We all live in suspense from day to day; in other words, you are the hero of your own story.

– Mary McCarthy on Life

Hour hand spun forward, Spring sprung too and college hoops in Kentucky spun to, well, zero.

A Sweet 16 “and we ain’t in it!” A bracket peopled by Hoosiers, Heels, Aggies, Ducks, Blue Devils and (imposter?) Wildcats. Decked in blue and white with one letter logo, V. Villlanova. Stone the crows!

And so, across our Commonwealth we turn to Season III early but find an unusually drama-rich environment to buzz about.

1. Coach carousel includes vacancy at Western Kentucky and list of familiars looking for work – Travis Ford, John Pelphrey and maybe Sean Woods and Darrin Horn.

2. Kentucky’s John Calipari shifted attention away from two-and-out to boast of an historic recruiting class coming. Translation? A few Wildcats will take (rightly) an invitation to leave (‘cause Cal wants your scholarship.)

3. Tyler Ulis. Which would be more fun/challenge, kid: Coaching another Kentucky team? Make De’Aaron Fox wait his turn? Or, play 10 minutes a night and carry luggage for NBA prima donnas on road trips? Yes, we know, taking a wheel barrow to the bank on payday sounds like fun too, but consider: “To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.” (Henry David Thoreau)

4. Jamal Murray. Idea for Man-in-a-Hurry: The bow-and-arrow thing could be market-worthy (The Brow). But, see ya.

5. Will next chapter of NCAA investigations at Louisville and North Carolina mean probation for Cleveland State and Monmouth?

6. A mystery waiting for epilogue: Why Ray Harper quit his veritable dream job at age 54?

7. Buzz about analyst Ken Pomeroy’s projected top 10 for 2016-17 – 1. Louisville, 2. Kentucky, 3. Duke, 4. Villanova, 5. Kansas, 6. North Carolina 7. Oregon, 8. Wisconsin, 9. Indiana, 10. Virginia.

• Max Heath, Shelbyville.

Elsewhere…

8. String Music. Ageless and wonderful attachment to high school and college basketball in the south. Thanks to the late Joe Dean and Junior.

9. Tom Crean. Indiana’s preparation and execution against Kentucky was clinical and national coach of the year-worthy.

10. Prediction: Kentucky and Indiana will play basketball next season.

11. Alex Poythress tweet: “… been a great four years here at Kentucky and it will always be a special place to me where I made a lot of memories and met some of my best friends in my life.”

The college experience, huh?

• Joey Randolph, Evansville.

12. Deer Eyes in the Headlights Dept. Stonybrook.

13. Rex Chapman gets probation. You or I would be in prison and pay restitution.

14. Worth Repeating Dept. “Jay Wright has done this without pros. We haven’t done enough as a basketball community to recognize what Jay has done.” – St Joe coach Phil Martelli. “Jay has done it for years without pros. That’s phenomenal. It just absolutely blows my mind how good he is at what he’s doing.”

15. Statute of Limitations and John Calipari. Seven years, 20-plus win seasons, Final Fours and a title at Kentucky is long enough for most of us to let it go. We can file into the history books the appendages Calipari earned on his climb to the penthouse of college hoops.

• “College basketball’s all-time bag man who treats academics as after-thoughts,” (Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe).

• “Sleaziest coach in a sleazy game,” (Charles Pierce, Esquire Magazine).

• “Most polarizing coach in game today, deserves criticism for repeated rules violations,” (Elliott Pohnl, Bleacher Report).

16. Skal Labissiere. See ya.

17. A month ago University of Kentucky’s president issued a whine letter urging alumni to pressure elected officials to oppose budget cuts put forth by the new governor. Contrast? In fiscal year 2015 the $outheastern Conference issued checks to member schools for $31.2 million each.

• Ed McClanahan, Lexington, and Terry Spears, eastern Kentucky.

18. NCAA Seeding. John Calipari’s complaint about his team’s four-seed in the NCAA tournament was valid, a protest letter from Mitch Barnhart was not. Says here, director of athletics for college hoops winningest program should have stay above the whine, instead of playing to the choir (Big Blue Nation). Play the hand dealt (and read No. 19).

19. Kentucky fan: “a lot of die-hard UK fans want to blame the referee for the call in the first Texas A&M game. Truth is, if we had beaten the worst two teams in the league, Tennessee and Auburn, we wouldn’t be having this argument. “

No bleating about NCAA seeding either.

• Rick Bentley, Pikeville.

20. Appropriate today: “The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.” – Christopher Lasch

21. Villains for the 2015-16 season? Nominees: Andre McGee (cab driver), Ben Simmons (passing through), and ESPN schedule-maker who spoiled the SEC Tournament for many of us by sending Dick Vitale to Nashville.

22. Just Wondering Dept. Whatever happened to Billy Donovan?

• Gerald Bone, Elizabethtown.

23. Worth Repeating Dept. “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. – Ernest Hemingway

24. NEXT WEEK. Time to say good-bye.

And so it goes.

You can reach me at bob.Watkins24@aol.com