Tuesday's Hlist: Big Ten has owned AP All-America basketball teams over last two years

Four members of last season's Associated Press men's college basketball All-America first-team are now NBA rookies. None are in the top 10 players listed on NBA.com's rookie rankings.

Here are those All-Americas of 2011:

Kemba Walker, Connecticut. Averaging 12.1 points and 27 minutes a game for Charlotte through Sunday. Which is pretty good for a rookie on a rotten club.

Jimmer Fredette, BYU. Averaging 7.4 points and 18.7 minutes for Sacramento.

JaJuan Johnson, Purdue. Averaging 3.6 points and 8.4 minutes for Boston.

Nolan Smith, Duke. Averaging 2.8 points and 8.5 minutes for Portland.

The fifth player was Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, who is also a first-team 2012 All-America with ... Anthony Davis of Kentucky, Thomas Robinson of Kansas, Draymond Green of Michigan State and Doug McDermott of Creighton. McDermott will return for his junior season, I don't doubt. Green is a senior. I look for the other three to join Green in the NBA next year, and put up better overall numbers than the foursome of 2011.

McDermott, from Ames, is the first Iowan to be a first-team All-America since Nick Collison did it as a Kansas Jayhawk in 2003. Raef LaFrentz of Monona and Kansas was a first-team All-America in 1997 and 1998.

This is the second-straight year two Big Ten players were first-team All-Americas. No other conference has more than one first-team All-America over the last two years.

Among those getting honorable mention in All-America voting was Isaiah Wilkerson of New Jersey Institute of Technology, who averaged 16.2 points and 6.6 rebounds for the 15-17 Highlanders. Wilkerson was the Player of the Year in the Great West Conference.

Shaka Smart is staying at Virginia Commonwealth instead of taking Illinois' vacant basketball coaching job. Brad Stevens is staying at Butler instead of moving 100 miles west on I-74 from Indianapolis to Champaign. This Chicago Sun-Times story says Alabama's Anthony Grant, Florida State's Leonard Hamilton and Washington's Lorenzo Romar reportedly spurned overtures from Illinois.

Oh my.

But as the Sun-Times story illustrates, mid-major coaches of renown are staying put. Smart has passed on a lot of so-called big-time jobs. Stevens undoubtedly has passed on a few chances to at least interview at a bigger school. Gregg Marshall appears to be remaining at Wichita State for yet another season.

I almost now wonder if it's a little easier to get to a Sweet 16 or even a Final Four from certain mid-majors than it is from many of the programs in BCS conferences.

Now John Groce, the coach who guided Ohio to a Sweet 16 spot (and nearly an Elite Eight berth) appears to be Illinois' best bet. From what I saw of Ohio in the NCAAs, I wouldn't carp about getting him if I were an Illini fan. His Bobcats played hard and played well in beating Michigan and South Florida, and pushing North Carolina to overtime. The Bobcats scored 81 or more points in three straight February games in the Mid-American Conference, all wins.

Of course, Groce's record at Ohio is an unremarkable 34-30.

The ultimate question for any Big Ten coach is if he can recruit. Can Groce? I have no idea. But he recruited for Thad Matta at Ohio State when Matta landed the likes of Greg Oden, Evan Turner and Mike Conley.

That would work, huh?

However, Illinois is coming off looking bad in this deal because of rejection after rejection. The Chicago Tribune's David Haugh has a good column about it.

I'm pretty happy about Nick Saban getting his Alabama annual salary bumped from $4.8 million to $5.3 million Monday. If he sticks out his contract, he'll be up to $6 million by his last year, the 2019 season. Except that it will probably be more like $8 million or $10 million, because he's sure to get more raises.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart's salary was given a raise of $100,000, bringing his salary to $950,000. New offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier has a three-year deal, and will earn $590,000 this year.

Saban says he'll end his coaching career at Alabama. Duh. Kings never voluntarily abdicate thrones. When you can recruit the players Saban can recruit and can pay assistant coaches what Bama is paying them, you are the king.

Monday's top Tweet: @imopbarbie  In hotel room. ESPN U is broadcasting MEAC women's bowling match #c'monman #imwatching #help

This is enough to turn me from a Pittsburgh Pirates fan into a supporter of the Miami Marlins. When a Marlins player hits a home run in Miami's new Marlins Park, this is what the fans will see: (Thanks to Deadspin for this.)