate,” the team said in a statement.

Alec Kessler, a Georgia basketball star who played four seasons for the Miami Heat before becoming an orthopedic surgeon, died after collapsing during a pickup game. He was 40. He appeared to have had a heart attack Saturday in Pensacola, Fla., and was pronounced dead a short time later at Gulf Breeze Hospital, the university said Sunday.

Telephone calls to basketball recruits have landed Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson in trouble again and will cost the team a scholarship and Sampson a scheduled $500,000 raise. Indiana announced Sunday that the school’s basketball staff exceeded NCAA limits on calls to recruits during the past year — a period during which Sampson was prohibited from off-campus recruiting because of excessive…

When Tubby Smith left powerhouse Kentucky for reeling Minnesota in March, the surprising move was big news across the country. Those demanding Wildcat fans and boosters essentially ran him out of Lexington and into the adoring arms of the Golden Gopher faithful who are desperate for any sign of hope.

Southern California has got Mayo, as in O.J. Mayo, and the Trojans showed off their star recruit when he and the rest of the team scrimmaged for fans Friday night. The Midnight Madness session kicked off the start of practice for the Trojans, who open the season Nov. 10, at home against Mercer. Introduced next-to-last, Mayo jogged onto the court with the index and middle fingers on both hands…

Dino Gaudio urged his Wake Forest players to push the ball up and down the court during their first practice, then hounded them into playing tougher defense. Clearly, there was no time Friday night for midnight sadness — not with the Demon Deacons beginning a season in which they share a sense of purpose: honoring late coach Skip Prosser with tough, physical, relentless play.

The Duquesne basketball team took the court Friday night without hearing the two words that have dominated any discussion about the Dukes for 13 months. The shootings. Since five Duquesne players were shot following a Sept. 17, 2006, on-campus social event, no practice, no game, no team meeting, no offseason workout was held without the shootings playing some sort of role.