Success breeds success in college basketball. The players come and go, so it’s up to the coaches to recruit the best talent year after year. Prestige is their selling point – just as it is for the universities themselves.

It doesn’t get any more prestigious than the Duke Blue Devils. The folks at ESPN did some math and arrived at the same conclusion. Three national titles and 10 trips to the Final Four since 1984-85 (the first season for the 64-team Tournament format) are just the start for the Dukies. How about guys like Cherokee Parks and Trajan Langdon becoming NBA lottery draft picks? That’s the power of prestige.

Numbers aside, the biggest indicator of Duke’s sway over college hoops is how much people despise the program. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has built a team that has been so dominant for so long that regular folk cannot relate. America demands winners, but reserves its love for underdogs.

This is a pivotal year for college basketball in the United States. There is a backlash at campuses across the nation after last year’s class of “one-and-done” players skipped town; schools like USC were hit particularly hard for failing to live up to the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate requirements.

The mere existence of the APR is a hopeful sign that some attention is being paid to the academic needs of student-athletes. But college basketball is driven by money. The teams that win the most games make the most money for their colleges, and giving a student a quality education isn’t just secondary - it’s counterproductive.

This jocktocracy will survive only if everyone continues to buy into it. This year’s March Madness ratings remained strong, if you include online viewership, so the fan support is still there. But what about the players themselves? Given other development options outside traditional college programs, they’ll be “zero-and-done” in no time.

Look for DeMar DeRozan to suit up for USC next season.

If last year’s batch of one-and-done basketball players wasn’t enough to embarrass colleges into improving the “student” part of their “student-athlete” profiles, this summer’s freshman crop won’t change minds either.

DeMar DeRozan has been academically cleared to play for USC this year after scoring sufficient marks on last month’s ACT college entrance exam. That puts him one up on Brandon Jennings, who didn’t even bother to wait for his SAT scores before deciding to play in Europe rather than for Arizona.

Schools are supposed to be for learning. If learning how to play basketball is worth getting a degree in, make a proper four-year program out of it. Otherwise, keep it out of the colleges and put it back in the gyms where it belongs. But that won’t happen anytime soon; the money a top prospect like DeRozan brings to a school, even in only one year, is too high to let mere academic concerns get in the way.

Highly sought-after hoops phenom Brandon Jennings may not be too cool for school, but he has decided to pass up on a college education while playing basketball for Arizona, in favor of playing pro ball in Europe next season. From there he’ll likely entering the 2009 NBA Draft, Jenning’s attorney, Jeff Valle, told ESPN.com on Tuesday night.

“Over the course of the last two months I have consulted a number of people in basketball before coming to this decision,” Jennings said in a statement released through Valle. “I would like to thank the University of Arizona for their interest and support through this process.”

The unprecedented move is a loss for the NCAA, but it’s a huge win for Europe and of course for Jennings, who stands to score a nice contract (to be followed by an even sweeter contract next year by the NBA).

Jennings played high school basketball for the Oak Hill Academy Warriors of Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.

Forget about basketball for dummies. Too many high school players with sketchy academic backgrounds are failing to get into college. Those who squeak in risk leaving school without a proper education. Somebody needs to straighten these kids out.

That’s the rationale for the Merrill Lynch Summer Basketball League. Founder Richard Crabtree founded the 16-team league with the hope of developing true student-athletes; players have to attend seminars where they learn everything from how to take an SAT to proper table manners.

The league has drawn the attention of college recruiters. Over 40 coaches were expected to attend games this month; the championship is on July 22, and the NCAA-mandated window for recruiters to talk to players and their AAU coaches closes on August 1. Crabtree must be onto something if these recruiters are choosing to spend their valuable time looking at his program. Let’s hope the players get full value out of the experience as well.

I’m still hitting “reload” on the official Miami Heat webpage, but Michael Beasley’s still there, giving me the victory sign. Looks like the No. 2 pick in the 2008 NBA Draft is sticking around.

As expected, Derrick Rose went to the Chicago Bulls as the first overall pick. Then Heat president Pat Riley decided against trading down in the draft on the advice of his staff. Miami still needs a point guard even after snapping Mario Chalmers up with the No. 34 pick; free agency will be Riley’s next route.

Minnesota took O.J. Mayo with the third pick, but flipped him to Memphis after the draft in a multi-player trade that included No. 5 pick Kevin Love. Sandwiched in between was Russell Westbrook, who went to Seattle after moving quickly up the draft board following a breakout season with Love at UCLA.

And the Knicks? They took Italy’s Danilo Gallinari at No. 6. The natives are getting restless.