Steve Spurrier: Pay Players?

After writing my last article I realized I needed to elaborate more on this subject.

For a while I was really on the fence about paying players, but as things go on and on and we see more and more issues crop up it becomes obvious; those following the rules are at a disadvantage. Couple that with the fact that the NCAA has absolutely no way to actually police its own rules and that's a big issue.

Spurrier came out the other day and said he thought that players should be paid $300 per game out of the coaches salary. It's an interesting idea, with an arbitrary number. I absolutely get where he is coming from and agree with the principle of his idea, although I don't think he has the correct answer it is a great place to start.

In my opinion, NCAA President Mark Emmert is asking the wrong question, just like the city of Iowa City is while they go through their 21 only downtown legislation. They are asking the wrong question. The city continues to ask the question "How can we stop underage drinking?" Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating underage drinking, but anyone with any sort of sense realizes you can't do it. If a kid wants to drink they will find a way. The question the city should be asking is "How can we keep our students safe?" What this ordinance has done is it has taken kids away from well lite, downtown Iowa City where they are police-able and sent kids on mile hikes to house parties on dimly lite streets. As a parent that would scare me.

I feel Emmert is in the same boat, he is continuing to ask how the NCAA can make the most money and how players can't be paid and the biggest one, how we can police it. The real question he should be asking is how the playing field can be competitive for everyone. Right now it's not. If you follow the rules you're at a disadvantage.

How to level the playing field? First and foremost Football needs a playoff. without question in my mind that is one huge step towards making things equal. I outlined here my thoughts about that last year. I still think that idea holds a lot of water. Once NCAA has a playoff I think at that point they can logically address paying players. The idea has been thrown around that some players would feel they deserve more then the players that don't play. So then why not do it? Give incentive for players to work harder. Have a base pay system of $100 per game and add in $x per snap a player plays or $y for a start. Additionally, if Emmert is so concerned about smaller schools not having enough money to pay, why can't x% come off the top of playoff (err I mean bowl) revenue, that seems logical and keeps schools on an even ground.

I don't have an answer for the problem, but the NCAA needs to start asking the right questions or things will not get better.

Tresselgate: How does it affect the B1G?

In what seemed an inevitable conclusion to a situation that spun more out of control than Pearlgate down in Knoxville, Ohio State coach, Jim Tressel resigned on Memorial Day. He resigned over five months too late and likely as many lies. The back story, as I am sure everyone knows, is that many players, over the course of his entire career at Ohio State had been trading memorabilia for cheap or free tattoos.While sources have said that this has been going on for years, it came to light this past December when, among others, star QB and former #1 recruit, Terrelle Pryor was found to have been driving numerous cars and having traded signed memorabilia to Fine Line Ink when a federal probed the parlor on drug charges.

What gets me the most was some of the revelations in this SI article, Tressel claims to know nothing about any of this, well at least until last spring when he received an email about Pryor, yet anyone on campus could have told you what was going on?

I don't care if you are Buckeye faithful, college enthusiastic or a Buckeye hater - There is an issue here. Is some of it outside of the coaches control? Maybe partially, but that doesn't mean they can't try to fix the issue. Can Tressel stop every booster from thinking or trying to give out money and cars? Maybe not, but if he had the integrity that he preached than the issue should never have gotten to where it is today.

How hard will the Buckeyes be hit by the NCAA? I think it will be hit worse than the Trojans were. The reason being that USC had issues, over a very short time involving two players, mostly Reggie Bush and some what O.J. Mayo. The NCAA had barely any evidence, specifically evidence that would be permitted in court, and they hit USC with a multiple season postseason ban as well as a loss of scholarships.

And the Buckeyes? They have multiple years of issues and actual 'evidence'. If any of the Pryor car deals is true, that only spells the doom for the Buckeyes program for the next 3-5 years. And I don't care what anyone around the Ohio State University says; they will be searching for a new President and Athletic Director in the near future.

So how does this affect the rest of the B1G?

For starters it helps Wisconsin. The Badgers move ahead as the favorite to win their half of the B1G and PSU also gets a small boost as well as Ohio State could be hurting big time the next few years. Illinois could be a sleeper team if they ever get rid of Zook and try to compete. A new AD might make this a make or break year for Zook, which could help lead the Illini football program in the right direction.

And for the other half? Nebraska might become the leading candidate to win the conference this year and be their BCS representative in their first year in the league. If I had to bet today, Pryor won't see the field next year for the Buckeyes, either because of an extended suspension or because, more likely, he enters the NFL's supplemental draft.

On a side note I really did enjoy Steve Spurrier's thoughts on paying athletes. Yes it is a very slippery slope but the fact is it already happens. Those that play the game right are at a disadvantage to those that don't. And for all the whine and fuss about how BCS schools would have a clear advantage over non-AQ conferences, I offer you this. When the NCAA finally does the right thing and institutes a playoff (see my prior thoughts on this here) that given advantage would become much less then everyone assumes.

While I agree that the $300 number that Spurrier through out is arbitrary, it is a starting point. There is a way to make this work Mark Emmert. The NCAA makes too much off these kids to not try to find a way to make it work.

Arena Adventures: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum

Arena Adventures: Entry #11

Arena: Daniel-Meyer Coliseum
City: Fort Worth, TX
Date: January 5, 2011
Teams: TCU vs. #6 San Diego St.

Day 2 of my Texas basketball adventure took me to the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum on the campus of Texas Christian University to watch the Horned Frogs take on the sixth-ranked and undefeated San Diego State University Aztecs. I picked this game from 3 options when planning my trip simply because I wanted to see SDSU play as I expected them to be a solid team this season having returned all 5 starters from last season’s NCAA Tournament squad. I did not anticipate them being undefeated and in the top 10 in the country at this point, however. The Aztecs, led by D.J. Gay, Kahwi Leonard, and Billy White have been impressive thus far, including recording wins at Gonzaga and over Missouri Valley Conference favorite, Wichita St. As such, they might have been a bit overrated, but based on their body of work thus far and their unblemished record, they deserve to be ranked sixth until proven otherwise in my opinion.

As for TCU, they entered the game with a 9-6 record, with a solid win over an ever-improving USC squad. The Horned Frogs are led by Fort Worth native, Ronnie Moss, who was the team’s leading scorer entering the game. Heading to Fort Worth, I expected the thrill of the TCU football team’s victory over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl to carry on through to campus and energize the fans to knock off another top 10 team, this time in a different sport. Well, apparently that isn’t the case as the DMC was quite empty at tip-off and the arena didn’t really fill up throughout the game either. The sparse crowd that was there was loud and proud, especially as the Horned Frogs jumped on the Aztecs early to lead by as many as 6 points at 25-19 late in the first half. San Diego St. was terribly inept on offense early on in the game; not sure if that was a result of overlooking the Frogs being that they are projected to be one of the lower-tier teams in the Mountain West, or if TCU’s defense was really shutting down the Aztecs. In any case, the Frogs looked extremely competitive throughout the first half and only a late 10-1 run by the Aztecs to end the first half turned the tide in SDSU’s favor and carried them to a 29-26 halftime lead.

In the first half, SDSU was not led by Gay, Leonard, or White, but rather Malcolm Thomas. This stat goes to show the sheer depth of the Aztecs and why I think they will be a different out of the NCAA Tournament come March. Unlike a Connecticut team for instance which is led mainly by a one-man band in Kemba Walker and some role players who contribute very inconsistently, SDSU has no shortage of players who can carry the team and put the ball in the basket on a given night. For instance, when the Aztecs travelled to Spokane to take on Gonzaga, Billy White was the leading scorer and carried the team to victory. In this game, it was Thomas, but he was also complemented nicely by the rest of his teammates in starting conference play on a positive note with a 66-53 Aztec win in Fort Worth. I commend TCU on playing hard throughout the game and not being intimidated by a team as experienced and highly-ranked as SDSU. Head Coach Jim Christian has the Horned Frogs going in the right direction, but with a move to the Big East Conference starting in the 2012-13 season, it’s going to be extremely difficult for TCU hoops to have anywhere near the success of TCU football.

