Late in the NCAA Tournament, there were plenty of rumors floating around that George Mason and VCU were going to leave the Colonial Athletic Association for the Atlantic 10. While those moves have yet to come to fruition (and likely won't), the CAA no longer remains untouched by the recent wave of conference realignment. That's because Georgia State, who joined the Association in time for the 2005-06 academic year is headed back to the Sun Belt Conference for 2013-14. Yes, "headed back" is the correct phrasing, as the Panthers were a charter member of the Sun Belt back when it formed in 1976 before moving to the Trans-America Athletic Conference, now known as the Atlantic Sun), seven years later.

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On Monday night, the Kentucky Wildcats claimed the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship with a victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, ending one of the more interesting and controversial seasons in recent memory. (Seriously, if I hear the words "lane violation" or see another "Flagrant Foul" graphic, SB Nation will soon have an infrequently updated curling blog in this space.) I apologize for my lack of posting during the NCAA Tournament, as real life managed to create some issues -- and a sinus infection last week didn't help matters.

Today, I'm back with some early information on the upcoming 2012-13 campaign. First, I've replaced the Conference Changes For 2012-13 (And Beyond) page with separate pages for both 2012-13 and 2013-14. These will, of course, be updated as changes are announced. For example, the 2013-14 page includes the Temple Owls' move to the Big East and the Pacific Tigers' transfer to the West Coast Conference.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the Early Season Event page for 2012-13 is now live. As always, if you have information for this always growing part of the site, please e-mail me at bloggingthebracket at gmail dot com. Links are especially appreciated, as rumors about teams' schedules fly quickly and furiously at this time of year. When next season's conference challenges are announced, they'll be placed with the other events, and not on a separate page as in previous seasons.

In the next couple of days, I'll have a page up with NCAA Tournament information as well, and probably another for conference tournaments (e-mailed info on this would be appreciated too). As part of the NCAA Tournament page, I'll have some sort of listing of cities that have hosted in the recent past (six or so seasons), so you can get an idea of which locales may be in play for 2014 and beyond.

Here's to a relaxing offseason and an even better 2012-13 campaign!

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Over the past couple of weeks, I've added quite a bit of information to the Early Season Events section of this site. Most of the tournament-related news for the 2012-13 season has focused on naming host teams, with full brackets and schedules being the exception rather than the rule. While I was in Sarasota at a Spring Training game yesterday afternoon, I received an e-mail from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Greg Procino that changed that. After the jump, the full roster of matchups for the 2012 Hall Of Fame Tip-Off.

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A little less than a week ago, I mentioned that the host schools for the 2012 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the first to be played at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, would be announced on St. Patrick's Day.

Well, you don't have to wait that long, as media reports, like this one by Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, feature the list of four host schools. Florida State (ACC) and Notre Dame (Big East), who met in an NCAA Third Round game in Chicago last March are the two major conference programs invited, while BYU (WCC) is the third 2012 NCAA team that will participate. The fourth host is St. Joseph's (A-10), an NIT team this time around, which happens to be coached by the chairman of the Coaches vs. Cancer National Council, Phil Martelli.

Despite the shift from Manhattan to Brooklyn, the event will still serve as one of the first on the 2012-13 calendar. The semifinals and finals are set for November 16th and 17th, with each host school playing two home games before the showcase event.

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Here it is. I did some reconsideration this morning. Full analysis up at SB Nation.

Auto bids in bold. Teams who have clinched bids are in ALL CAPS.

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Apologies for not posting one of these in a few days. Full analysis is up at SB Nation. I'll have one more bracket just before 6 p.m. ET. More changes may be afoot.

Auto bids in bold. Teams who have clinched bids are in ALL CAPS.

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Just a day after announcing the four host schools for the 2012 2K Sports Classic, now benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project, the Gazelle Group released the names of the quartet that will appear in next season's Legends Classic, the first to be held at Brooklyn's new Barclays Center. Thanks to the struggles at UCLA (Pac-12) over the past few seasons, Georgetown (Big East) and Indiana (Big Ten) enter the event as likely the two biggest threats for national honors, depending on recruiting, of course. The Hoyas and Hoosiers are only squads out of the host group who will be in the NCAA Tournament, barring a surprise conference tournament run by the Bruins or Georgia (SEC).

As usual, the rest of the field will be announced at a later date. The semifinals and final are slated for November 19th and 20th.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Barclays Center would host a neutral-site game, the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival, featuring Michigan and West Virginia on December 12th.

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