It pains me greatly to contradict a former colleague, especially when he's one of the best things going at the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

But here goes.

Earlier this week, at ESPN.com, Andy Katz outlined his top 25 men's college basketball teams heading into the 2008-09 season.

In case you missed it, he had Texas in the top spot, newly crowned NCAA champion Kansas in the top five, Purdue in the top 10 and the University of Wisconsin in the top 25.

My issue wasn't with his projection — Katz always was a go-getter when he worked on the Wisconsin State Journal sports desk — nor his insights because they're among the most astute in the business.

My problem was this assertion at the top of the story: "No college sport is more affected by the lure of a professional league when the season ends than college basketball."

That's just not true.

In the past month, 15 underclassmen have left their men's college hockey teams to sign with NHL clubs.

The collection is diverse, affecting schools from one corner of the map (Alaska) to the other (Maine), as well as those large (UW, Michigan State) and comparatively small (Merrimack, St. Cloud State).

Over here you have center Kyle Turris, an 18-year-old fresh off his first season at UW, who signed with Phoenix — the team that drafted him third overall in 2007.

Over there you also have goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak, a 22-year-old who played three seasons at Michigan Tech before signing as a free agent with Philadelphia.

The list doesn't even include three renegade signings — Minnesota winger Kyle Okposo to the New York Islanders, Denver winger Brock Trotter to Montreal, and Niagara winger Les Reaney to Edmonton — that came during the college season.

The exits are sure to continue once the NCAA Frozen Four runs its course tonight at the Pepsi Center in Denver with an unlikely title game pitting Boston College and Notre Dame.

This drain of talent from college to the NHL has become an annual rite of spring, a reality traced to the collective bargaining agreement the league put in place prior to the 2005-06 season.

A new salary cap has prompted NHL teams to invest in younger, cheaper talent as opposed to established veterans on the free agent market.

It's a big reason why the Badgers have lost five underclassmen — Turris, Robbie Earl, Joe Pavelski, Joe Piskula and Jack Skille — since winning the NCAA title in 2006.

There are those in the college game who think this is just an aberration.

They're wrong.

There are those in the college game who think there's nothing that can be done to balance the scales in this matter.

They're wrong, too.

While there's no way of preventing NHL teams from signing underclassmen, a deadline for doing so would help college coaches in terms of planning and recruiting.

It would be great for the colleges if that deadline were in the spring, say May 1.

A more realistic cutoff is after the Stanley Cup playoffs end, say Aug. 1.

Right now, the exodus of hockey talent to the pros brings a price no other college sport has to pay.