In the end, I enjoyed watching a game at the DMC. You can definitely tell it is set up for basketball and basketball only as the sight lines appear to be great throughout. Additionally, the building is set at just about the right size, with a maximum capacity of approximately 8,000 people. Knowing that most of the students are on winter break and big alumni were still probably in California celebrating the Rose Bowl victory, the sparse crowd didn’t look quite as bad as it would have in a 15,000 seat arena. It would seem that this should have been the game Horned Frog nation circled on its calendars to attend and create an electric atmosphere to bring a huge home victory to fruition. Apparently, TCU basketball fans are not as prevalent and dedicated as its football fans are, and that’s ok, until the basketball team starts putting up results like Gary Patterson’s football team has been recently.

Arena Adventures: Ferrell Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #10

Arena: Ferrell Center
City: Waco, TX
Date: January 4, 2011
Teams: Baylor vs. Morgan State

Being the college basketball fan that I am, and the huge Connecticut fan that I am, I try to find a game or 2 each year where I can watch my Huskies play that I haven't been before. As previously documented, I started the Big East season by going to Pittsburgh to watch UConn play Pitt. However, I also wanted to add a non-conference contest to my schedule and it just so happened that my work schedule coincided with UConn's non-conference game in Austin against the University of Texas Longhorns on January 8. As I have never been to Texas before, I decided to head down a few days early and enjoy the warm weather and try to catch a couple additional college basketball games while in the state since there are so many Division I teams in Texas. The first team I decided to watch was Baylor as I really wanted to see both top recruit Perry Jones III and senior guard, LaceDarius Dunn, play in person. The only Baylor home game during my visit was a contest against the Morgan State Bears. Coming from the MEAC, it would seem like this game should have blowout written all over it, however, Morgan St. was coming off an NCAA appearance last season and was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the MEAC again and represent the conference in the NCAA tournament. Obviously the Baylor fans also thought this wasn't going to be much of a game as the Ferrell Center was probably close to 2/3 empty making for a less than energetic atmosphere for the home Bears.


For the first 25 minutes of the game, Morgan St. was impressive, holding a lead of as many as 6 points over Baylor as Baylor appeared to be sleepwalking through much of the first half of the game. The most impressive of Morgan State's players was DeWayne Jackson, who was scoring almost at will against the long defense of Quincy Acy, Anthony Jones, and Perry Jones. Jackson had 19 first half points, but also picked up 2 fouls with about 8 minutes to go in the half and Morgan St. leading. Once Jackson went to the bench, Baylor was able to better contain the Morgan St. offense and eventually Baylor was able to turn the deficit it was facing for much of the first half into a 42-40 lead.


In the 2nd half, Baylor was able to jump on Morgan St. early and often, mostly lead by Dunn, who was absolutely on fire from three point range in the 2nd half. It seemed like every time down the court, Dunn was open for 3 and would hit. By the time the final horn sounded, Dunn had dropped 43 points on Morgan St., including a school-record 10 3 point baskets in Baylor's 89-72 victory. Not only did Dunn hit 10 3's, but he hit those 3's on only 18 attempts, and Dunn's attempts were the only 3 point field goals attempted by Baylor all evening. Along with Dunn's shooting prowess in the second half, Jones III looked significantly better on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court, showing why he is tabbed by most prognosticators as the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft if he decides to go pro. In my opinion, he still looks too raw to be a significant contributor right away and he could end up being an Anthony Randolph-type player if he leaves Baylor after only 1 season.


All in all, it was an interesting experience in Waco. I wish that Big XII conference play started earlier in the season so that I could have caught a conference game where the Ferrell Center crowd might have been a little more enthusiastic, but Baylor has a very nice arena with great sight lines from everywhere in my opinion. Whether you're sitting in the 3rd row or the 30th row anywhere in the arena, you would have a great view of the action. I'm sure when Texas or Kansas comes to town, the place is sold out and loud, but to be a top tier sports school, the fans need to come out and support their teams against all opponents. It was a little disappointing to see so many empty seats both in the season ticket section and the general public sections, but I give credit to the Baylor fans that were in attendance. They saw a show by Dunn and were very engaging and enthusiastic when their team needed them when Morgan St. was playing their hearts out.

The Granddaddy of Them All...97th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO

Game: 97th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO

Location: Pasadena, CA

Stadium: Rose Bowl

Date: January 1, 2011

Teams: #3 Texas Christian (12-0) vs. #5 Wisconsin (11-1)

For years I've watched the Rose Bowl Game on television every New Year's Day, one day hoping to be able to watch the game in person from legendary Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. Being a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and having lived in Wisconsin all my life, I remember the excitement that the Rose Bowl generated when Wisconsin played in 1994, 1999, and 2000 under former head coach, and current AD, Barry Alvarez. This is of course "The Granddaddy of Them All" as former ABC announcer Keith Jackson so vividly would describe each year on the broadcast. However, in this era of the BCS, the 97th edition of the Rose Bowl Game would not have the traditional Big Ten vs. Pac-10 matchup as Pac-10 Champion, Oregon, is playing in Glendale, AZ for the National Championship. As such, and due to a little known addition to the most recent BCS contract with ESPN, the Rose Bowl was obligated to take the top non-AQ (Automatic Qualifying) school if it lost one of its traditional participants to the title game. Therefore, instead of the Rose Bowl taking Stanford to preserve the Big Ten/Pac-10 matchup, the Rose Bowl was forced to take the TCU Horned Frogs. I mean no disrespect to TCU in using the term forced, but I think without this clause, the Rose takes Stanford to preserve tradition and TCU ends up going to the Orange Bowl to play Virginia Tech. Due to this completely non-traditional matchup, and the fact that my alma mater was playing, I dropped the cash to buy a ticket and fly to California to watch the Granddaddy in person.

Without having ever been to Pasadena before, I did not realize how the stadium itself is a few miles outside of city center where the Tournament of Roses Parade is held annually on game day. I arrived at the stadium about 2.5 hours before kickoff and was thoroughly impressed by all the people already on site for the game. The bowl committee does a great job of making game day an experience with a food court set up outside the stadium for patrons to buy some of the local area's best foods. Additionally, the alumni associations for each team hold gigantic parties in parking lots surrounding the stadium providing the perfect lead up to kick off. The aura of tradition and prestige just permeates the entire stadium site.

Upon finally entering the stadium itself, the senses are just completely engulfed with the sweet smells of hot dogs and soft pretzels as well as the sights of 90,000+ seats to be eventually filled with screaming fans supporting their team. Heading to my seat in row 5 of the north endzone, I was thoroughout impressed by the views and the grandure present in the stadium. I had to see what the view was like from the top of the stadium though. Thus, I walked up all 72 remaining rows all the way to the top and wow, was the view impressive. Anticipation built in the stadium as the top 20 all time Rose Bowl Games were counted down from ESPN's top 20 series from a few years back. Of course, the #1 game was the 2005 national championship game held as the Rose Bowl between Vince Young's Texas Longhorns and Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush's USC Trojans.

As the game approached kickoff and all the seats in the stadium were filled, it was a sea of red with the exception of the corner to my right which was the designated TCU section filled with fans covered in purple and white. Before kickoff, I was asking most of my friends whether or not the game was more likely to be a 21-20 game or a 45-42 game as both teams have very potent offenses averaging over 43 ppg, but what Wisconsin didn't have that TCU did is the #1 ranked defense in the country. The question though, was whether TCU's defensive stats were inflated having played in the Mountain West against cupcakes like New Mexico and UNLV, with some solid teams such as Air Force and Utah mixed in. I personally expected a shootout and in the first quarter, it appeared as though that was exactly what the fans and viewers were in for as no punts were required and the Horned Frogs scored 2 touchdowns to the Badgers' touchdown and a field goal.

