By now you’ve heard that Joe Paterno has decided on a punishment for his football team after some inexcusable behavior: have the entire team clean the stadium after a game day and give all of the money earned to the club teams which use such income to fund their sports. Sounds pretty good, right?

No doubt Paterno is a smart man, at least in some sense. Not smart enough for a few people to see right through his punishment though.

If you peel back the warm and fuzzy blanket, it’s as much a preemptive strike at the University’s Office of Judicial Affairs as it is corporal punishment for the players.

Consider the timing of the announcement. It comes before the Judicial Affairs folks begin their hearings into the incident.

In the pecking order of justice, the legal system is first, then Judicial Affairs and finally, Paterno’s court.

It is also a calculated move to undercut the Judicial Affairs office by taking matters into his own hands and meting out his own punishment. That will make anything Judicial Affairs decides to do look like overkill and further advance the perception that Judicial Affairs has some vendetta against the football team.

Yes, Joe Paterno is smart, but Ron Bracken is just a step ahead.

Reports are that Roy Hibbert will announce this afternoon that he is returning to Georgetown for another season (and possibly Jeff Green as well). If Hibbert returns, the Hoyas will be the strong favorites to win the Big East in 2008 (and if Green returns as well, they will be favored to win the whole thing).

Obviously, this is not great news for Pitt and the other teams in the Big East that would face Georgetown.

For Aaron Gray and every other center in the NBA draft not named Greg Oden, this is very good news. Spencer Hawes (from Washington) becomes the clear #2 Center in the draft.

Aaron Gray suddenly gets vaulted back into the discussion as being among the 3d best center prospects in the draft. His competition are a couple Euro players (Marc Gasol [Spain, and yes, Pau Gasol’s little brother] and Ante Tomic [Croatia]), the troubled Sean Williams — who managed to actually be kicked off the team for good by Al Skinner at BC — and the injury prone DeVon Hardin of Cal.

Yep, if Hibbert stays at Georgetown, Aaron Gray should send him a thank you card.

I’m not sure if this is good or bad, but Dick Vitale likes the hire of Tom Herrion as a Pitt assistant.

Herrion is a perfect hire as the Panthers assistant coach.

Look at what Florida has done winning two national titles. Billy Donovan has done a phenomenal job recruiting, motivating and inspiring his team. Why am I talking about the Gators? Donovan brought in Larry Shyatt as an assistant coach and it made a big difference.

Shyatt was a solid head coach at Wyoming and Clemson, and he has been an asset for the Gators. More and more former head coaches are popping up as assistants because they can’t get back to the same high-level positions. Let me tell you, these guys have a chip on their shoulder an attitude as they want to prove that people made mistakes. They work so hard to move back up.

It is a good hire when a smart man brings in a former head coach to be a second lieutenant. These guys are competitive, goal-oriented winners. They will work 24-7 to get the job done.

Of course, Vitale likes just about everybody — especially anyone who has ever been a head coach.

ESPN hands out grades on the basketball recruiting for the Big East:

1. Syracuse — A
2. Villanova — A
3. Georgetown — B+
4. Pitt — B+
5. Cinci — B+
6. Seton Hall — B+
7. Marquette — B
8. St. John’s — B
9. Rutgers — B-
10. Louisville — B-
11. Notre Dame — B-
12. WVU — B-
13. DePaul — C
14. USF — C
15. Providence — C
16. UConn — D

Here were the comments on Pitt:

With six signees, Pitt landed a well-balanced class. DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley), a 6-7 center, is tough and has a wide body. In addition to Blair, the Panthers added Bradley Wanamaker (Philadelphia/Roman Catholic), a quick scoring guard who will give coach Jamie Dixon a good inside-outside punch.

Nothing particularly different from prior stories, but it’s all that is out there right now.