I don't agree with

. I wouldn't make the weekend trying to follow the thing. But after seeing the school's handling of star basketball player Brandon Davies, I'm amazed by it.

BYU recruits well across most sports.

It wins games.

And the Cougars do these things with a strict honor code that asks recruits to attend church, use clean language, be honest and respectful. No alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee or substance abuse. Also, there's a dress and grooming standard and a commitment to helping others comply with the honor code.

Davies had pre-marital sex. He was suspended in March, and missed the Cougars' Sweet-16 run. The team's leading rebounder, a 6-foot-9 post, who also averaged 11.1 points, became a lightning-rod of discussion about ethics, honor and codes. Also, it stimulated important questions about how it is that BYU wins so much while asking so much of its recruits.

Davies was reinstated on Friday after completing a series of undisclosed steps. He's been readmitted at BYU and is enrolled in classes for the fall semester. To this, the player said in a statement: "I'm excited to be back at BYU and look forward to the future. I'm grateful for this opportunity."

To this, I say: Wow.

BYU was No. 3 in the rankings, and had a 27-2 record when Davies was booted. The Cougars might have been a Final Four team with him. Without him, they made it to the Sweet 16 and

in overtime.

I figured the player would re-surface somewhere, bitter and more talkative, and eventually write a book about life under the code at BYU.

Instead, he's back for more, and grateful for the chance.

BYU's code of conduct wouldn't be a winner in the living rooms of most recruits. Which is why Davies' return to BYU is so amazing when contrasted to the decision-making we see from many college athletes today.

Given that college athletics has given us a long line of scandalous NCAA investigations in recent years, whether you agree with the code or not, the success at BYU ends up a feel-good story.

We're sold on the idea that you can not win in major college athletics without cheating. We're told that asking programs to be selectively ethical is about as good as it gets. And we've been de-sensitized by the violations to the point where we expect troubles to follow any program that enjoys any national success.

Researchers at CBSSports.com studied football from 1936-present day earlier this summer. Among the schools that won national championships in that 75-year period, only Penn State and BYU have never had a major violation in football.

I know the booster scandal at Miami, the Terrell Pryor violations at Ohio State, the bar fight at LSU and the ongoing investigations at Auburn and Oregon are sexier stories and get more play. But it's probably worth thinking about how the good guys manage to do it. They deserve some credit.

Davies is among the athletes at BYU who are busy buying into the code. It's not for everyone, but good for them for believing so deeply in something that it moves them. We should all be so lucky to feel that way about something. But in examining what happens at BYU, maybe too, we should raise the expectations for the rest of college sports.

BYU moved with great alacrity when it learned Davies had violated the code. We've been so conditioned by the hypocrisy of major college programs that most of us expected they'd reinstate the kid under pressure and get about trying to win games. But they stood tall and earned a lot of respect.

So yeah.

I don't expect the college programs to run out and dream up strict honor codes. They're not for everyone. But what we should all do is expect those with less stringent codes -- or none at all -- to follow the basic rules of college athletics.

They should conduct themselves, in a word: Decently.

NCAA investigators shouldn't always be expected to show up a few months after there's some national success. Football and basketball coaches and players should be as busy chasing a good, clean record as they are the cool hardware.

Not talking about BYU or Penn State here, obviously.

Just everyone else.