As the 2nd quarter progressed, Wisconsin kept pounding the ball on the ground and running clock, but again failed to get into the endzone and settled for a missed Philip Welch 39 yd FG and a made Welch FG to end the half and trail 14-13. Wisconsin's ground game was racking up the yards, but TCU's defense, led by LB Tank Carder, was up to the challenge in the key moments of the Badgers' drives. Andy Dalton, TCU's QB, was extremely efficient in the first half methodically driving the Frogs down the field for a TD pass as well as a rushing TD.

In the 2nd half, the scoring subsided significantly, but the action and drama did not. Coming out of halftime, TCU received the kickoff as they deferred the opening kick, and drove right down the field for another touchdown to take a 21-13 lead. As the Badgers looked to answer and hopefully take the lead in the game, Wisconsin's offense sputtered on numerous drives. Wisconsin could get a first down or two behind the legs of Montee Ball or John Clay or the arm of Scott Tolzien, but never enough in a row to drive down the field. Additionally, the lack of big plays by both teams in the 2nd half allowed the defenses to keep both offenses out of the endzone until late in the 4th quarter. Wisconsin forced a TCU punt with about 5 minutes to play and quickly matriculated the ball down the field behind a 40+ yd run by Clay as well as another 20+ yd run by Clay. Eventually, Ball capped the drive with a 4 yd TD run to the right corner of the endzone to cut the Frogs lead to 2 with about 2 minutes to play. Wisconsin called a 2 pt conversion play that resulted in a wide open Jacob Pedersen in the endzone, however, Carder managed to get his hands up just in time and knock the ball down for TCU to preserve the 2 point lead.

Wisconsin poorly executed an onside kick that was recovered by TCU and with only 2 timeouts remaning for the Badgers, TCU only needed 1 first down to seal the game. On 3rd down, Ed Wesley broke through the line for 8 yards and the game-clinching first down for the Frogs. As time ticked away, the Horned Frogs exploded in celebration, which included a Gatorade bath for head coach Gary Patterson. So much for the Frogs and their "Little Sisters of the Poor" schedule according to Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. If memory serves me, this win by TCU makes non-AQ schools 5-1 in BCS games against AQ schools, as well as Boise State's win last year in the Fiesta Bowl over TCU. If these outcomes don't prove the need for a playoff to let everyone have the opportunity to play for a championship, I don't know what other kind of proof exists. As a University of Wisconsin alumnus, I would have preferred a Badger victory, however, TCU outplayed the Badgers for 55 minutes of this football game and proved they were the better team in the end. Congrats to TCU on its undefeated season and I hope this outcome further supports US Senator Orrin Hatch's case against the BCS to further FBS football via a playoff system.

Arena Adventures: Pauley Pavilion

Arena Adventures: Entry #9

Arena: Pauley Pavilion

City: Westwood, CA

Date: December 31, 2010

Teams: UCLA vs. Washington

As my alma mater the University of Wisconsin was playing in the 97th Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO, I decided to make a trip out to California to watch that game and hopefully catch a couple other basketball games as well. On New Year's Eve, the UCLA Bruins were playing the preseason Pac-10 Conference favorite, Washington Huskies, so I decided to head from downtown LA up to Westwood to see historic Pauley Pavilion. I assumed that with all the history that has been made in Pauley in the John Wooden days that the arena was going to be one of the nicer ones I had been to. Boy was I wrong...

I give UCLA credit as a major renovation project is currently in progress to update Pauley by 2012, which I think is extremely necessary if UCLA wants to draw in the recruits UCLA should be signing under a proven coach like Ben Howland. The main thing I noticed was the gigantic spaces behind the baskets as Pauley is set up to push the bleachers back and transform into 3 separate courts when used for normal campus activity. The other thing I noticed was the fact that all patrons enter the arena at the same level and the only way to move about the arena is through the actual seating bowl as the exterior concourses are tiny. This results in traffic flow that is less efficient than the 405 or I-5 at 5:00 on an LA weekday.

As for the game itself, Washington was clearly the stronger team throughout the day, but UCLA played hard. Behind Malcolm Lee on the perimeter and Josh Smith in the post, UCLA was able to hang tough with the Huskies, trailing by a 38-31 margin at the half. Had UCLA been able to get better production out of Tyler Honeycutt in the first half, UCLA might have been even closer or leading, but Honeycutt picked up a couple of cheap fouls early on and sat most of the half. Isiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning led the way for Washington in the first half.

As the second half started, Washington poured it on and eventually built a lead of as much as 17 points before UCLA started a fast and furious comeback. Behind Honeycutt and Lee, UCLA was able to trim its deficit to as little as 4 points before a huge 3 was buried by Darrell Gant of Washington and the Huskies never looked back from there, eventually winning by a margin of 74-63. This was a big win for the Huskies to sweep the LA-area schools (Washington beat USC 73-67 in OT 2 nights earlier) and take control of the Pac-10 Conference title race early on as Washington State lost at UCLA 2 nights earlier. In the end, I think both teams played about how they were expected to; Washington looking like the conference favorite and UCLA looking like a middle-tier Pac-10 team with an outside shot of an NCAA berth come March.

Arena Adventures: Carver Hawkeye Arena

Arena Adventures: Entry #8

Arena: Carver Hawkeye Arena
City: Iowa City, IA
Date: December 29, 2010
Teams: #25 Illinois vs. Iowa

My second trip of the year to see my Illini play, 2-0 in games I have attended this year. Maybe that is a good sign for the January 22nd game at Assembly Hall? If you haven't been to Carver Hawkeye Arena before it is very funky; the outside looks like a restaurant and inside the concourse is completely above all of the seats. Basically it was built into the side of a hill.

Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Illinois started off slow and was down 4 5:00 into the game at 11-15. Much had to do with the inability of the Illinois guards to contain Iowa City native Matt Gatens early. DJ Richardson and Bill Cole made back to back three's and the Illini never looked back. Illinois stretched it's first half lead to 13 on Freshman Jereme Richmond's tip in to make it 29-16.

Illinois took a 12 point lead (49-37) into the half when Iowa guard Bryce Cartwright hit a buzzer beater, seemingly taking the momentum into the locker room.But it wouldn't last. The Illini came out of halftime and went on a 9-2 run to push the lead to 19 at 58-39. It looked like the Illini were going to cruise, I was thrilled.

I'm following the Bill Simmons way;
I've got five years to teach my daughter
she bleeds Orange and Blue.

Credit the Hawkeyes, they were down and out yet they still continued to battle back. They played within themselves and played good enough defense to get the game back into single digits and make it a game again. Cutting the lead to as little as six, but in the end the Illini proved to be the better team and won by ten, 87-77.

Demetri McCamey lead the Illini with his second 20/10 game scoring 20 points, dishing out 10 dimes and adding in three boards. McCamey has been dynamite for the Illini all year and has positioned himself as a legit NBA prospect and potential first team All American and is clearly the best Point Guard in the Big Ten, not Jordan Taylor (yes I'm talking to you Shon Morris and Dan Dakich, seriously do you guys actually watch games?).

Billy Cole has been great for the Illini as well, he isn't flashy but he plays within himself and has not backed down from taking wide open treys (and nailing them). He has been the perfect glue guy for this team and hustles on each and every play.

