Let's say LeBron James changed his mind and decided he wanted to spend a year in college. He figured his game could use the work. Maybe he saw March Mayhem and wanted his share. Maybe James secretly yearns to plumb the hidden meanings of Moby-Dick.

If you're Tubby Smith, do you take him?

If you are Mike Krzyzewski or Roy Williams or Lute Olson, do you bring James into your program?

It's a dumb question only if your answer is an unqualified "Yes."

The best players often come with baggage. They're on campus only long enough to complete their audition. You get a year or two of their self-absorbed brilliance before they leave you, usually no better than when you flattered them to get them there.

"I was recruiting a junior-college kid the other day," Utah coach Rick Majerus said last week in Nashville. "He's got all these advisers telling him he's got to go someplace and be The Man. It's a joke."

I've always wondered how college basketball coaches deal with having to flatter an 18-year-old dunking machine who doesn't know the first thing about life. I wonder how degrading it must be to coax that kid - and his retinue of people, some with hands held out - to play for you, even if it's just for one year.

Then, when he does you the favor and signs, you spend the rest of his brief time at school coddling him and explaining to him - and his people - why he shouldn't be shooting the ball every time he touches it.

The only time college coaching is glamorous is the two hours on ESPN.

Maybe the way now is to take character over talent. Identify the very good players with the all-American heads and pick them over the great players living in the Land of I.

Have you seen the work Smith has done this year? Forget 25 wins in a row, and the backhoe his team is currently using on opponents in March. That's impressive, sure. The wonder in the Sweet 16 game Thursday night won't be if Wisconsin will be outscored by 40. It'll be if the Badgers get to 40.

The real work done by the UK coach is the job he has done on his players' ears. Players have only two ears. If you are a big-time coach, you have to establish that at least one ear is listening to you. Smith has them craning their necks.

Why is this season better than last season, Gerald Fitch?

"I'm just doing what Coach wants me to do," Fitch said in Nashville last weekend.

The Wildcats don't have the best players. If you believe all the recruiting nonsense, this team didn't have the best recruits, either. Only Keith Bogans was a legitimate high school All-American. And up until late last year, Bogans was often a self-centered pain in the neck.

The Kentucky players listen. Smith is preaching and no one is falling asleep in the choir. Kentucky is the best pure team left in the tournament. Given the hype that follows the Big Blue, getting every player to listen with the same ear is remarkable.

Bogans is the Poster Guard for Smith's sway over this team. Consumed by the NBA last season, Bogans, then a junior, played for himself, specifically for his scoring average. He had a disappointing regular season. Then Bogans began listening to Smith.

"I've learned that when you play within the team concept, things go better for you," Bogans said. "You have to focus on the here and now, and that's college basketball and winning games in March."

Tubby Smith couldn't have said it better.

So what about a year of LeBron James?

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com