Earlier this week we reported that Cody Zeller will be joining teammate Victor Oladipo in declaring early for the NBA Draft this summer. They aren't the only ones to do it or about to do it either and coupled with a lot of graduating talent it means that the Big Ten in 2013-14 is going to look vastly different than it did this year.

Different to some in the national media and amongst the casual fan implies bad, but that's not the case with the Big Ten, different just means... well, different and equally as exciting as what we saw this season.

How different will it be? Try at least 27 and as many as 31 possible starters from this past season either gone to graduation or the NBA - so basically half of the starters in the Big Ten are gone. 

O.k., that could happen just about any year with graduation and we all should know that change is the name of the game, but this is about as out of the ordinary as it gets. Just how out of the ordinary?

How about we start with the entire All-Big Ten 1st team of Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Jr., and DeShaun Thomas all off to the NBA and not a single one of them were seniors. Yes, Burke and Hardaway Jr., haven't made official announcements but multiple outlets have reported that both will be gone. 

Indiana forward Cody Zeller is declaring for the NBA Draft according to a report out of the Indianapolis Star, a move that isn't too surprising - yet one that's debatable. The move is expected to be made official at a press conference set for 4:10pm Eastern. 

Zeller joins teammate Victor Oladipo, who made his announcement less than 24 hours ago, in declaring for the draft before their eligibility is up. However Oladipo will graduate in May from Indiana, while Zeller leaves after just his sophomore season in Bloomington. 

In his two seasons in Bloomington the Hoosiers revived themselves back into the blue-blood they once were, going 56-16 as a team and making back-to-back Sweet 16 apperances in the NCAA Tournament.

He was named a second team All-American this season and averaged 16.1 points per game for his career - scoring 1,157 points in total - puting him just 35th on the all-time Hoosiers scoring list. Zeller also leaves averaging 7.3 rebounds per game over his career. 

Volume beat quality as Louisville took down a game Michigan squad, 82-76, to earn their 3rd national championship and 1st under Rick Pitino in what will likely go down as one of the best played national championship games of all-time. 

Why say volume was the difference? Perhaps because the Cardinals were able to get off 13 more field goal attempts, going 28-61 (45.9%) for the game versus Michigan's 25-48 (52.1%). 

Yep, this game literally came down to who could take the most shots as the Cardinals and Wolverines both made the same amount of three-pointers (8) and free throws (18) in this classic battle from start to finish.

Guard play mattered big time, but it wasn't Trey Burke and his game high 24 points that would be the key to the game. Instead it was Louisville's bench to stud, Luke Hancock, and his 22 points that would be the key difference in the win. 

The Big Ten flag is still flying high and proud thanks to the Michigan Wolverines and perhaps it's fitting that in the final year of the Big East as we all know it it's a matchup between the two best conferences in the country for the National Championship as the fourth seeded Wolverines take on first seeded Louisville on Monday night in Atlanta for all the marbles. 

Early in the tournament the thoughts of some (o.k. really only one big and loud mouth) were that the Big Ten was an overrated conference and as we now stare the final game of the 2013 NCAA Tournament in the face it's the Big East champion versus the 5th best team from the Big Ten. Not the best conference in the country, huh? Slow clap to you Mr. Barkley. 

Beyond that and the obvious fact that we'll get Kevin Ware and his broken leg as inspiration story shoved down our throats by CBS this game has a lot to offer on the court, so let's take a look at what we all should be watching for tonight: 

Basketball has always been a young mans game, but in the 2013 NCAA tournament Michigan has taken that to a whole different level and on Saturday night against Syracuse it was once again the youngsters that led the way as the Wolverines won 61-56 despite the Orange's best efforts and a seemingly crumbling group of youngsters for the Maize 'N Blue.

Player of the game? That has to be Mitch McGary and not just for his double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds (yes his foul shooting was awful), but more importantly he was key in breaking apart the Syracuse zone defense by hitting shots from the elbow and dishing out a team high 6 assists on the night.

His fellow freshman came through in a big way as well, minus Nic Stauskas (who was 0-for the field), with Glen Robinson III adding 10 points and 6 rebounds to go with Caris LeVert's 8 points and 4 rebounds in a winning effort. 

The Steve Alford era at Iowa - it's a touchy subject for any Hawkeye fan for things that happened on and off the court in Iowa City and a lot of it surrounds a dip in play from what was happening under Dr. Tom Davis, where winning NCAA tournament games were the norm, rather than the exception.

Usually that's where the ire stops and after time fans in general can let things go, but upon the hiring of Steve Alford as the new UCLA men's basketball head coach this week some deep and troubling wounds that were barely healing were ripped wide open once again.

At Iowa it wasn't just the X's and O's of the game of basketball that got Steve Alford ran out of town on a rail. It was one player and one subject off the court that really irked a lot of folks in the Hawkeye faithful - of course we are speaking of Pierre Pierce and sexual assault. 

There are countless stories that never get told about coaches, players, and administrators in college sports and usually it's out of professional respect and ethics between the journalist and the subjects he or she covers on a daily basis and we nearly had one that wouldn't be told. 

When the national news of what did and didn't happen with Mike Rice and assistant Jimmy Martelli broke earlier this week we came out strong saying that leadership failed this situation and Pernetti had to go. Today, itt appears that the ax that fell on Rice has now fallen on Athletic Director Tim Pernetti.

That bit of news doesn't come as a surprise and the leadership at Rutgers could be next in line, but Pernetti's judgment in this situation was clearly less than stellar. With the move it also means that one of the key players in Rutgers power move to the Big Ten in a year's time won't see the fruits of his hard work pay off. 

However, that's more his own doing than anything else. Sticking by a coach is admirable, but sticking by a coach and basically shrugging off a mountain of very serious evidence will do that to you. 

It's amazing that in less than 8 months of time Pernetti has gone from mastermind of one of the best moves for a specific university - away from the crumbling Big East to the stable and growing Big Ten - to a leader who's judgment of individual's actions is more than questionable at best. 

No doubt that in the coming days and weeks Pernetti will be doing a lot of looking in the mirror and soul searching to figure out how things went so wrong, but perhaps in the end he'll be better off moving forward having gone through this unfortunate situation and learning lessons of his blind spots as a person and as a leader.  

Pernetti made a big time mistake in this situation and he's paying the price today, but on the whole don't be surprised to see his name associated with success and big moves in the future either.