Iowa looked pretty good though, not fantastic but I really do like the Fran McCaffery hire. It might be a few years but if he can get some athlete's to Iowa City they could have a very solid team and potentially compete for top half of the Big Ten. I don't see them winning any titles anytime soon but this is a good step for Iowa.

I like the improvement my Illini have made, we aren't clicking on all cylinders quite yet but I still see a talented team who could push for some March wins, especially when Jereme Richmond has continued to improve each and every game.

Arena Adventures: Petersen Events Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #7

Arena: Petersen Events Center
City: Pittsburgh, PA
Date: December 27, 2010
Teams: #6 Pittsburgh vs. #4 Connecticut

With the sizes of conferences continuing to balloon, it seems like conference play keeps starting earlier and earlier each year. This year was no exception as the Big East decided to open its conference play on Monday, December 27 and feature its coaches’ and writers’ preseason pick to win the conference in Pittsburgh against traditional power, and preseason 10th pick in the Big East, Connecticut. Turns out this game became a much more significant contest than the preseason prognosticators could have ever imagined based on Connecticut’s taking home the Maui Invitational Championship and Pitt having taken home the 2k Sports Classic title itself. As those tournaments featured a plethora of ranked teams, Connecticut shot up the rankings to #4 with 2 of the more impressive wins this season over Michigan State and Kentucky. Everyone in the preseason knew what they were getting with Pitt, a tough, physical team with a veteran backcourt in Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, and Gilbert Brown, while no one had any idea what to expect from Connecticut with 6 freshmen and Kemba Walker being the only returning player who contributed significantly in the 2009-10 season. Consequently, Connecticut came into this game as the higher ranked team, and undefeated, while Pitt experienced its only blemish at the hands of a Jekyll & Hyde Tennessee Volunteer squad two weeks earlier.

Heading to the Pete as the Petersen Events Center is known as on campus, and being a huge Connecticut fan, I knew this game would be very difficult to win. It was the team’s first true road game of the season, Pitt is a veteran and physical team, and the Panthers are 141-11 all-time at the Pete. Additionally, in order to win the Big East it is pretty obvious that the good teams have to hold serve at home, and due to the enormity of the Big East, only 3 teams play home-and-home in a given season. As such, Connecticut got the short end of the straw and had to go to Pitt for its conference opener no less. A win here would justify that Connecticut is truly one of the elite teams in the country as their #4 ranking suggests, a close loss would prove they have the ability to contend nightly in the conference and compete for a conference title, and a blowout would show that most of these kids are still freshmen and sophomores and that it’s just damn hard to win on the road in the Big East.

From the opening tip, it looked like option three from above was going to be the result of the Huskies’ trip to Pittsburgh. Right out of the gate, Pitt took an 8-2 lead behind the inside play of Gary McGhee and the outside shooting of Gibbs, while Connecticut struggled to make anything. It was pretty obvious that the Huskies were a bit rattled at the beginning in front of 13,000 jacked-up fans in a “gold-out” at the Pete. Connecticut continued to get up shots, but those shots just would not fall. As a result, Pitt was able to build a 10 point lead and pretty much maintain that lead throughout the first half. It seemed as though every time Connecticut attempted to string together a few baskets to try to come back, Pitt always had an answer from McGhee in the post or Wanamaker or Gibbs from the perimeter. Connecticut was able to get a few steals, but also gave up a lot of easy hoops overplaying the ball and the veteran Panthers took advantage of that continuously with backdoor cuts and layups. The officiating crew lead by Jim Burr didn’t do much to help the flow of the game either way as well, calling a multitude of fouls in the first half, including 2 of Connecticut’s only legitimate post presence in Alex Oriahki, forcing Coach Calhoun to sit Oriahki for much of the first half. Walker also picked up 2 fouls in the first half, but didn’t get called for his second until late in the half. The lack of depth for Connecticut compared to Pitt really showed when foul trouble hit both teams. Pitt was able to turn to Travon Woodall in the backcourt and Dante Taylor and Nassir Robinson in the frontcourt, while Connecticut’s bench of Niels Giffey, Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Enosch Wolf struggled mightly. All of these factors contributed to a 37-28 halftime lead for the Panthers; a half in which Pitt shot 55% from the field and Connecticut 32%.

The second half brought a lot of the same for both teams, as Connecticut continued to struggle from the field and Pitt continued to brutalize Connecticut both from the perimeter and in the post. Connecticut had no answer for McGhee inside, especially without Oriahki, as Charles Okwandu was simply not a physical enough presence in the paint to keep McGhee from the basket. Okwandu eventually fouled out of the game trying to defend McGhee and Oriahki didn’t have much different results against McGhee, Robinson, or Taylor. Oriahki simply looked out of sorts in the game, not sure if the first half foul trouble caused that or if he was just frustrated by the Pitt defense all night, but Oriahki was not able to play Robin to Kemba’s Batman in this game. By the end of the game, Walker single-handedly brought Connecticut back into the game, cutting the Pitt lead to 7 on a drive to the hoop under 5 minutes. After a solid defensive possession by the Huskies, Kemba got a wide-open 3-point look from the right corner and left it short. If Kemba is able to hit that, all the pressure in the game turns to the home team who should win this game. As it didn’t and Pitt was able to head down to the other end and knock home 2 free throws to extend the lead back to 9, the Panthers were headed to their first Big East win of the season. The final margin of victory ended up being 73-58. Walker finished with 31 points for Connecticut, but was the only Husky in double figures and Kemba needed 27 shots to score those 31 points. The Panthers’ balanced attack was lead by 16 from Gibbs, 14 from Wanamaker, and 11 from McGhee.

So what did we learn from this game to open the Big East conference season? In my opinion, we learned that Pitt is going to contend for the Big East title and a possible Final Four berth as they have an extremely balanced team and veterans in both the frontcourt and backcourt. The only question to me is can Pitt get over the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight hump finally? As for Connecticut, we learned what a lot of people thought, they were not the fourth best team in the country…right now. Could they be by April? Maybe, but they are going to need some consistent scoring from players other than Walker. When Kemba scores over 50% of the points in a game, the Huskies will probably not win very often. Oriahki needs to become a double-double guy and freshman PG Shabazz Napier needs to bring his offensive consistency more in line with the tough defense he plays nightly. Napier is a great defender, but does not always take shots in the flow of the offense or keep the offense moving. While he’s only a freshman, if Connecticut wants to make some noise in the tournament, he’ll need to be a consistent scoring option, along with Jeremy Lamb. In the end, this was a good win for Pitt to hold home court to open the Big East season, while Connecticut learned that they still have a lot of things to work on if they want to contend for a Big East championship in 2010-11.

Arena Adventures: Thomas & Mack Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #6

Arena: Thomas & Mack Center
City: Las Vegas, NV
Date: December 18, 2010
Teams: #22 UNLV vs. Southern Utah

As a work trip to Utah took me out west and the closest airports were Las Vegas or Salt Lake City (tough choice…I know), I flew into Vegas and decided I would catch a game at the Thomas & Mack. As the Thomas & Mack had hosted the NBA All-Star Game a few years back, I had fairly high expectations of the arena and its amenities for patrons. Turns out that the Thomas & Mack is a lot more of a college arena than a pro arena, that is for sure. The arena had a fairly standard bowl setup to previous basketball-only locales I have attended such as Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan or Assembly Hall for the University of Illinois. The seating bowl was quite steep in both the upper and lower levels, however, giving all fans a feeling of being close to the action…or a sense of “if I fall I’m heading straight down to the court.”

