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What a Wednesday for our guy, John Fanta. He’ll be the new play-by-play voice for NBC Sports, covering Big East, Big 12 and Big Ten games. As Dauster and I can attest, it’s a helluva place to work and develop. Can’t wait for Fanta to crush it.

Let's get to the rest of Wednesday’s news.

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1. Donovan Dent ‘makes life easier on his teammates’

There’s some concern that Donovan Dent might not fully fit into Mick Cronin’s system at UCLA. The Bruins have never ranked higher than 235th in adjusted tempo in any of Cronin’s six seasons, and have ranked in the 300s four times.

So, as Rob Dauster notes in our Offseason Grades series, how does that work for a player like Dent, the 6-foot guard who may be the sport’s fastest player? Well, you make it work.

To be clear, neither Rob nor Mike LaTulip think Cronin and Dent won’t mesh. The talent’s too evident, and Cronin’s too good of a coach to mismanage this scenario.

Besides, as Cronin said this week after the Bruins had an open practice, he doesn’t view Dent as a race car that always needs to slam the gas. He’s more of a quarterback. And that’s what UCLA needs.

Cronin and UCLA are coming off a 23-11 season in which it won 13 games with a relatively efficient offense. But that offense was predicated on wings Eric Dailey, Tyler Bilodeau and Kobe Johnson making plays in spite of guard inconsistency.

With Dent? Everything should be easier.

“I don’t have to work a lot on offense,” Dailey told the LA Times. “I can just cut, I can spot up, in transition I can run and be his finisher.”

Dent’s an LA native who spent the last three seasons at New Mexico where he played behind a couple of All-MWC guards in Jamal Mashburn Jr. and Jaelen House. He took the reins last season and thrived, earning MWC POY and honorable mention All-America. Cronin highlighted Dent’s improved shooting (40% on 65 attempts last season) compared to his prep days as one of the biggest aspects of Dent’s growth.

Dent’s return to LA isn’t just to get up and down the court. He wants to be a true floor general.

“[Cronin] felt like I could fit right into that system and he just needed someone he could trust with the ball in their hand,” Dent said, “and I feel like that was what I could bring to the table. So we talked about that, we talked about playing a lot of pick and rolls, and he’s been doing that a lot in practice. So I’m excited to see what we’re gonna get going during the season.”

Also? The defense will still be a focal point for Cronin. UCLA’s ranked inn the top 20 of adjusted defensive efficiency in half of his seasons. Last season it was 14th, but that was heavily influence by forcing turnovers (on 22.8% of possessions). That’s not necessarily Dent’s strength, so expect Skyy Clark to draw most of those assignments.

The rest of us can watch Dent get to the hoop or set up Dailey and Bilodeau.

2. Louisville to ask NCAA about restoring 2013 title

Most of us watched Louisville win the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Yet the NCAA record books doesn’t reflect that. The school will try to convince the NCAA to change that.

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