The highlight of the night had to be the extensive pregame introductions UNLV utilizes to kick off the game and pump up the fans. From rolling out a red carpet to bring the team out of the locker room to the flames from the top of the backboards and fireworks from above the scoreboard, one might have forgotten this game was being played indoors. I think the pyrotechnics show lasted a good five minutes and the smoke lingered for another 5 minutes of game action, creating a haze in the arena that was equal parts hilarious and unsettling.
Once the ball was tipped, both teams got off to an incredibly slow start, missing shots from all over the court. This wasn’t the best start for a UNLV team coming off back to back losses, including a home setback to UC-Santa Barbara. As the first half progressed, UNLV threw on a full-court press that the Southern Utah Thunderbirds simply could not handle. SUU struggled to get the ball across half-court and by the time they did and got set up, there was typically 15 seconds or less on the shot clock. As a result, the Runnin’ Rebels were able to build a 37-18 halftime lead. While UNLV star Tre’von Willis had a less than stellar first half, teammates Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback picked up the slack to lead the way. The second half brought more of the same for both UNLV and SUU, as UNLV kept pressing en route to a 72-50 win. This was a key game for UNLV to get back on track heading out to the Sprint Center in Kansas City (see Arena Adventures Entry 2 for discussion about the Sprint Center) to take on the Kansas State Wildcats in a nationally televised tilt.

Frustration of an Illini Fan

Yes I am frustrated. First an inexcusable loss to UIC at the United Center. I wrote that off, took a few days break and thought ya know what? Sometimes teams lose games they shouldn't. We've got a good team, senior leadership. We didn't get up for a small game and it bit us in the ass. Fine I'm moving along - it's time to think about Missouri. Get the Braggin' Rights game and all is good again.

Illinois Freshman Foward, Jereme Richmond

I notice a tweet right before the start of the game and see that Jereme is starting. I'm excited, he deserves it. He comes with energy and passion (something, unfortunately, I am not sure I can say about too many other members of our team). Didn't know who he was starting for, I had hoped to see him take Davis' spot at the 4 to start the game to try and match up with the quickness of Missouri. Davis makes too many poor passes and doesn't understand his role as well as Cole.

He's starting at the 3, moving Cole to the bench. Alright I'm ok with that.

We looked bad early, we missed layups, put backs. Then we got going and had a seven point lead. Cautiously optimistic (as I always am) I'm starting to think we might be able to make a nice push and get a good lead, something I assumed we'd need to have any chance at winning the game, we just can not close games out (more on this later).

Then we fall apart with turnovers, missed shots. Tie game at half.

Well, at least we're not down.

A tight second half, we're up a few late and we do the ONE THING, the ABSOLUTE ONE THING I HATE about this team.

We slow it down and walk the ball around for 25 seconds before we decide we'd better take a shot, usually ending in a bad look or worse, a jacked three. Sometimes they go, but they are still bad shots.

Why? It makes no sense to me. Maybe this is why I'm not coaching on the hardwood but I can not seem to understand how that helps us win games? Every single time. Every single game. No killer mentality. No thought of trying to put a team down and deliver the knockout punch. Never.

And I am not one to rip on players, they're not paid the big bucks. But I'm trying to decide where the problem lies? I'm not sure you can coach toughness and killer instinct. You either have it or you don't, yet at the same time I wonder why we are playing guys that don't seem to care to win when the game is on the line.

"What happened to this is our year and we haven't done nothing yet," Davis?

Box out. Put your butt on a guy. We lose games because we can't hustle, we don't know where to put ourselves on defensive rotations. All to often we make a poor rotation and leave someone else open, closer to the basket.

It's time for the seniors to step up. Actually it's time for everyone to step up. Davis played well yesterday but nobody else came to play. I love that we have five to eight players who could score double digits any given game but we have to have consistency. We have to run our offense. I lost count of the number of plays last night I watched four Illini players stand around while someone dribbled. Pick, Cut, something! Or else tell coach to put someone else in because you don't feel like playing. I'm sure Crendall and Tyler would love more playing time.

If we lose, because we are not as talented. I don't care. But lose with passion, show you care. Don't lose because you were completely outplayed.

Big Ten ball is just around the corner and right now, we're not ready. I'm not ready to put this on the coach, yet; right now it seems like the guys just don't get it and just don't care to get it. And that's scary.

I'm sure I will elaborate on my thoughts more as the day goes on. It wasn't a bad loss, but a game we should have won.

But however things go ILL-INI.

It's time to go kick the crap outta Iowa.

To Mark Cuban (cc BCS officials)

Thanks for finally being someone to step up and try and make playoffs work! College Football has needed this for quite some time. I'm not sure how you exactly plan on having the  playoff work, I know you have mentioned 16-18 teams, but I think that might be a few to high. 16 teams requires four games to crown a champion and I think I have a way to do all this while keeping conferences happy.

But hey Mark, if you get this to work and it ends up being 16-18, even four; anything is better than two.

First, Mark is right there has to be financial gain for the institutions involved. Good, lets sell naming rights to either each game or to the entire playoffs. Seems like a win win situation. You can't tell me that someone wouldn't be willing to pay for that.

I'm for a much simpler solution that chooses teams for the playoffs. You must win your conference championship game.

This would create even more buzz for already high profile championship games and bring more revenue into the conferences. If a conference decides not to have a championship game than they are not eligible to send someone to the playoffs. If you are Notre Dame, you might want to consider getting off your high horse and getting with the Big Ten or you won't be winning anymore National Championships.

So how does it work? Let's assume that the big six all have title games, we'll say the Big 12 is smart enough to bring one back. I don't care how the Conferences choose who plays in them that can be their problem but the Conference Championship game is round one of the playoffs, it's like the basketball playin games, except we all actually turn on the TV to watch these. The winner of those six games get slotted into the eight team playoff. That leaves two openings left.

I'm going to even try to help keep the BCS happy here too, let's keep the formula and computer and the highest ranked conference champions from any other conference gets in. So let's move on and see how this might actually look in the future.

Big Ten
18 Nebraska (Legends) v 6 Ohio State (Leaders)

Big Twelve
17 Texas A&M  v 7 Oklahoma

Big East
3 TCU v 22 West Virginia

Pac-10
4 Stanford (North) v 19 Utah (South)

ACC
13 Virgina Tech (Coastal) v 23 Florida State (Atlantic)

SEC
16 Alabama (West) v UR Florida (East)

Lets use those as our sample Championship games. I'll take the winners in italics (I am using this years BCS numbers). We can then use the BCS standings to seed the teams as well. Then let's assume other conferences have made a move to a championship game style as well. Heck we're basically giving the little guys 25% of the field, I think they'd be dumb not to!

Let's start with the Mountain West Conference, which would have had a great matchup; lets use ChrisT's thoughts here.

MWC
10 Boise State v 24 Hawaii

And let's just go with the depleated WAC for simplification.

WAC
15 Nevada v UR Fresno State

We'll go with an upset here. So this is what your bracket looks like going into Championship Saturday. (Seriously this could make a lot of money)

Exactly what every office needs!

So what do we think? Perfect? No, but is it better than what we currently have? Absolutely! I am sure that there are other things that could be improved but who wouldn't love sitting down each week to watch some great college football? This basically takes an eight team tourney and turns it into 16 or more, with other conference championship games playing for a potential berth.

The best part is we can still have the other bowls that nobody cares about except for some of the fans of said schools that are participating.

And most of all - I can't wait to start an office pool for December Madness when this happens!

----

Interestingly enough from Cuban's blog he reports:

You should also consider that the playoffs are already owned by someone, as in, the patent for resolving the FBS championship by  way of a playoff was issued long ago.  It’s called a method patent, so be careful not to infringe it.

Anyway, if you want to know who owns assets in this field, let me know.  I can put you in touch with one of my attorneys who can let you know what you’re in for.  It’s much more complex that it’s commonly understood to be.

Yup. You read that right. Someone already owns the playoffs, regardless of if they can actually do it or not. Crazy.

Arena Adventures: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #5

Arena: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center

City: Notre Dame, IN

Date: December 11, 2010

Teams: #23 Notre Dame vs. Gonzaga

After a speedy departure from the Gentile Center it was 2 hours in the car to get from Chicago to South Bend for an 8:30 pm EST tilt between two of the most well-know religious schools in the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga entered this game on a 2 game losing streak and having lost 4 of 6 overall. While 3 of those losses were to top 20 teams in San Diego State, Kansas State, and Illinois, as well as a loss in the always tough to play in Paloose against Washington State, Gonzaga had looked pretty bad in its last 2, getting routed by Illinois in Seattle and Washington St. in Pullman. The Bulldogs were giving up 3 point baskets at an alarming rate as the perimeter defense was just not closing out on shooters. This spelled trouble heading to Notre Dame and their sharpshooters Tim Abromatis and Ben Hansbrough.

As the game started, both teams came out hot. It was raining 3's from Steven Gray of Gonzaga, Abromatis, and even Carlton Scott of the Irish was getting into the action. By the 10 minute mark of the 1st half, both teams were on pace for about 120 points a piece. As the half progressed, the shooting proficiency on both sides subsided and the Irish staked themselves to a 43-37 halftime lead behind an unlikely and career-high 19 points from Carlton Scott in the first half. Gonzaga's big 3 of Elias Harris, Robert Sacre, and Gray kept Gonzaga in the game, all while each picking up 2 fouls in the first half, which would spell trouble later on in the game.

For a good part of the 2nd half, the action was pretty back and forth, with the Irish maintaining at 6-8 point lead, until a personal 8-0 run by Abromatis capped by a 3 from the wing gave the Irish a 13 point lead with about 8 minutes to play. Gonzaga turned to its stars Gray and Sacre to lead the comeback, but the most consistent player of the night was probably Manny Arop. In this, and the 2 previous Gonzaga games I watched in person this season, Arop seems to be the key auxiliary scorer that Gonzaga needs to have as Gray, Harris, and Sacre cannot win a game alone.

Gonzaga managed to whittle the ND lead down to 5 with under 10 seconds to play behind some timely shooting and drives to the basket, especially drives by PG Demetri Goodson using his quickness to get to the rack, along with some untimely FT misses from Hansbrough and Atkins. As GU inbounded with under 10 seconds left, Gray pushed the ball up the court and drained a 24 foot 3 from the wing to give the Irish a tenuous 81-79 lead with 3 seconds to play. The Bulldogs fouled Hansbrough, sending him to the line for 2 FTs to seal a win for the Irish. Hansbrough calmly knocked both FTs down and as David Stockton half-court heave just missed at the buzzer, the Irish had held on for an 83-79 victory over Gonzaga. Scott and Abromatis lead the way for ND with 23 and 21 points respectively, while this game saw 4 of the 5 starters for Gonzaga foul out of the game.

In this end, ND had built too much of a lead during the mid-stages of the 2nd half, but one has to wonder if the Bulldogs' confidence is beginning to wean. Is Mark Few's "anyone, anytime, anywhere" schedule catching up to the young Bulldogs who still appear to lack a player who can take over the game when necessary as Adam Morrison and Matt Bouldin had been in years past? While Gonzaga has numerous chances to build up its non-conference resume still with games against Baylor in Dallas, Xavier and Oklahoma St. in Spokane, and a mid-conference tilt against Memphis, right now Gonzaga appears to have to win the WCC Tournament to make their 12th straight NCAA Tournament Appearance; which will be no easy task with the likes of St. Mary's, Portland, and Loyola Marymount being good or better than last season.

Arena Adventures: Gentile Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #4

Arena: Gentile Center
City: Chicago, IL
Date: December 11, 2010
Teams: Loyola (IL) vs. #5 Kansas St.

It's not very often you see a top 5 team in the nation playing a road game against a Horizon League opponent. This was not just any other game for Kansas St. though. It was homecoming for star guard, Jacob Pullen. Pullen played his high school ball at Proviso East in Maywood, IL and his mother in fact works as a database analyst for Loyola University - Chicago. K-State head coach, Frank Martin, promises his recruits a homecoming game in their senior season as part of his recruiting tools and I think it is a great way to recruit kids to come play in Manhattan, KS (besides getting the opportunity to square off each season with the likes of Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma). As a result, this game was all about K-State and Jacob Pullen.

Obviously most teams in the Horizon League do not have state-of-the-art venues and the Gentile Center is no exception. With bleacher seating for most of the fans and a capacity of under 6,000 or so, it is a perfect arena for a mid-major school; not exactly some place you would expect to see a Big XII team venture to. The atmosphere of the game was pretty electric at tip with a plethora of K-State fans in the building decked out in their purple and white hoping to see their star put on a show for the hometown crowd. Early on, it looked like it would be a pretty standard Power 6 school running a mid-major out of the gym as K-State grabbed a quick 10-2 lead. However, Loyola battled their way back behind the play of former Wisconsin Mr. Basketball, Andy Polka, and Ben Averkamp. From the beginning, the Wildcats looked a bit disinterested in the game besides Pullen, who one could tell was trying a bit too hard to show off for the home folks.

By halftime, it was only a 5 point lead for K-State as they shot less than 40% for the half were actually outrebounded by Loyola in the first half even though the size and strength of players like Curtis Kelly, Freddy Asparilla, and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts should have had the upper hand. As the game progressed, it continued to be a back-and-forth contest as the referees continued to call numerous fouls and take all flow out of the game whatsoever. With both teams in the bonus by the 10 minute mark of the 2nd half, it was quickly looking like this game was going to come down to whether or not K-State could make enough FTs in the clutch moments as they are one of the worse FT shooting teams in the country.

As the crowd continued to get on the officials for the constant whistles on K-State, the atmosphere became quite tense. Most K-State fans I think came into this game expecting it to be over by halftime. Turns out, this game would not be over until the final seconds. With K-State struggling to score consistently, both from the field and the charity stripe, the Wildcats found themselves up only 3 with 45 seconds left. Pullen calmed knocked down 2 FTs to give the Wildcats a 5 point lead that would never become less by the final horn. When the clock read all zeroes, K-State had escaped the Gentile Center with a 68-60 win behind 19 points from Pullen, but on a paltry 5/17 from the field.

I applaud Coach Martin for his approach to these games and being willing to take a highly-ranked team like the Wildcats on the road to unfamiliar territory for what is basically a lose-lose game for him and his team in most peoples eyes (if they lose it's damaging to ranking, RPI, and team confidence; if they win, well they should have won). In the end, the Gentile Center got a great game between a highly ranked Power 6 team and a team that having seen them in person could still be a sleeper team in the Horizon League despite the Ramblers 0-2 start to conference play.

The Heisman Way

 "The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."

Tonight at 8:00 PM eastern time we will see if Heisman voters feel that Cam Newton exemplifies the first line of their mission statement. Will the fact that his father asked for money keep him from joining the Heisman Fraternity? Or all the problems he had at Florida come back and haunt him?

Unlikely.

Since this is likely the case, does anything matter except the gridiron?

Apparently not.

While there are four players invited to New York tonight for the Heisman ceremony, I'd be shocked if more than two of them received first place votes.

Andrew Luck, the Standford Cardinal QB who is currently slotted to be the #1 pick in next years NFL Draft. Luck lead the Cardinal to an 11-1 record, #4 ranking and a bid the Orange Bowl where they will play Virginia Tech. He threw for 3,051 yards, 28 touchdowns and 7 interceptions with a 166.10 QB rating.

LaMichael James, the Oregon Duck who will be playing in the National Title game against Auburn ran for 1,682 yards and 21 touchdowns with a 6.0 yards per carry average. The Ducks are currently ranked #2

Kellen Moore, the Boise State Bronco who led his team to a 11-1 season and a #10 ranking. A late season loss to Nevada killed the Bronco's BCS Bid and likely any real shot that Moore might have had at the Heisman. Moore passed for 3,506, his 3rd straight year over 3,500 and 4th straight 3,000+ season. Moore also contributed 33 touchdowns and is three away from 100 for his career.

Finally, Cameron Newton, the Auburn Tiger who is likely going to run away with the voting. Cam has taken the Tigers to a #1 ranking and a bid to play the Oregon Ducks for the National Title. He passed for 2,589 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 1,409 yards and 20 touchdowns.

The stats clearly lean towards Newton. He has been the most electrifying player in the nation, without a doubt. But that isn't all that is in the Heisman's Mission Statement. The question isn't if Newton has been the best football player, has he done it with integrity?

My answer is simply no. Unfortunately I do not have a Heisman vote, but if I did it would not be cast for Cam Newton.

Arena Adventures: Assembly Hall (Part 1)

Arena Adventures: Entry #3

Arena: Assembly Hall
City: Champaign, IL
Date: November 30, 2010
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Teams:North Carolina @ #20 Illinois

Illinois Assembly Hall

This was not my first time at the Assembly Hall, I have actually been there for quite a few games in the past. However this was my first ACC/Big Ten Challenge game and it did not disappoint.

The game started out slow, with Illinois making the first bucket and North Carolina taking an early lead after that. The main turning point of the game was when Illinois senior guard Demetri McCamey took the ball down the lane and picked up the third foul on North Carolina junior forward Tyler Zeller.

The game stayed close to for a while after this point and Illinois took a nine point lead going into half with a buzzer beating three ball by sophomore guard DJ Richardson. The Illini didn't let down to open the start of the 2nd half with Mike Davis scoring two of his 20 points on an ally-op dunk from fellow senior Mike Tisdale.

While the Illini didn't finish the game off strong, they never let it feel like North Carolina was back in the game and as an Illini fan that was great to feel.

So let's talk about both teams Fab Freshmen. We've all heard about Harrison Barnes, both pre-season when he was hyped as an All-American and now in season when he hasn't had nearly the start that many expected. But what about Illini forward Jereme Richmond? He came in with passion and intensity and wanted to show Barnes that he has game and that is exactly what Richmond did. He scored 12 points and did not back down form the pre-season All-American.

Illinois forward Jereme Richmond
Photo by Cary Frye

Barnes finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds and 1 assist in 27 minutes, shooting 2-9 from the field including 1-4 from beyond the arc, while Richmond scored 12 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out an assist in 26 minutes of play. It's tough to judge two players on one single match-up but I'd have to say that so far this year Richmond has looked a lot better than Barnes has and made a point to take it right at Barnes the moment he entered the game.

The highlight of the night was a great up and under dunk near the start of the second from Jereme that had the Hall rocking.

After the game I am not quite sure what to think of North Carolina. They have talent but they just aren't playing well at all. Barnes has not even come close to living up to all the hype he received. Illinois did not play that well and they controlled the game handily. If Mike Davis can drop his inconsistency of last year and give the Illini 15 and 10 every night they will absolutely compete for the Big Ten title. Although for this to happen I think Tyler Griffy needs to get healthy and give Davis a break. Mike played 38 minutes on Tuesday and that happen each game.

A great atmosphere as always at the Hall!

ACC Big Ten Challenge - Wednesday Games

This is going to be quick.

Maryland @ Penn State

I badly want to pick a Nittany Lion upset here, but I'll stick with the better team and take the Terps in a close one.

Indiana @ Boston College

I don't really like either of these teams much at all, although it's not at bad as the Iowa/Wake Forest game last night. I'll take the Hoosiers in a swing game that could decide the series winner.

North Carolina State @ Wisconsin

The Badgers do not look good so far this year, but they are playing in the Kohl Center (which is clearly built as a Hockey Arena). I will get this game wrong regardless of who I pick and since I want to see Bucky go down I'll take the Badgers by 3.

Purdue @ Virginia Tech

Another toss up. I am still not sold on Purdue without Hummell, especially on the road aginast a tough Hookies team. I'll take Tech by a half dozen.

Michigan State @ Duke

How sweet would it be to see Duke lose the deciding game in the Series again this year? Oh so sweet. In a I-hate-Duke-and-love-watching-them-lose-(-oh-and-by-the-way-Sparty-is-good-especially-in-tough-games) Upset Special I'll take Sparty to get back on track with a late win.

By the way, thanks Clemson for ruining my perfect night. Damn Wolverines. 4-2 picking the series so far.

CBE Classic Recap

In Arena Adventures, Entry #2, I blogged about the semifinal games of the CBE Classic, which were won by #1 Duke and #4 Kansas St., setting up a top 5 showdown for the title, with pretty much a decided homecourt advantage for the Wildcats. In order to get to the championship game, the consolation matchup between #22 Gonzaga and Marquette had to be played. This was an interesting matchup, if not for the teams themselves, but for the universities as these are 2 of the most respected Jesuit schools in the nation. Living in Wisconsin, this is a matchup I would like to see played on a more regular basis as I feel like these schools match up well academically and athletically. As for the game itself, it looked early like a Gonzaga blowout was in order. Steven Gray of Gonzaga was absolutely on fire from 3 in the first half, hitting 4 in a row within the first 10 minutes and a 5th before half to pace the Zags before Marquette settled down and held the Zags to only a 9 point halftime lead. In the 2nd half, Marquette battled back, lead by Jimmy Butler, eventually drawing to within 2 points within the final minute. After Gray split 2 FTs for the Zags, Marquette had 1 final chance to force OT, but Butler's shot from about 30 feet came up a bit short and Gonzaga held on for a 66-63 win. Gray and Elias Harris led the Zags, but the play of Mangisto (Manny) Arop off the bench was the biggest factor in Gonzaga getting the win. His 15 points made up for the missing Robert Sacre, who managed to only score 3 points in the game. This tournament was a good learning experience for Gonzaga, but it was absolutely imperative for the Zags to beat Marquette after dropping decisions to SDSU at home and K-State the previous night as a part of the CBE. However, I foresee both of these teams being factors come March.

As the consolation game wound down, the stands started to fill (with mostly purple-clad fans) in anticipation of the Duke/K-State showdown. With Coach K going for his 800th win as the coach at Duke, the team had extra incentive to down the Wildcats, even though I don't think the Blue Devils really needed any extra motivation. The atmosphere was electric (turning off the lights and doing NBA-style pregame intros didn't hurt either), and after the ball was tipped you could tell both teams were jacked up for this game. K-State was a little too jacked up though, committing foolish turnovers, committing silly (and questionably called) fouls, and shooting just etrocious from the charity stripe. Duke jumped out to an early 10-2 lead and never looked back the whole game, leading by double figures for much of the first half before K-State closed the margin to 8 at half. Kyrie Irving and Nolan Smith were the catalysts for Duke in the first half and throughout the game, blowing by K-State defenders at will and getting open shots for teammates. Curtis Kelly was the only reason K-State was even within striking distance at half, scoring 11 first-half points off the bench.

In the 2nd half it was more of the same, Irving and Smith scoring at will, Kelly being K-State's only offensive weapon, and fouls piling up on the Wildcats. Eventually, the lead swelled to over 20 before Coach K called off the dogs and the final margin of victory was 82-68. Even though the final margin was only 14 points, it seemed as though K-State never had a chance in the game. Whenever K-State made a run, Duke always had an answer. Additionally, star K-State PG, Jacob Pullen, had arguably his worst career game, scoring only 4 points and taking a host of terrible shots in the 2nd half trying to bring his team back. While K-State has some talented players in Kelly, Rodney MacGruder, and Wally Judge, Pullen is clearly the team leader and #1 offensive option. With him off his game, there was no way K-State was shocking the world with the upset. However, even if Pullen had been on his game, I don't think Duke was going to be denied in KC. The Blue Devils clearly showed why they are #1 and there is no doubt in my mind they should be #1 (as much as it pains me to say that). They may not have the most talent or athletes in the nation, but they have the best coach in the nation, and play the best team basketball. The schedule doesn't get any easier for Duke to defend its #1 ranking, with a tilt against Michigan St. on tap for 12/1/10 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

To wrap up the CBE, Irving was named tournament MVP, and was joined on the All-Tournament Team by: Mason Plumlee (Duke), Steven Gray (Gonzaga), Jimmy Butler (Marquette), and Jamar Samuels (KSU). From the tournament I think I learned that Duke is going to be hard to beat all season and is clearly the best team in the nation right now; K-State might be a bit overrated as the loss of Denis Clemente might be greater than originally thought; Gonzaga is a bit overrated as well as their young players need to continue to develop and the lack of a scoring threat from the PG position is going to be damning all season long as teams sag off of Demetri Goodson and his lack of a consistent jumpshot; and Marquette has a chance to do some damage in the Big East if players like Devante Gardner and Jae Crowder continue to grow to support veterans Butler and Darius Johnson-Odom. I think we will see all 4 of these teams in the field of 68 and I will be excited to see each team continue to grow as the season progresses as all have the potential to be good, with Duke and K-State having the potential to make the trip to Houston for the Final Four.

Dear TCU - Stop ruining our fun!

I am pretty sure that is what Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee meant when he told TCU fans that they didn't play a hard enough schedule and shouldn't be included in the hunt for the National Title.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the Ohio State president said, "Well, I don't know enough about the X's and O's of college football," said Gee, formerly the president at West Virginia, Colorado, Brown and Vanderbilt universities. "I do know, having been both a Southeastern Conference president and a Big Ten president, that it's like murderer's row every week for these schools. We do not play the Little Sisters of the Poor. We play very fine schools on any given day. So I think until a university runs through that gantlet that there's some reason to believe that they not be the best teams to [be] in the big ballgame."

I am trying to dissect which gauntlet he meant?

Ohio State played a brutal Non-Conference schedule of Marshall, Ohio and Eastern Michigan all at home. Of those three brutal games, only Ohio is above .500. Talk about a gauntlet.

To give Ohio State credit they did play Miami (FL) (then #12), but this game, again, was at home. Tough to call it a gauntlet when every game you get to choose, you choose to play at home.

In non-conference games TCU hosted then #24 Oregon State and bowl eligible Baylor. TCU also did take advantage of being a powerhouse by scheduling a home game against Tennessee Tech, but unlike Ohio State, TCU went on the road to face Southern Methodist (above .500).

So when we compare Non-Conference schedules, I think it clearly goes the way of the Horned Frogs.

According to Gee, he plays a "gauntlet schedule" so by that you'd assume they play ranked teams on a daily basis, right?

Not so fast my Friend!

Let's start again with Ohio State. They have played 3 ranked teams, one at home, Miami (FL) and two on the road, Wisconsin and Iowa. Of these 3 games the Buckeyes are 2-1, losing only to the Badgers.

TCU? Well unlike Ohio State, TCU has played a top 10 team, Utah, and the aforementioned Oregon State. While they have also beaten Baylor and Air Force, who both have been ranked during the year.

Ohio State? Not so much. The rest of their schedule consisted of Big Ten cupcakes, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, Penn State and, obviously, the final game this weekend against Michigan.

So what does it come down to? Gee was terribly mistaken when he made his comments, he clearly has little to no understanding of college football, other than he realizes that the Power Six, well doesn't quite have the "Power" it use to (although it does have a helluva  lot of it).

So if you're TCU Athletic Director Chris Del Conte, what do you do?

"Anytime. Anyplace. Anywhere," Del Conte said. "Buckeyes against the Horned Frogs. Tee it up. Let's go."

Absolutely. Put your money where you just threw your mouth Ohio State. Put up or shut up.

What we've learned so far

The road to Houston is underway, after the first two weeks of the college basketball season and the completion of many of the Pre-Season tournaments, what have we learned so far?

• Kemba Walker is good. 

UConn Junior pg, Kemba Walker

Anybody else think the AP wants to re-vote and select Kemba over Harrison Barnes as a preseason All American? Kemba lead the UConn Huskies (more on them later) to the Maui Invitational title with 90 points in three games, three short of the Maui record. Unranked UConn started off with a solid win against Wichita State (many didn't think they'd even win that game) and then beat #2 Michigan State in the second round before burying Top 10 ranked Kentucky in the final. It is still early to name anyone Player of the Year, but Kemba gets my vote for Novembers Player of the Month.

• Duke is the best team in the Nation.

Duke forward Kyle Singler and guard Kyrie Irving

I hate to say it but it's true. Only UConn has, arguably, played better talent and done better. Duke walked through the CBE Classic in Kansas City during Feast Week with a good win over a solid Marquette team and then didn't only beat Kansas State but dominated them in what was considered by many to be a home court advantage for the Wildcats. The Plumblees look good, Nolan Smith is on and Kyrie Irving looks like the stud we thought he'd be.

• The Big Ten is the best conference

Ohio State Fab
Freshman Jared Sullinger

Yes it's early, but the Big Ten looks really good. Many thought Michigan State would pace the league this year but watch out for the Ohio State University. The Buckeyes look very good behind stud freshman Jared Sullinger and, based on their schedule, might be undefeated and #1 in the nation when they go to Champaign to face the Fighting Illini, which appears to be the teams next test after the dismantling of the Florida Gators. And speaking of Illinois, they have the chance to be a very good team this year as well, they lost to a good Texas team in the Coaches v Cancer last week in Madison Square Garden, but look like they could challenge for a Big Ten Title. And let's not forget about Minnesota who knocked off North Carolina and West Virginia in route a Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship. The team lost in the suffle in the Big Ten so far is Purdue, who has yet to be tested this season. I expect to see the Boliermakers struggle without Robbie Hummel in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Cassell Coliseum where they play Virginia Tech. Although even with a loss there the team still should come out of non-conference play with two or less losses. I think we'll see one of Michigan State, Ohio State or Illinois win the conference with Purdue and Minnesota close behind them. And I can see numerous Big Ten teams making deep pushes in March, maybe even multiple Final Four Teams.

• UConn's hiatus is over, for now.

Clearly the most underrated team coming into the year. Nobody expected Kemba Walker to look like a top 5 NBA draft pick and nobody expected UConn to dominate the Maui Invite. It is still relatively early in the season and things can change fast (see Texas last season) but right now UConn looks like a team that could seriously contend for the National Title. Let's see how they look come Big East time.

I waited to have the benefit of hindsight in picking my Final Four, which is awesome because now I can feel much better about leaving North Carolina out of my Elite Eight and much better about putting a few teams in.

Elite Eight

Duke, UConn, Michigan State, Memphis, the Ohio State University,Villanova, Kansas State, and Washington

Final Four

Duke, the Ohio State University, Kansas State and Washington

Championship Game

Duke v the Ohio State University

National Champs

That's right I picked Duke to win back to back titles. Tough call and I hate picking Duke but they are the odds on favorite and going with anybody else but the boys from Durham after the shelling they put on the Wildcats in the CBE Classic in Kansas City would be foolish.

San Diego State Sophomore Foward, Kawhi Leonard

Mid-Major Watch

Top Mid-Major to watch out for: San Diego State without a doubt in my mind. This team has all the pieces of a team that will give the big boys fits in March. Expect Kawhi Leonard, D.J. Gay and Billy White to help the Aztecs to a few March wins.